upon me. I do not even know
what it is."

"Perhaps Li Ho may know?"

"Li Ho does know. Li Ho knows everything. But when I asked him he said,
'Honorable boss much lonely--heap scared of devil maybe.' Li Ho always
refers to devils when he doesn't wish to tell anything."

"I've noticed that. He's a queer devil himself. Would he stay on, do
you think?"

"Yes. And that's odd, too. In some way Li Ho is father's man. It's as
if he owned him. There must be a story which explains it. But no one
will ever hear it. Li Ho keeps his secrets."

Spence nodded. "Yes. Li Ho and his kind are the product of forces we
only guess at. I asked a man who had spent twenty years in China if he
had learned to understand the Oriental mind. He said he had learned
more than that, he had learned that the Oriental mind is beyond
understanding. But--aren't we getting away from our subject? Let's
begin all over again. Miss Farr, I have the honor to ask your hand in
marriage."

She was silent for so long a time that the professor had opportunity to
think of many things. And, as he thought, his heart went down--and
down. She would refuse. He knew it. The clean edge of her mind would
cut through all his tangle of words right to the core of the real
issue, And the core of the real issue was not as sound as it would need
to be to satisfy her demands. For in that core still lay a possibility,
the possibility of love. He had not eliminated love. Many a man has
loved after thirty-five. Many a girl who has sworn--but no, she would
not admit this possibility in her own case. It was only in his case
that she would recognize it. She would see the weak spot there.... She
would refuse. He could feel refusal gathering in her heart. And his own
heart beat hotly in his throat. For if this failed, what other way was
left? Yet to go and leave her here, alone in that rotting cottage on
the hill.... the prey of any ghastly fate.... no, it couldn't be done.
He must convince her. He must.

"My friend," said Desire (he loved her odd, old-fashioned way of
calling him "my friend"), "I admit that you have tempted me. But--I
can't. It wouldn't be fair. It is easy to feel sure for one's self but
it's another thing to be sure for others. A marriage of that kind would
not satisfy you. You say your outlook is wider than mine and of course
it is. But I have seen more than you think. Even men who are
tremendously interested in their work, like you, want--other things.
They wa