The next day I was summoned by the Prime Minister. That grim-faced Prime Minister Cromwell. I could not think of a single reason I would be called. I did not want to go, but if I had been called, I had to go.
The moment I entered the Prime Minister's office, though,
"Sorry for the trouble over that matter."
Prime Minister Cromwell said something I did not follow. Probably the Empire business? I thought, and still tried playing dumb.
"Over what?"
He frowned at me. (His face was already frightening. A frown on top of that made it the most frightening thing possible. I wanted to say so and could not.)
"Do not say that. The business those Ai and Dee types were mixed up in."
So I said,
"That. Yes. It was truly hard. I nearly died."
A little blame.
"Do not say that. It sounds quite different from what I heard from Her Majesty. Could it be Ambassador Marie treats men and women differently?"
