Evening journal. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1907-1913, 1912-09-16


Sing At sight of me he rose and
came step forward, the same tall.
spare, digni1ed Asiatic | had met in
the Mott street warehouse, save that
he no longer wore the dress Of his
country, but dark, well-cut suit OF
American clothes.
Permit me, Mr. Clyde" he said, in
| that chill leisurely tone | SO well re-
membered, ito present to you the vice
consul of China at New York, Mr..
Chen Mok." And then | saw that his
companion, a much shorter man than
he and younger, had risen too, and
was holding out a hand in tentative
greeting.
My first impulse was to ignore the
prefer, for of late I had come to abhor
the race he represented, but on second
thought | acceded to the most formal
of hand-clasps.
eve are here" Yup Sing continued,
because we believe we have secured
for you, Mr.. Clyde, the explanation
which you recently did me the honor
to request of me. And because We are
in hope that, through YOU some aslee-
ment may be reached which will put
an end to the present deplorable out
break amongst certain of our people In
this city"
Vice Consul Chen bowed gravely,
and l, in my turn, gestured my visitors
to resume their seats. So far l had
not spoken, but mentally l had been
busy. Frankly, l distrusted Yup Sing,
and l questioned how much of his ex-
PLANTATION, whatever it might be, l
could afford to accept. Fortunately,
however, | now had some basis for
judgment. l felt that, so far as 1t
went, the letter from Miss Clement
could be relied upon absolutely. II
the merchants story conceded, then 1t
would perhaps be safe to assume the
correctness of added details. If 1T did
not coincide, l was in possession Of
valuable material for cross-eXamina'
ton.
81 am an advocate Of the policy OF
reciprocity, Mr.. Yup,' l said at length.
IF, in return for your service, can
render a service to you, you have only
to command me-
l chose chair between them and
the door, and sitting down assumed an
attitude of attention.
What l tell you" began the mer'
chant his body erect, his shoulders
squared, his chin lifted, "Mr. Chen will
verify" And once more Mr.. Chen en-
dorsed his friends assertion by a
grave forward sweep of his head.
when you came to me, Mr.. Clyde,
with the story of your friend Mr.. Cam
| erons annoyance and subsequent alb
duction, l was inclined to the view
| that you were, yourself, in some way
deceived. What I have learned since,
corroborates that impression. AS you
say here in America, your friend, Mr.
Cameron, did not play fair with you.
Under ordinary circumstances l
might possibly have permitted this as
| scrtcn to 90 unchallenged. l am not
as rule truculcnt; more often than
not ! find it advisable to ignore pre-
liminary inaccuracies Of narration, the
quicker to reach the yitals of the mar
| rative. But on this night l was con-
trarly disposed. The inscrutable coun-
tenanee and the superior, almost pat
| roni2ing manner Of the speaker chafed
and irritated me to the verge of en-
durance; and so, without hesitation.
| interrupted him with contradiction.
IF all that YOU have learned is no
more reliable than this confederation,
I declared, warmly. I'VE might as well
end the interview here and now. or
Mr. Cameron's fairness at all times
and under all circumstances there can
be no question. He is my friend, tried
and trusted, and incapable of deceit.
On that would stake everything I
hold most dear; and We may as we'll
have it clearly understood at the out
set"
A white man would either have in
sisted or apologized But the yellow
man has way Of his own. Yup Sing
remained silent until had finished.
But whether or not he heard me was
manifested neither by word nor sign.
Without change Of facial expression or