“Did His Grace really think that?”

“He did indeed,” Lord Stratford replied, “and was quite surprised when I found it a difficult task!”

“The stupidity of the Army appals me!”

“I agree with you, but it is something we must not say in public,” Lord Stratford replied.

“No, indeed! But you were telling me about the ship.”

“Yes, of course. At the beginning of this year the Government bought two of the fastest P & O Steamships, which had actually proved too expensive for the company to run. The Himalaya, three thousand, four hundred tons, is the largest and fastest ship afloat.”

“It is a Screw-Steamer, I believe.”

“It is,” Lord Stratford agreed, “and she completed the journey from England to here in eleven days, nineteen hours, while the Thirteenth Light Dragoons spent almost eight weeks on the voyage by sail!”

“So I shall travel to Greece in luxury!” Lord Castleford smiled.

“I have made arrangements for the best cabin on board to be put at your disposal. As the ship is overcrowded, it is doubtful if you can be allotted a suite, but I am sure that my note to the Captain will effect all that is possible.”

“Thank you,” Lord Castleford said. “It is pleasant to think that I shall not arrive in Athens exhausted and perhaps bruised from a rough passage in a sailing ship.”

“Before you go,” Lord Stratford interposed, “I consider it to be of the utmost importance for you to meet the Sultan.”

He paused before continuing,

“I intended to arrange a meeting while you were here, but I did not realise that it was a matter of such urgency. It is, as you know, important that you should keep the peace between these two countries and the fact that the Turks expelled all Greek citizens from Smyrna and Constantinople last year will not make relations any easier.”

“It was the fault of the Greeks. They started the fighting!” Lord Castleford reflected.

“The Greeks never accept that anything is their fault,” the Ambassador replied, “and although the King is Bavarian, that is one characteristic he has filched from his adopted country.”

“You are making me nervous!”

Lord Castleford spoke in a voice that showed he was not serious.

“You will manage this post as you have done all your others,” Lord Stratford assured him, “with intelligence, firmness, and a diplomacy which has already ingratiated you with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

“I hope you are right, my Lord!”

But there was no doubt from Lord Castleford’s tone that he was supremely self-confident.

Lord Stratford gave a little sigh as if he was half-disappointed over something he could not put into words.

Then he picked up his pen.

“I will write and request an audience for you with the Sultan,” he said. “I know he will want to meet you and to know him personally will, I am sure, assist you in your relations with King Otho.”

*