door closed, and Sin Sin Wa, shuffling across, rebolted it. As Sir
Lucien came out from his hiding-place Sin Sin Wa returned to his seat
on the tea-chest, first putting the glass, unwashed, and the rum bottle
back in the cupboard.

To the ordinary observer the Chinaman presents an inscrutable mystery.
His seemingly unemotional character and his racial inability to express
his thoughts intelligibly in any European tongue stamp him as a creature
apart, and one whom many are prone erroneously to classify very low in
the human scale and not far above the ape. Sir Lucien usually spoke to
Sin Sin Wa in English, and the other replied in that weird jargon known
as "pidgin." But the silly Sin Wa who murmured gibberish and the Sin Sin
Wa who could converse upon many and curious subjects in his own language
were two different beings--as Sir Lucien was aware. Now, as the one-eyed
Chinaman resumed his seat and the one-eyed raven sank into slumber,
Pyne suddenly spoke in Chinese, a tongue which he understood as it is
understood by few Englishmen; that strange, sibilant speech which is
alien from all Western conceptions of oral intercourse as the Chinese
institutions and ideals are alien from those of the rest of the
civilized world.

"So you make a profit on your rum, Sin Sin Wa," he said ironically, "at
the same time that you keep in the good graces of the police?"

Sin Sin Wa's expression underwent a subtle change at the sound of his
native language. He moved his hands and became slightly animated.

"A great people of the West, most honorable sir," he replied in the
pure mandarin dialect, "claim credit for having said that 'business is
business.' Yet he who thus expressed himself was a Chinaman."

"You surprise me."

"The wise man must often find occasion for surprise most honorable sir."

Sir Lucien lighted a cigarette.

"I sometimes wonder, Sin Sin Wa," he said slowly, "what your aim in life
can be. Your father was neither a ship's carpenter nor a shopkeeper.
This I know. Your age I do not know and cannot guess, but you are no
longer young. You covet wealth. For what purpose, Sin Sin Wa?"

Standing behind the Chinaman, Sir Lucien's dark face, since he made no
effort to hide his feelings, revealed the fact that he attached to this
seemingly abstract discussion a greater importance than his tone of
voice might have led one to suppose. Sin Sin Wa remained silent for some
time, then:

"Most honorable sir," he replied, "whe