rms which come from the brain, yet which
appeal more deeply than any other to the subtle desires of the poet, the
man of letters and the philosopher. She is very wonderful, Immelan. I
thank you for your introduction."

Immelan ceased to caress his moustache. He leaned back in his chair and
gazed at his companion. For many years he and the Prince had been
associates, yet at that moment he felt that he had not even begun to
understand him.

"But you forget, Prince," he said, "that Lady Maggie and her friends are
in the opposite camp. When our agreement is concluded and known to the
world, she will look upon you as an enemy."

"As yet," Prince Shan answered calmly, "our agreement is not concluded."

Immelan's face darkened. Nothing but his awe of the man with whom he sat
prevented an expression of anger.

"But, Prince," he expostulated, "apart from political considerations,
you cannot really imagine that anything would be possible between you
and Lady Maggie?"

"Why not?" was the cool reply.

"Lady Maggie is of the English nobility," Immelan pointed out. "Neither
she nor her friends would be in the least likely to consider anything in
the nature of a morganatic alliance."

"It would not be necessary," Prince Shan declared. "It is in my mind to
offer her marriage."

Immelan dropped the cigarette case which he had just drawn from his
pocket. He gazed at his companion in blank and unaffected astonishment.

"Marriage?" he muttered. "You are not serious!"

"I am entirely serious," the Prince insisted. "I can understand your
amazement, Immelan. When the idea first came into my mind, I tore at it
as I would at a weed. But we who have studied in the West have learnt
certain great truths which our own philosophers have sometimes missed.
All that is best of life and of death our own prophets have taught us.
From them we have learnt fortitude and chastity: devotion to our country
and singleness of purpose. Over here, though, one has also learnt
something. Nobility is of the soul. A Prince of the Shans must seek not
for the body but for the spirit of the woman who shall be his mate. If
their spirits meet on equal terms, then she may even share the throne of
his life."

Immelan was speechless. There was something final and convincing in his
companion's measured words. His own protest, when at last he spoke,
sounded paltry.

"But supposing it is true that she is already engaged to Lord
Dorminster?"

Prince Shan smiled