THE JESUIT'S TALE
447
ness felt by a foreigner for the Chinese mainland. But then he con–
tinued: "The windows of my house in my parish looked out on a
much wider space. Life in its entirety was present before my eyes. But
what do I see here? Nothing but vegetation--or sometimes an insect:
a spider, a butterfly, or a drone."
"Ko Shen-fu," I said (that was the first time I called him by
his Chinese title), "did you miss your own country so badly when you
first came to China?"
"That was different," he smiled again. "I was ypung then and
I was active. When one is active, one does not think so much. More–
over, I had not spent fifty years in my humble country when I came
to your noble country. And thirdly, your noble country possessed the
charm that would make one forget one's own country-if you do
not take this remark as flattery."
"That charm must have had something to do with the view
from the windows of
y~ur
house in
S-
County?"
"Exactly. By the way, do you believe in the transmigration of
souls?"
That question was odd. "Personally I doubt it. At least it is
taught by neither Confucius nor Jesus Christ. But I can't see why
you ask such a question."
"For I have now seen the reason. When I signed that infamous
document, I was under the spell of the Chinese belief--or is it
Indian?--of the transmigration of souls. I might have held out. Do
you think a man with such a physique," (he was trying to bend his
arm to show me his muscles when he said that, but he soon gave it
up with a smile), "-but I was a much stronger man when they
took me away- and a man at my age should be afraid of torture or
death? But I was haunted when I was being interrogated. I was
haunted, I tell you."
I put down my glass. Here was something I had not found in
the stories about him in the newspapers. Here was perhaps the real
story.
"But that will be a long story to tell. Let me open another bottle
of beer." His face flushed but he was apparently in better spirits now.
He even put his muscle to a successful test by opening the bottle
him–
self, and filled two glasses.
"Do you know
th~t
the young men of your country sometimes
