"I will keep you company."
"Aya! If you do not go and look after this rabble of women, they will do their work most incontestably wrong."
Without understanding, the mother did indeed go to the next cabin at that moment when the breakfast was brought in. As soon as she had turned her back, Elegant told the slave to set down the dish on the table.
"You may go away. I shall call you when I have finished."
Ya-nei was watching, and came out from his hiding. On the dish there were only two small bowls of vegetables mixed with meat, a bowl of cooked green-stuff, and a little rice. Naturally, the young girl was not in the habit of taking large quantities of food; but for her lover, with his three bushels of rice a day, the matter was otherwise. After their meal, he again glided under the bed, nearly as hungry as before. She called the slave, and told her to bring in two more bowls of rice.
Her mother heard this, and entered, saying:
"My child! You are not well. How is it that you want to eat all that?"
"The reason is not far to seek," she answered.
"I am hungry, that is all."
And her father, who had come to see the invalid, said: