"Jack, Jack," she cried, her voice trembling with delight, "I had no idea that you had arrived. How long have you been in Japan?"
"We dropped our anchor scarcely an hour ago," he answered. "I came ashore the instant the launch was ready for me."
"How glad I am to see you!" she exclaimed. "It seems years since we said good-bye to each other that miserable day at Marseilles."
"Years!" he cried. "It seems like an eternity to me." Then, looking up at her, as she stood on the steps above him, he continued: "Katherine, you are more beautiful than ever."
A rosy blush spread over her face. "It is because of my delight at seeing you," she whispered. This pretty speech was followed by a little pause, during which he came up the steps and led her along the verandah towards two empty chairs at the farther end. They seated themselves, and, after their more immediate affairs had received attention, he inquired after Madame Bernstein.
"And now tell me what you have arranged to do?" she said, when she had satisfied him that the lady in question was enjoying the best of health. "I received your cablegram from Hong-kong, saying that everything was progressing satisfactorily. You do not know how anxiously I have been waiting to see you."
"And only to hear that?" he asked, with a smile.
"Of course not," she answered. "Still, I think you can easily understand my impatience."
"Of course I understand it, dear," he replied; "and it is only right you should know all I have arranged."
He thereupon narrated to her his interview with MacAndrew, speaking in a low voice, and taking care that no one should overhear him. When he had finished he sat silent for a few moments; then, leaning a little nearer her, he continued, "I want to remind you, dear, to be particularly careful to say nothing at all on the subject to any one, not even to Madame Bernstein. I was warned myself not to say anything; but in your case, of course, it is different."