hed the
king before we arrived at the lodge; the probabilities seemed to him to
be confined to these alternatives. Yet when he spoke in this strain to
the queen, he could get from her nothing except, "If we can find Mr.
Rassendyll, he will tell us what to do."

Thus, then, a little after nine in the morning the queen's carriage
drove up to my door. The ladies of the chancellor's family had enjoyed a
very short night's rest, for their heads came bobbing out of window the
moment the wheels were heard; many people were about now, and the crown
on the panels attracted the usual small crowd of loiterers. Bernenstein
sprang out and gave his hand to the queen. With a hasty slight bow to
the onlookers, she hastened up the two or three steps of the porch,
and with her own hand rang the bell. Inside, the carriage had just been
observed. My wife's waiting-maid ran hastily to her mistress; Helga was
lying on her bed; she rose at once, and after a few moments of necessary
preparations (or such preparations as seem to ladies necessary, however
great the need of haste may be) hurried downstairs to receive her
Majesty--and to warn her Majesty. She was too late. The door was already
open. The butler and the footman both had run to it, and thrown it open
for the queen. As Helga reached the foot of the stairs, her Majesty was
just entering the room where Rudolf was, the servants attending her, and
Bernenstein standing behind, his helmet in his hand.

Rudolf and the chancellor had been continuing their conversation. To
avoid the observations of passers-by (for the interior of the room is
easy to see from the street), the blind had been drawn down, and the
room was in deep shadow. They had heard the wheels, but neither of them
dreamt that the visitor could be the queen. It was an utter surprise to
them when, without their orders, the door was suddenly flung open. The
chancellor, slow of movement, and not, if I may say it, over-quick of
brain, sat in his corner for half a minute or more before he rose to his
feet. On the other hand, Rudolf Rassendyll was the best part of the way
across the room in an instant. Helga was at the door now, and she thrust
her head round young Bernenstein's broad shoulders. Thus she saw
what happened. The queen, forgetting the servants, and not observing
Helsing--seeming indeed to stay for nothing, and to think of nothing,
but to have her thoughts and heart filled with the sight of the man she
loved and the knowl