“I thought you would return the letter to me,” she replied.
“I likely should, had I seen you before I turned it over to the State Department. Now that it has passed out of my hands, it is a matter for the Secretary to decide.”
“But he will be advised by you!” she exclaimed.
“Advised, yes,—dominated, no. The only chance of the letter being returned to you, is that it does not affect this government.”
“Diplomacy then is willing to stoop to any crime or to profit by any wrong?” she mocked.
“I am afraid I must admit the accusation. Everything is fair in love and war, you know—and diplomacy is only a species of war.”
“Have I no redress for the outrage upon me, nor for the loss of the letter by reason of that outrage?”
“I’m afraid you’ll find the wheels of justice very slow-moving—when they have to do with affairs diplomatic.”
“But the letter, sir?”
“You must remember, Mrs. Clephane, that I found the letter in an abandoned cab.”