“My master will come to you in a few minutes,” the butler announced.  “What refreshments may I have the honor of serving?”

Dr. Whiles waved aside the invitation,—­he would at any rate remain professional.  The man withdrew, and almost immediately afterwards Prince Maiyo entered the room.  The doctor rose to his feet with a little thrill of excitement.  The Prince held out his hand.

“I am very pleased to see you again, doctor,” he said.  “You looked after me so well last time that I was afraid I should have no excuse for sending for you.”

“I am glad to find that you are not suffering,” the doctor answered.  “I understood from your servant that you were feeling a good deal of pain in the side.”

“It troubles me at times,” the Prince admitted, drawing a chair up towards his visitor,—­“just sufficiently, perhaps, to give me the excuse of seeking a little conversation with you.  You must let me offer you something after your ride.”

“You are very good,” the doctor answered.  “Perhaps I had better examine you first.”

The Prince rang the bell and waved aside the suggestion.

“That,” he said, “can wait.  In my country, you know, we do not consider that a guest is properly treated unless he partakes of our hospitality the moment he crosses the threshold.  The whiskey and soda water,” he ordered of the butler who appeared at the door.  “We will talk of my ailments,” the Prince continued, “in a moment or two.  Tell me what you thought of that marvellous restaurant where I saw you the other morning?”

The doctor drew a little breath.

“It was you, then!” he exclaimed.

“But naturally,” the Prince murmured.  “I took it for granted that you would recognize me.”

The doctor found some difficulty in proceeding.  He was trying to imagine the cousin of an Emperor riding a bicycle along a country road, staggering into his surgery at midnight, covered with dust, inarticulate, pointing only to the wounds beneath his cheap clothes!

“Nothing,” the Prince continued easily, “has impressed me more in your country than the splendor of your restaurants.  You see, that side of your life represents something we are altogether ignorant of in Japan.”

“It is a very wonderful place,” the doctor admitted.  “We had luncheon, my friend and I, in the grillroom, but we came for a few minutes into the foyer to watch the people from the restaurant.”

The Prince nodded genially.

“By the bye,” he remarked, “it is strange that my very good friend—­Mr. Inspector Jacks—­should also be a friend of yours.”

“He is scarcely that,” the doctor objected.  “I have known him for a very short time.”

The Prince raised his eyebrows.  The whiskey and soda were brought, and the doctor helped himself.  How curiously deficient these Westerners were, the Prince thought, in every instinct of duplicity!  As clearly as possible the doctor had revealed the fact that his acquaintance with Inspector Jacks was of precisely that nature which might have been expected.