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Contents (93)
  1. CONTENTS
  2. MRS. SPRING FRAGRANCE
  3. I
  4. II
  5. III
  6. IV
  7. THE INFERIOR WOMAN
  8. I
  9. II
  10. III
  11. IV
  12. V
  13. VI
  14. THE WISDOM OF THE NEW
  15. I
  16. II
  17. III
  18. IV
  19. V
  20. VI
  21. VII
  22. “ITS WAVERING IMAGE”
  23. I
  24. II
  25. IT WAS A COOL, QUIET evening, after a hot day. A new moon was in the sky.
  26. III
  27. “CURSED BE HIS ANCESTORS,” BAYED Man You.
  28. IV
  29. THE GIFT OF LITTLE ME
  30. THE STORY OF ONE WHITE WOMAN WHO MARRIED A CHINESE
  31. I
  32. II
  33. HER CHINESE HUSBAND
  34. THE AMERICANIZING OF PAU TSU
  35. I
  36. II
  37. III
  38. IV
  39. IN THE LAND OF THE FREE
  40. I
  41. II
  42. III
  43. IV
  44. THE CHINESE LILY
  45. THE SMUGGLING OF TIE CO
  46. THE GOD OF RESTORATION
  47. THE THREE SOULS OF AH SO NAN
  48. I
  49. II
  50. III
  51. IV
  52. THE PRIZE CHINA BABY
  53. LIN JOHN
  54. TIAN SHAN’S KINDRED SPIRIT
  55. THE SING SONG WOMAN
  56. I
  57. II
  58. TALES OF CHINESE CHILDREN
  59. THE SILVER LEAVES
  60. THE PEACOCK LANTERN
  61. CHILDREN OF PEACE
  62. I
  63. II
  64. III
  65. IV
  66. V
  67. “HOW MANY MOONS, LIU VENTI, since our little ones went from us?” asked Pau Tsu.
  68. THE BANISHMENT OF MING AND MAI
  69. I
  70. II The Tiger’s Farewell
  71. THE STORY OF A LITTLE CHINESE SEABIRD
  72. WHAT ABOUT THE CAT?
  73. THE WILD MAN AND THE GENTLE BOY
  74. THE GARMENTS OF THE FAIRIES
  75. THE DREAMS THAT FAILED
  76. GLAD YEN
  77. THE DECEPTIVE MAT
  78. THE HEART’S DESIRE
  79. THE CANDY THAT IS NOT SWEET
  80. THE INFERIOR MAN
  81. THE MERRY BLIND-MAN
  82. MISUNDERSTOOD
  83. THE LITTLE FAT ONE
  84. A CHINESE BOY-GIRL
  85. I
  86. II
  87. PAT AND PAN
  88. I
  89. II
  90. III
  91. THE CROCODILE PAGODA
  92. A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  93. A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

Mrs. Spring Fragrance was never so radiant.

“Oh,” she cried light-heartedly, “is it not lovely to see the sun shining so clear, and everything so bright to welcome me?”

Mr. Spring Fragrance made no response. It was the morning after the fourth sleepless night.

Mrs. Spring Fragrance noticed his silence, also his grave face.

“Everything—everyone is glad to see me but you,” she declared, half seriously, half jestingly.

Mr. Spring Fragrance set down her valise. They had just entered the house.

“If my wife is glad to see me,” he quietly replied, “I also am glad to see her!”

Summoning their servant boy, he bade him look after Mrs. Spring Fragrance’s comfort.

“I must be at the store in half an hour,” said he, looking at his watch. “There is some very important business requiring attention.”

“What is the business?” inquired Mrs. Spring Fragrance, her lip quivering with disappointment.

“I cannot just explain to you,” answered her husband.

Mrs. Spring Fragrance looked up into his face with honest and earnest eyes. There was something in his manner, in the tone of her husband’s voice, which touched her.

“Yen,” said she, “you do not look well. You are not well. What is it?”

Something arose in Mr. Spring Fragrance’s throat which prevented him from replying.

“O darling one! O sweetest one!” cried a girl’s joyous voice. Laura Chin Yuen ran into the room and threw her arms around Mrs. Spring Fragrance’s neck.

“I spied you from the window,” said Laura, “and I couldn’t rest until I told you. We are to be married next week, Kai Tzu and I. And all through you, all through you—the sweetest jade jewel in the world!”

Mr. Spring Fragrance passed out of the room.

“So the son of the Government teacher and little Happy Love are already married,” Laura went on, relieving Mrs. Spring Fragrance of her cloak, her hat, and her folding fan. Mr. Spring Fragrance paused upon the doorstep.

“Sit down, Little Sister, and I will tell you all about it,” said Mrs. Spring Fragrance, forgetting her husband for a moment.

When Laura Chin Yuen had danced away, Mr. Spring Fragrance came in and hung up his hat.

“You got back very soon,” said Mrs. Spring Fragrance, covertly wiping away the tears which had begun to fall as soon as she thought herself alone.

“I did not go,” answered Mr. Spring Fragrance. “I have been listening to you and Laura.”

“But if the business is very important, do not you think you should attend to it?” anxiously queried Mrs. Spring Fragrance.

“It is not important to me now,” returned Mr. Spring Fragrance. “I would prefer to hear again about Ah Oi and Man You and Laura and Kai Tzu.”

“How lovely of you to say that!” exclaimed Mrs. Spring Fragrance, who was easily made happy. And she began to chat away to her husband in the friendliest and wifeliest fashion possible. When she had finished she asked him if he were not glad to hear that those who loved as did the young lovers whose secrets she had been keeping, were to be united; and he replied that indeed he was; that he would like every man to be as happy with a wife as he himself had ever been and ever would be.