"Not directly. The constitution of Lautenburg-Detmold is peculiar. The Salic Law does not apply, and the ducal crown, on the Grand Duke's death, passed to his wife, the Grand Duchess Aurora Anna Eleanor."
"So she has married her brother-in-law?"
"Quite so, and thus it happens that in the absence of children of the Grand Duke Rudolph, your future pupil, Duke Joachim, son of the Grand Duke Frederick and some German countess, is now the heir presumptive to the State of Lautenburg-Detmold. To alter the situation the marriage of his father with the Grand Duchess Aurora would have to be honoured with a bond, a thing which seems most improbable."
"I seem to remember something about it now," I said. "Wasn't there a German Grand Duke who died in Africa—the Congo—while engaged in geographical research two or three years ago?"
"Precisely," replied M. Thierry. "That was the Grand Duke Rudolph. He was always an enthusiastic geographer. His travels could not, it is true, be described as altogether unpolitical. When I remember that a few months later we had Agadir and the loss of the Congo, I can't help thinking that the Grand Duke of Lautenburg had been sent to accomplish some mission on behalf of his august cousin, the Kaiser. It is true he hadn't much time in which to effect his purpose as he died in the Congo shortly after his arrival. It would be interesting...."
"But what is there in all this, sir," I broke in, "that in any way accounts for the solicitude you've just shown on my behalf?"
He seemed put out.
"My dear boy," he said, with an obvious effort. "A historian's plain duty is to accept as fact only what he has been able to verify. From that point of view I confess that my knowledge is confined to vague rumours barely susceptible of proof. Certain reports, an allusion or two, and last—but not least—certain details communicated to me some time back by a friend whose name I must withhold—that's all. I should perhaps add the proverb that there is no smoke without fire."
"Couldn't you be a little more precise as to the purport of the rumours?"
"Will you promise you will keep this entirely to yourself?" he said.