‘Mr Sutherland, believe me when I assure you that I am truly grieved to have been chosen by Her Majesty, my very gracious sovereign, to accomplish an order, the severity of which afflicts me, but which has without doubt been provoked by some great crime.’
‘By some great crime, Your Excellency!’ exclaimed the banker. ‘And who then has committed this crime?’
‘You, doubtless, sir, since it is upon you that the punishment is to fall.’
‘Sir, I swear to you that I know not of any reproach with which to charge myself as a subject of our sovereign; for I am a naturalised Russian, as you must know.’
‘And it is precisely, sir, because you are a naturalised Russian that your position is terrible. If you had remained a subject of His Britannic Majesty, you would have been able to call in the aid of the English consul, and escape thus perhaps the rigour of the order which I am, to my very great regret, charged to execute.’
‘Tell me then, Your Excellency, what is this order?’
‘Oh, sir, never will I have the strength to make it known to you.’
‘Have I lost the good graces of Her Majesty?’
‘Oh, if it were only that!’
‘Is it a question to make me depart for England?’