He vanished from my sight.
Abandoning my ladder--I saw I did not need it now--I swam to the side of
the bridge and climbed half way up the steps. There I hung with my sword
in my hand, listening eagerly. The duke's room was shuttered and dark.
There was a light in the window on the opposite side of the bridge.
Not a sound broke the silence, till half-past one chimed from the great
clock in the tower of the chateau.
There were other plots than mine afoot in the Castle that night.
CHAPTER 18
The Forcing of the Trap
The position wherein I stood does not appear very favourable to thought;
yet for the next moment or two I thought profoundly. I had, I told
myself, scored one point. Be Rupert Hentzau's errand what it might, and
the villainy he was engaged on what it would, I had scored one point. He
was on the other side of the moat from the King, and it would be by no
fault of mine if ever he set foot on the same side again. I had three
left to deal with: two on guard and De Gautet in his bed. Ah, if I
had the keys! I would have risked everything and attacked Detchard and
Bersonin before their friends could join them. But I was powerless. I
must wait till the coming of my friends enticed someone to cross the
bridge--someone with the keys. And I waited, as it seemed, for half an
hour, really for about five minutes, before the next act in the rapid
drama began.
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