Part 36 (2/2)
Prince Shan smiled.
”Great Britain,” he reminded her, ”has taken the League of Nations to her heart. It was a very dangerous thing to do.”
”Still,” Maggie persisted, ”there remains the great thing which you have not told me. These proposals, I admit, would strike a blow at the heart of the British Empire, but how are they to be carried into effect?”
”If I had signed the agreement,” he replied, ”they could very easily have been carried into effect. You have heard already, have you not, through some of your agents, of the three secret cities? In the eastern-most of them is the answer to your question.”
She smiled.
”Is that a challenge to me to come out and discover for myself all that I want to know?”
”If you come,” he answered, ”you shall certainly know everything. There is another little matter, too, which waits for your decision.”
”Tell me of it at once, please,” she begged, with a sudden conviction of his meaning.
He obeyed without hesitation.
”I spoke just now,” he reminded her, ”of the three secret cities. They are secret because we have taken pains to keep them so. One is in Germany, one in Russia, and one in China. A casual traveller could discover little in the German one, and little more, perhaps, in the Russian one. Enough to whet his curiosity, and no more. But in China there is the whole secret at the mercy of a successful spy. A man named Jesson, Lady Maggie--”
”I telephoned you about him before luncheon to-day,” she interrupted.
”I had your message,” he replied, ”and the man is safe for the moment.
At the same time, Lady Maggie, let me remind you that this is a game the rules of which are known the world over. Jesson has now in his possession the secret on which I might build, if I chose, plans to conquer the world. He knew the penalty if he was discovered, and he was discovered. To spare his life is sentimentalism pure and simple, yet if it is your will, so be it.”
”You are very good to me,” she declared gratefully, ”all the more good because half the time I can see that you scarcely understand.”
”That I do not admit,” he protested. ”I understand even where I do not sympathise. You make of life the greatest boon on earth. We of my race and way of thinking are taught to take it up or lay it down, if not with indifference, at any rate with a very large share of resignation.
However, Jesson's life is spared. From what I have heard of the man, I imagine he will be very much surprised.”
She gave a little sigh of relief.
”You have given me a great deal of your confidence,” she said thoughtfully.
”Is it not clear,” he answered, ”why I have done so? I ask of you the greatest boon a woman has to give. I do not seek to bribe, but if you can give me the love that will make my life a dream of happiness, then will it not be my duty to see that no shadow of misfortune shall come to you or yours? China stands between j.a.pan and Russia, and I am China.”
She gave him her hands.
”You are very wonderful,” she declared. ”Remember that at a time like this, it is not a woman's will alone that speaks. It is her soul which lights the way. Prince Shan, I do not know.”
He smiled gravely.
”I leave,” he told her, ”on Friday, soon after dawn.”
She found herself trembling.
”It is a very short time,” she faltered.
They had both risen to their feet. He was close to her now, and she felt herself caught up in a pa.s.sionate wave of inertia, an absolute inability to protest or resist. His arms were clasped around her lightly and with exceeding gentleness. He leaned down. She found herself wondering, even in that tumultuous moment, at the strange clearness of his complexion, the whiteness of his firm, strong teeth, the soft brilliance of his eyes, which caressed her even before his lips rested upon hers.
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