ses that I showed him were gratefully received. He
was very loyal and patient, two qualities rare in the average American
servant. He was like Malvolio, "sad and civil" with me. Only once,
and then under great provocation, do I remember of his exhibiting any
impatience. It was my habit, after leaving the office at night, to take
him with me to my rooms, as the bearer of any supplemental or happy
after-thought, in the editorial way, that might occur to me before the
paper went to press. One night I had been scribbling away past the
usual hour of dismissing Wan Lee, and had become quite oblivious of
his presence in a chair near my door, when suddenly I became aware of
a voice saying in plaintive accents, something that sounded like "Chy
Lee."

I faced around sternly.

"What did you say?"

"Me say, 'Chy Lee.'"

"Well?" I said impatiently.

"You sabe, 'How do, John?'"

"Yes."

"You sabe, 'So long, John'?"

"Yes."

"Well, 'Chy Lee' allee same!"

I understood him quite plainly. It appeared that "Chy Lee" was a form of
"good-night," and that Wan Lee was anxious to go home. But an instinct
of mischief, which, I fear, I possessed in common with him, impelled
me to act as if oblivious of the hint. I muttered something about not
understanding him, and again bent over my work. In a few minutes I heard
his wooden shoes pattering pathetically over the floor. I looked up. He
was standing near the door.

"You no sabe, 'Chy Lee'?"

"No," I said sternly.

"You sabe muchee big foolee! allee same!"

And, with this audacity upon his lips, he fled. The next morning,
however, he was as meek and patient as before, and I did not recall his
offence. As a probable peace-offering, he blacked all my boots,--a duty
never required of him,--including a pair of buff deer-skin slippers
and an immense pair of horseman's jack-boots, on which he indulged his
remorse for two hours.

I have spoken of his honesty as being a quality of his intellect rather
than his principle, but I recall about this time two exceptions to the
rule. I was anxious to get some fresh eggs as a change to the heavy
diet of a mining-town; and, knowing that Wan Lee's countrymen were great
poultry-raisers, I applied to him. He furnished me with them regularly
every morning, but refused to take any pay, saying that the man did not
sell them,--a remarkable instance of self-abnegation, as eggs were then
worth half a dollar apiece. One morning my neighbor Forster drop