Nigel felt himself curiously tongue-tied.  There was something in the other’s measured speech, so fateful, so assured, that it seemed almost as though he were speaking of pre-ordained things.  Much that had seemed to him impossible and unnatural in such an idea disappeared from that moment.

“You tell me this,” Nigel began—­

“I announce it to you as the head of the family,” Prince Shan interrupted.

“You tell it to me also,” Nigel persisted, “because you have heard the rumours which were at one time very prevalent—­that Lady Maggie and I were or were about to become engaged to be married.”

“I have heard such a rumour only very indirectly,” Prince Shan confessed, “and I cannot admit that it has made any difference in my attitude.  I think, in my land and yours, we have at least one common convention.  The woman who touches our heart is ours if we may win her.  Love is unalterably selfish.  One must fight for one’s own hand.  And for those who may suffer by our victory, we may have pity but no consideration.”

“Am I to understand,” Nigel asked bluntly, “that Lady Maggie has consented to be your wife?”

“Lady Maggie has given me no reply.  I left her alone with her thoughts.  Every hour it is my hope to hear from her.  She knows that I leave for China early to-morrow.”

“So at the present moment you are in suspense.”

“I am in suspense,” Prince Shan admitted, “and perhaps,” he went on, with one of his rare smiles, “it occurred to me that it would be in one sense a relief to speak to a fellow man of the hopes and fears that are in my heart.  You are the one person to whom I could speak, Lord Dorminster.  You have not wished my suit well, but at least you have been clear-sighted.  I think it has never occurred to you that a prince of China might venture to compete with a peer of England.”

“On the contrary,” Nigel assented, “I have the greatest admiration for the few living descendants of the world’s oldest aristocracy.  You have a right to enter the lists, a right to win if you can.”

“And what do you think of my prospects, if I may ask such a delicate question?” Prince Shan enquired.

“I cannot estimate them,” Nigel replied.  “I only know that Maggie is deeply interested.”

“I think,” his companion continued softly, “that she will become my Princess.  You have never visited China, Lord Dorminster,” he went on, “so you have little idea, perhaps, as to the manner of our lives.  Some day I will hope to be your host, so until then, as I may not speak of my own possessions, may I go just so far as this?  Your cousin will be very happy in China.  This is a great country, but the very air you breathe is cloyed with your national utilitarianism.  Mine is a country of beautiful thoughts, of beautiful places, of quiet-living and sedate people.  I can give your cousin every luxury of which the world has ever dreamed, wrapped and enshrined in beauty.  No person with a soul could be unhappy in the places where she will dwell.”