“You sound very positive,” she said. “Perhaps because you are so conscientious your life has been rather dull.”

“I hardly think that is something they will say about me when they come to write my biography.”

“I was not thinking about your biography, I was thinking about yourself. How many adventures, my Lord, have made your heart beat quicker and made you feel that the excitement and thrill counterbalanced the risk and even your fear of the consequences?”

“I have a feeling that you are talking not about exploits of bravery but of love,” Lord Castleford said. “So let me tell you that love does not enter very greatly into my life. I am far too preoccupied with more important matters.”

“More important?” Yamina queried.

“Much more important!” he replied. “It is hard for a woman to understand, I suppose, but for a man, if he has any intelligence, the most important objectives in his life are the achievements he attains mentally rather than physically.”

“That is a very English point of view,” Yamina said. “Most Russians are guided by their hearts and it is their hearts that point the way to the stars. For a man to be complete he must be inspired.”

“The achievements of the British, especially since the beginning of this century, speak eloquently for themselves,” Lord Castleford replied, “and let me inform you that those achievements were accomplished by men who used their intellect and were not swept off their feet by sheer emotion.”

Yamina laughed.

“Such an argument is irrefutable, my Lord! At the same time we were talking about you not the British Empire and I cannot help feeling that despite all you have achieved, and sometime I hope you will tell me about it, you still miss a great deal.”

Lord Castleford remembered that the Ambassador had said very much the same thing and because the idea irritated him he said crossly,

“I promise you I am entirely satisfied with my life as it is. I have no desire to be emotionally involved in dangerous or difficult situations, any more than I wish to be involved in the situation I now find myself in.”

“If I was a man, it would be much easier, would it not?” Yamina asked.

“Much easier!” he agreed. “I could then hand you over to the Captain of this ship and wash my hands of you.”

“He might be a little more human than you are,” Yamina ventured provocatively.

“He would undoubtedly find you very alluring in that fancy dress,” Lord Castleford conceded. “And your appearance would doubtless please the men who, as you have already said, have not seen a woman for some months.”

He meant to be scathing and succeeded, but, when he saw the colour creep up her face, he felt ashamed.

He pulled his watch from his waistcoat pocket.