Mrs Spring Fragrance

Jack Fabian is a Canadian outlaw who illegally smuggles Chinese people into the United States, and one of Jack’s gang members tells this story. Notorious for being able to get across the border undetected, he has made a rare mistake and ends up in a U.S. jail for three months awaiting trial. Jack manages to escape jail and makes his way back to Canada. While Jack had been in jail, some lawyers, looking to exploit the law that bars Chinese immigrants, come up with a scheme in which a person from China can pay a couple hundred dollars to have a United States citizen claim to be their father. This cuts into the business of Jack and the other smugglers. Jack has always been free with his money, so while the others are willing to lie low, Jack is desperate to take a job sneaking someone over the border.

When Jack tells Tie Co, “a nice-looking young Chinaman,” (105) he is so desperate for money that he would be willing smuggle one person over the border at a time, Tie Co asks if Jack will take him. This does not make sense to Jack because Tie Co has worked his way up in his Canadian laundry. If Tie Co were to go to a new city, he would have to start all over again. But desperate for the $50 fee, Jack does not question it. Jack enjoys traveling with Tie Co, “for Fabian’s liking for Tie Co was very real; he had known him for several years, and the lad’s quick intelligence interested him” (106).

Jack notices that Tie Co is having trouble keeping up and feels protective toward him. Jack then questions Tie Co on whether he has a wife. Tie Co says that he will never have a wife. When Jack pushes him on it, Tie Co explains: “I not have wife […] I not like woman, I like man” (106). When Jack responds by calling him a “confirmed old bachelor” (107), Tie Co says, “I like you […] I like you so much that I want go to New York, so you make fifty dollars” (108). Jack feels ashamed he has been so careless with his own money that Tie Co, who had worked diligently for years to save up his money, feels the need to give it to Jack. He tells Tie Co that as soon as they get out of the woods they are heading straight back to Canada. Tie Co notices the government officers before Jack does. He tells Jack he is going to run off so that he does not get Jack in trouble and be the reason he gets arrested. When the officers go after them, Tie Co jumps in the river.

Tie Co’s corpse is found the next day, except rather than being the body of a young man, it is the body of a woman. Because there is no evidence against Jack, and the authorities do not realize that he had previously broken out of jail until it is too late, Jack is released and eventually resumes smuggling Chinese immigrants over the U.S. border. Jack would often think about the mystery of Tie Co.