There were other considerations, moreover. Marie herself might still be playing me false, or these men might be using her as a decoy to lure me into a trap. I was inclined to the latter view. I believed the girl to be true to her mistress, and I read the detention of the Baroness Gratz, judged by what the girl had said of her manner, to indicate that the treachery was hers, and not the girl's. In any event I must be on my guard.
I felt that until I could make the Baron Heckscher understand that any harm to either Minna or myself would be the signal for the death of the Duke Marx there might be danger for us both.
For Minna's sake—seeing that her helplessness would be vastly increased were anything to happen to me—I must run no unnecessary personal risks. I would use the occasion only therefore to endeavor to ascertain where Minna had been carried. After a few hours, as soon, that was, as I could safely communicate with Baron Heckscher, the axis of the danger would be shifted.
Presently the carriage stopped, and I was told that we were near the house. Calculating that if any mischief were meant a secret approach would be as dangerous as an open one, I ordered the coachman to drive straight up to the door, and I jumped out, and myself thundered at the heavy knocker, and pealed away loudly at the bell.
The noise awoke the echoes of the still, heavy, morning air, but for a long time received no attention from within the house. I grew impatient, and walked round it, examining the windows, which for the most part were closely shuttered.
I went back to the door, and knocked and rang again; and then a window at the top of the house was opened, and an old man put out his head and asked what was the matter.
"Come down to the door at once," I replied peremptorily.
"What for?"
"Come down," I cried angrily. "At once. I order you in the name of the Queen—or I shall have the door broken in."
The head was withdrawn and I thought I could hear the sounds of a muffled conference.