Part 35 (1/2)
She leaned a bit toward him.
”If I show you the Book of Dalberg Laws, will you believe?” she asked.
”That they are the Laws, yes.”
She smiled rather sadly.
”The facts will have to prove my honest motive, I see; and I came from Paris, hoping that I could render you this service, as a small requital for the injury I did you a little while ago.”
The Archduke laughed in her face.
”And for how much in gold coin of the realm, from some one of my enemies?” he asked.
She put the words aside with another smile.
”I've been in Dornlitz for more than two weeks,” she went on; ”can you guess where?-yes, I see you can; the only place I could have been, and you not know of it.”
”And you mean to say the Book is in Ferida Palace?” said Armand.
”I do.”
”And you are ready to restore it to the Regent?”
”No,” said she, ”I'm not ready to restore it to the Regent; I'm ready to give it to you if I were able, but I'm not-it will be for you to recover it.”
”How do you know it is the Book of Laws-did the Duke tell you?”
She laughed her soft, sweet laugh. ”Oh, no, he didn't tell me-he has no idea that I know he has it; I saw it by accident--”
”How could you recognize the Book?” he interrupted; ”only three people in the Kingdom have ever seen it.”
”By intuition, mainly; and by the secrecy with which the Duke handles it-let me describe it:-a very old book; leather-covered, bra.s.s-bound and bra.s.s-hinged; the pages, of parchment-those in front illumined in colors with queer letters, and, further on, more modern writing-it is the Book, isn't it, Armand?”
”Or Lotzen has described it to you,” he answered.
She made a gesture of discouragement.
”You are hard to convince,” she said-”you will have to be shown-will you take the trouble?”
The Archduke smiled. ”Now we come to the kernel,” he remarked; ”the rest was only the sh.e.l.l. Quite candidly, madame, I'm not inclined to play the spy in Ferida Palace; there are easier deaths to die, though doubtless none that would be more sure.”
”You didn't used to be so timid or careful, Armand,” she mocked; ”there are no dangers other than those of my boudoir-and if you fear them you may send a subst.i.tute-even one of your friend Courtney's secret agents.-For the last few nights the Duke has been going over this Book page by page; his apartments are across a small court from mine, and his private cabinet is directly in view from my boudoir. Send some one there this evening at eleven, and with my field gla.s.s he can see everything the Duke does, and every article on his desk. Surely, that should be enough to satisfy the most suspicious.”
”Rather too much,” said he; ”it brings us back to the question of motive:-why should you, who have had so much of my dear cousin's money, and have enjoyed his kind and courteous hospitality for so long, suddenly turn against him, and betray him?-for believe me, madame, I take no stock in your pretty story of requiting injury, and coming all the way from Paris to help me find the Book.”
”But, my dear Archduke, what matters my motive, if you recover the Book-besides, now you can send the police this instant and search the Palace and seize the Book, if it's there, and they can find it-doesn't that in itself attest my honesty?”
”Not in the least. You know very well that I would not venture to take such drastic action against the Duke unless I were sure, not only that he had the Book, but that it would be found-hence it's safe to tell this story. And as your motive-it all comes back to that-can't be to a.s.sist me, it must be to a.s.sist the Duke; and so-” he shrugged his shoulders.
It had never occurred to her that he would be so difficult to convince; she had thought that her bait, and particularly the privilege to send any one to verify it, and her description of the Book, would capture him instantly. But she had failed to appreciate how thoroughly Armand despised her, and how deeply he mistrusted her, and, more than all, how intensely repugnant it would be to accept a service from her, or to have any dealings with her except a outrance.