The time at which the king needed her was past, but the king had not come.

How little the old woman knew for whom she listened! All her talk had been of Bauer--why Bauer did not come and what could have befallen him.

It was grand to hold the king's secret for him, and she would hold it with her life; for he had been kind and gracious to her, and he was her man of all the men in Strelsau.

Bauer was a stumpy fellow; the Count of Hentzau was handsome, handsome as the devil; but the king was her man.

And the king had trusted her; she would die before hurt should come to him.
There were wheels in the street--quick-rolling wheels.