When Desmond Ellerey had followed the messenger across the ball-room, his guide suddenly paused and said in a low tone:
"Her Majesty is in her private apartment, and I am instructed to take you there. Will you come with me this way?"
He turned from the ballroom and led Ellerey along a corridor and through a door, which he locked after him. They passed up one corridor and down another for a little distance, and then ushering him into an ante-room, his guide left him there while he went to inform the Queen of his arrival. In a few moments he returned, and, holding open a door, bid him enter.
The Queen was alone, seated by a table at which she had been writing.
Ellerey approached her and bent over her hand.
"The time has come, Captain Ellerey," she said. "You are ready?"
"I am only waiting your Majesty's commands."
"You have been sent once or twice, Captain Ellerey, to dislodge a certain brigand called Vasilici from his fastnesses in the mountains, and have experienced disappointment perhaps in not finding him."
"That is so, your Majesty."
"It was never intended that you should find him," she answered. "For months past loyal subjects have been gathering in the mountains with Vasilici, waiting for our word to revolt against the thraldom this country is under to foreign nations. In the future it is for us to dictate, not to obey. His Majesty, watched as he is, cannot act freely, so the duty devolves on me. It is for you to proclaim that we in Sturatzberg are ready, by carrying a token to Vasilici, which I will give you, and which you must guard with your life, Captain Ellerey. The mission with which you are intrusted is a hazardous one. Faction is rife in the country, and spies lurk in every corner of it. Even now there may be some setting out upon the road to bar your way to Vasilici. But for the trusted bearer of this token await high honor and great reward."
"Even for a foreigner?" asked Ellerey.