The original construction in semi-foreign style from plans by the early Jesuit Fathers was doubtless still easy to trace; an ornate facade brought unexpected memories of Versailles, while on crumbling walls old European coats-of-arms, carved, for the sake of their decorative beauty, beside Oriental dragons and phoenixes, remained to surprise and delight the eye.

Unluckily business too often stood in the way of pleasure, for the ’sixties were very busy years.  China was just beginning to realize that she could no longer remain in peaceful self-sufficiency; intercourse with foreign nations she must have, willing or no; that meant drastic changes—­changes in which the I.G.’s advice would be valuable.  Thus circumstances helped him into a unique position, one without parallel in any other country; he was continually consulted on hundreds of matters not properly connected with Customs administration at all, and he was in fact, if not in name, far more than an Inspector-General.

[Illustration:  A PICNIC IN OLD PEKING—­TOWARDS YUEN MING YUEN.]

Much of this advisory work, too, was of the most delicate nature:  some involved intricate dealings with several Powers having conflicting interests.  The slightest false move would often have been sufficient to snap the frail thread of negotiation.  It is not to be wondered at if he made some mistakes—­he would have been scarcely human otherwise—­but as a rule his tact and energy carried to a successful issue whatever he began.

“What is your secret power of settling a difficult matter?” a friend once asked him.  “Whenever I deal with other people, and especially with Chinese,” was the answer, “I always ask myself two questions:  what idea that I do not want them to have will my remark suggest to them, and what answer will my remark allow them to make to me?”

The habit of deliberating before he made a statement grew upon him, as habits will, exaggerated with time, and provided an excuse for at least one bon mot.  A certain French Professor whom he had brought out with him for the Tung Wen Kwan once went to interview his chief.

“Well,” said his colleagues on his return.  “What did the I.G. say about such and such a thing?” The Frenchman shook his head ruefully:  “He rolled the answer back and forth seven times, and then he did not make it.”  Probably the I.G. had learned by experience that a person can seldom pick up a hasty speech just where he dropped it.

Another time a very charming lady went up to him at a soiree with a rose in her hand.  “May I offer you my boutonniere?” said she, smiling.  The mere fact of a question having been asked him suddenly put him instinctively upon his guard; an uncommunicative look spread over his face, and to her horror and his own subsequent amusement, he answered, “I should prefer to consider the matter before answering.”