"Pah!" he ejaculated. "We are indebted to the French for the word canaille, which applies to all Americans and Englishmen." "Now," said I, climbing off the pallet, "I shall certainly do it." "I warn you not to approach me," he cried, his fingers closing over the pistol. "Well, I promise not to do it now," I declared, going over to the window. I found some satisfaction in his nervousness; it told me that he feared me. "What place is this; a palace?" "Answer this question, sir: Why did you cross the frontier when you were expressly forbidden to do so?" "I forbidden to cross the frontier?" My astonishment was indescribable. "Young man, you have made a blunder of some sort. I am not a Socialist or an Anarchist. I have never been forbidden to cross the frontier of any country. Your Chancellor is one of the best friends I have in the world. I went to school with his son." He rocked to and fro on the table, laughing honestly and heartily. "You do not lack impudence. Are you, or are you not, the London correspondent of the New York ------?" "I certainly am." "You admit it?" eagerly. "I see no earthly reason why I should not." "When did you last visit this city?" "Several years ago." "Several years ago?" incredulously. "Exactly. Have you ever seen me before?" "No. But it was a little less than two years ago when you were here." "It is scarcely polite," said I, "to question the veracity of a man you never saw before and of whom you know positively nothing." Suddenly my head began to throb again and I grew dizzy. "You hit me rather soundly with that pistol. Still, your eye ought to be a recompense." He replied with a scowl. "Perhaps your name is ------" "Winthrop, John Winthrop, if that will throw any light on the subject."' "One name is as good as another," with a smile of unbelief. "That is true. What's in a name? There is little difference, after all, between the names of the nobility and the rabble." "You are determined to irritate me beyond measure," said he. A German is the most sensitive man in the world as regards his title. "Grant that I have some cause. And perhaps," observing him from the corner of my eye, "it is because you smoke such vile tobacco." Remembering the incident in the railway carriage, he smiled in spite of the gravity of the situation. "It was the best I had," he said; "and then, it was done in self-defence. I'll give you credit for being a fearless individual. But you haven't answered my question." "What question?" "Why you returned to this country when you were expressly forbidden to do so." "I answered that," said I. "And now let me tell you that you may go on asking questions till the crack of doom, but no answer will I give you till you have told me why I am here, I, who do not know you or what your business is, or what I am supposed to have done." He began to look doubtful. He thumped the table with the butt of the pistol.