other hand, Maud, who was blue-eyed
and yellow-haired, would remind one instantly of Henrietta, an olive
brunette with large, languishing dark eyes and hair that was blue-black.
The hint of resemblance that ran through them all, reconciling every
differentiation, was Ah Chun's contribution. He had furnished the
groundwork upon which had been traced the blended patterns of the races.
He had furnished the slim-boned Chinese frame, upon which had been
builded the delicacies and subtleties of Saxon, Latin, and Polynesian
flesh.

Mrs. Ah Chun had ideas of her own to which Ah Chun gave credence, though
never permitting them expression when they conflicted with his own
philosophic calm. She had been used all her life to living in European
fashion. Very well. Ah Chun gave her a European mansion. Later, as his
sons and daughters grew able to advise, he built a bungalow, a spacious,
rambling affair, as unpretentious as it was magnificent. Also, as time
went by, there arose a mountain house on Tantalus, to which the family
could flee when the "sick wind" blew from the south. And at Waikiki he
built a beach residence on an extensive site so well chosen that later
on, when the United States government condemned it for fortification
purposes, an immense sum accompanied the condemnation. In all his houses
were billiard and smoking rooms and guest rooms galore, for Ah Chun's
wonderful progeny was given to lavish entertainment. The furnishing was
extravagantly simple. Kings' ransoms were expended without
display--thanks to the educated tastes of the progeny.

Ah Chun had been liberal in the matter of education. "Never mind
expense," he had argued in the old days with Parkinson when that slack
mariner could see no reason for making the _Vega_ seaworthy; "you sail
the schooner, I pay the bills." And so with his sons and daughters. It
had been for them to get the education and never mind the expense.
Harold, the eldest-born, had gone to Harvard and Oxford; Albert and
Charles had gone through Yale in the same classes. And the daughters,
from the eldest down, had undergone their preparation at Mills Seminary
in California and passed on to Vassar, Wellesley, or Bryn Mawr. Several,
having so desired, had had the finishing touches put on in Europe. And
from all the world Ah Chun's sons and daughters returned to him to
suggest and advise in the garnishment of the chaste magnificence of his
residences. Ah Chun himself preferred