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Page 58
"With these words Lee put into Lila's hands an object which closely
resembled the contrivances by which those who are not sufficiently
powerful to obtain positions near the raised platform, in the Halls of
Celestial Harmony, are nevertheless enabled to observe the complexions
and attire of all around them. Regulating it by means of a hidden
spring, he requested her to follow closely the actions of a heavily-
burdened passerby who was at that moment some little distance beyond
them. Scarcely had Lila raised the glass to her eyes than she became
irresistibly amused to a most infectious degree, greatly to the
satisfaction of Lee, who therein beheld the realization of his hopes.
Not for the briefest space of time would she permit the object to pass
from her, but directed it at every person who came within her sight,
with frequent and unfeigned exclamations of wonder and delight.
"'How pleasant and fascinating a device is this!' exclaimed Lila at
length. 'By what means is so diverting and gravity-removing a result
obtained?'
"'Further than that it is the concentration of much labour of
continually trying with glasses and reflecting surfaces, this person
is totally unable to explain it,' replied Lee. 'The chief thing,
however, is that at whatever moving object it is directed--no matter
whether a person so observed is being carried in a chair, riding upon
an animal, or merely walking--at a certain point he has every
appearance of being unexpectedly hurled to the ground in a most
violent and mirth-provoking manner. Would not the stout and round-
faced one, who would cheerfully have contributed a certain number of
taels to see this person manifest a similar exhibition, unhesitatingly
lay out that sum to secure the means of so gratifying his emotions
whenever he felt the desire, even with the revered persons of the most
dignified ones in the Empire? Is there, indeed, a single person
between the Wall and the Bitter Waters on the South who is so devoid
of ambition that he would miss the opportunity of subjecting, as it
were, perhaps even the sacred Emperor himself to the exceptional
feat?'
"'The temptation to possess one would inevitably prove overwhelming to
any person of ordinary intelligence,' admitted Lila. 'Yet, in spite of
this one's unassumed admiration for the contrivance, internal doubts
regarding the ultimate happiness of the two persons who are now
discussing the matter again attack her. She recollects, somewhat
dimly, an almost forgotten, but nevertheless, very unassailable
proverb, which declares that more contentment of mind can assuredly be
obtained from the unexpected discovery of a tael among the folds of a
discarded garment than could, in the most favourable circumstances,
ensue from the well-thought-out construction of a new and hitherto
unknown device. Furthermore, although the span of a year may seem
unaccountably protracted when persons who reciprocate engaging
sentiments are parted, yet when the acceptance or refusal of
Pe-tsing's undesirable pledging-gifts hangs upon the accomplishment of
a remote and not very probable object within that period, it becomes
as a breath of wind passing through an autumn forest.'
"Since the day when Lila and Lee had sat together side by side, and
conversed in this unrestrained and irreproachable manner, the great
sky-lantern had many times been obscured for a period. Only an
insignificant portion of the year remained, yet the affairs of Lee
Sing were in no more prosperous a condition than before, nor had he
found an opportunity to set aside any store of taels. Each day the
unsupportable Pe-tsing became more and more obtrusive and self-
conceited, even to the extent of throwing far into the air coins of
insignificant value whenever he chanced to pass Lee in the street, at
the same time urging him to leap after them and thereby secure at
least one or two pieces of money against the day of calculating. In a
similar but entirely opposite fashion, Lila and Lee experienced the
acutest pangs of an ever-growing despair, until their only form of
greeting consisted in gazing into each other's eyes with a soul-
benumbing expression of self-reproach.
"Yet at this very time, when even the natural and unalterable powers
seemed to be conspiring against the success of Lee's modest and
inoffensive hopes, an event was taking place which was shortly to
reverse the entire settled arrangement of persons and affairs, and
involved Fow Hou in a very inextricable state of uncertainty. For, not
to make a pretence of concealing a matter which has been already in
part revealed, the Mandarin Chan Hung had by this time determined to
act in the manner which Ming-hi had suggested; so that on a certain
morning Lee Sing was visited by two persons, bearing between them a
very weighty sack of taels, who also conveyed to him the fact that a
like amount would be deposited within his door at the end of each
succeeding seven days. Although Lee's occupation had in the past been
very meagrely rewarded, either by taels or by honour, the circumstance
which resulted in his now receiving so excessively large a sum is not
made clear until the detail of Ming-hi's scheme is closely examined.
The matter then becomes plain, for it had been suggested by that
person that the most proficient in any occupation should be rewarded
to a certain extent, and the least proficient to another stated
extent, the original amounts being reversed. When those engaged by
Chang Hung to draw up the various rates came to the profession of
ensnaring winged insects, however, they discovered that Lee Sing was
the only one of that description in Fow Hou, so that it became
necessary in consequence to allot him a double portion, one amount as
the most proficient, and a much larger amount as the least proficient.
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