“No; it was no fault of mine,” I replied.
“I am under a deep obligation to you, M. Denver, for having made the attempt—an obligation which will find expression in a way that I think you will appreciate. I mean in regard to your projected journey. Everything that the Government can do to help that shall be done. I give you my word.”
“That is very good of you.”
He looked at me very shrewdly as I spoke.
“You have not abandoned the idea, have you? I know that many of your countrymen act on impulse,” he said with a smile.
“Abandoned it? Oh no. Why should I?”
“Well, I did not know whether anything in your present experiences might incline you to think our country not as—as safe for travellers as some others.”
That there was something underneath his words and his calm smiling suavity was as clear as an ant in amber.
“One has to take risks, of course,” I replied indifferently.
“What I mean is that if you would rather turn back, you would of course have our protection to the frontier. If, for instance, you thought you would rather approach our Asiatic dependencies from the other end?”