‘I will not pretend that it is news,’ was my response. ‘But I am always glad to have my own information confirmed. I shall be grateful for anything you may tell me on the subject.’ ‘I am not going to keep anything from you,’ said the Minister. ‘The Emperor has made a private announcement of his intention to my own master, the Tsar, asking for his good offices on behalf of his proposed successor.’ ‘The Archduke Ferdinand?’ I put in rashly. M. Witte drew himself up, and gave me a suspicious glance. ‘You are too subtle, M. V----,’ he said coldly. ‘I have no doubt that you know perfectly well that it is the young Archduke Karl whom the Emperor has chosen to succeed him.’ I thought it better to be suspected of subtlety than nescience, and apologised. ‘I ought not to have spoken. I beg your Excellency to continue.’ ‘What I am going to ask you to do may sound rather extraordinary. I want you to go to Vienna, see his Majesty, of course without letting him know that you have been in communication with me, and tell him that you suspect the Russian Government is playing him false. Then persuade him to employ you to find out what is in the wind.’ I stared at M. Witte in some bewilderment. Then I answered cautiously-- ‘Do I understand you, sir, to propose that I am really to enter the service of the Emperor? Or am I to be your agent in the business?’ ‘I want you to do both,’ was the answer. ‘I am to deceive the Emperor, it appears?’ I said with rising indignation. ‘Not in the least. You will accept his commission to ascertain the secret intentions and purposes of the Government of Russia, and you will execute that commission exactly as if you and I had never held this conversation.’ ‘M. Witte, I must beg you to be plain with me. I never consent to act in the dark. What is your true motive in making this strange proposal to me?’ ‘I think I have already told you,’ the Minister returned with perfect coolness. ‘The man whom I am combating is Count Lamsdorff.’ ‘Your colleague?’ ‘Exactly. My colleague, the War Minister.’ ‘Let me see if I clearly understand your Excellency. The Emperor of Austria has given the Tsar private notice of his intention to abdicate? The Tsar has promised to preserve a friendly attitude? Nevertheless, the war party in the ministry, with or without the Tsar’s connivance, are secretly preparing to take advantage of the situation in some way? Your Excellency, knowing this, and disapproving of their plans, desires to put the Austrian Emperor on his guard, in order that the scheme may miscarry?’ M. Witte punctuated this speech with a series of nods. ‘And why?’ I demanded bluntly, throwing myself back in my chair. The Russian statesman looked at me for a minute, as though trying to make up his mind whether it would be of any use to offer me a false excuse. I prepared to listen to something about the obligations of international honour and good faith.