Mexico Missouri message., 1913-02-13
CHAPTER XII

| Ign Grayson, reviewing the days
events, ! dwelt with some insistence
uuon tho slngularity OF that episode at
/ Yup Sings.
1T was impressiyely significant"
maintained. even II It was only n
coincidence. Incidentally It convinced
| me that nothing escaped Mr. Yups Oh.
| servaticn / had no intention OF re
ferring 20 my discovery. chose rath-
or to have him think had not noticed
,he figure the child was painting. But
my choice was not TO be gratihed. He
knew that ] had seen and noticed Il;
aud so, to relieve the situation. he
/ frankly directed my attention TO the
| symbol, explaining that what I had re-
garded as mysterious was most com.
monplace. 1t is one OF the first things
that Chinese babies learn to draw.
he went on, II is like the pothook and
hanger OF the American primary
schools. First they draw houses. then
ships, then men; and the houses. the
ships and the men are all alike, Just
as are your AS, your BIS, and your
C's. And when signed to a letter. I
queried, what does your ship stand
for? He shrugged his lean shoulders
in manner almost Gallo. who shall
say?' he returned"
And do you believe the pothook
and hanger explanation" Evelyn
asked. pointedly. 1t was her way TO
probe at once to the heart of a matter.
Il cant say that I am altogether
convinced" | answered, non-commit-
| tally. In spite OF Mow's enthusiastic
encomium, I was not very favorably
impressed by Yup Sing. His wall Of
reserve is too high and too thick. It
Is neither scalable nor penetrable.
And yet be stands well. I believe, In
the community
We sat in the music room. where a
fire OF drift wood wove a woof of
green and violet strands through the
red warp Of the blaze, for the weather
had turned chill Evelyn wore a cling
ing gown Of black panne velvet, with
purple orchids at her waist. II had a
wonderfully mature effect for one so
young as she, but II was not unbecom-
Ing. Indeed II effectively accentuated
the deep raw gold tints of her hair
and added TO the transparency OF her
| unwonted pallor. was marvelling
once again over her outwardly brave
up-bearing In spite OF the constant
anxiety OF which pallid checks we're
the only visible sign, when she said:
Il was sure we should hear from
Captain Macleod today"
''He has probably met With rough
weather" I cousoled. 1T ifn't thild's
play rounding Point Judith Ct this sea
son. you know"
Rough weather or not" che insist
ed. 'he must have reached Gloucester
By now. And II he found eter John
son, or II he didn't, he was TO tele-
phone. you remember"
Gloucester is something OF a
place" l explained, adopting the YER
nacular. 1T includes no less than
eight villages and five thousand men
are engaged there in the fishing indus
try. Macleod can't be expected TO
learn In five minutes whether a man
named Peter Johnson is one Of the
five thousand"
"But the whole community would
know II one OF their number had such
an experience as he just passed
through" And for this argument /
had no answer ready.
Fortunately, however, none was re-
CURED of me, for at that moment
steps were audible crossing the hall,
and when our eyes turned downward
they encountered the dapper figure OF
Louis, Cameron's French valet, halt
ing respectfully on the threshold
"Mademoiselle," he said, bowling,
''mais yoici des lettres qui taI trouve."
And We saw, then, that he carried a
tin despatch box.
Evelyn directed him to place 1t up
on the table by which she sat II
seemed that she had not given over
the idea that the letters for which we
had searched so diligently on Sunday
were somewhere in the house, and
had directed Louis TO bring to her
anything In the way OF writing that
he could lay his hands upon.
He had found the despatch box, he
told US, hidden away behind some sell
dom employed volumes in the library.
and thinking 1t might contain that Of
which Miss Grayson was In quest, had
foced the lock, to discover several
carefully-tied packets OF letters.
| wish / could give even a half ade-
/ quate idea of the way she thanked
Louis. It would add so much 10 a
realizing sense Of her sweetness with
out detracung at all from the enyis-
agement OF her dignity. No one could
have heard her bon garcon" and not
have felt iBpelled 10 consecrate his
esdeavors hsnceforth and foreyermore