The Minneapolis journal., 1906-05-17

ance. as she had forgotten the flight Of
time, while on his part he did not notice
leave well enough alone, she added.
Why do you think thats" he asked.
Your own country has Investigated
= the matter, and has deliberately run the
risk of unpleasantness by refusing to
give you up. How, then, can you go
ing in Hour private capacity directly
in opposition to the decision arrived at
by your government. ~ ---.'
'<Technically, that is so; still, Eng
kand would not hold the position she.
does in the world today if her men had
vate capacity which the government
would never have sanctioned: AS things
stand now, Russia has not insisted on
her demand, but has s,,llenly accepted
England s decision, still quite con
vinccd that my act was not only an in
vasion of Russia s domain, but delib
crate. insult; therefore the worst results
of an inconsiderate action on my part
remain: If / could see the minister for
foreign affairs, or the head Of the. ad-
miralty in St. Petersburg face to face
for ten. minutes, ia undertake to re;
move that impression -.
= 'You have. great faith in your per
. suasive powers - she said demurely.
. The lieutenant began to stammer
again. =. ~. r.. = :.
!; 7.tNo, no, it isn't so much that, but I
have great faith in the Russian as
Judge Of character. suppose I am. i'm
agined to be a venomous, brow-beating..
truculent Russephobe,5 who has mali
.ciouslv violated their territory, f1inging
+ a shell into their ground and an insult
into their face. They are quite sincere
in this belief. / want to remove that
ocular demonstration. like the Rus
slams. One Of my best friends is a
Russian.'' = =. =. : - ,-4.. -...
The girl shook her head.
"I shouldn It attempt it, she. per
sisted. -" Suppose Russia arrested you,
and said to England, We've got this
man in spite: Of you '?'' -,---.,
The lieutenant laughed heartily.
"That is unthinkable; Russia would
MT do such thing. In spite of all
that is said about the Russian govern
ment, it's members are gentlemen. Of
course, if such thing happened, there
Englishman, wrongfully detained, may
cause a most expensive campaign. Our
diplomatists may act correctly enough
and yet leave a feeling of resentment
behind. Take this very case. Britain
says coldly to Russia: =.
".We disclaim the act and apollo
"Now, it would be much more to
: the purpose if she said genially:
We have in our employment an
impetuous young fool with thirst for
information. He wished to learn how
a new piece Of ordnance would act, so
fired it off with no more intention of
striking Russia than of hitting the
moon. He knows much more about
dancing than about foreign affairs.
We've given him month s leave, and
he will slip across private to st. Pc
tersburg to apologize and explain The
moment you see him you will recognize
he is no menace to the peace Of ma
tions. Meanwhile, if you can incul-
sense before he returns, Wen be ever
so much obliged. - "
$50 YOU are determined to do what
donesv ->...
ooh, quite. There will be nothing
frigidly official about my unauthorized
mission. I have cousin in the EN-
bassy at st. Petersburg but shan It
go near him; neither: shall I go to a
hotel, but will get quiet rooms some
where that l may not run the risk, of
meeting any chance acquaintances. "
lit seems to me you are about to
afford the Russian government an ex-
cellent opportunity of spiriting you off
to Siberia, and nobody would be the
wiser:' -
Drummond indulged in the free
hearted laugh of youth to whom life
is still rather good joke. 49,.
81 shouldn't mind studying the ST.
berian system from the inside if they
allowed me to return before my leave
was up. believe that sort of thing
has been. exaggerated by sensational
writer's. The Russian government
would not countenance ANYTHING Of the
kind, and if the minor officials tried to
play tricks. there s always my cousin
in the background, and it would be
hard luck if I couldn't get line to
him. Oh, there's no danger in my
project!''
Suddenly the girl came to stand
still, and gave expression to little cry
of dismay.
WHAT'S wrongf'' asked the lieu
tenant.
tWhy. we've walked clear out into
the country!' -