“Go on.”
Steinweg resumed:
“On the evening of the day on which Bismarck died, the Grand-duke Hermann III and his faithful manservant—my South African friend—took a train which brought them to Munich in time to catch the express for Vienna. From Vienna, they went to Constantinople, then to Cairo, then to Naples, then to Tunis, then to Spain, then to Paris, then to London, to St. Petersburg, to Warsaw … and in none of these towns did they stop. They took a cab, had their two bags put on the top, rushed through the streets, hurried to another station or to the landing-stage, and once more took the train or the steamer.”
“In short, they were being followed and were trying to put their pursuers off the scent,” Arsène Lupin concluded.
“One evening, they left the city of Treves, dressed in workmen’s caps and linen jackets, each with a bundle slung over his shoulder at the end of a stick. They covered on foot the twenty-two miles to Veldenz, where the old Castle of Zweibrucken stands, or rather the ruins of the old castle.”
“No descriptions, please.”
“All day long, they remained hidden in a neighboring forest. At night, they went up to the old walls. Hermann ordered his servant to wait for him and himself scaled the wall at a breach known as the Wolf’s Gap. He returned in an hour’s time. In the following week, after more peregrinations, he went back home to Dresden. The expedition was over.”
“And what was the object of the expedition?”
“The grand-duke never breathed a word about it to his servant. But certain particulars and the coincidence of facts that ensued enabled the man to build up the truth, at least, in part.”
“Quick, Steinweg, time is running short now: and I am eager to know.”
“A fortnight after the expedition, Count von Waldemar, an officer in the Emperor’s bodyguard and one of his personal friends, called on the grand-duke, accompanied by six men. He was there all day, locked up with the grand-duke in his study. There were repeated sounds of altercations, of violent disputes. One phrase even was overheard by the servant, who was passing through the garden, under the windows: ‘Those papers were handed to you; His imperial Majesty is sure of it. If you refuse to give them to me of your own free will …’ The rest of the sentence, the meaning of the threat and, for that matter, the whole scene can be easily guessed by what followed; Hermann’s house was ransacked from top to bottom.”
“But that is against the law.”
“It would have been against the law if the grand-duke had objected; but he himself accompanied the count in his search.”
“And what were they looking for? The chancellor’s memoirs?”
“Something better than that. They were looking for a parcel of secret documents which were known to exist, owing to indiscretions that had been committed, and which were known for certain to have been entrusted to the Grand-duke Hermann’s keeping.”
Lupin muttered, excitedly:
“Secret documents … and very important ones, no doubt?”
“Of the highest importance. The publication of those papers would lead to results which it would be impossible to foresee, not only from the point of view of home politics, but also from that of Germany’s relations with the foreign powers.”
“Oh!” said Lupin, throbbing with emotion. “Oh, can it be possible? What proof have you?”
“What proof? The evidence of the grand-duke’s wife, the confidences which she made to the servant after her husband’s death.”
“Yes … yes …” stammered Lupin. “We have the evidence of the grand-duke himself.”
“Better still,” said Steinweg.
“What?”
“A document, a document written in his own hand, signed by him and containing …”
“Containing what?”
“A list of the secret papers confided to his charge.”
“Tell me, in two words. …”
“In two words? That can’t be done. The document is a very long one, scattered all over with annotations and remarks which are sometimes impossible to understand. Let me mention just two titles which obviously refer to two bundles of secret papers: Original Letters of the Crown Prince to Bismarck is one. The dates show that these letters were written during the three months of the reign of Frederick III. To picture what the letters may contain, you have only to think of the Emperor Frederick’s illness, his quarrels with his son …”
“Yes, yes, I know. … And the other title?”
“Photographs of the letters of Frederick III, and the Empress Victoria to the Queen of England.”
“Do you mean to say that that’s there?” asked Lupin, in a choking voice.
“Listen to the grand-duke’s notes: Text of the Treaty with Great Britain and France. And these rather obscure words: ‘Alsace-Lorraine. … Colonies. … Limitation of naval armaments. …’ ”
“It says that?” blurted Lupin. “And you call that obscure? … Why, the words are dazzling with light! … Oh, can it be possible? … And what next, what next?”
As he spoke there was a noise at the door. Someone was knocking.
“You can’t come in,” said Lupin. “I am busy. … Go on, Steinweg.”
“But …” said the old man, in a great state of alarm.
The door was shaken violently and Lupin recognized Weber’s voice. He shouted:
“A little patience, Weber. I shall have done in five minutes.”
He gripped the old man’s arm and, in a tone of command:
“Be easy and go on with your story. So, according to you, the expedition of the grand duke and his servant to Veldenz Castle had no other object than to hide those papers?”
“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
