The gift of the gods

Chapter I

‘‘Tr’s ripping fun, Uncle Weng.’’ The words trilled out gaily, and the girl paused in the act of batting an oncoming ball. ‘‘ That’s a foul, Lun. Try again.’’ Her bat was poised easily and this time met the ball squarely, sending it in a straight, clean spin far into a distant thicket. ‘‘ My word, Betty, that’s a home run for you.’’

Weng Toy looked about puzzled. ‘‘ Where are the other players, Autumn Gladness? Did my approach banish them? ”’

‘* Lun is one side and I’m the other. The rest are make-believes. We saw them playing the game yesterday at the Americans’ on the opposite hill. They call it baseball.’’

‘‘ Indeed? And you like the Christian game? ”’

‘‘T like the forergn game,’’ corrected the girl, a teasing reprimand in her voice. She had dropped her bat, and now crossed to the bench, where the man was seated. Sinking into a graceful attitude at his feet, she looked up at him with wide, serious eyes.

‘* Uncle Weng, why do you hate the foreigners? The American girls on the opposite hill are so pretty. They laugh and run and dance. Yesterday I coaxed Lun to stand and watch them, and one girl came up and asked us in.’’

‘‘ Did you go?’’ There was an easily detected anxiety in the man’s voice.

‘¢ No, no, of course not, without your permission; but if they ask me in to-day, may I?”’

The girl’s voice was wistful.

Weng Toy looked down at the eager young face. Placing his hand under her chin, he questioned, ‘‘Are you growing dissatisfied with your old uncle’s company, little Tu Hee?” —

A quick, protesting shake was the answer, and the girl caught his hand, pressing it against her cheek. ‘‘ You know that could never, never be, Uncle Weng. How could I be anything but happy, when you are so good to me? It’s a wonder I’m not a stuck-up prig, the way you spoil me. But these girls, Uncle Weng, they look as happy as I. It is true they are perhaps a little boisterous, but when I hear them laugh and see them run and jump, little quivery thrills run all through me and I want to do the same. I could, too,’’ she exclaimed, springing nimbly to her feet. ‘‘ Poor things, they wear skirts —— American skirts.’’ She looked down with considerable satisfaction at her © own silken trousers. Then with a gay laugh she darted away, disappearing like a nymph among the flowering bushes.

Tu Hee, or Autumn Gladness, had imbibed the subtle charm of her native hills of China. The eream of her skin, relieved by tonches of rouge and daintily painted lips, gave her the appearance of a radiant tropical bud promising to unfold wondrous beauty. Her naturally arched brows were penciled into a fine line, while masses of black hair crowned her an oriental princess. Hoops of lustrous pearls shone softly from her ears and seemed to enhance the youth and mystery of her. Trousers and a loose coat of finest embroidered silk were the final clamps of the Old World on this maiden of the Kast. There was one part of her, however, which all the arts — and incense offerings could not prevail on to blend with the oriental colouring. It was her ‘eyes. They retained the deep, smiling blue of the skies. Light as thistledown, she sped along the blossom-bordered path and threw herself, panting a little, on the bank of a large pool which barred her way. Two large willows drooped languidly over the water, casting it half in shade, and in and out of its shadow-flecked depths darted fantailed gold fish. Musingly Tu Hee trailed her gold nail shields in the water. Her reverie was of short duration, however. Witha graceful bound she was on her feet again. Deftly she unbound the heavy braids of her hair, letting them fall in two long plaits over her shoulders. Gathering a handful of white blossoms from a tree beside her, she twined them over her ears and down the long, shining braids. Then, bending over the pool, she surveyed herself appreciatively in the watery mirror. COlasping her hands on the back of her head she swayed back like a graceful willow and smiled up at the white puffs sailing so airily across the blue of the sky. Then, spreading her arms like a bird its wings, she abandoned herself to the joy of mere living. Her small, satin-shod feet gleamed in and out among the flower beds. Her heart supplied the rhythm, and so perfect was the attunement that she forgot she was paying homage to life in a foreign way — forgot she was betraying her Chinese training.

She saw as in a mist her uncle and Lun approaching, but she could not stop. Her heart was too light to harbor even pity. Neither the rebuke in the mandarin’s eyes nor the horror in her nurse’s fascinated gaze touched her. The youth within her had called and she had had to obey. So she danced on and on until she fluttered, a breathless heap, at Weng Toy’s feet. It was only then the enormity of her offense rushed over her. Clasping her hands she dropped her head lower and lower until her forehead touched the mossy ground. A quiver shook her as she wondered if the Evil Eye had cast a spell on her while she gazed at the foreigners at play.

‘* Raise your head, Autumn Gladness. Do you - not trust your Uncle Weng to know that youth and happiness cannot be curbed? Why that droop of shame in your eyes ?”’

Tu Hee looked up and her eyes were wide and questioning. ‘‘ You think it not evil then to adopt so quickly the American play ?’’

‘‘Youth mimics youth. Fret not yourself, ehild.”’

Gently he lifted her to her feet, but he could not banish the shadow that rested on her face. As they walked back to the house, where tea was ready on the verandah, Tu Hee was silent. She was musing over the strange rapture that for a few moments had changed her whole personality. She had no longer been the Gift of the Gods while she danced.

The fact confronted her, emphatic and undeniable, that during those brief moments she had been transported — nay, perverted — into a hated foreigner with alien emotions stirring every fibre of her being. What penalty should she exact from herself that would be sufficiently harsh ? Incenseoffering seemed a poor unguent for offended conscience. She would keep away from the foreign home on the neighboring hill for a month. Even as she resolved she was startled at the proportions her sacrifice assumed.

CHAPTER IT

Tu Hee kept her self-imposed promise faithfully. For five weeks her outings were in an opposite direction to the Americans. ‘To-day, however, a social function compelled her to pass the shunned place. She had demurred at going, but Weng Toy insisted that she must not exile herself. He wanted her to be happy and gay and not mope— around the house like a love-sick maiden, and Tu Hee shrank from telling him her true reason. She — could not pain him by confessing what a magnet the foreigners still were to her.

Conflicting emotions crowded on her as Lun prepared her for Madam Hoy’s function. When the last gold button was fastened and Lun pushed her in front of the long mirror to survey the loveliness that glowed from the mauve silk gown, her heart beat rapidly and her feet tilted, impatient to be out and away, her own carefree self again.

‘¢ Of course I shall enjoy Madam Hoy’s party,”’ confided Tu Hee to her nurse and maid, ‘‘ but. what I should like most of all would be a ride on a pony — not a meek little beast either, but one with | an arch to his neck and fire in his eye.’’

Lun paused in the act of placing the big jade pin in her mistress’ hair and peered wonderingly into her face. ‘‘ But Missee Tu Hee never ride pony — mule maybe, but pony, no.”’

‘‘Ah, but I’ve seen other girls ride them. And Lun’’—here she dropped her voice, but her tones were emphatic—‘‘ I’ve envied the foreigners riding them, especially the English girls. They look so—so chic.’’

‘* Cheek — cheeken—cheeken is fowl, Missee Tu Hee. Tee hee—my, my—you very funny! Just what Lun thinks —ungraceful, bad mannerly —just like cackling hens.’’

‘No, no,’’ laughed Tu Hee. ‘‘ You do not understand. That wordis French. It means smart and attractive looking.’’

‘*So?—h’m.’”’ It was evident that for once Lun openly disagreed with her child. Then, a lurking doubt in her tones, which she evidently wished to have banished at once, she questioned, ‘¢ Missee Tu Hee happier than foreigners, eh? ’’

‘*T suppose.’’? But Lun fancied the tone of her mistress lacked decision.

‘* Missee Tu Hee marry rich MERGES tee sons and happy right here in China. No go away or do like foreigners to make happy, eh? ”’ Tnn!’? Tu Hee grasped the woman’s hand. Her eyes were wide, and her face looked pale despite its make-up. ‘‘ Who says I marry mandarin? Not Uncle Weng? No, no, I couldn’t bear it.’’ ©

‘* No, no.’’ Lun was soundly frightened at her indiscretion, and hastened to reassure her mistress. ‘‘ Only Lun say so. It not be if Missee Tu Hee say no. Course not.’’ Lun patted the little hand she held, and her voice was so reassuring that Tu Hee grew calm again almost immediately, but her voice was a trifle sharp as she admonished, ‘‘ Please, then, Lun, don’t say such foolish things again.’’ Then noticing the hurt look on the other’s face she placed her arms around her and exclaimed impulsively, ‘‘I am happy with just you and Uncle Weng. I want no husband — unless — ”’

‘<Yes?’’ prompted the Chinese woman.

The girl’s heavy lashes drooped shyly —‘‘ I fall in love.’’

Tu Hee peered happily from between the curtains of their rickshaw on the way to Madam Hoy’s. The life of the thoroughfares never ceased to interest her.

There stood the old man in his customary corner dishing up ears of boiled green corn. A little farther along, surrounded by a group of children, was the candy man, delighting them by his deftness in turning out animals and birds, which formed mysteriously as he blew taffy from a straw.

An old beggar, ragged and dirty, prostrated himself as he saw the oncoming rickshaw, and Tu Hee tossed him a few cash as they sped past.

~*€ We shall pass the Americans’. I wonder if they will stop us to-day,’? Tu Hee mused aloud, but there was an eager thrill in her voice.

‘¢ You like be friends with foreigners?’’ questioned Lun. |

Tu Hee did not answer at once. When she spoke her voice was hesitating. ‘‘ They sort of fascinate me, Lun. They show their teeth so often —smile I mean, and look so friendly and beaming at you. Then again they appall me by their shamelessness. Just think of it, not a vestige of paint to cover their naked faces ! ”’

‘* Ah see, is it not wonderful? ’’? Tu Hee pointed in delight at the beauty they were in the midst of. The busy streets had been left behind, and they were now being borne swiftly up a narrow path on the hillside. Gurgling streams tumbled over moss and stone and then ran on, disappearing in the cool mysterious shadows; flowers, the colors of which would have rivalled a rainbow, were everywhere; and the sun wrapped all in a warm, golden embrace, like a mother guarding her children into youth and happiness. The path grew wider, and finally merged into a road which stretched broad and fairly smooth into the thoroughfare on the other side.

The rickshaw came to a sudden halt. The women inside gave the incident not even a passing thought. Did it not occur whenever the carriers shifted the weight of the equipage to another shoulder? But when sufficient time for the process had elapsed and their vehicle still remained stationary, Tu Hee became impatient.

‘¢ Lazy boys, what keeps you? ’’ she called, putting her head out of the enclosure.

Cautious whisperings came to her: ‘‘ What is it, Tzu? Why the delay? ’”’

Tzu for reply glanced at the other carriers and they at him and then each at the other. When the circuit was completed their gaze shifted up the road. Tu Hee’s eyes took the same direction and she saw that a large automobile, a touring car, was blocking the way.

‘‘ Ah, a breakdown. Some foreigners have had trouble with their car.’’ A little pleasurable thrill was in her voice again and her eyes glowed with the sparkle of adventure. Then, her glance returning to the carriers, she demanded a little impatiently, ‘‘ Why stand there, foolish ones? Why not offer your assistance? It’s not likely they will permit you to climb with us over the car. Go and see what is the matter and—’’ But here Tu Hee perceived she was talking to deaf ears. Her indignation, however,. gave place to curiosity and her heart beat quickly, whether from fear or exeitement she couldn’t have told, perhaps a little of both. But which ever it was she forgot to withdraw her head, forgot what had been drilled into her from babyhood—that it wasn’t meet for a Chinese maiden to show her face boldly to the opposite sex. The men who were approaching in long strides were foreign, too— American, Tu Hee decided. A mere glance betokened that.

They took no notice whatever of the three servants, but approached Tu Hee. The girl was too startled at this bold effrontery to withdraw. Instead, she gazed at them with wide, indignant eyes. They looked at Tu Hee severely, and the taller and younger of the two raised the lapel of his coat, displaying a badge. Tu Hee’s education had not been neglected. Instead, it had been well rounded out. Weng T'oy had made as much of a confidant of her, and taken as much pride in the development of her mind, as if she had been an adopted son, so she quickly recognized that the men confronting her had to do with Government affairs. Her training bade her withdraw her face at once, but her curiosity induced her to stay and see what the bold, ill-mannered foreigners meant by such effrontery to a mandarin’s niece.

The servants by this time were pressing threateningly between the men and their mistress. A few whispered words and a second display of the badge had an electrical effect on them, however. They stood as if petrified, and the younger man addressed Tu Hee: ‘‘ Are you going to come quietly, or is there to be a fuss? ’’

‘‘ Go with you? ’’ gasped Tu Hee. ‘‘ Go where? I’m a Chinese maiden, niece of the great Weng Toy.’’

A sardonic smile twisted the man’s lips. ‘‘ Those stories will do for afterwards. We have our instructions, madam, to take you to the American Hotel. They must be obeyed. I advise you to come without making a disturbance. It will be best for you. If not —’’ He shrugged his shoulders meaningly.

Mingled outrage and bewilderment kept Tu Hee silent. What did it allmean? What would Uncle Weng say if she were forced to go with the foreign devils?

‘¢My uncle, the mandarin, will killee you.’’

It sounded childish and weak to her ears, and her excitement had caused her to use broken English. She saw the men exchange amused smiles, and her fury increased.

But here Lun came on the scene. Scornfully she ignored the foreign devils. Seathingly she lashed the willowy-backed carriers with hot words and ordered them to return down the hill. The servants slunk to their places, but an immediate halt was called by the officials. A revolver covered the three of them instantly, while a voice ordered Tu Hee to come out.

Tu Hee refused to move, and ealmly told them they could shoot her if they wished, but from her rickshaw she would not stir.

The younger man then told her if she refused to walk to their car they would be compelled to use force. They would give her two minutes to decide.

This opened a new phase to her terrible plight. Death she would not shrink from. No true Chinese woman would, but for these foreign devils to touch her—. She shuddered. That would leave a lasting blot on her. There was only one thing to do. Slipping from the rickshaw she passed resolutely with head erect to where her servants were standing, glowering but helpless. ‘‘I shall go with these foreign devils to the American Hotel. Lun will come with me and you must return quickly to my uncle and tell him I have been kidnapped by two foreigners. Go!’’

The servants hesitated, glancing apprehensively at their mistress, but the light in her eyes and the erect self-confidence of her bearing decided them. Even Lun gasped at her darling’s sudden step into womanhood. Ignoring the threatening weapon, the carriers turned, leaving the rickshaw in the road, and tore down the hill with lightning speed.

The man who had had them covered pocketed the revolver, shrugged his shoulders, muttering: ‘‘ Eixcellent bluff. We shall see, young lady, if you are a real Chinese mandarin’s niece. If you are you’re the first one I’ve seen with blue eyes.”’

Lun gulped with rage. Her hands fumbled against each other nervously. Fear also clutched at her heart, and she peered searchingly and with consternation into the man’s face. Had the spirit of evil fallen on them after all these happy years?

The hood of the car was down and Tu Hee leaned far back. The thought of escape did not enter her head. Fatalism had been her constant companion through childhood and youth, and she accepted her present position as ordained. She was thankful that Lun on one side and her hated persecutor on the other prevented any one obtaining a glimpse of her. A dry sob settled in her throat. What had she done that the gods permitted such an outrage?

The carriers sped toward home at a rapid gait. Their lithe, slim bodies, made agile through daily practice, would have rivalled the Roman champions of amphitheatre days. The perspiration stood out like glass beads on their copper faces and throats, the muscles of which were taut. They worshipped their young mistress, and the'calamity that had overtaken her filled them with dark, superstitious fear. Why had the foreign devils kidnapped the Gift of the Gods? Rumour had whispered that the mandarin’s niece had strange blood in her veins, but nevertheless everyone strongly asserted she was a daughter of China, a divine gift. But now the gods had permitted the foreign devils to take her. What did it mean?

Breathless they sought Weng Toy’s apartment, but were told by his boy that he was out, and would not return for anhour. A telephone search began, but he might have been on the other side of the world for all the success they had in locating him. They must sit with folded hands for an hour, and in that time what might not happen to their young mistress?

As the news spread through the house that the Gift of the Gods had been seized by the foreigners, consternation ran tumultuous and mountains high. When an hour had passed and still the mandarin did not return, the older servants took the initiative and organized a rescue party. Weng Toy’s servants were many and they started out two hundred strong to demand or force back the Gift of the Gods. The last of the purposeful column were leaving the outer gates when Weng Toy’s chair appeared in view. He surveyed the long line in amazement. What in the name of all the powers did it mean? —jhis servants deserting his house en masse !

The boy accompanying him was sent after the eager marchers with the peremptory order to halt. Chagrined, the leaders knew their only course was to obey, and in explaining lose many precious minutes. Simultaneously relief and eager hope appeared on some of the faces. Their master would be strong like thunder and lightning. Nothing could stop the great Weng Toy. He would override the hated foreigners as only a Chinese noble could. So they watched him closely as the news was given to him.

But Weng Toy did not rage. It was as if a cyclone had wrenched every ounce of energy from his body and mind. Horror and despair took hold of him. In dead tones he bade them disperse.

Slowly and reluctantly they turned back through the gates, and for the first time Weng Toy was surrounded by sullen, unwilling servants.

After ordering the car to be brought around he shut himself in his apartment. Nervously he paced back and forth. His brain refused to function rationally. Wear, hated fear, clutched and froze his heart —not for himself, no. Weng Toy

7 a THE GIFT OF THE GODS was no coward, but fear for the girl he worshipped as his own child. It caused his face to blanch and his shoulders to droop like an old man’s. He dared not answer the question even mentally that nagged his brain. His nervous pacing halted in front of a tapestry, a dainty, water color affair, that Tu Hee had contrived herself. The colorings were delicate, all pinks, gold, and mauves, but the subject was sinister, grim, with the reality of the East. The central figure was that of a young girl turning away from the ancient rites of the old world to the new, the western world, glimmering on the horizon. A great longing and despair shone from her eyes, but a chain of gold, almost invisible, encircled one ankle, pulling her on. The climax of the pictured story was a phial of opium half way to her lips.

“Weng Toy gazed, fascinated, at the picture. The gloom of his thoughts enfolded him so closely that he did not hear the door open and close. An angry voice broke in abruptly on his sombre musings :

‘¢ By the sun in the heavens, China is coming to a pretty pass. This is what we get for letting the dirty foreign dogs into the country.”’ |

Quietly Weng Toy turned and faced the intruder. |

‘¢Can you throw any light on the accursed affair? ’’ demanded the visitor impatiently.

Weng Toy made no reply and the man laughed bitterly. ‘‘ Your silence says yes. So can I. They

THE GIFT OF THE GODS Li have traced her. Bah! It was risky from the beginning. Yet by the powers of heaven, I’m glad you did it, old friend, for I love her.’”? _

Weng Toy started. He eyed the other coldly. | ‘¢ You have not told her of this? ’’

The man looked at him daringly. ‘‘ Not yet. Her beauty and innocence confounded me and made me numb and dumb. Buta thousand angels or devils couldn’t have stopped me if I had known this would occur. Knough delay—she shall be my wife as soon as I rescue her.

‘* Be not so hasty, Chu Sing. Tu Hee will have

a say in that.’’

Something in the ranaueng s tone led the other to see he had laid his thoughts too bare.

‘‘ Pay no attention to what I say, Weng Toy. I’m not responsible. Despair and fear for the girl have made me mad. What are you going to do about it? It seems to me you are taking it unnaturally cool.’’

The door opened. ‘‘Car ready, sir.’’

As the two men hurried out into the long hall Weng Toy laid a hand on his companion’s arm. ‘¢ Tt would kill Tu Hee to learn the truth. If her disappearance is caused by the people we think, as of course it must be, it is our duty to deny everything. Remember, she is my niece, my own flesh and blood.’’

Chu Sing nodded Aaa my future wife.’’

On a teakwood table in the entrance hall lay a small reticule. It was a dainty, effeminate thing in chased gold, inset with pearls. Weng Toy touched it tenderly. He had given it to Tu Hee on her last birthday, and he recalled her delight in it. ‘‘My poor little Autumn Gladness! May the gods help me to save you the pain of finding out!’’? His voice was husky and the hand that took his hat from the servant was far from steady.

As the car turned towards the large entrance gates many eyes peered after it and silent prayers went up to the gods.

Chapter III

‘‘ Tr the ancestors of our Oriental friends could come back and glimpse this scene, what would happen? ’’

The eyes of the girl addressed wandered quizzically over the crowd beneath, truly a cosmopolitan assortment— Europeans, Asiatics, and Americans rubbing shoulders, beaming smiles, tossing nods, and exchanging handshakes.

‘One would almost think that the wish of the idealists had been fulfilled, that the brotherhood of man was an assured thing,’’ continued the speaker, as he leaned a little farther over the balcony railing. ‘‘ But to go back to my question, dear coz, what would happen if the occupants of the Ming tombs could walk here to-day? It gives me a shock, half sympathetic, as I try to experience the feelings of the over-civilized departed of the East could they come back and witness the furrows the West have made in their beloved garden of the gods.”’

‘¢T am glad they can’t see it,’’ replied the girl, without removing her gaze. ‘‘It would mean purgatory to them for millions of years.”’

She was a typical American. Her accent, as well as her soft olive skin and brown eyes, betokened she was familiar with the hot sunshine of the south.

After a silence, during which they surveyed idly the moving panorama, the eyes of the girl came back to the man beside her. Her face said plainly that he, in his trim uniform of a British officer, was more interesting than commingled nations below. She surveyed with a thrill of pride the cleancut grace of his long form stretched nonchalant in the wicker chair, but her gaze grew wistful as she noted the boyish old look on the lean face tanned to a deep brown, and the keen penetrating eyes that were so full of laughs in the old days. The old days were before the world was scarred forever by the action of a European despot. Her glance fell to the left foot, which was stretched out in unnatural stiffness and just touched the hem of her skirt. Her lips compressed slightly, but with a little shake, like a sparrow that is determined to dry its wet wings in the sun, she said lightly, ‘‘Turn and look at me, David, dear, if the gay crowds make you glum.’’

With a sigh he relaxed into the chair. ‘‘ What a beastly grouch you must think me, Grace. But it’s no use. J may as well confess every smile and laugh is an effort with me now. I’ve lost my perspective of life.’’

‘‘Tt’s because you so unselfishly gave up your plans in August, 1914, and now that you have come back you ean’t understand why those who weren’t there continue to hug their petty lives to a their hearts, watching over them tenderly and self-lovingly.’’

‘¢ You’ve said it, Grace. It’s the cold-blooded selfishness of the people—it sickens my very soul. T tell you I want to get back, back where men, stripped of the inane conventionalities of life, clasp your hand and look you in the eye in unashamed, unstained brotherhood. The shadow of death is a great cleanser, Grace. A man’s past falls from him like a garment. It’s what you are when the great moment comes that men judge you by over there, where the fires of hell burn everything but the gold.”’

‘‘ But now, dear David,’’ said Grace gently, ‘‘ you must try for our sakes, who love you, to readjust yourself. It will be cruel, heart-rending, if the old order of things does not pass away after the most terrible, the most precious sacrifice in the world’s history, the sacrifice of youth. But if no change is apparent, except chaos, we can only do our infinitesimal part. The world’s burdens cannot be borne by a few young shoulders such as yours, no matter how willing they may be. To me it seems each one has his duty allotted to him. If it is shifted it may and does fall partly on others already overburdened, but the most of it accumnlates to be apportioned back by the Great Judge.’’

‘Keep your faith, Grace. There isn’t much left if one doubts the unswerving undercurrent of law and order and the final triumph of right and justice throughout the universe. Perhaps sanity will return and banish the horrible pessimism I feel clutching at me, but just now I can’t catch even a glimmer of light through the dark clouds.’’ His voice grew petulant, almost boyish, as he continued: ‘‘If it wasn’t for the seemingly spiteful side of Fate’s nature I might puzzle through this old world without too much grumbling, but when she lands you a knockout blow in the foot through her too willing slave, a beastly Hun bomb, and then shoots you over to a yellow land with the camouflage ‘to serve your country,’ it’s enough, I tell you, to make a fellow toss up whether he’ll end it all with a bullet.’’