The Pagan Madonna

by Harold MacGrath

  CHAPTER IV

  Morning and winnowed skies; China awake. The great black-and-gold bannerswere again fluttering in Nanking Road. Mongolian ponies clattered about,automobiles rumbled, 'rickshas jogged. Venders were everywhere, many withhot rice and bean curd. Street cleaners in bright-red cotton jackets werebusy with the mud puddles. The river swarmed with sampans and barges andlaunches. There was only one lifeless thing in all Shanghai thatmorning--the German Club.

  In the city hospital the man Morrissy, his head in bandages, smiled feeblyinto Cunningham's face.

  "Were you mad to try a game like that? What the devil possessed you? Threeto one, and never a ghost of a chance. You never blew up like this before.What's the answer?"

  "Just struck me, Dick--one of those impulses you can't help. I'm sorry.Ought to have known I'd have no chance, and you'd have been justified incroaking me. Just as I was in the act of handing them over to you the ideacame to bolt. All that dough would keep me comfortably the rest of mylife."

  "What happened to them?"

  "Don't know. After that biff on the coco I only wanted some place to crawlinto. I had them in my hand when I started to run. Sorry."

  "Have they quizzed you?"

  "Yes, but I made out I couldn't talk. What's the dope?"

  "You were in a rough-and-tumble down the Chinese Bund, and we got youaway. Play up to that."

  "All right. But, gee! I won't be able to go with you."

  "If we have any luck, I'll see you get a share."

  "That's white. You were always a white man, Dick. I feel like a skunk. Iknew I couldn't put it over, with the three of you at my elbow. What thedevil got into me?"

  "Any funds?"

  "Enough to get me down to Singapore. Where do you want me to hang out?"

  "Suit yourself. You're out of this play--and it's my last."

  "You're quitting the big game?"

  "Yes. What's left of my schedule I'm going to run out on my own. So weprobably won't meet again for a long time, Morrissy. Here's a couple ofhundred to add to your store. If we find the beads I'll send your sharewherever you say."

  "Might as well be Naples. They're off me in the States."

  "All right. Cook's or the American Express?"

  "Address me the Milan direct."

  Cunningham nodded.

  "Well, good-bye."

  "Good-bye, Dick. I'm sorry I gummed it up."

  "I thought you'd be. Good-bye."

  But as Cunningham passed from sight, the man on the cot smiled ironicallyat the sun-splashed ceiling. A narrow squeak, but he had come through.

  Cunningham, grateful for the sunshine, limped off toward Woosung Road,grotesquely but incredibly fast for a man with only one sound leg. Henever used a cane, having the odd fancy that a stick would only emphasizehis affliction. He might have taken a 'ricksha this morning, but he neverthought of it until he had crossed Soochow Creek.

  But Ling Foo was not in his shop and the door was locked. Cunninghamexplored the muddy gutters all the way from Ling Foo's to Moy's tea house,where the meeting had taken place. He found nothing, and went into Moy'sto wait. Ling Foo would have to pass the restaurant. A boy who knew themerchant stood outside to watch.

  * * * * *

  Jane woke at nine. The brightness of the window shade told her that thesun was clear. She sprang out of bed, a trill of happiness in her throat.The shops! Oh, the beautiful, beautiful shops!

  "China, China, China!" she sang.

  She threw up the shade and squinted for a moment. The sun in the heavensand the reflection on the Whangpoo were blinding. The sampans made herthink of ants, darting, scuttling, wheeling.

  "Oh, the beautiful shops!"

  Of all the things in the world--this side of the world--worth having,nothing else seemed comparable to jade--a jade necklace. Not the stonethat looked like dull marble with a greenish pallor--no. She wanted thedeep apple-green jade, the royal, translucent stone. And she knew that shehad as much chance of possessing the real article as she had of taking herpick of the scattered Romanoff jewels.

  Jane held to the belief that when you wished for something you couldn'thave it was niggardly not to wish magnificently.

  She dressed hurriedly, hastened through her breakfast of tea and toast andjam, and was about to sally forth upon the delectable adventure, whenthere came a gentle knock on the door. She opened it, rather expecting aboy to announce that Captain Dennison was below. Outside stood a Chinamanin a black skirt and a jacket of blue brocade. He was smiling andkotowing.

  "Would the lady like to see some things?"

  "Come in," said Jane, readily.

  Ling Foo deposited his pack on the floor and opened it. He had heard thata single woman had come in the night before and, shrewd merchant that hewas, he had wasted no time.

  "Furs!" cried Jane, reaching down for the Manchurian sable. She blew asidethe top fur and discovered the smoky down beneath. She rubbed her cheekagainst it ecstatically. She wondered what devil's lure there was aboutfurs and precious stones that made women give up all the world for them.Was that madness hidden away in her somewhere?

  "How much?"

  She knew beforehand that the answer would render the question utterlyfutile.

  "A hundred Mex," said Ling Foo. "Very cheap."

  "A hundred Mex?" That would be nearly fifty dollars in American money.With a sigh she dropped the fur. "Too much for me. How much is thatChinese jacket?"

  "Twenty Mex."

  Jane carried it over to the window.

  "I will give you fifteen for it."

  "All right."

  Ling Foo was willing to forego his usual hundred per cent. profit in orderto start the day with a sale. Then he spread out the grass linen.

  Jane went into raptures over some of the designs, but in the end she shookher head. She wanted something from Shanghai, something from Hong-Kong,something from Yokohama. If she followed her inclination she would gobroke here and now.

  "Have you any jade? Understand, I'm not buying. Just want to see some."

  "No, lady; but I can bring you some this afternoon."

  "I warn you, I'm not buying."

  "I shall be glad to show the lady. What time shall I call?"

  "Oh, about tea time."

  Ling Foo reached inside his jacket and produced a string of cut-glassbeads.

  "How pretty! What are they?"

  "Glass."

  Jane hooked the string round her neck and viewed the result in themirror. The sunshine, striking the facets, set fire to the beads. Theywere really lovely. She took a sudden fancy to them.

  "How much?"

  "Four Mex." It was magnanimous of Ling Foo.

  "I'll take them." They were real, anyhow. "Bring your jade at tea time andcall for Miss Norman. I can't give you any more time."

  "Yes, lady."

  Ling Foo bundled up his assorted merchandise and trotted away infinitelyrelieved. The whole affair was off his hands. In no wise could the policebother him now. He knew nothing; he would know nothing until he met hishonourable ancestors.

  From ten until three Jane, under the guidance of Captain Dennison, stormedthe shops on the Bunds and Nanking Road; but in returning to the AstorHouse she realized with dismay that she had expended the major portion ofher ammunition in this offensive. She doubted if she would have enough tobuy a kimono in Japan. It was dreadful to be poor and to have a taste forluxury and an eye for beauty.

  "Captain," she said as they sat down to tea, "I'm going to ask one morefavour."

  "What is it?"

  "A Chinaman is coming with some jade. If I'm alone with him I'm afraidI'll buy something, and I really can't spend another penny in Shanghai."

  "I see. Want me to shoo him off in case his persistence is too much foryou."

  "Exactly. It's very nice of you."

  "Greatest pleasure in the world. I wish the job was permanent--shooing 'emaway from you."

  She sent him a quick sidelong glance,
but he was smiling. Still, there wassomething in the tone that quickened her pulse. All nonsense, of course;both of them stony, as the Britishers put it; both of them returning tothe States for bread and butter.

  "Why didn't you put up here?" she asked. "There is plenty of room."

  "Well, I thought perhaps it would be better if I stayed at the Palace."

  "Nonsense! Who cares?"

  "I do." And this time he did not smile.

  "I suppose my Chinaman will be waiting in the lobby."

  "Let's toddle along, then."

  Dennison followed her out of the tea room, his gaze focused on the back ofher neck, and it was just possible to resist the mad inclination to bendand kiss the smooth, ivory-tinted skin. He was not ready to analyze theimpulse for fear he might find how deep down the propellant was. A woman,young in the heart, young in the body, and old in the mind, disillusionedbut not embittered, unafraid, resourceful, sometimes beautiful andsometimes plain, but always splendidly alive.

  Perhaps the wisest move on his part was to avoid her companionship, inventsome excuse to return by the way of Manila, pretend he had transferorders. To spend twenty-one days on the same ship with her and to keep hishead seemed a bit too strong. Had there been something substantialreaching down from the future--a dependable job--he would have gone withher joyously. But he had not a dollar beyond his accumulated pay; thatwould melt quickly enough when he reached the States. He was thirty; hewould have to hustle to get anywhere by the time he was forty. His onlyhope was that back in the States they were calling for men who knew how tomanage men, and he had just been discharged--or recalled for thatpurpose--from the best school for that. But they were calling forspecialists, too, and he was a jack of all trades and master of none.

  He knew something about art, something about music, something aboutlanguages; but he could not write. He was a fair navigator, but not fairenough for a paying job. He could take an automobile engine apart andreassemble it with skill, but any chauffeur could do that.

  "Hadn't we better go into the parlour?" he heard Jane asking as theypassed out.

  "We'll be alone there. It will be easier for you to resist temptation, Isuppose, if there isn't any audience. Audiences are nuisances. Men havekilled each other because they feared the crowd might mistake common sensefor the yellow streak."

  Instantly the thought leaped into the girl's mind: Supposing such an eventlay back of this strange silence about his home and his people? Sherecalled the ruthless ferocity with which he had broken up a street fightbetween American and Japanese soldiers one afternoon in Vladivostok.Supposing he had killed someone? But she had to repudiate this theory. Noofficer in the United States Army could cover up anything like that.

  "Come to the parlour," she said to Ling Foo, who was smiling andkotowing.

  Ling Foo picked up his blackwood box. Inwardly he was not at all pleasedat the prospect of having an outsider witness the little businesstransaction he had in mind. Obliquely he studied the bronze mask. Therewas no eagerness, no curiosity, no indifference. It struck Ling Foo thatthere was something Oriental in this officer's repose. But five hundredgold! Five hundred dollars in American gold--for a string of glass beads!

  He set the blackwood box on a stand, opened it, and spread out jadeearrings, rings, fobs, bracelets, strings. The girl's eagerness causedLing Foo to sigh with relief. It would be easy.

  "I warned you that I should not buy anything," said Jane, ruefully. "Buteven if I had the money I would not buy this kind of a jade necklace. Ishould want apple-green."

  "Ah!" said Ling Foo, shocked with delight. "Perhaps we can make a bargain.You have those glass beads I sold you this morning?"

  "Yes, I am wearing them."

  Jane took off her mink-fur collaret, which was sadly worn.

  Ling Foo's hand went into his box again. From a piece of cotton cloth hedrew forth a necklace of apple-green jade, almost perfect.

  "Oh, the lovely thing!" Jane seized the necklace. "To possess somethinglike this! Isn't it glorious, captain?"

  "Let me see it." Dennison inspected the necklace carefully. "It isgenuine. Where did you get this?"

  Ling Foo shrugged.

  "Long ago, during the Boxer troubles, I bought it from a sailor."

  "Ah, probably loot from the Peking palace. How much is it worth?"

  Murder blazed up in Ling Foo's heart, but his face remained smilinglybland.

  "What I can get for it. But if the lady wishes I will give it to her inexchange for the glass beads. I had no right to sell the beads," Ling Foowent on with a deprecating gesture. "I thought the man who owned themwould never claim them. But he came this noon. Something belonging to hisancestor--and he demands it."

  "Trade them? Good heavens, yes! Of all things! Here!" Jane unclasped thebeads and thrust them toward Ling Foo's eager claw.

  But Dennison reached out an intervening hand.

  "Just a moment, Miss Norman. What's the game?" he asked of Ling Foo.

  Ling Foo silently cursed all this meddler's ancestors from Noah down, buthis face expressed only mild bewilderment.

  "Game?"

  "Yes. Why didn't you offer some other bits of jade? This string is worthtwo or three hundred gold; and this is patently a string of glass beads,handsomely cut, but nevertheless plain glass. What's the idea?"

  "But I have explained!" protested Ling Foo. "The string is not mine. Ihave in honour to return it."

  "Yes, yes! That's all very well. You could have told this lady that andoffered to return her money. But a jade necklace like this one! No, MissNorman; my advice is to keep the beads until we learn what's going on."

  "But to let that jade go!" she wailed comically.

  "The lady may keep the jade until to-morrow. She may have the night todecide. This is no hurry."

  Ling Foo saw that he had been witless indeed. The thought of raising thebid of five hundred gold to a thousand or more had bemused him, bluntedhis ordinary cunning.

  Inwardly he cursed his stupidity. But the appearance of a witness to thetransaction had set him off his balance. The officer had spoken shrewdly.The young woman would have returned the beads in exchange for the sum shehad paid for them, and she would never have suspected--nor the officer,either--that the beads possessed unknown value. Still, the innocentcovetousness, plainly visible in her eyes, told him that the game was notentirely played out; there was yet a dim chance. Alone, without theofficer to sway her, she might be made to yield.

  "The lady may wear the beads to-night if she wishes. I will return forthem in the morning."

  "But this does not explain the glass beads," said the captain.

  "I will bring the real owner with me in the morning," volunteered LingFoo. "He sets a high value on them through sentiment. Perhaps I washasty."

  Dennison studied the glass beads. Perhaps his suspicions were not on anytoo solid ground. Yet a string of jade beads like that in exchange!Something was in the air.

  "Well," said he, smiling at the appeal in the girl's eyes, "I don'tsuppose there will be any harm in keeping them overnight. We'll have achance to talk it over."

  Ling Foo's plan of attack matured suddenly. He would call near midnight.He would somehow manage to get to her door. She would probably hand himthe glass beads without a word of argument. Then he would play his gamewith the man who limped. He smiled inwardly as he put his wares back intothe carved box. A thousand gold! At any rate, he would press the man intoa corner. There was something about this affair that convinced Ling Foothat his noon visitor would pay high for two reasons: one, to recover theglass beads; the other, to keep out of the reach of the police.

  Ling Foo considered that he was playing his advantage honestly. He hadn'trobbed or murdered anybody. A business deal had slipped into his hands andit was only logical to make the most of it. He kotowed several times onthe way out of the parlour, conscious, however, of the searching eyes ofthe man who had balked him.

  "Well!" exclaimed Jane. "What in the world do you suppose is going on?"
r />   "Lord knows, but something is going on. You couldn't buy a jade necklacelike that under five hundred in New York. This apple-green seldom runsdeep; the colour runs in veins and patches. The bulk of the quarried stonehas the colour and greasy look of raw pork. No; I shouldn't put it on justnow, not until you have washed it. You never can tell. I'll get you agermicide at the English apothecary's. Glass beads! Humph! Hanged if I canmake it out. Glass; Occidental, too; maybe worth five dollars in theStates. Put it on again. It's a great world over here. You're alwaysstumbling into something unique. I'm coming over to dine with youto-night."

  "Splendid!"

  Jane put the jade into her hand-bag, clasped the glass beads round herneck again, and together she and Dennison walked toward the parlour door.As they reached it a tall, vigorous, elderly man with a gray pompadourstarted to enter. He paused, with an upward tilt of the chin, but the tiltwas the result of pure astonishment. Instinctively Jane turned to herescort. His chin was tilted, too, and his expression was a match for thestranger's. Later, recalling the tableau, which lasted but a moment, itoccurred to Jane that two men, suddenly confronted by a bottomless pit,might have expressed their dumfounderment in exactly this fashion.

  In the lobby she said rather breathlessly: "You knew each other and didn'tspeak! Who is he?"

  The answer threw her into a hypnotic state.

  "My father," said Dennison, quietly.