They actually both talked to her as if _she_ wished for solid, uncoined lumps of silver. She felt confounded! But, determined to preserve her calm, she said, "I had better write, and say I want so many strings of cash, then, had I? Ten thousand cash? Twenty thousand cash? I can't carry them, you know; and I don't know where I can keep them. But I must have at least so much money in hand, if it is only to pay for my washing."
"Pay for your washing!" they both burst out, as if that were a most superfluous proceeding.
"I wouldn't write for cash, I think," began a third adviser. "I would write down how many taels you require, and say you'd take it in cash."
"Then I shall never know if I get the right amount."
"A--h!" they all said, waving their hands, as if no one ever did know if he got the right amount in China.
"It varies. It varies from day to day," said the oldest resident.
Needless to relate, she never saw those cash, never heard how many she had received, nor where they were stowed away. The Boy said he had them, it was all right. He said also that at Ichang it was very shocking how few cash they gave for the tael.
She was determined she would learn Chinese, of course! Was she not just out from home? And being just out from home, and anxious to be polite to every one, it was a trouble to her mind that she did not know how to greet her teacher when he came. She stood up, and rubbed her hands together, which, she understood was the Chinese for a curtsey; but it seemed feeble without a word, so she said, "Koom Shee! Koom Shee!" as she had heard the country people say.
"Oh! you should not say _Koom Shee! Koom Shee!_ Not to a teacher, who comes every day," said a Sinologue.
"He says it is quite right," said she. "I am sure I understand that much. But he said I could also say _Tsao_!"
"Oh no--no! Not _Tsao_," said the Sinologue; but he never made any suggestion as to what she should say.
"I could not think what I ought to say when he went away," she continued. "But he says _Man man tso_."
"_Oh no!_ that is a _great deal_ too much to a teacher who comes every day."
[Illustration: CHINESE MODE OF SALUTATION.]
"Well, that is what he says," she repeated rather wearily, after having waited a little to see if he would suggest any polite speech for her. "I do want to say something polite."