broad
marble steps and into her carriage, there was a great crowd awaiting
us, and we were welcomed with deafening cheers. What could I do? Had I
spoken then, they would have refused to believe that I was not the King;
they might have believed that the King had run mad. By Sapt's devices
and my own ungoverned passion I had been forced on, and the way back had
closed behind me; and the passion still drove me in the same direction
as the devices seduced me. I faced all Strelsau that night as the King
and the accepted suitor of the Princess Flavia.

At last, at three in the morning, when the cold light of dawning day
began to steal in, I was in my dressing-room, and Sapt alone was with
me. I sat like a man dazed, staring into the fire; he puffed at his
pipe; Fritz was gone to bed, having almost refused to speak to me. On
the table by me lay a rose; it had been in Flavia's dress, and, as we
parted, she had kissed it and given it to me.

Sapt advanced his hand towards the rose, but, with a quick movement, I
shut mine down upon it.

"That's mine," I said, "not yours--nor the King's either."

"We struck a good blow for the King tonight," said he.

I turned on him fiercely.

"What's to prevent me striking a blow for myself?" I said.

He nodded his head.

"I know what's in your mind," he said. "Yes, lad; but you're bound in
honour."

"Have you left me any honour?"

"Oh, come, to play a little trick on a girl--"

"You can spare me that. Colonel Sapt, if you would not have me utterly a
villain--if you would not have your King rot in Zenda, while Michael and
I play for the great stake outside--You follow me?"

"Ay, I follow you."

"We must act, and quickly! You saw tonight--you heard--tonight--"

"I did," said he.

"Your cursed acuteness told you what I should do. Well, leave me here a
week--and there's another problem for you. Do you find the answer?"

"Yes, I find it," he answered, frowning heavily. "But if you did that,
you'd have to fight me first--and kill me."

"Well, and if I had--or a score of men? I tell you, I could raise all
Strelsau on you in an hour, and choke you with your lies--yes, your mad
lies--in your mouth."

"It's gospel truth," he said--"thanks to my advice you could."

"I could marry the princess, and send Michael and his brother together
to--"

"I'm not denying it, lad," said he.

"Then, in God's name," I cried, stretching out my hands to him, "let us
go to Zenda and crush this Mi