Page:Frank Owen - The Scarlett Hill, 1941.djvu/347

RV 342 (VICTORY) end I plead for mercy. Spare me not, Kao. We must both be strong. In your hands rests the welfare of the Emperor whom we both love."

"Weep for me, Princess, weep for me. Rather would I be trampled by wild horses than harm you."

"Be quick, Kao," she implored. "I can stand little more."

She seated herself in a bamboo chair. Her face was like ivory.

From the red lacquer box, he took the rope of yellow silk. He stood in back of her so that his actions might be unobserved. So overwrought was he, he wept tears of blood. Then tenderly he put the yellow rope about her slender neck. She did not speak, though her body twitched as he drew it tight. For a few moments, he held it so. Then her body slumped forward.

Reverently he withdrew the silken rope. He dreaded to gaze into her distorted face. But when he did so, he was amazed. Though she breathed no more, there was a half smile upon her face as though she had felt no pain. Her features were neither blackened nor distorted and there was no mark on her throat where the silken cord had bitten in. As he lifted her in his arms and laid her tenderly upon a garden bench, the wind rose in a moan carrying with it flower petals that fell like rain about her gentle form.

Ming Huang, wandering among the trees, did not seem to comprehend what had happened.

"Where is my beloved?" he whispered. "Where is Yang Kuei-fei?" RV 342 (342)