Page:Leaves from my Chinese Scrapbook - Balfour, 1887.djvu/16

 to have become a great favourite with all who were brought into contact with him. He grew up a bright, clever, high-spirited youth, with frank and engaging manners, and much semblance, at any rate, of amiability; we hear nothing of any leaning to ambition or intrigue, and probably, had he been left to himself, he might have enjoyed a better if not more brilliant future than was actually in store for him. But, by one of those strange and most unlikely contretemps which so often turn the course of the world's affairs when seemingly most full of promise, he became the tool of an adventurer whose daring was only equalled by the success which crowned his schemes.

The man whose influence affected so remarkably the fortunes of the young Prince, and, through him, of China generally, was a travelling jeweller. How the two strangely assorted companions were first brought together is not very clear; but it appears that the Prince, who was very fond of gems, ornaments, and other articles of vertu, was attracted to the merchant by the tempting quality of his wares. The fact that Lü Pu-wei was a compatriot of his own, too, may have had some influence in cementing the regard felt towards him by the exiled Prince; but, however it may have been, Lü was not the man to lose whatever advantage might be reaped from intimacy with a scion of the royal house. He accordingly attached himself more closely to the person of the Prince, and let no opportunity pass of insinuating himself into his confidence. Unlike most adventurers, however, he did not rise from humble aspirations step by step to more audacious projects. The curious thing about this man was that he conceived, from the very first, the grand design which he