"
Assured by this last evidence of affection, Ling felt that he had no
longer any reason for internal heaviness; his spirits were
immeasurably raised by the fragrant incense of Mian's great devotion,
and under its influence he was even able to breathe towards her a few
words of similar comfort as he left the spot and began his journey.
IX
On entering Canton, which he successfully accomplished without any
unpleasant adventure, the marked absence of any dignified ostentation
which had been accountable for many of Ling's misfortunes in the past,
impelled him again to reside in the same insignificant apartment that
he had occupied when he first visited the city as an unknown and
unimportant candidate. In consequence of this, when Ling was
communicating to any person the signs by which messengers might find
him, he was compelled to add, "the neighbourhood in which this
contemptible person resides is that officially known as 'the mean
quarter favoured by the lower class of those who murder by
treachery,'" and for this reason he was not always treated with the
regard to which his attainments entitled him, or which he would have
unquestionably received had he been able to describe himself as of
"the partly-drained and uninfected area reserved to Mandarins and
their friends.
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