Page:Frank Owen - The Scarlett Hill, 1941.djvu/57

 over the problem in secret. As a lover, Prince Shou lacked nothing; as a man, he lacked everything. And because there is a solution to every problem, no matter how intricate, suddenly it ceased to annoy her.

One night when the Emperor walked in the gardens, accompanied only by the Grand Eunuch who was like unto an Elder Brother, he beheld a slim young girl bathing nude in the Lotus Lake. Her body gleamed like metal in the moonlight; a miracle had fused it. The water dripped from her arms like crystal jewels.

The Emperor clutched his companion's arm. "A girl who dwells in willow flower dreams!"

"Or in the mountains of the sky."

"Call to her."

The Grand Eunuch obeyed. In a booming high-pitched voice, he cried, "Remain where you are, O Bathing Girl, His Illustrious Majesty, Ming Huang, approaches!"

At once the Emperor strode across the Moon Bridge that spanned Lotus Lake. But at his approach, she seized her cloak and fled. Nor could the Emperor find any trace of her. Chagrined, he turned to the Grand Eunuch.

"At daybreak, summon the three thousand Palace ladies. Discover which one it was who bathed this night in the Lotus Lake."

But when the Palace ladies had been questioned, each denied that she had bathed in the pool of lotuses.