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 CHAPTER IX

IN THE HANDS OF A WOMAN

"! I have done your behest! I have it here have brought it with me—to lay at your feet!"

Chun spoke breathlessly, his face uplifted to the little, shadowy figure which stood before and above him in the darkness. It was the moment of triumph that all day he had been promising himself, of which the thought had been like a warm and glowing joy, close hidden in his heart.

Once again he had kept a long and solitary vigil; but though the suspense of expectancy had been hard to endure, he had not experienced the paroxysms of despair which formerly had visited him. He had known that she would come to him. And now she was here—very near him—so that, as she stood looking down at him, he fancied that he could catch the faint fragrance of her breath: no mocking shadow, this, but the creature of delicious flesh and blood who was his love.

The words that should tell her of his deed