e suddenly glanced down, and their eyes met. As though
obeying his unspoken wish, she reined in her horse and came close to the
rails behind which he stood for a moment bareheaded. There was the
faintest smile upon her lips. She was amazingly composed. She had asked
herself repeatedly, almost in terror, how they should meet when the time
came. Now that it had happened, it seemed the most natural thing in the
world. She was scarcely conscious even of embarrassment.

"You are demonstrating to the world," she remarked, "that the reports of
your death this morning were exaggerated?"

"I had forgotten the incident," he assured her calmly.

His callousness was so unaffected that she shivered a little.

"Yet this Sen Lu, this man for whom you were mistaken, was an intimate
member of your household, was he not?"

"Sen Lu was a very good friend," Prince Shan answered. "He did his duty
for many years. If he knows now that his life was taken for mine, he is
happy to have made such atonement."

She manoeuvred her horse a little to be nearer to him.

"Why was Sen Lu murdered?" she asked.

"There are those," he replied, "of whom I myself shall ask that question
before the day is over."

"You have an idea, then?" she persisted.

"If," he said, "you desire my whole confidence, it is yours."

She sat looking between her horse's ears.

"To tell you the truth," she confessed, "I do not know what I desire.
Your philosophy, I suppose, does not tolerate moods. I shall escape from
them some time, I expect, but just now I seem to have found my way into
a maze. The faces of these people don't even seem real to me, and as for
you, I am perfectly certain that you have never been in China in your
life."

"Tell me the stimulant that is needed to raise you from your apathy," he
asked. "Will you find it in the rapid motion of your horse--a very noble
animal--in the joy of this morning's sunshine and breeze, or in the
toyland where these puppets move and walk?" he added, glancing down the
promenade. "Dear Lady Maggie, I beg permission to pay you a visit of
ceremony. Will you receive me this afternoon?"

She knew then what it was that she had been hoping for. She looked down
at him and smiled.

"At four o'clock," she invited.

She nodded, touched her horse lightly with the whip, and cantered off.
Prince Shan found himself suddenly accosted by a dozen acquaintances,
all plying him with questions. He listened to them with an amused smi