The Bradys After a Chinese Princess Part 8

The chauffeur was white, but the two seated on the box, which was crowded in front of the middle seat, were Chinese in American dress.

They sat on the seat with their feet on the box, silent and stolid looking.

Certainly there was nothing to be hoped for from an appeal to them.

Did Alice know this Dr. Garshaski?

She did, indeed.

Harry's anxiety would have been more intense even than it was could he have suspected the truth.

But there was no possible reason why he should suspect it. He believed this man to be in China or j.a.pan.

The story is this:

About two years before it became necessary in a certain case to engage a detective who could speak both Chinese and j.a.panese.

Such a combination is much rarer than might be supposed.

Old King Brady applied to the Secret Service people, for it was on their work that the man was needed.

They had such a person in stock, it seemed, and Dr. Garshaski, born of a j.a.panese father and a Chinese mother in the city of Shanghai, was sent to New York to co-operate with the Brady Bureau.

They won out in the case all right, but they got more than they bargained for in this man, who really was a doctor and a graduate of a New England medical college.

From the very outset he began making love to Alice, and in the most extravagant fas.h.i.+on.

After the case was over he threw up his position as a Secret Service detective and remained in New York, pestering Alice beyond endurance.

Harry threw him out of the office at an early stage of the game.

He then wrote letters, threatening Harry's life.

Alice was deluged with silly love epistles; he dogged her in the streets and waylaid her when she came and went from her rooms on Waverly Place.

In short, he made himself such a nuisance that Old King Brady had him arrested and bound over to keep the peace.

His next and last move was to make a pretended attempt at suicide on Alice's door-step.

Again he was arrested and got the usual penalty.

Then he wrote a whining letter to Old King Brady, asking help to get out, and promising to go to Shanghai.

Alice interceded. He was released.

The Bradys thought they had good reason for believing that he had kept his word.

But if he went he must have come back again, for here he was, sitting beside Alice in the automobile.

No wonder her heart failed her, but to the doctor's latest declaration of love she calmly replied:

"Once you told me you were the son of a j.a.panese gentleman, doctor.

Don't forget it now."

"Never, Alice! Never! I intend that you shall marry me. A man could not act otherwise than as a gentleman towards a woman whom he hopes to make his wife."

"Well spoken," said Alice, with a sigh. "Do these men understand English?" she added, trying to speak in her ordinary tone.

"Not a word."

"And the chauffeur?"

"Is a French-Canadian; but he can't hear. Did Old King Brady get that boat load of opium?"

"Yes. Are you interested in it?"

"I am."

"Did you go to China?"

"Certainly; I have made two trips to China since I last saw you."

"What is it about this unfortunate Chinese woman in the box?"

"That's a private matter. Were you my wife, as you soon will be, you should know. As it is, I can't tell you--at least not yet."

"I am afraid she is dead, doctor."

"Not the least danger, Alice."

She did not correct this familiar form of speech.

"Were you speaking to her in Chinese?" he asked.

"Yes."

"What did she tell you?"

"Nothing except that she was the Princess Skeep Hup."

"That is so."

"Why have you captured her?"

"It is not my business. It was done for another."

"And you are taking her to Chinatown?"

"Yes; that is where we are going."