With us my wife was the principal
speaker: she filled up, from what Rudolf had told her, the gaps
in our knowledge of how he had spent his night in Strelsau, and
by the time we arrived we were fully informed in every detail.
The queen said little. The impulse which had dictated her appeal
to Rischenheim and carried her through it seemed to have died
away; she had become again subject to fears and apprehension. I
saw her uneasiness when she suddenly put out her hand and touched
mine, whispering:
"He must be at the house by now."
Our way did not lie by the house, and we came to the palace
without any news of our absent chief (so I call him--as such we
all, from the queen herself, then regarded him). She did not
speak of him again; but her eyes seemed to follow me about as
though she were silently asking some service of me; what it was I
could not understand. Bernenstein had disappeared, and the
repentant count with him: knowing they were together, I was in no
uneasiness; Bernenstein would see that his companion contrived no
treachery. But I was puzzled by the queen's tacit appeal. And I
was myself on fire for news from the Konigstrasse. It was now
two hours since Rudolf Rassendyll had left us, and no word had
come of him or from him.
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