"Your own country has investigated the matter, and has deliberately
run the risk of unpleasantness by refusing to give you up. How, then,
can you go there voluntarily? You would be acting in your private
capacity directly in opposition to the decision arrived at by your
government."
"Technically, that is so; still, England would not hold the position
she does in the world to-day if her men had not often taken a course
in their private capacity which the government would never have
sanctioned. As things stand now, Russia has not insisted on her
demand, but has sullenly accepted England's decision, still quite
convinced that my act was not only an invasion of Russia's domain, but
a deliberate insult; therefore the worst results of an inconsiderate
action on my part remain. If I could see the Minister for Foreign
Affairs, or the head of the Admiralty in St. Petersburg face to face
for ten minutes, I'd undertake to remove that impression."
"You have great faith in your persuasive powers," she said demurely.
The Lieutenant began to stammer again.
"No, no, it isn't so much that, but I have great faith in the Russian
as a judge of character. I suppose I am imagined to be a venomous,
brow-beating, truculent Russophobe, who has maliciously violated their
territory, flinging a shell into their ground and an insult into their
face. They are quite sincere in this belief. I want to remove that
impression, and there's nothing like an ocular demonstration.
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