"I must leave as soon as I can," said Doctor Strike. "You see, it is like this. I did not feel myself that a safe-conduct pass alone in times like this would be much of a help. I spoke of this to the General, asking him if he couldn't let me have one or two of his men as a body-guard. He hesitated about this, said he was leaving himself on a special train at six o'clock from the North Station and would have to take all his guard with him. I told him the orphanage was so near the station I could get my friends out and have his guard back by six o'clock. He said his guard were already at the station and unless I could get that far there was no way he knew of to communicate with them. 'Then give me an order to them,' I said, 'I'll pick them up there.' He still hesitated, and then a peculiar thing happened. There was a young woman with him, one of his concubines, I suppose. While I was talking I saw her looking at me in an interested way, and at last she leaned over and spoke to the General in a low voice. I could not hear what she said but finally she said to me, in excellent English too, 'Doctor Strike, the General will do what you ask.' I believe she had something to do with persuading him. Before I left I managed to have a few words with her. I thanked her. She told me, here is the remarkable part, that she was educated in the Presbyterian Mission School in Soochow. I was in Soochow, you know, for years and she said she knew me as soon as I came into the room." "Extraordinary. It seems like a real providence working out," exclaimed Mr. Jackson. "But how does a Mission-reared girl become the concubine of a general?" asked Megan. "I don't know. It distressed me. I must try to learn more about her." Mrs. Jackson and the number one boy returned with coffee and sandwiches, and the Doctor began to eat and drink hungrily. "There is one thing that worries me now," he said, "and that is my driver. He has a Chinese license but I know he will balk at going into Chinese territory. I have a short distance to go between the barricade at Range Road and the North Station, but anything may happen in it. And further, there is the possibility of my not making contact with the guard. He may give me trouble or at the least desert. I think two of us, Jackson, would be better than one." Mr. Jackson's face showed utter misery and humiliation. "He cannot possibly go," cried Mrs. Jackson. "He has a temperature of one hundred and two. He oughtn't to be up here now. You know he almost died of pneumonia two years ago." "Oh, I think I can manage it," said Mr. Jackson. "No, no," cried the Doctor emphatically, "don't think of it. It is cold outside and raining, it would be suicide." "Let me come," said Megan, "I can drive a car. I would be able to do that while you do whatever else is necessary."