Page:Ernest Bramah - Kai Lungs Golden Hours.djvu/155

 and that alone, whether it be for elevation on a tree or on a couch. Out of an insatiable friendship this one would accompany you, were it possible, equally to hold your hand if you are to die or to hold your cup if you are to feast. Yet touching that same cask of hidden wine there is still time"

"Cease, mooncalf," replied Kai Lung reprovingly. "This is but an eddy on the surface of a moving stream. It comes, it goes; and the waters press on as before."

Then Kai Lung, neither bound nor wearing the wooden block, was led into the presence of Shan Tien, and allowed to seat himself upon the floor as though he plied his daily trade.

"Sooner or later it will certainly devolve upon this person to condemn you to a violent end," remarked the far-seeing Mandarin reassuringly. "In the ensuing interval, however, there is no need for either of us to dwell upon what must be regarded as an unpleasant necessity."

"Yet no crime has been committed, beneficence," Kai Lung ventured to protest; "nor in his attitude before your virtuous self has this one been guilty of any act of disrespect."

"You have shown your mind to be both wide and deep, and suitably lined," declared Shan Tien, dexterously avoiding the weightier part of the story-teller's plea. "A question now arises as to the efficacy of embroidered coffin cloths, and wherein their potent merit lies. Out of your well-stored memory declare your knowledge of this sort, conveying the solid information in your usual palatable way."

"I bow, High Excellence," replied Kai Lung. "This concerns the story of Wang Ho."