"No!" exclaimed the young man, genuinely startled.
"If the boy not come home I lose my wife sure," continued Hom Hing with bitter sadness.
"It's not right," cried the young man indignantly. Then he made his proposition.
The Chinese father's eyes brightened exceedingly.
"Will I like you to go to Washington and make them give you the paper to restore my son?" cried he. "How can you ask when you know my heart's desire?"
"Then, said the young fellow, "I will start next week. I am anxious to see this thing through if only for the sake of your wife's peace of mind."
"I will call her. To hear what you think to do will make her glad," said Hom Hing.
He called a message to Lae Choo upstairs through a tube in the wall.
In a few moments she appeared, listless, wan, and hollow-eyed; but when her husband told her the young lawyer's suggestion she became as one electrified; her form straightened, her eyes glistened; the color flushed to her cheeks.
"Oh," she cried, turning to James Clancy, "You are a hundred man good!"
