“Absolutely. His devotion to me is unbounded, and I can answer for his discretion as much as for my own.”
“In that case, I consent.”
Hermengarde summoned the page, and despatched him to the Chancellor’s cabinet. While they waited, the two intriguers fell into attitudes like those of wrestlers reposing for a brief spell in the intervals of an exhausting struggle.
It was with no small surprise that the Minister of the Interior received the summons. But no trace of this feeling appeared in his countenance as he entered the room, and with perfect calmness saluted the Princess, and accepted the seat which she assigned to him with a silent gesture.
The Chancellor addressed him.
“We have sent for you, Herr Moritz, to invite your co-operation in an affair of an extremely delicate nature, in which the strictest secrecy is essential.”
The Minister bowed in a matter-of-fact way, evidently quite unconscious of what was coming.
“The fact is that the Princess Hermengarde and myself have lately become uneasy about the King.” Herr Moritz could not repress a slight start. “You had the advantage of seeing his Majesty to-day, and I believe you fully shared my sense of the danger to which his intimacy with this fanatical Socialist was likely to lead. Well, already we have had a warning of what is coming. The King and this man have left the Castle by stealth, and we suspect that they have gone secretly to Mannhausen.”
Herr Moritz’s face showed a grave apprehension.
“I see that you realise the seriousness of this. The first step we have to take is to ascertain their whereabouts, and this comes into your province. You will have to direct the police to watch for the appearance of Herr Mark, and as soon as he is found, to track the King through him.”