his uninviting hovel when, under
the external forms of true politeness, my slave endeavoured to remove
you hence?"

"In the circumstances this person may have overlooked the delicacy of
the message, for, as it is well written, 'To the starving, a blow from
a skewer of meat is more acceptable than a caress from the hand of a
maiden,'" said Kiau Sun. "Whereunto remember, thou two-stomached
merchant, that although the house in question is yours, the street is
mine."

"By what title?" demanded Wong Pao contentiously.

"By the same that confers this well-appointed palace upon you,"
replied Sun: "because it is my home."

"The point is one of some subtlety," admitted Wong Pao, "and might be
pursued to an extreme delicacy of attenuation if it were argued by
those whose profession it is to give a variety of meanings to the same
thing. Yet even allowing the claim, it is none the less an unendurable
affliction that your voice should disturb my peacefully conducted
enterprise."

"As yours would have done mine, O concave-witted Wong Pao!"

"That," retorted the merchant, "is a disadvantage that you could
easily have averted by removing yourself to a more distant spot."

"The solution is equally applicable to your own case, mandarin,"
replied Kiau Sun affably.

"Alas!" exclaimed Wong Pao, with an obvious inside bitterness, "it is
a mistake to argue with persons of limited intelligence in terms of
courtesy. This, doubtless, was the meaning of the philosopher Nhy-hi
when he penned the observation, 'Death, a woman and a dumb mute always
have the last word,' Why did I have you conducted hither to convince
you dispassionately, rather than send an armed guard to force you away
by violence?"

"Possibly," suggested the minstrel, "because my profession is a
legally recognized one, and, moreover, under the direct protection of
the exalted Mandarin Shen-y-ling."

"Profession!" retorted Wong Pao, stung by the reference to
Shen-y-ling, for that powerful official's attitude was indeed the
inner reason why he had not pushed violence to a keener edge against
Kiau Sun, "an abject mendicancy, yielding two hands' grasp of copper
cash a day on a stock composed of half a dozen threadbare odes."

"Compose me half a dozen better and one hand-count of cash shall be
apportioned to you each evening," suggested Sun.

"A handful of cash for _my_ labour!" exclaimed the indignant Wong Pao.
"Learn, puny wayfarer, that in a single day the profit of m