Page:The Prisoner of Zenda.djvu/202

182 he, as Lord of Zenda, had a right to do. But he was now, on receiving his apology, content to let him go, and so end the gossip which, to his Highness' annoyance, had arisen concerning a prisoner in Zenda, and had give his visitors the trouble of this inquiry. The visitors, baffled, would retire, and Michael could, at his leisure, dispose of the body of the king.

Sapt, Fritz, and I in my bed looked round on one another in horror and bewilderment at the cruelty and cunning of the plan. Whether I went in peace or in war, openly at the head of a corps, or secretly by a stealthy assault, the king would be dead before I could come near him. If Michael were stronger and overcame my party, there would be an end. But if I were stronger, I should have no way to punish him, no means of proving any guilt in him without proving my own guilt also. On the other hand, I should be left as king (ah! for a moment my pulse quickened), and it would be for the future to witness the final struggle between him and me. He seemed to have made triumph possible and ruin impossible. At the worst he would