ly, a
messenger from behind the scenes arrived for Nita. She rose to her feet
and wrapped her green cloak closely around her lissom figure.

"In a quarter of an hour," she said, "I have to appear again. It is to
be good-night, then?"

She raised her eyes to his, and for a moment the appeal which knows no
nationality shone out of their velvety depths. She stood before him
simply, like a slave who pleads. Not a muscle of Prince Shan's face
moved.

"It is to be good-night, Nita," he answered calmly.

Her head drooped, and she passed out. She had the air of a flower whose
petals have been bruised. Immelan looked after her curiously, almost
compassionately.

"It is finished, then, with the little one, Prince?" he enquired.

"It is finished," was the calm reply.

Immelan stroked his short moustache thoughtfully.

"Is it wise?" he ventured. "She has been faithful and assiduous. She
knows many things."

Prince Shan's eyes were filled with mild wonder.

"She has had some years of my occasional companionship," he said. "It is
surely as much as she could hope for or expect. We are not like you
Westerners, Immelan," he went on. "Our women are the creatures of our
will. We call them, or we send them away. They know that, and they are
prepared."

"It seems a little brutal," Immelan muttered.

"You prefer your method?" his companion asked. "Yet you practise deceit.
Your fancy wanders, and you lie about it. You lose your dignity, my
friend. No woman is worth a man's lie."

Immelan was leaning back in his chair, gazing steadfastly across the
crowded theatre.

"Your principles," he said, "are suited to your own womenkind. La Belle
Nita has become westernised. Are you sure that she accepts the situation
as she would if she dwelt with you in Pekin?"

"I am her master," Prince Shan declared calmly. "I have made no promises
that I have not fulfilled."

"The promise between a man and a woman is an unspoken one," Immelan
persisted. "You have not been in Europe for five months. All that time
she has awaited you."

"Something else has happened," Prince Shan said deliberately.

"Since your arrival in London?"

"Since my arrival in London, since I stepped out of my ship last night."

Immelan was frankly incredulous.

"You mean Lady Maggie Trent?"

"Certainly! I have always felt that some day or other my thoughts would
turn towards one of these strange, western women. That time has come.
Lady Maggie possesses those cha