He gazed at his visitor with knitted brows.
"Who are you ?" he demanded.

"An Englishman ?" "It is of no consequence," was the colourless reply.
"But it is of consequence," Lord Romsey insisted.

"You have dared to proclaim yourself an ambassador to me from a country with whom England is at war.

Even a discussion between us amounts almost to treason.

On second thoughts I decline to receive you." He held out his hand towards the electric bell which stood on his study table.