His little Excellency was led off by the faithful serving-men, while I returned for Marie, and after seeing her to the palace, ran down the shrubbery to its end, and there, calmly oblivious to all besides themselves, found my friend and his companion side by side on one of the garden seats. Miss Cum-ho was terribly frightened at my tale, not only for the sake of her brother, but because the affair would make known her meetings with my friend. We had no time to make any arrangement by which this might be avoided, for I had scarcely told them of the mischance when up came a couple of young pages in search of the lady.
Upon reaching the palace, the Mrs. Chung-wang appeared, superintending the washing of her son and ready to receive her delinquent daughter. Two old duennas, of particularly vinegar aspect, advanced upon the girl, who for a moment clung to my friend's arm. That moment, however, must have sufficed to show the Chung-wang's better-half the state of her daughter's affections, whom she now sharply upbraided while being dragged into the palace. Poor Cum-ho disappeared in tears, doubtless severely pinched by her two guards, while the injured "parent," after seeing her purified boy carried in before her, retired with a Parthian exclamation of "Yang-quitzo," thrown at my friend.
It was the first time I had ever heard an European called "foreign devil" in Ti-pingdom, and Mrs. Chung-wang must have been hugely offended to have uttered such a thing. Turning to L——, I exclaimed, "Well, old fellow, what do you think of it?"
"Think," he answered; "why it's the last I shall see of Cum-ho."
"Yes, I suppose it will be; but that won't trouble you much?"
After a moment's thought, my friend seriously said to me:—"My dear fellow, I really believe I love that girl; Chinese or not, she is a good, warm-hearted creature, and—I think she loves me; besides, she is very pretty. What do you think of her hair? is it not long and beautiful? I do not believe any English girl has such tresses. She has a straight nose too, and her eyes are very fine; don't you think so?"
"Yes, there's no question about it; she is a very good-looking girl, but, unfortunately, you must remember she is the Chung-wang's daughter."
"I don't care if she's the Lord Duke of Macaciac's daughter; if she loves me I will see her again."
"Have you spoken to her about love?" I asked.
"I cannot exactly say I have, for I do not know the Chinese version of the verb, but I believe she understood what I meant when I tried to. How do you express "I love you" in Chinese?"