his highness, to take any steps you might deem suitable, and if you do,
not only will his highness remember your kindness, but even I, your
humble servant, and my colleagues will feel extremely grateful to you."

Chia Cheng listened to him, but he could not nevertheless get a clue of
what he was driving at. Promptly returning his smile, he rose to his
feet. "You come, Sir," he inquired, "at the instance of his royal
highness, but what, I wonder, are the commands you have to give me? I
hope you will explain them to your humble servant, worthy Sir, in order
to enable him to carry them out effectively."

The senior officer gave a sardonic smile.

"There's nothing to carry out," he said. "All you, venerable Sir, have
to do is to utter one single word and the whole thing will be effected.
There is in our mansion a certain Ch'i Kuan, who plays the part of young
ladies. He hitherto stayed quietly in the mansion; but for the last
three or five days or so no one has seen him return home. Search has
been instituted in every locality, yet his whereabouts cannot be
discovered. But throughout these various inquiries, eight out of the ten
tenths of the inhabitants of the city have, with one consent, asserted
that he has of late been on very friendly terms with that honourable son
of yours, who was born with the jade in his mouth. This report was told
your servant and his colleagues, but as your worthy mansion is unlike
such residences as we can take upon ourselves to enter and search with
impunity, we felt under the necessity of laying the matter before our
imperial master. 'Had it been any of the other actors,' his highness
also says, 'I wouldn't have minded if even one hundred of them had
disappeared; but this Ch'i Kuan has always been so ready with pat
repartee, so respectful and trustworthy that he has thoroughly won my