The Prisoner and the KingIn order to a full understanding of what had occurred in the Castle ofZenda, it is necessary to supplement my account of what I myself saw anddid on that night by relating briefly1 what I afterwards learnt from Fritz andMadame de Mauban. The story told by the latter explained clearly how ithappened that the cry which I had arranged as a stratagem2 and a sham3 hadcome, in dreadful reality, before its time, and had thus, as it seemed at themoment, ruined our hopes, while in the end it had favoured them. Theunhappy woman, fired, I believe by a genuine attachment4 to the Duke ofStrelsau, no less than by the dazzling prospects5 which a dominion6 overhim opened before her eyes, had followed him at his request from Paris toRuritania. He was a man of strong passions, but of stronger will, and hiscool head ruled both. He was content to take all and give nothing. Whenshe arrived, she was not long in finding that she had a rival in the PrincessFlavia; rendered desperate, she stood at nothing which might give, or keepfor her, her power over the duke. As I say, he took and gave not.
Simultaneously, Antoinette found herself entangled7 in his audaciousschemes. Unwilling8 to abandon him, bound to him by the chains of shameand hope, yet she would not be a decoy, nor, at his bidding, lure9 me todeath. Hence the letters of warning she had written. Whether the lines shesent to Flavia were inspired by good or bad feeling, by jealousy10 or by pity,I do not know; but here also she served us well. When the duke went toZenda, she accompanied him; and here for the first time she learnt the fullmeasure of his cruelty, and was touched with compassion11 for theunfortunate King. From this time she was with us; yet, from what she toldme, I know that she still (as women will) loved Michael, and trusted togain his life, if not his pardon, from the King, as the reward for herassistance. His triumph she did not desire, for she loathed12 his crime, andloathed yet more fiercely what would be the prize of it--his marriage withhis cousin, Princess Flavia.
At Zenda new forces came into play--the lust13 and daring of young Rupert. He was caught by her beauty, perhaps; perhaps it was enough forhim that she belonged to another man, and that she hated him. For manydays there had been quarrels and ill will between him and the duke, andthe scene which I had witnessed in the duke's room was but one of many.
Rupert's proposals to me, of which she had, of course, been ignorant, in noway surprised her when I related them; she had herself warned Michaelagainst Rupert, even when she was calling on me to deliver her from bothof them. On this night, then, Rupert had determined14 to have his will. Whenshe had gone to her room, he, having furnished himself with a key to it,had made his entrance. Her cries had brought the duke, and there in thedark room, while she screamed, the men had fought; and Rupert, havingwounded his master with a mortal blow, had, on the servants rushing in,escaped through the window as I have described. The duke's blood,spurting out, had stained his opponent's shirt; but Rupert, not knowing thathe had dealt Michael his death, was eager to finish the encounter. How hemeant to deal with the other three of the band, I know not. I dare say hedid not think, for the killing15 of Michael was not premeditated. Antoinette,left alone with the duke, had tried to stanch16 his wound, and thus was shebusied till he died; and then, hearing Rupert's taunts17, she had come forth18 toavenge him. Me she had not seen, nor did she till I darted19 out of myambush, and leapt after Rupert into the moat.
The same moment found my friends on the scene. They had reachedthe chateau20 in due time, and waited ready by the door. But Johann, sweptwith the rest to the rescue of the duke, did not open it; nay21, he took a partagainst Rupert, putting himself forward more bravely than any in hisanxiety to avert22 suspicion; and he had received a wound, in the embrasureof the window. Till nearly half-past two Sapt waited; then, following myorders, he had sent Fritz to search the banks of the moat. I was not there.
Hastening back, Fritz told Sapt; and Sapt was for following orders still,and riding at full speed back to Tarlenheim; while Fritz would not hear ofabandoning me, let me have ordered what I would. On this they disputedsome few minutes; then Sapt, persuaded by Fritz, detached a party underBernenstein to gallop23 back to Tarlenheim and bring up the marshal, whilethe rest fell to on the great door of the chateau. For several minutes it resisted them; then, just as Antoinette de Mauban fired at Rupert ofHentzau on the bridge, they broke in, eight of them in all: and the firstdoor they came to was the door of Michael's room; and Michael lay deadacross the threshold, with a sword-thrust through his breast. Sapt cried outat his death, as I had heard, and they rushed on the servants; but these, infear, dropped their weapons, and Antoinette flung herself weeping atSapt's feet. And all she cried was,that I had been at the end of the bridgeand leapt off. "What of the prisoner?" asked Sapt; but she shook her head.
Then Sapt and Fritz, with the gentlemen behind them, crossed the bridge,slowly, warily24, and without noise; and Fritz stumbled over the body of DeGautet in the way of the door. They felt him and found him dead.
Then they consulted, listening eagerly for any sound from the cellsbelow; but there came none, and they were greatly afraid that the King'sguards had killed him, and having pushed his body through the great pipe,had escaped the same way themselves. Yet, because I had been seen here,they had still some hope (thus indeed Fritz, in his friendship, told me); andgoing back to Michael's body, pushing aside Antoinette, who prayed by it,they found a key to the door which I had locked, and opened the door. Thestaircase was dark, and they would not use a torch at first, lest they shouldbe more exposed to fire. But soon Fritz cried: "The door down there isopen! See, there is light!" So they went on boldly, and found none tooppose them. And when they came to the outer room and saw the Belgian,Bersonin, lying dead, they thanked God, Sapt saying: "Ay, he has beenhere." Then rushing into the King's cell, they found Detchard lying deadacross the dead physician, and the King on his back with his chair by him.
And Fritz cried: "He's dead!" and Sapt drove all out of the room exceptFritz, and knelt down by the King; and, having learnt more of wounds andthe sign of death than I, he soon knew that the King was not dead, nor, ifproperly attended, would die. And they covered his face and carried him toDuke Michael's room, and laid him there; and Antoinette rose frompraying by the body of the duke and went to bathe the King's head anddress his wounds, till a doctor came. And Sapt, seeing I had been there,and having heard Antoinette's story, sent Fritz to search the moat and thenthe forest. He dared send no one else. And Fritz found my horse, and feared the worst. Then, as I have told, he found me, guided by the shoutwith which I had called on Rupert to stop and face me. And I think a manhas never been more glad to find his own brother alive than was Fritz tocome on me; so that, in love and anxiety for me, he thought nothing of athing so great as would have been the death of Rupert Hentzau. Yet, hadFritz killed him, I should have grudged25 it.
The enterprise of the King's rescue being thus prosperously concluded,it lay on Colonel Sapt to secure secrecy26 as to the King ever having been inneed of rescue. Antoinette de Mauban and Johann the keeper (who, indeed,was too much hurt to be wagging his tongue just now) were sworn toreveal nothing; and Fritz went forth to find--not the King, but the unnamedfriend of the King, who had lain in Zenda and flashed for a moment beforethe dazed eyes of Duke Michael's servants on the drawbridge. Themetamorphosis had happened; and the King, wounded almost to death bythe attacks of the gaolers who guarded his friend, had at last overcomethem, and rested now, wounded but alive, in Black Michael's own room inthe Castle. There he had been carried, his face covered with a cloak, fromthe cell; and thence orders issued, that if his friend were found, he shouldbe brought directly and privately27 to the King, and that meanwhilemessengers should ride at full speed to Tarlenheim, to tell MarshallStrakencz to assure the princess of the King's safety and to come himselfwith all speed to greet the King. The princess was enjoined28 to remain atTarlenheim, and there await her cousin's coming or his further injunctions.
Thus the King would come to his own again, having wrought29 brave deeds,and escaped, almost by a miracle, the treacherous30 assault of his unnaturalbrother.
This ingenious arrangement of my long-headed old friend prospered31 inevery way, save where it encountered a force that often defeats the mostcunning schemes. I mean nothing else than the pleasure of a woman. For,let her cousin and sovereign send what command he chose (or ColonelSapt chose for him), and let Marshal Strakencz insist as he would, thePrincess Flavia was in no way minded to rest at Tarlenheim while herlover lay wounded at Zenda; and when the Marshal, with a small suite,rode forth from Tarlenheim on the way to Zenda, the princess's carriage followed immediately behind, and in this order they passed through thetown, where the report was already rife32 that the King, going the nightbefore to remonstrate33 with his brother, in all friendliness34, for that he heldone of the King's friends in confinement35 in the Castle, had been mosttraitorously set upon; that there had been a desperate conflict; that theduke was slain36 with several of his gentlemen; and that the King, woundedas he was, had seized and held the Castle of Zenda. All of which talk made,as may be supposed, a mighty37 excitement: and the wires were set inmotion, and the tidings came to Strelsau only just after orders had beensent thither38 to parade the troops and overawe the dissatisfied quarters ofthe town with a display of force.
Thus the Princess Flavia came to Zenda. And as she drove up the hill,with the Marshal riding by the wheel and still imploring39 her to return inobedience to the King's orders, Fritz von Tarlenheim, with the prisoner ofZenda, came to the edge of the forest. I had revived from my swoon, andwalked, resting on Fritz's arm; and looking out from the cover of the trees,I saw the princess. Suddenly understanding from a glance at mycompanion's face that we must not meet her, I sank on my knees behind aclump of bushes. But there was one whom we had forgotten, but whofollowed us, and was not disposed to let slip the chance of earning a smileand maybe a crown or two; and, while we lay hidden, the little farm-girlcame by us and ran to the princess, curtseying and crying:
"Madame, the King is here--in the bushes! May I guide you to him,madame?""Nonsense, child!" said old Strakencz; "the King lies wounded in theCastle.""Yes, sir, he's wounded, I know; but he's there--with Count Fritz-- andnot at the Castle," she persisted.
"Is he in two places, or are there two Kings?" asked Flavia, bewildered.
"And how should he be there?""He pursued a gentleman, madame, and they fought till Count Fritzcame; and the other gentleman took my father's horse from me and rodeaway; but the King is here with Count Fritz. Why, madame, is thereanother man in Ruritania like the King?""No, my child," said Flavia softly (I was told it afterwards), and shesmiled and gave the girl money. "I will go and see this gentleman," andshe rose to alight from the carriage.
But at this moment Sapt came riding from the Castle, and, seeing theprincess, made the best of a bad job, and cried to her that the King waswell tended and in no danger.
"In the Castle?" she asked.
"Where else, madame?" said he, bowing.
"But this girl says he is yonder--with Count Fritz."Sapt turned his eyes on the child with an incredulous smile.
"Every fine gentleman is a King to such," said he.
"Why, he's as like the King as one pea to another, madame!" cried thegirl, a little shaken but still obstinate40.
Sapt started round. The old Marshal's face asked unspoken questions.
Flavia's glance was no less eloquent42. Suspicion spread quick.
"I'll ride myself and see this man," said Sapt hastily.
"Nay, I'll come myself," said the princess.
"Then come alone," he whispered.
And she, obedient to the strange hinting in his face, prayed theMarshal and the rest to wait; and she and Sapt came on foot towards wherewe lay, Sapt waving to the farm-girl to keep at a distance. And when I sawthem coming, I sat in a sad heap on the ground, and buried my face in myhands. I could not look at her. Fritz knelt by me, laying his hand on myshoulder.
"Speak low, whatever you say," I heard Sapt whisper as they came up;and the next thing I heard was a low cry--half of joy, half of fear-- fromthe princess:
"It is he! Are you hurt?"And she fell on the ground by me, and gently pulled my hands away;but I kept my eyes to the ground.
"It is the King!" she said. "Pray, Colonel Sapt, tell me where lay thewit of the joke you played on me?"We answered none of us; we three were silent before her. Regardlessof them, she threw her arms round my neck and kissed me. Then Sapt spoke41 in a low hoarse43 whisper:
"It is not the King. Don't kiss him; he's not the King."She drew back for a moment; then, with an arm still round my neck,she asked, in superb indignation:
"Do I not know my love? Rudolf my love!""It is not the King," said old Sapt again; and a sudden sob44 broke fromtender-hearted Fritz.
It was the sob that told her no comedy was afoot.
"He is the King!" she cried. "It is the King's face--the King's ring-- myring! It is my love!""Your love, madame," said old Sapt, "but not the King. The King isthere in the Castle. This gentleman--""Look at me, Rudolf! look at me!" she cried, taking my face betweenher hands. "Why do you let them torment45 me? Tell me what it means!"Then I spoke, gazing into her eyes.
"God forgive me, madame!" I said. "I am not the King!"I felt her hands clutch my cheeks. She gazed at me as never man's facewas scanned yet. And I, silent again, saw wonder born, and doubt grow,and terror spring to life as she looked. And very gradually the grasp of herhands slackened; she turned to Sapt, to Fritz, and back to me: thensuddenly she reeled forward and fell in my arms; and with a great cry ofpain I gathered her to me and kissed her lips. Sapt laid his hand on my arm.
I looked up in his face. And I laid her softly on the ground, and stood up,looking on her, cursing heaven that young Rupert's sword had spared mefor this sharper pang46.
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1
briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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stratagem
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| n.诡计，计谋 | |
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sham
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| n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的) | |
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attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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entangled
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| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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unwilling
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| adj.不情愿的 | |
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lure
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| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
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jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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loathed
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| v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的过去式和过去分词 )；极不喜欢 | |
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lust
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| n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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stanch
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| v.止住（血等）；adj.坚固的；坚定的 | |
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taunts
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| 嘲弄的言语，嘲笑，奚落( taunt的名词复数 ) | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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chateau
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| n.城堡，别墅 | |
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nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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avert
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| v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等) | |
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gallop
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| v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展 | |
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warily
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| adv.留心地 | |
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grudged
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| 怀恨（grudge的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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enjoined
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| v.命令( enjoin的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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prospered
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| 成功，兴旺( prosper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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rife
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| adj.(指坏事情)充斥的，流行的，普遍的 | |
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remonstrate
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| v.抗议，规劝 | |
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friendliness
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| n.友谊，亲切，亲密 | |
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confinement
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| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
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slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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imploring
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| 恳求的，哀求的 | |
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obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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sob
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| n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣 | |
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45
torment
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| n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠 | |
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pang
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| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
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