I would rather have lost the value of my best horse than to have missed that scene. It was so sudden—a flash of Irish wit. Mr. Smith scarcely nodded, though I made as graceful a bow as I could. His white face turned scarlet, and he seemed to be stricken dumb with all eyes upon him. I think he would have blessed his stars if the stand had broken down at the risk of killing a score of people, if a woman had fainted or a horse had rushed among us, but nothing happened. I think it was not her words alone, but the sight of me, “That Eurasian,” one who had claimed to be the son of Mr. Smith, the Commissioner. This seemed to give a paralysis to his mentality. For a few moments, an age it seemed, he stood gazing as if trying to get the remnants of himself together, he, slightly bowing, turned away with his blushes thick upon him. I saw at a glance of the company that my wife had made her first innings with great eclat. There is nothing like winning at the start. It gives courage to the winner and commands respect from others. I need not say that I felt intensely pleased with my wife, not only for the independent, capable spirit she showed, but for her brave recognition of me, her husband. How else could I feel? I must also say that I was greatly pleased with the utter discomfiture of my white-faced brother, Mr. Smith. Some very goody-good people might say that such a feeling was wicked, but I cannot help that. I confess to being a little wicked at times, but my wickedness is not of the low, debased kind. I despise stealing, and yet I would delight in tripping up a thief who was trying to escape. In the same spirit, I am delighted when impudence and arrogance takes a tumble. The theory is, that when you are smitten on one cheek you should turn the other also for a smite, but when is it ever put in practice? I doubt if it is practicable. I know that if I had acted in that way, I would not only have had both my cheeks knocked away, but would have lost my head as well. I have a theory of my own, which is this, especially in dealing with Christians. They always teach the turning the other cheek doctrine, though they never act upon it. Yet, as a man of honor, I am bound to take them at their word, that they always do as they wish to be done by. So, when any one of them hits me on the one cheek, I must logically believe that, as a gentleman and a Christian, he wishes me to do unto him as he did to me, and I give him as good in return, and, to show my generosity, go him a little better as interest on his investment. How am I to do differently? If, when he states his doctrine, I should doubt his word, he might say I was no gentleman, so when I take him to mean just what he says, he certainly should not find fault with what he gets.