He looked at her in amazement.
“The box was empty,” he said.
“Yes—was! was! but is not now! When did you look in it last?”
“At the Council.”
“Exactly—so did I—and Adolph brought it to us, lid down and ‘locked,’ she said. Oh, I see it all now:—it wasn’t locked, and he put the Book back in it, and told Lotzen, and Lotzen killed him—and then, when he came for the Book, he found the combination changed—you did it, you know—and as long as Moore was in the suite he could not break the vault; so he lures us all away: if he can kill you, he will be King and can get the Book at his leisure; if he fail, as he has done, then it’s the Laws before we return.” She flung her arms around his neck. “Don’t tell me I’m mistaken, Armand! don’t tell me I’m mistaken!”
He held her off, and looked at her in wondering admiration.
“Oh woman!” he said, “oh faith, and intuition, and loyalty beyond the stars! No, Dehra, I will not say you are mistaken; I do not know; we will test it. We will go straight to the Palace—you and I, without a word as to our purpose—and we will open the vault, and the box—and if the Laws are in it, yours be the glory.”
“And yours the Crown!” she cried, and kissed his hand.
Then the train ran into the station and stopped, and the Archduke stepped out and gave his hand to the Princess. The platform was empty save for Count Epping.
“Your Royal Highness will pardon the informality of your reception,” the Prime Minister said, when the greetings were over; “I assumed you did not want Lotzen to know of your coming; I even waited until nine o’clock to call the Council;—and I did not notify him, and so warn him that we had penetrated his disguise.”