And with that he left the stripling in the hands of the groom who marched him off to his corner of the compound and assigned him his duties.
Three times a day must he draw water from the well. Twice daily must the horse-courts be swept. It was his business to lead two ponies for their daily exercise. Never must he mount them or else he would be whipped. As for food he showed him the cooking-pots which it was his business to prepare. There was food ready now.
Wang the Ninth, at that invitation, sat on his heels, seized a bowl and chop-sticks, and devoured a meal such as he had seldom eaten. Then, after that, because he had a full belly he talked until he reeled with sleep, retailing to the stable-hands his most exciting adventures. Later, in the unbroken quiet of the horse-courts, he climbed on to the k'ang assigned him and slept a leaden sleep.
CHAPTER X
The soft, regular life into which he had fallen soon affected the boy queerly: he chafed and became openly moody. His simple duties were so easily performed that he had endless time hanging on his hands. Although he belonged to a race with a genius for passivity, this quality covers certain explosive tendencies which require a regular outlet.
In Wang the Ninth was to be found a compendium of all the virtues and vices of an ancient system. Quick, impetuous, warm-hearted and highly intuitive, there was mixed with these things a certain laziness and indifference to everything save appearance and settled customs. Absolutely honest wherever a definite trust was given him, the boy nevertheless hugely enjoyed all kinds of illicit things. It was the fact that he could not indulge his passion for such enterprises that discontented him: here everything was well-ordered and regular—a sleek existence in all truth.
"Ours is a good master," said the stable-hands gratefully on many occasions. "A man could live here a hundred years and never fear for his employment." To which Wang the Ninth would only give a qualified approval.
One day, when he was wandering in the compound, he discovered the existence of a little door artfully masked behind a tree. It was in strict consonance with his principles that he should keep quiet about the matter, particularly as he had been told that he would be whipped if he went where he had no business to be. He pondered over the matter unendingly for lack of anything else to do, and at last the little door aroused in him a veritable passion of curiosity which became an obsession. Sometimes, when he was exercising the ponies by leading them endlessly round the circular cinder-walk, he would stop short and lose himself in speculations until he was aroused by the animals sniffing at his head. Once he was so deep in thought that the head-groom asked him what he was mooning over.
"I am thinking of family-affairs," he replied abruptly, which was equivalent to saying that the matter was beyond public discussion, since no one outside the immediate family circle is qualified to discuss them.