“And I shan’t shirk it,” said Armand—then he laughed—“on the whole, I’m something of a savage myself; Lotzen hasn’t got all of it for the family, it would seem.”
Courtney shrugged his shoulders. “We all are savages at the core—it’s only a question of the veneer’s thickness.”
“Of its thinness, I should say. However, now that you have saved my precious life, and dedicated me to care and prudence and to killing my enemies, we can get down to business. You had something to tell me.”
“I have told you,” said Courtney. “I wanted to show you that note and save your precious life.”
The Archduke picked up the paper, and read it again.
“May be the party who wrote this,” he said, “can help you answer the question I came to ask: what brought Lotzen to the Summer Palace, this afternoon; and, in particular, why did he go into the King’s library?”
Courtney lit a fresh cigarette and watched the match burn to a cinder.
“Isn’t your second question the answer to the first?” he asked.
“Doubtless; but what’s the answer to the second?”
Courtney shook his head. “I pass—unless you can give me some details.”