The Prisoner of Zenda Page #6

that's quite a different matter.

Do you think I want to go?

Of course you don't.

Your first duty is to the boars.

They would never forgive you

if you didn't hunt them and kill them.

Perhaps the boars will hunt me.

They might even kill me.

Doesn't the thought of my danger

touch you?

- Or do you weep for my danger?

- Oh, this is like you used to be...

...but not like the king I've come to love.

- Oh, my darling...

...do you really think that

I would leave you to go hunting?

- Then you're not going?

- I'm not going hunting.

That is, not just for boar.

Then what?

- Rudolf, it's Michael.

- Indirectly.

- Oh, darling, you mustn't go.

- My sweet.

Shall I tell them I can't go because

we have an engagement to go riding?

- I won't let you go. Send someone else.

- What kind of a king would do that?

- But I don't understand why...

- And I can't tell you now.

But I will tell you the moment I can.

You believe that, don't you?

Yes, of course I do.

Forgive me, Rudolf, I...

I've behaved like a spoiled child.

You see, I've never been in love before.

Oh, my darling.

I really must go.

Stay here. Let me go alone.

No, don't turn.

If I see your eyes,

I might forget to be a king.

Rudolf, come back to me soon.

Shan't a man come back

to the loveliest woman in all the world?

A thousand Michaels

couldn't keep me from you.

But if I shouldn't, you'd never forget me?

Never.

You'd be a brave queen

and do your part?

Though my life be empty

and my heart dead.

You would do your part.

Rudolf!

Put away those popguns

and take me to the king.

The man's got courage,

you must grant him that.

I'll grant him six feet of earth

when the time comes.

- No time like the present.

- No.

Your Majesty, Count Hentzau,

with a message from the Duke of Strelsau.

- Tell him His Majesty is indisposed.

- No, wait a minute.

Let's hear what he has to say.

Send him in.

Disarm him first.

- The play-actor in person.

- Hentzau!

Your Majesty, I bring you

your brother's humble greetings...

...and his hopes that you will enjoy

the boar hunting here in Zenda.

And his respects, of course,

to your two principal boars.

Well, what price the crown today?

The last offer was 50,000 pounds.

Do I hear perhaps 52,000?

You'd hear a much better offer

than that. In private.

Before we go any further...

...I must tell you I'm prepared

to give you a chance to escape...

...your thoroughly well-deserved end...

...on the condition that you yourself

return the prisoner of Zenda to me alive.

Mr. Rassendyll, do you

seriously expect me to believe...

...that you of all people

want the king back?

- You insult my intelligence.

- I see.

Then you've come

a very long way for nothing.

I hope not, for Michael's sake.

Oh, you've brought another

of his generous ultimatums.

I have. He doubles his offer.

A hundred thousand pounds.

I thought it would amuse you.

The fact is, between ourselves,

Michael doesn't understand a gentleman.

You and I, we do, don't we?

Rassendyll, you're a man

after my own heart.

You and I are the only two people worth

saving in this whole affair. Aren't we?

This is my plan for us. Now, listen.

Attack the castle boldly. Let your...

...friends ride at the head.

There's bound to be a little rifle play.

- Oh, unavoidable.

- Arrange the time with me...

I have such confidence in you, of course.

Michael will fall.

The king will already have moved on

to a happier life in the next world.

And your friends, if they fall too,

you and I...

...Rupert of Hentzau

and king of the realm...

...will be the only two left

who know the truth.

Don't you think we're being

perhaps just a little drastic with Michael?

Perhaps a little. But...

...I make it a point never to

trust a jealous man, don't you?

- Michael jealous?

- You know the lady, I think.

Oh, in the summerhouse. Yes.

But surely no woman in her right senses

would prefer the duke to you.

Women are never in their right senses,

thank goodness.

So you're doing all this for love.

How romantic.

Well, love...

...and Your Majesty's gratitude

throughout your long and happy reign.

Then, of course, you might turn over

to me Michael's castles and estates.

Oh, yes, of course,

we mustn't lose sight of those.

You never know

whose hands they might fall into.

Look what I offer you:

The throne and the princess.

You were planning on them anyway,

but this way it's sure.

Shall we shake hands on it?

Hey, Zapt, Fritz, listen to this.

Count Hentzau offers me the throne.

That is, if you two don't mind

being killed.

Their turn comes later, play-actor.

Yours comes now!

Guards, stop that man!

Play the queen, you blockhead.

Florence Nightingale!

O Woman! In our hours of ease

Uncertain, coy, and hard to please

When pain and anguish ring the brow,

A ministering angel thou!

Could I have some water?

You'll find plenty of water

down here, sire.

So even a king can be curious, I see.

Now, Jacob's ladder went

up into the sky, didn't it?

Well, this goes down into the moat,

but it serves the same purpose.

If this castle is attacked, there're

always two of us in the guardroom...

...just up those steps,

ready to shove you down Jacob's ladder.

Properly weighted, of course.

I'd like to be left alone...

...if your orders permit.

The audience is ended, Your Majesty?

Very well, sire. Try to get some sleep.

And may you dream of Jacob's ladder...

...with paradise at the end of it.

Oh, I've just done my best

to make His Majesty more...

...receptive.

- All right.

Your Majesty.

What do you expect to gain by this...

...except death?

Your admission that now,

your senses restored...

...you have come to realize

the people would never accept a king...

...with your, shall we say,

all too human failings.

- What's that?

- Your abdication.

As soon as you have signed this,

a comfortable bed is yours...

...and the best of care until you're

strong enough to cross the frontier.

I... I haven't lived like a king.

But perhaps I can die like one...

...and not disgrace the crown I never wore.

A man here insists

he has a personal message for His Majesty.

- Says he's one of the duke's men.

- Have you searched him?

- Certainly, sir.

- Send him in.

- If only this is from...

- Quiet!

- What is it you want?

- I have a message for...

I am to tell you that a troop of

the duke's hussars arrives tomorrow.

If there is to be a rescue,

it must be tonight.

You may count on me, sir.

I am to lower the drawbridge

at two hours past midnight.

But the noise. You say the king

will be killed at the first alarm?

That is correct. Madame says

before the bridge can go down...

...one of your men must swim the moat

and climb to her room.

- And then?

- Alone, one man might reach the dungeon.

That man alone

must hold off the guards from murder...

...until the others can cross

the drawbridge and get below.

Always two guards

on the prisoner, you say?

- Two by day and two by night, sir.

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