"
"For one," repeated Keith.
"Yes, for one."
"And I, John Keith, in some mysterious way unknown to me at present, am
to deliver Miriam Kirkstone to you?"
"Yes."
"And yet, if I should kill you, now--where you sit--"
Kao shrugged his slim shoulders, and Keith heard that soft, gurgling
laugh that McDowell had said was like the splutter of oil.
"I have arranged. It is all in writing. If anything should happen to
me, there are messengers who would carry it swiftly. To harm me would be
to seal your own doom. Besides, you would not leave here alive. I am
not afraid."
"How am I to deliver Miriam Kirkstone to you?"
Kao leaned forward, his fingers interlacing eagerly. "Ah, NOW you have
asked the question, John Keith! And we shall be friends, great friends,
for you see with the eyes of wisdom. It will be easy, so easy that you
will wonder at the cheapness of the task. Ten days ago Miriam Kirkstone
was about to pay my price. And then you came. From that moment she saw
you in McDowell's office, there was a sudden change. Why? I don't know.
Perhaps because of that thing you call intuition but to which we give a
greater name. Perhaps only because you were the man who had run down
her father's murderer.
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