Page:Anthony Hope - Rupert of Hentzau.djvu/388

370 set it close to the side of the window-frame. The Queen, absolutely engrossed in her lover, saw nothing, but I perceived what had caught Sapt's attention. There were scores on the paint and indentations in the wood, just at the edge of the panel and near the lock. I glanced at Sapt, who nodded his head. It looked very much as though somebody had tried to force the door that night, employing a knife which had dented the woodwork and scratched the paint. The least thing was enough to alarm us, standing where we stood, and the Constable's face was full of suspicion. Who had sought an entrance? It could be no trained and practised housebreaker: he would have had better tools.

But now our attention was again diverted. Rudolf stopped short. He still looked for a moment at the sky, then his glance dropped to the ground at his feet. A second later he jerked his head—it was bare, and I saw the dark-red hair stir with the movement—like a man who has settled something which caused him a puzzle. In an instant we knew, by the quick intuition of contagious emotion, that the question had found its answer. He was by now King or a fugitive. The Lady of the Skies had given her decision. The thrill ran through us: I felt the Queen draw herself together at my side; I felt the muscles of Rischenheim's