hich he very slowly waved to and fro, as
if following some custom. Mrs. Van Buren wondered if servants in China
came fanning themselves when summoned by their master. Sky-High bowed
and bowed and bowed again, then moved with a gliding motion in front of
Mr. Van Buren's chair, still bowing and bowing, and there he remained
in an attentive bent attitude. The kitten leaped up from Mr. Van Buren's
knee, then jumped down, plainly with an intention to play with the
tempting pigtail--but Lucy sprang and captured the snowy little creature.

"So you are Sky-High?" said Mr. Van Buren. "Well, a right neat and
smart-looking boy you are!"

"The Mandarin of Milton!" said the glittering little fellow, bending.
"My ancestors have heard of the mandarins of Boston and Milton, even in
the days of Hoqua."

"Hoqua?" Mr. Van Buren looked at the boy with interest, "You know of
Hoqua?"

"Who is Hoqua?" asked Mrs. Van Buren.

Mr. Van Buren turned to her, "I will tell you later."

"Hoqua, madam," said Sky-High, bowing to his mistress, "was the great
merchant mandarin of Canton in the time of the opening of that port to
all countries."

How did a Chinese servant know anything of Hoqua? This was the question
that puzzled Mr. Van Buren. "Sky-High, how many people have you in your
country?" he asked.

"It is said four hundred million."

"We have only seventy millions here, Sky-High."

"I have been told," said Sky-High.

"And who is ruler over all your people?" asked Mr. Van Buren.

"The Celestial Emperor, the Son of Heaven, the Brother of the Sun and
Moon, the Dweller in Rooms of Gold, the Light of Life, the Father of the
Nations."

"You fill me with wonder, Sky-High. We have a plain President. Do your
people die to make room for more millions?"

"My people value not to die, O Mandarin!" said the boy.

"Such throngs of people--they all have souls, think you?"

A dark flush came upon little Sky-High's forehead. He opened his narrow
black eyes upon his master. "Souls? They have souls, O Mandarin! Souls
are all my people have for long."

"Where go their souls when your people die?"

"To their ancestors! With them they live among the lotus blooms."

"We will excuse you now," said Mr. Van
Buren to Sky-High. "You have answered
intelligently, according to your knowledge."

The kitchen-boy bowed himself out without turning his back towards any
one, describing many glittering angles, and waving his fan. He looked
like something van