I parted on
the most friendly terms from my narrow-eyed acquaintance, but when I had
nearly regained my boat I could still see them in their blue-cotton
dresses and long pigtails, gazing open-mouthed at my vanishing figure
across the rice-fields."
* * * * *
After a few seconds' silence, during which Maggie had sat with her eyes
thoughtfully fixed on the fire, she said, "Cousin Peregrine, you said in
your letters that it was very cold in the north of China. If Chinamen
know nothing about gloves, how can they keep their hands warm?" Maggie
had a little the air of regarding this question as a poser, but Cousin
Peregrine was not disconcerted.
"My dear Maggie, your question reminds me of another occasion, when I
astonished a most respectable old China gentleman by my gloves. I will
tell you about it, as it will show you how the Chinese keep their hands
warm.
"It was on this very same expedition. We were at Tung-Chow, about eight
miles from Pekin. At this place we had to leave the river, and take to
our Tartar ponies, which our Chinese horse-boys had ridden up to this
point to meet us. We had hired a little cart to convey our baggage, and
I was sitting on my pony watching the lading up of the cart, when a dear
old Chinaman, dressed in blue wadded silk, handsomely lined with fur,
came up to me, and with that air of gentlemanly courtesy which is by no
means confined to Europe, began to explain and expound in his own
language for my benefit.
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