n which
the Castle is situated, there lies a large tract of wood. It is rising
ground, and in the centre of the demesne, on the top of the hill, stands
a fine modern chateau, the property of a distant kinsman of Fritz's, the
Count Stanislas von Tarlenheim. Count Stanislas himself was a student
and a recluse. He seldom visited the house, and had, on Fritz's request,
very readily and courteously offered me its hospitality for myself and
my party. This, then, was our destination; chosen ostensibly for the
sake of the boar-hunting (for the wood was carefully preserved, and
boars, once common all over Ruritania, were still to be found there
in considerable numbers), really because it brought us within striking
distance of the Duke of Strelsau's more magnificent dwelling on the
other side of the town. A large party of servants, with horses and
luggage, started early in the morning; we followed at midday, travelling
by train for thirty miles, and then mounting our horses to ride the
remaining distance to the chateau.

We were a gallant party. Besides Sapt and Fritz, I was accompanied by
ten gentlemen: every one of them had been carefully chosen, and no less
carefully sounded, by my two friends, and all were devotedly attached to
the person of the King. They were told a part of the truth; the attempt
on my life in the summer-house was revealed to them, as a spur to their
loyalty and an incitement against Michael. They were also informed that
a friend of the King's was suspected to be forcibly confined within the
Castle of Zenda. His rescue was one of the objects of the expedition;
but, it was added, the King's main desire was to carry into effect
certain steps against his treacherous brother, as to the precise nature
of which they could not at present be further enlightened. Enough that
the King commanded their services, and would rely on their devotion when
occasion arose to call for it. Young, well-bred, brave, and loyal, they
asked no more: they were ready to prove their dutiful obedience, and
prayed for a fight as the best and most exhilarating mode of showing it.

Thus the scene was shifted from Strelsau to the chateau of Tarlenheim
and Castle of Zenda, which frowned at us across the valley. I tried to
shift my thoughts also, to forget my love, and to bend all my energies
to the task before me. It was to get the King out of the Castle alive.
Force was useless: in some trick lay the chance; and I had already an
inkling of