-but her hair
wuz combed dretful slick and stuck full of jewelled pins and stars,
etc. I knowed her by her picture, and also by my feelin's, and I sez
to myself, Now is the time for me to onburden myself of the important
mission that had been layin' so heavy on my chist. Yes, Duty's apron
strings jest drawed me right up in front of her, and I advanced,
holdin' out my hand in as friendly a way as if she had come for a
all-day's visit to me in Jonesville. Her ladies-in-waitin' kinder fell
back, and as I advanced I bowed real low--as low as I dasted to, for I
felt that I wouldn't have ketched my feet in the facin' of my dress
and fell down at that time for a dollar bill. She's smart; she
recognized my lofty sperit, and her greetin' wuz considerable cordial,
though held back by her Chinese education.

Sez I, "Empress Si Ann (I d'no but I ort to call her Sarah Ann, that's
probable her name docked off by her folks to pet her. But I thought I
wouldn't meddle with a pet name; I'd call her Si Ann)."

Sez I, "I set out from Jonesville with a important message for you,
and I've bore it over the ocean on a tower and now I lay it at your
feet."

I here paused to give her a chance to wonder what it wuz, and get some
excited, then I went on, "I felt that I must see you on my own account
and Josiah's and the nation's, and tell you not to, oh, not to lay
that Piece Conference to us. I have laid awake nights worryin' about
it, for fear you'd think that Josiah and I, bein' prominent Americans,
had jined in and wuz tryin' to cut China to pieces. But we hadn't a
thing to do with it."

I meant to keep Josiah in the background, knowin' the Chinese aversion
to mix up the sects in company, but he'd come back and he had to put
in his oar here and sez he, "No, they couldn't git me to jine 'em. I
wuz down with a crick at the time and Samantha had to nuss me. We had
our hands full and we couldn't have jined 'em anyway," he sez.

I wunk at him and stepped on his toe, but nothin' could stop him, and
he went on, "I wouldn't have jined 'em anyway, Miss Hein Fong, I
wouldn't treat a neighbor so."

"Neighbor?" sez she wonderin'ly.

"Yes," sez he, "you know our land jines on the under side. China
jines my paster in the middle, though owin' to the way our land lays
we can't neighbor much, and," sez he, "you're enough sight better
neighbors than some I've got, your folks are old settlers and have
always tended to their own bizness and kep' their ca