'If you knew Ping Wang as well as I do, such a foolish idea would never have entered your head.'
'All Chinamen are very crafty. You had better let me make him sleep in the foc's'le.'
'So that it would be easier for me to be robbed.'
'What do you mean? Do you accuse me of robbing you?'
'I do not accuse any one unless I can prove my charges. At any rate, I shouldn't be doing you an injustice if I did call you a thief, knowing, as I do, what a collection of stolen property you have in the hold. A receiver of stolen goods is not an atom better than a thief.'
With this parting shot Charlie walked away.
OUTWITTING HIMSELF.
A celebrated physician once attended the child of a wealthy French lady, who was so grateful for the recovery of her boy that she determined to give a larger fee than usual for his attendance. As he was taking leave on his final visit, the grateful mother handed to the doctor a handsome pocket-book, which she said she had worked with her own hands. The doctor bowed stiffly, and said, 'Madam, the pocket-book is quite a work of art, and I admire it exceedingly, but my fee is two thousand francs.'