e front or a shameless shot from behind, and indifferent utterly
which chance offered, so it threw him one of them. Mr. Rassendyll asked
no better than to meet his enemy thus in the open. They could fight a
fair fight, and if he fell the lamp would be caught up and carried on by
Sapt's hand or mine; if he got the better of Rupert, the letter would
be his; a moment would destroy it and give safety to the queen. I do not
suppose that he spent time in thinking how he should escape arrest at
the hands of the police whom the fracas would probably rouse; if he did,
he may well have reckoned on declaring plainly who he was, of laughing
at their surprise over a chance likeness to the king, and of trusting to
us to smuggle him beyond the arm of the law. What mattered all that, so
that there was a moment in which to destroy the letter? At any rate he
turned full round and began to walk straight towards Bauer, his hand
resting on the revolver in the pocket of his coat.

Bauer saw him coming, and must have known that he was suspected or
detected. At once the cunning fellow slouched his head between his
shoulders, and set out along the street at a quick shuffle, whistling as
he went. Rudolf stood still now in the middle of the road, wondering
who the man was: whether Rupert, purposely disguising his gait, or
a confederate, or, after all, some person innocent of our secret
and indifferent to our schemes. On came Bauer, softly, whistling and
slushing his feet carelessly through the liquid mud. Now he was nearly
opposite where Mr. Rassendyll stood. Rudolf was well-nigh convinced that
the man had been on his track: he would make certainty surer. The bold
game was always his choice and his delight; this trait he shared
with Rupert of Hentzau, and hence arose, I think, the strange secret
inclination he had for his unscrupulous opponent. Now he walked suddenly
across to Bauer, and spoke to him in his natural voice, at the same time
removing the scarf partly, but not altogether, from his face.

"You're out late, my friend, for a night like this."

Bauer, startled though he was by the unexpected challenge, had his wits
about him. Whether he identified Rudolf at once, I do not know; I think
that he must at least have suspected the truth.

"A lad that has no home to go to must needs be out both late and early,
sir," said he, arresting his shuffling steps, and looking up with that
honest stolid air which had made a fool of me.

I had descri