The Prisoner and the KingIn order to a full understanding of what had occurred in the Castle ofZenda, it is necessary to supplement my account of what I myself saw anddid on that night by relating briefly what I afterwards learnt from Fritz andMadame de Mauban. The story told by the latter explained clearly how ithappened that the cry which I had arranged as a stratagem and a sham hadcome, in dreadful reality, before its time, and had thus, as it seemed at themoment, ruined our hopes, while in the end it had favoured them. Theunhappy woman, fired, I believe by a genuine attachment to the Duke ofStrelsau, no less than by the dazzling prospects which a dominion overhim opened before her eyes, had followed him at his request from Paris toRuritania. He was a man of strong passions, but of stronger will, and hiscool head ruled both. He was content to take all and give nothing. Whenshe arrived, she was not long in finding that she had a rival in the PrincessFlavia; rendered desperate, she stood at nothing which might give, or keepfor her, her power over the duke. As I say, he took and gave not.

　　Simultaneously, Antoinette found herself entangled in his audaciousschemes. Unwilling to abandon him, bound to him by the chains of shameand hope, yet she would not be a decoy, nor, at his bidding, lure me todeath. Hence the letters of warning she had written. Whether the lines shesent to Flavia were inspired by good or bad feeling, by jealousy or by pity,I do not know; but here also she served us well. When the duke went toZenda, she accompanied him; and here for the first time she learnt the fullmeasure of his cruelty, and was touched with compassion for theunfortunate King. From this time she was with us; yet, from what she toldme, I know that she still (as women will) loved Michael, and trusted togain his life, if not his pardon, from the King, as the reward for herassistance. His triumph she did not desire, for she loathed his crime, andloathed yet more fiercely what would be the prize of it--his marriage withhis cousin, Princess Flavia.

　　At Zenda new forces came into play--the lust and daring of young Rupert. He was caught by her beauty, perhaps; perhaps it was enough forhim that she belonged to another man, and that she hated him. For manydays there had been quarrels and ill will between him and the duke, andthe scene which I had witnessed in the duke's room was but one of many.

　　Rupert's proposals to me, of which she had, of course, been ignorant, in noway surprised her when I related them; she had herself warned Michaelagainst Rupert, even when she was calling on me to deliver her from bothof them. On this night, then, Rupert had determined to have his will. Whenshe had gone to her room, he, having furnished himself with a key to it,had made his entrance. Her cries had brought the duke, and there in thedark room, while she screamed, the men had fought; and Rupert, havingwounded his master with a mortal blow, had, on the servants rushing in,escaped through the window as I have described. The duke's blood,spurting out, had stained his opponent's shirt; but Rupert, not knowing thathe had dealt Michael his death, was eager to finish the encounter. How hemeant to deal with the other three of the band, I know not. I dare say hedid not think, for the killing of Michael was not premeditated. Antoinette,left alone with the duke, had tried to stanch his wound, and thus was shebusied till he died; and then, hearing Rupert's taunts, she had come forth toavenge him. Me she had not seen, nor did she till I darted out of myambush, and leapt after Rupert into the moat.

　　The same moment found my friends on the scene. They had reachedthe chateau in due time, and waited ready by the door. But Johann, sweptwith the rest to the rescue of the duke, did not open it; nay, he took a partagainst Rupert, putting himself forward more bravely than any in hisanxiety to avert suspicion; and he had received a wound, in the embrasureof the window. Till nearly half-past two Sapt waited; then, following myorders, he had sent Fritz to search the banks of the moat. I was not there.

　　Hastening back, Fritz told Sapt; and Sapt was for following orders still,and riding at full speed back to Tarlenheim; while Fritz would not hear ofabandoning me, let me have ordered what I would. On this they disputedsome few minutes; then Sapt, persuaded by Fritz, detached a party underBernenstein to gallop back to Tarlenheim and bring up the marshal, whilethe rest fell to on the great door of the chateau. For several minutes it resisted them; then, just as Antoinette de Mauban fired at Rupert ofHentzau on the bridge, they broke in, eight of them in all: and the firstdoor they came to was the door of Michael's room; and Michael lay deadacross the threshold, with a sword-thrust through his breast. Sapt cried outat his death, as I had heard, and they rushed on the servants; but these, infear, dropped their weapons, and Antoinette flung herself weeping atSapt's feet. And all she cried was,that I had been at the end of the bridgeand leapt off. "What of the prisoner?" asked Sapt; but she shook her head.

　　Then Sapt and Fritz, with the gentlemen behind them, crossed the bridge,slowly, warily, and without noise; and Fritz stumbled over the body of DeGautet in the way of the door. They felt him and found him dead.

　　Then they consulted, listening eagerly for any sound from the cellsbelow; but there came none, and they were greatly afraid that the King'sguards had killed him, and having pushed his body through the great pipe,had escaped the same way themselves. Yet, because I had been seen here,they had still some hope (thus indeed Fritz, in his friendship, told me); andgoing back to Michael's body, pushing aside Antoinette, who prayed by it,they found a key to the door which I had locked, and opened the door. Thestaircase was dark, and they would not use a torch at first, lest they shouldbe more exposed to fire. But soon Fritz cried: "The door down there isopen! See, there is light!" So they went on boldly, and found none tooppose them. And when they came to the outer room and saw the Belgian,Bersonin, lying dead, they thanked God, Sapt saying: "Ay, he has beenhere." Then rushing into the King's cell, they found Detchard lying deadacross the dead physician, and the King on his back with his chair by him.

　　And Fritz cried: "He's dead!" and Sapt drove all out of the room exceptFritz, and knelt down by the King; and, having learnt more of wounds andthe sign of death than I, he soon knew that the King was not dead, nor, ifproperly attended, would die. And they covered his face and carried him toDuke Michael's room, and laid him there; and Antoinette rose frompraying by the body of the duke and went to bathe the King's head anddress his wounds, till a doctor came. And Sapt, seeing I had been there,and having heard Antoinette's story, sent Fritz to search the moat and thenthe forest. He dared send no one else. And Fritz found my horse, and feared the worst. Then, as I have told, he found me, guided by the shoutwith which I had called on Rupert to stop and face me. And I think a manhas never been more glad to find his own brother alive than was Fritz tocome on me; so that, in love and anxiety for me, he thought nothing of athing so great as would have been the death of Rupert Hentzau. Yet, hadFritz killed him, I should have grudged it.

　　The enterprise of the King's rescue being thus prosperously concluded,it lay on Colonel Sapt to secure secrecy as to the King ever having been inneed of rescue. Antoinette de Mauban and Joh............