Page:The Specimen Case.djvu/251

242 said Harold with easy gallantry. "You need never fear hearing ill of yourself."

"I was not listening," she replied; "but I did hear my name."

"The simple fact," volunteered Harold lightly, "is that a very undesirable alien wanted to be taken on for harvesting, and I was endeavouring to persuade your father to harden his naturally benevolent heart. Is her exacting ladyship satisfied?"

"But what have I to do with it?" she persisted.

"I was merely reminding your father of the many valuable articles lying about which might excite the cupidity of a covetous stranger."

She laughed, still unsatisfied; but another step brought her to the gate, and then the patient figure of the awaiting Celestial fell upon her surprised gaze and drove every other thought from her mind. With a curiosity quite free from shyness or alarm she approached Yen Sung with a friendly smile, as one who seeks to make a strange guest feel more at home.

"Do you speak English?" she asked.

"Most imperfectly, honourable lady," he replied.

She started a little at the quaint form of address, but there could be no doubting the perfect courtesy of Yen Sung's manner.

"You have come a very long way," she continued. It was a strange, new thing for her to stand face to face with this queerly-clad wanderer. She would have liked to ask him many things about his far-off home.

"A dead leaf is easily carried by the wind," replied Yen Sung, who smiled also. It was a very faint smile, scarcely worth the name, but it was the first sign of the lighter emotion he had shown for many months.

"But you must have seen a great many wonderful places; and, of course, to us your own country is the