Part 7 (1/2)
”Really you might snore less loudly!” she said with impatience. ”All is discovered now.”
When he heard this, Ya-nei's body was frozen with terror as if he had received a drenching in cold water. His teeth chattered.
”Do not be afraid. I have asked my mother to speak for us. If my father is angry, there will be time enough for us to die then.”
The woman meanwhile had hurried to her husband, but there was a slave with him, putting the cabin in order. So she waited, and the tears rolled from her eyes. Ho Chang thought she was anxious about her daughter's health, and rea.s.sured her:
”She will be better in a few days. The doctor said so. Do not disturb yourself.”
But she sneered at him:
”You have been listening to the flower words of old Wise-Wand. Better in a few days! She would have to be ill first!”
”What do you mean?”
Since the servant was no longer there, she told him in a low voice what she had seen and heard. Ho Chang's anger was such that his sight was troubled. She begged him to calm himself.
”Enough! Enough!” he thundered. ”This worthless daughter fouls the very air upon our threshold. We must kill them both in the night, so that none may know.”
The woman's face became as the earth.
”We have already reached a ripe age, and this is the only flesh and bone we have. If you kill her, what will be left to us? As for Ya-nei, he is of a good family, he is intelligent, and well-built. Our stations are identical and our houses equal. His only fault is that he did not make a proposal, but rather forced everything in secret.
Yet so the matter is. Would it not be better to send him back with a letter to Wu, requiring gifts of betrothal? We would lose all by making a scandal.”
Ho Chang's rage was already half spent, and he now let himself be persuaded by degrees. He went out and asked the boatmen where they were.
”We are approaching Wu-ch'ang.”
”You will anchor there.”
He then called his confidential steward and, explaining all to him, gave him a letter. After this he went to see his daughter, who hid herself under the blanket when she beheld him. He spoke no word to her; but in a stern tone called out Ya-nei, who crept from his hiding-place, saluted the older man, and said:
”My crime deserves death.”
”How could a young man of your education commit such an act? My wife has prevailed upon me to spare your life; but, if you would redeem your fault, you must take my unworthy daughter as your wife. If this is not your intention, do not count upon my pardon.”
Ya-nei abased himself in ritual prostration.
”The honor which you do me is a reward which my conduct does not deserve,” he said. ”I shall speak to my parents as soon as I return.”
Ho Chang hurried him away, without leaving him time to speak to the young girl again. She was clinging to her mother, and whispered:
”I do not know my father's intention. Could I not have a letter from Ya-nei on his arrival?”
Her truly indulgent mother went and spoke to the steward.
The latter had already hired a boat, and, as it was night, the intruder would be able to pa.s.s from one junk to the other without being observed. They set out, while Elegant wept incessantly for sorrow and uneasiness. We must now return to the family of Wu.
After the night of Ya-nei's departure, their boat had proceeded for several leagues before the young man's absence was noticed. But when they called for him, and his cabin was found empty, the souls of his parents left their bodies. They howled their despair, supposing that their child had fallen un.o.bserved into the water.