when she entered it, yet she had now a conviction that she was not
alone. She turned slowly around, her lips parted, breathing quickly.
Standing in the middle of the room, a grim, commanding figure in his
flowing green robes, the dim light flashing upon the great diamonds in
his belt, stood Prince Shan.

To Maggie at that moment came a great throbbing in her ears, a sense of
remoteness from this terrible happening, followed by an intense and
vital consciousness of danger. The man who had brought new things into
her life, the polished gentleman of the world, with his fascinating
brain and gentle courtesy, had gone. It was Prince Shan of China who
stood there. She felt the chill of his contempt and disapproval in her
heart. She had forfeited her high estate. She was a convicted thief,--an
adventuress!

She gripped at the side of the cabinet. Her poise had gone. She had the
air of a trapped animal.

"You!" she exclaimed. "How did you get here?"

He answered her without change of expression. A sense of crisis seemed
to have made his tone more level, his face stony.

"It is my house," he said. "I do not often leave it. I sat in my
sleeping chamber behind"--he pointed to the silken curtains through
which he had passed--"I heard your entrance and guessed with pain and
regret at your mission."

"But a quarter of an hour ago you were at the ball!"

"You are mistaken," he replied. "I do not attend such gatherings. I had
given you my word that I should not be there."

"But I saw you," she persisted, "in that same costume!"

"Surely not," he dissented. "The person whom you saw was a gentleman
from my suite, who wore the dress of an inferior mandarin. He is
sometimes supposed to resemble me. I should have believed that your
apprehension of such things would have informed you that no Prince of my
line would wear the garments of his order for a public show."

Her fingers had left the drawer now. She stood upright, pale and
desperate.

"That woman of your country, then--La Belle Nita--did she lie to me?"

"How can I tell?" he answered coldly, "because I do not know what she
said."

Maggie made an effort to test her position.

"I came here as a thief," she confessed. "I am detected. What are your
intentions?"

He moved very slowly a little closer to her. Maggie felt her sense of
excitement grow.

"You came here as a thief," he repeated, "as a spy. Why did you not ask
me for the information you desired?"

"Because