Evening Star Newspaper, April 7, 1935, Page 89

“l but went to present my poor gift.” “Was it for this thou wast flogged through the streets like a common thief?” Ho Nan hung his head. “My friend, it is not meet to speak of these things. But that thou may’st completely understand how great was my desire, 1 shall teli thee all. “Dost know the beauty of Chen T'si's garden in this — the mating season? [ stood upon the marble bridge across the tiny lake. The soft call of a thrush was answered from the thicket by the willow tree. Tuberoses and narcissi poured heavy perfume upon the air. Flaming lilies wantonly tossed their golden pollen upon the tranquil bosom of the pool, blending " their reflection with that of the sunset sky and with the drooping wisteria bending to kiss the lotus buds. What wonder that I, seeing Lee Tah curled upon a mossy bank, felt the same urge of spring in my heart.” Wen Chu looked nervously behind him. **The All-Wise alone knows how 1 fear for thy life, Ho Nan. The hon- orable Wu T'sa likes not interference in his plans, and thou hast already been beaten like a common thief for thy presumption. But in famine time, when our whole village was without food, thy grandfather came to mine with fat bags of rice. His good deed is recorded in the heart of the Budda, and I will help thee, Ho Nan, for the Wen family forgets not its friends.” When four more days of intolerable agony were ended, the coolies with- drew for the last time the caress of the dripping whip and smiled with callous joy at the lacerated back of their victim. Ho Nan feebly looked up at the strip of cobalt blue starred above the compound like a jeweled ribbon. *“It is like a strip of sapphire satin to bind her brow,” he thought weakly hefore he fainted. The gutteral voice of a rickshaw coolie roused him. “I cannot take him,” it was saying. “His blood will stain my cushions, which I have just had recovered.” The clink of copper cash sounded, then Ho Nan felt a soft cloth tunic slipped over his head and together Wen Chu and the now willing coolie carried him out to the waiting rick- shaw, thence by a circuitous route to the little thatched house of a friend. All the soothing remedies of the medicine man were used, and ere dawn traced her bright fingers across the sky, Ho Nan knew for the first time in many nights the kingdom of dream- less sleep. Days passed on leaden feet, while the mother of Wen Chu annointed Ho Nan's wounds with a salve of beetles’ wings and the eyes of black bats, or prepared him nourishing food. But one droning evening as the sun de- scended the western slope, a small scroll of red paper fell into the window of the room. Ho Nan leaped from the brick ‘kang,” but when he had reached the tiny grating, only a ser- vant’s blue tunic was disappearing around the corner. Yet he pressed the bit of paper to his cheek before he read: “Where Six Harmonies pagoda Curls its corners heavenward And a brightly laquered pailow Arches o'er the gateway high, Mourns beneath a guarded roof-tree The pale jewel of thy heart.” Ho Nan forgot his scarce-healed back and its benumbing ache. New power flowed into his veins, awakening his dormant desire. Wen Chu was amazed to find his friend fully clothed and waiting for him when he returned from the gold- smith’s shop. “She has written!” Ho Nan began, in ill-disguised eagerness. “‘Upon a red paper she has told me where she waits. It is the home of her cousin beyond the second bridge.” Wen Chu was aghast that any maiden should be so immodest as to write a note to a man. “Thou must, Ho Nan, be cautious,” he admonished. “Mayhap it is Wu T'sa who has written thee, to get thee into another trap.” “Do I not know the beautiful char- acters traced by that ivory hand?” scoffed Ho Nan. “There are no others, even among the Mandarins, so beau- tiful to read.” The sleepy gateman drowsing in the sun scarcely glanced at a stooping pedler who strode by him the next morning, but the houseboy eyed the intruder suspiciously before opening the swinging door. “It is early for pedlers,” he re- marked. Ho Nan smiled ingratiatingly. “Wilt thou tell thy most gracious Tai-tai that here is a wanderer from THIS WEEK Willow Ware the Annam country bringing such em- ideries as never were seen, and asking but a pale jewel in exchange?”’ The houseboy was amused at these fine words, and departed with the message. Ho Nan was immediately conducted into the women’s court- yard. In spite of the tumultuous beat- ing of his heart, he bent to the floor before the two women who received him, spreading at their feet a wealth of embroidered wonders. Although Lee Tah seemed to exam- ine his wares, her eyes held a look of tenderness which was for him alone. “Little Lotus Bud,” he whispered, under cover of a flaming satin pea- cock, “I have come to thee!” And from the loose fold of his tunic he drew forth the jade parrakeet. A deep look passed between them, then the other maiden, reaching forth her hand to examine the cage, laughed softly, ‘O Peddier, methinks thy bird is lonely. Perchance she sigheth for her mate!” Then jumping up, she ran to the goldfish pool at the end of the courtyard, out of earshot. Lee Tah'’s pale cheeks were a soft rose as she bent over the plaques be- fore her, and her thoughts were not of needlework, nor her eyes upon the ex- quisite peacock, lifelike upon its background of satin. “Could’st thou leave thy life of luxury, Lee Tah; leave thy jewels and thy servants and do what no girl has ever done before — come away with the lover of thy heart!* Ho Nan was whispering low. Lee Tah's perfect almond eyes were shining, but she did not speak. A thousandyyears of inhibitions numbed her tongue. - *‘He has naught to offer but the toil of his hands and the worship in his heart,” begged her lover. “That is more precious than silver or jade, Awakener of Dreams,” whis- pered the girl softly. Then Ho Nan spoke quickly, folding his silks as he warily watched the doors. ““We must plan at once then, for every second here is hazardous. At dawn a foreign boat leaves the river for a land far across the Yellow Water. Once aboard it we shall be safe, for its people, though barbarians, are kind of heart. Wilt thou care to come with me, Sweet Moon of Evening?” “It is like the ancient stories of the Gods!” replied Lee Tah, her hand clutching her heart. At evening in the servants’ quarter, the house servants were assembled in a cross-legged, chattering group. “Where is Lee Tah, she who was sent here for punishment?”’ asked the Number One Boy, who was a person of importance. “She gazed too long at embroi- deries,” answered Lee Tah's amah. “I have just embarked her upon the sampan of sleep.” Yet her frightened mistress heard both question and answer as, clad in the amah’s tunic, she slipped past a snoring gateman into the street of the Six Harmonies Pagoda. Under its curling eaves eager hands met, eager lips whispered hurried words of love. Then, fearful of ever present danger, they fled hand in hand to where a cabined sampan swayed in the shadow of the river bank. The tall coolies uttered a low grunt as they sprang aboard and pushed out noiselessly into the stream. Lee Tah sank quivering to the floor of the tiny cabin. “We are safe!”” she sobbed exul- tantly. Ho Nan did not answer. Whose had been those hurrying footsteps behind him in the quiet of the narrow street? Well did he know that were they dis- covered, death would be his fate, and far worse than death, hers; that a thousand watching spies might have observed their flight. He watched his coolie pole his way in and out among the smaller river craft. The night seemed full of ominous peril, strange sounds, chattering voices. After an eternity of time they reached the swift currents of the open river, and he breathed a deep sigh of relief. Wu T'sa was gorging himself at an official dinner. Bowl after bowl of smacks that signified he was enjoying his food. For several hours he had vied with his friends in the important mat- ter of eating and drinking. Now, hav- ing disposed of shark’s fins, litchi nuts in honey, and that rare delicacy, eggs one hundred years old, he was musing, mellow of mood, between swallows of samshu, upon the kindness of life. Continued from page six He had reached the pinnatle of his career, a power in the province, and now he was about to possess the beautiful Lee Tah. His small eyes narrowed as he gloated over her slim loveliness. He rubbed his fat hands together thinking of her satin skin. In the shop of Po, the pawnbroker, was a jade and pearl headdress which should become her well. A houseboy in a strange tunic dis- turbed his pleasant reveries. Wu T’sa did not linget over his wine. Roar- ing like a thwarted water buffalo, he parted from his host in a most un- seemly manner, quite neglecting those leisurely formalities of adieu which a;:ci:lly mark the true gentleman of na. Far beyond the twinkling lights of the town with its bigh, dark walls, beyond the slow sailing junks and river crafts, out into the open river The Cautious Scotty Wiser than many of those who watched him with a mixture of amusement and admira- tion, he stood patiently and waited for the traffic to stop before lived to a good old age. story about Scotty. It's true. . Take time to be safe. Are the extra seconds you might save when you dash through traffic worth the chance you take? Last year almost a third of a million pedes- trianswere injured in automobile accidents —about 15,500 were killed. Nearly half of them tried to cross streets or roads against signals, diagonally, between intersections, ot from beh Send r y of *‘The Safe Walker's Memo Book.’w ml::zmu ten con&umt dangers to who disobey traffic rules, and con- addresses. trians tains blenk pages for It will be mailed free. Address Bookles d parked cars. memoranda and Department TW-43S. e crossed. And he Tell children the stretching off into the fat distance flanked the river bank, their long drooping branches screening the mys- tery of the shore. The river, tortuous, winding, revealed but a few hundred yards before or behind the small boat. The night was dark, quiet, danger- ously still. from behind them a Suddenly brightly lanterned barge swung into (Continued on page 13) i\\\ a P 1Y N / LIFE INSURANCE COMPAN FREDERICK H. ECKER, PRESIDENT ONE MADISON AVE., NEW YORK, N.Y.