office. However, I understood nothing about Buddhism, though I talked thus glibly of cause and effect.
Lien-shu became furious at me; he looked at me contemptuously and would not say another word. I was not quite sure whether he had nothing to say or whether he felt that I was beneath his dignity. But I noticed that he assumed the cold manner that I had not seen for some time. He smoked two cigarettes in silence. I fled as he reached for a third.
This difference between us was not cleared up until three months later, probably partly because he had forgotten about it and partly because he himself happened to have been abused by "innocent" children, and therefore felt that there was some justification in my blasphemy against them. This was, of course, only my guess. It came out at my lodgings, after we had been drinking some wine. Looking up reflectively he said with an air of sadness, "It is really very strange when you think of it. As I was coming towards your house I saw a very small child. He waved at me the reed leaf that he was holding and said 'Kill him!' He was hardly old enough to walk."
"It is because he has been corrupted by his surroundings."
I immediately regretted saying that, but he did not seem to mind, and went on drinking and smoking furiously.
"By the way," I said, trying to cover up my blunder by changing the subject, "what has brought you here? I know you are not in the habit of calling on people. We have known each other for more than a year but this is the first time that you have come to my place."
"I was just going to tell you: you must not come over to my lodgings to see me. There are two persons there, one old and one young, that will nauseate you."
