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"Not to-night, perhaps, nor to-morrow, but soon." Knowing the Frenchman's secretive method, Ellerey was convinced that the time was at hand. Were it not, De Froilette would hardly have risked seeking him at his lodging; he had been so careful to avoid all appearance of intimacy with him. Ellerey was not inclined to place implicit trust in De Froilette.
"You know the value of caution in these times," said Francois, "you spoke of it just now. Monsieur De Froilette is over-cautious, Stefan; that is the truth." "It is a weakness of all masters," the soldier replied, "and so they overreach themselves. Give me a little confidence, and I am content, but distrust me, and my ears are ever on the stretch to catch news which I may use to my advantage.
A pain like the running in of a red-hot skewer was in Ellerey's arm, but not his sword arm, and the weapon flashed high in the air and fell with relentless force. "Quits, you devil!" he cried as De Froilette reeled backwards, cut with deadly depth downward from the shoulder. Then Ellerey rushed on again, one among hundreds seeking safety, followed by their conquerors, who showed no mercy.
It was toward noon that De Froilette's door opened suddenly, and a tall figure, cloaked to the eyes, glided in, closing the door. In an instant De Froilette was on his feet, and then as the man let the cloak fall apart, he exclaimed "Vasilici!" "Yes, Vasilici," was the answer. "They are not your men who are fighting in the streets, are they?" asked De Froilette, a ray of hope in his eyes.
"An invitation less hastily devised would please me better," said Ellery. "I am not rich enough to adventure such good garments as these often." "A bullet would certainly have made less havoc with them, Captain Ellerey," she returned. The mention of his name startled him. "A word of warning," she went on. "Beware of Monsieur De Froilette, and of any enterprise he may handle.
De Froilette left the palace unnoticed as he had come, and returned quickly to the Altstrasse. Francois hastened to attend him. "There is nothing to report, monsieur," he said, in answer to his master's look of inquiry. "The city is quieting down. Is monsieur in any danger?" "Perhaps, Francois, but it does not trouble me. I have been in danger before.
"In bringing this you have served me, and I thank you. I would give you decent burial had I the leisure, but time presses. You must rest here until they find you." De Froilette hastily put some papers in his pocket, and reloading the two chambers of his revolver, slipped that too into his pocket. "Now if I can only see Ellerey as silent as this brute, I can laugh at them all.
De Froilette shrugged his shoulders as though the point were immaterial to him, and went on: "To all appearance, the facts are to-day as they have always been, with one great and important exception the people. The people are awaking to the sensation that they are ruled and oppressed, for so they consider it, by foreigners.
Their short colloquy had not been overheard, nor had their presence been particularly noticed there except by one person the Countess Mavrodin. She had reached the head of the stairs as De Froilette had leaned confidentially forward toward the Ambassador, and she hastily greeted a friend, keeping her standing at the top of the stairs while they talked.
The boy turned and entered the tower, but Ellerey did not follow him at once. He paced in and out the ruined walls, his hands clasped behind him, deep in thought and troubled. Who had deceived him? It could only be the Queen, or the man who had brought him the token, or perhaps De Froilette. Indeed, they might all be in a conspiracy to deceive him.
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