I was so glad to see that nothing had happened to him, that I paid little attention to the other two for the moment. I was telling him how I waited until 12:15 and had just determined on telephoning headquarters for Brady and Wilson when, standing as I supposed well concealed, I was suddenly pinioned by two figures that seemed to start up from the earth, handcuffed and hustled across the street into the room where we now were.
“I must compliment you on your organisation,” said Lanagan ironically, bowing toward Koshloff. Around that gentleman’s bearded lips played the faintest trace of a mocking smile. I could fancy how that smile ground into the proud soul of Lanagan.
The Secretary was growing impatient.
“The ten minutes, Mr. Lanagan?” he queried.
Lanagan turned and looked at me a long time. “You should have obeyed orders,” he said finally. “I told you to give me until twelve; not twelve-fifteen.”
It was the first time in his life Lanagan had ever criticised me, and it cut to the quick. I knew then how bitter his disappointment was.
“What is your ‘proposition?’” he said, turning abruptly to the Secretary, whom I had at once recognised as well as Koshloff.
“I haven’t any ‘proposition,’ Mr. Lanagan. It is simply that neither the Russian government nor our government can afford to let the world power know that the Secretary of State journeyed, incognito, across the American continent, to reach a diplomatic agreement with Russia. Don’t you realise what the publication of that unprecedented thing would mean?”
“My only proposition is a declaration. You hear most important information. It would undoubtedly make a splendid news sensation to-morrow morning. But you cannot possibly see the great dangers you would involve your country in. You might as well sit on a barrel of giant powder, and drop your cigar and expect to save so much as a collar button, as to print that story now and avoid war.
“My being here was absolutely a matter imperative for certain sufficient reasons. It was necessary that I present myself to Mr. Koshloff in person. That is all.