"The lady may wear the beads to-night if she wishes. I will return for
them in the morning."
"But this does not explain the glass beads," said the captain.
"I will bring the real owner with me in the morning," volunteered Ling
Foo. "He sets a high value on them through sentiment. Perhaps I was
hasty."
Dennison studied the glass beads. Perhaps his suspicions were not on any
too solid ground. Yet a string of jade beads like that in exchange!
Something was in the air.
"Well," said he, smiling at the appeal in the girl's eyes, "I don't
suppose there will be any harm in keeping them overnight. We'll have a
chance to talk it over."
Ling Foo's plan of attack matured suddenly. He would call near midnight.
He would somehow manage to get to her door. She would probably hand him
the glass beads without a word of argument. Then he would play his game
with the man who limped. He smiled inwardly as he put his wares back into
the carved box. A thousand gold! At any rate, he would press the man into
a corner. There was something about this affair that convinced Ling Foo
that his noon visitor would pay high for two reasons: one, to recover the
glass beads; the other, to keep out of the reach of the police.
Ling Foo considered that he was playing his advantage honestly. He hadn't
robbed or murdered anybody. A business deal had slipped into his hands and
it was only logical to make the most of it. He kotowed several times on
the way out of the parlour, conscious, however, of the searching eyes of
the man who had balked him.
"Well!" exclaimed Jane. "What in the world do you suppose is going on?"
"Lord knows, but something is going on. You couldn't buy a jade necklace
like that under five hundred in New York. This apple-green seldom runs
deep; the colour runs in veins and patches. The bulk of the quarried stone
has the colour and greasy look of raw pork. No; I shouldn't put it on just
now, not until you have washed it. You never can tell. I'll get you a
germicide at the English apothecary's. Glass beads! Humph! Hanged if I can
make it out. Glass; Occidental, too; maybe worth five dollars in the
States. Put it on again. It's a great world over here. You're always
stumbling into something unique. I'm coming over to dine with you
to-night."
"Splendid!"
Jane put the jade into her hand-bag, clasped the glass beads round her
neck again, and together she and Dennison walked toward the parlour door.
As they reached it a tall, vigorous, elderly man with a gray pompadour
started to enter. He paused, with an upward tilt of the chin, but the tilt
was the result of pure astonishment. Instinctively Jane turned to her
escort. His chin was tilted, too, and his expression was a match for the
stranger's. Later, recalling the tableau, which lasted but a moment, it
occurred to Jane that two men, suddenly confronted by a bottomless pit,
might have expressed their dumfounderment in exactly this fashion.