Here," she continued,
taking from this person's hand one of the printed leaves which he was
carrying, "in this illustration of persons returning from
extinguishing a fire, is there one who appears to possess those
qualities which appeal to all that is intellectual and competitive
within one? Can it be that the immaculate Kin Yen is unacquainted with
the subtle distinction between the really select and the vastly
ordinary? Ah, undiscriminating Kin Yen! are not the eyelashes of the
person who is addressing you as threads of fine gold to junk's cables
when compared with those of the extremely commonplace female who is
here pictured in the art of carrying a bucket? Can the most refined
lack of vanity hide from you the fact that your own person is
infinitely rounder than this of the evilly-intentioned-looking
individual with the opium pipe? O blind Kin Yen!"
Here she fled in honourable confusion, leaving this person standing in
the street, astounded, and a prey to the most distinguished emotions
of a complicated nature.
"Oh, Tien," he cried at length, "inspired by those bright eyes,
narrower than the most select of the three thousand and one possessed
by the sublime Buddha, the almost fallen Kin Yen will yet prove
himself worthy of your esteemed consideration.
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