Page:Anthony Hope - Rupert of Hentzau.djvu/373

Rh first uttered the Queen's name, he had drawn near and let his hand fall over the back of her chair. She put hers up to meet it, and so they remained. But I saw that Rudolf's face had gone very pale.

"And we, your friends?" pursued Sapt. "For we've stood by you as we've stood by the Queen, by God we have: Fritz and young Bernenstein here, and I. If this truth's told, who'll believe that we were loyal to the King, that we didn't know, that we weren't accomplices in the tricking of the King—maybe in his murder? Ah, Rudolf Rassendyll, God preserve me from a conscience that won't let me be true to the woman I love or to the friends who love me!"

I had never seen the old fellow so moved; he carried me with him, as he carried Bernenstein. I know now that we were too ready to be convinced; rather that, borne along by our passionate desire, we needed no convincing at all. His excited appeal seemed to us an argument. At least the danger to the Queen on which he dwelt was real and true and great.

Then a sudden change came over him. He caught Rudolf's hand and spoke to him again in a low broken voice, an unwonted softness transforming his harsh tones.

"Lad," he said, "don't say 'No!' Here's the finest lady alive sick for her lover, and the finest country in the world sick for its