INCREDIBLE OBTUSENESS
"Oh, thrice-venerated sire!" exclaimed Fa Fei, looking vainly round for some suitable object behind which to conceal her honourable confusion, "should the thoughts of a maiden dwell definitely on a matter of such delicate consequence?"
"They should not," replied her father; "but as they invariably do, the speculation is one outside our immediate concern. Nor, as it is your invariable custom to ascend upon the outside roof at a certain hour of the morning, is it reasonable to assume that you are ignorant of the movements of the two young men who daily contrive to linger before this in no way attractive residence without any justifiable pretext."
"My father is all-seeing," replied Fa Fei in a commendable spirit of dutiful acquiescence, and also because it seemed useless to deny the circumstance.
"It is unnecessary," said Thang-li. "Surrounded, as he is, by a retinue of eleven female attendants, it is enough to be all-hearing. But which of the two has impressed you in the more favourable light?"
"How can the inclinations of an obedient daughter affect the matter?" said Fa Fei evasively. "Unless, O most indulgent, it is your amiable intention to permit me to follow the inspiration of my own unfettered choice?"
"Assuredly," replied the benevolent Thang-li. "Provided, of course, that the choice referred to should by no evil mischance run in a contrary direction to my own maturer judgment."
"Yet if such an eventuality did haply arise?" persisted Fa Fei.
"None but the irredeemably foolish spend their time in discussing the probable sensation of being struck
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