. Major Temple,
owing to his long residence in India and the East could not endure a
cold house, and the presence of this heating plant had been one of the
reasons which had governed him in leasing the house for the winter. As
far as I was concerned, I had not noticed the register in the wall at
all, during the night I slept in the room, having forgotten its
existence. I presume it had been turned on by Mr. Ashton. Had I noticed
it, I should certainly have turned it off, as I particularly dislike to
sleep in a heated room.

I reached the house about four o'clock and found Muriel awaiting my
return in the library. Her father, she told me, had gone off for a
walk. We had a great deal to say to each other, and it took us till
dinner to say it, but I have an idea that it would not interest the
reader particularly. We had a lively party at dinner, and the Major got
out some special vintage champagne to celebrate our engagement and drink
to our future happiness. It was late before I turned in, and I did not,
you may be sure, sleep in the green room. The next day, I set out for
Torquay by rail, to explain to my mother my long delay in arriving, and
to tell her about Muriel. With my departure from The Oaks the story of
the emerald Buddha, and the memorable week it caused me, is ended, but
the blessings that came to me through it I had only begun to appreciate.
I have not become a Buddhist, yet I confess that I never see a statue of
that deity but I bend my head before his benign and inscrutable face,
and render up thanks for the great blessings he has showered upon me. It
has now been three years since Muriel and I were married, and they have
been three years of almost perfect happiness. We think of making a trip
to China, some of these days, and, if we do, we have concluded to make a
special pilgrimage to Ping Yang, and place upon the altar of Buddha the
most beautiful bunch of flowers that money can buy, as a little offering
and testimonial of our appreciation of what he has done for us.

* * * * *

Transcriber's Notes:

Punctuation has been standardised.

Page 54, "it's" changed to "its" (that its presence)

Page 58, "Sergean" changed to "Sergeant" (Sergeant McQuade looked)

Illustration following Page 276, "GREEN-ROOM" changed to "GREEN ROOM"
(TO THE GREEN ROOM)

The "s" in "street" following a proper noun is sometimes with an
initial capital and sometimes with lower case.