"Without knowing exactly the form our activity will take, you can continue to serve us. If we told you the exact truth—your very possession of it would endanger your life in the event of its making you waver in your allegiance to us—" "You mean like the spy. You had to kill him because he had learned too much. But I know as much as he now—" "Perhaps not. He has been in this house for two years, and during the last day or two, he has been used in a particular service." "Then you think what he heard here was not all, but merely an added inkling to the full understanding." "He became dangerous to us." "You do not think that I am dangerous to you now?" "Your case is different. We have seen your trustworthiness. We know that any difference now is moral and that our cause is safe in your hands. At the same time any explicit methods which we might use must not become the property of any mind which is not imbued with the great passion which we feel." "You say you could use me without divulging further?" "Yes. We wish—" "You are not treating me then, as you would treat an Oriental—" "That is because I am an American. My friends have learned to trust me—and I have chosen to trust you—" Romney thanked him. "What plan have you for me?" The two Chinese turned to Nifton Bend who arose. "This morning we planned to send you to Japan. The delay in securing your release from custody has changed that. You are to start for the Gobi Desert. The plan is written, the progress of your journey set down, the policy and full meaning of your mission. These papers are in my chamber on the floor above. There may be a detail or two to finish in regard to them. Your servant will bring you to me in a few minutes. If you can be ready within an hour, it would be well for you to reach Peking in the morning. Let me add that this is a mission of great mercy, not a mission of death—" Romney made himself ready in his own quarters. A lift had come to his heart which he did not pretend to understand. It had seemed that his acceptance of the mission had been ordained deep in his own volition—the decision arising finished in his consciousness while the Hunchback spoke.... Many of the preparations for travel had already been made by Bamban, who left him to bring the word from Nifton Bend. ... Romney was in one of the halls, his servant walking ahead. A door opened a little distance forward and low in it, the place a half-grown child’s head would occupy, appeared the long face of the Hunchback—beyond that, golden lamplight, the sound of a softly-playing fountain, and an instant later, the movement of another figure in the mellow light. Romney halted. The figure had come forward. The head and breast were above Nifton Bend and two bare white arms rested upon the low shoulders. One was held out.