“‘Yes,’ said he.
“‘I have been waiting for you half an hour,’ said I. ‘You are to follow me at once. He is with the French Ambassador.’
“I spoke with such assurance that he never hesitated for an instant. When he entered the hackney coach and I followed him in, my heart gave such a thrill of joy that I could hardly keep from shouting aloud. He was a poor little creature, this Foreign Office messenger, not much bigger than Monsieur Otto, and I—monsieur can see my hands now, and imagine what they were like when I was seven-and-twenty years of age.
“Well, now that I had him in my coach, the question was what I should do with him. I did not wish to hurt him if I could help it.
“‘This is a pressing business,’ said he. ‘I have a despatch which I must deliver instantly.’
“Our coach had rattled down Harley Street now, in accordance with my instruction, it turned and began to go up again.
“‘Hullo!’ he cried. ‘What’s this?’
“‘What then?’ I asked.
“‘We are driving back. Where is Lord Hawkesbury?’
“‘We shall see him presently.’