I went to Skany as its ambassadors asked, and remained there most of the summer.

"I was about to offer an opinion--and the ambassador had asked only for facts."

Once a French ambassador asked him for permission to visit it.

The ambassador might as well have asked him why water was wet.

"If you need to," the ambassador asked, "are you ready to go in?"

"The Russian ambassador has asked for a meeting at ten a.m. this morning," the man added.

When these terms were refused by Leonidas the ambassador asked him more forcefully to lay down his weapons.

Then the ambassador asked him more forcefully to surrender their arms.

The ambassador also asks if his embassy can be guarded by French police for the duration of the President's visit.

Smoothly: "It's just that the ambassador himself asked me to speak to him.