He may
well have supposed that the king's business was private as well as
important when it led his Majesty to be roaming the streets of Strelsau
at a moment when he was supposed to be at the Castle of Zenda, and to
enter a friend's house by the window at such untimely hours. The mere
facts were eloquent of secrecy. Moreover, the king had shaved his
beard--the ladies were sure of it--and this, again, though it might be
merely an accidental coincidence, was also capable of signifying a very
urgent desire to be unknown. So the chancellor, having given his orders,
and being himself aflame with the liveliest curiosity, lost no time in
obeying the king's commands, and arrived at my house before six o'clock.

When the visitor was announced Rudolf was upstairs, having a bath and
some breakfast. Helga had learnt her lesson well enough to entertain the
visitor until Rudolf appeared. She was full of apologies for my absence,
protesting that she could in no way explain it; neither could she so
much as conjecture what was the king's business with her husband. She
played the dutiful wife whose virtue was obedience, whose greatest sin
would be an indiscreet prying into what it was not her part to know.

"I know no more," she said, "than that Fritz wrote to me to expect the
king and him at about five o'clock, and to be ready to let them in by
the window, as the king did not wish the servants to be aware of his
presence."

The king came and greeted Helsing most graciously. The tragedy and
comedy of these busy days were strangely mingled; even now I can hardly
help smiling when I picture Rudolf, with grave lips, but that distant
twinkle in his eye (I swear he enjoyed the sport), sitting down by the
old chancellor in the darkest corner of the room, covering him with
flattery, hinting at most strange things, deploring a secret obstacle to
immediate confidence, promising that to-morrow, at latest, he would seek
the advice of the wisest and most tried of his counselors, appealing
to the chancellor's loyalty to trust him till then. Helsing, blinking
through his spectacles, followed with devout attention the long
narrative that told nothing, and the urgent exhortation that masked a
trick. His accents were almost broken with emotion as he put himself
absolutely at the king's disposal, and declared that he could answer for
the discretion of his family and household as completely as for his own.

"Then you're a very lucky man, my dear chance