Page:Alien Souls by Achmed Abdullah (1922).djvu/218

not, he became conscious that the master of the house was addressing him. The voice was soft, like the far piping of a reed.

"I have considered everything," the voice said. "I have thought well. I have thought left and thought right. There exists no doubt that my daughter, the Plum Blossom, will greatly appreciate your many and honorable qualities. She, on the other hand, will make you a delightful wife. Her eyes are like sunbeams filtering their gold through the shadows of the pine woods. The mating-songs of all the birds are echoed in the harmony of her voice. Too, she is a vessel filled with all the domestic virtues. She is strong and high-breasted. She will bear you as many men-children as there are hairs in my queue."

"Your too-indulgent lips have pronounced words full of the most delicate beauty," replied Yung Han-Rai. "Alas, it grieves me, but I cannot accept. I am the very little and unimportant one. My ancestry is wretched, my manners deplorable, and my learning less than the shadow of nothing at all. The honor would be too great, O wise and older brother."

"It is my own justly despised family which will be exquisitely honored," replied the other, rising, and bowing deeply with clasped hands. "Let there—I humbly implore you—be a marriage between you and the Plum Blossom. You will make an excellent son-in-law, virtuous, learned, a respecter of the ancient traditions of Ming and Sung."

Yung Han-Rai was about to speak, to protest once more, as the proper ceremonial demanded, his utter unworthiness. His lips had already formed the carefully chosen words when, very suddenly, he was silent. He became nervous, uneasy, frightened. Cold