"There can be no question about that."
"Very well. But the grand-duke may have taken them away since."
"No, he did not leave Dresden until his death."
"But the grand-duke's enemies, the men who had everything to gain by recovering them and destroying them: can't they have tried to find out where the papers were?"
"They have tried."
"How do you know?"
"You can understand that I did not remain inactive and that my first care, after receiving those revelations, was to go to Veldenz and make inquiries for myself in the neighboring villages. Well, I learnt that, on two separate occasions, the castle was invaded by a dozen men, who came from Berlin furnished with credentials to the regents."
"Well?"
"Well, they found nothing, for, since that time, the castle has been found closed to the public."
"But what prevents anybody from getting in?"