CHAPTER VII. THE MESSAGE OF SIMON THE HUNTSMAN
I RECEIVED the telegram sent to me by the Constable of Zenda at my own house in Strelsau about one o’clock. It is needless to say that I made immediate preparations to obey his summons. My wife indeed protested—and I must admit with some show of reason—that I was unfit to endure further fatigues, and that my bed was the only proper place for me. I could not listen; and James, Mr. Rassendyll’s servant, being informed of the summons, was at my elbow with a card of the trains from Strelsau to Zenda, without waiting for any order from me. I had talked to this man in the course of our journey, and discovered that he had been in the service of Lord Topham, formerly British Ambassador to the Court of Ruritania. How far he was acquainted with the secrets of his present master, I did not know, but his familiarity with the city and the country made him of great use to me. We discovered, to our annoyance, that no train left till four o’clock, and then only a slow one; the result was that we could not arrive at the castle till past six o’clock. This hour was not absolutely too late, but I was of course eager to be on the scene of action as early as possible.
“You’d better see if you can get a special, my lord,” James suggested; “I’ll run on to the station and arrange about it.”
I agreed. Since I was known to be often employed in the king’s service, I could take a special train without exciting remark. James set out, and about a quarter of an hour later I got into my carriage to drive to the station. Just as the horses were about to start, however, the butler approached me.
“I beg your pardon, my lord,” said he, “but Bauer didn’t return with your lordship. Is he coming back?”
“No,” said I. “Bauer was grossly impertinent on the journey, and I dismissed him.”
“Those foreign men are never to be trusted, my lord. And your lordship’s bag?”
“What, hasn’t it come?” I cried. “I told him to send it.”
“It’s not arrived, my lord.”