TSFS MISBEHAVIOUR 125 



In vain Tsi begged and implored. He declared 

 that he was a convert, an inquirer after truth, and 

 ought to be protected. The missionary was firm. 

 At length Tsi departed, seeing that the foreign 

 devil, as he contemptuously termed him in his 

 own mind, was firm. Twice he sent his brothers, 

 with whom he was on more friendly terms than 

 with poor old Wong, to intercede. The missionary 

 returned the same answer. Tsi should receive no 

 protection from him. He was not going to allow 

 Christianity to be used as a cloak for malefactors, 

 to be cast aside when danger was past. Tsi must 

 go, and he himself would denounce him to the 

 authorities if he were troubled again. 



On the following Sunday the missionary went 

 to a neighbouring town. The congregation had 

 already assembled when he arrived. He looked 

 round on the people who had adopted the Faith 

 he came to preach ; the men and women who had 

 stood firm during the dark days of 1900, the 

 teachers who had proved their faith, the converts 

 who had just begun to grasp its meaning, and then, 

 in the back row, he saw Tsi. 



He was sitting in the corner throwing quick 

 glances here and there, as though doubting what 

 to do. The preacher had made up his mind long 

 ago, and in a few brief words he asked the congre- 

 gation to excuse him. Then he sat down and 

 wrote on his card. This done he sent a boy with 

 it to the yamen, and began to preach. And all 

 this time Tsi sat in his corner. One last chance 

 he had. The preacher spoke of the difficulties 

 which had beset the early Church. He told his 

 congregation how there had always been bad men 



