urs, girl? Get out of the way!"

She moved aside now, making him no answer. He rushed past; she looked
after him with a smile of triumph. Then she fell again to her sweeping.
The king had bidden her be ready at eleven. It was half-past ten. Soon
the king would have need of her.

CHAPTER XIV. THE NEWS COMES TO STRELSAU

ON leaving No. 19, Rischenheim walked swiftly some little way up the
Konigstrasse and then hailed a cab. He had hardly raised his hand when
he heard his name called, and, looking round, saw Anton von Strofzin's
smart phaeton pulling up beside him. Anton was driving, and on the other
seat was a large nosegay of choice flowers.

"Where are you off to?" cried Anton, leaning forward with a gay smile.

"Well, where are you? To a lady's, I presume, from your bouquet there,"
answered Rischenheim as lightly as he could.

"The little bunch of flowers," simpered young Anton, "is a cousinly
offering to Helga von Tarlenheim, and I'm going to present it. Can I
give you a lift anywhere?"'

Although Rischenheim had intended to go first to the palace, Anton's
offer seemed to give him a good excuse for drawing the more likely
covert first.

"I was going to the palace to find out where the king is. I want to see
him, if he'll give me a minute or two," he remarked.

"I'll drive you there afterwards. Jump up. That your cab? Here you are,
cabman," and flinging the cabman a crown, he displaced the bouquet and
made room for Rischenheim beside him.

Anton's horses, of which he was not a little proud, made short work of
the distance to my home. The phaeton rattled up to the door and both
young men got out. The moment of their arrival found the chancellor just
leaving to return to his own home. Helsing knew them both, and stopped
to rally Anton on the matter of his bouquet. Anton was famous for his
bouquets, which he distributed widely among the ladies of Strelsau.

"I hoped it was for my daughter," said the chancellor slyly. "For I love
flowers, and my wife has ceased to provide me with them; moreover, I've
ceased to provide her with them, so, but for my daughter, we should have
none."

Anton answered his chaff, promising a bouquet for the young lady the
next day, but declaring that he could not disappoint his cousin. He
was interrupted by Rischenheim, who, looking round on the group of
bystanders, now grown numerous, exclaimed: "What's going on here, my
dear chancellor? What are all these people hanging about h