He had a dim recollection of something having been forced through his lips.

Already he was beginning to feel himself again.
"I was absolutely and entirely well," he declared stoutly, "both when I left home this morning and when I entered that room to wait for you.

I don't know what it was that came over me," he continued doubtfully, "but the atmosphere seemed suddenly to become unbearable." Prince Maiyo nodded understandingly.
"People often complain," he admitted.

"So many of my hangings in the room have been wrapped in spices to preserve them, and my people burn dead blossoms there occasionally.

Some of us, too," he concluded, "are very susceptible to strange odors.