CHAPTER XIII
OMPERTZ FINISHES HIS NIGHT’S WORK
CAPTAIN VON OMPERTZ, when the Chancellor had dismissed him, made very natural haste to get clear of the palace precincts before his deception should be discovered. He had not, however, gone far when he found he was being caught up by one of his late associates, the Italian to whom Rollmar had whispered. Judging it wiser to appear in no particular haste, he turned and waited for the fellow to join him.
“Ah, you are going home, Capitano, after a pretty night’s work. May I come with you as far as our ways lie together?”
Now if Ompertz had really carried out his late orders he would have declined, with no complimentary language, the company of a man whom he loathed and whose associateship he resented. But to-night he could scarcely with prudence refuse the fellow’s proposal, so they went on together.
“I am in haste to get to my lodging,” he said. “So step out, signore. I hope to-night’s work has been more acceptable to you than it has to me.”
The Italian, edging his lithe body close to his companion’s shoulder, as with quickly gliding steps he kept pace with the soldier’s stride, threw out his arms with a deprecating gesture.
“Basta! Capitano mio, such little affairs are common enough at our Court. Our Chancellor ever takes the nearest way to his destination. A wise man does not wait for a wasp to sting him before he crushes it. And the Baron has the wisest head in Europe to-day.”
“And the reddest hand, eh?”
“Ah, amico mio, a kingdom is not to be maintained in safety without the judicious spilling of a little blood. Better a few drops of rain than a storm, a little blood-letting than a fever.”
“That is true enough,” Ompertz assented, not caring to express his real views on the subject. “And we servants of the State, must regard ourselves as the great surgeon’s lancets, eh?”