“Why persist in this ridiculous delusion? I am not anything like so near a gaol as—well, say as you are.”
“This is insolence, monsieur,” he cried angrily.
“Yes, calculated insolence, your Highness. I resent your attitude. You have behaved infamously to me—infamously. And you would carry your infamy to the last extreme now, and send me to rot in one of your gaols, were you not restrained by your fear of the consequences.”
“You shall not speak thus to me,” he cried passionately, striking the desk with his fist.
“I shall speak as I please to the man who laid a treacherous trap to lure me to my death.”
“This is not the way to obtain my leniency.”
“Damn your leniency! Do what you dare—right now. I am as safe from your threats as I am indifferent to your anger. I am a free-speaking American citizen, monsieur, not a Russian serf; and I can prove my innocence as clearly as I can prove your guilt.”
“You tempt me to end the interview by your arrest. Had you not been a friend of his Majesty——”
A laugh from me cut him short.
“Exactly. I understand. You mean it’s safer to hear me out, no matter what tone I adopt. And so it is.”