ghter. But he is going to live at
Pien-liang, and I will be at Kien-K'ang which is more than fifteen
days' journey to the south of that place."

Wu asked him:

"How many sons have you, O Old-Man-Born-Before-Me?"

"I will not conceal from you the fact that I have only a daughter."

Wu considered:

"That charming child was his daughter then. She would be an
unprecedented wife for my son. But she is his only child, and he
certainly would not be willing to marry her at any great distance from
himself."

He added aloud:

"But if you have no son, you have only to take concubines."

"I thank you for your suggestion. It had occurred to me."

After having talked for some time, Ho Chang withdrew to his cabin,
where his wife and daughter were awaiting him. Being a little elated
by his cups of wine, he kept speaking of Ya-nei's merit, and of his
intention to invite the father and son for the next day. His words
sank deeply into his daughter's mind.

On the following day the river was still churned by waves, and the
storm sent up spray to a height of more than thirty feet. The crash of
water was heard on all sides.

Early in the morning Ho Chang sent his invitation, and, when the two
men arrived, the feast began. Elegant, in the next cabin, could see
Ya-nei through the cracks in the bulkhead, and her heart was secretly
moved.

"If I could have him for my husband, my desire would be satisfied. But
I shall not persuade him into a proposal by merely looking at him. How
shall I set about making known my thought to him?"

Ya-nei, for his part, looked in vain for some means of speaking to his
neighbor. When the meal was finished, he returned to his ship and lay
down on his bed.

But Elegant was so much occupied in thinking of the young man that she
could not touch her dinner. Leaving her mother alone, she retired to
rest and was on the point of going to sleep, when the sound of a song
came to her. It was the voice of Ya-nei, singing:

A dream has come to me from the Blue Bowl,
But I was not able to speak.
I could not tell her of my delight
Or appoint an endless alliance.

She rose softly, opened her cabin door without sound and went up on
to the bridge. Ya-nei was standing on the other ship, and immediately
leaped to her side, and boldly took her in his arms. Between joy and
alarm, she did not dare to resist. He drew her into her cabin and
embraced her.

At that moment one of the slaves passed before the c