“He has already admitted that you did, Miss Hemster.”
“Then that’s all right: I thought they’d try to deny it.”
I bade an affectionate farewell to Hun Woe, who was as glad to be quit of me as I was to be rid of him, and we have never seen each other since.
I don’t remember ever taking part in a jollier excursion than that which now set forth towards Chemulpo, which place we reached before sunset.
Miss Hemster related her adventures with a gusto and enjoyment that I never saw equalled. Even her father smiled now and then at the exuberant humour of her declamation. It seemed that the Countess was in the pay of the Corean Government, probably as a spy. The Prime Minister had telegraphed her to win the confidence of Miss Hemster if she could, and so the Countess had made application to the American Consul and succeeded even beyond her fondest hopes. There had been no intention of going to the House of the Million Blossoms, but she had proposed instead to Miss Hemster a round of visits among the nobility of Japan, or at least whatever section of them lived near Nagasaki. As this round was to take some time, and as the Countess proclaimed that it must be done in strict secrecy, she outlined the writing of the different letters which her caretaker at the villa would hand to whoever called, if an investigation was made, as the wily Countess thought was highly probable, and this scheme proved peculiarly attractive to Miss Hemster and was accordingly carried out, and the young lady laughed till tears came into her eyes when I told her how I had been deceived by the receipt of my letter.
After landing from the yacht the Countess took Miss Hemster and her maid to a tea house situated on the shore of the bay, and from the moment they drank tea there, Miss Hemster and her maid remembered nothing more until they found themselves on board the Chinese steamer.
“Did you know about the attempted sinking of the yacht?” I asked.
“I wasn’t sure,” she said. “I was in a sort of daze: I seemed to have awakened when they began to take up the anchor, but I was stupid and headachy. Then there came a crash, and I screamed fit to kill, but those Chinese brutes put us into the cabin, and after that of course there was no escape. We did not land at Chemulpo, but somewhere along the coast. It was a fearful ride into Seoul, but after that I had my revenge; I made the old Emperor and his Court stand around, I tell you, for I had a revolver and plenty of cartridges in my trunk, and once I got them the situation belonged to me.”
“And where are your trunks, Gertie?” asked her practical father.