Evening star., 1936-06-14
Mosorine Section

yNIl NDiiC lChkttNN INV III a oNNlCS
joy she dared not name even to her
self.
Beyond the furthest courtyard, in
corner of the wall, there was an old
neglected bamboo grove with tiny,
half-ruined pavilion. Chin-yen had
discovered it after some months in
this household. There she could be
alone. In the bamboo grove she had
never met anyone but once, kitchen
boy coming to cut stick. He was a
sooty half-grown boy in cast-off sol
der coat, his head bristling with a
two-weeks' growth after shave He
was no more disturbance than the
hens who scratched among the fallen
leaves.
1t was dusk when. the last of the
guests gone, Chin-yen slipped away
through dark passages, seeking the
bamboo grove. She met no one, though
once it seemed someone had just
rounded corner ahead and once she
thought she heard footsteps behind
her
She walked on through the corridors
and stepped out into the pale. soft
disk of the quiet grove. The stems of
the bamboos were close and clean and
smooth; the leaves dripped silently in
the dusk, twirling down slowly through
the still air, and overhead the plume
tips bowed delicately above her, dark
against the dim sky Chin-yen stretched
out her arms and drew deep, free
breath.
Tsen Wha loved her. Tsen Wha was
near her. She dared to think no
further What could possibly come of
it she did not permit herself even to
wonder. She would not think beyond
today. Tomorrow, perhaps, the Cen
eral would return.
Chin-ycn was SO lost in daydreams
that when she finally became aware
of the presence just within the pas
s.rge-way it must have been there for
some time, silent, watchful. A woman,
by the line of the garments. Being
discovered, she came forward and her
face grew clear out of the dusk. Chin
yen recoiled. A skull-white face with
narrow venomous eyes, the chin and
mouth thrust forward and the lips
pressed taut over the teeth. The wo-
man stood tall, confronting Chin-yen,
hating her with malevolent eyes; and
then she laughed soundlessly, and be-
gan to speak as though to herself.
Let me look at this Bride, this
Tai-tai, this trash from the alleys.
Why. it is not bigger than an un-
feathered pulletr' Her taloned left
hand fastened upon Chin-yen's arm
and Chin-yen cried out aloud. startled.
The woman laughed, her lips drawing
back from long white teeth. ut nevis
like a kitten new-weaned. this girl
thing, and l have done nothing to it
- yet"
She seemed to forget her then, star
ing past her and mumbling OCCASION
ally, until Chin-yen moved to free
herself.
Wait, have more to say to you.
So you would be Tai-tai in my house.
you slave thing! What would he bring
home next, if his fancy lights on such
a half-fedged offspring of a scheming
mother as you? | told him | would
have no more of his concubines. Have
| not given him sons? Is my family to
he insulted with this one and that one
given preference over me? And with
this one even the mockery of we'd
ding! No, it is too much. | will not
abide it. | will be mistress in my own
household" With sudden violence she
flung Chin-yen to her knees. Her right
hand flashed upward, hand holding
thin blade, black against the sky.
AS everything reeled before Chin
yen's sight, someone leaped cattle
from the bamboo thicket, caught the
woman's wrist in mid-air and slowly