“Then the Czar will not trust himself entirely to the count’s troops, sir?” the lad asked.
“Indeed he will not,” said Lord Hastings. “He wanted to add a thousand men to his personal bodyguard and only consented to adding the thousands upon my suggestion, backed up by his ministers.”
“And there are really twenty thousand men coming, sir?”
“There are. Following this train, at ten-minute intervals, are twenty more, each carrying a thousand men. They will not reach Moscow for an hour after the royal train arrives. Then they will be disembarked rapidly and marched to the palace, where the Czar is to rest before addressing the count’s troops. This, too, is my idea, for I figured that if there were to be any break it would be at that moment. A man engaged in treachery always plays to the spectacular. Then, too, if I were wrong, it could make no difference if the troops were there.”
“Then your plan is not to let the count know the Czar’s troops have arrived until the time for action comes, sir?”
“Exactly.”
“Had I been figuring this thing out, I couldn’t have done better myself,” said Frank modestly. “We seem to have planned just right, sir. There is only one thing I am sorry for.”
“And that?”
“That I shall have to remain behind while the Czar goes to the palace.”
“And why?”