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Page 82
"'O venerable, but at this moment somewhat obtuse, Ah-Ping,' cried
Quen, with a recurrence to his former method of expressing his
unfeigned agitation, 'is your evenly-balanced mind unable to grasp the
essential fact of how this person's contemplated action will affect
your own celestial condition? It is a distressing but entirely
unavoidable fact, that if this person acts in the manner which he has
determined upon, he will be condemned to the lowest place of torment
reserved for those who fail at the end of an otherwise pure existence,
and in this he will never have an opportunity of meeting the very much
higher placed Ah-Ping, and of restoring to him the thirty-thousand
taels as agreed upon.'
"At these ill-destined words, all power of rigidness departed from
Ah-Ping's limbs, and he sank down upon the forbidding earth by Quen's
side.
"'O most unfortunate one who is now speaking,' he exclaimed, when at
length his guarding spirit deemed it prudent to restore his power of
expressing himself in words, 'happy indeed would have been your lot
had you been content to traffic in ginseng and other commodities of
which you have actual knowledge. O amiable Quen, this matter must be
in some way arranged without causing you to deviate from the
entrancing paths of your habitual virtue. Could not the very
reasonable Liao be induced to look favourably upon the attractions of
some low-priced maiden, in which case this not really hard-stomached
person would be willing to advance the necessary amount, until such
time as it could be restored, at a very low and unremunerative rate of
interest?'
"'This person has observed every variety of practical humility in the
course of his life,' replied Quen with commendable dignity, 'yet he
now finds himself totally unable to overcome an inward repugnance to
the thought of perpetuating his honoured name and race through the
medium of any low-priced maiden. To this end has he decided.'
"Those who were well acquainted with Ah-Ping in matters of commerce
did not hesitate to declare that his great wealth had been acquired by
his consistent habit of forming an opinion quickly while others
hesitated. On the occasion in question he only engaged his mind with
the opposing circumstances for a few moments before he definitely
fixed upon the course which he should pursue.
"'Quen-Ki-Tong,' he said, with an evident intermingling of many very
conflicting emotions, 'retain to the end this well-merited reputation
for unaffected honourableness which you have so fittingly earned. Few
in the entire Empire, with powers so versatilely pointing to an
eminent position in any chosen direction, would have been content to
pass their lives in an unremunerative existence devoted to actions of
charity. Had you selected an entirely different manner of living, this
person has every confidence that he, and many others in Lu-kwo, would
by this time be experiencing a very ignoble poverty. For this reason
he will make it his most prominent ambition to hasten the realization
of the amiable hopes expressed both by Liao and by Ts'ain, concerning
their future relationship. In this, indeed, he himself will be more
than exceptionally fortunate should the former one prove to possess
even a portion of the clear-sighted sagaciousness exhibited by his
engaging father.'
"VERSES COMPOSED BY A MUSICIAN OF LU-KWO, ON THE
OCCASION OF THE WEDDING CEREMONY OF
LIAO AND TS'AIN
"Bright hued is the morning, the dark clouds have fallen;
At the mere waving of Quen's virtuous hands they melted away.
Happy is Liao in the possession of so accomplished a parent,
Happy also is Quen to have so discriminating a son.
"The two persons in question sit, side by side, upon an
embroidered couch,
Listening to the well-expressed compliments of those who pass to
and fro.
From time to time their eyes meet, and glances of a very
significant amusement pass between them;
Can it be that on so ceremonious an occasion they are recalling
events of a gravity-removing nature?
"The gentle and rainbow-like Ts'ain has already arrived,
With the graceful motion of a silver carp gliding through a screen
of rushes, she moves among those who are assembled.
On the brow of her somewhat contentious father there rests the
shadow of an ill-repressed sorrow;
Doubtless the frequently-misjudged Ah-Ping is thinking of his
lonely hearth, now that he is for ever parted from that which
he holds most precious.
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