"Zo?"
"A graduate of the University of Oxford."
"Zo?"
"Tutor in the family of the Earl of Tottenbridge."
"Zo?"
"Son of a county magistrate."
"Zo? And nevertheless you are arrested for wandering about like a rogue and vagabond without a passport. We know not who you are, what you are, where you come from. The question with us is, Where is your passport? It is enough." And before I could reply his back was turned.
A whitewashed room, sixteen feet square, one barred window, one iron bedstead, one wooden bench—such was my apartment and the inventory of its furniture; and I felt my heart sink as the key in the door turned with an ominous click, and I was left to enjoy my solitary meditations.
What could I do? For an hour I racked my brain. Dared I apply to the English embassy? I would, come what might of it. A few blows on the panel of my door brought the officer.
"I wish to make immediate application to Lord Cowley."