Sapt alone lay back in his chair.

The queen also had resumed her seat; she seemed to pay little heed to what we said.

I think that she was still engrossed with the struggle and tumult in her own soul.

The sin of which she accused herself, and the joy to which her whole being sprang in a greeting which would not be abashed, were at strife between themselves, but joined hands to exclude from her mind any other thought.
"In an hour I must be gone from here," began Rudolf.
"If you wish that, it's easy," observed Colonel Sapt.
"Come, Sapt, be reasonable," smiled Mr.Rassendyll.

"Early to-morrow, we--you and I--" "Oh, I also ?" asked the colonel.
"Yes; you, Bernenstein, and I will be at the lodge." "That's not impossible, though I have had nearly enough riding." Rudolf fixed his eyes firmly on Sapt's.
"You see," he said, "the king reaches his hunting-lodge early in the morning." "I follow you, sire." "And what happens there, Sapt?
Does he shoot himself accidentally ?" "Well, that happens sometimes." "Or does an assassin kill him ?" "Eh, but you've made the best assassin unavailable." Even at this moment I could not help smiling at the old fellow's surly wit and Rudolf's amused tolerance of it.
"Or does his faithful attendant, Herbert, shoot him ?" "What, make poor Herbert a murderer!" "Oh, no! By accident--and then, in remorse, kill himself." "That's very pretty.