“So, between the Crown of Valeria and the Book of Laws, you think he would chose the latter; and hand the Crown to Armand?”
“He would conceal the Laws—he wouldn’t destroy them,” she insisted.
The Archduke reached over and took her hand.
“Little woman,” he said, “your mistake is in rating Lotzen a Dalberg—he isn’t; he’s a vicious mongrel; if he had the Book, you can rest assured he destroyed it.”
But she shook her head.
“Your facts proved him innocent;” she smiled, “and so they don’t appeal to me to-day. I’m as sure he won’t destroy the Laws as I am that he killed Adolph; what troubles me is how to recover them.”
“We have a year——”
“I don’t intend to wait a year for your crowning, Sire,” she broke in. “Nor half a year, either.”
He smiled indulgently, and pressing lightly the small fingers that still lay in his.
“The little Kingmaker,” he laughed.