fancy Li Ho--watched."

"Good old Li Ho!"

Desire nodded. "I think now that perhaps I did not quite appreciate Li
Ho. I should like to know--but what is the use? We shall never know
more than we do."

"Not about Li Ho'. He is the eternal Sphinx wrapped in an everlasting
yesterday. I suppose he did not have even a beginning?"

Desire smiled. "No. He was always there. He is one of my first
memories. A kind of family familiar. Sometimes I think that if he had
not been away the night my mother died she might have been alive still."

Spence hesitated. "You have never told me about your mother's death,
you know," he reminded her gently.

"Haven't I?" Desire was plainly surprised. "Why--I thought you knew.
That is a queer thing about you," she went on musingly, "I am always
thinking that you know things which you don't. Perhaps it's because you
guess so much without being told. My mother died suddenly--of shock.
Her heart was never strong and the fright of waking to find a thief in
her room proved fatal. It happened one night when Li Ho was away. We
lived in Vancouver at the time and Li Ho often disappeared into
Chinatown. He had all the Oriental passion for fan-tan. That night
there was a police raid on his favorite gambling place and Li Ho was
held till morning. It was always he who locked the doors and attended
to everything at night. Perhaps it was known that he was away. But just
what happened was never settled, for my father was found unconscious on
the floor of the passage outside my mother's door. He couldn't remember
anything clearly. The fact that there had been several previous
burglaries in town and that there were valuables missing offered the
only explanation."

The professor was silent so long that Desire added: "I'm sorry. I
should have told you before."

"What difference would it have made?" He roused himself. "Tell me the
rest of it. Did Li Ho think that your mother had been frightened by
a--thief?"

"I suppose so," in surprise. "Li Ho blamed himself terribly. He said it
was his fault. If they hadn't known he was in the cells all night they
might have suspected him. He acted so queerly. But of course what he
meant was that if he had been at home the thief would not have broken
in."

"There were evidences of his having broken in?"

"There was a window open."

"And were any of the stolen things recovered."

"Not that I ever heard of. And yet, I think perhaps some of them were.
I remember--" De