Page:Anthony Hope - Rupert of Hentzau.djvu/182

168 the lodge. I was bound to ride to Hofbau, and there wait for a train which would carry me to the capital. From Hofbau I could send a message; but the message must announce only my own coming, not the news I carried. To Sapt, thanks to the cipher, I could send word at any time, and he bade me ask Mr. Rassendyll whether he should come to our aid, or stay where he was.

"A day must decide the whole thing," he said. "We can't conceal the King's death long. For God's sake, Fritz, make an end of that young villain, and get the letter."

So, wasting no time in farewells, I set out. By ten o'clock I was at Hofbau, for I rode furiously. From there I sent to Bernenstein at the Palace word of my coming. But there I was delayed. There was no train for an hour.

"I'll ride!" I cried to myself, only to remember the next moment that, if I rode, I should come to my journey's end much later. There was nothing for it but to wait, and it may be imagined in what mood I waited. Every minute seemed an hour, and I know not to this day how the hour wore itself away. I ate, I drank, I smoked, I walked, sat, and stood. The station-master knew me, and thought I had gone mad, till I told him that I carried most important despatches, and that the delay imperilled great interests.