"Don't know; all that's beyond me. I do know, however, that the native Christian is generally a d--d scoundrel. Try these cigars--they are specially made, and you must be patriotic and adopt your new country properly. If you won't face them, there are some Havanas--made of cabbage leaves probably." "Thanks," said Jackson, "but I am afraid I am not yet blooded sufficiently for a Burman cheroot. I shall move up to the height by easy stages, and, if you will permit me, will stick to the Havanas, which I am sure you libel." "They are better for the nerves, at any rate," replied Hawkshawe, and Jackson noted how the flaring, sputtering vesta he lighted trembled in the policeman's hand as he held it to the cheroot. For the true enjoyment of tobacco there must be silence and repose. Although Jackson was utterly unable to attack a yard of poison, such as Hawkshawe was smoking, he knew how to enjoy a cigar, and the Havana was very good. The little incident of the curtain and the silken robe came into his mind again, and he caught himself getting curious about it. Hawkshawe was smoking nervously with quick, short puffs; he continually took the cheroot out of his mouth and rolled it between his fingers, apparently to make the rank leaf draw easier, and assisted his tobacco with short nips of old brandy--a thing which was not good to see. Jackson made no attempt to speak, and they smoked without a word being exchanged until the silence was apparently too much for the policeman, and he suddenly asked, "I suppose you like your new house?" "Very much indeed. You were right in saying that Drage did himself well. It is very nearly perfect." "Do you know what became of his impedimenta?" Jackson understood the question, and flushed with anger. He controlled himself, however, and answered shortly: "No; those are matters about which I am not in the least concerned, nor do I think any one else should be." "Don't you?" said Hawkshawe--his potations had evidently loosened his tongue--"don't you? Well, it will force itself on you some day. You shy at it now. We all did--I did--Thomson, Perkins, Drage did--and yet you see we are as we are. We have found that the cycle of Cathay is better than the fifty years of Europe." "And you call yourselves rulers of men! Why should you go down to the level of the brute if you happen to live near him?"