"There is one thing preferable to imprisonment, your Majesty."
"Perhaps; but we must remember that they may not have been told of the assassination part of the scheme. They may have thought only to overthrow me; perhaps, too, they would not sell Rudarlia."
"It is giving them the benefit of a big doubt."
"I should not if there were any harm likely to come of it; but, if you will give orders to arrest these men simultaneously, I think their teeth will be drawn, and we shall have nothing to fear. In a little time it will not matter."
"And the others on the list, will your Majesty place them under surveillance?"
"No, I think not; for, if they have been approached, they have refused to acquiesce, if not, they will probably know nothing about it."
For a short time, few people knew that I had been abducted, but after a while it became almost public property. It was known, too, that I had shot Goltz, but it was not known that we had discovered evidence of a plot; that was kept from the knowledge of all save a chosen few.
Prince Alexis wrote to me, and ended his letter with a request for five thousand pounds, as a salve to his feelings at the reported death of his friend Baron von Goltz.
He must have had a sense of humour after all, although up to now I had discovered no trace of it.
I replied to this letter, sympathising with him over the loss of his friend, and regretting my inability to do more than pay for his funeral.