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We watched the pomp round him, and the circles of people that came to bring a wreath for him or to look upon his face. I saw a girl come and kneel long at the bier's foot. She rose and went away sobbing, leaving a little circlet of flowers. It was Rosa Holf. I saw women come and go weeping, and men bite their lips as they passed by.
Her presence might mean nothing, yet it seemed at once to connect the house with the secret of the past and the crisis of the present. She recovered herself in a moment, and curtseyed to me. "Ah, Mother Holf," said I, "how long is it since you set up shop in Strelsau?" "About six months, my lord," she answered, with a composed air and arms akimbo.
The two watched him, Mother Holf as though fascinated, the girl alarmed but still triumphant: she had done what the king bade her. Rudolf turned the corner of the first landing and disappeared from their sight. The old woman, swearing and muttering, stumbled back into her kitchen, set her stew on the fire, and began to stir it, her eyes set on the flames and careless of the pot.
I am sure that the old woman started slightly, and I think that I did. For I knew her and she knew me. She was old Mother Holf, one of whose sons, Johann, had betrayed to us the secret of the dungeon at Zenda, while the other had died by Mr. Rassendyll's hand by the side of the great pipe that masked the king's window.
Old Mother Holf, leaning against the counter, was grumbling angrily because Bauer did not come. Now it was not likely that Bauer would come just yet, for he was still in the infirmary attached to the police-cells, where a couple of doctors were very busy setting him on his legs again.
For while suspense is bad for the sick, yet despair is worse still, and it might be that the King lay dying of mere hopelessness, for I could learn of no definite disease that afflicted him. "And how do they guard the King now?" I asked, remembering that two of the Six were dead, and Max Holf also. "Detchard and Bersonin watch by night, Rupert Hentzau and De Gautet by day, sir," he answered.
Against it stood only the suspicions of Mother Holf fear or money would close her lips and the knowledge of Bauer; Bauer's mouth also could be shut, ay, and should be before we were many days older. My reverie led me far; I saw the future years unroll before me in the fair record of a great king's sovereignty.
The passage and the shop were dark behind the closed shutters, but the figure by the girl's side was taller than Bauer's. "Who's there?" cried Mother Holf sharply. "The shop's shut to-day: you can't come in." "But I am in," came the answer, and Rudolf stepped towards her. The girl followed a pace behind, her hands clasped and her eyes alight with excitement.
"Besides," added Rudolf with a smile, "neither the colonel nor I would let you have a chance at Rupert. He's our game, isn't he, Sapt?" The colonel nodded. Rudolf in his turn took paper, and here is the message that he wrote: "Holf, 19, Konigstrasse, Strelsau. All well. He has what I had, but wishes to see what you have. He and I will be at the hunting-lodge at ten this evening.
Bauer seemed bewildered: no doubt he was at a loss how either to understand or to parry the bold attack. "Ah, this looks like it," said Rudolf, in a tone of great satisfaction, as they came to old Mother Holf's little shop. "Isn't that a one and a nine over the door, my lad? Ah, and Holf! Yes, that's the name. Pray ring the bell. My hands are occupied."
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