After tying a money belt around his waist under the tunic, he glanced in the mirror. He looked fairly old and worn himself, and much less like an Englishman.

A knock sounded at the door, closely followed by Gavin. "So you're going to go through with it," his friend said gloomily.

Kyle locked his trunk and handed the key to Gavin. "Did you really doubt it?"

"I suppose not. Have a good journey." They shook hands.

Kyle said, "I'll see you in Macao in a fortnight or so."

He was reaching for the doorknob when Gavin said brusquely, "Don't go, Maxwell. I have a bad feeling about this trip. I've tried to bury it, but my fey Scots ancestors keep whispering in my ear that you're running into trouble. Serious trouble."

Kyle blinked. "Did the fey ancestors say what to watch out for?"

Gavin shrugged wryly. "Premonitions are never specific enough to be much use-but I can't shake the feeling that you're risking your life. Don't go."

Frowning, Kyle went to the window and gazed down at the Pearl River, ghostly in the first predawn light. Gavin would not have said such a thing lightly. Was his trip to Hoshan merely a rich man's whim?

No, his desire was much deeper than that. Perhaps in Hoshan he would discover faith, or wisdom, or something else that would add meaning to his life. Whatever awaited him there, it was worth a risk. "I appreciate the warning, but this is something I must do, Gavin."

His friend sighed. "Then at least be careful, and do what Jin Kang tells you."

"Don't worry, I'll be on your doorstep in Macao before you know it." He left the bedroom and quietly descended the steps to the ground floor. He and Troth had chosen the early hour so no one would see him dressed so oddly.

The vast spaces of the warehouse were almost empty now, the bales of goods once stored here now on their way to Britain and America, leaving only the pungent scent of tea. Later in the day the hong would be bustling as Elliott House employees closed it down for the season. With so much going on, no one would notice his absence.

As they had arranged, Troth waited in a small office at the back of the hong, her expression stern. She'd discarded her respectable clerk's clothing for the shabby garments of a laborer. They'd make a good pair of peasants.

"You're late, my lord. I was beginning to wonder if you'd changed your mind."

"Never that. I was delayed because Elliott came by to say good-bye."

As he crossed the office toward her, she said critically, " You dress like a peasant but move like a Fan-qui lord. Put these under the arches of your feet." She gave him two lengths of thick, hard cord about three inches long.

Obediently he removed his shoes and placed the cords inside, then cautiously circled around the office. "Uncomfortable. Why do I need them?"

"To make you walk like an old man with bad joints and uncertain balance."

"Clever." He scanned the objects Troth had set on the battered table. "That thing looks like a drowned badger."

"Your wig, Grandfather." She handed him a coiled, hairy mass.

Though Chinese men shaved the front half of their heads, in order to stay in position his wig had been made to cover his skull from brow to nape before trailing into a waist-length queue. The coarse hair was more gray than black. He wondered where it had come from, but was just as glad not to know. He arranged the wig on his head. "How does it look?"

"Some of your hair is showing." She tucked an errant lock away, her fingers a featherlight brush behind his ear. He almost flinched. Maybe the threat Gavin sensed was that he'd forget himself and make advances to Troth, and she'd break his neck when repelling them. Having seen her fight, he knew she could damage him seriously.

Such speculation was nonsense, of course. Though he found her immensely attractive, he was no lust-crazed boy, unable to keep his hands to himself. There was a rare kind of innocence about Troth, and he had no intention of violating it. Still, he breathed more easily when she stepped away. "Do I look Chinese now?"

She sniffed. "Hardly. Even if your features weren't all wrong, the color of your eyes would betray you instantly. Time to cover them."

She took a roll of white gauze from the table and began wrapping it around his head. This was the part he knew he would hate, but there was no other way to disguise his foreignness. He distracted himself by trying to imagine what Troth would look like in a European ball gown that revealed the figure hidden beneath her shapeless garments. When they reached Macao, he'd commission her a proper wardrobe immediately.

Layer after layer of gauze swaddled the upper part of his head and his cheeks, ears, and nose. His mouth and jaw were left uncovered, as were his eyes. When she was satisfied with how well his face was disguised, she lightly drew a single layer of fabric across his eyes. After tying off the bandage, she asked, "Can you see?"

He turned his head, testing his vision. "Much better than I expected. The world is a little hazy, but I can see and hear quite well, and talk and breathe with no problem."

"Good. The bandage is too clean, though." She ran her fingers along the dusty edge of the floor and wiped them on the bandages. Then she placed a cap over his head. "Take a look at yourself, Grandfather."

He glanced into the small mirror she placed in his hand and saw the image of a drab, injured old man. With only his mouth visible, nothing revealed that he was foreign. "You're brilliant, Troth."

"I'd better be." Her tone was troubled. "I hope I'm not forgetting something."

He lowered the mirror. "If you really don't want to undertake this journey, it's not too late to back out. We can sail to Macao with Gavin Elliott today."

She hesitated, and for a moment he feared she would take him at his word. Then she shook her head. "No. We have a bargain, and I will fulfill my end. Besides, I wish to see the temple also."

"And to say good-bye to your mother's country?"

Her mouth tightened. All business, she scanned him with narrow-eyed thoroughness. "Take off the gold ring. No peasant would have such a thing."

The Celtic knotwork ring was so much a part of him that he'd forgotten it was on his hand. As he tugged it off, he remembered what he'd brought her. He reached under his tunic to unfasten the money belt and handed it to her. "This is for you."

Her eyes widened when she opened one of the belt's pockets and saw the carefully chosen mixture of coins and silver ingots, all worn from use and unlikely to attract attention. "Why are you giving me so much money?"

"You're the one who will be paying the bills as we travel."

Her brows rose as she checked the contents of the other pockets. "This is far more than I shall need for the journey."

"If something happens to me, you'll need funds to get to Macao and England. Gavin Elliott will help you-he even mentioned the possibility of hiring Jin Kang for his new London office-but you'll feel better if you have something to fall back on." He gave her the ring. "Pack this in there, too."

She tucked the ring into a small empty pocket of the money belt so that it wouldn't be scratched, then tied the belt under her tunic. "What is it like to be able to buy whatever you want? "

He remembered how useless his fortune had been to restore Constancia's health. "Money can't buy miracles, but it does give freedom and power. I periodically stop to give thanks that I've never had to worry about something that is a crushing concern of half the people in the world."

She touched the hard bulge of the money belt under her tunic. "Freedom and power. I've had little enough of either."

She was a brave woman. Would he have the courage to walk away from the only life he'd known? "For better and worse, your future will be different from your past."

"I hope so." She slung a knapsack over her shoulder. "Ready, Grandfather? Until we get to the stable where we'll pick up the donkey, rest one hand on my shoulder, shuffle along with your shoulders bent, and don't speak. No one will ever suspect that you're a foreign devil."

He grinned. "Lay on, Macduff. Or rather, lay on, Montgomery."

She gave a swift smile. "We'll have no quotes from the Scottish play, Grandfather. It would be bad luck."

She looked so enchanting that he raised her chin with one finger. "Then we should have a kiss to improve our luck."

He meant the kiss to be light, but as soon as their lips met desire crackled between them. She made a choked sound and drew closer, her lithe frame touching him from chest to thighs. His obscured vision increased his awareness of how soft her mouth was, how erotic the small movements of her body against his.

He was equally conscious of her uncertainty-had she ever been kissed before? Probably not-and her yearning. So sweet, so welcoming…

Hell. Wanting to kiss her senseless was the wrong way to start. Breathing quickened, he stepped back. "An auspicious beginning to our journey."

Slowly she raised her fingers to her lips, her eyes almost black as she stared at him. Then she gave a small shake of her head. " Bats would be more auspicious, Grandfather. Or cranes."

When she turned toward the door, he set his right hand on her left shoulder and followed. With the cords digging into the soles of his feet, it was easy to shuffle like an old man with bad joints and no vision. It gave him more sympathy for his father, afflicted with gout and weak eyes.

They left the hong by the back gate. Moving at a pace suitable for an infirm old man, Troth led them to a street that ran from the Settlement to the city gate a few hundred yards away. All such roads were guarded and blocked with wickets every night so no Fan-qui could enter Canton.