Now, if the French police knew anything of this anarchist plot, which
was quite within the bounds of possibility, and if I were in
surreptitious communication with the anarchists, more especially with
the man who was to fling the bomb, there was every chance I might find
myself in the grip of French justice. I must, then, provide myself
with credentials to show that I was acting, not against the peace and
quiet of my country, but on the side of law and order. I therefore
wished to get from the nobleman a commission in writing, similar to
that command which he had placed upon me during the King's visit. This
commission I should lodge at my bank in Paris, to be a voucher for me
at the last extremity. I had no doubt his lordship would empower me to
act in this instance as I had acted on two former occasions.
* * * * *
Perhaps if I had not lunched so well I might have approached his
lordship with greater deference than was the case; but when ordering
lunch I permitted a bottle of Chateau du Tertre, 1878, a most
delicious claret, to be decanted carefully for my delectation at the
table, and this caused a genial glow to permeate throughout my system,
inducing a mental optimism which left me ready to salute the greatest
of earth on a plane of absolute equality.
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