Page:Frank Owen - The Scarlett Hill, 1941.djvu/44

 Etiquette demanded that the other handmaidens keep quiet until the small singer had finished her song, but now they burst out, "But that is the wrong song! That is not a Taoist hymn. It is beautiful but it is a Hymn of the Sui, a Confucian hymn."

Large tears formed in the eyes of the little one, and her lower lip quivered. Impulsively Yuhan stooped and gathered her into her arms and hugged her tightly.

"You have made me very happy," she said, and her voice trembled. "I hope you will be permitted to sing for me often. I shall never forget the wonder of your greeting. It is one of the precious memories that I shall treasure always."

The Blue Lacquer Palace was a series of verandah pavilions connected by open corridors built around spacious courts. In the main garden was Frozen Pearl Lake, which a hundred artists had flung on silk. In the moonlight the water of the lake cast off a silvery sheen, white and motionless as ice. The Palace itself might have been likened unto a square in an enormous chess board which, in turn, was known as "The Imperial Abode of His Majesty, The Son of Heaven." There were eight other gates besides the one through which the retinue of the Prince had entered. Within the enclosing wall were thirty-six palaces, resplendent with red cinnabar carvings, gold and silver, with here and there a bronze statue of a cat, for cats, besides guarding silk-worms, keep away evil spirits. In these palaces