He was to pass through the town of Kwang, in Sung; it had lately been raided by a robber named Yang Hu, in face and figure resembling himself.  Someone who saw him in the street put it abroad that Yang Hu was in the town, and followed him to the house he had taken for the night.  Before long a mob had gathered, intent on vengeance.  The situation was dangerous; the mob in no mood to hear reason;—­and as to that, Yang Hu also would have said that he was not the man they took him for,—­very likely would have claimed to be the renowned Confucius.  The disciples, as well they might be, were alarmed:  the prospect was, short shrift for the whole party.—­“Boys,” said the Master, “do you think Heaven entrusted the Cause of Truth to me, to let me be harmed by the towns-men of Kwang? “—­The besiegers looked for protests, and then for a fight.  What they did not look for was to hear someone inside singing to a lute;—­it was that great musician Confucius.  When he sang and played you stopped to listen; and so did the Kwang mob now.  They listened, and wondered, and enjoyed their free concert; then made reasonable inquiries, and apologies,—­and went their ways in peace.

In those South-eastern states there was no prospect for him, and after a while he returneci to Wei.  He liked Duke Ling personally, and the liking was mutual; time and again he went back there, hoping against hope that something might be done,—­or seeing no other horizon so hopeful.  Now Ling had a consort of some irregular kind:  Nantse, famed for her beauty and brilliance and wickedness.  Perhaps ennuyee, and hoping for contact with a mind equal to her own, she was much stirred by the news of Confucius’ return, and sent to him asking an interview.  Such a request was a characteristic flouting of the conventions on her part; for him to grant it would be much more so on his.  But he did grant it; and they conversed, after the custom of the time, with a screen between, neither seeing the other.  Tse Lu was much disturbed; considering it all a very dangerous innovation, inconsistent in Confucius, and improper.  So in the eyes of the world it would have seemed.  But Nantse held the Duke, and Confucius might influence Nantse.  He never let conventions stand in his way, when there was a chance of doing good work by breaking them.

One suspects that the lady wished to make her vices respectable by giving them a seeming backing by incarnate virtue; and that to this end she brought about the sequel.  Duke Ling was to make a Progress through the city; and requested Confucius to follow his carriage in another.  He did so; not knowing that Nantse had seen to it that she was to be sitting at the Duke’s side.  Her position and reputation even in those days needed some regularizing; and she had chosen this means to do it.  But to the people, the spectacle was highly symbolic; and Confucius heard their jeers as he passed:—­Flaunting Vice in front, Slighted Virtue in the rear.—­“I have met none,” said he, “who loves virtue more than women.”  It was time for him to go; and now he would try the south again.  In reality, perhaps, it matter little whither he went or where he stayed:  there was no place for him anywhere.  All that was important was, that he should keep up the effort.