Page:Anthony Hope - Rupert of Hentzau.djvu/233

Rh hurried downstairs, to receive Her Majesty—and to warn Her Majesty. She was too late. The door was already open. The butler and the footman both had run to it, and thrown it open for the Queen. As Helga reached the foot of the stairs. Her Majesty was just entering the room where Rudolf was, the servants attending her, and Bernenstein standing behind, his helmet in his hand.

Rudolf and the Chancellor had been continuing their conversation. To avoid the observation of passers-by (for the interior of the room is easy to see from the street), the blind had been drawn down, and the room was in deep shadow. They had heard the wheels, but neither of them dreamt that the visitor could be the Queen. It was an utter surprise to them when, without their orders, the door was suddenly flung open. The Chancellor, slow of movement and not, if I may say it, over-quick of brain, sat in his corner for half a minute or more before he rose to his feet. On the other hand Rudolf Rassendyll was the best part of the way across the room in an instant. Helga was at the door now, and she thrust her head round young Bernenstein's broad shoulder. Thus she saw what happened. The Queen, forgetting the servants, and not observing Helsing—seeming indeed to stay for nothing and to think of nothing, but to have her thoughts and heart filled with the sight of