Her eyebrows were slowly elevated. Was that really the impression
people had! Her lips just moved.

"Well?" she asked.

"I have met Prince Maiyo myself," Mr. Harvey continued, "and I
have found him a charming representative of his race. I am not
going to say a word against him. If he were an American, we
should be proud of him. If he belonged to any other country, we
should accept him at once for what he appears to be.
Unfortunately, however, he belongs to a country which we have
some reason to mistrust. He belongs to a country in whose
national character we have not absolute confidence. For that
reason, my dear Penelope, we mistrust Prince Maiyo."

"I do not know him so well as you seem to imagine," Penelope said
slowly. "We are not even friends, in the ordinary acceptation of
the word. I am, to some extent, prejudiced against him. Yet I do
not believe that he is capable of a dishonorable action."

"Nor do I," the Ambassador declared smoothly. "Yet in every
country, almost in every man, the exact standard of dishonor
varies. A man will lie for a woman's sake, and even in the law
courts, certainly at his clubs and amongst his friends, it will
be accounted to his righteousness. A patriot will lie and
intrigue for his country's sake. Now I believe that to Prince
Maiyo Japan stands far above the whole world of womankind. I
believe that for her sake he would go to very great lengths
indeed."