As I walked down the quiet street, a wistful oval face looked down on me from a window. A Chinese woman's face, and the first I had seen since coming to America. Stepping into a little shop near by, a shop containing preserved ginger, curious embroidered screens, little ivory elephants and jade ornaments, I asked who lived in the house where I saw the face at the window, and was informed that it was the home of Mr. and Mrs. Lee Yet.
It was drawing near dinner time in my grandmother's house; already I had stayed out longer than I had intended: I had no time to investigate further regarding Mrs. Yet.
When I got back to the house I found that my aunt had returned before me, but fortunately had not noticed my absence.
When Yick walked into the dining room with the steaming plum-pudding for our dinner, Aunt Gwendolin said:
"Yick, who was that little old woman I saw coming up our back lane half an hour ago?"
"Me nevee see no little old womee," returned Yick, with a child-like smile.
"How stupid those Chinese are," said my aunt, when Yick had left the room. "I certainly saw an old woman, and there that creature never saw her!"
The Creature had helped a young woman take off her black bonnet and shawl, and escape up the backstairs half an hour before.
I suppose it's "that Oriental blood—half witch, and half demon" that's at the bottom of my tantrum of this afternoon.