he neck of the golden lord, Yu Tai Shun.

_Wong Fe_

When I awoke this morning the sunlight was on my pillow, but Yu Tai Shun
was gone. All day I have not seen his face. And now the last swallow has
left the sky.

_So Siu_

Why did Prince Ching and the young Japanese choose this day to be guests
of Yu Tai Shun? It is sad for the wife when the friends of her lord find
her alone. Yu Tai Shun will beat his doorstep for not calling him.

_Wong Fe_

He will! Prince Ching is almost his father. May his age climb as the
hills, always nearer the sky!

_So Siu_

Indeed, you would be sitting alone in a cloud of sighs, not fast wedded
to the bringer of dawn, Yu Tai Shun, if Prince Ching had not won his way
to your brothers, the mighty princes, Wong Li and Wong Sen.

_Wong Fe_

I kiss his honorable dust! He shall live with my ancestors! And Makuro,
the young Japanese, I shall love him too, for he is most dear to Yu Tai
Shun. Do they still sit in the orchard?

_So Siu_

They have not moved, nor paused in their talking. Do you not hear? Like
bees that cannot choose their flower. It may be that they have brought
news to Yu Tai Shun, and his gloom will pass.

_Wong Fe_

No, I feel it was their coming, like a far cloud, that shadowed him. Oh,
my So Siu, it will be darker now!

_So Siu_

I have sent tea and cakes to the orchard.

_Wong Fe_

It shall not be dark. Do not the fairies of the sun weave a white world
out of the threads of midnight? I will pray to them. We must be merry,
my lily So Siu.

_So Siu_

And why not?

_Wong Fe_

I shall dance to-night before Yu Tai Shun. (_Tripping._) Is it not good
to have feet? My honorable and glorious mamma weeps when I dance, but it
is because she was born too soon and they crippled her beloved feet.

_So Siu_

How glad I am that the old world is gone when only the painted
flower-girls could do the happy things!

_Wong Fe_

And it was my own lord, Yu Tai Shun, who made the earth new again!

(_She listens, suddenly still._)

_So Siu_

He is here!

_Wong Fe_

My darling So Siu....

_So Siu_

I go! (_Darts from room, right._)

_Wong Fe_

I would be dancing, but I cannot move. There are anchors of fear on my
toes.

(_Enter_ YU TAI SHUN, _left. He is dressed in gray flannels, of
American pattern._)

_Shun_ (_stopping before_ WONG FE)

I left a witch-cloud on the hills, and it has dropped down before me.

(_She courtesies to the