"I don't know. I do not want another Canton adventure. I thought," here the Major hesitated, "I thought you might go."
Ainsleigh did not burst out into a voluble refusal, as Tidman expected, but stared at the fire. Seeing this, Tidman urged his point. "I think if you went, you might get at the truth of the matter," he said. "If Tung-yu didn't murder Miss Wharf, who did? Will you go?"
Rupert still gazed at the fire. He was thinking of the eight thousand pounds due to him, held by Lo-Keong and which, if gained, would pay off Miss Pewsey. "Yes," said he at length, "I'll go."
It was a risk, as he knew, but the money was worth the risk.
[CHAPTER XV]
The Rotherhithe Den
As a rule, Rupert told his wife everything, thinking there could be no happiness, unless a married couple were frank with one another. Also, he frequently went to Olivia for advice, believing in the keen feminine instinct, which usually sees what is hidden from the denser masculine understanding. But on this occasion, he refrained from revealing the object of his visit to London, as he knew she would be feverishly anxious, all the time he was absent. It was just possible that Hwei might be at Rotherhithe instead of Tung-yu, and then Rupert might meet with a death similar to that of Miss Wharf. Certainly he had not the fan, and never did possess it; but how was he to convince a distrustful Asiatic of that.
Therefore, Rupert went to town one afternoon by the nine o'clock evening train from Marport, and Olivia thought, he was merely going to see his lawyer on business connected with Miss Pewsey's mortgage. Her husband was to return the next day in time for luncheon, and, as he had often run up to town before, Olivia had no misgivings. Had she been aware of the danger he was going into, she assuredly would not have let him go. Mrs. Ainsleigh had led an unhappy life, and now that things were brighter, she certainly did not wish to see her days clouded, by the loss of the husband whom she loved so dearly.
As what money there was, went to keep up Royabay, its master was too poor to travel first class. But he was lucky enough to find a third class smoking carriage empty, and sat down very content. Owing to the nature of his errand, he wished to be alone, to think out his mode of procedure. Tung-yu would not be an easy person to deal with, still less would Hwei, should he happen to be on the spot, and Ainsleigh had little knowledge of the Chinese character. From what Forge said, he judged it to be dangerous.
There were few people travelling by the train, and Rupert quite believed that he would have the compartment to himself. But just as the train was moving off, a man dashed into the carriage and dropped breathlessly on the seat. "I guess that was a narrow squeak," he gasped.