ide was cold with a biting north wind, and the rain still
drove slantwise in torrents. In a few moments Ah Chang announced that
the calliage had come.

Round the earner from his lodgings on a side street and in darkness,
stood a big car with the motor puffing violently. It was a big,
handsome car, very long, and on the front seat sat two men in livery,
one of whom jumped down briskly to open the door. Lawson entered and
sank down into the soft cushions, for it was very luxurious. Then the
car moved on briskly, without any directions from himself, and he
leaned back upon the cushions and took pleasure in the luxury of it,
and of the two men in livery upon the front seat, and enjoyed the
pouring rain which dashed upon the glass, yet left him so dry and
comfortable within. "They will only think it's inconsistent--that's
all," he said to himself, "if they ever find out--which is unlikely."

Beyond the confines of the Settlement the motor rapidly made its way,
slipping noiselessly over the smooth, wet asphalt, and then out along
the bumpy roads beyond the city limits. All was dark now, the street
lamps having been left behind with the ending of the good roads, and
the car jolted along slowly, over deep ruts. A stretch of open country
intervened between the Settlement and a native village of clustering
mud huts. Lawson, having no imagination, was not impressed with his
position. People did all sorts of things in China, just as
elsewhere--only here, in China, it was so much easier to get away with
it. His coming to-night might be considered inconsistent, he repeated
over and over to himself, but nothing more. Every one did it, he
reassured himself.

The car stopped finally, before a pair of high, very solid black
gates, and the footman jumped off the box to open the door. He was
conscious of a small grill with a yellow face peeping out, backed by
flickering lantern light, of a rainy, windswept compound, with a shaft
of light from an open door flooding the courtyard. Then he was inside
a warm, bright anteroom, with an obsequious China-boy relieving him of
overcoat and muffler, and he became aware of many big, fur-lined
overcoats, hanging on pegs on the wall. Beyond, in the adjoining room,
were two long tables, the players seated with their backs to him,
absorbed. Only a few people were present, for the night was early.
There was no one there he knew--even had there been, he would not have
cared. He drew out a chair and seate