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"I speak it very good," was the self-satisfied reply.

There was a momentary pause. Patinsky's eyes seemed to be wandering round the little apartment, as though taking note of its possibilities.

"What lucky chance brought you this way?" Haven enquired.

Patinsky smiled gently.

"We are under orders to patrol the frontier," he pointed out. "Raids of this character were to be expected. This mob of revolutionaries, who seem for the moment to have gained the upper hand in Russia, care nothing about the frontiers or," he added, after a moment's significant pause, "about diplomatic privileges."

"So I have already discovered," Haven commented.

"You will not object," Patinsky went on courteously, "to a few questions which I must ask in my official capacity?"

"Not in the least. Go right ahead," the other invited.

"One is permitted to enquire, then, the reason why you, the official representative of a country friendly to our own, were forced to leave the train at the frontier and take refuge here, instead of pursuing your journey in peace?"