Prince Shan smiled very quietly.
"That," he said, "can easily be disposed of."
"But do you seriously believe that you would be able to induce her to return with you to Pekin?" Immelan persisted.
At that moment it chanced that Maggie turned her head and looked across at the two men. Prince Shan leaned a little forward to meet her gaze. His face was expressionless. The lines of his mouth were calm and restful, yet in his eyes there glowed for a single moment the fire of a man who looks upon the thing he covets.
"I seriously believe it," he answered under his breath.
CHAPTER XVI
Maggie leaned back in her chair with a little sigh of content. The scarlet-coated waiter had just removed their tea tray, a pleasant breeze was rustling through the leaves of the trees under which she and Prince Shan were seated. From the distance came the low strains of a military band. Everywhere on the lawns and along the paths men and women were promenading.
"Confess that this is better than Rumpelmayer's or the Ritz," she murmured lazily.