"What is it, man?" I inquired, springing to my feet and wondering what fresh horror he was going to bring to light.
Once more he advanced towards the bed. His face was ashen in its pallor as he stooped over the dead man.
"It's Moreas!" he said. "Good God, it's Moreas!"
"Moreas!" I repeated, as if I could scarcely believe I heard aright. "How can it be Moreas? Did you not tell me that Max shot him on the plains where they found the diamonds?"
"Yet it is Moreas sure enough," Bertram asserted, still speaking in the same strained voice. "And see, he has been stabbed from behind. This is Rodriguez's handiwork."
He continued to stare from one dead man to the other, as if he were still unable to comprehend the situation. As for me, I had no attention to spare for anyone or anything save that I had once more recovered what had been lost, and that I must act without loss of time. At last I made up my mind as to what was best to be done.
"Return to the palace at once," I said to Bertram, who by this time had somewhat recovered his presence of mind, "and send Strekwitz to me. Afterwards go on to the Count von Marquart's house. He must see the archbishop and arrange the matter of the real burial without delay. It must take place within the next few hours; at any rate, before dawn. Go now as quickly as you can, and when you have seen them return to me here."
"But to leave your Majesty here with----" he began.
"Never mind me," I replied. "I shall be quite safe. Hasten away to fulfil your errand. There is no time to lose."
Very reluctantly he did as I commanded him, and I heard him go down the stairs and presently leave the house.
In something less than an hour Strekwitz arrived with Bertram following close upon his heels. The latter had seen Von Marquart, who, in his turn, had set off to arrange matters with the archbishop. Within an hour of our entering the room for the first time, everything was settled. From Von Marquart, who received us at the archbishop's palace, I learnt that the good old man had been greatly pained at the news the count had communicated to him. Nevertheless, he was quite agreed that the course we had adopted was the best, both for State and personal reasons. Realising that the fewer people who became cognisant of our secret the less chance there would be of its becoming public property, he took the direction of affairs into his own hands. It was he who unlocked the postern door and admitted our party to the cathedral. It was he who waited with me in the sacristy while the necessary arrangements were being made for the interment, and who conducted me through the great building, so vast and eerie in the light of the lantern he carried in his hand, into the little chapel near the vault. A short service followed, then Maximilian of Pannonia was carried by loving hands, and placed in his last resting-place in the vaults below. When all was over, like a band of conspirators we left the cathedral, and with the archbishop's blessing ringing in my ears, I returned to the palace, to obtain what rest I could before I should be called upon to begin the duties of the day. Dawn was breaking as we let ourselves in; a soft grey light stole across the heavens like an augury of still happier days to come.