Part 21 (1/2)
”Your principles,” he said, ”are suited to your own womenkind. La Belle Nita has become westernised. Are you sure that she accepts the situation as she would if she dwelt with you in Pekin?”
”I am her master,” Prince Shan declared calmly. ”I have made no promises that I have not fulfilled.”
”The promise between a man and a woman is an unspoken one,” Immelan persisted. ”You have not been in Europe for five months. All that time she has awaited you.”
”Something else has happened,” Prince Shan said deliberately.
”Since your arrival in London?”
”Since my arrival in London, since I stepped out of my s.h.i.+p last night.”
Immelan was frankly incredulous.
”You mean Lady Maggie Trent?”
”Certainly! I have always felt that some day or other my thoughts would turn towards one of these strange, western women. That time has come.
Lady Maggie possesses those charms which come from the brain, yet which appeal more deeply than any other to the subtle desires of the poet, the man of letters and the philosopher. She is very wonderful, Immelan. I thank you for your introduction.”
Immelan ceased to caress his moustache. He leaned back in his chair and gazed at his companion. For many years he and the Prince had been a.s.sociates, yet at that moment he felt that he had not even begun to understand him.
”But you forget, Prince,” he said, ”that Lady Maggie and her friends are in the opposite camp. When our agreement is concluded and known to the world, she will look upon you as an enemy.”
”As yet,” Prince Shan answered calmly, ”our agreement is not concluded.”
Immelan's face darkened. Nothing but his awe of the man with whom he sat prevented an expression of anger.
”But, Prince,” he expostulated, ”apart from political considerations, you cannot really imagine that anything would be possible between you and Lady Maggie?”
”Why not?” was the cool reply.
”Lady Maggie is of the English n.o.bility,” Immelan pointed out. ”Neither she nor her friends would be in the least likely to consider anything in the nature of a morganatic alliance.”
”It would not be necessary,” Prince Shan declared. ”It is in my mind to offer her marriage.”
Immelan dropped the cigarette case which he had just drawn from his pocket. He gazed at his companion in blank and unaffected astonishment.
”Marriage?” he muttered. ”You are not serious!”
”I am entirely serious,” the Prince insisted. ”I can understand your amazement, Immelan. When the idea first came into my mind, I tore at it as I would at a weed. But we who have studied in the West have learnt certain great truths which our own philosophers have sometimes missed.
All that is best of life and of death our own prophets have taught us.
From them we have learnt fort.i.tude and chast.i.ty: devotion to our country and singleness of purpose. Over here, though, one has also learnt something. n.o.bility is of the soul. A Prince of the Shans must seek not for the body but for the spirit of the woman who shall be his mate. If their spirits meet on equal terms, then she may even share the throne of his life.”
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.