Page:Anthony Hope - Rupert of Hentzau.djvu/385

Rh danger threatening him; and after all he was not our King, much as we desired to make him such. Yet we did not think of any such matter. We were abashed before her reproof and took her indignation as deserved. We hung our heads, and Sapt's shame betrayed itself in the dogged sullenness of his answer.

"He has chosen to go walking, madame, and to go alone. He ordered us—I say, he ordered us not to come. Surely we are right to obey him?"

The sarcastic inflection of his voice conveyed his opinion of the Queen's extravagance.

"Obey him? Yes. You couldn't go with him if he forbade you. But you should follow him, you should keep him in sight."

This much she spoke in proud tones and with a disdainful manner, but then came a sudden return to her former bearing. She held out her hands towards me, wailing:

"Fritz, where is he? Is he safe? Find him for me, Fritz, find him."

"I'll find him for you if he's above ground, madame," I cried, for her appeal touched me to the heart.

"He's no farther off than the gardens," grumbled old Sapt, still resentful of the Queen's reproof and scornful of the woman's agitation. He was also out of temper with Rudolf himself, because the moon took so