Page:Frank Owen - Rare Earth, 1931.djvu/216

 is beset by revolutions, political persecutions, seeds planted by the riffraff of other countries. She is suffering from growing pains. But some day she will emerge again, rid herself of foreign parasites that are not her friends and regain her place in the sun.

Arrived at Canton, Hung Long Tom and Scobee went directly to the Chinese garden in which Hung Long Tom's youth had been spent. It had been ages since he had gone away. What strange emotions stirred within him, who can say? Did he imagine that Lotus Blossom still lingered there in that garden? Had her soul remained hoping to hear his songs once more when the purple shadows of evening had crept down over the garden? Certainly it had not suffered in beauty, that garden, it was still as beautiful as when Hung Long Tom had left it. His servants had been worthy of their hire. They had not taken advantage of the absence of the master. Each day the garden had been carefully tended. It was not hard work. It was a labor of love for the children of Cheng Foong.