ASIA 
 
 i ' ', 
 
 ■Tte LOVE STORY 
 OF 
 
 A MAIDEN 
 OF CATHAY 
 
 ! 
 
 li 
 
 [Si 
 
 t ' 
 
 lil! :. 
 
 ;i! 1: 
 
 !i 
 
 liliiHill 
 
NI7 
 
 3tl}ata, Sfrm ^nrk 
 
 CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 
 COLLECTION 
 
 CHINA AND THE CHINESE 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 CHARLES WFLLFAM WASON 
 CLASS OF 1B76 
 1918 
 
Cornell University Library 
 DS 725.N17 
 
 The love story of a maiden of Cathay / 
 
 3 1924 023 259 371 
 

 THE LOVE STORY, OF 
 A MAIDEN OF CATHAY 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023259371 
 
The Love Story of 
 
 A MAIDEN d?/CATH AY 
 
 Told in Letters from 
 Yang Ping Yu 
 
 Niw Yoke Chicago Toronto 
 
 Fleming H. Revell Company 
 
 London and Edinbukgh 
 
Copyright, igii, by 
 FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 
 
 N >7 
 
 iJew York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
 Chicago: 123 N. Wabash Ave. 
 Toronto: 25 Richmond St., W. 
 London : 21 Paternoster Square 
 Edinburgh: ipo Princes Street 
 
THE LOVE STORY OF A 
 MAIDEN OF CATHAY 
 
 Hongkong, May 20. 
 My Dear Bei Li : 
 
 For a whole month before you left us, I 
 spent my days making and discarding 
 schemes to keep you in the land of your 
 fathers; they availed me nothing, and here 
 I am left without you and with seemingly 
 nothing to think about. What huge bene- 
 fits you must expect to heap upon your fel- 
 lowmen in the future, who dare to be the 
 cause of so many heartaches now! Your 
 father sits in his chair and smokes all day. 
 He grunts for reply when spoken to. Your 
 mother weeps — ^the way of the world of 
 folks, I suppose, that grief should shut a 
 man up like a clam, and open every pore 
 in a woman's body. However, your mother 
 does more than weep : she came over to our 
 house yesterday and brought her pearls — 
 5 
 
6 The Love Story of 
 
 that perfect pair that have been hers by di- 
 rect inheritance since the days of the 
 Mings. " Sell them," she said, " I do not 
 want Bei Li to suffer, even if she is a girl." 
 
 I bade her keep them until I found out 
 if you were likely to be in need. And then 
 for the first time I sat down to consider 
 the matter of your maintenance. Sheng 
 Bei Li, daughter of an ex- Viceroy, basking 
 in his smiles and sheltered under his roof, 
 was a girl of unlimited means. But Sheng 
 Bei Li, a medical student in Edinburgh, fol- 
 lowed by the wrath of that ex- Viceroy, 
 must look elsewhere for funds. That much 
 I knew. I was as witless as your mother, 
 and at that moment you could have had my 
 jade bracelet. 
 
 I sent for your brother Kwang Ling, to 
 see if between us we could not manage 
 secretly to keep you from want. How he 
 laughed at my small plans ! " No fear," he 
 said in his pidgin English (we were in the 
 common room and supposedly keen on a 
 game of chess), "no fear, Bei Li plenty 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 7 
 
 sawy. My pay she three hundred pounds 
 year; suppose wantchee more, can catchee." 
 He was bursting with pride, and eager to 
 tell me all about it, but I could not under- 
 stand his business English, so we had to 
 wait for hours while my father and mother 
 had their daily wrangle about the number 
 and position of the rooms in our great hall 
 which shall be allotted to his latest treasure, 
 a small wife. 
 
 They left off finally and withdrew; and 
 then out came the whole matter in plain 
 Chinese. You have befuddled your brother. 
 He is very proud of the modern woman in 
 his family, and proposes to finance her in 
 all her mad doings. He even dreams of a 
 great hospital here in Hongkong with you 
 at its head ! 
 
 He did not convert me, though I love him 
 for his loyalty and enthusiasm. You are 
 my cousin, my schoolmate, my dearest 
 friend — and I have earnestly tried to un- 
 derstand this " call " of yours : I have failed, 
 so I hope you know I did my best for you 
 
8 The Love Story of 
 
 when I said nothing. Let me give you here 
 an honest opinion: I believe that any Chi- 
 nese lady virho dresses herself up in a weak 
 imitation of foreign clothes and goes aboard 
 one of those outgoing steamers unaccompa- 
 nied by a gentleman to whom she belongs, 
 should be arrested and brought back and 
 treated as though she were affected with 
 a defect " top-side," as Kwang Ling would 
 put it in pidgin. Be assured,, however, I 
 shall love you always. 
 
 Your loving 
 
 Yang Ping Yu. 
 
 Hongkong, May 24. 
 Oho, my dear cousin, what a mighty row 
 you have raised! They have almost 
 dragged your name into print. Several 
 Chinese papers have noted your departure, 
 but one of them in a way that will surprise 
 you. I translate for you out of to-day's 
 issue. " The daughter of a certain well 
 known ex- Viceroy took passage on a late 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 9 
 
 steamer for Europe, where she goes to study 
 medicine and the mysteries of her body. In 
 this she makes herself common with many 
 hundreds of young men as well as women, 
 for, as is well known, foreign men do not 
 protect their women. His Excellency the 
 Viceroy does not lend his countenance or 
 financial aid in this enterprise. The daugh- 
 ter has lately been graduated from M — , 
 and it is rumoured that her expenses are 
 largely borne by this institution. We seri- 
 ously advise parents who desire continued 
 filial respect and modesty in their daughters 
 to place them in one of the many good 
 academies under Chinese management." 
 
 Poor old M — , our dear fostermother, 
 that one of us, her first graduates, .should 
 have furnished the whip to belabour her! 
 Kwang Ling was angry enough to eat a box 
 of matches. Together we have worked out 
 a proper denial to appear in to-morrow's 
 issue, but we well know that, in spite of 
 anything we can say, that article will cost 
 M — twenty pupils in September, 
 
lo The Love Story of 
 
 And the crown of my sorrow is in this 
 fact. I am fully persuaded that nothing 
 present or future can separate us in our 
 love; but this great difference of opinion 
 concerning the post-graduate end of a Chi- 
 nese maiden has strained the bond. You 
 have been my elder sister always, though 
 we call each other cousins; sisters since the 
 day when one milk-mother fed us both, 
 through the prattling joys and falling tears 
 of childhood, on, on to those most precious 
 and wonderful years under our foreign 
 teachers. And as you were elder sister to 
 my heart, so was your clear mind the elder 
 and superior, though I followed fast. How 
 well I remember the day your Venturesome 
 spirit led you where I could not follow — ■ 
 where my whole being shrank back ap- 
 palled ! We sat on the porch at M — , and, 
 unskirted, were enjoying a clear view of our 
 first leather shoes, meanwhile discussing the 
 joys of unbound feet. Here you suddenly 
 declared : " Ping Yu, I'm going to study 
 somewhere and be a doctor "; and then our 
 
A Maiden of Cathay it 
 
 paths divided, yours to lead you, dear knows 
 where ! 
 
 I am, with love, 
 
 Yang Ping Yu, 
 who doesn't quite understand you. 
 
 Hongkong, June i. 
 
 The day you left, Miss Dixon, while she 
 and I were watching your steamer disap- 
 pear, spoke in exultation of you as her first- 
 fruits. I answered with some heat that on 
 the contrary you were the first blot on her 
 record. You know that is just what I think; 
 yet to be rude to one's teacher is unpardon- 
 able, and I've been sorry ever since. To-day 
 I bought her an ivory fan as an apology, 
 put on the grey crepe dress that she fancies 
 and went over to M — to see her. I also 
 wanted to know how much she knew of the 
 newspaper attack. 
 
 She knows her Chinese girl, and gra- 
 ciously accepted my gift. Then we talked 
 about everything under the sun, from majes- 
 
12 The Love Story of 
 
 ties to microbes, except that which we 
 wanted to discuss, which was you. Finally, 
 when I arose to go, she said in her most 
 painfully didactic manner : " Ping Yu, I 
 believe in you, just as I do in Bei Li; but 
 in your case my faith is blind. For my 
 enlightenment I've a favour to ask of you 
 — write me a post-graduate essay with this 
 as subject " — She handed me a chit on 
 which was written : "In the Social 
 Economy of China, What is the Place of 
 the Educated Young Women ? " " You 
 would do me a great service," she continued, 
 " if you could make me understand the con- 
 servative Chinese girl." Dear me, am I 
 that? 
 
 At first the idea seemed impossible, for 
 well I know that such a thesis from me must 
 contain something distasteful to her. Mind 
 you, I do not think Miss Dixon would en- 
 joy a following of blind apes. But I do 
 think she gets her surest enjoyment out of 
 those pupils who are open-eyed, alert, but 
 yet adoring. She is a foreigner, Bei Li, 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 13 
 
 and they are all like that. Who does not 
 use the well-known Chinese sneer : " He 
 argues like a foreigner?" However, I'm 
 going to do it, it is my great battle, and I 
 am keen for the fray — ^perhaps I'll try my 
 guns on you first. 
 
 Hongkong, June 14. 
 My Dear Friend : 
 
 Your first letter from Edinburgh has just 
 been read and I am full of love and desire 
 and resentment. My heart is bafiled in its 
 longing for companionship with you, and 
 is disappointed that in the first great deci- 
 sion of our lives we could not agree; but it 
 cannot fail to leap with joy at your 
 courageous words, " Write me all you think 
 and hear of me — if my zeal in my chosen 
 life-work is insufficient to bear criticism, I'll 
 gladly hasten home." Bei Li of the Brave 
 Heart wrote that and I shall never fail her 
 in love or interest, though I can't approve 
 of her. As for writing her what I think 
 
14 The Love Story of 
 
 and hear, I fear I have done so very thor- 
 oughly. 
 
 I have been driven finally to a close con- 
 sideration of my position in regard to the 
 ideal of Chinese young womanhood and 
 what Life means to me, and I am sending 
 you some of the results, which I intend to 
 put into my paper for Miss Dixon. 
 
 It is impossible to believe that in all 
 her centuries of civilization, China has 
 failed to evolve some great principles. In 
 commerce, science and industry she has been 
 left far in the rear; but what of her heart? 
 Has she failed to cultivate it ? Is she cruel ? 
 or cowardly? Where does she place her 
 women? Did your father place the pearl of 
 pearls on his own finger or in your hair? 
 Who holds my brother's purse ? Who rules 
 your father's Hall with its thirty servants? 
 Indeed, who has held the destiny of our 
 great nation in her hand for more than half 
 a century? A woman aifords the answer 
 to every question — she whom your Western 
 seer sees and writes down as a degraded 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 15 
 
 woman of China ! From the security of her 
 position, Lily- foot laughs at the ignorant 
 impudence of the many who think they 
 know her. Yes, she is secure. Do you num- 
 ber among your friends a divorcee, or a 
 rude, rough girl? Not unless you have 
 found her beyond the borders of the 
 Flowery Kingdom, I know. Safe in the 
 arms of those who love and understand me, 
 I rest; I live my life, a life as full and large 
 and busy as yours can be. Of course, I 
 dream my dream of my own home and my 
 own children, as every normal girl does. 
 Some day, not a distant one, perhaps, my 
 father will tell me of a husband he has 
 chosen for me. In my nineteen years he has 
 not failed me; what should I fear in the 
 great event? In all things I consider him 
 more capable than myself. 
 
 Bei Li, I do maintain that when no Chi- 
 nese husband demands a lily- footed wife, 
 and when our girls in general receive what 
 has come to you and me in school (and how 
 rapidly our men are bringing these very 
 
1 6 The Love Story of 
 
 things to pass) the lot of the girl in the 
 Middle Kingdom is beyond compare! But 
 let them ever be Chinese ladies — not semi- 
 foreign, nameless things, roughened by pro- 
 miscuity, cheapened by contact with men, 
 and on a level vi^ith the common herd be- 
 yond the sea ! I hold my cup high and exult- 
 ingly cry, /" Here's to the dainty, refined, 
 educated Eastern girl, she stands tiptoe on 
 the mountain top ! " 
 
 Hongkong, June 30. 
 Dearest Bei Li : 
 
 Coming home to live again, after practi- 
 cally seven years of absence in school, is 
 like exploring a new country. I like it. 
 There are five new babies to get acquainted 
 with. Three are my brother's children, as 
 you know, and two are none other than my 
 own small brothers, just a week old to-day. 
 So is my father's wisdom in taking the 
 second small wife vindicated; and she, poor 
 child, whom we have always called Father's 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 17 
 
 Mistake, is high in our esteem. To have 
 borne twin sons in a family where men chil- 
 dren are scarce, gives her new claims to con- 
 sideration. Heretofore she has not led a 
 roseate life among us. You see, my mother, 
 and the first small wife belong to well-known 
 families, while this small number three my 
 father bought in Shanghai, paying out seven 
 thousand taels for his bargain. So, her 
 superiors in our household have never let 
 her forget her place. 
 
 The day of reckoning for these same su- 
 perior ladies would be at hand if " old cus- 
 tom " did not have so firm a grip on my 
 father. As it is, he cannot establish her, 
 but must content himself with hugging his 
 precious boys to his heart and presenting his 
 girl-wife with pearls and bracelets. Being 
 only nineteen, these things are more to 
 her , than rank, so everybody is happy. 
 It has been a gala week with us, filled 
 with f eastings and protestations; and 
 the household ladies have worn their 
 broadest smiles, though I fancy you 
 
1 8 The Love Story of 
 
 could almost have washed them off the 
 " upper ladies' " faces. 
 
 These jealousies and petty rivalries are 
 quite a question in our great ancestral halls, 
 and oh, my dear, what a field for the edu- 
 cated young woman of China! George 
 Eliot says one only lives who makes life 
 easier for others, and if she is right I have 
 consciously earned my living this past six 
 weeks for the first time. I have been giving 
 our ladies something to do. You should 
 see us at croquet. 
 
 We had the back court smoothed off, and 
 hid away those tubs of goldfish as old as 
 our old Hall itself, and the hoops are set 
 up in their places. The change is a luxury. 
 Madame my Aunt cut off her long-cher- 
 ished fourth finger nail, because she couldn't 
 get a grip on her mallet; while my own dig- 
 nified mother, finding her tiny feet too small 
 and rheumatic to follow the balls, taught her 
 favourite amah the rules of the game, and 
 now enjoys it as much as any of us, as she 
 plays by proxy. I tell her she is like King 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 19 
 
 Edward, who has a jockey do all the riding 
 of his prize-winning racers. 
 
 I am already looking ahead with regret 
 to the chilly wet days when we shall be cut 
 off from this amusement. I've heard of a 
 game, sing-song or ping-pong (it sounds 
 very Chinesey), which might help us a bit 
 when we are driven indoors. Do you know 
 of it, and could you send us a set if it is 
 suitable ? 
 
 I had forgotten, I think, what life means 
 to people who cannot read, or make music 
 for themselves, and are left with only their 
 minds and tongues as entertainers. And oh, 
 if you have the mind of a chump and the 
 tongue of a shrew, what a fix you and others 
 are in! 
 
 Among the nine ladies here, I alone can 
 really read and play. They would smoke 
 and listen to me all day, but there is a limit 
 to what one is able to give. Besides it is 
 especially trying to read the " Three King- 
 doms " to them. They know the stories as 
 well as I do — ^but where shall I go for fur- 
 
20 The Love Story of 
 
 • 
 
 ther material for them? If only out of the 
 world of English stories a few were put into 
 Chinese! I shall give some of my future 
 days to that; in the meantime these present 
 ones are very busy and very happy for 
 Your stay-at-home-friend, 
 
 Yang Ping Yu. 
 
 Hongkong, July 7. 
 
 Your fine, clear May letter has just come. 
 I have devoured it greedily and am conse- 
 quently very uncomfortable. I always am 
 when I sit for an hour and try to place you 
 in your surroundings. 
 
 I think my mind perceives a beautiful, 
 clean Western city, such as you describe; 
 perhaps when my " Prince " comes along, 
 if he is like-minded with me, we will take a 
 trip around the world, call by Edinburgh 
 and bring you home with us. The idea has 
 just entered into my soul, but it has blos- 
 somed into a gorgeous lotus as I write. 
 
 You say : " There are twenty girls in 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 21 
 
 my class and perhaps a hundred young men 
 ■ — ^but they are to me as if they were not — I 
 only know and see the Demonstrator." Now, 
 Bei Li, if I had said that, you would have 
 said: "But, cousin, you can't do that; — 
 make nothings of somethings — everything 
 we touch marks us by a dot or tittle." That 
 is just what you did say when I had a fancy 
 for learning those rag-time pieces we found 
 in Miss L.'s study. 
 
 When it comes to fact, it is the man of it 
 — these men of it — that I worry most about. 
 You are so pretty, your fingers so like spring 
 bamboo buds, your ears so like two peach 
 petals, your brow so cool and soft! And 
 should any one of these hundred young men 
 see you as you are, and love you and finally 
 wed you, — how would, the papers put it? 
 
 MARRIED TO A CHINESE GIRL — jUSt aS if the 
 
 young man in question had blown his 
 HEAD OFF WITH A GUN. His family would 
 disinherit him, and you and he would hide 
 yourselves in shame, because he had lowered 
 himself by taking a queen for his wife ! 
 
22 The Love Story of 
 
 Oh, my Bei Li, they don't know us — ^and 
 how shall they ever, with the great beam of 
 conceit in their eyes? The Dragon's teeth 
 are set on edge by the sour grapes these 
 foreigners have crammed between his jaws 
 for a century ! And you, beautiful child of 
 the dragon, live among his scoffers, and are 
 not ashamed ! 
 
 Later 
 
 It is quite odd that while up here in my 
 chamber I grew hot and even feverish over 
 your future, my own was being discussed 
 and planned for in the grotto-garden below. 
 Of course I was not surprised — ^though per- 
 haps I feigned a bit ; it is natural and right 
 that I should give up my home and go into 
 another. You know how old I am — surely 
 I am honoured if some suitable man is will- 
 ing to overlook my years, my large feet and 
 my modern education, unless he too has 
 been under foreign teachers. 
 
 " The man in the case " is the son of a 
 wealthy pearl merchant in Canton. It was 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 23 
 
 his desire to go to the College there, but 
 at the beginning of his second term, the 
 death of his father made him head of the 
 family, so he had to leave school. Of 
 course I am sorry about that, but very glad 
 to know that of his middleman he required 
 but two things in his bride, namely, a foreign 
 education and a knowledge of music. I do 
 hope I'll please His Excellency ! 
 
 The final arrangements are not made — the 
 betrothal ceremony will occur in the eighth 
 moon of next year, and the we4ding some 
 months later. The period of mourning for 
 his father admits of no earlier date. 
 
 My venerable father is much pleased and 
 says the best things of his life are coming 
 to him in his old age. How happy I am to 
 add to the contentment of his latter days. 
 In the affair I am content; I shall use the 
 spare moments of the intervening eighteen 
 months in embroidering many pairs of satin 
 shoes and gorgeous bridal-bed hangings, 
 just as though I had never been to M — . 
 Education did not change the me oi me, nor 
 
24 The Love Story of 
 
 make my small mind eager to manage 
 affairs of large importance. 
 
 Hongkong, July 5. 
 My very dear Sheng Bei Li in Edinburgh : 
 
 Listen to the plaint of your cousin, Yang 
 Ping Yu : 
 
 The click of the croquet balls is heard no 
 more in our back court, the voice of my 
 piano is stilled; a breathless silence reigns in 
 our halls, where formerly was heard the 
 gabble of many voices. We knit, in fine. 
 All of us knit all of the time. It is our 
 present passion and has been for days. 
 With one exception not one of this house- 
 hold had seen a knitting needle until a week 
 ago — they now are the axis around which 
 we revolve ! You remember those little half- 
 hand mittens we girls at M — affected last 
 year? Yours are packed away in your 
 boxes somewhere as mine were until, in 
 sunning some things last week, they turned 
 up. My venerable mother, who looks on, 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 25 
 
 picks them up. "What are these?" says 
 she. "Gloves," return I. "Where did 
 you get them?" "Made them myself" 
 (with some pride). " How? " " Just so," 
 . — and I take up the needles lying near and 
 some left-over wool, and instruct Madame 
 in the art — henceforth we knit. At the 
 present rate it will take the flocks of a thou- 
 sand hills to furnish the Yang family with 
 wool. Among us we have attempted every- 
 thing, from shoes to trousers. The latter 
 is the task set me! When my father saw 
 my mother's hands so neatly encased, he de- 
 cided that his limbs ' might be likewise 
 adorned, much to their comfort on a win- 
 ter's day. So appeared this gentleman, some 
 days ago, with ten pounds of four-ply bee- 
 hive fingering, dark red in colour, with the 
 request that I knit for him awhile ! " It does 
 not seem half enough to cover them," he 
 said, stretching out a long leg rather dubi- 
 ously — "but it's all that they had of that 
 kind." I'll admit myself, those limbs are 
 very long. The infants' milk-mothers join 
 
26 The Love Story, of 
 
 us at the game, and between them they will 
 have the youngsters knee-deep in booties be- 
 fore they are out of swaddles. There are 
 afghans and nubias, wristlets and socks; 
 I assure you we cannot stop, any more than 
 the sun or the moon or the measles — we also 
 have our course to run through the knitting- 
 book I have borrowed. 
 
 My father comes in and, instead of asking 
 me to play for him as has been his custom 
 during these summer days, he walks over 
 to see how much progress I have made on 
 his garments, holds them up and measures 
 them, looks for a dropped stitch, and then 
 goes off to play for himself. He has worked 
 out with his great thumb the air which the 
 children used to sing every Sunday in the 
 chapel across the street — " Jesus loves me " 
 — and is very proud of his accomplishment. 
 But before I get away from the subject on 
 which I have written so much, let me point 
 my moral: Beware of teaching the art of 
 knitting to people-who-haven't-much-else- 
 to-do. 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 27 
 
 To return to the subject of music, I do 
 not believe I have told you lately how much 
 it means to me here. If I loved it for its 
 own sake at M — , here I cherish it for what 
 it means to others besides myself. We have 
 put my piano in the grotto-garden guest- 
 room below for the summer, and there we 
 all go in the twilight (when we can no 
 longer see to knit), and I tell them all I know 
 of the glad sound world. The voice of my 
 good angel has been known to stop quarrel- 
 lings, ease headaches and make dull business 
 cares vanish, since she has presided here. 
 " Music hath charms." 
 
 Hongkong, August i. 
 My dear Deserter : 
 
 You should reprimand me for filling my 
 letters so full of me and mine and leaving 
 your nearer kin out of the tale. The reason 
 lies in the fact that I have not gone to your 
 house as often as I used to do. They al- 
 ways wish to discuss you, and I am not cal- 
 lous enough to hear your character assailed 
 
28 The Love Story of 
 
 without wincing. Recent events, however, 
 make your place so attractive that my rick- 
 sha coolie goes there undirected when called 
 into service. Do you know that Su Shung, 
 our dear little schoolmate at M — , has al- 
 ready come into your home as your 
 brother's fiancee? And Kwang Ling tells 
 me you were his middleman, and arranged 
 for his betrothal ! I don't believe a Chinese 
 girl ever did do such a thing before, and I 
 dare say, if Bei Li can make an effectual 
 middleman in Hongkong, she can be a first- 
 rate doctor man in Edinburgh. You ex- 
 pected Su Shung would go back to school 
 for a year or so, but Taotai Kong has been, 
 ordered into Honan, so they have hurried 
 up the betrothal ceremony and she is estab- 
 lished in your rooms. They are extending 
 a new wing to your house and as soon as 
 it is finished they will be married. (These 
 new rooms are out over to the Lotus Lake). 
 Taotai Kong has sent over her beautiful 
 piano — such good times we have! She does 
 not play so well herself, but her very good- 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 29 
 
 ness makes my fingers supple. Of all the 
 girls in " our set " at school she was the best, 
 wasn't she ? Miss Dixon grieves to give her 
 up, and says that in all of her five years at 
 M — Su Shung never broke a rule or ap- 
 peared in a classroom unprepared. The 
 teachers called her the " Pearl of the Gar- 
 den," which is the name of a flower, I think. 
 Well, flower she is; her presence has filled 
 all your place with perfume, the odour of 
 which intoxicates me — I'm fairly drunk 
 with joy. And Kwang Ling will have a 
 chance to fall in love with his sweetheart be- 
 fore she is his wife, in good foreign fashion. 
 He is the luckiest fellow alive, though I 
 daresay he feels he has quite paid for his 
 prize when he foots the bills of a certain 
 middle lady, who attends medical lectures 
 in Edinburgh. 
 
 , August 15. 
 
 Dear Bei Li : 
 
 These precious babies of our household 
 being thirty days old, we have been having 
 
30 The Love Story of 
 
 the biggest head-shaving ceremony ever 
 heard of in Hongkong. I am quite sure if 
 the smallest of the wives of Yang should 
 present him with several more pairs of boy 
 babies, the family fortunes would be dissi- 
 pated on barbering. We began in the good 
 " old custom " way, and sent to each family 
 invited, fifteen eggs blood-red in colour. 
 I've forgotten how many were ordered but 
 it produced an egg panic in this metropolis. 
 On the day appointed it kept two servants 
 busy testing and weighing the silver presents 
 sent in, for my father would have everything 
 just right, — ID per cent, of the value of 
 each gift must be returned to the donor. 
 Since he cares not a rap for Buddhism or 
 Taoism, he must needs have five priests of 
 each order at the ceremony. How does the 
 adage go — " Too many cooks spoil the 
 soup " ? Well, ten pairs of hands so length- 
 ened the process that our dear babies were 
 tired out and squalling before they got the 
 final seal of rouge on their tiny noses. So 
 each little nose was cuddled on an amah's 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 31 
 
 soft breast, and off go our heroes to sleep, 
 leaving us to enjoy their first party. I 
 daresay it was just what was expected of 
 them. 
 
 Then we followed up with a three days' 
 " Hsi." (I'm always ashamed when word 
 poverty makes me use Chinese in an Eng- 
 lish letter, but what in the world is a " Hsi " 
 in English?) Well, we had three of the 
 best actors in China, with their trains — for 
 whose services my father paid a thousand 
 taels a night. The three great rooms below 
 were thrown into one hall and tables were 
 placed to accommodate a hundred guests a 
 night. Here, while they were feasted and 
 drank from six o'clock to twelve, they 
 watched the plays staged in front. For the 
 ladies of the family and their guests (we 
 were limited to twelve) a platform was 
 raised in the rear of the room, well railed 
 off from the crowd below, and here we had 
 our feast and looked on as long as we liked. 
 
 One night I invited three of the teachers 
 from M — , Miss Dixon among the number. 
 
32 The Love Story of 
 
 They enjoyed the feast and the play until 
 about ten o'clock, when Miss Dixon noticed 
 the presence of some well-dressed women in 
 the crowd of men below us. "And are 
 some of your ladies so very modern that 
 they dare stay among the gentlemen?" she 
 asked. "Oh dear," laughed I, "please 
 don't call them our ladies, they are what you 
 call the demi-monde." She looked so 
 shocked that I hastened to add, " They never 
 come until ten o'clock and we may leave 
 whenever you wish." Well, we withdrew at 
 once, and while waiting for their carriage. 
 Miss Dixon said, " Ping Yu, will you kindly 
 tell me why you invited me on the same 
 night those creatures were to be among your 
 guests?" "Oh, not guests," I insisted, 
 " My dear Miss Dixon, they buy the privi- 
 lege of helping to entertain my father's 
 friends." She said no more about it, but I 
 could see that she was offended. I have 
 about decided never to invite my teachers 
 here again. You know how I love and 
 honour them, it is beyond mere words, but 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 33 
 
 when you come down to facts, you must 
 admit they are queer. They break the old, 
 famihar rules of Chinese etiquette into tiny 
 bits and fling them away; but let one of us 
 dare offend their own notions of propriety 
 and see how quickly and surely they resent 
 it! 
 
 Now Miss 'Dixon circulates about Hong- 
 kong as free as the air itself, where thou- 
 sands of these demi-monde flourish and ply 
 their trade. She may meet them anywhere, 
 and she knows it. Then why should the 
 presence of a few of them in our Hall so 
 trouble her? When I asked her as much, 
 she looked like a funeral, and replied, " Ping 
 Yu, my child, you can't keep the birds from 
 flying over your head, but you can prevent 
 them from building nests in your hair." 
 
 Hongkong, September i. 
 My Dear Cousin : 
 
 That very small bark, the " Ping Yu," ac- 
 customed to float in quiet home waters, is 
 
34 The Love Story of 
 
 about to venture upon the high seas and she 
 is therefore quivering with excitement in 
 every timber. I know I can't hold in the 
 sail of that metaphor very long, so coming 
 down to plain prose, I may say, " I have 
 great news for you." A week ago Miss 
 Dixon dropped in at tiffin time, and calling 
 for me said, " Ping Yu, one of the teachers 
 out at Kenwood is ill of typhoid, and many 
 months of weakness are before her. 
 Twenty of M — 's former pupils are entered 
 out there for the Fall term, thanks to that 
 newspaper attack. Their teaching force, al- 
 ready small, is yet further shortened by this 
 illness. They came to me in their distress, 
 to know if among the Chinese students who 
 have passed through our hands at M — , I 
 could recommend one in this emergency. I 
 told Dr. Hart, the President, that I knew the 
 pearl he needed, but that it was so securely 
 locked in its casket of prejudice and con- 
 servatism that I had little hope of his ob- 
 taining it. However, I am here to do my 
 best. Ping Yu, you are the pearl." After 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 35 
 
 hesitating a moment, she continued: "You 
 are well able to give them what they want, 
 music and elementary English; you need 
 the work for your own development; they 
 need you. I earnestly desire you to con- 
 sider it. Dr. Hart calls on your father to- 
 day, but I know the decision remains with 
 you." She hurried away without giving me 
 an opportunity to think or reply — ^you must 
 know we have never been very free in our 
 conversations with each other, since I sent 
 her that paper she required of me — I told 
 you so. 
 
 Well, here seemed the chance to raise the 
 curtain on the second act in the drama of 
 my life, and the idea pleased me. 
 
 When my father came in, I opened the 
 subject at once. He had already heard 
 my news, and announced rather gruffly 
 that the " foreign devil " from Ken- 
 wood had called to see him earlier in the 
 day. 
 
 "Aren't you happy here, daughter?" he 
 asked. 
 
36 The Love Story of 
 
 " I am," I replied, " and, moreover, here 
 I will stay if you desire it." 
 
 "That sounds very well," chuckled he, 
 " but what have I to do with it ? You be- 
 long to the man in Canton." 
 
 Cousin, I don't think I quite enjoyed the 
 laughter which followed, for I had not even 
 thought of the man in Canton in connection 
 with this affair. What a poor little ship 
 that does not know its own Captain! I 
 may also say in your ear, I knew at once 
 that I should be provoked if it suited his 
 purpose to deny me this. However, I was 
 hopeful, for since His Excellency wished 
 his bride to possess a foreign education, and 
 other modern accomplishments, he might 
 not be displeased or surprised at unusual 
 developments. Well, I'll make a long story 
 short. We hailed the middleman and sent 
 him post-haste to Canton with our request, 
 and back comes he with word from the be- 
 fore-msntioned Captain of the small bark 
 " Ping Yu " 'that, " it being a very small af- 
 fair, we might do as we please." Much con- 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 37 
 
 cern he gives himself for his little ship ! But 
 I am not holding that against him; my chief 
 concern lies in the fact that I am lent to 
 Kenwood for ten months. 
 
 All day long I have been packing my boxes 
 and picking up the small odds and ends 
 of me scattered over this great house. 
 There is a sadness about it which I cannot 
 explain; all of my folks are feeling it, too. 
 My father said awhile ago, that if he didn't 
 have his new babies, he would not be will- 
 ing to lose me, whereupon my mother 
 tartly returned : " As for the household 
 ladies, they have only their knitting and 
 croquet." 
 
 I laughingly reminded them of the Mas- 
 ter's words : " It is only when the cold sea- 
 son comes that we know the pine and cypress 
 to be evergreens." No one has a thing to 
 §ay about the best part of me I've given 
 them in my music, but I shall have my re- 
 venge. With my first month's salary I shall 
 buy and present to this family a raucous, 
 scraping gramophone! 
 
38 The Love Story of 
 
 Kenwood Seminary, 
 Liang Kwang College, 
 September 5. 
 
 I feel like one who has taken a rapid walk 
 uphill, all breathless and suspended. (I be- 
 lieve one gets the same effect going down 
 hill, but the up sounds better.) I arrived 
 at Kenwood yesterday, feeling so important 
 that I almost expected a brass band to be- 
 gin to blare when the great gates were 
 opened for me. Alas! the only sound I 
 heard was caused by the turning of my car- 
 riage wheels upon the gravel walk. 
 
 You know the spot : quiet little Kenwood, 
 dressed in grey, sitting in the corner of the 
 green like a demure sister of the lusty col- 
 lege opposite. Little sister she really is, too, 
 for many of our girls (I trust you notice 
 the possessive) have brothers or cousins or 
 prospective husbands over there. One little 
 girl in the Kindergarten cries to see her 
 father, who is a student in the College. I 
 should like to spend a half -hour telling you 
 how beautiful it is, but I remember you have 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 39 
 
 seen it many a time. It is enough to say that 
 it isn't nearly so pretty to one who passes 
 by as it is to the one who " comes in and 
 takes off her hat," as Miss L. used to say. 
 
 Miss Duval is the Lady Principal, and 
 I've just had an hour with her, finding out 
 who and what and where I am. Inasmuch 
 as school opens to-morrow I have very few 
 hours left in which to get acquainted with 
 Yang Ping Yu, Professor. I hope to know 
 her better when I have talked over her pros- 
 pects with Sheng Bei Li, Physician ! Before 
 I enumerate my duties, let me remind you, 
 in the words of Lun Yti, that " The higher 
 type of man is not like a vessel which is 
 designed for some special use." 
 
 I am to work five hours daily and get 
 sore muscles in consequence, I suspect. An 
 early hour in primary English comes first, 
 then follow three hours with music pupils, 
 ranging from know-nothing and-never-saw- 
 a-piano-grade up to fourth-year girls. Then 
 last of all comes a whole sixty-minutes hour 
 of English conversation with pupils who are 
 
40 The Love Story of 
 
 supposed to know a little. Can't you see 
 the hand of Miss Dixon in that? She said 
 I needed Kenwood to complete me, and this 
 conversation business will — ^to a finish. It 
 is odd how much harder it is for me to 
 speak English than it is to write it. How 
 does a course of medical lectures in Edin- 
 burgh affect this disease ? 
 
 So much for my work. As for bed and 
 board it is found for me at " Common 
 Ground." This so uncommon place is a 
 very interesting two-years-old experiment 
 in the form of a teachers' residence. It is 
 a plain, substantial house to the right of 
 Kenwood proper, but almost hidden from 
 the road, so I suspect you have never no- 
 ticed it in passing. They tell me it is the 
 special hobby of Dr. Hart, our President, 
 and the money for it came from his mother 
 as a peace offering. The Harts are wealthy 
 Scotch people, and they were much cut up 
 when their only son came out to the ends 
 of the earth to live. It is Dr. Hart's idea, 
 and certainly a worthy one, that more fel- 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 41 
 
 lowship between the foreign and Chinese 
 teachers in the institution would work to the 
 general good of Kenwood. You know well 
 enough that the relation of the native 
 teachers in a faculty out here is that of 
 pupil-once-removed to the foreigners in the 
 body, no matter what the age or experience. 
 So in this Home the first step has been taken 
 toward establishing an equilibrium. There 
 are a dining-room, a living-room and the 
 servant's quarters on the ground floor, the 
 two floors above having five rooms and a 
 large common bath each. These rooms are 
 very simply furnished and, with board, are 
 included in our salaries. At present we are 
 a company of ten : four English, one Ameri- 
 can, five Chinese — all ladies, of course. 
 
 We breakfast as we choose, have a Chi- 
 nese tiffin at twelve, and an English dinner 
 at seven, after which, all who care to, gather 
 in the living-room for music and social glee. 
 They tell me that last year there was a bit 
 of Heaven on earth at Common Ground; 
 may we be like angelic this year ! 
 
42 The Love Story of 
 
 In all the arrangements I find but one 
 fault : there is a Lady Principal of Kenwood, 
 but the real boss is Dr. Hart. Miss Duval 
 assures me I make all reports to her, but 
 that the President is supposed to make a 
 daily inspection of classrooms, and meet 
 the teachers once a week at Common 
 Ground. Now in all my life I've only 
 known three men : my venerable father, my 
 elder brother and my cousin Kwang Ling, 
 your brother. I have steadily maintained 
 the apartness 'which is becoming in a young 
 maiden, and I had hoped to present myself 
 thus pure and uncontaminated to my bride- 
 groom some day. Even now I propose that 
 the next man with whom I am to do at all 
 shall be H. I. H. The Merchant Prince 
 of Canton. I may find it more difficult in 
 present circumstances, but I feel sure I can 
 manage it. Dr. Hart will hardly be inter- 
 ested enough in a-b-c's to inspect them at 
 eight o'clock; he can't in reason disturb a 
 music lesson: and if he should enter that 
 conversation class I'll order him out. 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 43 
 
 The weight of this letter will cost me 
 double postage but it is worth it as a seda- 
 tive. My dear doctor, though you may not 
 realize it, the Professor is yawning in your 
 face ! 
 
 Kenwood, September 20. 
 
 Two golden weeks have passed since I 
 last wrote you. That silver and even leaden 
 ones may follow does not dim the glory 
 shine of these present moments. I shall, 
 in honour, be ashamed to accept a stipend 
 for what is termed my work at this present 
 rate, and then, alas! how shall I get that 
 gramophone ? 
 
 We have just had our first faculty meet- 
 ing. Now what does that mean to you? I 
 had supposed we should all go into the par- 
 lour and sit on the edge of our chairs, note- 
 books in hand, while the Boss gave us yard- 
 long instructions on how it shall be done; 
 that then each one would read her weekly 
 report — I had already decided to tie mine 
 
44 The Love Story of 
 
 with black ribbon — meekly confess our fail- 
 ures and chronicle our hopes to do better. 
 But that is not the plan out here. As Dr. 
 Hart told me to-night, a faculty meeting at 
 this school is simply a meeting together of 
 the faculty. He reserves these two hours 
 a week out of his busy life at the college, 
 to hear and make requests and complaints 
 concerning the feminine side of this great 
 educational work. Every member of our 
 teaching force over here has a chance to air 
 her hobby-horses if they need it, but for the 
 most part we talk and sing and play. To- 
 night Misg Duval made a delightful some- 
 thing on her little silver stove; I've forgot- 
 ten what she calls the stove, but the sweet 
 was Fassar Budge if I remember rightly. 
 While we were waiting on her cookery, the 
 President asked my opinion about keeping 
 on two children of an actor at Kenwood. 
 They were here last year, but the father 
 had carefully concealed his identity, which 
 has lately been discovered. Dr. Hart was 
 for returning them to their home. You will 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 45 
 
 hardly believe me, but I took issue with 
 him! Why, Bei Li, one of those girlies is 
 the brightest music pupil I have. Now I am 
 very glad my father is of official rank, but 
 since my pupil's papa is not, and belongs to 
 a low estate, I propose to help the maiden 
 out and make such an attractive little lady 
 out of her that some official will be keen 
 to have her as his wife, and thus I argued 
 with Dr. Hart. He laughed at my enthusi- 
 asm and drily remarked, " I had heard you 
 were a conservative. Miss Yang ! " I hardly 
 know what a conservative Chinese woman 
 is, and if I have gained that reputation by 
 my former conduct at M — , then God for- 
 give me! Really, I never knew that such 
 people, that is, commoners, could be and 
 feel like us who have come from generations 
 of gentlemen, until I saw my little pupil's 
 soul rushing from her finger tips. 
 
 I quite forgot myself in my zeal for the 
 child, so I monopolized the President for 
 an hour. It makes my face burn to think 
 of it — but I gained my point, which is pride- 
 
46 The Love Story of 
 
 pleasing. I'm sure Dr. Hart is not like 
 other men. I do not feel any difference be- 
 tween him and a strong-minded woman, ex- 
 cept that he is more willing to hear you out. 
 He should be adopted by China, for he cer- 
 tainly has given himself to her and for her. 
 He thinks of nothing beyond those two 
 hundred and fifty boys under his care, and 
 these hundred girls. I am reminded of 
 Bishop Galloway's darkey: If Dr. Hart's 
 skin is white, his heart is streaked with 
 yellow. 
 
 My music work is all in order : I have my 
 own study with my name in bold letters on 
 the door. Inside there is a lovely new 
 Bechstein, which almost sings of itself. 
 Miss Rush, our American, is Musical Direc- 
 tor, and she should have this new piano, but 
 at Kenwood nobody seems to be hunting 
 the best things for herself. 
 
 And did you know that c-a-t, and " see 
 my ball," could be as interesting, my dear 
 cousin, as Paddie's Minuet? Just step in 
 some fine day at eight a.m. and I'll prove it 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 47' 
 
 to you. Dr. Hart is supposed to be here at 
 about eight-fifteen and he rarely misses an 
 " inspection." It is an affair of no moment. 
 You should time your visit to meet him 
 here and see how Miss Yang is in no wise 
 disturbed. I hardly know why I dreaded 
 it so much. I really much prefer that he 
 come, for he seems to set us off on our day's 
 journey merrily, like a shen fong. 
 
 There is left only my conversation class 
 to tell you about. I should never get 
 through it were it not for my good angel, 
 Miss Rush, who helps me prepare for it 
 every night. We are already comrades; of 
 course, she has direction of my work in 
 music, but we were friends from the first 
 tiffin, where we sat side by side. I daresay 
 in my weak way I was flattered when she ad- 
 mired my skill at carving a duck with chop- 
 sticks; at any rate, by dinner-time she had 
 the boldness to advise me not to eat bread 
 with a fork. In the living-room afterwards 
 she allowed me to stumble through accom- 
 paniments to her violin. 
 
48 The Love Story of 
 
 Kenwood Seminary, Hongkong, 
 October 15. 
 My Dear Bei Li : 
 
 The few weeks I've spent at Common 
 Ground make your last letter plain to me; 
 thus does experience expand and unfold our 
 intellects. A home, such as I have entered 
 here, is a revelation to me, and I had fancied 
 the absence of men gave it its peculiar and 
 beautiful freedom and charm. But, across 
 seas, you have found another where "the 
 father and brothers and sisters join to make 
 Bei Li, their week-end guest, so happy and 
 cosy." These old ancestral halls of ours are 
 very precious and imposing : do you suppose 
 they could be made cosy if one tried very 
 hard ? " We needs must love the highest 
 when we see it." I have visions and dream 
 dreams. When you and I become mistresses 
 of our ancestral domains we will take a root 
 of this exquisite little flower " The Cosy," 
 and see if it won't survive transplanting! 
 
 And I am reminded, — I must tell you of 
 Su Shung, who, within a month becomes 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 49 
 
 your brother's wife, and who, for years, 
 has been our heart-sister. You would never 
 find the happy sprite we knew at school in 
 the sad- faced woman at your home. She 
 has tried hard to be pleasing to your mother 
 and older sisters, but they are horrid to her, 
 horrid to Su Shung! I can but feel it is 
 because she is so dainty and sweet and good 
 that they are jealous and ashamed. They 
 do everj^hing to humiliate her except ill- 
 treat her body, — I do not suppose that 
 Kwang Ling would permit that. Madame, 
 your mother, did not enjoy piano noises, so 
 the beautiful gift from her father was sent 
 to the auction rooms. Your elder sister says 
 that Su Shung snores, therefore, the " Pearl 
 of the Garden " sleeps in the amah's room 
 while her own rooms are building. I was 
 so angry when I found this out that I hunted 
 up Kwang Ling and reported it to him. I 
 knew that as only son in your home, he 
 could make the way smooth for his fiancee, 
 if he chose to do so. I am almost ashamed 
 to write you how he treated the matter. He 
 
50 The Love Story of 
 
 laughed, and remarkeci that when Su Shung 
 had daughters-in-law of her own she would 
 do well to remember and get even ! 
 
 I came home and cried, a weakness to 
 which, you know, I am not given. I tried 
 to devise a way for her out of her misery, 
 but failed. What if she took the well-known 
 route, raw opium! But Su Shung would 
 not do that. She is the kind that suffers and 
 smiles, even when she serves as a hireling 
 in your household. You must write to 
 Kwang Ling; you stand high in his estima- 
 tion, and your words might have some effect. 
 They will be married before this reaches 
 you, but they will continue to live under 
 your father's roof; yes, Su Shung will have 
 to eat bitterness for many a day, even until 
 your mother's death gives her a more exalted 
 position among the Zungs, unless you can 
 make your brother realize what an incon- 
 siderate man he is. What a condition of 
 affairs! I groan under the burden of my 
 dear friend's woe, and other nameless imag- 
 inings. 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 51 
 
 I wonder what the Canton merchant- 
 prince is like — do you think Madame his 
 mother will like piano noises ? 
 
 Kenwood, November 15. 
 
 Do you remember that queer English 
 song we used to sing, " My days are gliding 
 swiftly by"? I recollect your saying you 
 wished yours did, but on the contrary they 
 crawled by on two legs and a stick. Well, 
 my dear, mine are " gliding swiftly." I 
 realize with a pang that a third of my al- 
 lotted days in this haven have rushed by, 
 days brimful of work and precious associ- 
 ations. With the great Sage I can say : " It 
 is the spirit of charity which makes a locality 
 good to dwell in." If I had not had so 
 much else to do, I should have written you 
 long letters with only Isadore Rush as sub- 
 ject. Her sweetheart says she is worthy a 
 book of sonnets — she let me read the letter, 
 
 I think perhaps she is pretty in a foreign 
 way. She is not a bit like you, but I sup- 
 
52 The Love Story of 
 
 pose beauty has no prescribed forms. Her 
 eyes and hair are the colour of an oldish 
 copper kettle and her mouth is in the shape 
 of a smile. I never saw a Chinese mouth 
 cut by that pattern, did you ? Our rooms — 
 Isadore's and mine — adjoin, and last night, 
 when I peeped in to bid her good-night, she 
 was sitting before her window in some sort 
 of loose garment, long and flowing. Her 
 disobedient, curly, red hair was all about her 
 shoulders, her throat was bare, and I 
 realized that I was face to face with some- 
 thing very beautiful. " A happy entrance," 
 she cried. " I am feeling communicative, 
 so you must sit here by me and let me talk." 
 There in the moonlight, she told me about 
 Jim. I suppose he has another name, 
 though she did not mention it. 
 
 " You will be much happier for knowing 
 more about Jim," she assured me. (Up to 
 this time she has only given me an occa- 
 sional glimpse of a letter. ) "I hardly know 
 how I have withheld him from our confabs 
 so long. Everybody who knows me has to 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 53 
 
 know Jim sooner or later, and the sooner 
 the better, say I. He will be coming out in 
 less than six months, and then, ' Oh, happy 
 day ! oh day so dear ! ' " she broke into song 
 like a happy child. " You know, Bunnie," 
 she continued after a bit, " Jim and Leonard 
 Hart were kids together, and later, when 
 they were in college, they decided to come 
 out here as missionaries— doctor and par- 
 son. It was all smooth sailing for the par- 
 son — his people own a copper mine over in 
 America — but Jim was poor and had to 
 help his family out a bit, so, when Leonard 
 Hart was ready to start for China, Jim had 
 just begun to study medicine. However, 
 he finished, and was ready to come out last 
 year. We were deep in our wedding plans, 
 for he was coming by Baltimore for me, 
 when in walked the Bishop with some plans 
 of his own. He thought it best for Jim 
 to take some work at the Orthopaedic for 
 another year. Kenwood had been expecting 
 me, so I finally agreed to come by myself — 
 to the very ends of the earth — and wait for 
 
54 The Love Story of 
 
 him. You don't know what it meant. You 
 see I've known Jim for centuries, — always, 
 it seems to me, — ^and I depend on him en- 
 tirely. Folks out here think Leonard Hart 
 is fine, but when my doctor comes, the par- 
 son and boss hereabouts will take a back 
 seat 1 " Then she took both of my hands, 
 and looking straight into my face with her 
 great, honest brown eyes, she solemnly said : 
 " Squirrel Nutkin, there's nothing in the 
 wide world like loving a man ! " With that 
 she broke out into the ballad always on her 
 lips, which I begin to imderstand, 
 
 " Oh, happy day, oh day so dear. 
 Thou art so far, and yet so near ! " 
 
 I wish you were here, Bei Li. I should 
 like to sit in the dark and talk with you 
 about many things. For instance, this 
 amazing joy called love — ^between a man 
 and a woman. It is not for you or me, 
 though we might be worthy. Isadore knows 
 her Prince as well as I know you; she con- 
 fesses her love with glowing face and shin- 
 ing eyes; she shows me his picture, and far 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 55J 
 
 above all she expects to live his life — be one 
 with him — when they are united. Using 
 one of her pet expressions, — it beats me ! 
 
 Kenwood, December i. 
 
 Bei Li, cousin, I have gritted my teeth, 
 and gripped my pen, and you shall have the 
 report of your brother's wedding before I 
 rise from my chair. I've tried to bring my- 
 self to this point for a fortnight, but a line 
 in your last letter has dried the ink in my 
 pen every time I set it upon paper. You 
 say: " Thus far in my life there is but one 
 act with which I am perfectly pleased. That 
 is the bringing together of Kwang Ling and 
 Su ^hung." Well, my dear, I'll have to 
 vomit out my sad conviction — you never 
 did anything so unfortunate. I am the un- 
 willing chronicler of some sad history. 
 
 To begin with, Su Shung is a Christian, 
 and since she has lived at your home she has 
 gone regularly to her Sabbath services. No 
 one has said her nay in this, though I've 
 expected it. 
 
56 The Love Story of 
 
 You know I care nothing for the Chris- 
 tian religion. I have always felt it was a 
 weakness to have to be bolstered up with 
 prayer and preaching as well as the hopes of 
 eternal life, in order to be a decent, honour- 
 able woman here. When it comes to a mat- 
 ter of right and wrong, I have never found 
 it necessary to grovel on my knees to keep 
 from sliding down the wrong direction. 
 However, if there are people to whom such 
 genuflections are a help and a comfort, why 
 should I object? Why should any one? 
 When all is said and done, Christianity is 
 but a harmless fad. I may say in passing 
 that I have been more nearly persuaded of 
 its helpfulness by the everyday life of Su 
 Shung than by any abstract thinking on the 
 subject. 
 
 But coming back to the subject of the 
 wedding, when the plans for her marriage 
 were under discussion, Su Shung begged 
 that everything be very simple and that her 
 minister officiate. Whereupon your mother 
 decides that everything shall be very elabo- 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 57 
 
 rate ; that every " heathen " rite and cere- / 
 mony possible shall be gone through with, 
 and in order to complete the merry jest, all 
 shall take place on Su Shung's Sabbath. 
 Even I, who have no religious scruples, was 
 revolted at the endless kowtowings of your 
 dignified brother, as he stood by his blind- 
 folded bride, to whom he was fastened with 
 a little red string. And who was Master 
 of Ceremonies? A miserable Taoist priest 
 who lives by serving soup! At his com- 
 mand, and under the direction of a paid 
 woman-who-knows-how, Kwang Ling 
 bowed and bumped his head and otherwise 
 made an ass of himself. I've seen such 
 things before, of course, but this time I hap- 
 pened to be an interested, thinking onlooker. 
 What followed made me a defiant woman 
 fighting for a newly-born principle. You 
 remember the vow which six of us girls 
 made two years ago at your suggestion, 
 when we had been present at Miss L.'s wed- 
 ding. "That, so help us, the indecencies 
 of the bridal chamber should fall to none 
 
58 The Love Story of 
 
 of us." You were away, but the four of 
 us here decided to do our best for Su 
 Shung's protection. 
 
 Our plan was to take with us each a reliable 
 amah to the wedding, and at the end of the 
 ceremony proper, we would follow the bride 
 into her chamber and remain with her, until 
 her husband came to claim her — meanwhile 
 keeping the boisterous crowd out of the 
 room. It worked like a charm for a time, 
 for none of Kwang Ling's companions 
 dared pass our guard of amahs and come 
 into the room where there were four un- 
 married young ladies. Su Shung had just 
 said, " I am so glad that none of those men 
 touched me," when in walked Madame 
 Zung, your mother. She marched to the 
 bedside, took her daughter-in-law by the 
 arm and roughly pushed her into the other 
 room and barred the door in our faces, with 
 a laugh. Being guests she could hardly ask 
 us out of the room, but one need not con- 
 sider the feelings of a member of the family. 
 We heard her open the doors into the court 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 59 
 
 and those into the hall of feasting, and the 
 rabble from both sides rushed in to see and 
 tease the bride. Such ribald jests, such 
 coarse laughter as never before defiled my 
 ears, were flung at the " Pearl of the Gar- 
 den " for two mortal hours ! Until, in fact, 
 the rowdies were so heated with wine and 
 passion that they durst not stay longer. 
 
 Kwang Ling's best friend boasts that he 
 tore her veil from her head and had the first 
 peep at Kwang Ling's " Beauty," thus 
 thwarting another friend who had cut her 
 cheek with his long finger-nail in his des- 
 perate attempt to be first in lifting her silken 
 head covering. That accounts for the blood 
 stains on her wedding gown. Bei Li, Bei 
 Li! Our dainty rose had better been a 
 flaunting hollyhock ! For four days she was 
 prostrated from the shame of it. 
 
 I hold up my fingers and count : one-two- 
 three- four-five-six. Six moons. Ping Yu, 
 and you also are a bride, the bride of the 
 Canton merchant-prince. What is he? 
 How can I know ? And then, Bei Li, I look 
 
6o The Love Story of 
 
 at a small package I have bought. It con- 
 tains raw opium. What is cowardly? 
 What is heroic? Who can decide? I at 
 least shall not suffer from religious 
 scruples. 
 
 Kenwood, Hongkong, January. 
 
 Bei Li, dearest, it lacks only a few min- 
 utes to twelve, but I must use those in writ- 
 ing a note to you. I've been so free to criti- 
 cise your faults in the past, that I am duty 
 bound to confess to you some of my own 
 indiscretions. 
 
 We have lately had a three-days' holiday 
 at the " Jesus' Holy Birthday " season. The 
 Chinese teachers here planned a trip to Can- 
 ton on the new railway. I could not join 
 them in this — if good old signs don't fail I 
 shall get to Canton soon enough ! I had ex- 
 pected to go home, but could not. I am too 
 much of a coward to look at the hopeless 
 white face of our little Su Shung — she of the 
 sunny smile! — to be near for three succes- 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 6i 
 
 sive days. So I determined to spend the 
 time in quiet rest in my room at Common 
 Ground. I should, / would, shepherd my 
 flock of scattered principles, for well I know 
 they have strayed, and sadly. 
 
 All of us had been invited to the Presi- 
 dent's home for Christmas dinner, but as 
 usual I had refused. (We begin to realize 
 out here that I am a conservative, sure 
 enough. ) 
 
 Well, Bei Li, cousin, for two tired days 
 I wooed my flock with dulcet tone and sharp 
 command — they would have none of me ! I 
 know not if the flock is changed or the shep- 
 herd, but they no longer belong to each 
 other, and you who know me must also 
 know that it breaks my heart to admit it ! 
 
 I arose on Christmas morning tired, oh, 
 mortal tired of my losing fight. Isadore 
 sang like a lark in the adjoining room, where 
 she reviewed her finery for the evening. 
 With all my soul I envied her with her light 
 heart, and finally I went in and told her so. 
 " Now, Squirrel," she said, " you are taking 
 
62 The Love Story of 
 
 life too seriously. Why don't you just turn 
 loose and have a good time ? I dare you to 
 go to Dr. Hart's dinner! It would do you 
 heaps of good just to sit on your scruples 
 for once." (One never forgets Isadore's 
 odd speeches.) "But I have refused," I 
 weakly replied. " Well, you blessed child," 
 cried she, " if you will just let me take 
 Leonard Hart word that you have changed 
 your mind, I need send him no other gift this 
 day," and away she ran with the message. 
 I did not stop to consider, but sent for 
 my hair-dresser and manicure, and spent 
 the day in her hands. I was the guest of 
 honour that night, being the only Chinese 
 lady present at that dinner of twelve, and I 
 am really ashamed to tell you how deeply 
 I enjoyed every moment of the evening. 
 Your straying 
 
 Yang Ping Yu. 
 
 My very dear Cousin : 
 
 Anything I write you to-night must bear 
 the stamp of Isadore's personality. She 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 63 
 
 came in just as I opened my desk: I had 
 expected to spend an hour with you, or 
 perhaps more, talking drear, solemn things, 
 but she has chattered away like a magpie, 
 and I am left with my mind full of her and 
 hers — dear knows I am glad enough to lose 
 myself. 
 
 I am most thoroughly interested in that 
 " affair " of hers, anyway. I find it far bet- 
 ter than a story book, this living love-tale, 
 and seeing I have written you so much about 
 it, I do hope it interests you. What each 
 of the two says and does and is, every day, 
 is duly jotted down, and when ten such 
 records have accumulated, they annotate the 
 whole with love, and send it overseas to the 
 other. 
 
 What would my Prince think if I were to 
 send him the thrilling news that Yang Ping 
 Yu, his fiancee, had learned to eat jam for 
 her breakfast! I daresay it is the annota- 
 tions that count for most. 
 
 Sometimes Isadore reads me snatches 
 from Jim's letters, for she insists that I need 
 
64 The Love Story of 
 
 a course in higher love ! Once it was only 
 a line, " Dear Glory of my Manhood," once 
 a confession of jealousy concerning Dr. 
 Hart, ending with, " How can a sensible 
 fellow like Hart fail to be captivated by 
 your darling red head and saucy lips? 
 With this acute heart trouble I find it dull 
 business to study the mending of feet ! " 
 The quick tears filled her eyes when she read 
 me that, and she said, " I love him for it, 
 but I shall assure him that Leonard Hart 
 doesn't know there's a red-headed girl 
 within forty miles of Kenwood. If I wanted 
 him to notice me I should dye it black." 
 However, it was to-night's message that in- 
 terested me most of all, and I shall tell you 
 just what he said. " What a poor stick I 
 am without you ! When you are near I feel 
 a Hercules, whose twelve labours are none 
 too heavy; but with you away, I feel more 
 like poor Samson shorn of his strength." 
 Then he asked her to advise him concerning 
 a course in optics. " For," he continued, 
 " in small things and large I would be as 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 65 
 
 you would have me, and already I find my- 
 self dependent on your good judgment." 
 Fancy ! 
 
 Bei Li, even I can see that Isadore Rush 
 is not a big woman like Miss Dixon or Miss 
 Duval or you, but with all her soul she loves 
 that man, and, if I mistake not, she has 
 halfway made him. It is the most wonder- 
 ful vision in the world. You and I have 
 read hundreds of pages of fiction together, 
 and in high-minded disgust have skipped the 
 "slush" as unworthy our attention; per- 
 haps we missed something by that, for when 
 two honest, living, loving souls thus bare 
 their hearts on paper, the record, if true, 
 becomes sacred literature! 
 
 That truism of the Master sticks in my 
 mind. " Men's natures are alike; it is their 
 habits that carry them apart." Is it possible 
 that the customs we inherit from our ances- 
 tors have robbed Chinese womanhood of its 
 birthright ? 
 
 Your perplexed, 
 
 Yang Ping Yu. 
 
66 The Love Story of 
 
 Kenwood, Hongkong, March i. 
 
 Between small Kenwood and the great 
 burly College the authorities have run a 
 privet hedge, which kindly includes Com- 
 mon Ground in its protective capacity. Like 
 everything else here it has done its best, and 
 after five years it presents a solid front 
 which even a bird may pass through only 
 with close- folded wings. However, my eyes 
 and ears can pierce it, and many a letter to 
 you has been interrupted in its free flow by 
 the voices on the tennis courts just across. 
 I've never grown bold enough to walk de- 
 liberately over and watch the College teach- 
 ers at this sport, but from my cosy seat on 
 this side of the hedge I am often an unob- 
 served observer. 
 
 Isadore has just gone over in white tennis 
 toggery, boasting to me as she passed that 
 she and Leonard Hart could " wipe out " 
 any two that dared to face them. Well may 
 she boast, if he is to be her partner. What 
 a man he is! I sit here and try to realize 
 that he who plays there, bare-headed and 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 67 
 
 bare-armed like a lusty schoolboy, is the 
 same that, clad in clericals, talks into our 
 hearts on the Sabbath. Isadore says he is 
 best when he laughs aloud and shows all his 
 white teeth. Miss Duval says he was born 
 for the teacher's desk. But I like him best 
 when he prays for the poor. 
 
 It wasn't of him, however, I meant to 
 write you this afternoon, but of an incident 
 that occurred just where I am sitting a fort- 
 night ago. 
 
 School was out and I was sitting here, 
 as I often do, alone, enJG(ying the last rays 
 of the sleepy sun in my quiet corner, when 
 suddenly I was interrupted by Isadore Rush. 
 She came like a whirlwind, scattering my 
 papers in the onrush of her down-sitting be- 
 side me. She always strikes straight from 
 the shoulder, and this time the blow was for 
 me. Looking me straight in the eye she 
 cried : " Yang Ping Yu, you have been a 
 traitor to my friendship ! " 
 
 Be assured I was amazed. For to me is 
 not her friendship the golden apple of this 
 
68 The Love Story of 
 
 Hesperidean garden? I begged her to tell 
 me what she meant; and this is what she 
 said : — 
 
 " You are a disappointment; but I am 
 going to tell you all about it, — ^you deserve 
 that much, I suppose. 
 
 " You know Mrs. Gossip usually drives 
 past the gates of Common Ground; but this 
 afternoon she stopped and trailed her skirts 
 up our gravel walk and found me on the 
 veranda and " 
 
 " Rolled me as a sweet morsel under her 
 tongue ? " I interposed, for she hesitated to 
 proceed. 
 
 " No, not that," she said finally, " but she 
 did tell me some very astonishing facts 
 about you, which it seems to me I should 
 have known before, if you had been fair 
 with me." 
 
 Still uncomprehending, I would hear 
 more, so she cried : — 
 
 " Oh, Bunnie child, don't you know that 
 in common decency, one must reward the 
 confidences of a friend? Here for months 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 69 
 
 I have poured into your eager ears the tale 
 of my 'affair'; I have shown you Jim's 
 own dear letters and his picture, because it 
 all seemed so new and pleasing to you, 
 whom I thought so unknowing in such 
 things, and lo ! I find that you are engaged, 
 — you — and have been for ages, that your 
 wedding day is perhaps nearer than my own, 
 and you have never said a word! You've 
 sold me, and I am so ashamed and humili- 
 ated and disappointed that I shall just cry," 
 whereupon she did. 
 
 Bei Li, it was the hardest moment of my 
 life — a time so full of momentous conse- 
 quences for me and my soul, that it seemed 
 as if all the world about us hung still and 
 expectant. I loosed her hold on me and 
 walked the length of the privet hedge ; God 
 knows I knew why I had not told her ! And 
 then I walked straight back to her; I took 
 her head between my hands and said to her. 
 
 " Isadore, Isadore, little red-rose love of 
 a girl, you shall know all of it, for the whole 
 is so very small. I am engaged, but I have 
 
70 The Love Story of 
 
 never seen his face, nor heard his voice. As 
 for him, he neither knows nor cares to 
 know — would God he did ! That is all there 
 is to the romance of Ping Yu." 
 
 Kenwood Confessional. 
 
 Bei hi, MY DEAR FrIEND : 
 
 We read some confessions once and I 
 remember saying, " The fellow doesn't seem 
 to want to confess and the confessions do 
 not seem very important, so just why did he 
 do it ? " To which you replied, " Don't take 
 it too seriously, dream child, the man is 
 making a book." Well, I am not making 
 a book, yet I know as though it were before 
 me, graven on tablets of stone by an invisible 
 hand, that in the future when I write you, I 
 shall stand as a poor, frail creature before 
 a confessor, telling those things which by 
 preference she would hide in her own bosom, 
 but cannot. 
 
 The weeks following the events recorded 
 in my last letter to you were such as I had 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 71 
 
 supposed no well-poised, loving daughter 
 in China could ever pass through. When 
 Saturdays came, with all my being I 
 dreaded the rest-day, which would bring 
 me so many hours with only my problems 
 for companions — ^problems for which I had 
 no solution. 
 
 On one such day, in order to slip my 
 soul's presence, I went down to house 
 prayers. Miss Duval sat in the chair and 
 read from her little Testament the story of 
 the disobedient and prodigal son. You 
 know the whole of the story, but eight words 
 of it were written for me, namely : " I will 
 arise, and go to my father." There was the 
 solution of my problem. Oh, God ! it seemed 
 so simple! I resolved then and there that 
 on the next morning when all of Kenwood 
 sat in the pretty little church at service, I 
 would arise and go to my father and say — 
 but, further than that I dared not venture 
 thought. 
 
 I had decided to tell you the whole of it, 
 
72 The Love Story of 
 
 circumstantially, but I cannot. I did go 
 to him, to my aged, venerable father; I told 
 him that an evil in my own heart made it 
 impossible for me to marry the pearl mer- 
 chant's son ; I besought him, for love of me, 
 to stop the betrothal arrangements already 
 in hand — ^to intervene in my behalf and 
 break the engagement. 
 
 His rage, his disappointment were ter- 
 rible. With purple face and clenched fists, 
 he towered over me, and I thought he would 
 strike me down. I wish he had, that bodily 
 aches and pains might in a way draw my 
 mind from my soul's torture. But no ! He 
 turned from me, and with an oath that I 
 durst not repeat for its very blackness, he 
 drove me from his presence. 
 
 Since then only twelve hours have passed, 
 the night of that awful day is upon me, and 
 I feel pinched and grey and old. Bei Li, 
 darling, listen to me, understand me. Once 
 there lived a maiden so soft and self-ap- 
 proved, so like a queen butterfly, that she 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 73 
 
 lived above the earth and contemned those 
 sordid creatures who put their hands to 
 plows and soiled their garments in the mire. 
 The realm in which she lived was full of 
 skulls and dead men's bones, but since she 
 was the butterfly, and fed upon the blos- 
 soms of the peach and wild apple, how 
 should she care for the nature of the soil 
 from which they sprung? Oh; friend, be- 
 lieve me she did not know. Then she 
 caught a vision of a land so different — yet 
 flower-filled — a blessed, restful land, where 
 even butterflies come down to earth nor soil 
 the soft-toned splendour of their wings! 
 
 If you have beside you in your desk a 
 package of letters in this hand, I beseech 
 you, take it out and toss it into your blazing 
 fire, for she who wrote them died to-day, 
 and every sweet ambition of her life was yet 
 unfilled ! 
 
 Kenwood^ during the April days. 
 Since that day of darkness, no word has 
 passed between my home and me. On the 
 
74 The Love Story of 
 
 Monday following, a coolie delivered to 
 Common Ground an old, red pigskin trunk, 
 addressed to me. It contained two and a 
 half pairs of worn and useless satin shoes; 
 some soiled and outgrown garments; a book 
 or two; and a string of tarnished buttons, 
 much fancied by me in my childhood days. 
 There were other baubles, I believe; I scarce 
 could see them through my tears. 
 
 And thus the old house shook the very 
 dust of me from off its feet. I was des- 
 perate! I deserted my classes, called a 
 brougham and hurried to my home, my peo- 
 ple. I think at that moment I would have 
 welcomed the merchant prince, but at your 
 great gate and mine I was refused an en- 
 trance. I have committed the unpardonable 
 sin in a Chinese daughter. 
 
 I can imagine how word has gone to him 
 in Canton that " our lovely daughter has 
 died of a loathsome disease," and that the 
 middleman fingers a fuller purse the while. 
 
 Well, and have I not ? Your guilt is white 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 75 
 
 beside the blackness of my own. Do they 
 not relate how you, with your puny fingers, 
 seized your father's beard the first time he 
 took you in his arms ? He was forewarned, 
 and armed himself against your leaving 
 him. But I, oh wretched memory! These 
 nineteen years have I lain in my father's 
 bosom, caressing his cheek, yea, boasting 
 for him of a daughter so beyond compare! 
 
 My nights, all filled with precious, idle, 
 futile dreams, fly past like homing pigeons. 
 My days — ^well, if I wished to smile, I would 
 remember you, and say they crawl by on one 
 leg and a stick. The end of this small toil 
 of mine, how different from the beginning! 
 I only long for my last day of service here, 
 so that I can sit down quietly and look my 
 future in the face. I am unafraid; there 
 is bed and rice and good clothes for the 
 educated young woman of China, of that I 
 am sure, but what shall feed my soul's hun- 
 ger ? I am lonely — ^lonely ! This dull paper 
 only has heard the cry of my desolate heart ! 
 
76 The Love Story of 
 
 When the last music lesson is over, the 
 last halting " conversation " closed, the last 
 inspection granted, I shall say a few hur- 
 ried good-byes, and turn my face from this 
 place forever. Some day, some one will 
 guess, and tell them "here a pitiful, poor half- 
 tale of my soul's experience at Kenwood. 
 
 Do you wonder, do you know, what has 
 become of Isadore and many other new- 
 old friends here, to whom you would have 
 long since given your confidence and gone 
 on your way rejoicing ? Do you know why I 
 have not gone to Dr. Hart, and offered my- 
 self for further service here? Under the 
 privet hedge, this very afternoon, when the 
 sleepy sun can search me out I think I mean 
 to tell you all. 
 
 Under the Privet Hedge. 
 Just across the way they are playing at 
 tennis; their annual tournament is on. 
 They play as if life itself were the issue of 
 the game and I hear the umpire call-fifteen- 
 thirty- forty-game ! Of course Dr. Hart 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 77 
 
 will win. What set has he not won? Who 
 stands before a god ? Not they — ^mere men 
 — so how should I, a poor, frail woman ? I, 
 yes, I, Bei Li, have lost to him a love-set, 
 and for me, it was the game of life. So 
 I do not sue for further work at Kenwood. 
 As for Isadore, I could not trust her with 
 a half -story. Do you remember the tale the 
 foreign lady used to tell her children in the 
 evening on the porch? (She did not mind 
 the presence of Chinese girls in her audi- 
 ence.) It was about "Little Redcoat." 
 There comes a line of it to mind: 
 " Grandma, what makes your eyes so big? " 
 " To see with, my child ! " Well, those red- 
 brown eyes of Isadore were made to " see 
 with," my child. 
 
 Kenwood, May 12. 
 
 Our merry Miss Bondfield used to say 
 
 when we lagged at the first one-and-two-and- 
 
 three-and, in the tiresome calisthenics, " My 
 
 dear girls, don't you know that well-begun 
 
78 The Love Story of 
 
 is half-done ? " Let that suggest to you, 
 my patient friend, how much easier it is 
 for me to write to you to-day than oh, for 
 many a week. With all my heart I thank 
 you for just letting me tell you. It is as 
 though, having been bowed down with some 
 heavy burden, a kind hand had lightened the 
 load. I look up so eased, so free, so un- 
 ashamed. I do not understand myself, but 
 I do not blush or blanch to confess to you 
 an unrequited love for Leonard Hart. Who 
 would blush at having plucked for herself 
 the first red rose her eyes had ever beheld? 
 And if, perchance, there were a thorn, what 
 a poor soul if she note the prick of it while 
 she breathes the matchless perfume of her 
 perfect blossom? 
 
 To quote the words of the master: 
 " Having heard the True Way in the morn- 
 ing, what matters it if one should come to 
 die at night?" 
 
 He was given me to love, and from now 
 until the end of my poor small life, this soul- 
 possession shall make me richer than all 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 79 
 
 the gold and pearls of the Canton merchant- 
 prince. 
 
 As for Dr. Hart, it is as though a crip- 
 pled butterfly had fallen in his path, and he, 
 unwittingly, had further maimed it with 
 his foot. And he shall never know, nor 
 any else in all the world, but you. 
 
 If you were here beside me, I know what 
 you would say : " Now, Ping Yu, hold ! 
 Go back and tell me where all of this be- 
 gan." You would bid the river seek its 
 spring. Dismiss the thought that it could 
 be any fault or folly on his part. With 
 kindly wisdom he has made us feel that each 
 one had her share and lot in the develop- 
 ment of Kenwood. It so happens that I 
 alone, among the Chinese teachers here, am 
 from the class from which we draw our 
 pupils, and so, in his desire for knowledge 
 of our people he has used even me. Yes, 
 Bei Li, it was all right and good. How 
 could he know what his discussions meant 
 to me? — ^that my soul stood still on the 
 threshhold of its morning until he came and 
 
8o The Love Story of 
 
 bade it enter upon its day. For weeks I've 
 slipped away from every chance meeting 
 with him, and feigned excuse, not daring 
 one more time to face the kindness in his 
 eyes. 
 
 Isadore's Jim has come; he really has 
 another name, and is known in polite society 
 as Dr. Hyde. I hardly see how we shall 
 manage the name out here, where he has so 
 long been Jim to us. Isadore had great 
 plans in her red head for her wedding. It 
 should come off in the church, with me doing 
 bridesmaid to Dr. Hart's bestman. Fancy! 
 I refused, and flatly. She was as angry as 
 she is able to be in her present exalted state. 
 She flung out : " Yang Ping Yu, it's not a 
 bit nice of you to treat Leonard Hart like 
 a viper just because he is a foreigner. After 
 all is said and done, you are a Chinaman 
 to the heart's core." She instinctively knew 
 that the real reason for rny refusal lay in 
 him. Oh, Bei Li, pray that my feet carry 
 
A Maiden of. Cathay 8i 
 
 me hence, before her great eyes search me, 
 and find my ugly darling secret. 
 
 They finally had the wedding over at the 
 Bishop'-s manse, with no one there but Dr. 
 Hart and Miss Duval. To-day there is the 
 big bridal dinner over at the President's 
 home, followed by a reception at Common 
 Ground. I have plead a sick headache, 
 which Isadore calls a sick excuse. 
 
 There are yet ten more days of fight, with 
 the crowd looking on. I am sure I shall do 
 better battle when the sweet attractions of 
 this place are left behind. 
 
 From a New Heaven and a New Earth. 
 
 June 30. 
 
 Those dread ten days are over and gone, 
 and quite ten more of oh, such different 
 days ! Oh Bei Li dear, I have been up and 
 out, and heard the music of the spheres, and 
 of that symphony of ringing worlds I bring 
 you word. 
 
 I hear you say : " Hold, hold. Ping Yu — 
 remember I'm not musical." Let me draw 
 
82 The Love Story of 
 
 myself out of the clouds, my present dwell- 
 ing-place, and do my best to tell you of the 
 flight I have taken. 
 
 It was the twentieth of June, when Ken- 
 wood gave her annual music festival. Com- 
 mon Ground was a bower of blossoms with 
 a thousand birds doing honour to the day — 
 this does not sound like me, so I'll begin 
 again. 
 
 " On the twentieth of June the School of 
 Kenwood gave its annual musical festival 
 The pupils acquitted themselves with credit 
 to their teachers " (so much I quote from 
 the " Daily News ") but what follows was 
 never before writ by pen. 
 
 The guests were all gone, and I, Ping Yu, 
 had slipped away to my study to say my last 
 good-bye to the spot in a Serenade — Schu- 
 bert's. The morrow would find me busily 
 getting my boxes off for M — , where I 
 should spend the week with Miss Dixon. 
 Into her capable hands I had decided to com- 
 mit my immediate future. 
 
 My sorrows and myself were lost in my 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 83 
 
 sad soundworld; I know not how long I 
 sat there, when suddenly the door opened 
 and in stepped Dr. Hart. I saw that his 
 face was pale and drawn as he walked 
 across the room, and then my tear-stained 
 eyes fell to my idle hands and scattered 
 sheets of music. He leaned his arm on the 
 piano above me, and bending over, said in 
 tones I have never heard before : " Oh, 
 Child, wherein have I offended ? " 
 
 I looked, Bei Li, and oh, who was it spoke 
 of the light that never was on sea or land ? 
 'Twas in my Prince's eyes! — and he had 
 stooped to me. I did not withhold myself 
 when his dear arms invited me. That haven 
 was, and is, my Heaven. God help us, 
 friend. We may have sinned, but I defy the 
 world to match that perfect hour of bliss! 
 My Leonard says he walked alone, fully a 
 mile away, and that he heard the sad strains 
 of that Serenade, and could not endure the 
 good-bye therein. 
 
 Isadore, that chattering bird of paradise, 
 says that she has known for months that 
 
84 The Love Story of 
 
 she and I were walking up the same moun- 
 tain path, but she maintains that the pros- 
 pect on her side was ever more alluring. 
 " It * takes a thief to catch a thief,' " she 
 whispered, " and you and I have been at the 
 old trick of stealing hearts ! " What a 
 whimsical dear lass she is. 
 
 We face a future all unknown to us, but 
 we know each other and every day the Good- 
 man repeats : — 
 
 " God's in His Heaven 
 All's right with the world." 
 I am already a social outcast, so we have 
 only his outcasting to consider. The dear 
 old Bishop says all that he requires to know 
 of us before he makes us man and wife, is 
 that we love each other, — of that we 
 are certain. However, in our little church 
 here to-night, his withered hands shall con- 
 firm me. Do I believe? I hardly know, but 
 I shall like to worship the God whom Leon- 
 ard serves. Moreover, it shall never be said 
 of him that he married a heathen Chinese. 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 85 
 
 -From the Prow of 
 
 Paradise House-boat. 
 BeiLi: 
 
 And this is the end of the matter for you, 
 the beginning of all things for me. Follow- 
 ing my confirmation the Bishop told a few 
 of our friends out at the College, and next 
 day, in the early morning, he, with Isadore 
 and Jim, drove with us to the Cathedral in 
 the City, the Church in which you said you 
 could always " rest your heart." There, 
 finally and forever, my Bei Li, I rested my 
 heart. 
 
 We came away towards Canton in a 
 house-boat. We do not know where we go 
 to-morrow; we certainly have no plans for 
 next week, but the very joy of Heaven fills 
 this tiny boat, and wherever we go we take 
 that blessing along. 
 
 Your old friend, with a new love, 
 
 Yang Ping Yu. 
 
A POSTSCRIPT BY SHENG BEI LI, 
 M.D. 
 
 In spite of her many requests to the con- 
 trary I kept the bundle of letters marked 
 " Ping Yu." But finally I felt they were 
 scarcely my own, and in a merry mood I 
 had them bound, and presented them to 
 Leonard Hart on his paper wedding-day. 
 He did not arise from his desk until he had 
 read them all and then he called to me and 
 said : " Doctor, the tale is not finished. 
 You must write a postscript " ; so here it is : 
 
 He who runs our way needs no poor word 
 of mine; she sits as queen on the college 
 green, the most beloved of all its lovely 
 women. 
 
 They had their time of trial. Returning 
 from their short nuptial flight, they found 
 that death had claimed her father, while 
 sitting at his table. They say he never knew, 
 but Ping Yu was not sure and suffered all 
 a loving daughter's grief in her uncertainty. 
 
 86 
 
A Maiden of Cathay 87 
 
 It was many months before she found her 
 place in the affections of his friends right 
 here in Hongkong, but the attitude of his 
 own immediate family was remarkable. 
 "If," said his grey-haired mother, "my 
 son has chosen a Chinese girl for his wife, 
 I know she is a lady and that I shall like 
 her." Hearing that I, a cousin, was there 
 in Edinburgh, she came to see me, and there 
 soon sprang up between us a friendship 
 which shall last, God willing, yet many a 
 day. You can imagine what an' effort I 
 made in those first days to be a worthy rep- 
 resentative of the dearest girl I have ever 
 known ! 
 
 When, her health failing, Leonard Hart 
 brought his queen-wife home, she found 
 eager hearts awaiting her. If you have 
 learned to know her through these pages, 
 you know what followed — ^to know her is to 
 love her. 
 
 With my own hands, I laid their precious 
 firstborn in his grandmother's arms, and 
 in her great joy, she cried out in the midst 
 of us all, " We will call his name Nathaniel, 
 for he is our gift from God ! "