Now turn we to another page; Stately and slow, I see a venerable sage Approach—his form bowed down by age, His hair like snow. He bade the man forthwith repair "Brave men like you are wanted there; Next comes the final parting scene, With flagging feet, He goes, who knows what lies betweenHow many years may intervene Ere those two meet? He left,-(my story 's nearly done) At twenty-three : Since then he's fame and honour won, He now returns at forty-one And I am he. LIU. (Aside.) While he has been talking there, I have been reckoning here. Yes, he is my husband who has been away these eighteen years; I'll open the door. (Opens the door partly, then suddenly closes it again.) JÊN. Why do you shut the door again after having half opened it? LIU. I closed it again for I bethought myself that although your language agrees, your appearance is entirely different. In what do I differ? JÊN. LIU. My husband was quite a lad, and you are like a brigand, with that beard all round your mouth. JÊN. Heigho! After an absence of eighteen years when husband and wife meet, this beard must needs come between and cause trouble. Open the door and look at me. LIU. (Aside.) Yes, it must be really he, so I'll open the door. (Opens door, they embrace, etc. To him.) Hsüeh, what office have you been holding these last eighteen years? JÊN. (Aside.) Well, I return after eighteen years' absence, and she does not ask me one question concerning the hardships I have suffered, but her first inquiry is "What office have you been holding?" (To her.) Wife, what office did I hold formerly, before I left ? |