The woman went and entered the house indicated. When evening came she sent the hat by the boy. The Governor arrived as agreed, and she received him, lit the lamp, and brought him refreshments and drink. They talked and drank together, and he called her to come to him. The woman hesitated for a moment, when suddenly there was a call heard from the outside, and a great disturbance took place. She bent her head to listen and then gave a cry of alarm, saying, “That’s the voice of my husband, who has come. I was unfortunate, and so had this miserable wretch apportioned to my lot. He is the most despicable among mortals. For murder and arson he has no equal. Three years ago he left me and I took another husband, and we’ve had nothing to do with each other since. I can’t imagine why he should come now. He is evidently very drunk, too, from the sound of his voice. Your Excellency has really fallen into a terrible plight. What shall I do?”
The woman went out then and answered, saying, “Who comes thus at midnight to make such a disturbance?”
The voice replied, “Don’t you know my voice? Why don’t you open the door?”
She answered, “Are you not Chol-lo (Brass Tiger), and have we not separated for good, years ago? Why have you come?”
The voice from without answered back, “Your leaving me and taking another man has always been a matter of deepest resentment on my part; I have something special to say to you,” and he pounded the door open and came thundering in.
The woman rushed back into the room, saying, “Your Excellency must escape in some way or other.”
In such a little thatched hut there was no place possible for concealment but an empty rice-box only. “Please get into this,” said she, and she lifted the lid and hurried him in. The Governor, in his haste and déshabille, was bundled into the box. He then heard, from within, this fellow come into the room and quarrel with his wife. She said, “We have been separated three years already; what reason have you to come now and make such a disturbance?”
Said he, “You cast me off and took another man, therefore I have come for the clothes that I left, and the other things that belong to me.”
Then she threw out his belongings to him, but he said, pointing to the box, “That’s mine.”
She replied, “That’s not yours; I bought that myself with two rolls of silk goods.”