The Adventures of an Understudy With Fritz von Tarlenheim and Colonel Sapt close behind me, I stepped out of the buffet on to the platform.

The last thing I did was to feel if my revolver were handy and my sword loose in the scabbard.

A gay group of officers and high dignitaries stood awaiting me, at their head a tall old man, covered with medals, and of military bearing.

He wore the yellow and red ribbon of the Red Rose of Ruritania--which, by the way, decorated my unworthy breast also.
"Marshal Strakencz," whispered Sapt, and I knew that I was in the presence of the most famous veteran of the Ruritanian army.
Just behind the Marshal stood a short spare man, in flowing robes of black and crimson.
"The Chancellor of the Kingdom," whispered Sapt.
The Marshal greeted me in a few loyal words, and proceeded to deliver an apology from the Duke of Strelsau.

The duke, it seemed, had been afflicted with a sudden indisposition which made it impossible for him to come to the station, but he craved leave to await his Majesty at the Cathedral.