“I shall tell you why I have come here this evening,” said Darley briskly. “I want to talk with you about the Wu-Fan. Changes take place in affairs everywhere — even here in the Chinese settlement. You know it is my task to observe all that happens.
“Tell me, Ling Soo. Has there been any new development in the policy of your order?”
“The Wu-Fan never changes,” said Ling Soo solemnly. “It is the same always. It shall be the same always. The Wu-Fan is the spirit of my native land. It continues the ancient and honorable customs that lived through so many ages.”
“I understand that,” replied Darley. “But I have to look at it from a different standpoint than you, Ling Soo. I can’t forget that China itself has undergone some radical changes during recent years.
“Chinatown is a microcosm of China itself. There can be changes here — as well as in your native land.”
“There is no change in the Wu-Fan,” reaffirmed Ling Soo solemnly.
“But there may have been changes in those who oppose it,” declared Darley.
The mild eyes flashed. Ling Soo’s passivity vanished, for an instant. Then it returned. Cleve wondered at the change. It had been in the dark eyes alone. The face had given no different expression.
But with the return of Ling Soo’s normal character, the thin, yellow lips parted in a broad smile, and from them came a long, cackling laugh. Ling Soo was amused.
“Would one question the lion,” he asked, “to learn what the jackal seeks to accomplish?”