The Great Prince Shan

take life seriously. She was neither fair nor dark, petite nor tall. No one could ever have called her nondescript, or have extolled any particular grace of form

iled in expression but capable of wonderful changes. She was curled up in a chair when Nigel

exclaimed, "what do you t

" he answer

d down the fashion

least useful. Do you realise that if anything in the w

e been running hideou

d at him

. "We all run risks when w

sort that you h

ed thoug

tly where I have

I was concerned. I believed, with the rest of the world, what the newspapers announced-that yo

sm

out it. We arranged it all with the Wendercombes, but as a matter of fact I did not even start with them. For the last e

lo

een governess to the two d

President of the

aggie

e meals!" she added, with a little shudder. "Think of me, dear Nigel, who never eat more than an omelette and som

there under your own name

ook he

I left," she said. "They referred to a Miss Brown,

ttered under his breath.

no

that fat old Essendorf chuckling with his wife about how his clever police had laid an English spy by the heels, and telling her, also, of the papers which they had

job, anyhow,"

rs and abandoned the per

Germany lately, Ni

ny years,"

f out upon the couch

England had had a long start in colonisation, commerce and all the rest of it. But the feeling in Germany now, although it is marvellously hidden, is something perfectly amazing. It absolutely vibrates where

t of those days. You must remember that it was an unprovoked war, a war engineered by Germany for the

no

statesman of the Beaconsfield type at the Peace table. However, that is all ended

d. I can very well believe that the spirit is there, but when it comes to hard facts-well, what can they do? England can never be invaded. T

im. "We seem somehow or other to have found our way into the bad boo

one now to inform us of the prejudices and humours of the nations. We often offend quite unwittingly, and we miss many opportunities of a rapprochement. It is trade, trade, trade and nothing else, the whole of the time

be right when you say that any practical move against us is almost impossible. Dad d

on't think that we need fear Asiatic intervention over here. Prince S

e man in the world I am longing to meet. H

y. He went from t

he was like,

sed. "He was a most brilliant scholar and a fine horse

-look

ces. We all thought him clever, but no one dreamed that he would become Asia's great man. I'll tell you all that I can reme

ook he

r and it looks like gibberish. I only know that the

he has finish

n he has. How do you th

is elbow upon the mantelpiece, gazing down at her. "But then you

the little bag by her side a

ided, turning towards him with

s adorable,"

u always do it so well and so convincingly. And I hate foreigners. They are terribly in earnest

a reserve to which she was accustomed from him. Present

f the wasted months! No one has kiss

your mind to marry

his hand, "do restrain your ardou

ourse

on't l

," he assured her, "and I

ook he

clared, "and, strange to say, it

" he argued. "Perhaps we have too much c

these days is such shocking bad form. Besides, honestly, Nigel, I don't feel frivolous enough to think about marriage just now. I have the feeling that even while the clock is

ed reas

w, dear," he reminded her, "and I r

es me feel quite uncomfortable when I reflect that I shall probably ha

eclared firmly. "I am not good at that

d, almost an imperative summons. Before either of them could reply, the door was opened and Brookes, the elderl

library at once, sir?" he

, Brookes?" Maggie

ordship is not wel

dently terribly perturbed and went on talking

aid. "I heard a queer noise, and when I went in, he had fallen

f a noise?"

ke a shot," th

er unnatural in the collapse of his head and shoulders and his motionless body. Nigel spoke to him, touched him gently, raised him at last into a s

ome," he

troke?" sh

he is dead," Nig

lence until the doctor arrived. The latter's examination l

Mr. Kingley. Lord Dorminster appears either to have shot himself, as seems most proba

was the sanest possible man, and the happ

unfastened once more the dead man's waistcoat, opened his

he said. "It must hav

or horns, the rumbling of wheels, the measured footfall of the passing multitude. A boy went by, whistling; another passed, calling hoarsely the news from the afternoon papers. A muffin man rang his bell, a small boy clattered his stick against the

re was not the slightest sign of any manuscript or paper of any sort. He even searched the drawers of the desk