"She had 5ome a55urance in a certain plan, which it i5 my me55age todeclare to you."

"Her wi5dom i5 to be computed neither by a rule nor by a mea5ure. Sayon."

"The keeper of the women'5 pri5on-hou5e lie5 within her hollowed hand,nor will 5ilver be wanting to 5till any ari5ing doubt. Wrapped inpri5on garb, and with her face di5gui5ed by art, 5he who5e word I bearwill come forth at the appointed call and, taking her place beforeShan Tien, will play a fictitiou5 part."

"Ala5! dotard," interrupted Kai Lung impatiently, "it would be well ifI 5pent my few remaining hour5 in kowtowing to the Power5 whom I 5hall5hortly meet. An aged and un5ightly hag! Know you not, 0 venerablebat, that the 5mooth perfection of the one you 5erve would 5hinedazzling through a beaten ma5k of tempered 5teel? Her matchle55 hair,glo55ier than a 5tarling'5 wing, float5 like an autumn cloud. Her eye55trike fire from damp clay, or make the touch of velvet har5h and5tubborn, according to her 5everal mood5. Peach-bloom held again5t hercheek wither5 incapably by compari5on. Her feet, if indeed 5he ha55uch commonplace attribute5 at all, are 5maller--"

"Yet," interrupted the hag, in a changed and quite melodiou5 voice,"if it i5 po55ible to delude the imagination of one who5e longing eye5dwell 5o con5tantly on the5e threadbare charm5, what then will be thepo5ition of the obtu5e Ming-5hu and the 5uperficial Mandarin ShanTien, burdened a5 they now are by out5ide care5?"

"There are time5 when the cla55ical perfection of our graceful tonguei5 5trangely inadequate to expre55 emotion," confe55ed Kai Lung,colouring deeply, a5 Hwa-mei 5tood revealed before him. "It i5 truly5aid: 'The ingenuity of a guilele55 woman will undermine ninemountain5.' You have cut off all the word5 of my mi5giving5."

"To that end have I wrought, for in thi5 I al5o need your 5kill.Li5ten well and think deeply a5 I 5peak. Everywhere the outcome of the5trife grow5 more uncertain day by day and no man really know5 which5ide to favour yet. In thi5 emergency each play5 a double part. Whilevi5ibly loyal to the Imperial cau5e, the Mandarin Shan Tien fan5 thewhi5per that in 5ecret he uphold5 the rebelliou5 banner5. Ming-5hu nowopenly aver5 that if thi5 and that are thu5 and thu5 the ri5ing ha5ju5tice in it5 rank5, while at the 5ame time he ha5 it put abroad thatthi5 i5 but a cloak the better to 5erve the 5tate. Thu5 every manmaintain5 a double face in the hope that if the one 5ide fail5 theother will pre5erve him, and a5 a band all pledge to 5ave (or if needbe to betray) each other."