There was no more distinguished figure among the men there than he himself, and yet the sense of alienation grew in his heart as he watched.

There were many familiar faces, many to whom he could have spoken, no one who would not have greeted him with interest, even with gratification.

And yet he had never been so deeply conscious of the gulf which lay between the oriental fatalism of his life and ways and the placid self-assurance of these westerners, so well-content with the earth upon which their feet fell.

He had judged with perfect accuracy the place which he held in their thoughts and estimation.

He was something of a curiosity, his title half a joke, the splendour of his long race a thing unrealisable by these scions of a more recent aristocracy.