He rose from his seat and paced the room, and when he spoke again his voice, for a Chinaman, had grown strangely incisive.
"I should not be swayed by a threat, madame, but if I can grant you a favor, I will."
"Call it by which name you please," I cried, seeing signs of his wavering.
"Why do you want the seal?"
"Are you for France or Russia, Ling Wen?"
"I am for China," he answered, quietly; "even a heathen has patriotism. Why do you want the seal?"
I sat and pondered. How much must I tell him, and how much hold back? I looked anxiously at the seal as it lay upon the stool, and he interpreted my glance.
"For the moment," he said, "it is on neutral ground, and shall remain so until we have diplomatically solved the problem."
I still hesitated; but there was no other way, and so perforce I took the only one open to me.
"It is to seal an alliance between France and China."