I shall notify you.'

"My instincts prompted me to ask her what the imperial general might be
apt to think about the increase in her matrimonial forces, but I was wise
enough to hold my tongue. When the general should cease to be of use to
her, I knew very well that he would not be likely to offer opposition to
anything on earth."

"How glad I am," ejaculated Mrs. Crowder, "that thee didn't ask any
questions, and that thee consented to everything the wicked creature
said!"

"So am I," he replied; "and I was glad to get out of that palace, which I
never entered again. From that day I began to grow old as fast as I
could. My hair and beard became very long; I ate but little; I stooped
more and more each day, and walked with a staff. I began to be very
forgetful when people asked me questions. About a year afterward the
queen saw me. I was in the crowd near the palace, where I had purposely
gone that I might be seen. She looked at me, but gave no sign that she
recognized me. The next day an officer came to me, and roughly told me
that the empress had no use for dotards in her dominions, and that the
sooner I went away the better for me. I afterward heard that the execution
of two strangers had been ordered, but that a certain superstition in the
mind of the empress had prevented this. She had heard, through persons
who had met the Nestorians, that people of our country were protected in
some strange manner which she did not understand.

[Illustration: "'AND ROUGHLY TOLD ME.'"]

"Rina and I could not leave China, for I had now no money; but we went