M. Pourmont regarded the local situation seriously.
“Zay spik of you,” he explained to Griggsby Doane.
“Zay say zat you have ze petit papier, ze little paper, all yellow, cut like ze little man an' woman. An' it is also zat zay say zat ze little girl, ze student, all ze little jeunes filles, is ze lowair vife of you, Monsieur It is not good, zat. At Paree ve vould say zat it is se compliment, but here it is not good. It is zat zay have not bifore spik like zat of Monsieur Doane.”
Doane merely considered this without replying.
“That statement of the Gentry and People looks rather serious to me,'' Mr. Withery remarked.
“It has its serious side,” said Doane quietly. “Put you see, of course, from the frankness and publicity of it, that the officials are back of it. These Gentry and People would never go so far unsupported. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that the documents originated within the yamen of his Excellency Pao Ting Chuan.”
“Very good,” said Withery. “Put if he lets it drift much further the danger will be real. Suppose some young hothead were to take that last threat seriously and give up his life in throwing a bomb—-what then?”
“It would be serious then, of course,” said Doane. “But I hardly think any one here would go so far unsupported.”
“Yes!” cried M. Pourmont, in some excitement, “an' at who is it zat zay t'row ze bomb? It is at me, n'est ce pas? At me! You tlink I forget v'en ze mob it t'rowr ze bierre at me? Mais non! Zay tear ze cart of me. Zay beat ze head of me. Zay destroy ze ear of me. Ah, c' était terrible, ça!”
“They attacked Monsieur Pourmont while he was riding to the yamen for an audience with Pao,” Doane explained. “But Pao heard of it and promptly sent soldiers. 1 took it up with him the next day. He acted most correctly. The ringleaders of the mob were whipped and imprisoned.”