I saw the truth last night, Immelan, when I sent Sen Lu to die." Immelan's expression was indescribable.

He sat with his mouth wide open.
The hand which held his glass shook.

He stared across the bowl of lilies to where his host was looking up through the smoke towards the ceiling.
"Sen Lu was a traitor," the latter went on, "a very foolish man who with one act of treachery wiped out the memory of a lifetime of devotion.

In the end he told the truth, and now he has paid his debt." "What do you mean ?" Immelan demanded, in a voice which he attempted in vain to control.

"How was Sen Lu a traitor ?" "Sen Lu," the Prince explained, "was in the pay of those who sought to know more of my business than I chose to tell--who sought, indeed, to anticipate my own judgment.