Sapt

“ Old Sapt, having done his work, suddenly turned talkative.
"That moon there," he said, pointing his square thick forefinger at the window, "is a mighty untrustworthy lady. I’ve known her wake a villain's conscience before now."
"I've known her send a lover's to sleep," laughed young Bernenstein, rising from his table, stretching himself, and lighting a cigar.
"Aye, she’s apt to take a man out of what he is," pursued old Sapt. "Set a quiet man near her, and he dreams of battle; an ambitious fellow, after ten minutes of her, will ask nothing better than to muse all his life away. ”

“ Yet Colonel Sapt did all as though he had given his assent, and watched the last hours in which his flight from Strelsau was possible go quickly by with more than equanimity. Why hurry Rudolf’s resolve? Every moment shut him closer in the trap of an inevitable choice. With every hour that he was called the king, it became more impossible for him to bear any other name all his days. Therefore Sapt let Mr. Rassendyll doubt and struggle, while he himself wrote his story and laid his long-headed plans. ”

“ There, in the bright moonlight, on the far side of the broad terrace, close by the line of tall trees that fringed its edge, we saw Rudolf Rassendyll pacing slowly up and down, with his hands behind his back and his eyes fixed on the arbiter of his fate, on her who was to make him a king or send him a fugitive from Strelsau.
"There he is, madame," said Sapt. "Safe enough!"
The Queen did not answer. Sapt said no more, and of the rest of us none spoke. We stood watching him as he struggled with his great issue: a greater surely has seldom fallen to the lot of any man born in a private station. ”

“ Then Sapt spoke in a low, hoarse whisper:
"It is not the king. Don't kiss him; he's not the king."
She drew back for a moment; then, with an arm still round my neck, she asked in superb indignation:
"Do I not know my love? Rudolf, my love!"
"It is not the king," said old Sapt again; and a sudden sob broke from tender-hearted Fritz.
It was the sob that told her no comedy was afoot.
"He is the king!" she cried. "It is the king's face—the king's ring—my ring! It is my love!"
"Your love, madame," said old Sapt, "but not the king. The king is there in the castle. ”

“ To lay on the king the full blame for what he was would have been rank injustice. Sapt was not guilty of it, but his disappointment was bitter that all our efforts had secured no better ruler for Ruritania. Sapt could serve, but he liked his master to be a man.
“Ay, I’m afraid the lad’s work here is done,” he said, as I shook him by the hand. Then a sudden light came in his eyes. “Perhaps not,” he muttered. “Who knows?”
A man need not, I hope, be deemed uxorious for liking a quiet dinner alone with his wife before he starts on a long journey. ”

“ I rose and leaned my back against the mantelpiece.
"Sapt, I believe in that woman, and I shall go."
"I don't believe in any woman," said Sapt, "and you shan't go."
"I either go to the summerhouse or back to England," said I.
Sapt began to know exactly how far he could lead or drive, and when he must follow.
"We're playing against time," I added. "Every day we leave the king where he is there is fresh risk. Every day I masquerade like this there is a fresh risk. Sept, we must play high; we must force the game." ”

“ Even before the match was struck I saw a dark body lying across the passage.
"A dead man!" I guessed instantly.
"Why, no," said Sapt, striking a light: "a dead dog, Fritz."
An exclamation of wonder escaped me as I fell on my knees. At the same instant Sapt muttered, "Aye, there's a lamp," and Stretching up his hand to a little oil lamp that stood on a bracket, he lit it, took it down, and held it over the body. It served to give a fair, though unsteady, light, and enabled us to see what lay in the passage. ”

“ Certainly a quiet fell over the old Castle, that only the Constable's curt tones broke, as he bade Rudolf come by the back way to the stables and mount his horse.
"There's no time to lose," said Sapt, and his eye seemed to grudge the Queen even one word more with the man she loved.
But Rudolf was not to be hurried into leaving her in such a fashion. He clapped the Constable on the shoulder, laughing and bidding him think of what he would for a moment; then he went again to the Queen and would have knelt before her, but that she would not suffer, and they stood with hands locked. ”

“ Then I held out a hand to each of them.
"We are all but half men this morning," said I, smiling. "But we have been men, eh, Sapt and Fritz, old friends? We have run a good course between us."
"We have defeated traitors and set the king firm on his throne," said Sapt.
Then Fritz von Tarlenheim suddenly, before I could discern his purpose or stay him, uncovered his head and bent as he used to do, and kissed my hand; and as I snatched it away he said, trying to laugh:
"Heaven doesn't always make the right men kings!" ”

“ I had no plan, and I was not in love with Sapt's plan. Yet it offered us four-and-twenty hours. For that time, at least, it seemed as if the secret could be kept. Beyond that we could hardly hope for success: after that we must produce the King; dead or alive, the King must be seen. Yet it might be that before the respite ran out Rupert would be ours. ”

“ The old fellow shrugged his shoulders.
"All young men like to ride abroad now and again; why not the king?" said he; and Sapt's laugh left his opinion of my motives undisturbed.
"You should always trust a man," observed Sapt, fitting the key in the lock—"just as far as you must." ”

“ Presently Sapt took paper and wrote. This first message was to me, and it bade me come to Zenda that afternoon; another head and another pair of hands were sadly needed. Then followed more deliberation; Rudolf took up the talking now, for his was the bold plan on which they consulted. Sapt twirled his moustache, smiling doubtfully.
"Yes, yes," murmured young Bernenstein, his eyes alight with excitement.
"It's dangerous, but the best thing," said Rudolf, carefully sinking his voice yet lower, lest the prisoner should catch the lightest word of what he said. ”

“ I saw women come and go weeping, and men bite their lips as they passed by. Rischenheim came, pale-faced and troubled; and while all came and went, there, immovable, with drawn sword, in military stiffness, old Sapt stood at the head of the bier, his eyes set steadily in front of him, and his body never stirring from hour to hour through the long day.
A distant faint hum of voices reached us. The Queen laid her hand on my arm.
"It is the dream, Fritz," she said. "Hark! They speak of the King; they speak in low voices and with grief, but they call him King. ”

“ Fritz von Tarlenheim buried his face in his hands. The King breathed loudly and heavily. Sapt stirred him again with his foot.
“The drunken dog!” he said; “but he’s an Elphberg and the son of his father, and may I rot in hell before Black Michael sits in his place!”
For a moment or two we were all silent; then Sapt, knitting his bushy grey brows, took his pipe from his mouth and said to me:
“As a man grows old he believes in Fate. Fate sent you here. Fate sends you now to Strelsau.” ”

“ Sapt had got the envelope open at last, and relief, mingled with perplexity, showed in his face.
“Your Majesty guessed wonderfully well. Rischenheim can be here at eight to-morrow morning,” he said, looking up.
“Capital!” cried the king. “He shall breakfast with me at nine, and I’ll have a ride after the boar when we’ve done our business. Now are you satisfied?”
“Perfectly, sire,” said Sapt, biting his moustache. ”

“ Sapt’s story ran on for eight or nine minutes. Then he paused, before asking:
“You understand now?”
“Yes, it is wonderful,” said the young man, drawing in his breath.
“Pooh!” said Sapt. “Nothing is wonderful: some things are unusual.”
Bernenstein was not convinced, and shrugged his shoulders in protest.
“Well?” said the constable, with a quick glance at him.
“I would die for the queen, sir,” he answered, clicking his heels together as though on parade.
“Good,” said Sapt. “Then listen,” and he began again to talk. Bernenstein nodded from time to time. ”

“ By some mishap, some unforeseen chance, the king’s body must have been discovered. Then the king’s death was known, and the news of it might any moment astonish and bewilder the city.
At last the door was flung open, and a servant announced the Constable of Zenda. Sapt was covered with dust and mud, and James, who entered close on his heels, was in no better plight. Evidently they had ridden hard and furiously; indeed they were still panting. Sapt, with a most perfunctory bow to the queen, came straight to where Rudolf stood. ”

“ Rudolf walked across to Sapt.
“Take me to the stables. Is the horse good? I daren’t take the train. Ah, here’s the lieutenant and the hat.”
“The horse’ll get you there to-night,” said Sapt. “Come along. Bernenstein, stay with the queen.”
At the threshold Rudolf paused, and, turning his head, glanced once at Queen Flavia, who stood still as a statue, watching him go. Then he followed the constable, who brought him where the horse was. Sapt’s devices for securing freedom from observation had served well, and Rudolf mounted unmolested. ”

“ You're very dark in here, Sapt. Why don't you draw back the curtains?": and the King moved towards the curtain behind which Rudolf was.
"Allow me, sire," cried Sapt, darting past him and laying a hand on the curtain.
A malicious gleam of pleasure shot into Rischenheim's eyes.
"In truth, sire," continued the Constable, his hand on the curtain, "we were so interested in what the Count was saying about his dogs——"
"By heaven, I forgot!" cried the King. "Yes, yes, the dogs. Now tell me, Count——"
"Your pardon, sire," put in young Bernenstein, "but breakfast waits." ”

“ What he had seen, or seemed dimly to see, is a sight common enough on the surface of water—large circular eddies, widening from a centre; a stone thrown in makes them, or a fish on the rise. But Sapt had thrown no stone, and the fish in the moat were few and not rising then. The light was behind Sapt and threw his figure into bold relief. The royal apartments looked out the other way; there were no lights in the windows this side the bridge, although beyond it the guards* lodgings and the servants* offices still showed a light here and there. Sapt waited till the eddies ceased. ”

“ James stood by the table, old Sapt roamed up and down, tugging his moustache, and now and again sawing the air with his sturdy hairy hand.
“I daren’t do it,” he muttered: “I daren’t do it. It’s a thing a man can’t set his hand to of his own will. But the fate’ll do it—the fate’ll do it. The fate’ll force it on us.”
“Then we’d best be ready, sir,” suggested James quietly. Sapt turned on him quickly, almost fiercely.
“They used to call me a cool hand,” said he. “By Jove, what are you?”
“There’s no harm in being ready, sir,” said James, the servant. ”

“ Nothing save assassination suggested itself to the constable; a quarrel and a duel offered no security; and Sapt was not Black Michael, and had no band of ruffians to join him in an apparently unprovoked kidnapping of a distinguished nobleman.
“I can think of nothing,” muttered Sapt, rising from his chair and moving across towards the window in search of the fresh air that a man so often thinks will give him a fresh idea. He was in his own quarters, that room of the new chateau which opens on to the moat immediately to the right of the drawbridge as you face the old castle ”

“ Then I, overcome by the strange thing, turned half-foolish by the bizarre mingling of comedy and impressiveness in Sapt's rendering of it, plucked him by the sleeve, and asked, with something between a laugh and a gasp:
"Who had that other corpse been, Constable?"
He turned his small keen eyes on me in persistent gravity and unflinching effrontery:
"A Mr. Rassendyll, a friend of the King's, who with his servant James was awaiting His Majesty's return from Strelsau. His servant here is ready to start for England to tell Mr. Rassendyll's relatives the news." ”

“ Then again there was a moment's silence.
"She may make a man soft as a sponge," reflected Sapt, starting again, "or hard as a bar of steel. I should feel safer if the night were dark. I've looked at her often from my tent and from bare ground, and I know her. She got me a decoration, and once she came near to making me turn tail. Have nothing to do with her, young Bernenstein."
"I'll keep my eyes for beauties nearer at hand," said Bernenstein, whose volatile temper soon threw off a serious mood.
"There's a chance for you, now Rupert of Hentzau's gone," said Sapt grimly. ”

“ Yet his speech and his eyes went straight to men’s hearts and women’s, so that they held their lives in an eager attendance on his bidding. Do I rave? Then Sapt was a raver too, for Sapt was foremost in the business.
At ten minutes to eight o’clock, young Bernenstein, very admirably and smartly accoutred, took his stand outside the main entrance of the castle. He wore a confident air that became almost a swagger as he strolled to and fro past the motionless sentries. He had not long to wait. On the stroke of eight a gentleman, well-horsed but entirely unattended, rode up the carriage drive. ”

“ Rudolf looked at him with some surprise. Then speaking in a low voice, lest the Queen should hear and be distressed, he went on:
"You must prepare it, you know. Bring it here in a shell; only a few officials need see the face."
Sapt rose to his feet and stood before Mr. Rassendyll.
"The plan's a pretty one, but it breaks down at one point," said he in a strange voice, even harsher than his was wont to be. I was on fire with excitement, for I would have staked my life now that he had some strange tidings for us. "There is no body," said he. ”