The
definite hope of this person had long pointed towards a small but
adequate habitation, surrounded by sweet-smelling olive-trees and not
far distant from the jade cliffs and pastures which would afford a
sufficient remuneration and a means of living. This entrancing picture
has been blotted out for the time, and in its place this person finds
himself face to face with an arduous and dangerous undertaking,
followed, perhaps, by hasty and immediate flight. Yet if the adorable
Hiya will prove the unchanging depths of her constantly expressed
intention by accompanying him as far as the village of Hing where
suitable marriage ceremonies can be observed without delay, the exile
will in reality be in the nature of a triumphal procession, and the
emotions with which this person has hitherto regarded the entire
circumstance will undergo a complete and highly accomplished change."
"Oh, Yang!" exclaimed the maiden, whose feelings at hearing these
words were in no way different from those of her lover when he was on
the point of opening the folded paper upon which Tung Fel had written;
"what is the nature of the mission upon which you are so impetuously
resolved? and why will it be followed by flight?"
"The nature of the undertaking cannot be revealed by reason of a
deliberately taken oath," replied Yang Hu; "and the reason of its
possible consequence is a less important question to the two persons
who are here conversing together than of whether the amiable and
graceful Hiya is willing to carry out her often-expressed desire for
an opportunity of displaying the true depths of her emotions towards
this one.
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