Page:Frank Owen - The Scarlett Hill, 1941.djvu/135

RV 130 (LADY T'AI CHÊN) character been so reverently treated. No scrap of paper with written characters upon it was ever permitted to lie neglected upon the floor.

The concubine of Prince Shou was the most beautiful woman Ming Huang had ever beheld. Have her, he would. Not even mountains could stop him. Nevertheless he was aware that he was confronted with a somewhat delicate problem. It must be done with an air of dignity. He was affronted by anything ignoble.

He discussed the matter at great length with Li Lin-fu, arriving finally at the conclusion that it was best for her to become a nun for a while, in order that the affair might have a veneer of respectability. Prince Shou would be given a bewitching concubine to replace Yuhan.

Despite the Emperor's preposterous solicitude, the despair of Prince Shou was known only to the darkness and the night. He lay and tossed upon his couch, tortured in heart and thoughts. Sleep clutched at his eyes to torment him, but would not enter.

In anguish, he cried, "Sorrow stabs my heart, and I am overwhelmed with sad thoughts. Vainly trying to sleep, I do naught but sigh. My grief is aging me. O ye blue heaven, when shall my sorrow have end?"

Father and son did not meet to talk the matter over. Even so great an Emperor had no stomach for such an encounter. So Prince Shou was deprived of his beloved concubine by royal decree, as though the seal of officialdom could sanctify a union which the old RV 130 (130)