"But what has this to do with the Archduchess Stephanie?"
"It is marvellously like her handwriting! It is in cipher, of course; but look for yourself, sire." The Emperor looked at it.
"It appears to be a woman's, and it is a most unclerkly scrawl. I should hesitate to attribute it to Stephanie! And, if it were hers, what possible object could she have in obtaining it, and how could she have obtained it?"
"It was in my hands, your Majesty, before the despatches arrived."
"But the seal on the despatches was intact. It was Count Tilly's seal. The Chancellor was satisfied?"
"Yes, sire!" The tone signified that Chancellors as a rule were easily satisfied.
"Come, Father, do you seriously suggest that the officer who brought it allowed the despatches to leave his hands?"
Father Lamormain had every cause to suppose so, but was unable for reasons of his own to state so.
"I merely infer from this cipher!"