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Page 31
The meeting between Ling and Mian was affecting to such an extent that
the blind and deaf attendants wept openly without reproach,
notwithstanding the fact that neither could become possessed of more
than a half of the occurrence. Eagerly the two reunited ones examined
each other's features to discover whether the separation had brought
about any change in the beloved and well-remembered lines. Ling
discovered upon Mian the shadow of an anxious care at his absence,
while the disappointments and trials which Ling had experienced in
Canton had left traces which were plainly visible to Mian's
penetrating gaze. In such an entrancing occupation the time was to
them without hours until a feeling of hunger recalled them to lesser
matters, when a variety of very select foods and liquids was placed
before them without delay. After this elegant repast had been partaken
of, Mian, supporting herself upon Ling's shoulder, made a request that
he would disclose to her all the matters which had come under his
observation both within the city and during his journey to and from
that place. Upon this encouragement, Ling proceeded to unfold his
mind, not withholding anything which appeared to be of interest, no
matter how slight. When he had reached Canton without any perilous
adventure, Mian breathed more freely; as he recorded the interview at
the Office of Warlike Deeds and Arrangements, she trembled at the
insidious malignity of the evil person Li Keen. The conversation with
the wise reader of the future concerning the various states of such as
be officially dead almost threw her into the rigid sickness, from
which, however, the wonderful circumstance of the discovered
properties of the gold fluid quickly recalled her. But to Ling's great
astonishment no sooner had he made plain the exceptional advantages
which he had derived from the circumstances, and the nature of the
undertaking at which he had arrived with Chang-ch'un, than she became
a prey to the most intolerable and unrestrained anguish.
"Oh, my devoted but excessively ill-advised lover," she exclaimed
wildly, and in tones which clearly indicated that she was inspired by
every variety of affectionate emotion, "has the unendurable position
in which you and all your household will be placed by the degrading
commercial schemes and instincts of the mercenary-souled person
Chang-ch'un occupied no place in your generally well-regulated
intellect? Inevitably will those who drink our almond tea, in order to
have an opportunity of judging the value of the appointments of the
house, pass the jesting remark that while the Lings assuredly have 'a
dead person's bones in the secret chamber,' at the present they will
not have one in the family graveyard by reason of the death of Ling
himself. Better to lose a thousand limbs during life than the entire
person after death; nor would your adoring Mian hesitate to clasp
proudly to her organ of affection the veriest trunk that had parted
with all its attributes in a noble and sacrificing endeavour to
preserve at least some dignified proportions to embellish the
Ancestral Temple and to receive the worship of posterity."
"Alas!" replied Ling, with extravagant humiliation, "it is indeed
true; and this person is degraded beyond the common lot of those who
break images and commit thefts from sacred places. The side of the
transaction which is at present engaging our attention never occurred
to this superficial individual until now."
"Wise and incomparable one," said Mian, in no degree able to restrain
the fountains of bitter water which clouded her delicate and
expressive eyes, "in spite of this person's biting and ungracious
words do not, she makes a formal petition, doubt the deathless
strength of her affection. Cheerfully, in order to avert the matter in
question, or even to save her lover the anguish of unavailing and
soul-eating remorse, would she consign herself to a badly-constructed
and slow-consuming fire or expose her body to various undignified
tortures. Happy are those even to whom is left a little ash to be
placed in a precious urn and diligently guarded, for it, in any event,
truly represents all that is left of the once living person, whereas
after an honourable and spotless existence my illustrious but
unthinking lord will be blended with a variety of baser substances and
passed from hand to hand, his immaculate organs serving to reward
murderers for their deeds and to tempt the weak and vicious to all
manner of unmentionable crimes."
So overcome was Ling by the distressing nature of the oversight he had
permitted that he could find no words with which to comfort Mian, who,
after some moments, continued:
"There are even worse visions of degradation which occur to this
person. By chance, that which was once the noble-minded Ling may be
disposed of, not to the Imperial Treasury for converting into pieces
of exchange, but to some undiscriminating worker in metals who will
fashion out of his beautiful and symmetrical stomach an elegant food-
dish, so that from the ultimate developments of the circumstance may
arise the fact that his own descendants, instead of worshipping him,
use his internal organs for this doubtful if not absolutely unclean
purpose, and thereby suffer numerous well-merited afflictions, to the
end that the finally-despised Ling and this discredited person,
instead of founding a vigorous and prolific generation, become the
parents of a line of feeble-minded and physically-depressed lepers."
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