“Oh, as to that, my dear cousin,” said Lotzen from the window, the instant the valet had gone, “I am altogether willing to admit, and for the Council to assume, that the Book was safely in the box and the box safely in the vault when Frederick died. Don’t try to obscure the point at issue—what we want to know is what you have—I beg your pardon—what has happened to it since that time.”
Armand waited with polite condescension until the Duke had finished, then he ignored him and addressed the Council.
“My lords,” he said, “you are confronted by a most unpleasant duty: Valeria must have a King, and you must choose him, either Ferdinand of Lotzen or myself. We cannot wait until the Laws are found. I claim the throne by presumptive right; he, by a right admitted to be subordinate to mine. In the absence of the decrees my title is paramount, and the royal dignity falls on me. If the Laws be recovered, and under them I am not King, I will abdicate, instantly.”
Lotzen had come back to the table and resumed his favorite attitude of leaning over the back of a chair.
“Charming, indeed, charming!” he chuckled. “Make me King, and if the Laws unmake me I will abdicate when they are recovered—when—they—are—recovered! Do you fancy, messieurs, they would ever be recovered?”
Count Epping saved the Archduke the necessity of answer.
“Your Highness’ argument,” he observed, “is predicated on the hypothesis that the Archduke Armand has possession of the Book of Laws and is concealing it because it would, if exhibited, prove him ineligible to the Throne.”
“Admirably stated!” said Lotzen.
“But,” Epping went on, “you cannot expect the Council to accept any such hypothesis”—and all the Ministers nodded—“we must assume that neither you nor the Archduke knows aught of the Book, and whatever action we do take must be, upon the distinct condition, agreed to, here and now, by you both, that when the Laws are found—as found they surely will be—the Succession shall be determined instantly by them. Are you willing,”—addressing Lotzen—“that the Council, of which you are one, shall settle it, pending the recovery of the Laws?”
“No, I am not,” said the Duke abruptly; “but pending election by the House of Nobles, I am content.”