He went briskly forward, but presently paused.

A sudden sense of shyness possessed him.
It was not the first time he had been ushered into vice-regal presence, but his was an odd position.

He was in a strange land, charged with an embassy which accident had thrust upon him.

Then, too, the presence of the girl had withdrawn him for an instant from the imminence of his duty.

His youth came out of him, and in the pause one could fairly see him turn into man.
He had not the dark complexion of so many of his race, but was rather Saxon in face, with rich curling brown hair.