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"Have I quite pardoned you for mistaking me for another woman that night in the Altstrasse?" she said gayly. "I hope so; indeed, I thought so." "I am sorry. I ought to have reserved some of my displeasure." "Why?" "So that I might demand a favor." "You have but to demand, Countess." "Then stay with me and keep me near Lord Cloverton," she said. "What! Has he incurred your displeasure, too?"
He believed the rough soldier had some affection for him, so had told him something of his adventure in the Altstrasse, and of the mysterious mission he might be called upon at any moment to perform. Such men as Ellerey wished to enlist in the enterprise were not easy to find.
"Surely, one who lives in the Altstrasse," Ellerey answered. "And were graciously entertained?" "I ate and drank, madam, and both food and drink seemed to me of excellent quality." "And afterward?" "We talked." "Monsieur De Froilette, you, and " "Yes, madam, we talked, and smoked, but the matter of the token surprises me. I heard no word of such a thing mentioned."
Then he understood the ruse, and tore the bandage from his eyes. He was alone at the corner of the Altstrasse, and the rain was beating slantwise into his face. Ellerey's servant had fallen asleep on a settle, partly induced, perhaps, by the liquor the empty tankard beside him had held, but he started, wide awake on the instant, as his master entered.
"I cannot conceive any reason for your faith in me, unless " "Well, you may question me." "I had lately a strange adventure, Countess, in which a woman was concerned. She found me after midnight at the corner of the Altstrasse, and " "Monsieur! monsieur!" she exclaimed, holding up her hand. "Do you imagine I should visit the Altstrasse for my politics, and after midnight, too?"
For such favors there was always a price to be paid in some form or other. Would it be wise to go to the Altstrasse? And another question came to him, a question that set his pulse beating faster for a moment. Was this De Froilette an emissary of the Princess Maritza? Might she not be in Sturatzberg now? Might he not see her to-night?
The Altstrasse began to wake, and grew noisy at an earlier hour than usual. The fact made De Froilette lean back in his chair in thought again. The news that the Princess had escaped was spreading that was natural, and with the town in an uproar, rebellion in the air, there were many who would look to him for a sign. They had been waiting for it and expecting it hourly during the last few days.
Ellerey was almost as surprised to see De Froilette as he had been to see the Ambassador. "You have been away from Sturatzberg," he said. "I have only just returned," De Froilette answered, throwing out his arms to draw attention to his clothes, "and before going to the Altstrasse came to prepare you. I have been waiting at the cafe opposite until Lord Cloverton came out."
She was even more beautiful to-night than when she had come to the Altstrasse, and, surrounded as she was by beautiful women, seemed to hold by right the central position of the group. Jewels glistened at her throat and in her hair, and across her breast she wore the scarlet ribbon of the Golden Lion of Sturatzberg. "Ah, Monsieur De Froilette, you are welcome," she said.
Not a word of information could he speak, and who would believe that alone, and apparently unattended, the Queen had visited the Altstrasse at midnight? That she had done so for the purpose of speaking to him proved to Ellerey that her need for him was urgent; that she had explained nothing pointed to the fact that she was not inclined to trust him fully at present.
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