"I wonder again--how many pots of tea do they sell in a night ?" He sipped his own leisurely, listening with all the eagerness of the new sense of freedom which had taken possession of him.

The Chinaman had scarcely disappeared when he heard footsteps on the stair.

In another instant a low word of surprise almost leaped from his lips.

Hesitating for a moment in the doorway, her face staring straight into his own, was the girl whom he had seen through the hotel window! For perhaps no more than five seconds their eyes met.

Yet in that time there was painted on his memory a picture that Howland knew he would never forget.