The dream was not reassuring, and when the morrow came she could not forget it.
FOOTNOTE:
[3] The official residence of a Viceroy.
CHAPTER IV.
Long before the sun was up Tuen and her mother were huddled together, talking in low tones about the wealth Niu would receive from the Viceroy, and Tuen ever found herself planning what they would do when they went back to their native town, and then she would suddenly remember that she would not be with them, and a great lump would come up into her throat and choke her. And it was small wonder that she felt she would gladly starve with them rather than pay such a terrible price for bread.
All the morning they squatted forlornly before the temple, hungry and desolate and sorrowful, and when at last Niu Tsang arose, and Tuen knew that the awful moment when she must leave them forever had come, she felt as if she should surely die. Her mother caressed her, crying in a hopeless, patient way, but she managed to whisper encouragingly:
"After all, you will be better off," and Tuen answered bravely: "All of us will, I hope, be better off, mother. At least we shall not die of hunger."
"No, and nothing could be worse than that," her mother said with a shudder, for she was even now weak and well-nigh exhausted.