50
THE SURAKARTA
allured and repulsed at the same time by this girl who for thirty months had irritated, vexed, thwarted, baffled him. She was charming and exasperating. The Soesoehoenan of Surakarta, who had been to him until this moment merely a name, became suddenly a personality, a threat.
"You shall not debase yourself like this!" he cried. "This emerald shall not reach you tomorrow!"
"You are without doubt a very clever man, Mr. Hereford; but you are not so clever that I shall not receive the emerald."
"Legally, illegally, however it is done, you shall not receive it!"
"No?" she mocked.
"No!" he shouted furiously.
