"You shouldn't have turned him against her, you know. It really wasn't for you to protect his domestic life." But Megan stopped at once; the question of interference was one he might too easily seize and retaliate on, and it had not been only a question of the General's domestic life. "It wasn't very chivalrous of you," she said rather weakly. Mr. Shultz thought. "No, it wasn't," he admitted, "but I said a little more than I meant to when I got to talking. It made me so sore to think she would double-cross him like that. She would just as soon see him shot in front of her, so long as no one took her jade rings off her. Yes, it made me sore all right. I think she had it coming to her." And he murmured reflectively, "The damned little tart." "No, I don't think she did," said Megan. "And I don't believe a Western man like yourself can have any conception of her position or what her chance has been to be anything else." "Maybe not," said Mr. Shultz. "I suppose it is true the kid never had much chance. Anyway, it does my heart good to hear one woman stand up for another. But I guess," he added, "she don't seem much like a real woman to you, more like a doll." Mr. Shultz was as ready to sentimentalize over Mah-li as to condemn her. He seemed to think her as delightful as she was dangerous and, except for moments when he was stirred to real anger, would no doubt treat her with a leniency amounting to weakness. "How are the Communists getting on?" asked Megan lightly. "Will they keep us awake to-night?" To her surprise, Mr. Shultz answered more gravely. "I'm afraid they will." But he said no more, perhaps not wishing to frighten her. Megan wondered why she wasn't frightened. Because it seemed unreal, and unlike the capture of Shanghai, it was an affair between Chinese. How strange that even though these people now held all her interest they still lacked some essential reality for her. She puzzled over this but the possible night of alarms remained chimerical and apart from herself. "Mist's clearing," exclaimed Mr. Shultz. She looked out the window and saw that in spite of the gathering darkness the garden stood out more distinctly, as though breath had evaporated off the surface of a mirror. Above the black carved ridge-line of a roof she saw in a green sky a sharply burning star. "Wind from the bay," explained Mr. Shultz, but Megan was not listening. In the same way had the relations of the General and Mah-li been essentially unimportant, the vital point being that the General should show mercy because Megan asked him to. Having acknowledged this she allowed herself to go no further. But she turned to Mr. Shultz with an anxiety in her eyes that made them, for the moment, starry. "Don't worry!" murmured Mr. Shultz and leaning across the chair back patted her arm. "Don't worry," he repeated as he turned and went out. [Illustration: Chapter XXII headpiece] CHAPTER XXII