But the
eyes had a message, and an urgent one, for him. He read it; he
knew that it bade him second what Rudolf Rassendyll had done. He
came forward and approached Rudolf; then he fell on one knee, and
kissed Rudolf's left hand that was extended to him.
"I'm very glad to see you, Lieutenant von Bernenstein," said
Rudolf Rassendyll.
For a moment the thing was done, ruin averted, and safety
secured. Everything had been at stake; that there was such a man
as Rudolf Rassendyll might have been disclosed; that he had once
filled the king's throne was a high secret which they were
prepared to trust to Helsing under stress of necessity; but there
remained something which must be hidden at all costs, and which
the queen's passionate exclamation had threatened to expose.
There was a Rudolf Rassendyll, and he had been king; but, more
than all this, the queen loved him and he the queen. That could
be told to none, not even to Helsing; for Helsing, though he
would not gossip to the town, would yet hold himself bound to
carry the matter to the king. So Rudolf chose to take any future
difficulties rather than that present and certain disaster.
Sooner than entail it on her he loved, he claimed for himself the
place of her husband and the name of king.
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