"I have only a cloth door curtain left."
"Then let us have a look at that," tai-tai hastened to say, hopefully.
"In that case, bring it around tomorrow," His Honor stated, with less eagerness. "Now, Ah Q, if you should come by anything later on, show it to us first."
"We shan't pay you less than anyone else," the licentiate added.
Shao-nai-nai cast a glance at Ah Q to see if he had been favorably impressed by the reassurance.
"I want a fur vest," tai-tai said.
Ah Q muttered his consent and walked away with a care less air from which it was impossible to tell whether the interview had made any impression on him. This nonchalance disappointed, irritated and worried His Honor to such an extent that he stopped yawning. The licentiate was indignant, too, and said that the wang-pa-tan would bear watching and that they should perhaps have the constable banish him from the village. But His Honor vetoed this, saying that there was no sense in making enemies, that those engaged in such a line of business did not, as a rule, operate near their own nests, and that, therefore, they need not worry very much in Ah Q's own village, though it was never amiss to be a little careful. With this "family instruction" the licentiate was in complete accord; he withdrew his proposal and, moreover, cautioned Sister Tsou not to tell any one that such a proposal had been made.
But just the same Sister Tsou, on her way to the dyer's to have her blue skirt died black, broadcasted the family's suspicions about Ah Q, though she did take care not to mention the licentiate's proposal to have him banished. The consequence of these revelations was definitely prejudicial to
