"Yellow leaves strew down golden snow,
Yellow leaves golden on the ground,
Making hearts forlorn with their sound,
Naked branches cold when they go."
"What shall I do when I don't have you to sing to, Nancy?" she asked, as she took off the bright bangles from the arms of the bride.
"You will have my father to sing to," Nancy answered.
"Yes, I shall have your father to sing to."
Kuei-lien almost wept. She tried hurriedly to hide her confusion in more words of her song:—
"Swift the summer sun in his day,
Swift the autumn moon in her night,
Slow the winter frost with its blight,
Trampling golden leaves from its way."
She stood up to lift off Nancy's headdress of pearls. Then she put them on again, and stood back to admire their sinuous lustre against the dark hair of the girl.
"Ah, a bride can never be so beautiful to another as she is beautiful to herself," she sighed.
And yet, she thought, these jewels were the last sight Timothy Herrick had seen on earth. No wonder he covered his eyes so that he might take their loveliness with him into the grave. She covered her own eyes to keep back the tears.
"Gold youth, scarlet love, each must fade,
Moon and stars cease shining in the night,
Winter snows shall long glimmer white,
Scarlet leaves and gold low are laid."