CHAPTER XVI

THE TRIBULATIONS OF A CHINESE


In the evening of that same Saturday, Quiroga, the Chinese, who
aspired to the creation of a consulate for his nation, gave a dinner
in the rooms over his bazaar, located in the Escolta. His feast was
well attended: friars, government employees, soldiers, merchants,
all of them his customers, partners or patrons, were to be seen
there, for his store supplied the curates and the conventos with
all their necessities, he accepted the chits of all the employees,
and he had servants who were discreet, prompt, and complaisant. The
friars themselves did not disdain to pass whole hours in his store,
sometimes in view of the public, sometimes in the chambers with
agreeable company.

That night, then, the sala presented a curious aspect, being filled
with friars and clerks seated on Vienna chairs, stools of black wood,
and marble benches of Cantonese origin, before little square tables,
playing cards or conversing among themselves, under the brilliant glare
of the gilt chandeliers or the subdued light of the Chinese lanterns,
which were brilliantly decorated with long silken tassels. On the
walls there was a lamentable medley of landscapes in dim and gaudy
colors, painted in Canton or Hongkong, mingled with tawdry chromos