Then, to Courtney,
she added: "I don't recall his name but my certificate shows it, I
suppose."
"And you have the certificate with you?" he asked.
"It is somewhere among my luggage. If you care to see it I shall try
to find it to-morrow."
"Thank you, Madame," Courtney answered.
Then Lotzen took a hand.
"Will Madame permit me, also, to ask her a question?" he said.
"Certainly, Your Highness," she answered, and would have curtsied had
he not waved her up.
"Was the marriage secret?" he asked.
The answer was instant: "It was private but not secret."
"Then, why is it that Major Dalberg's record in the War office in
Washington makes no mention of this marriage? I happen to know it does
not."
"I do not know," she answered, rather tartly. "It was not, I assume,
my duty to report it."
"And, further, Madame," Lotzen continued. "If Major Dalberg were lucky
enough to marry you, why, in Heaven's name, should he deny you within a
few short months?"
"I might guess one of the reasons," she answered languidly--and let her
eyes rest upon the Princess.
And Dehra laughed in her face.
Lotzen shrugged his shoulders and was silent.
"Are there any more questions, Messieurs?" she asked.
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