ed for him from the moment when he left the cradle. The end and
aim of his life is to serve his country, and I believe that he would
consider it sacrilege if he allowed any slighter things to divert at any
time his mind from its main purpose. He would feel like a priest who has
broken his ordination vows."

"That's all very well," Somerfield said coolly, "but there's nothing in
life nowadays to make us quite so strenuous as that."

"Isn't there?" Penelope answered. "You are an Englishman, and you should
know. Are you convinced, then, that your country today is at the
height of her prosperity, safe and sound, bound to go on triumphant,
prosperous, without the constant care of her men?"

Somerfield looked up at her in growing amazement.

"What on earth's got hold of you, Penelope?" he asked. "Have you been
reading the sensational papers, or stuffing yourself up with jingoism,
or what?"

She laughed.

"None of those things, I can assure you," she said. "A man like the
Prince makes one think, because, you see, every standard of life we have
is a standard of comparison. When one sees the sort of man he is, one
wonders. When one sees how far apart he is from you Englishmen in his
ideals and the way he spends his life, one wonders again."

Somerfield shrugged his shoulders.

"We do well enough," he said. "Japan is the youngest of the nations. She
has a long way to go to catch us up."

"We do well enough!" she repeated under her breath. "There was a great
city once which adopted that as her motto,--people dig up mementoes of
her sometimes from under the sands."

Somerfield looked at her in an aggrieved fashion.

"Well," he said, "I thought that this was to be an amusing luncheon
party."

"You should have talked more to Lady Grace," she answered. "I am sure
that she is quite ready to believe that you are perfection, and the
English army the one invincible institution in the world. You mustn't
take me too seriously today, Charlie. I have a headache, and I think
that it has made me dull."...

They trooped out into the foyer in irregular fashion to take their
coffee. The Prince and Penelope were side by side.

"What I like about your restaurant life," the Prince said, "is the
strange mixture of classes which it everywhere reveals."

"Those two, for instance," Penelope said, and then stopped short.

The Prince followed her slight gesture. Inspector Jacks and Dr.
Spencer Whiles were certainly just a little out of