now invaluable Mandarin to proceed to his well-constructed
residence without delay, and there calling together his entire staff of
those who set down his spoken words, put the complete Heaven-sent
plan into operation, and beyond recall, before he retires to his inner
chamber.'

"Upon this there arose a most inelegant display of undignified emotions
on the part of the assembly which had by this time gathered together.
While those who occupied honourable and remunerative positions very
earnestly entreated the Mandarin to act in the manner which had been
suggested by the first speaker, others--who had, in the meantime, made
use of imagined figures, and thereby discovered that the proposed change
would be greatly to their advantage--raised shouts of encouragement
towards the proposal of the pigtail-maker, urging the noble Mandarin not
to become small in the face towards the insignificant few who were ever
opposed to enlightened reform, but to maintain an unflaccid upper lip,
and carry the entire matter through to its destined end. In the course
of this very unseemly tumult, which soon involved all persons present
in hostile demonstrations towards each other, both the Mandarin and
the official from the Fireworks and Coloured Lights Department found
an opportunity to pass away secretly, the former to consider well the
various sides of the matter, towards which he became better disposed
with every thought, the latter to find a purchaser of his appointment
and leave Fow Hou before the likelihood of Chan Hung's scheme became
generally known.

"At this point an earlier circumstance, which affected the future
unrolling of events to no insignificant degree, must be made known,
concerning as it does Lila, the fair and very accomplished daughter
of Chan Hung. Possessing no son or heir to succeed him, the Mandarin
exhibited towards Lila a very unusual depth of affection, so marked,
indeed, that when certain evil-minded ones endeavoured to encompass
his degradation, on the plea of eccentricity of character, the written
papers which they dispatched to the high ones at Peking contained no
other accusation in support of the contention than that the individual
in question regarded his daughter with an obvious pride and pleasure
which no person of well-balanced intellect lavished on any but a son.

"It was his really conscientious desire to establish Lila's welfare
above all things that had caused Chan Hung to become in some degree
undec