Peony: A Novel of China Read Online Free PDF Page B

summoned all her adoration of her son. When she turned to him again her full dark eyes were moist and her lips quivered.
    “David, my son,” she began in her richest, softest tones, “do not break your mother’s heart. No, wait, I do not ask you to think of me, David. Think of our people! You and Leah, David—together—your children—carrying on the blood of Judah, in this heathen land! Such a good girl, David—a good wife, always loving you and the home, teaching the children about God! When the time comes for us to go back to our own country, our promised land—”
    David broke in, “But I don’t want to go away. This is where I was born, Mother—here, in this house.”
    Madame Ezra dropped her persuasion. Honest temper blazed in her full face. “Dare to speak so to your mother!” she shouted. “God grant us the chance to go back to the land of our fathers before we die—you and I and your father and all our house!”
    Ezra coughed behind his hand. “I couldn’t leave my business, Naomi.”
    “I am not talking about tomorrow!” Madame Ezra shouted. “I am talking about God’s good time, when the prophets lead us.”
    “I may as well speak,” David said suddenly. “Mother, I want to tell you something.” He rose and they looked at him as he stood, tall and beautiful, before them. “Mother, I won’t marry Leah, because I love someone else.”
    Madame Ezra’s firm jaw dropped. Ezra lifted his tea bowl. Peony stood, her eyes on David. The little silk fan was motionless in her hand. Wang Ma turned away her head.
    “Who is it?” Madame Ezra demanded.
    David faced his mother, his cheeks scarlet. “I saw someone—in the Kung house—”
    “When?” Madame Ezra demanded with passion. Her strength returned.
    “Two days ago,” David said simply.
    Madame Ezra turned upon her husband. Her black eyes blazed at him. “You said—it was you who—”
    Ezra groaned. “My dear, you compel us all to lie to you,” he remarked sadly. He lifted his heavy-lidded eyes to his son. “Go on,” he commanded him. “Now you have begun, finish! You saw a pretty girl. Did you speak with her?”
    “Of course not,” David cried. “She—she said something—‘Oh, oh’—something like that—and she ran out of the room as fleetly as—as a—”
    “As a fawn?” Ezra suggested dryly.
    David looked astonished. “Father, how did you know? Have you seen her, too?”
    “No,” Ezra replied. “Not this one. But I believe ‘fawn’ is the usual term.”
    “What folly!” Madame Ezra said in a loud voice. “Ezra, I am shocked!”
    Ezra rose suddenly. “I’m sorry, Naomi. Really, I can’t stay—Kung Chen is waiting and he is not the sort that does wait, you know.”
    “Sit down, both of you,” Madame Ezra said imperiously. “David, you shall be betrothed on the tenth day of the eighth month. It is the anniversary of the day upon which Leah’s mother and I made our promise.”
    She met her son’s eyes full and they looked at each other. His eyes fell. “I won’t—I won’t,” he muttered. “I’ll kill myself first.” He turned and strode from the room.
    “Go after him, Peony,” Ezra commanded.
    Peony needed no command. She was already halfway to the door and she disappeared behind the satin curtain.
    To this revelation David had made she had listened with astonished ears. And she had dreamed that she knew all his heart! More than she had suffered last night for Leah’s sake she now grieved that David had hidden this from her. She ran across the corridor and out upon the long verandas that lined the courts. Where had he gone? She paused, finger to lips, her eyes closed, pondering. He would want to escape, and where could he escape except into the streets? She turned and ran swiftly and lightly toward the gate.
    In the silence of the great hall the two elders sat. Wang Ma sighed and filled the tea bowls again. Ezra’s face was grave and Madame Ezra touched her eyes with her handkerchief. After a