“Of course not, my dear,” said Henriette; “but the mere thought that it has murdered a man!”
“Pooh! a Chinaman!” cried Laurentia.
“But a Chinaman is a human being,” objected her friend.
“I suppose so,” was Laurentia’s disdainful reply.
“It is well that Lim Yang Bing or Lim Ho are not by to hear you,” said Thomasz forcing a laugh.
“Oh that is a different matter altogether,” said the arrogant woman.
“They are opium-farmers,” cried Henriette.
“They are millionaires!” added her friend.
The two ladies uttered these exclamations almost simultaneously, with an indescribable tone of sarcasm peculiar to their sex. Laurentia fully understood the taunt and felt it too; but she gave no sign of displeasure.
“Ah yes,” continued Henriette following up her pleasant little home-thrust. “Now you mention their names, what has become of the two Chinamen. I don’t see them. Yonder is the Chinese captain and Kam Tjeng Bie the wealthy merchant; but I can’t see the two opium-farmers.”