“Then they know——” Basil began, but could not finish.
“No”—Wu smiled faintly—“they do not know. She is coming here, your mother, as my guest—to learn, amongst other things, the truth about you!”
“If you could spare me that!” Basil said hoarsely. “We have been more like brother and sister,” he pleaded.
Wu took it up as a cue, and on it began, with a little leer, the hideous part he had planned to play. “Yes, she is very young——”
“Tell my father, if you will——”
“Your father?” Wu said sharply.
“Yes, tell him, but——”
“I have nothing to do with your father!” Wu Li Chang said sternly, each word an emphasis.
“But you said——”
“I said that your mother was coming here. She is coming—alone. She is a devoted mother. I am going to test her devotion.”