"I cannot quite hope to make you understand,
but if I took for my wife a Chinese lady of unequal mundane rank, I
should commit a serious offence against those who watch me from the
other side of the grave, and to whom I am accountable for every action
of my life. A lady of another country is a different matter."
"But I am an Englishwoman," Maggie said, "and I love my country. You
know what that means."
"I know very well," he admitted. "I had not meant to speak of those
things until later, but, for your country's sake, what greater alliance
could you seek to-day than to become the wife of him who is destined to
be the Ruler of Asia?"
Maggie caught hold of her courage. She looked into his eyes
unflinchingly, though she felt the hot colour rise into her cheeks.
"You did not speak to me of these things, Prince Shan, when I came to
your house last night," she reminded him.
His smile was full of composure. It was as though the truth which sat
enshrined in the man's soul lifted him above all the ordinary emotions
of fear of misunderstandings.
"For those few minutes," he confessed, "I was very angry. It brings
great pain to a man to see the thing he loves droop her wings, flutter
down to earth, and walk the common highway. It is not for you, dear one,
to mingle with that crowd who scheme and cheat, hide and deceive, for
any reward in the world, whether it be money, fame, or the love of
country. You were not made for those things, and when I saw you there,
so utterly in my power, having deliberately taken your risk, I was
angry.
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