120 A TALE OF THE BORDER 



for him. I fear some evening he may contract 

 an illness to which he will succumb. Your son 

 Lao is anxious about him, I know. Ah ! the 

 night air is bad. Very bad for young men ! " He 

 waggled his wicked old head. 



" What do you mean ? " asked the old woman, 

 now visibly perturbed. " My son dislikes Wei-sha." 

 " His loss would indeed be great to you," said 

 the Chinaman, who now thought that he might 

 be a little more explicit. " I have here a paper 

 which contains a certain cure for the illness threat- 

 ening this estimable young fellow. If, as I believe, 

 you take an interest in his welfare, you would 

 perhaps be willing to invest in it," and he pulled 

 out a copy of the paper which Wong had found. 

 " Let me see it," said the old woman. 

 " Before 1 let you see it," replied Kwan-fong, 

 " it were better that you should let me know what 

 sum you would be willing to spend on a cure. 

 This prescription is of great value, and mark 

 me ! known only to myself. I shall not therefore 

 feel justified, seeing that I have a wife and children, 

 in parting with it for less than three hundred 

 taels." 



The old woman began to laugh. " Three hundred 

 taels ! " she cried. " Three hundred fiddlesticks ! 

 It is quite true that I take an interest in the 

 young man, for I have known him since he was 

 a child. I am prepared to spend a small amount 

 in buying your prescription since you consider that 

 illness threatens him. But three hundred taels is 

 absurd." 



Kwan-fong began to get rather nettled. 



" You would probably consider it absurd also 



