Page:William Le Queux - The Czar's Spy.djvu/211

Rh will kindly glance at that. It is in Russian, so you can read it."

He snatched it from me with ill-grace, but not without curiosity. And then, as he read the lines, his face changed and he went paler. Raising his head, he stood staring at me open-mouthed in amazement.

"I apologise to your Excellency!" he gasped, blanched to the lips. "I most humbly apologise. I — I did not know. You told me nothing!"

"Perhaps you will kindly mend my passport, and give it a proper visé."

In an instant he was up from his chair, and having gathered the torn paper from the floor, proceeded to paste it together. On the back he endorsed that it had been torn by accident, and then gave it the proper visé, affixing the stamps.

"I trust, Excellency," he said, bowing low as he handed it to me, "I trust that this affair will not trouble you further. I assure you I had no intention of insulting you."

"Yes, you had!" I said. "You insulted me merely because I am English. But recollect in future that the man who insults an Englishman generally pays for it, and I do not intend to let this pass. There is a higher power in Finland than even the Governor-General."

"But, Excellency," whined the fellow who only ten minutes ago had been such an insulting bully, "I shall lose my position. I have a wife and six children — my wife is delicate, and my pay here is not a large one. You will forgive, won't you,