Page:The Prisoner of Zenda.djvu/230

210 brute! Faith, I nearly stuck a knife into him last night; he came most cursedly mal àpropos!"

My temper was well under control now; I was learning something.

"A lady?" I asked negligently.

"Aye, and a beauty," he nodded. "But you've seen her."

"Ah! was it at a tea party, when some of your friends got on the wrong side of the table?"

"What can you expect of fools like Detchard and De Gautet? I wish I'd been there." "And the duke interferes?"

"Well," said Rupert meditatively, "that's hardly a fair way of putting it, perhaps. I want to interfere."

"And she prefers the duke?"

"Aye, the silly creature! Ah, well! you think about my plan;" and, with a bow, he pricked his horse and trotted after the body of his friend.

I went back to Flavia and Sapt, pondering on the strangeness of the man. Wicked men I have known in plenty, but Rupert Hentzau remains unique in my experience. And if there be another