f those who will
take away his robes and papers. About the same place you will meet one
with a bowl on the roadside who will hail you, saying, 'Charity, out
of your superfluity, noble mandarin coming from the north!' To him you
will reply, 'Do mandarins garb thus and thus and go afoot? It is I who
need a change of raiment and a chair; aye, by the token of the
Locust's Head!' He will then lead you to a place where you will find
all ready and a suitable chair with trusty bearers. The rest lies
beneath your grinding heel. Prosperity!"

Weng prostrated himself and withdrew. The meeting by the wayside
befell as he had received assurance--they who serve the Triad do not
stumble--and at the appointed time he stood before Tiao's door and
called for admission. He looked to the right and the left as one who
examines a new prospect, and among the azalea flowers the burnished
roof of the summer-house glittered in the sun.

"Lucky omens attend your coming, benevolence," said the chief
attendant obsequiously; "for since he sent for you an unpropitious
planet has cast its influence upon our master, so that his power
languishes."

"Its malignity must be controlled," said Weng, in a feigned voice, for
he recognized the one before him. "Does any watch?"

"Not now," replied the attendant; "for he has slept since these two
hours. Would your graciousness have speech with the one of the inner
chamber?"

"In season perchance. First lead me to your lord's side and then see
that we are undisturbed until I reappear. It may be expedient to
invoke a powerful charm without delay."

In another minute Weng stood alone in the sick man's room, between
them no more barrier than the silk-hung curtains of the couch. He slid
down his right hand and drew a keen-edged knife; about his left he
looped the even more fatal cord; then advancing with a noiseless step
he pulled back the drapery and looked down. It was the moment for
swift and silent action; nothing but hesitation and delay could
imperil him, yet in that supreme moment he stepped back, released the
curtain from his faltering grasp and, suffering the weapons to fall
unheeded to the floor, covered his face with his hands, for lying
before him he had seen the outstretched form, the hard contemptuous
features, of his father.

Yet most solemnly alienated from him in every degree. By Wu Chi's own
acts every tie of kinship had been effaced between them: the bowl had
been broken, the taper blown o