Meanwhile ...

he hoped he might ask without offence ...

what was our Navy doing?
Why weren't our submarines as active as the German submarines?
And in France ...

how many soldiers had we now?
He did hope that he was not offending....

He spoke rapidly and indistinctly and much of his conversation Trenchard did not understand; he made some rather stupid replies and Marie Ivanovna laughed.
She spoke English very well, with an accent that was charming.