Read "Kai Lung's Golden Hours" by Ernest Bramah online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Although it was towards sunset, the heat of the day still hung above the dusty earth-road, and two who tarried within the shadow of an ancient arch were loath to resume their way. They had walked far, for the uncertain steed, having revealed a too contentious nature, had been disposed of in distant Tai to an honest stranger who freely explained the imperfection of its ignoble outline.
"Let us remain another space of time," pleaded Hwa-mei reposefully, "and as without your all-embracing art the course of events would undoubtedly have terminated very differently from what it has, will you not, out of an emotion of gratitude, relate a story for my ear alone, weaving into it the substance of this ancient arch whose shade proves our rest?"