Page:Anthony Hope - Rupert of Hentzau.djvu/201

Rh very softly, the gentler stroke being repeated five times in rapid succession. Clearly he was expected, for without any sound of approaching feet the chain was unfastened with a subdued rattle. Then came the noise of the bolt being cautiously worked back into its socket. As it shot home a chink of the door opened. At the same moment Rudolf’s hand slipped from Bauer's arm. With a swift movement he caught the fellow by the nape of the neck and flung him violently into the roadway, where, losing his footing, he fell sprawling face-downwards in the mud. Rudolf threw himself against the door: it yielded, he was inside, and in an instant he had shut the door and driven the bolt home again, leaving Bauer in the gutter outside. Then he turned with his hand on the butt of his revolver. I know that he hoped to find Rupert of Hentzau's face within a foot of his.

Neither Rupert nor Rischenheim, nor even the old woman, fronted him: a tall, handsome, dark girl faced him, holding an oil lamp in her hand. He did not know her, but I could have told him that she was old mother Holf's youngest child, Rosa, for I had often seen her as I rode through the town of Zenda with the King, before the old lady moved her dwelling to Strelsau. Indeed the girl had seemed to dog the King's footsteps, and he had himself joked on her