"But really I insist--in order that you may not forget your first visit
to my house!"

She shrugged her shoulders.

"How very kind you are, Colonel Deacon," she said, "to a rival
collector!"

"Now that the menace is removed," said Colonel Deacon with laboured
humour, "I will show you my most treasured possession."

"So! I am greatly interested."

"Not even this rascal Rene," said the Colonel, stopping before a safe
set in the wall, "has seen what I am about to show you!"

Rene started slightly and watched with intense interest the unlocking of
the safe.

"If I am not superstitious about the ivory Buddha," continued the
Colonel, "I must plead guilty in the case of the Key of the Temple of
Heaven!"

"The Key of the Temple of Heaven!" murmured a lady standing immediately
behind Madame de Medici. "And what is the Key of the Temple of Heaven?"

The Colonel, having unlocked the safe, straightened himself, and while
everyone was waiting to see what he had to show, began to speak again
pompously:

"The Temple of Heaven stands in the outer or Chinese City of Pekin, and
is fabulously wealthy. No European, I can swear, had ever entered its
secret chambers until last year. One of its most famous treasures was
this Key. It was used only to open the special entrance reserved for the
Emperor when he came to worship after his succession to the throne--that
was, of course, before China became a Republic. The Key is studded
almost all over with precious stones. Last year a certain naval
man--I'll not mention his name--discovered the secret of its
hiding-place. How he came by that knowledge does not matter at present.
One very dark night he crept up to the temple. He found the Keeper of
the Key--a Buddhist priest--to be sleeping, and he succeeded, therefore,
in gaining access and becoming possessed of the Key."

A chorus of excited exclamations greeted this dramatic point of the
story.

"The object of this outrage," continued the Colonel, "for an outrage
I cannot deny it to have been, was not a romantic one. The poor chap
wanted money, and he thought he could sell the Key to one of the native
jewellers. But he was mistaken. He got back safely, and secretly offered
it in various directions. No one would touch the thing; moreover,
although of great value, the stones were very far from flawless, and
not really worth the risks which he had run to secure them. Don't
misunderstand me; the Key would fetch a big sum, but not a