The Pagan Madonna - Page 24/141

"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.