Here Bernenstein paused.
"I am ordered to wait outside till his Majesty summons me," he
said in a low voice, as though he feared that the irritable king
would hear him. "I'll open the door and announce you. Pray keep
him in a good temper, for all our sakes." And he flung the door
open, saying, "Sire, the Count of Luzau-Rischenheim has the honor
to wait on your Majesty." With this he shut the door promptly,
and stood against it. Nor did he move, save once, and then only
to take out his revolver and carefully inspect it.
The count advanced, bowing low, and striving to conceal a visible
agitation. He saw the king in his arm-chair; the king wore a suit
of brown tweeds (none the better for being crushed into a bundle
the night before); his face was in deep shadow, but Rischenheim
perceived that the beard was indeed gone. The king held out his
hand to Rischenheim, and motioned him to sit in a chair just
opposite to him and within a foot of the window-curtains.
"I'm delighted to see you, my lord," said the king.
Rischenheim looked up. Rudolf's voice had once been so like the
king's that no man could tell the difference, but in the last
year or two the king's had grown weaker, and Rischenheim seemed
to be struck by the vigor of the tones in which he was addressed.
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