That was all. Placing the note in an envelope she sealed it andhanded it to the officer, who bowed and left the room.
A half hour later officers of the Royal Horse were riding throughthe streets of Lustadt. Some announced to the people upon thestreets the coming marriage of the king and princess. Others rode tothe houses of the nobility with the king's command that they bepresent at the ceremony in the old cathedral at four o'clock thatafternoon.
Never had there been such bustling about the royal palace or in thepalaces of the nobles of Lutha. The buzz and hum of excitedconversation filled the whole town. That the choice of the king metthe approval of his subjects was more than evident. Upon every lipwas praise and love of the Princess Emma von der Tann. The future ofLutha seemed assured with a king who could fight joined in marriageto a daughter of the warrior line of Von der Tann.
The princess was busy up to the last minute. She had not seen herfuture husband since his return from Blentz, for he, too, had beenbusy. Twice he had sent word to her, but on both occasions hadregretted that he could not come personally because of the pressureof state matters and the preparations for the ceremony that was totake place in the cathedral in so short a time.
At last the hour arrived. The cathedral was filled to overflowing.After the custom of Lutha, the bride had walked alone up the broadcenter aisle to the foot of the chancel. Guardsmen lining the way oneither hand stood rigidly at salute until she stopped at the end ofthe soft, rose-strewn carpet and turned to await the coming of theking.
Presently the doors at the opposite end of the cathedral opened.There was a fanfare of trumpets, and up the center aisle toward thewaiting girl walked the royal groom. It seemed ages to the princesssince she had seen her lover. Her eyes devoured him as he approachedher. She noticed that he limped, and wondered; but for a moment thefact carried no special suggestion to her brain.
The people had risen as the king entered. Again, the pieces of theguardsmen had snapped to present; but silence, intense and utter,reigned over the vast assembly. The only movement was the measuredstride of the king as he advanced to claim his bride.
At the head of each line of guardsmen, nearest the chancel and uponeither side of the bridal party, the ranks were formed ofcommissioned officers. Butzow was among them. He, too, out of thecorner of his eye watched the advancing figure. Suddenly he notedthe limp, and gave a little involuntary gasp. He looked at thePrincess Emma, and saw her eyes suddenly widen with consternation.
Slowly at first, and then in a sudden tidal wave of memory, Butzow'sstory of the fight in the courtyard at Blentz came back to her.
"I saw but little of Mr. Custer," he had said. "He was slightlywounded in the left leg. The king was wounded in the breast." ButLieutenant Butzow had not known the true identity of either.
The real Leopold it was who had been wounded in the left leg, andthe man who was approaching her up the broad cathedral aisle waslimping noticeably--and favoring his left leg. The man to whom shewas to be married was not Barney Custer--he was Leopold of Lutha!
A hundred mad schemes rioted through her brain. The wedding mustnot go on! But how was she to avert it? The king was within a fewpaces of her now. There was a smile upon his lips, and in that smileshe saw the final confirmation of her fears. When Leopold of Luthasmiled his upper lip curved just a trifle into a shadow of a sneer.It was a trivial characteristic that Barney Custer did not share incommon with the king.
Half mad with terror, the girl seized upon the only subterfuge whichseemed at all likely to succeed. It would, at least, give her aslight reprieve--a little time in which to think, and possibly findan avenue from her predicament.
She staggered forward a step, clapped her two hands above her heart,and reeled as though to fall. Butzow, who had been watching hernarrowly, sprang forward and caught her in his arms, where she laylimp with closed eyes as though in a dead faint. The king ranforward. The people craned their necks. A sudden burst ofexclamations rose throughout the cathedral, and then LieutenantButzow, shouldering his way past the chancel, carried the PrincessEmma to a little anteroom off the east transept. Behind him walkedthe king, the bishop, and Prince Ludwig.
The Mad King Page 28
