"Is, then, this blow also by the hand of
that malicious and vindictive person? Oh, what a cycle of events and
interchanging lines of destiny do your words disclose!"
"Who, then, is Tung Fel, my revered Father?" demanded Yang.
"It is a matter which must be made clear from the beginning," replied
Ping Siang. "At one time this person and Tung Fel were, by nature and
endowments, united in the most amiable bonds of an inseparable
friendship. Presently Tung Fel signed the preliminary contract of a
marriage with one who seemed to be endowed with every variety of
enchanting and virtuous grace, but who was, nevertheless, as the
unrolling of future events irresistibly discovered, a person of
irregular character and undignified habits. On the eve of the marriage
ceremony this person was made known to her by the undoubtedly
enraptured Tung Fel, whereupon he too fell into the snare of her
engaging personality, and putting aside all thoughts of prudent
restraint, made her more remunerative offers of marriage than Tung Fel
could by any possible chance overbid. In such a manner--for after the
nature of her kind riches were exceptionally attractive to her
degraded imagination--she became this person's wife, and the mother of
his only son.
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