‘But that is easily answered,’ I said. ‘Provided I am sufficiently well paid for my time and trouble, it makes no difference to me where I go, or whether there is anything for me to do when I get there. It must be always understood that I am at liberty to refuse this business, if I choose, without assigning any reason, and that my refusal will make no difference to my charge for the journey itself.’ ‘Your conditions are perfectly satisfactory,’ M. Bignaud declared. ‘Whatever sum you require shall be paid to you in advance. How soon will you be able to start?’ I reflected for an instant. ‘If you wanted me to go to any place in Europe or America I should have said immediately. As you are going to send me to China I must have six hours to get ready.’ The poet’s sleepy gaze changed into one of astonishment. ‘But have I said anything about China?’ he demanded, evidently in some dismay. ‘You have said nothing. I am accustomed to draw inferences in my work, and there is no time to lose if I am to start as soon as I have said.’ ‘The affair is not so pressing,’ the poet remarked with a smile. ‘The hurry and flurry of the West are not known in that delightful country. It will be quite soon enough if you start to-morrow, or the day after.’ ‘So much the better. Am I to go to Pekin or Sing-fu?’ ‘To Sing-fu.’ M. Bignaud’s tone betrayed a mild surprise at my guess. ‘It is unnecessary, I suppose, to observe that the mission is confidential?’ That is the sort of remark which always irritates me. ‘I am a confidential agent,’ I retorted curtly. ‘To whom am I to report myself?’ M. Bignaud leant forward impressively. ‘To the Dowager Empress!’ I received this announcement without manifesting any emotion. ‘Am I to take any credentials?’ The president of the _Company of the Joyous Peach Blossom_ unbuttoned his coat, and drew from the breast-pocket a small parcel wrapped in yellow silk. Unwinding the silk, fold by fold, with reverent care, he displayed to view a square tablet of translucent stone, of a colour like that of an olive tree seen at a distance with the light upon it. It was a piece of jade, a stone whose beauty is not yet appreciated in Europe, but which the Chinese estimate far above onyx or mother-o’-pearl or chalcedony. Taking the tablet from his hand, I perceived that it was engraved with the figure of a dragon, whose extended claws each showed five talons. ‘This is an Imperial talisman,’ I observed. ‘It is a passport,’ the other responded. ‘The sight of that tablet will gain you admittance to the presence of her Imperial Majesty.’ He sighed as he added: ‘You are to be envied, monsieur.’ ‘That remains to be seen.’ I proceeded to fix the amount of my remuneration and expenses, which M. Bignaud paid without demur. As he was rising to go he could not resist asking-- ‘Have you any objection to tell me what it was that led you to guess that your journey would be to China?’