“The Emperor,” I continued, “has made no comment upon what I have laid before him. He tells us we are free to go,—that is, your father and myself,—as long as we leave you here. Not to put too fine a point to it, he offers to buy you, and says he will make you the White Star of his harem, which he seems to think is rather a poetical expression.”
“Well, of all the gall!” exclaimed Miss Hemster, raising her hands and letting them fall helplessly into her lap again, as if this gesture should define the situation better than any words she had at her command. “You inform His Nibs that I am no White Star Line, and you tell this mahogany graven image that my father can buy him and his one-horse kingdom and give them away without ever feeling it. When he talks of buying, just inform him that in the States down South we used to sell better niggers than him every day in the week.”
I thought it better to tone down this message somewhat, and in doing so was the innocent cause, as I suspect, of a disaster which has always troubled my mind since that eventful time. I said to the Emperor that American customs differed from those of Corea. Miss Hemster, being a Princess in her own rank, of vast wealth, could not accept any position short of that of Empress, and, as there was already an Empress of Corea, the union he proposed was impossible. I reiterated my request that we be allowed to pass down to the coast without further molestation.
This statement was received by the Emperor with much hilarity. He looked upon it merely as an effort on my part to enhance the price of the girl, and expressed his willingness to turn over to her half the revenues of the kingdom. He seemed to imagine he was acting in the most lavishly generous manner, and I realized the hopelessness of the discussion, because I was face to face with a man who had never been refused anything he wished for since he came to the throne. His conceited ignorance regarding the power of other countries to enforce their demands made the situation all the more desperate.
At this juncture the crouching Prime Minister returned, made his way slowly, by means of acute angles, to the foot of the throne, and informed the Emperor that the guards of the Palace had been doubled, and had received instructions to allow no living thing to enter or leave the precincts of the Court. I now repeated to Hun Woe the warning I had so fruitlessly proffered to the Emperor, but I doubt if the satellite paid much more attention than his master had done. While in the presence he seemed incapable of either thought or action that did not relate to his Imperial chief. He intimated that the audience was now finished and done with, and added that he would have the pleasure of accompanying us to our rooms. It seemed strange, when we returned, to find Miss Stretton sitting in a chair, placidly reading a book which she had brought with her from the yacht, and the Japanese boy setting out cups for tea on a small table near her. Miss Stretton looked up pleasantly as we entered, closing her book, and putting her finger in it to mark the place.
“What a long time you have been,” she said; “the conference must have proved very successful.”
Miss Gertrude Hemster paced up and down the room as if energetic action were necessary to calm the perturbation of her spirit. As the other finished her remark she clenched her little fist and cried:
“I’ll make that Emperor sit up before I’ve done with him!”