"A fortnight after the expedition, Count von Waldemar, an officer in the Emperor's body-guard and one of his personal friends, called on the grand-duke, accompanied by six men. He was there all day, locked up with the grand-duke in his study. There were repeated sounds of altercations, of violent disputes. One phrase even was overheard by the servant, who was passing through the garden, under the windows: 'Those papers were handed to you; His imperial Majesty is sure of it. If you refuse to give them to me of your own free will . . .' The rest of the sentence, the meaning of the threat and, for that matter, the whole scene can be easily guessed by what followed; Hermann's house was ransacked from top to bottom."
"But that is against the law."
"It would have been against the law if the grand-duke had objected; but he himself accompanied the count in his search."
"And what were they looking for? The chancellor's memoirs?"
"Something better than that. They were looking for a parcel of secret documents which were known to exist, owing to indiscretions that had been committed, and which were known for certain to have been entrusted to the Grand-duke Hermann's keeping."
Lupin muttered, excitedly:
"Secret documents . . . and very important ones, no doubt?"
"Of the highest importance. The publication of those papers would lead to results which it would be impossible to foresee, not only from the point of view of home politics, but also from that of Germany's relations with the foreign powers."
"Oh!" said Lupin, throbbing with emotion. "Oh, can it be possible? What proof have you?"
"What proof? The evidence of the grand-duke's wife, the confidences which she made to the servant after her husband's death."