"Let us be seated," said Haganè, with a pleasant smile. Pierre, as at a physical thrust, went backward into a chair. "Now, shall we smoke?" continued the other, his tone deepening in friendliness. Its suavity had the effect of smothering. Pierre fought it off with a rude weapon.
"Certainly, your Highness. Cigarettes or opium?"
"Ah! Do you keep the latter luxury?" inquired the prince, with interest. "Have Frenchmen adopted this—vice—also?"
"I meant for you only," explained Pierre, foolishly.
"You must be a new-comer, unaware that I, myself, had the drug excluded from Japan. You Christian Europeans had already forced it on China."
Pierre did not look up or try to answer. He felt his every move a false one. The steadying of the coffee did not come fast enough. He was in a hurry to get in some telling thrust. He must defend himself and Yuki. Count Ronsard should, after all, acknowledge him a man. The smooth, cool tones of the other now flowed like a refreshing liquid through his brain.
"Am I right in thinking this your first visit to Japan, Monsieur?"
Pierre, half dazed, answered, with instinctive politeness, "My first, yes. But I have for years been interested."
"May I venture to ask what special phase of our civilization has been honored with your interest?"
Pierre's demon nudged him. "It's woman," he said, with a short, ugly laugh.