He was a very agreeable figure in the centre of the little group of men, the hands which held his malacca cane behind his back, the smile which parted his lips benign yet cryptic.
"Because," he explained, "it is a great thing to have more regard for the lives of others than for one's own, and there are times," he added, "when it is certainly one's own life which is in the more precarious state." There was a little dispersal of the crowd, a chorus of congratulations and farewells.

Immelan and Prince Shan were left alone.

The former seemed to have turned paler.

The sun was warm, and yet he shivered.
"Just what do you mean by that, Prince ?" he asked.
"You shall walk with me to my house, and I will tell you," was the quiet reply..