Page:Anthony Hope - Rupert of Hentzau.djvu/175

Rh deed we've had a lively time, my lord. At five o'clock she came out, ready dressed, from her room, sent for Lieutenant von Bernenstein, and announced that she was about to set out from the Castle. As you know, the mail train passes here at six." Hermann took out his watch. "Yes, the Queen must just have left the station."

"Where for?" I asked, with a shrug for the woman's whim.

"Why, for Strelsau. She gave no reasons for going, and took with her only one lady. Lieutenant von Bernenstein being in attendance. It was a bustle, if you like, with everybody to be roused and got out of bed, and a carriage to be made ready, and messages to go to the station, and"

"She gave no reasons?"

"None, my lord. She left with me a letter to the Constable, which she ordered me to give into his own hands as soon as he arrived at the Castle. She said it contained a message of importance, which the Constable was to convey to the King, and that it must be entrusted to nobody except Colonel Sapt himself. I wonder, my lord, that you didn't notice that the flag was hauled down."

"Tut, man, I wasn't staring at the keep. Give me the letter." For I saw that the clue to this fresh puzzle must lie under the cover of Sapt's letter. That letter I must myself carry to Sapt, and without loss of time.