her
says it is not seemly to send communication from mine hand to thine.
She says it was a thing unheard of in her girlhood, and that we
younger generations have passed the limits of all modesty and
womanliness. She wishes me to have the writer or thy brother send
thee the news of thine household; but that I will not permit. It must
come from me, thy wife. Each one of these strokes will come to thee
bearing my message. Thou wilt not tear the covering roughly as thou
didst those great official letters; nor wilt thou crush the papers quickly
in thy hand, because it is the written word of Kwei-li, who sends with
each stroke of brush a part of her heart.

2
My Dear One,
My first letter to thee was full of sadness and longing because thou
wert newly gone from me. Now a week has passed, the sadness is
still in my heart, but it is buried deep for only me to know. I have my
duties which must be done, my daily tasks that only I can do since
thine Honourable Mother has handed me the keys of the rice-bin. I
realise the great honour she does me, and that at last she trusts me
and believes me no child as she did when I first entered her
household.

Can I ever forget that day when I came to my husband's people? I had
the one great consolation of a bride, my parents had not sent me
away empty-handed. The procession was almost a li in length and I
watched with a swelling heart the many tens of coolies carrying my
household goods. There were the silken coverlets for the beds, and
they were folded to show their richness and carried on red lacquered
tables of great value. There were the household utensils of many
kinds, the vegetable dishes, the baskets, the camphor-wood baskets
containing my clothing, tens upon tens of them; and I said within my
heart as they passed me by, "Enter my new home before me. Help
me find a loving welcome." Then at the end of the chanting procession
I came in my red chair of marriage, so closely covered I could barely
breathe. My trembling feet could scarce support me as they helped
me from the chair, and my hand shook with fear as I was being led
into my new household. She stood bravely before you, that little girl
dressed in red and gold, her hair twined with pearls and jade, her
arms tiny finger, but with all her bravery she was
frightened-- frightened. She was away from her parents for the first
time, away from all who love her, and she knew if she did not meet
with approval in her new home her rice-