here till a porter opened the door. In lazy
leisureliness I bade him get me a cab, and followed him across the
station. He held the door for me, and, giving him his douceur, I set my
foot on the step.

"Tell him to drive to the palace," said I, "and be quick. I'm late
already, thanks to this cursed train."

"The old mare'll soon take you there, sir," said the driver. I jumped
in. But at this moment I saw a man on the platform beckoning with his
hand and hastening towards me. The cabman also saw him and waited. I
dared not tell him to drive on, for I feared to betray any undue haste,
and it would have looked strange not to spare a moment to my wife's
cousin, Anton von Strofzin. He came up, holding out his hand delicately
gloved in pearl-gray kid, for young Anton was a leader of the Strelsau
dandies.

"Ah, my dear Fritz!" said he. "I am glad I hold no appointment at court.
How dreadfully active you all are! I thought you were settled at Zenda
for a month?"

"The queen changed her mind suddenly," said I, smiling. "Ladies do, as
you know well, you who know all about them."

My compliment, or insinuation, produced a pleased smile and a gallant
twirling of his moustache.

"Well, I thought you'd be here soon," he said, "but I didn't know that
the queen had come."

"You didn't? Then why did you look for me?"

He opened his eyes a little in languid, elegant surprise. "Oh, I
supposed you'd be on duty, or something, and have to come. Aren't you in
attendance?"

"On the queen? No, not just now."

"But on the king?"

"Why, yes," said I, and I leaned forward. "At least I'm engaged now on
the king's business."

"Precisely," said he. "So I thought you'd come, as soon as I heard that
the king was here."

It may be that I ought to have preserved my composure. But I am not Sapt
nor Rudolf Rassendyll.

"The king here?" I gasped, clutching him by the arm.

"Of course. You didn't know? Yes, he's in town."

But I heeded him no more. For a moment I could not speak, then I cried
to the cabman:

"To the palace. And drive like the devil!"

We shot away, leaving Anton open-mouthed in wonder. For me, I sank back
on the cushions, fairly aghast. The king lay dead in the hunting-lodge,
but the king was in his capital!

Of course, the truth soon flashed through my mind, but it brought no
comfort. Rudolf Rassendyll was in Strelsau. He had been seen by somebody
and taken for the king. But comfort? What comfort was there, now th