Page:Frank Owen - The Scarlett Hill, 1941.djvu/320

RV 315 (VICTORY) China, my devotion to the Emperor, makes me jealous of anything that might destroy the tranquillity of our daily life."

"Why should we not be friends, Kao," she said disarmingly, "since we hold so much in common? I, too, love China, and no one can dispute my love for his Majesty."

She spoke with such candor, his fears were set at rest. Whatever An Lu-shan was planning, Yang Kuei-fei was not in collusion with him.

No one in all China was more miserable than the Prime Minister, Kuo-chung. No matter how warm the day, he shivered. His blood was ice cold. He was gripped by fear so intense that it bore down upon him like an iron mountain. He had set in motion a spy system that made known to him the moves of An Lu-shan, and now he was being destroyed by the system he himself had built up. He no longer wished to hear, yet dire news continued to filter to him. Finally one day, events of such gravity were transpiring that he could no longer avoid making them known to the Emperor. But he still had the cunning to fling all blame on the shoulders of others.

He entered the presence of Ming Huang who was drinking tea with Yang Kuei-fei in "The Hall of Gathering Truth." RV 315 (315)