ed
almost a pity.

Like all foreigners, of course, he had his own opinions of the
Chinese. They were an inferior, yellow race, and therefore despicable.
But having also a firm, unshakable opinion of his own race, especially
of those individuals of his race in which a yellow streak
predominated, he held the Chinese in no way inferior to these
yellow-streaked individuals. Which argues broadmindedness and
fairmindedness. Of the two, perhaps, he thought the Chinese
preferable--under certain circumstances. Yet he knew them to be
irritating in business dealings, corrupt, dishonest--on the whole he
felt profound scorn for them. But as they had been made to suit the
purposes of the ruling races of the world--such, for example, as
himself, untainted by a yellow streak--he had to that extent, at
least, succumbed to the current opinions of Shanghai. He resolved to
make use of them--of one, at least, in particular.

He wanted a home. Wanted it desperately. He wanted to indulge his
quiet, domestic tastes, to live in peace a normal, peaceful life, far
apart from the glittering trivialities of the back streets of the
town. He wanted a home of his own, a refuge to turn to at the end of
each long, monotonous day. You see, he was not an adventurer, a
gambler, a wastrel, and he wanted a quiet home with a companion to
greet him, to take care of him, to serve him in many ways. There was
no girl in England whom he wanted to come out to marry him. Had there
been such a girl, he would probably not have allowed her to come. He
was a decent young man, and the climate was such, here on the China
Coast, that few women could stand it without more of the comforts and
luxury than his small salary could have paid for. So finally, at the
end of a year or two, he got himself the home he wanted, in
partnership with a little Chinese girl who answered every purpose. He
was not in love with her, in any exalted sense, but she supplied
certain needs, and at the end of his long days, he had the refuge that
he craved. She kept him from going to the bad.

His few friends--friends, however, being hardly the word to apply to
his few casual acquaintances,--were greatly surprised at this. Such an
establishment seemed to them the last sort of thing a man of this
type would have gone in for. He had seemed such a decent sort, too.
Really, a few professed to be quite shocked--they said you never knew
how the East would affect a person, especially a decent person. Fo