So the chancellor, having
given his orders, and being himself aflame with the liveliest
curiosity, lost no time in obeying the king's commands, and
arrived at my house before six o'clock.
When the visitor was announced Rudolf was upstairs, having a bath
and some breakfast. Helga had learnt her lesson well enough to
entertain the visitor until Rudolf appeared. She was full of
apologies for my absence, protesting that she could in no way
explain it; neither could she so much as conjecture what was the
king's business with her husband. She played the dutiful wife
whose virtue was obedience, whose greatest sin would be an
indiscreet prying into what it was not her part to know.
"I know no more," she said, "than that Fritz wrote to me to
expect the king and him at about five o'clock, and to be ready to
let them in by the window, as the king did not wish the servants
to be aware of his presence."
The king came and greeted Helsing most graciously. The tragedy
and comedy of these busy days were strangely mingled; even now I
can hardly help smiling when I picture Rudolf, with grave lips,
but that distant twinkle in his eye (I swear he enjoyed the
sport), sitting down by the old chancellor in the darkest corner
of the room, covering him with flattery, hinting at most strange
things, deploring a secret obstacle to immediate confidence,
promising that to-morrow, at latest, he would seek the advice of
the wisest and most tried of his counselors, appealing to the
chancellor's loyalty to trust him till then.
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