To ally himself with a princess of the royal house of England would be a mesalliance which would disturb his ancestors in their graves.

Of course, this sounds to us very ridiculous, but to him it isn't.

It is part of the religion of his life." "You are not very encouraging, are you ?" Maggie remarked.

"Perhaps he has changed since those days." Her companion shook his head.
"I should say not," he replied, "the Prince is not of the order of those who change." "Is it matrimony alone," she asked, "which he denies himself ?" Chalmers glanced towards Mrs.Bollington Smith, whose eyes were closed.
Then he nodded towards the stage.
"You see the woman who has just come upon the stage ?" Maggie glanced downwards.

A very wonderful little figure in white satin, lithe and sinuous as a cat, Chinese in the subtlety of her looks, European in her almost sinister over-civilisation, stood smiling blandly at the applauding audience.
"La Belle Nita," Maggie murmured.