d Johann has to wait on the gentlemen."

"Poor Johann! He must be overworked. Yet I'm sure he could find half an
hour to come and see you."

"It would depend on the time, sir, perhaps."

"Do you love him?" I asked.

"Not I, sir."

"And you wish to serve the King?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then tell him to meet you at the second milestone out of Zenda tomorrow
evening at ten o'clock. Say you'll be there and will walk home with
him."

"Do you mean him harm, sir?"

"Not if he will do as I bid him. But I think I've told you enough, my
pretty maid. See that you do as I bid you. And, mind, no one is to know
that the King has been here."

I spoke a little sternly, for there is seldom harm in infusing a little
fear into a woman's liking for you, and I softened the effect by giving
her a handsome present. Then we dined, and, wrapping my cloak about
my face, with Fritz leading the way, we went downstairs to our horses
again.

It was but half-past eight, and hardly yet dark; the streets were full
for such a quiet little place, and I could see that gossip was all agog.
With the King on one side and the duke on the other, Zenda felt itself
the centre of all Ruritania. We jogged gently through the town, but set
our horses to a sharper pace when we reached the open country.

"You want to catch this fellow Johann?" asked Fritz.

"Ay, and I fancy I've baited the hook right. Our little Delilah will
bring our Samson. It is not enough, Fritz, to have no women in a house,
though brother Michael shows some wisdom there. If you want safety, you
must have none within fifty miles."

"None nearer than Strelsau, for instance," said poor Fritz, with a
lovelorn sigh.

We reached the avenue of the chateau, and were soon at the house. As the
hoofs of our horses sounded on the gravel, Sapt rushed out to meet us.

"Thank God, you're safe!" he cried. "Have you seen anything of them?"

"Of whom?" I asked, dismounting.

He drew us aside, that the grooms might not hear.

"Lad," he said to me, "you must not ride about here, unless with half a
dozen of us. You know among our men a tall young fellow, Bernenstein by
name?"

I knew him. He was a fine strapping young man, almost of my height, and
of light complexion.

"He lies in his room upstairs, with a bullet through his arm."

"The deuce he does!"

"After dinner he strolled out alone, and went a mile or so into the
wood; and as he walked, he thought he saw three men among the trees;
and