"Do you? I am glad, because I like it too." The General turned in his chair to look at it. "It is by an artist of the early Ming dynasty. It is not very old as things are old here in China. But I always take it with me. It possesses a great variety and excellence of brush stroke." They smoked in silence, neither looking directly at the other. A large ash fell on to Megan's lap. "I will send you ash-trays," said the General. "You must excuse this house. I use it now as my yamen, but it is not my house. It is the pleasure house of a friend of mine." "Is it in town?" "No, it is on the lake. You will see by and by, it is a very beautiful location." There was another silence. The General looked so fixedly at the end of his cigarette that Megan was able to look at him. He was smaller than she realized, his gray uniform fitted dapperly over a shoulder too plump, there was a smoothness about his skin and hair that was unpleasant to her, and even his hands were faintly repellent by their abnormal delicacy. He said suddenly, as though he had been turning it over and had come to a decision, "I want to assure you again that you are quite safe in my house. I don't want you to feel that you are in an equivocal position." "Why insist so?" thought Megan. "I would have felt no concern over my safety if he hadn't brought it up." She looked at him more sharply and was disconcerted to realize she could be so affected by a physical repugnance. She was quite unprepared both for the repugnance and its effect. "I feel," she said, "I am in a position requiring an explanation." The General raised his eyebrows a little and his eyes appeared absurdly prominent. "But your position is very mysterious to me! I myself don't know why I should find you in Chinese territory, early in the morning, surrounded by an unfriendly crowd, from whom incidentally I saved you." "I know you saved me. I am grateful to you for that, but I had a perfect right to be in Chinese territory. I had a safe-conduct pass signed by you." "By me!" The General's eyes began to show amusement and astonishment. "By me! Then is it possible Doctor Strike was with you?" "Yes, we were together. He was struck on the head by a coolie with a carrying-pole. I got him in a rickshaw and it went off with him. I was left behind but it was not his fault, he was unconscious. We also had with us five children and two women from St. Andrew's Orphanage in Chapei. But Doctor Strike explained all this to you. We were relying, as I said, on a safe-conduct pass signed by you." "Ah, these safe-conduct passes!" The General waved them aside with one hand. "You people expect too much of them. Do you suppose the coolie who struck Doctor Strike knew of your pass, or would have respected it if he had?" Megan waited to see if he would express any concern over Doctor Strike's fate, but that aspect of it did not seem to occur to him. She said rather bitterly: