he Ten Thousand Lost Ones at
the first sight of the Pit of Liquid and Red-hot Malachite, yet
without question both proceed from the same cause. Laying aside further
ceremony, therefore, permit this greatly over-estimated person to
disclose the object of his inopportune visit. Long have your amiable
virtues been observed and appreciated by the high ones at Peking, O
Quen-Ki-Tong. Too long have they been unrewarded and passed over in
silence. Nevertheless, the moment of acknowledgement and advancement has
at length arrived; for, as the Book of Verses clearly says, "Even the
three-legged mule may contrive to reach the agreed spot in advance of
the others, provided a circular running space has been selected and
the number of rounds be sufficiently ample." It is this otherwise
uninteresting and obtrusive person's graceful duty to convey to you the
agreeable intelligence that the honourable and not ill-rewarded office
of Guarder of the Imperial Silkworms has been conferred upon you, and
to require you to proceed without delay to Peking, so that fitting
ceremonies of admittance may be performed before the fifteenth day of
the month of Feathered Insects.'

"Alas! how frequently does the purchaser of seemingly vigorous and
exceptionally low-priced flower-seeds discover, when too late, that they
are, in reality, fashioned from the root of the prolific and valueless
tzu-ka, skilfully covered with a disguising varnish! Instead of
presenting himself at the place of commerce frequented by those who
entrust money to others on the promise of an increased repayment when
certain very probable events have come to pass (so that if all
else failed he would still possess a serviceable number of taels),
Quen-Ki-Tong entirely neglected the demands of a most ordinary prudence,
nor could he be induced to set out on his journey until he had passed
seven days in public feasting to mark his good fortune, and then devoted
fourteen more days to fasting and various acts of penance, in order to
make known the regret with which he acknowledged his entire unworthiness
for the honour before him. Owing to this very conscientious, but
nevertheless somewhat short-sighted manner of behaving, Quen found
himself unable to reach Peking before the day preceding that to which Lo
Yuen had made special reference. From this cause it came about that only
sufficient time remained to perform the various ceremonies of admission,
without in any degree counselling Quen as