We were silent for a little, and then the Colonel poured himself out a whisky.
“All the same,” he said, as he went back to his seat, “you haven’t answered my question.”
“What was that, sir?”
“What you would do in the case I mentioned. Seriously.”
“Oh! Well, I stick to my first answer. I would do nothing--except, of course, ask for an explanation and an apology. If you can apologize for that sort of thing.”
“And if they were refused?”
“Have no more official relations with Spain.”
“That’s all you would do?”
“Yes.”
“And you think that that is consistent with the honour of a great nation like England?”