Summary

A week or so later, Madame Wu and the rest of the household are surprised by the arrival of Fengmo’s tutor – Brother Andre, very tall, very slender, and very dark in complexion (narration later reveals he is Italian). Madame Wu is surprised by his courtesy, his intelligence, and his fluency in Chinese, which he says he learned (along with several other languages) in order to be able to speak well with people of other cultures. After some polite greetings on both sides, Madame Wu leaves Brother Andre alone with Fengmo, and when she comes back to see how the lessons went, she is surprised to see how attentive the usually rebellious Fengmo is.

As the lessons continue (nightly), Madame Wu becomes increasingly drawn to Brother Andre’s intelligence and ideas, finding they agree with what she learned about the world and about her...