at I was surprised at her words, as well as the
impressive manner in which she spoke them. I assured her that I would be
only too happy to serve her in any way in my power. "But what is it that
you fear?" I inquired, soothingly, wondering if after all I was not
dealing with a somewhat excitable child. Her next words, however,
showed me that this was far from being the case.

"My father," she said, hurriedly, lowering her voice, "is a madman on
the subject of jewels. He has spent his whole life in collecting them.
He would give anything--anything!--to possess some curio upon which he
had set his desires. Last year, in China, he saw by accident the emerald
you have just seen. It was the sacred relic of a Buddhist temple in Ping
Yang, and is said to have come from the holy city of Lhasa in Thibet.
His offers to purchase it were laughed at, and when he persisted in
them, he was threatened with violence as being a foreign devil and was
forced to leave the city to avoid trouble. He has never since ceased to
covet this jewel, and upon his arrival in Hong Kong, and before setting
out for England, he made the acquaintance of this man Ashton, who is a
sort of agent and collector for several of the curio dealers in London.
We remained in Hong Kong for several weeks before setting sail for
England, and during this time, Mr. Ashton persecuted me with his
attentions, and made me an offer of marriage, which, in spite of my
refusal, he repeated several times. Imagine my amazement, then, when my
father, on our arrival in England, told me that he had commissioned Mr.
Ashton to obtain the emerald Buddha for him, and had agreed, in the
event of his success, to give him my hand in marriage. My prayers, my
appeals, were all equally useless. He informed me that Mr. Ashton was a
gentleman, that he had given him his word, and could not break it. I was
forced into a semi-acquiescence to the arrangement, believing that Mr.
Ashton could never succeed in his mad attempt, and had almost forgotten
the matter when suddenly my father received word from Mr. Ashton that he
had arrived at Southampton yesterday and would reach here this evening.
I went to my father and asked him to assure me that he would not insist
upon carrying out his inhuman promise, in the event of Mr. Ashton's
success, but he only put me off, bidding me wait until the result of his
trip was known. I learned it at dinner to-night, and realize from Mr.
Ashton's manner that he intends to