When I arrived at the landing I saw the little naphtha launch making a trip from the yacht to the shore. As it swung to the steps I noticed that Gertrude Hemster was aboard with her new companion, a Japanese lady, said to be of extremely high rank, whom the girl had engaged on the first day of our arrival at Nagasaki, when her father was so deeply immersed in business. The old gentleman told me later that his daughter had taken an unfortunate dislike to Miss Stretton, and had very rapidly engaged this person, who, it was, alleged, could speak Chinese, Japanese, Corean, and pidgin English.

In spite of what her father had said, I thought the engaging of this woman with so many lingual advantages was rather a stroke aimed at myself than an action deposing Hilda Stretton. I suppose Miss Hemster thought to give proof that I was no longer necessary as interpreter on board the yacht. I doubted the accomplishments of the Japanese high dame, thinking it impossible to select such a treasure on such short notice, and so the evening before had ventured to address her in Corean; but she answered me very demurely and correctly in that language, with a little oblique smile, which showed that she knew why I had spoken to her, and I saw that I had been mistaken in slighting her educational capacities.

I went down the steps and proffered my escort to the young woman, but she was so earnestly engaged in thanking the crew of the naphtha launch that she quite ignored my presence. She sprang lightly up the steps and walked away to the nearest ’rickshaw, followed by the toddling Japanese creature. The boat’s crew, who were champions of Miss Hemster to a man, each embued with intense admiration for her, as was right and natural, may or may not have noticed her contemptuous treatment of me; but after all it did not much matter, so I stepped into the launch and we set out for the yacht.

I found Mr. Hemster immersed in his papers as usual. Apparently he had never been on deck to get a breath of fresh air since his steamship arrived in the harbour.

“Well,” he said shortly, looking up; “you saw Mr. Cammerford?”

“Yes.”

“Did he give down or hold up?”

“He seemed very much startled when he saw me, and I had some difficulty in getting him to discuss the matter in hand.”

“Was he afraid you had come to rob him, or did he think he had got me in a corner?”

“No. He knew who it was that approached him, but I should have told you, Mr. Hemster, that this is the man who got my five hundred thousand dollars some years ago, and he was under the mistaken impression that I had come to wring some part of it back from him.”

“Ah, he thought you were camping on his trail, did he? What did you do?”

“I explained that I was there merely as your representative. He made some objection at first to showing his hand, as he called it; but finally, seeing that he could not come at his desired interview with you unless he took me into his confidence, he did so, although with extreme reluctance.”

“Yes, and what were your conclusions?”

“My conclusions are that his letter to you was perfectly truthful. He has the following firms behind him on a six months’ option, and these others have sold their businesses to him outright. His position, therefore, is all that he asserted it to be,” and with this I placed my notes before my chief.

“You are thoroughly convinced of that?”

“Yes, I am; but of course you will see the papers he has to show, and may find error or fraud where I was unable to detect either.”

“All right, I shall see him then.”

“There is one thing further, Mr. Hemster. He offered me two hundred thousand dollars, then two hundred and fifty thousand, if I would conceal from you the fact that he had formerly defrauded me.”

“Yes, and what did you say?”

“I refused the money, of course.”

The old gentleman regarded me with an expression full of pity.

“I am sorry to mention it, Tremorne, but you are a numskull. Why didn’t you take the money? I’m quite able to look after myself. It doesn’t matter in the least to me whether or not the man has cheated everyone in the United States. If he cheats me as well, he’s entitled to all he can make. ‘The laborer is worthy of his hire,’ as the good Book says.”

As I had used this quotation to his daughter, I now surmised that she had told her father something of our stormy conversation.

“Quite true, Mr. Hemster, but the good Book also says, ‘Avoid the very appearance of evil,’ and that I have done by refusing his bribe.”

“Ah, well, you don’t get anything for nothing in this world, and I think your duty was to have closed with his offer so long as you told me the truth about the documents I sent you to search.”

“He is a man I would have nothing whatever to do with, Mr. Hemster.”

“There’s where you are wrong. If he happens to possess something I want, why in the world should I not deal with him. His moral character is of no interest to me. As well refuse to buy a treatise on the English language because the bookseller drops his ‘h’s.’ I am very much disappointed in your business capacity, Mr. Tremorne.”

“I am sorry I don’t come up to your expectations, sir; but he is a man whom I should view with the utmost distrust.”

“Oh, if you are doing business with him, certainly. I view everyone with distrust and never squeal if I’m cheated. Tell me about this deal with Cammerford in which you lost your money.”

I related to him the circumstances of the case, which need not be set down here. When I had finished Mr. Hemster said slowly:

“If you will excuse me, Mr. Tremorne, never say that this man swindled you. Such an expression is a misuse of language. Everything done was perfectly legal.”

“Oh, I know that well enough. In fact he mentioned its legality during our interview this morning. Nevertheless, he was well aware that the mine was valueless.”

“What of that? It wasn’t his business to inform you; it was your business to find out the true worth of the mine. You are simply blaming Cammerford for your own carelessness. If Cammerford had not got the money, the next man who met you would; so I suppose he sized you up, and thought he might as well have it, and, to tell you the truth, I quite agree with him. Now, if I told you this bag contained a thousand dollars in gold, would you accept my word for it without counting the money?”

“Certainly I would.”

The old gentleman seemed taken aback by this reply, and stared at me as if I were some new human specimen he had not met before.

“You would, eh?” he cried at last. “Well, you’re hopeless! I don’t know but you were right to refuse his bribe. The money would not do you the least good if you got it again.”

“Oh, yes, it would, Mr. Hemster. I should invest it in Government securities, and risk not a penny of it in any speculation.”

“I don’t believe you’d have that much sense,” demurred the old gentleman, turning again to his desk. “However, you have served me well, even if you have served yourself badly. I will write a letter to Cammerford and let him know the terms on which I will join his scheme.”

“You surely don’t intend to do that, Mr. Hemster, without seeing the documents yourself?”

“Oh, have no fear; you must not think I am going to adopt your business tactics at my age. Run away and let Hilda give you some lunch. I shall not have time for anything but the usual sandwich. My daughter’s gone ashore. She wants lunch at the Nagasaki Hotel, being tired of our ship’s fare. I’ll have this document ready for you to take to Cammerford after you have eaten.”

Nothing loth, I hurried away in search of my dear girl, of whom I had caught only slight glimpses since her sudden dismissal by Gertrude Hemster. I was glad to know that we should have the ship practically to ourselves, and I flatter myself she was not sorry either. Lunch was not yet ready, so I easily persuaded her to come upon deck with me, and there I placed the chairs and table just as they had been at the moment when Miss Hemster had come so unexpectedly upon us.

“Now, Hilda,” I began when we had seated ourselves, “I want an answer to that question.”

“What question?”

“You know very well what question; the answer was just hovering on your lips when we were interrupted.”

“No, it wasn’t.”

“Hilda, there was an expression in your eyes which I had never seen before, and if your lips were about to contradict the message they sent to me——”

“Seemed to send to you,” she interrupted with a smile.

“Was it only seeming, then?”

“Oh, I don’t know. I’m very much disappointed with myself. I don’t call this a courtship at all. My idea of the preliminaries to a betrothal was a long friendship, many moonlight walks, and conversations about delightful topics in which both parties are interested. I pictured myself waiting eagerly under some rose-covered porch while the right person hurried toward me,—on horseback for choice. And now turn from that picture to the actuality. We have known each other only a few days; our first conversation was practically a quarrel; we have talked about finance, and poverty, and a lot of repulsive things of that sort. If I were to say, ‘Yes,’ I should despise myself ever after. It would appear as if I had accepted the first man who offered.”

“Am I the first man, Hilda? I shall never believe it.”

“I’m not going to tell you. You ask altogether too many questions.”

“Well, despite your disclaimer, I shall still insist that the right answer was on your lips when it and you were so rudely chased away.”

“Well, now, Mr. Tremorne——”

“Rupert, if you please, Hilda!”

“Well, now, Prince Rupert, to show you how far astray you may be in predicting what a woman is about to say, I shall tell you exactly what was in my mind when the thread of my thought was so suddenly cut across. There were conditions, provisos, stipulations, everything in the world except the plain and simple ‘Yes’ you seemed to anticipate.”

“Even in that case, Hilda, I am quite happy, because these lead to the end. It cannot be otherwise, and all the provisos and stipulations I agree to beforehand, so let us get directly to the small but important word ‘Yes!’”

“Ah, if you agreed beforehand that would not be legal. You could say you had not read the document, or something of that kind, and were not in your right mind when you signed it.”

“Then let us have the conditions one by one, Hilda, if you please.”

“I was going to ask you to say no more at present, but to wait until I get home. I wanted you to come to me, and ask your question then if you were still in the same mind.”

“What an absurd proviso! And how long would that be? When shall you reach your own home?”

“Perhaps within a year, perhaps two years. It all depends on the duration of Mr. Hemster’s voyage. Of course it is quite possible that at any minute he may make up his mind to return. I could not leave him alone here, but once he is in Chicago he will become so absorbed in business that he would never miss me.”

“There is an uncertain quality about that proviso, Hilda, which I don’t at all admire.”

“Now, you see how it is,” she answered archly; “my very first proposition is found fault with.”

“On the contrary, it is at once agreed to. Proceed with the next.”

“The next pertains more particularly to yourself. I suppose you have no occupation in view as yet, and I also suppose, if you think of marrying, you do not expect to lead a life of idleness.”

“Far from it.”

“Very well. I wish that you would offer your services to Mr. Hemster. I am sure he has great confidence in you, and as he grows older he will feel more and more the need of a friend. He has had no real friend since my father died.”

“You forget about yourself, Hilda.”

“Oh, I don’t count; I am but a woman, and what he needs near him is a clear-headed man who will give him disinterested advice. That is a thing he cannot buy, and he knows it.”

“I quite believe you, but nevertheless where is the clear-headedness? He has just asserted that I am a fool.”

“He surely never called you that.”

“Well, not that exactly, but as near as possible to it, and somehow, now that I am sitting opposite to you, I rather think that he is right, and I have been quixotic.”

“Now I come to another condition,” Hilda said with some perceptible hesitation. “It is not a condition exactly, but an explanation. I have often wondered whether I acted rightly or not in the circumstances, and perhaps your view of the case may differ from the conclusion at which I arrived. The one man with whom I should most naturally have consulted in a business difficulty—Mr. Hemster himself—was out of the question in this case, so I tried to imagine what my father would have had me do, and I acted accordingly, but not without some qualms of conscience then and since. I fear I did not do what an independent girl should have done, but now that we have become so friendly you shall be my judge.”

“You will find me a very lenient one, Hilda; in fact the verdict is already given: you did exactly right whatever it was.”

“Sir, you must not pronounce until you hear. We approach now the dread secret of a woman with a past. That always crops up, you know, at the critical moment. I think I told you my father and Mr. Hemster were friends from boyhood; that they went to school together; that their very differences of character made the friendship sincere and lasting. My father was a quiet, scholarly man, fond of his books, while Mr. Hemster cared nothing for literature or art, but only for an outdoor life and contest with his fellow men. It is difficult to imagine that one so sedate and self-restrained as Mr. Hemster now seems to be should have lived the life of a reckless cowboy on the plains, riding like a centaur, and shooting with an accuracy that saved his life on more than one occasion, whatever the result to his opponents. Nevertheless, in the midst of this wild career he was the first, or one of the first, to realize the future of the cattle business, and thus he laid the foundation of the colossal fortune he now possesses. I can imagine him the most capable man on the ranch, and I believe he was well paid for his services and saved his money, there being no way of spending it, for he neither drank nor gambled. While yet a very young man an opportunity came to him, and he had not quite enough capital to take advantage of it. My father made up the deficit, and, small as the amount was, Mr. Hemster has always felt an undue sense of obligation for a loan which was almost instantly repaid. When my father died he left me practically penniless so far as money was concerned, but with a musical education which would have earned me a comfortable living. Shortly after my father’s death the manager of our local bank informed me that there had been deposited to my order one hundred thousand dollars’ worth of stock in Mr. Hemster’s great business. Now the question is, Should I have kept that, or should I have returned it to Mr. Hemster?”

“I beg your pardon, Hilda, but there is no question there at all. Your father, by reason of his most opportune loan, was quite honestly entitled to a share in the business the creation of which his money had made possible.”

“But the sum given to me was out of all proportion to the amount lent. It is even more out of proportion than the figures I have mentioned would lead you to suppose, for the interest paid is so great that such an income could not be produced by four or five times the face value of the stock. Then Mr. Hemster was under no obligation to have given me a penny.”

“Surely a man may be allowed to do the right thing without being legally bound to do it. I hope you accepted without hesitation.”

“Yes, I accepted, but with considerable hesitation. Now, I think Mr. Hemster would be greatly annoyed if he knew I had told you all this. His own daughter has not the slightest suspicion of it, and I imagine her father would be even more disturbed if she gathered any hint of the real state of affairs. Indeed, I may tell you that she has dismissed me since this Japanese Countess came.”

“Then we are in the same plight, for the young lady ordered me to resign.”

“And are you going to?”

“Not likely. She didn’t engage me, and therefore has no standing in the contract. But, to return to ourselves, which is always the paramount subject of interest, this dread secret, as you called it, puts an entirely different complexion on our relations. You must see that. Here have I been suing you under the impression that you were a helpless dependent. Now you turn out to be an heiress of the most pronounced transatlantic type. You once accused me of being dull in comprehension.”

“I never did.”

“Well, people do accuse me of that; nevertheless I am brilliant enough to perceive that this is a transformation scene, and that the dreams which I have indulged in regarding our relationship are no longer feasible.”

Hilda clasped her hands and rested her elbows on the wicker table, leaning forward toward me with an expression half quizzical, half pathetic.

“I never called you dull, Mr. Tremorne——”

“Rupert, if you please.”

“——but I did think you slightly original, Rupertus. Now, your talk of all this making a great difference is quite along the line of conventional melodrama. I see you are about to wave me aside. ‘Rich woman, begone,’ say you. You are going out into the world, registering a vow that until you can place dollar for dollar on the marriage altar you will shun me. Now I have read that sort of thing ever since I perused ‘The Romance of a Poor Young Man,’ but I never expected to encounter in real life this haughty, inflexible, poor young man.”

“Rich woman, there are many surprises here below, and of course you cannot avoid your share of them. However, I shall not so haughtily wave you aside until you have answered that important question with a word of three letters rather than one of two. I cannot refuse what is not proffered. So will you kindly put me in a position to enact a haughty poor young man by saying definitely whether you will marry me or not?”

“I reply, ‘Yes, yes, yes, yes,’ and a thousand other yes’s, if you wish them. Now, young man, what have you to say?”

“I have this to say, young woman, that your wealth entirely changes the situation.”

“And I maintain it doesn’t, not a particle.”

“I will show you how it does. I was poor, and I thought you were poor. Therefore it was my duty, as you remarked, to go out into the world and wring money from somebody. That, luckily, is no longer necessary. Hilda, we may be married this very day. Come, I dare you to consent.”

“Oh!” she cried, dropping her hands to her side and leaning back in her creaking chair, looking critically at me with eyes almost veiled by their long lashes, a kindly smile, however, hovering about her pretty lips. “You are in a hurry, aren’t you?”

“Yes, you didn’t expect to clear the way so effectively when you spoke?”

Before she could reply we were interrupted by the arrival of Mr. Hemster, who carried a long sealed envelope in his hand. He gazed affectionately at the girl for a moment or two, then pinched her flushed cheek.

“Hilda, my dear,” he said, “I never saw you looking exactly like this before. What have you two been talking about? Something pleasant, I suppose.”

“Yes, we were,” replied Hilda pertly; “we were saying what a nice man Silas K. Hemster is.”

The old gentleman turned his glance toward me with something of shrewd inquiry in it.

“Hilda,” he said slowly, “you mustn’t believe too much in nice men, young or old. They sometimes prove very disappointing. Especially do I warn you against this confidential secretary of mine. He is the most idiotically impractical person I have ever met. Would you believe it, my dear, that he was to-day offered two hundred and fifty thousand dollars if he would merely keep quiet about something he knew which he thought was his duty to tell me, and he was fool enough to refuse the good and useful cash?”

“Please tell Miss Stretton, Mr. Hemster, that the good and useful cash bore the ugly name of bribe, and tell her further that you would have refused it yourself.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. I don’t want the girl to think me quite in my dotage yet. Such a sum is not picked up so easily every day on the streets of Nagasaki, as I think you found out a while ago.”

“It may be picked up on board a yacht,” said Hilda archly, smiling up at him.

“Ah, you’re getting beyond me now. I don’t know what you mean, Hilda,” and he pinched her cheek again.

“And now, Mr. Tremorne, I am sorry to send you away again without lunch, but business must be attended to even if we have to subsist on sandwiches. How old a man is this Cammerford?”

“About forty, I should think.”

“Does he strike you as a capable individual?”

“Naturally he does. He has proved himself to be much more capable than I am.”

“Oh, that’s no recommendation. Well, I want you to take this letter to him; it is my ultimatum, and you may tell him so. He must either accept or refuse. I shall not dicker or modify my terms. If he accepts, then bring him right over to the yacht with you; if he refuses, you tell him I will have him wiped out before he can set foot in San Francisco.” He handed me the sealed envelope.

“You see you were in at the beginning of this business, so I’d like you to be on hand at the finish. I’m sorry to make an errand-boy of you, Tremorne, but we are a little distant from the excellent messenger service of Chicago.”

I rose at once, placed the envelope in my inside pocket, and said:

“I shall do my best, Mr. Hemster, although, as you have remarked, I seem to be little more than a messenger-boy in the negotiations.”

“Oh, not at all; you’re ambassador, that’s what you are; a highly honourable position, and I feel certain that as you are not particularly fond of Cammerford your manner will go far toward showing him his own insignificance. When he once realizes how powerless he is, we’ll have no further difficulty with him.”

I laughed, received a sweet smile from Hilda and a kindly nod from Hemster, then turned to the gangway and was in the ever-ready naptha launch a moment later.

Cammerford was not expecting me, so I had to search for him, and at last ran him down at the equivalent of the American bar which Nagasaki possesses for the elimination of loneliness from the children of the Spread Eagle.

“Have a drink with me, Tremorne,” cried Cammerford, as genially as if we were the oldest possible friends.

“Thanks, no!” I replied. “I’d sooner meet the muzzle of a revolver than imbibe the alleged American drinks they furnish at this place. You see, I know the town; besides, I’ve come on business.”

“Ah, is the old man going to see me, then?”

“That will depend on your answer to his letter which I have here in my pocket. May I suggest an adjournment to your rooms in the hotel?”

“Certainly, certainly,” muttered Cammerford hastily, evidently all aquiver with excitement and anxiety.

When we reached his apartments he thrust out his hand eagerly for the letter, which I gave to him. He ripped it open on the instant, and, standing by the window, read it through to the end, then, tossing it on the table, he threw back his head and gave utterance to a peal of laughter which had an undercurrent of relief in it.

“I was to tell you,” said I, as soon as I could make myself heard, “that this document is by way of being an ultimatum, and if you do not see fit to accept it——”

“Oh, that’s all right, my dear boy,” he cried, interrupting me. “Accept it? Of course I do, but first I must tender an abject apology to you.”

“There is no necessity, Mr. Cammerford,” I protested, “I hope that is not a proviso in the communication?”

“No, my dear boy, it is not. I offer the apology most sincerely on my own initiative. Actually I took you for a fool, but you are a damned sight shrewder man than I am. I told you when you were here that I could not get on to your game, but now I see it straight as a string, and I wonder I was such a chump as not to suspect it before. Tremorne, you’re a genius. Of course your proper way of working was through the old man with that cursed high-bred air of honesty which you can assume better than any one I ever met. That kind of thing was bound to appeal to the old man because he’s such an unmitigated rogue himself. Yes, my dear boy, you’ve played your cards well, and I congratulate you.”

“I haven’t the least idea what you are driving at,” I said.

“Do you mean to tell me you don’t know what is in this letter?”

“The letter was delivered to me sealed, and I have delivered it sealed to you. I have no more notion what it contains than you had before I handed it to you.”

“Is that really a fact? Well, Tremorne, you’re a constant puzzle and delight to me. This world would be a less interesting place if you were out of it. It is an ever-recurring problem to me whether you’re deep or shallow; but if you are shallow I’ll say this, that it cuts more ice than depth would do. Well, just cast your eyes over the last paragraph in that letter.” He tossed across the final sheet to me, and I read as follows:

“The condition under which I shall treat with you is this: You will place at once in the Bank of Japan, to the order of Rupert Tremorne, the five hundred thousand dollars you borrowed from him, together with interest compounded for three years at six per cent. If, as is likely, you are not in a position to hand over such a sum, you may pay half the amount into the Bank of Japan here, and cable to have the other half similarly placed in the First National Bank of Chicago. The moment I receive cable advice from my confidential man of business in Chicago that the money is in the bank there, or the moment you show me the whole amount is in the bank here, I shall carry out the promises I have made in the body of this letter.

“Yours truly,
“Silas K. Hemster.”

The look of astonishment that doubtless came into my face must have appeared genuine to Cammerford as he watched me keenly across the table. I handed the letter back to him.

“I assure you I know nothing of this proviso.”

“In that case,” said Cammerford airily, “I hope you will have no objection to paying me back the money when once you have received it. I trust that your silk-stockinged idea of strict honesty will impel you toward the course I have suggested.”

“I am very sorry to disappoint you, Mr. Cammerford, but circumstances have changed since I saw you last, and, if you don’t mind, I’ll keep the money.”

Cammerford laughed heartily; he was in riotous good humour, and I suppose his compensation in this trust-forming business would be so enormous that the amount paid into the bank seemed trifling by comparison.

“I should be glad,” said I, rising, “if you would pen a few words to Mr. Hemster accepting or declining his offer.”

“Of course I will, dear boy,” he replied, taking the latest pattern of fountain pen from his waistcoat pocket; “you are the most courteous of messengers, and I shall not keep you two shakes.” Whereupon he rapidly scrawled a note, blotted it, sealed it, and handed it to me.

He arose and accompanied me to the door, placing me under some temporary inconvenience by slapping me boisterously on the shoulder.

“Tremorne, old man, you’re a brick, and a right-down deep one after all. I’m ever so much obliged to you for lending me your money, although I did not think it would be recalled so soon, and I did not expect the interest to be so heavy. Still, I needed it at the time, and put it where it has done the most good. So long, old fellow. You will imagine yourself a rich man to-morrow.”

“I imagine myself a rich man to-day, Mr. Cammerford.”