“If it is learnt by the Diplomatic Service, or indeed the Government, that she has been kidnapped then it might lead to difficult relations between our two countries. That is a situation I know, my friend, is what you and I would wish to avoid.”
“I still cannot believe that my people would be so stupid as to steal your fiancée,” the Sultan asserted.
He spoke in French because at their last meeting there had been many French Officers and they had often conversed with them in their own language.
“I think,” the Duke said quietly, “that your people believed that the order came direct from the man who built your ship. Therefore they did not query it.”
He hesitated slightly before he added,
“Equally it was a dangerous thing to do and I think, if you will forgive me saying so, it would be
