Of course a Chinaman appeared promptly.

Davidson ordered a drink and sat tight.
"I would have ordered twenty drinks one after another, if necessary," he said--Davidson's a very abstemious man--"rather than take that parcel out of the house again.

Couldn't leave it in a corner without letting the woman know it was there.

It might have turned out worse for her than not bringing the thing back at all." And so he waited, ringing the bell again and again, and swallowing two or three iced drinks which he did not want.

Presently, as he hoped it would happen, Mrs.Schomberg came in, silk dress, long neck, ringlets, scared eyes, and silly grin--all complete.