"
Immelan was speechless. There was something final and convincing in his
companion's measured words. His own protest, when at last he spoke,
sounded paltry.
"But supposing it is true that she is already engaged to Lord
Dorminster?"
Prince Shan smiled very quietly.
"That," he said, "can easily be disposed of."
"But do you seriously believe that you would be able to induce her to
return with you to Pekin?" Immelan persisted.
At that moment it chanced that Maggie turned her head and looked across
at the two men. Prince Shan leaned a little forward to meet her gaze.
His face was expressionless. The lines of his mouth were calm and
restful, yet in his eyes there glowed for a single moment the fire of a
man who looks upon the thing he covets.
"I seriously believe it," he answered under his breath.
CHAPTER XVI
Maggie leaned back in her chair with a little sigh of content. The
scarlet-coated waiter had just removed their tea tray, a pleasant breeze
was rustling through the leaves of the trees under which she and Prince
Shan were seated. From the distance came the low strains of a military
band. Everywhere on the lawns and along the paths men and women were
promenading.
"Confess that this is better than Rumpelmayer's or the Ritz," she
murmured lazily.
"It is better," he admitted. "It is a very wonderful place."
"You have nothing like it in China?" she asked him.
"It would not be possible," he answered.
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