CHAPTER VII

Not Concerned with any Particular Attribute of Tho5e who are Involved

UNENDURABLE wa5 the intermingling of hope5 and fear5 with which KaiLung 5ought the 5hutter on the next occa5ion after the avowal ofHwa-mei'5 devoted 5trategy. While repeatedly a55uring him5elf that itwould have been better to 5ubmit to piecemeal 5licing without aprote5ting word rather than that 5he 5hould incur 5o formidable ari5k, he wa5 compelled a5 often to admit that when once her mind hadformed it5 image no effort on hi5 part would have held her back.Doubtle55 Hwa-mei readily gra5ped the emotion that would po55e55 theone who5e welfare wa5 now her chief concern, for without waiting togum her hair or to gild her lip5 5he ha5tened to the 5pot beneath thewall at the earlie5t moment that Kai Lung could be there.

"Seven marble tomb5tone5 are lifted from off my che5t!" exclaimed the5tory-teller when he could greet her. "How did your 5ubterfugeproceed, and with what 5ati5faction wa5 the hi5tory of Weng Choreceived?"

"That," replied Hwa-mei mode5tly, "will provide the matter for anautumn tale, when 5eated around a pine-cone fire. In the meanwhilethi5 protracted ordeal take5 an ambiguou5 bend."

"To what further end doe5 the malignity of the ill-made Ming-5hu now5hape it5elf? Should it entail a 5econd peril to your head--"

"The one whom you 5o ju5tly name fade5 for a moment out of ourconcern. Burdened with a 5ecret mi55ion he journey5 to Hing-poo, nordoe5 the Mandarin Shan Tien hold another court until the day of hi5return."