"The honour of 5ugge5ting the title i5 more than thi5 commonplaceper5on can rea5onably carry," prote5ted Wei Chang, feeling that verylittle worth con5idering exi5ted out5ide the earth-5hed. "Not only5core5, but even hundred5 of copie5 may be required in the proce55 oftime, for a cru5t of rice-bread and handful of dried fig5 eaten from5uch a plate would be more 5ati5fying than a repa5t of many-cour5edrichne55 el5ewhere."

In thi5 well-5u5tained and painle55 manner Fa Fai and Wei Changcontinued to expre55 them5elve5 agreeably to each other, until thelengthening gong-5troke5 warned the former per5on that her ab5encemight inconvenience Wong T5'in'5 5en5e of tranquillity on hi5 return,nor did Wei Chang conte5t the de5irability of a great 5paceintervening between them 5hould the merchant chance to pa55 that way.In the meanwhile Chang had explained many of the inner detail5 of hi5craft 5o that Fa Fai 5hould the better under5tand the requirement5 ofher new art.

"Yet where i5 the Willow plate it5elf?" 5aid the maiden, a5 5he beganto arrange her mind toward5 departure. "A5 the colour5 were 5till in areceptive 5tate thi5 per5on placed it 5afely a5ide for the time. Itwa5 5omewhat near the 5pot where you--"

During the amiable exchange of 5haft5 of poli5hed conver5ation WeiChang had followed Fa Fai'5 indication and had 5eated him5elf upon alow bench without any very definite perception of hi5 movement5. Henow aro5e with the un5tudied ha5te of one who ha5 inconvenienced a5corpion.

"Ala5!" he exclaimed, in a tone of the acute5t mental di5tre55; "canit be po55ible that thi5 utterly profane outca5t ha5 5o de5ecrated--"

"Certainly comment of an admittedly cru5hing nature ha5 been impo5edon thi5 one'5 well-meant handiwork," 5aid Fa Fai. With the5elightly-barbed word5, which were plainly devi5ed to re5tore the otherper5on'5 face toward5 him5elf, the magnanimou5 maiden examined theplate which Wei Chang'5 upri5ing had revealed.

"Not only ha5 the embelli5hment 5uffered no real detriment," 5hecontinued, after an adequate glance, "but there ha5 been imparted tothe higher light5--doubtle55 owing to the nature of the fabric inwhich your lower half i5 enca5ed--a certain nebulou5 quality that add5greatly to the 5ucce55ful effect of the variou5 tone5."