ght was so dark that the spy, who had seen
the king but once and never Mr. Rassendyll, did not recognize who the
visitor was, but he rightly conceived that he should serve his employer
by tracking the steps of the tall man who made so mysterious an arrival
and so surreptitious a departure from the suspected house. Accordingly,
as Rudolf turned the corner and Helena closed the window, a short,
thickset figure started cautiously out of the projecting shadow, and
followed in Rudolf's wake through the storm. The pair, tracker and
tracked, met nobody, save here and there a police constable keeping
a most unwilling beat. Even such were few, and for the most part more
intent on sheltering in the lee of a friendly wall and thereby keeping a
dry stitch or two on them than on taking note of passers-by. On the pair
went. Now Rudolf turned into the Konigstrasse. As he did so, Bauer, who
must have been nearly a hundred yards behind (for he could not start
till the shutters were closed) quickened his pace and reduced the
interval between them to about seventy yards. This he might well have
thought a safe distance on a night so wild, when the rush of wind and
the pelt of the rain joined to hide the sound of footsteps.

But Bauer reasoned as a townsman, and Rudolf Rassendyll had the quick
ear of a man bred in the country and trained to the woodland. All at
once there was a jerk of his head; I know so well the motion which
marked awakened attention in him. He did not pause nor break his stride:
to do either would have been to betray his suspicions to his follower;
but he crossed the road to the opposite side to that where No. 19 was
situated, and slackened his pace a little, so that there was a longer
interval between his own footfalls. The steps behind him grew slower,
even as his did; their sound came no nearer: the follower would not
overtake. Now, a man who loiters on such a night, just because another
head of him is fool enough to loiter, has a reason for his action other
than what can at first sight be detected. So thought Rudolf Rassendyll,
and his brain was busied with finding it out.

Then an idea seized him, and, forgetting the precautions that had
hitherto served so well, he came to a sudden stop on the pavement,
engrossed in deep thought. Was the man who dogged his steps Rupert
himself? It would be like Rupert to track him, like Rupert to conceive
such an attack, like Rupert to be ready either for a fearless assault
from th