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.”
It was with an ignoble feeling of mental distress that Ling exhibited
himself at the Chief Office of Warlike Deeds and Arrangements on the
following day; for the many disadvantageous incidents of his past life
had repeated themselves before his eyes while he slept, and the not
unhopeful emotions which he had felt when in the inspiring presence of
Mian were now altogether absent. In spite of the fact that he reached
the office during the early gong strokes of the morning, it was not
until the withdrawal of light that he reached any person who was in a
position to speak with him on the matter, so numerous were the lesser
ones through whose chambers he had to pass in the process. At length he
found himself in the presence of an upper one who had the appearance
of being acquainted with the circumstances, and who received him with
dignity, though not with any embarrassing exhibition of respect or
servility.
“‘The hero of the illustrious encounter beyond the walls of Si-chow,’”
exclaimed that official, reading the words from the tablet of
introduction which Ling had caused to be carried into him, and at the
same time examining the person in question closely. “Indeed, no such one
is known to those within this office, unless the words chance to point
to the courteous and unassuming Mandarin Li Keen, who, however, is at
this moment recovering his health at Peking, as set forth in the amiable
and impartial report which we have lately received from him.”
At these words Ling plainly understood that there was little hope of the
last events becoming profitable on his account.
“Did not the report to which allusion has been made bear reference to
one Ling, Commander of the Archers, who thrice led on the fighting men,
and who was finally successful in causing the rebels to disperse towards
the mountains?” he asked, in a voice which somewhat trembled.
“There is certainly reference to one of the name you mention,” said
the other; “but regarding the terms--perhaps this person would better
protect his own estimable time by displaying the report within your
sight.”
With these words the upper one struck a gong several times, and after
receiving from an inner chamber the parchment in question, he placed
it before Ling, at the same time directing a lesser one to interpose
between it and the one who read it a large sheet of transparent
substance, so that destruction might not come to it, no matter in
what way its contents affected the reader. Thereon Ling perceived the
following facts, very skilfully inscribed with the evident purpose of
inducing persons to believe, without question, that words so elegantly
traced must of necessity be truthful also.
A Benevolent Example of the Intelligent Arrangement by which the
most Worthy Persons outlive those who are Incapable.
The circumstances connected with the office of the valuable and
accomplished Mandarin of Warlike Deeds and Arrangements at Si-chow
have, in recent times, been of anything but a prepossessing order.
Owing to the very inadequate methods adopted by those who earn a
livelihood by conveying necessities from the more enlightened
portions of the Empire to that place, it so came about that for a
period of five days the Yamen was entirely unsupplied with the
fins of sharks or even with goats’ eyes. To add to the polished
Mandarin’s distress of mind the barbarous and slow-witted rebels
who infest those parts took this opportunity to destroy the town
and most of its inhabitants, the matter coming about as follows:
The feeble and commonplace person named Ling who commands the
bowmen had but recently been elevated to that distinguished
position from a menial and degraded occupation (for which, indeed,
his stunted intellect more aptly fitted him); and being in
consequence very greatly puffed out in self-gratification, he
became an easy prey to the cunning of the rebels, and allowed
himself to be beguiled into a trap, paying for this contemptible
stupidity with his life. The town of Si-chow was then attacked,
and being in this manner left defenceless through the weakness--or
treachery--of the person Ling, who had contrived to encompass the
entire destruction of his unyielding company, it fell after a
determined and irreproachable resistance; the Mandarin Li Keen
being told, as, covered with the blood of the foemen, he was
dragged away from the thickest part of the unequal conflict by his
followers, that he was the last person to leave the town. On his
way to Peking with news of this valiant defence, the Mandarin was
joined by the Chief of Bowmen, who had understood and avoided the
very obvious snare into which the stagnant-minded Commander had
led his followers, in spite of disinterested advice to the
contrary. For this intelligent perception, and for general
nobility of conduct when in battle, the versatile Chief of Bowmen
is by this written paper strongly recommended to the dignity of
receiving the small metal Embellishment of Valour.
It has been suggested to the Mandarin Li Keen that the bestowal of
the Crystal Button would only be a fit and graceful reward for his
indefatigable efforts to uphold the dignity of the sublime
Emperor; but to all such persons the Mandarin has sternly replied
that such a proposal would more fitly originate from the renowned
and valuable Office of Warlike Deeds and Arrangements, he well
knowing that the wise and engaging persons who conduct that
indispensable and well-regulated department are gracefully
voracious in their efforts to reward merit, even when it is
displayed, as in the case in question, by one who from his
position will inevitably soon be urgently petitioning in a like
manner on their behalf.
When Ling had finished reading this elegantly arranged but exceedingly
misleading parchment, he looked up with eyes from which he vainly
endeavoured to restrain the signs of undignified emotion, and said to
the upper one:
“It is difficult employment for a person to refrain from unendurable
thoughts when his unassuming and really conscientious efforts are
represented in a spirit of no satisfaction, yet in this matter the very
expert Li Keen appears to have gone beyond himself; the Commander Ling,
who is herein represented as being slain by the enemy, is, indeed, the
person who is standing before you, and all the other statements are in a
like exactness.”
“The short-sighted individual who for some hidden desire of his own is
endeavouring to present himself as the corrupt and degraded creature
Ling, has overlooked one important circumstance,” said the upper one,
smiling in a very intolerable manner, at the same time causing his head
to move slightly from side to side in the fashion of one who rebukes
with assumed geniality; and, turning over the written paper, he
displayed upon the under side the Imperial vermilion Sign. “Perhaps,”
he continued, “the omniscient person will still continue in his remarks,
even with the evidence of the Emperor’s unerring pencil to refute him.”
At these words and the undoubted testimony of the red mark, which
plainly declared the whole of the written matter to be composed of
truth, no matter what might afterwards transpire, Ling understood that
very little prosperity remained with him.
“But the town of Si-chow,” he suggested, after examining his mind; “if
any person in authority visited the place, he would inevitably find it
standing and its inhabitants in agreeable health.”
“The persistent person who is so assiduously occupying my intellectual
moments with empty words seems to be unaccountably deficient in his
knowledge of the customs of refined society and of the meaning of the
Imperial Signet,” said the other, with an entire absence of benevolent
consideration. “That Si-chow has fallen and that Ling is dead are two
utterly uncontroversial matters truthfully recorded. If a person visited
Si-chow, he might find it rebuilt or even inhabited by those from the
neighbouring villages or by evil spirits taking the forms of the ones
who formerly lived there; as in a like manner, Ling might be restored
to existence by magic, or his body might be found and possessed by
an outcast demon who desired to revisit the earth for a period. Such
circumstances do not in any way disturb the announcement that Si-chow
has without question fallen, and that Ling has officially ceased to
live, of which events notifications have been sent to all who are
concerned in the matters.”
As the upper one ceased speaking, four strokes sounded upon the gong,
and Ling immediately found himself carried into the street by the
current of both lesser and upper ones who poured forth at the signal.
The termination of this conversation left Ling in a more unenviable
state of dejection than any of the many preceding misfortunes had
done, for with enlarged inducements to possess himself of a competent
appointment he seemed to be even further removed from this attainment
than he had been at any time in his life. He might, indeed, present
himself again for the public examinations; but in order to do even that
it would be necessary for him to wait almost a year, nor could he assure
himself that his efforts would again be likely to result in an equal
success. Doubts also arose within his mind of the course which he should
follow in such a case; whether to adopt a new name, involving as it
would certain humiliation and perhaps disgrace if detection overtook
his footsteps, or still to possess the title of one who was in a measure
dead, and hazard the likelihood of having any prosperity which he might
obtain reduced to nothing if the fact should become public.
As Ling reflected upon such details he found himself without intention
before the house of a wise person who had become very wealthy by
advising others on all matters, but chiefly on those connected with
strange occurrences and such events as could not be settled definitely
either one way or the other until a remote period had been reached.
Becoming assailed by a curious desire to know what manner of evils
particularly attached themselves to such as were officially dead but who
nevertheless had an ordinary existence, Ling placed himself before this
person, and after arranging the manner of reward related to him so many
of the circumstances as were necessary to enable a full understanding to
be reached, but at the same time in no way betraying his own interest in
the matter.
“Such inflictions are to no degree frequent,” said the wise person after
he had consulted a polished sphere of the finest red jade for some
time; “and this is in a measure to be regretted, as the hair of these
persons--provided they die a violent death, which is invariably the
case--constitutes a certain protection against being struck by falling
stars, or becoming involved in unsuccessful law cases. The persons in
question can be recognized with certainty in the public ways by the
unnatural pallor of their faces and by the general repulsiveness of
their appearance, but as they soon take refuge in suicide, unless
they have the fortune to be removed previously by accident, it is an
infrequent matter that one is gratified by the sight. During their
existence they are subject to many disorders from which the generality
of human beings are benevolently preserved; they possess no rights
of any kind, and if by any chance they are detected in an act of a
seemingly depraved nature, they are liable to judgment at the hands of
the passers-by without any form whatever, and to punishment of a more
severe order than that administered to commonplace criminals. There
are many other disadvantages affecting such persons when they reach the
Middle Air, of which the chief--”
“This person is immeasurably indebted for such a clear explanation of
the position,” interrupted Ling, who had a feeling of not desiring
to penetrate further into the detail; “but as he perceives a line
of anxious ones eagerly waiting at the door to obtain advice and
consolation from so expert and amiable a wizard, he will not make
himself uncongenial any longer with his very feeble topics of
conversation.”
By this time Ling plainly comprehended that he had been marked out
from the beginning--perhaps for all the knowledge which he had to the
opposite effect, from a period in the life of a far-removed ancestor--to
be an object of marked derision and the victim of all manner of
malevolent demons in whatever actions he undertook. In this condition
of understanding his mind turned gratefully to the parting gift of Mian
whom he had now no hope of possessing; for the intolerable thought
of uniting her to so objectionable a being as himself would have been
dismissed as utterly inelegant even had he been in a manner of living
to provide for her adequately, which itself seemed clearly impossible.
Disregarding all similar emotions, therefore, he walked without pausing
to his abode, and stretching his body upon the rushes, drank the entire
liquid unhesitatingly, and prepared to pass beyond with a tranquil mind
entirely given up to thoughts and images of Mian.