"I'll shut her mouth!" said Sapt grimly, and he bore off the king in his arms.
For me, I sat down in an armchair, and as I sat there, half dazed, Josef clipped and scraped me till my mustache and imperial were things of the past and my face was as bare as the king's. And when Fritz saw me thus he drew a long breath and exclaimed:
"By Jove, we shall do it!"
It was six o'clock now, and we had no time to lose. Sapt hurried me into the king's room, and I dressed myself in the uniform of a colonel of the Guard, finding time, as I slipped on the king's boots, to ask Sapt what he had done with the old woman.
"She swore she'd heard nothing," said he; "but to make sure I tied her legs together and put a handkerchief in her mouth and bound her hands, and locked her up in the coal cellar, next door to the king. Josef'll look after them both, later on."
Then I burst out laughing, and even old Sapt grimly smiled.
"I fancy," said he, "that when Josef tells them
