There was a carriage at the curb, and the critic helped her into it.
“What a narrow escape I have had!” cried the girl, as Everett got in beside her. “An hour longer in that place and I should have been dead—like Carlotta!”
Then she hastened to tell her friend the whole story of her adventure.
The papers were full of it the next day, and, thanks to Howard Everett, every detail was given accurately.
Beautiful Marion’s escape from the lair of the Celestials formed the talk of the town for days. She was perhaps the first white girl to leave that place untainted.
Both she and Mr. Everett appeared before the authorities the next day, and it was not long before Chi-Lung-Hing, his subjects, and Jack Green were all safely in prison.
The three white girls were restored to their homes and parents, and the numerous expensive opium “layouts” were confiscated and destroyed by the police.
The wicked Carlotta left money enough to afford her a decent burial, but there was not a mourner at her dreary funeral.
The Temple Opera Company was obliged to disband; but now that Miss Lindsay was freed from her brutal husband, she was able to take a position in another organization and live very comfortably on her modest salary.
At Miss Allyn’s urgent request, Marion went to live with her until she could secure another position, and besides Dr. Brookes and Mr. Ray, Howard Everett, the critic, was soon a frequent caller at the little flat.