For a while both men smoked in silence, the Marshall thoughtfully, the Ambassador waitingly; and in the midst of it Colonel Bernheim entered with a letter for the Archduke, which, he explained, he had just received, enclosed in another envelope addressed to himself and marked “Immediate.”
Armand glanced at Courtney for permission, got it, and read the letter:
“We are leaving Dornlitz before daybreak by special train, ostensibly for Paris, really for Lotzen Castle. The Duke guessed instantly why you were in my apartments, and what you saw. We had a fearful scene, and he struck me again—the cur! It is the B.; he admitted it, in his rage—and he has it with him. I am a prisoner now, and compelled to accompany him because I know too much, he says. I’m not asking you for rescue, I can manage him in a few days; but if you want the B. you will know now where to get it. I owe you this, for the fiasco last night, due to that fool, B——, though I don’t advise you to follow; Lotzen Castle isn’t Ferida Palace, and I can’t aid you there; and besides, now, he is bent on your death, and intends to kill you at the first opportunity. I will find some way to have this mailed, sending it to Col. Bernheim so it will reach you promptly and not be delayed by official routine.
Without a word, the Archduke passed the letter over to Courtney; and without a word Courtney took it, read it twice, and passed it back; and fell to blowing smoke rings through each other.
“Well,” said Armand presently, “when you’re satisfied with the rings, and it seems to me they couldn’t be bettered, I shall be glad to have your opinion of the letter.”
The other shook his head, and went on with the rings.
“What is the use?” he answered. “You are going to Lotzenia.”
“I’m sorely tempted, I admit—but I don’t know——”
Courtney flung his cigarette at the fireplace, and got up.
“Then, if you don’t know, I’ll tell you what I think,—throw that damn letter into the fire and stay right here in Dornlitz; if you let it lure you to Lotzenia, you are an unmitigated fool.”
“But the Book!—and Spencer only confirms what my own eyes told me.”
“Lies, lies, rotten lies!” said Courtney. “He hasn’t the Book—it’s all a plant—you escaped last night because Bigler blundered in, and because the Regent was with you—but in that wild land of the North, you will last about a day, or less. Why don’t you forget the miserable Book, for a while, and get to work on your vote in the House of Nobles?—there is where you will likely have to fight it out any way, even if Frederick did make your decree. Play politics a bit, and you will have Lotzen back in Dornlitz on the jump—and the Book with him, too, if he has it.”