Page:Frank Owen - The Scarlett Hill, 1941.djvu/295

RV 290 (AN LU-SHAN) He yawned.

"Are you not angry?" she asked.

"I am a man of peace," he said blandly, "and so I always prepare for war. When I am honored, I think of dishonor. The peaceful man preserves silence; in smooth water there is no current."

He aroused her curiosity. His attitude, though apparently careless, seemed studied.

He yawned again, a trifle too deliberately. She was provoked. Never before had he sought to evade her questions. Was he tiring of her? She brushed the thought away. She had ample reason to know that to even suspect such a thing was ridiculous. Her conquest of the Generalissimo was absolute.

Something of her thoughts must have shown in her expression, for he said, "No matter how great the affair; when it is passed, it is a mere trifle."

"But is the dishonoring of your friend's name a mere trifle?" she burst out, thoughtlessly.

Surely An Lu-shan could not be afraid of the meager Kuo-chung yet apparently he sought to side-step this issue.

"Though I looked up to Li Lin-fu," he said, "my allegiance is to China and my Emperor. If the Premier before his death was embroiled in subversive activities, then he was no friend of mine. Though I have opposed your cousin in a jocular manner, I willingly join forces with him against unknown enemies."

Yang Kuei-fei was convinced. She had been wise when she had furthered Kuo-chung's elevation to RV 290 (290)