I noticed as we crossed the Place Gustavus Adolphus that the flag was not hoisted on the Palace. His Majesty was supposed to be at Drottningholm, from which place he had come secretly in a small launch for the purpose of our interview. As soon as Count Söderhielm had presented me to his Majesty, he retired to the antechamber, leaving us together. ‘Perhaps you are wondering what I have sent for you to do?’ King Oscar began. ‘At least, I do not doubt that any service on which your Majesty employs me will be an honourable one,’ I answered respectfully. The King smiled. ‘I have not sent for you to pay me compliments,’ he said rebukingly. ‘Let me first ask if it is true that you are no friend to the Russian Government?’ I looked at the King in some surprise. ‘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?’ I bowed, restraining my curiosity at this unexpected opening. ‘You know that Finland is an ancient province of the Swedish Crown, and that when it was united to Russia, after the fall of Napoleon, my ancestor, the then Crown Prince Bernadotte, was authorised to take Norway as a compensation?’ ‘I do, sire.’ ‘Perhaps you know also that the exchange has been a disastrous one for Sweden. The Finns were contented and happy under our rule, while the Norwegians have done nothing but quarrel with the Swedes for a century.’ ‘I have heard something of this,’ I responded. ‘Now as long as Finland held the position of a semi-independent State, over which the Tsar ruled as Grand Duke of Finland, it was possible for us to regard her as a buffer between us and Russia. We had every reason to hope that if the Russians wished to attack us, they would have to subdue Finland first.’ ‘I was hardly aware of that, sire.’ ‘It is the fact. The Finnish civilisation is really Swedish, our language is spoken there, and the Swedish element in the population looks on Sweden as its real home. Very good. That being so, the Russians have decided to conquer Finland in time of peace, under the cloak of administrative measures.’ ‘Your Majesty means that this attack on Finland is really an attack on Sweden and Norway?’ ‘It is the first step towards an attack on Sweden,’ King Oscar answered, with significance. ‘The question of Norway is the matter about which I have sent for you.’ I gazed at the King in astonishment.