“Here’s everything I know,” said Armand. “Moore, as Adjutant to the Regent, occupies part of the King’s suite as his quarters. This afternoon, he went out, leaving open the corridor door of the library. A little later Mademoiselle d’Essoldé saw Lotzen come from the library—subsequently he met Moore and casually remarked to him that, as he passed his quarters, the door being open, he had taken the liberty of looking at His late Majesty’s portrait, which he wished to have copied.”
Courtney considered a bit.
“It’s really most interesting to study your cousin’s methods,” he said presently. “He seems to take particular pleasure in telling one what he knows will not be believed. It was quite absurd to offer such a fool explanation, if he really wished to explain—and none knows it better than Lotzen. It was just as though he had said to Moore: ‘Tell the Archduke Armand, I’ve been in the library, I’ve accomplished what I went for, and he may go to the devil, with my compliments.’”
“That’s very well, as an exposition of Lotzen’s methods,” said Armand; “but what concerns me is his motive; what was it he went for?”
“The Book of Laws, possibly,” Courtney replied.
“Nonsense—he knows it’s not in the library—if it were, I would have had it days ago.”
“And how does he know you haven’t got it?”
“How! Because I’d have produced it to prove my title.”
Courtney smiled. “Certainly you would—if it proved your title; but if it didn’t?”
“You overlook Frederick’s decree.”