“No, sir, mine is not a passport case. I am here to make a charge against the Spanish Government for false imprisonment and spoliation.”
The young gentleman raised his head, and stared at me fixedly for a couple of seconds, and then, in the most silvery of accents, said, “Be good enough to repeat what you have said.”
I did so; adding, “As my case has occupied the attention of the Foreign Office for some time back, you may possibly have heard of my name,—Count Cregan.”
The youth sprang up from his chair, and hastened into another room, whence I could hear loud shouts of laughter immediately proceeding.
“No, no, Barrington,” said a deeper and an older voice; “I don't want to see the fellow, and I advise you to get rid of him at once. He 'll be a bore to us every day of the week, if you give him the slightest encouragement.”
“But is there really nothing in his case?”
“Nothing whatever; he is a downright impostor.”
“But Puzzleton certainly corresponded with him.''
“Of course he did, to prevent the Opposition making a handle of his case in 'the House;' but he soon saw the whole thing was a trumped-up charge, and as we want to go on smoothly with the Madrid Government, it would be absurd to disturb our relations for the sake of a fellow like this.”
“Oh, that's it,” said the attaché, catching a faint glimmering of the secret machinery of diplomacy.