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 "Mrs. Gregory, that you yourself shall not know—at Kowloon."

"When may I come?" she begged.

"To-morrow, at four? I will be entirely at your service"

"To-morrow?" Her voice broke on the word.

"To-night, then?" He glanced at the clock consideringly. "Yes, the time is short—but I think I can contrive it. I will employ myself so diligently in the meantime that I think I can promise you that your son shall be brought into your presence before you leave mine. I cannot put in words how much I shall rejoice to see that meeting—and how proud to have achieved it." His voice trembled at the last words. And she could scarcely command hers to say, "At what hour?"

"Six, or six-thirty? That will give time for the visit to which I shall so look forward—and my daughter and her aunt—and time to permit you to return while it is light, in time to dress for dinner."

"Return—with Basil?"

Wu Li Chang smiled kindly. "I believe—with—Basil." He spoke the name as tenderly as she had, or as Nang Ping might have done.

"Oh! Mr. Wu!" the woman cried, and held out to him both her hands. He took them and bent over them gravely.

"Oh! tell me," she begged, her hands still in his, "Mr. Wu, do you think he is safe and well?"

"I have no doubt of it," Wu said earnestly. "And that it is merely a question of making terms with those who are detaining him. And now," he said in a bright, brisk tone, turning alertly to the door, and this time Ah Wong drew aside, "there is so much to do, and I have