"'May I have a few hours to consider, sir?'
"'A month if you like,' he said, pressing a bell upon his table.
"The same bland young Chinaman led me out of the library and down to the storeroom in the lift. I was blindfolded, and descended to the ground.
"There I met a man whom I had seen two or three times during the last three days, a great seven-foot American with arms like a gorilla, a thing called 'Boss Mulligan,' whom I had gathered from the conversation of my Chinese friends, had now arrived to take charge of the whole city—a sort of head policeman and guard.
"'Sonny,' he said, 'I've had a 'phone down from the top in regard to you. Now don't you be a short sport. You've been made a good offer. You grip it and be like fat in lavender. My advice to you is to wind a smile round your neck and depart with the dollars. I can see you're full of pep and now you've got fortune before you. See that pavilion over there?'
"He pointed to where a little gaudily painted house nestled under one of the great feet of the first tower.
"'That's my mansion. You wander about for an hour or so and come there and say you agree to the boss's terms—we'll take your word for it. Upon the word "Yes," I'll hand you out at the gate and you can go to Paris for a trip.'
"'I'll think it over,' I said.
"'Do so, and don't be a life-everlasting, twenty-four-hours-a-day, dyed-in-the-wool damn fool.'
"It was getting dusk. I was in a new part of the inclosed park. He let me go without any watchful Chinese attendant at my heels, and I strolled off with my head bent down as if deep in thought.