ed out the former:

MY DEAR DORMINSTER,

I am afraid there is rather bad news about Jesson. One of our
regular line of airships, running from San Francisco to
Vladivostok, has picked up a wireless which must have come from
somewhere in the South of China. They kept it for a few days, worse
luck, thinking it was only nonsense, as it was in code. Washington
got hold of it, however, and cabled it to us last night. I enclose
a copy, decoded.

Sincerely yours,

JERE CHALMERS.

The copy was brief enough. Maggie felt her heart sink as she glanced
through the few lines:

Report dispatched London. Fear escape impossible. Good-by.

JESSON.

"Horrible!" Maggie exclaimed, with a shiver. "I thought he was in
Russia."

"So did we all," Nigel replied. "He must have come to the conclusion
that the key to the riddle he was trying to solve was in China, and gone
on there. Look here, Maggie," he continued, after a moment's hesitation,
"do you think anything could be done for Jesson with Prince Shan?"

Maggie was silent. They were standing in a shaded corner of the hall,
but a fleck of sunshine shone in her hair. She was still a little out of
breath with the exercise, her cheeks full of healthy colour, her eyes
bright. She tapped her skirt with her riding whip. Nigel watched her a
little uneasily.

"Prince Shan is calling here this afternoon," Maggie announced. "I hope
you don't mind."

"What are you going to say to him?" Nigel asked bluntly.

There was a short, tense silence. Even at the thought of the crisis
which she knew to be so close at hand, Maggie felt herself unnerved and
in dubious straits.

"I do not know," she said at last. "For one thing, I do not know what he
wants."

"What he wants seems perfectly plain to me," Nigel replied gravely. "He
wants you."

Maggie made a desperate effort to regain the lightheartedness of a few
weeks ago.

"If you believe that," she said, "your composure is most unflattering."

There was a ring at the front doorbell, and a familiar voice was heard
outside. Maggie turned away to the staircase with a little sigh of
relief.

"Naida!" she exclaimed. "I remember now I asked her for a quarter past
one instead of half-past. You must entertain her, Nigel. I'll change
into something quickly. And of course I'll speak to Prince Shan. We
mustn't lose a minute about that. I'll telephone from my room in a few
minutes, Naida. N