“My dear,” she would protest, “do not refuse me; mine is the pleasure.  I don’t know how to spend all my money, and never until now have I had a girl to whom I could offer presents—­and to give is such a joy.  I am a rich woman, with no belongings except you and yours.  Certainly, I don’t deny that this big gong” (the present in question) “is rather a clumsy affair, but it is old and a beauty.  What a deep, rich, melancholy tone!  When struck it seems to tell of some sad, sad story that happened hundreds of years ago.  After you are married, dear child, it will be so useful in your hall.”

On these excursions there was one little shop that was never neglected or overlooked; this was situated in a narrow slum, a long way from the great artery of traffic and fashion.  After negotiating various tortuous windings and encountering horrible gusts of stale napie and the ever-odorous dorian, the car halted at a certain corner, and Mrs. Krauss and her companion made their way into a narrow ill-lit lane, and entered a mean den kept by a fat, crafty-looking Chinaman and his lean, pock-marked son.  There was, as far as Sophy could discern, nothing whatever to interest or attract upon the premises.  The stock was ordinary and scanty; a few coarse china tea-sets, some teapots in cane baskets, paper fans, lacquer trays and odds and ends of the cheapest rubbish; but Mrs. Krauss solemnly assured her niece that “it was the only place in Rangoon for the real guaranteed netsukes,” of which she was making a collection.

A Japanese netsuke is an elaborately-carved ivory button of various shapes and sizes—­no two are alike; they take the form of men or animals and, as a rule, are executed with amazing delicacy, and, if signed and old, are of considerable value.

Mrs. Krauss, who spoke a little Chinese—­and was proud of her accomplishment—­appeared to know the fat proprietor rather well, and together they would retire into a dim inner recess, illumined by an oil lamp hanging before an altar, and there examine, bargain and gloat over treasures.

Meanwhile Sophy, who remained in the outer shop, was offered a seat and tea, without milk or sugar, in what resembled a doll’s cup; by her aunt’s express desire she always accepted this refreshment, although she found the decoction unspeakably nasty; it seemed to taste of an evil odour.  Sometimes Mrs. Krauss would linger for fifteen minutes, sometimes for longer, talking over netsukes and Hong Kong with Ah Shee.  The atmosphere of the place was overpowering; such a stifling reek of a mysterious effluvium, the combination of joss sticks, stale fish, rancid oil, and a sickly taint like the fetid breath of some mortal sickness; it made Sophy feel faint and, after a short interval, she invariably made her way into the street, where the air—­though by no means fresh—­was an improvement on that within the shop.

The street was narrow and squalid and the houses were dilapidated—­even for a native quarter; passers-by had a slinking stealthy gait, and cast glances of surprise and suspicion at the young lady who lingered outside the premises of Ah Shee.