Just as this critical moment, a development took place which shook even his great self-confidence. Being sent on an errand far beyond the foreign quarter, he deliberately dressed himself up in his foreign boots and gaiters, and put on his head an old felt hat which was the common property of the stable. He was not a quarter of a mile away from his master's house when without notice his hat was struck off his head and he was hustled out of the way. Then a cry arose which was repeated from mouth to mouth in a parrot-like way, and which so strangely affected him that his wits deserted him. He was called a san-mao-tzu, a third category foreigner—i.e., one who eats foreign rice. He felt he was surrounded by something worse than anger—something too big to be swept aside by retorts. When he made his way home, his spirit of bravado had utterly disappeared.
He asked at once to be admitted to the master's presence, saying that he had an important story to tell. The old steward consented without discussion—a thing he would never have done if the world had not been so upside down. The boy went in breathless and standing there told the master exactly what had taken place so that the warning should be understood.
His red-bearded master leaned back in his chair and watched him reflectively. The boy was surprised to see that his master's bright red hair was shot with grey.
"And were you afraid?" he asked slowly and deliberately.
The boy hesitated and then shook his head.
"It was not fear that I felt," he said in his frank, rough vernacular. "Yet it is troubling, to come so suddenly and for no reason. The others had removed everything that might give cause for offence. Even watches, it is said, are considered dangerous. But I had not believed it. It is a new thing—and some say that it will be necessary for all of us to go—"
His master sat immersed in thought. Then he asked:
"And you, will you follow the example of the others?"
Wang the Ninth felt that his reputation was at stake. Still there was no doubt or hesitation in his reply:
"How can I forget that Your Honour's house gave me employment and food when I was in want? Whither should I flee even if there were the great danger since I am without parents?"