CHAPTER X.
Wilhelm IX., King of Hesse-Heilfels by the divine right of grand larceny, gazed from a window in the castle at the rising sun; emblematic, as he reflected, of himself and his fortunes. He was a younger, better built man than his brother, Rudolph the Deposed. His legs were much longer than his brother’s, thus making his head cooler. There was an old saying in Hesse-Heilfels to the effect that “a Schwartzburger with short legs always toddles into trouble.” His superiority in length of limb had had much to do toward rendering Wilhelm’s usurpation successful. The impressionable and somewhat superstitious people of Hesse-Heilfels possessed an hereditary conviction that the longer the legs of a Schwartzburger the better fitted he was to rule the kingdom. When, therefore, it was whispered that Wilhelm plotted to seize the sceptre the Heilfelsans were drawn irresistibly to his cause. They preferred a long-legged Schwartzburger, of good habits, as king, to a short-legged gambler who was over-fond of wine.
Wilhelm’s face, pale and drawn from the stress of an exciting night, wore a smile of triumph as he looked forth upon the picturesque domain that he had so easily made his own. Backed by the people of Hesse-Heilfels, and sure of recognition at Berlin, he felt that he was safely seated upon a throne that he had long wished to occupy. Presently he turned from the window, and beckoned to a man who had recently entered the room and stood awaiting the pleasure of royalty.
“What news, Herr Schmidt?” asked Wilhelm eagerly, “is there any clew to my lost relatives? My brother can’t perform miracles. He must be concealed somewhere in the castle.”
“We have searched the building from top to bottom, your majesty, but can find no trace of Rudolph, the Princess, nor the Yankee. But a strange story has come from the Princess Hilda’s waiting-women. How much truth there is in it, I do not know.”
“We’ll find out at first hand,” said King Wilhelm, seating himself in a chair by the side of a small round table. “Summon all her women to my presence.”
Herr Schmidt hurried from the room.
“Carl Eingen, a word with you,” said Wilhelm, and the handsome baritone approached the king and deferentially bent the knee.
“As I understand it,” said Wilhelm, “the capture of this American adventurer was left to you, Carl Eingen. Why did you fail to obey orders?”
The tall youth turned pale, but answered firmly:
“The failure cannot be laid at my door, your majesty. I obeyed in detail the instructions I received. The weak spot in our scheme lay in the fact that we put too little stress upon the cleverness of Cousin Fritz.”
“Cousin Fritz?” cried the king in astonishment. “The madcap dwarf? Surely he could not have foiled you all! What had he to do with the affair?”
“An hour or so before we made the general advance upon the castle, your majesty, Cousin Fritz was seen—I saw him myself—dancing wildly on the balcony in front of the American’s apartment. The dwarf is the only man in the kingdom who knows all the underground secrets of this ancient castle. I have no doubt that he has led Rudolph and the rest to a place of, at least, temporary secrecy.”
“Just who are missing, Herr Eingen?” asked Wilhelm.
“Rudolph, the Princess Hilda, Baron Wollenstein, Count von Reibach, Herr Bennett, and Cousin Fritz.”
“That is all?”
“So far as I can learn, no one else has disappeared from the castle since our entrance.”
“It is strange,” mused the usurper. “So large a party, it seems to me, could not vanish in one instant without leaving some clew behind them. You say, Herr Eingen, that the cellars have been thoroughly explored?”
“Yes, your majesty. I led the exploring party myself. There is, beneath this castle, a labyrinth of passages, cellars, dungeons, and lumber rooms that taxed our patience severely, but we groped into every nook and corner, and found nothing to reward our search.”
At this moment Herr Schmidt returned, followed by a group of young women whom the events of the night had rendered hysterical. At a sign from Wilhelm, Herr Schmidt led his bevy of distraught maidens toward the usurper.
“Now understand me,” said Wilhelm sternly, “I shall imprison you in a body if you all insist upon talking at once. Furthermore, I object to tears. You have nothing to cry about if you will obey your king. Do you comprehend me? Your king, Wilhelm IX., by the grace of God monarch of Hesse-Heilfels. You there, in front, answer my questions! What is this wonderful tale that I hear has been spread abroad from your corner of the castle?”
Carl Eingen, his countenance disturbed, was anxiously glancing from face to face of the trembling women, seeking some one he could not find. In answer to Wilhelm, a maiden standing nearer to royalty than the others said, her voice tremulous with emotion:
“This morning, your majesty, about four o’clock, Cousin Fritz suddenly appeared, as if by magic, among us. He ordered us to make a bundle of things most necessary for the Princess Hilda’s comfort. Then he went away, accompanied by her royal highness’ favorite attendant.”
Carl Eingen gazed at the speaker earnestly, while Wilhelm said:
“Her favorite attendant? Who may that be?”
“The Fraulein Müller, your majesty.”
Carl Eingen’s face turned white. He had long loved Fraulein Müller, and her non-attendance upon Wilhelm had filled him with dismay. “Weren’t you in the cellars at that hour, Herr Eingen?” asked Wilhelm sternly.
“I was, your majesty—with twenty men with torches.”
“And you heard no sound—no footsteps—no echoes?”
“None, your majesty, that the vastness of the vaults would not explain.”
The usurper sat silent for a time, deep in thought. Now and again one of the waiting-women would sob hysterically. Carl Eingen’s impatience grew apace. He longed for action, for some physical outlet for the anxiety that oppressed him. He had seen little of Fraulein Müller since she had been taken into the household of the Princess Hilda, but his boyhood had been spent in her companionship. He could not remember the time when he had not loved her. Her bright face and sunny nature had been to him for years a solace and a hope. That she had been lured into the perils that surrounded the path of the royal fugitives, he could not now doubt. The conviction filled him with dismay. He longed to begin at once a renewal of the fruitless search he had made in the early morning. He watched the changing expressions on Wilhelm’s face anxiously. Presently the usurper spoke:
“Come here, Herr Schmidt,” said Wilhelm, a cruel tone in his deep voice. “Seat yourself at this table and write as I direct. Are you ready? Go on then. ‘To the people of Hesse-Heilfels, greeting: I, Wilhelm IX., by the grace of God king of Hesse-Heilfels, do call upon you to render up to me, dead or alive, the person of one Cousin Fritz, a dwarf, who has held, under my predecessor, the office of Court Jester. To the man or men who shall bring to my castle the body of said Cousin Fritz shall be paid the sum of five hundred marks. Given under my hand and seal, at the castle of Heilfels, this tenth day of August, 189—.’ There, I think that may be effective in crushing out the last sparks of rebellion in this afflicted land. Have a hundred copies of that proclamation made at once, Herr Schmidt. See to it that they are exposed in every wine-shop in the kingdom. Take a few of them, Herr Eingen, and affix them to the walls in the most remote corners of the cellars under us. Oh, one moment, Herr Schmidt; add to the proclamation that a full pardon will be granted to any one who has been in rebellion against Wilhelm IX., in case he aids in the capture of Cousin Fritz. That may have an effect upon Reibach and Wollenstein, if they should see the notice. As I remember them, those two men are among the worst products of Brother Rudolph’s worm-eaten vineyard. And now, gentlemen, let us break our fast. Ladies, I bid you good-morning. It is my fondest hope that you may have your mistress with you again at the earliest possible moment.”
Wilhelm arose and the audience was at an end. With a heavy heart, Carl Eingen joined Herr Schmidt and prepared for another descent to the weird regions beneath the castle. Meanwhile the people of Hesse-Heilfels had begun the day under a new régime, and the whisper went abroad throughout the kingdom that indulgence in the game of draw-poker would be construed as the crime of lese majesté.