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.