Chapter 4 Summary

Dirk and Culum travel to Canton and stay at the settlement where Dirk had purchased the three-story building once owned by the East India Company. He is dining alone in the dining room looking out on the Pearl River. The lower floor consists of offices and warehouses. The upper floors are the living quarters. The English Garden at the mansion is the only place where the traders can have some peace since the Chinese peddlers can't gain entrance unless they work at the mansion as servants. Brock is the only other trader that owns a building in the Canton settlement; the rest rent space from the East India Company. The settlement is located about one-fourth of a mile from the walled city of Canton.

Dirk sees Brock talking with Cooper and Tillman in the garden. Dirk has been trying to see Jin-qua for...