night in the gardens.

Suddenly the faintest exclamation came from Sapt. He put his hand back
and beckoned to Bernenstein. The young man handed his lantern to the
constable, who set it close to the side of the window-frame. The queen,
absolutely engrossed in her lover, saw nothing, but I perceived what had
caught Sapt's attention. There were scores on the paint and indentations
in the wood, just at the edge of the panel and near the lock. I glanced
at Sapt, who nodded his head. It looked very much as though somebody had
tried to force the door that night, employing a knife which had dented
the woodwork and scratched the paint. The least thing was enough to
alarm us, standing where we stood, and the constable's face was full
of suspicion. Who had sought an entrance? It could be no trained and
practised housebreaker; he would have had better tools.

But now our attention was again diverted. Rudolf stopped short. He still
looked for a moment at the sky, then his glance dropped to the ground at
his feet. A second later he jerked his head--it was bare, and I saw
the dark red hair stir with the movement--like a man who has settled
something which caused him a puzzle. In an instant we knew, by the quick
intuition of contagious emotion, that the question had found its answer.
He was by now king or a fugitive. The Lady of the Skies had given her
decision. The thrill ran through us; I felt the queen draw herself
together at my side; I felt the muscles of Rischenheim's arm which
rested against my shoulder grow rigid and taut. Sapt's face was full of
eagerness, and he gnawed his moustache silently. We gathered closer to
one another. At last we could bear the suspense no longer. With one look
at the queen and another at me, Sapt stepped on to the gravel. He would
go and learn the answer; thus the unendurable strain that had stretched
us like tortured men on a rack would be relieved. The queen did not
answer his glance, nor even seem to see that he had moved. Her eyes
were still all for Mr. Rassendyll, her thoughts buried in his; for her
happiness was in his hands and lay poised on the issue of that decision
whose momentousness held him for a moment motionless on the path. Often
I seem to see him as he stood there, tall, straight, and stately, the
king a man's fancy paints when he reads of great monarchs who flourished
long ago in the springtime of the world.

Sapt's step crunched on the gravel. Rudolf heard it and turned his head.