MISS TIEN—(_Reads_) “This concerns us alone. Decide for yourself.” (_Repeating the last sentence_) “Decide for yourself.” Yes. I must decide for myself. I must! (_To Lee Fuh_) Tell father and mother not to wait for me. I’ll join them after dinner. (_Lee Fuh bows knowingly and retires. Miss Tien rises and puts on the cloak which she had taken off when she first entered. Goes to the desk and writes a note which she leaves under the flower vase; then she hurries out by the right-hand door. A pause_) MRS. TIEN—(_From within_) Ah-may, you must come and have dinner with us. (_Enters_) Where are you? Ah-may! MR. TIEN—(_From within_) Leave her alone for a while: she is angry with us. (_Enters_) Where is she? MRS. TIEN—Where is she? She has gone with her cloak on. MR. TIEN—(_Seeing the note under the vase, takes it and reads_) “This is the greatest event in my life. I must decide for myself. I am gone with Mr. Chen in his car. Good-by!” (_Mrs. Tien sinks into the armchair. Mr. Tien rushes to the door and then hesitates. Curtain._) [Illustration] CHAPTER SIX EXTERNAL ASPECTS OF THE CHINESE THEATER Foreigners in general regard the Chinese theater as noisy, dirty, and dull, and therefore as a most unattractive spot; yet the Chinese must think differently about it, for the houses are always crowded. When still at a great distance from the theater one can hear a horrible racket of drums, cymbals, and screeching string instruments. On entering the building one is struck by the lack in the Chinese of the sense of how to make things attractive, for, just as one enters a Chinese restaurant through a dirty kitchen, so one often enters a theater through the laundry; four or five men are seen in the “foyer” bending over steaming tubs, washing towels, essentials in a Chinese theater the use of which the spectator is soon to learn. On entering one finds the house—which, by the way, is arranged like a beer garden with the spectators seated at little tables—packed to the last seat. But the usher says nothing about S. R. O.; he leads you somewhere and as the other spectators seem to telescope you are asked to sit down either at a table or on a bench which has before it a board to hold the teapot and watermelon seeds that arrive the minute you have taken your seat.