An hour or so later, Prince Shan left his house in Curzon Street and, followed at a discreet distance by two members of his household, strolled into the Park.

It had pleased him that morning to conform rigorously to the mode of dress adopted by the fashionable citizens of the country which he was visiting.

Few people, without the closest observation, would have taken him for anything but a well-turned-out, exceedingly handsome and distinguished-looking Englishman.

He carried himself with a faint air of aloofness, as though he moved amongst scenes in which he had no actual concern, as though he were living, in thought at any rate, in some other world.

The morning was brilliantly sunny, and both the promenade and the Row were crowded.