“A very ugly mystery for all concerned, if it is not cleared up.”
“Oh, come, you take too dark a view of things, my dear Count. It will be awkward for the poor wretches of sentries, of course; but how could it possibly affect any one else? By the bye, this is something in your department. Vassili says that the rescued prisoners—our friends, that is, naturally—were to leave Tatarjé by rail this morning, which means that they will arrive here to-night.”
“I will tell the Queen, and inquire what she wishes done,” said Cyril, as the Premier rose to depart; but when he was left alone he sat still for a time. “I must hear what the ladies have to say,” he told himself at last. “They may be able to throw some light on the earlier stages of the affair. But as to these two ‘unfortunate accidents,’ I have no doubt whatever. It is true, of course, that the commandant’s brains were blown out; but I think it extremely unlikely that the revolver which did it was in his hand at the time. As for the O’Malachy, he was helped to escape because he knew too much to be brought to trial, and because, as a Scythian subject, it would have been dangerous to put him out of the way. It looks very much as if the Bishop had been squared, but that time will show.”
Banishing these speculations from his mind with an effort, he sought an audience of Ernestine, and acquainted her with the approach of Baroness von Hilfenstein and the rest of the members of the Court. She was overjoyed by the news, and, as he had expected and hoped, directed him to take a special train, the royal train, and meet them at a station some thirty miles from Bellaviste, thus bringing them back in triumph, as a mark of the Queen’s appreciation of their services. There was no time to be lost if the transfer was to be effected without undignified haste, and Cyril telephoned his orders immediately to the railway officials, and found the royal train waiting for him when he reached the station. In spite of his precautions, he was a little late in arriving at his goal, and found the people whom he had come to welcome waiting on the platform to welcome him, which they did in many cases with tears of joy. When he had reassured them all separately as to the safety of the King and Queen, and the fact that their health was not likely to suffer permanently from the hardships they had undergone (this was a point on which Mrs Jones, in particular, showed herself almost impossible to convince), he succeeded in getting them safely bestowed in the train, and himself made one of a pleasant party in the royal saloon. Baroness von Hilfenstein and her daughter had endless questions to ask about the escape from Tatarjé, Stefanovics was all anxiety as to the feeling in Bellaviste with regard to the rebellion, and every one else had some inquiry to make; but at last Cyril succeeded in gaining a hearing for his own question.
“Tell me what happened after we had left,” he said. “Not the vaguest scrap of information has reached us about that.”
“Really,” said Baroness von Hilfenstein, “it all happened very much as you said it would, Count. About half an hour after you had gone we began to hear stealthy sounds, as though people were moving about round the house, and presently there came a tremendous knocking at the front door. The apartments of M. and Madame Stefanovics were situated in the front of the house, as you know; and after telling his wife to rise and dress at once, M. Stefanovics opened the window and asked who was there. It proved to be the commandant, who said that he had received intimation of a plot to seize the persons of the King and Queen, and begged that they would allow him to conduct them at once to the Bishop’s palace for safety.”
“Seeking safety in the lion’s mouth!” said Cyril. “I hope you did not recall the story of the spider and the fly to the commandant’s memory, Stefanovics?”
“No, indeed, Count,” returned the chamberlain. “I expressed horror at the news and gratitude to the commandant, but declined to alarm the Queen before morning. To that my friend replied that he durst not keep his men in the grounds of the Villa, where they were so much exposed to attack, and that he must get them safely behind walls in another hour, if he had to take the royal party with him by force. As he threatened to break open the door, I went down to open it, sending my wife to warn the Baroness.”
“Yes,” interrupted Baroness Paula, “and Madame Stefanovics and my mother came and dragged me out of bed and into the Queen’s room, and made me dress up in her clothes, and told me so many things which I was to do and was not to do that I was quite dazed. Then, before I was ready, in stalked Mrs Jones through the private door, carrying in her arms—what do you think? Why, the great doll in the uniform of a Hercynian grenadier which the Emperor Sigismund sent to our King, dressed up in his Majesty’s clothes. I really thought it was the King until she showed me the face. Meanwhile, Madame Stefanovics had gone to wake the other ladies——”
“And I whispered to each not to be alarmed by anything she might see, but to behave just as usual,” said Madame Stefanovics proudly.