e courts
at Strelsau, the secret which we guarded so sedulously would become the
gossip of all the city, ay, and of all Europe. So Rupert went unpunished
except by banishment and the impounding of his rents.

Yet Sapt was in the right about him. Helpless as he seemed, he did
not for an instant abandon the contest. He lived in the faith that his
chance would come, and from day to day was ready for its coming. He
schemed against us as we schemed to protect ourselves from him; if
we watched him, he kept his eye on us. His ascendency over
Luzau-Rischenheim grew markedly greater after a visit which his cousin
paid to him in Paris. From this time the young count began to supply
him with resources. Thus armed, he gathered instruments round him and
organized a system of espionage that carried to his ears all our actions
and the whole position of affairs at court. He knew, far more accurately
than anyone else outside the royal circle, the measures taken for the
government of the kingdom and the considerations that dictated the royal
policy. More than this, he possessed himself of every detail concerning
the king's health, although the utmost reticence was observed on
this subject. Had his discoveries stopped there, they would have been
vexatious and disquieting, but perhaps of little serious harm. They
went further. Set on the track by his acquaintance with what had passed
during Mr. Rassendyll's tenure of the throne, he penetrated the secret
which had been kept successfully from the king himself. In the knowledge
of it he found the opportunity for which he had waited; in its bold use
he discerned his chance. I cannot say whether he were influenced more
strongly by his desire to reestablish his position in the kingdom or
by the grudge he bore against Mr. Rassendyll. He loved power and money;
dearly he loved revenge also. No doubt both motives worked together, and
he was rejoiced to find that the weapon put into his hand had a double
edge; with one he hoped to cut his own path clear; with the other, to
wound the man he hated through the woman whom that man loved. In fine,
the Count of Hentzau, shrewdly discerning the feeling that existed
between the queen and Rudolf Rassendyll, set his spies to work, and
was rewarded by discovering the object of my yearly meetings with Mr.
Rassendyll. At least he conjectured the nature of my errand; this was
enough for him. Head and hand were soon busy in turning the knowledge to
account; scruple