‘It is better for me to tell you, sire, that I do not allow my
private feelings to enter into my work. The Russian Government has
employed me before now, and may do so again; in which case I should
serve it as loyally as I hope to do your Majesty.’
The King did not seem ill-pleased by this frankness.
‘I respect you for that answer,’ he said graciously. ‘I ought not to
have asked you for your personal confidence.’
‘I am a Pole by my father’s side, sire,’ I threw in.
King Oscar thanked me for this hint by a nod.
‘Let us come to business. You have taken note, I expect, of this
determination to Russianise Finland?’