“It is yours!” exclaimed the Colonel, and placed it in her hands.
“Oh, but really,” she protested.
“But really I insist—in order that you may not forget your first visit to my house!”
She shrugged her shoulders.
“How very kind you are, Colonel Deacon,” she said, “to a rival collector!”
“Now that the menace is removed,” said Colonel Deacon with laboured humour, “I will show you my most treasured possession.”
“So! I am greatly interested.”
“Not even this rascal Rene,” said the Colonel, stopping before a safe set in the wall, “has seen what I am about to show you!”
Rene started slightly and watched with intense interest the unlocking of the safe.
“If I am not superstitious about the ivory Buddha,” continued the Colonel, “I must plead guilty in the case of the Key of the Temple of Heaven!”