Page:Frank Owen - The Scarlett Hill, 1941.djvu/159

RV 154 (LADY T'AI CHÊN), despite the fact that he bowed to her every whim and within his power granted her every wish. She was very fond of lichees. Now the lichee of South China is far superior to that of Shu, so the Emperor kept relays of fast horses to bring a steady fresh supply to Changan.

It was his custom each morning after the colorful pageantry of court procedure was over, to go to her private rooms. From India, from Arabia, from Japan, from Egypt and Byzantium, envoys came and bowed and scraped and almost ploughed up the floor with their brows, so greatly honored were they to be permitted to have audience with this Emperor of all China.

Then this same Emperor would go to the quarters of Lady T'ai Chên. Perhaps it was her desire to bathe, or else to bathe in the light of the Emperor's approval. Occasionally she pretended to be annoyed because he was late in coming. Pouting, she would walk about the room tossing her clothes carelessly about everywhere, and Ming Huang, Emperor of all beneath the sky, would follow meekly in her wake, picking up her garments. It would not do for the servants to see the disrespect to which his majestic person had been subjected. It might cause him to lose face, in which event the necessity to chastise her would be paramount. At last when she had divested herself of the last garment, he would put them carefully away. Not till this was done, did he return to revel in the milk and honey freshness of her body.

"If you were not mine," he murmured, "what use would be my Empire, or the sun's glow, or the river's RV 154 (154)