“A letter?”
She went across to a bureau and opened a drawer. “Read this. It will make your toes curl.”
The letter was written in a tall, elegant script with extravagantly flourishing curls on the capital letters.
“What a nerve,” I said. “Did you show this to Sarah?”
“I thought it wiser not to. She told me that Monty was adamant that she give up coming here and she didn’t want to upset him. I expect she’d have been livid if she found that he’d written to us.” She looked up at me. “I hope Sarah is doing the right thing marrying him.”
“But she loves him, doesn’t she?”
“I think she likes the idea of being a grand English lady and living in a castle,” Hermione said, “and of course he’s in love with her money. Who wouldn’t be?”
“But surely he doesn’t need her money—he’s from an aristocratic family with large estates.”
“And has squandered his inheritance in riotous living, to paraphrase the Bible. Believe me, Mr. Monty Warrington-Chase can’t wait to marry and settle his debts.”
“How do you know this?”
“My brother is a member of the same club. Monty spilled out his problems one night while in his cups,” she said. “Naturally I’ve said nothing to Sarah. If she really does love him, then all is well.”
“I think she does,” I said. “She was most concerned about his health.”
“His health? I put that down to aristocratic pallor.” She laughed. “Then I wish them every happiness. Here, take this tray into the living room and I’ll follow with the teapot.”
A few minutes later Bo Kei reappeared in a Western skirt and shirtwaist. “Now I am proper American lady,” she said, laughing with relief.
“Tell this lady your story,” I suggested, but Hermione shook her head. “Let’s not put her through that again. Sarah has already given me a most riveting account. I gather you leaped between rooftops and shimmied down drainpipes.”
Bo Kei nodded, her hand shielding her mouth as she giggled. “Nuns always call me tomboy.”
We took tea together and then Hermione suggested that she meet Annie. “We have another Chinese girl here you might know,” she said.
We proceeded up the stairs. Annie was lying as if asleep, but she opened her eyes as we came in.
“A visitor, Annie. A Chinese girl like you.”
Bo Kei gave a squeal and rushed toward Annie’s bed, letting out a stream of Chinese. Annie recoiled for a moment, then threw her arms around Bo Kei. We watched them as they sat together, holding hands, looking incredulously at each other’s faces. Then Bo Kei looked up at us.
“This girl my cousin. She went away from my village and nobody knew where she has gone. We think she is dead.”
Thirteen
“But what are you going to tell this Chinaman who hired you?” Sid gave me a worried stare.
“That’s a problem, isn’t it. I’m not quite sure,” I said. “From what I hear he’s a powerful and ruthless man. I don’t like to think what he’d do if he found out I’d helped the girl escape from him.”
“Molly, you can’t risk putting yourself in that kind of danger,” Gus said. “This girl isn’t anything to you and I’m sure this kind of marriage arrangement is usual in their culture. Would this life be so much worse than a marriage to someone in her village at home?”
I sighed. She had made a valid point. If women could be bought and sold in China, could she have expected any better for herself? And at least here she would have enough to eat and nice clothes. And if she produced that son, she’d be treated well. But she clearly did not want to be treated as chattel. She had taken a terrible risk to run away. I knew how she felt. I had fled from Ireland when the odds had seemed against me. I had received help when I least expected it. How could I deny it to Bo Kei?
“Maybe I’ll tell him that I’ve looked diligently but that the girl is nowhere to be found at any of the missions— which is true of course.”
“Are you sure that nobody at the settlement house will betray the presence of Chinese girls there?”
“No, I’m not at all sure. If they stay hidden upstairs, then maybe they are safe, but if they come down to communal meals, then anyone could inadvertently give them away. The house is too close to Chinatown. Our only chance is to spirit her far away as soon as possible. So if you two could get to work trying to find a position for her—”
“Molly, we’re planning your party, remember?” Gus said. “We’ve a host of people coming who will need to be fed and entertained. We’ve decorations to design, food to make, drinks to order. Can’t you put off reporting in to your Chinaman for a day or so? He can’t expect you to work miracles in a single day, surely?”
“I suppose you’re right,” I said. “I’m sure he’ll want to hear from me immediately, and I don’t think I could face him in person, but I could write a letter to let him know that I am still working hard on the case, and then hand- deliver it to his secretary.”
This decision made me feel better. At least I had bought myself some time and the girl would be safe, unless Mr. Lee had his own spies out looking as well. I went to my room and composed the letter carefully, trying not to tell an outright lie in it. It must have been that Catholic upbringing and the beatings from my mother that made it so hard for me to tell an untruth. So I simply stated that she had not been at any of the missions around Chinatown—
