As soon as she could next morning she rang Townsend up at his office:

“Yes, what is it?”

“I want to see you.”

“My dear, I'm awfully busy. I'm a working man.”

“It's very important. Can I come down to the office?”

“Oh, no, I wouldn't do that if I were you.”

“Well, come here then.”

“I can't possibly get away. What about this afternoon? And don't you think it would be better if I didn't come to your house?”

“I must see you at once.”

There was a pause and she was afraid that she had been cut off.

“Are you there?” she asked anxiously.

“Yes, I was thinking. Has anything happened?”

“I can't tell you over the telephone.”

There was another silence before he spoke again.

“Well, look here, I can manager to see you for ten minutes at one if that'll do. You'd better go to Ku-Chou's and I'll come along as soon as I can.”

“The curio shop?” she asked in dismay.

“Well, we can't meet in the lounge at the Hong Kong Hotel very well,” he answered.

She noticed a trace of irritation in his voice.

“Very well. I'll go to Ku-Chou's.”

第二天上午，她在查理一上班时就往他办公室打了一个电话。

“嗯，怎么了？”

“我想见你。”

“亲爱的，我真的忙死了，我有很多工作要做。”

“事情很紧急，我能去你办公室吗？”

“哦，不行，我要是你，我就不会这样做。”

“那好吧，那你来我这儿。”

“我不可能走得开，今天下午怎么样？如果我不去你们家是不是更好点儿？”

“我必须马上见到你。”

电话里出现了一阵停顿，她怕对方挂掉她的电话。

“你还在听吗？”她焦急地问道。

“我在听，我在考虑，究竟发生什么事了？”

“我不能在电话里跟你说。”

在他再次开口前又是一阵沉默。

“好吧，你瞧，我会设法在一点钟时抽出十分钟见你，如果能行的话。你最好去那家名叫库周的店铺，我也会尽早赶过去的。”

“你是说那家古董店？”她有点儿惊愕地问道。

“是呀，我们总不能在香港酒店的大堂里见面吧。”他回答道。

她注意到他的声音里透着懊恼和不耐烦。

“好吧，我会去库周店的。”