Chapter 5
“You have no letter for me yet?”
“Eh! No, madam.”
“Time seems so long to me, old mother!”
Thus for the tenth time that day spoke the charming Le-ou in the boudoir of her house in Cha-Coua Avenue, Pekin. The “old mother” who answered her, and to whom she gave this title, usually bestowed in China on servants of a respectable age, was the grumbling and disagreeable Miss Nan.
Le-ou had married at eighteen a literary man of the highest distinction, who had contributed to the famous “Tse-Khou-Tsuane-Chou.” This savant was twice her age, and died three years after this unequal union.
The young widow was left alone in the world when she was only twenty-one years old. Kin-Fo met her on a journey which he made to Pekin about this time. Wang, who was acquainted with this charming per
