"
"Perhaps it may be," Karschoff remarked quietly.
"She isn't going away, is she?" Chalmers demanded.
"Who knows?" the Prince replied. "Lady Maggie is one of those strange
people to whom one may look with every confidence for the unexpected."
She herself came across to them, a few moments later.
"Something tells me," she declared, "that you are talking about me."
"You are always a very much discussed young lady," Karschoff rejoined,
with a little bow.
She made a grimace and sank into a chair by her aunt. She talked on
lightly enough, but all the time with that slight suggestion of
superficiality which is a sign of strain. She glanced often towards the
entrance of the lounge, yet no one seemed less disturbed when at a few
minutes before eleven Prince Shan came quietly in. He made his way at
once to Mrs. Bollington Smith and bent over her fingers.
"It is so kind of you and Lord Dorminster," he said, "to give me this
opportunity of saying good-by to a few friends."
"You are leaving us so soon, Prince?"
"To-morrow, soon after dawn," he replied, his eyes wandering around the
little circle. "I wish to be in Pekin, if possible, by Wednesday, so my
_Dragon_ must spread his wings indeed."
He said a few words to almost everybody. Last of all he came to Maggie,
and no one heard what he said to her. There was no change in his face as
he bent low over her fingers, no sign of anything which might have
passed between them, as a few minutes later he turned to one side with
Nigel.
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