"
At this delicately-worded proposal I was about to shake hands with
myself in agreement, when the memory of Tcheng How's resolute
submission again possessed me, and seeing that this would be an
unworthy betrayal of destiny I turned aside the action, and replying
evasively that the world was too small to hold himself and another
equally magnanimous, I again sought his advice.
"Now what silly upside-down idea is it that you've got into that
Chinese puzzle you call your head, Kong?" he replied; for this same
William was one who habitually gilded unpalatable truths into the
semblance of a flattering jest. "Whenever you turn off what you are
saying into a willow-pattern compliment and bow seventeen times like
an animated mandarin, I know that you are keeping something back. Be a
man and a brother, and out with it," and he struck me heavily upon the
left shoulder, which among the barbarians is a proof of cordiality to
be esteemed much above the mere wagging of each other's hands.
"In the matter of guidance," I replied, "this person is ready to sit
unreservedly on your well-polished feet. But touching the borrowing of
money, obligations to restore with an added sum after a certain
period, initial-bearing papers of doubtful import, and the like, I
have read too deeply the pointed records of your own printed sheets
not to prefer an existence devoted to the scraping together of dust at
the street corners, rather than a momentary affluence which in the end
would betray me into the tiger-like voracity of a native
money-lender.
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