Li Ho will have to be told. He will know anyway, so we may as well
tell him. It appears that whatever may be the reasons for keeping a
young girl buried here, they do not extend to Li Ho. It will not be
the first time that his Chinese inscrutability has assisted at a
(temporary) departure.
I shall let Aunt Caroline know as soon as the act is irrevocable and
shall inform you at the same time so that you may not be unprepared.
You realize, I suppose, that you will be accused of being accessory?
Didn't you tell me that a trip would do me good?
We shall not come home for a few weeks. My secretary has spoken of
an old Indian whom she knows, a perfect mine of simon-pure folk-
lore. He lives some-where up the coast, about a day's journey, I
think. We may visit him. With her to interpret for me, I may get
some very valuable notes. I may add that we are both very keen on
notes. When we have done what can be done out here, we shall come
home. The fall and winter we shall spend upon the book. My secretary
will insist upon attending to business first. And then--well, then
she wants to go shopping. So we shall have to go where the good
shops are.
What does she wish to buy? Oh, not much--just life, the assorted
kind.
B. H. S.
CHAPTER X
It was the day before Friday. Friday, so very near, seemed already
palpably present in the surcharged air of the cottage. No one
mentioned it, but that made its nearness more potent.
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