Page:Dumas - Tales of Strange adventure (Methuen, 1907).djvu/133

Rh "Every evening I was admitted to the house to pay court to my intended; so the time passed rapidly enough. As I spoke only a little Chinese and she spoke very little Hindustani and not a word of Dutch or French, our conversation was carried on chiefly by signs and gestures. There were times when this provoked a boldness of expression I should certainly never have ventured on in words, but I must say to the credit of the charming creature, she kept intact the reputation she had earned for virtue, and while granting me some trifling and unimportant favours, she never allowed me to discount the privileges of a husband to any serious extent.

"At length the happy day arrived. The day but one before I had had a great fright; several cases of cholera had been reported at Cavite and one or two at Bedondo, so that I trembled lest the presence of the epidemic might lead Vanly-Ching to put off the date of our marriage; but the fair Chinese was not one to be easily daunted, and the circumstance made no difference to her arrangements.

"The day appointed, the 27th of October, was kept as a high day and holiday by all the inhabitants of Bedondo. From earliest dawn there was a throng round the bride's door. It was the fourth time the fair Chinese had been carried through the town in bridal array; but the crowd was never weary of seeing her. By immemorial custom a Chinese bride is escorted through the streets to the accompaniment of music and singing. TJ^s, I have been informed by a learned Dutchman who lived at Manilla, bears a great resemblance to the nuptial processions of ancient Greece. On occasion of a first marriage the bride wears a thick veil over her face in sign of maidenhood; when she marries a second, third, or fourth time, the Chinese bride wears nothing to conceal her features. Of course this was the case with Vanly-Ching, and the circumstance gave me much satisfaction, for I could overhear frequent exclamations among the bystanders of: 'Lucky dog that Olifus, eh? lucky dog!

"The rest of the ceremony is much the same as that observed in Siam. When the couple have arranged matters, the parents of the young man visit the parents of the girl and present them with seven bottles of betel; a week later the future husband comes himself and brings fourteen; then he stays at the father-inlaw's house for a month, to become properly acquainted with his future wife. Finally, on the day that is to complete the ceremonial, the parents meet, accompanied by the relatives and oldest friends of the two families, and deposit in a purse, one bracelets, another a ring, a third a sum of money; one of them takes a lighted candle, which he passes seven time; round the presents, while all the rest utter loud cries of joy, wishing long life and the best of health to the young couple.

"Next follows a grand feast, followed by a little tête-à-tête supper, before finally retiring to the marriage chamber.

"As for Vanly-Ching and myself, we gladly dispensed with all this ritual. She had shown me the casket in which her little fortune was locked up; I had shown her my commercial bills and securities countersigned by the correspondent of my Chinese captain, payable at sight and to bearer. Each of us possessed forty thousand francs to leave to whichever survived; this was at least as good as seven boxes of betel, or even fourteen.

"Parents and relations, neither of us could boast of any; so the ceremonies of the purse and bracelets, of the lighted candles passed seven times around the presents, and of the shouts of joy wishing us long life and good health, were omitted. We contented ourselves with the grand dinner and the little confidential supper to follow.

"The state dinner was a magnificent affair; Vanly-Ching had ordered it and superintended it. It comprised the most choice viands; there were mice in honey, shark with woodlouse sauce, earth-worms in castor oil, swallows' nests served with powdered crab, and bamboo salad, the whole washed down with copious congou, with which attendants bearing enormous silver tea-pots kept filling our cups. We drank to the Emperor of China, the King of Holland, the East India Company and our own happy union, always holding the cup in two hands and doing chin-chin, that is to say, wagging the head from right to left and left to right like dancing dolls, after which everybody displayed the bottom of his cup to show it was empty.

"During the course of dinner the fascinating Vanly-Ching seemed to look