KWAN-FONG THE WILY 119 



race. Also he was a bit of a scoundrel, though 

 he probably regarded his next step as the only 

 natural one in the sequence of events which led 

 up to it. 



Having thoroughly mastered the meaning of the 

 paper, he made a careful copy of it, and locked 

 the original away in a private box. 



Next day he called on Lao's stepmother. The 

 old lady received him, yelled for a small girl to 

 bring tea, and begged him to be seated. 



Half an hour or more Kwan-fong expended in 

 the ceremonial politeness which he considered an 

 inevitable prelude to the real object of his visit. 



"Wei-sha is an agreeable young man," he re- 

 marked at length. 



His hostess blinked over her cup of tea, and 

 gave a guarded assent. 



" I fear that his habits have changed, and that 

 so much time spent indoors may injure his health," 

 continued her visitor. " I fear, I greatly fear that 

 serious illness threatens him." 



" What serious illness do you fear ? " asked the 

 old woman. 



" The night air is so bad for him," rambled 

 Kwan-fong. " In all day and out all night ; it 

 must injure the strongest constitution. Of course, 

 you must know that he smokes much of the drug. 

 I fear the taotai would be grieved to hear it ; and 

 then his friend is so good to him, and the drug 

 so expensive. I fear he will fall seriously ill. I 

 much fear it." And he shook his head, and looked 

 straight at her through his horn spectacles. 



Lao's old stepmother began to get uneasy. 



" Yes," he went on, " the night air is so bad 



