to a distant province, where I lived for more than ten years, passing as
a Chinaman."

"And Rina--poor Rina?" asked Mrs. Crowder.

"She soon died," said her husband. "She was in a state of fear nearly all
the time. She could not speak the language, and it may be said that she
gave up her life in her pursuit of knowledge. In this respect she was as
wonderful a woman as was the Empress Woo."

"And a thousand times better," said Mrs. Crowder, earnestly. "And then?"

"Then," said her husband, "I married a Chinese woman."

"What!" exclaimed Mrs. Crowder, her eyes almost round.

"Yes, my dear; it was a great deal safer for me to be married, and to
become as nearly as possible like the people by whom I was surrounded."

"But thee didn't have several wives, did thee?" asked Mrs. Crowder.

"Oh, no," he answered; "I was too poor for anything of that kind to be
expected of me. When an opportunity came to join a caravan and get away,
I took my Chinese wife with me, and eventually reached Arabia. There we
stayed for a long time, for I found it impossible to prosecute my
journeying. Eventually, however, we reached the island of Malta, where
my wife lived to be over seventy. Travel, hardships, and danger seemed
to agree with her. She never spoke any language but her own, and as she
was of a quiet disposition, and took no interest in the things she saw,
she generally passed as an imbecile. But she was the first Chinese woman