ks from the other passers-by on
the Street of the Dragon. Not even the thirty-five years of Communism,
which had transformed agrarian China into an industrial and
technological nation that ranked with the best, had destroyed the
ancient Chinese respect for age.

That respect was what Spencer Candron relied on to help him get his job
done. Obvious wealth would have given him respect, too, as would the
trappings of power; he could have posed as an Honorable Director or a
People's Advocate. But that would have brought unwelcome attention as
well as respect. His disguise would never stand up under careful
examination, and trying to pass himself off as an important citizen
might bring on just such an examination. But an old man had both respect
and anonymity.

Candron had no difficulty in playing the part. He had known many elderly
Chinese, and he understood them well. Even the emotional control of the
Oriental was simple to simulate; Candron knew what "emotional control"
_really_ meant.

You don't control an automobile by throwing the transmission out of gear
and letting the engine run wild. Suppressing an emotion is not
controlling it, in the fullest sense. "Control" implies guidance and
use.

Peiping contained nearly three million people in the city itself, and
another three million in the suburbs; there was little chance that the
People's Police would single out one venerable oldster to question, but
Candron wanted an escape route just in case they did. He kept walking
until he found the neighborhood he wanted, then he kept his eyes open
for a small hotel. He didn't want one that was too expensive, but, on
the other hand, he didn't want one so cheap that the help would be
untrustworthy.

He found one that suited his purpose, but he didn't want to go in
immediately. There was one more thing to do. He waited until the shops
were open, and then went in search of second-hand luggage. He had enough
money in his pockets to buy more brand-new expensive luggage than a man
could carry, but he didn't want luggage that looked either expensive or
new. When he finally found what he wanted, he went in search of
clothing, buying a piece at a time, here and there, in widely scattered
shops. Some of it was new, some of it was secondhand, all of it fit both
the body and the personality of the old man he was supposed to be.
Finally, he went to the hotel.

The clerk was a chubby, blandly happy, youngish man who bowed his head
as Ca