Page:Anthony Hope - Rupert of Hentzau.djvu/169

Rh he must be kept inviolate from all attack except at our own hands. We desired his death, but we must be his bodyguard and die in his defence rather than let any other but ourselves come at him. No open means must be used, and no allies sought. All this rushed to my mind at Sapt's words, and I saw what the Constable and James had never forgotten. But what to do I could not see. For the King of Ruritania lay dead. An hour or more had passed since our discovery, and it was now close on midnight. Had all gone well we ought by this time to have been far on our road back to the Castle; by this time Rupert must be miles away from where he had killed the King; already Mr. Rassendyll would be seeking his enemy in Strelsau. "But what are we to do about—about that, then?" I asked, pointing with my finger through the doorway towards the bed. Sapt gave a last tug at his moustache, then crossed his hands on the hilt of the sword between his knees and leant forward in his chair.

"Nothing," he said, looking in my face. "Until we have the letter, nothing."

"But it's impossible," I cried.

"Why, no, Fritz," he answered thoughtfully. "It's not impossible yet; it may become so. But if we can catch Rupert in the next day, or even in the next two days,