r unravelled the tangle and spun the web
afresh. As my body slave he insisted upon attending me everywhere; being
only barred on occasion by Yunsan. Of course I barred him from my
moments with the Lady Om, but told him in general what passed, with
exception of tenderer incidents that were not his business.

I think Hamel was content to sit back and play the secret part. He was
too cold-blooded not to calculate that the risk was mine. If I
prospered, he prospered. If I crashed to ruin, he might creep out like a
ferret. I am convinced that he so reasoned, and yet it did not save him
in the end, as you shall see.

"Stand by me," I told Kim, "and whatsoever you wish shall be yours. Have
you a wish?"

"I would command the Tiger Hunters of Pyeng-Yang, and so command the
palace guards," he answered.

"Wait," said I, "and that will you do. I have said it."

The how of the matter was beyond me. But he who has naught can dispense
the world in largess; and I, who had naught, gave Kim captaincy of the
palace guards. The best of it is that I did fulfil my promise. Kim did
come to command the Tiger Hunters, although it brought him to a sad end.

Scheming and intriguing I left to Hamel and Yunsan, who were the
politicians. I was mere man and lover, and merrier than theirs was the
time I had. Picture it to yourself--a hard-bitten, joy-loving sea-cuny,
irresponsible, unaware ever of past or future, wining and dining with
kings, the accepted lover of a princess, and with brains like Hamel's and
Yunsan's to do all planning and executing for me.

More than once Yunsan almost divined the mind behind my mind; but when he
probed Hamel, Hamel proved a stupid slave, a thousand times less
interested in affairs of state and policy than was he interested in my
health and comfort and garrulously anxious about my drinking contests
with Taiwun. I think the Lady Om guessed the truth and kept it to
herself; wit was not her desire, but, as Hamel had said, a bull throat
and a man's yellow hair.

Much that pawed between us I shall not relate, though the Lady Om is dear
dust these centuries. But she was not to be denied, nor was I; and when
a man and woman will their hearts together heads may fall and kingdoms
crash and yet they will not forgo.

Came the time when our marriage was mooted--oh, quietly, at first, most
quietly, as mere palace gossip in dark corners between eunuchs and
waiting-women. But in a palace the gossip of the