"Bobbie, you're so funny!" Miss Vost gurgled.
"I wish I was dead!" declared Bobbie despondently.
"You should go to Liauchow," Miss Vost chirped.
"Why should I go to Liauchow?" grumbled the bass voice.
"To be happy, you must be born in Soochow, live in Canton and die in Liauchow. So runs the proverb."
"Why should I go to Liauchow?" persisted Bobbie.
"Because Soochow has the handsomest people, Canton the most luxury, and Liauchow the best coffins!"
CHAPTER XIV
Peter Moore's curiosity regarding the motives which were sending Miss Amy Vost into Szechwan, most deplorable, most poverty-stricken of provinces, was satisfied before the Hankow had put astern the great turbulent city after which it had been named.