THE SOUND OF A CHINESE GONG
It was a pretty wedding, and very simple. The Lees were simple English
gentlefolk.
It was a quiet ceremony, quietly performed. There was but little music;
no fife, no drum, no clang. The old organist played softly. (Neither
he nor Mrs. Gregory gave a thought to who had given the instrument;
and no one else there had ever known.) No incense burned. The English
sunshine, perfumed by the roses that grew about the village graves,
drifted softly through the old church windows and dappled on the
chancel floor and on the altar rails and on the organ’s pipes. And the
holy place was sweet with quiet harmony.
Even Robert Gregory, spruce and straight, wearing the whitest pair of
gloves, and almost tightest into which human hands were ever packed,
was content. He was glad to see Basil settled. The girl had no “dot,”
but she was pretty enough to eat; and his manliness was of a straight,
sturdy stuff, and held that a man should earn and provide for his wife,
by the Lord Harry, every time. And for once he was satisfied again with
Mrs. Gregory’s appearance. She looked fine in her gray and gold, and
the emeralds at her breast and pinning the scrap of bonnet on her white
curls were some style.
Hilda listened to the old service with a rapt, tender face. John
Bradley was coming home for six months of holiday next week. She had no
doubt that he’d come to see her mother.
Mrs. Gregory was not displeased. It was no part of her regret to
wish that Basil should live all his life wifeless and childless.
And the rift between her boy and her saved her the jealousy that
happier mothers must suffer when their first-born son weds. Sorry
recompense--but recompense.
Basil Gregory did not make a very brave bridegroom. But only his mother
noticed it. Most wedding-guests have little eye to spare for mere
bridegrooms. And there is something about the function so trying to
masculine sensitiveness that before now kings and heroes have carried
themselves a little craven at their happiest triumph.
Basil Gregory saw two girls beside him at God’s altar.
As he passed down the aisle with his wife’s shy hand on his arm, he
felt the touch of a smaller, tawnier hand. Its weight hurt him; it was
heavy with fabulous nail-protectors and with priceless rings. He was
madly in love with his wife, and, too, he was madly miserable, because
he knew now that they two would never be quite alone--neither by day
nor by night. His mother saw and knew. Just before they passed her he
stumbled a little, startled by the sound of a Chinese gong.
And a few hours later, in the still sweetness of the dark, it smote him
again.
Rest, Wu Li Chang! Be satisfied! The Englishman is punished. He has
broken his mother’s heart. Your curse is fulfilled. Basil Gregory heard
your gong cry out a soul’s damnation to-day above his wife’s “I will.”
So long as he lives he will hear it, a bitter, relentless knell. When
ginger is hottest in his mouth, when wine bubbles reddest in his cup,
when the English girl he loves lifts with tired, triumphant hands their
firstborn toward his arms, through the young mother’s misty smile
he will see Nang’s face, above the baby’s first cry he will hear the
throbbing note of a Chinese gong.
Rest! Sleep in your Sze-chuan grave! Your hideous vengeance is
complete, life-long, soul-deep. It is greater than even you could have
planned. Almost it is adequate.
_“The great mountain must crumble,
The strong beam must break,
The wise man must wither away like a plant,”
Confucius crooned as he died._
THE END
Transcriber’s Note:
Punctuation has been standardised while hyphenation has been retained
as it appears in the original publication. Changes have been made as
follows:
Page 25
The yamén was a bleak, empty place _changed to_
The yamên was a bleak, empty place
Page 52
relations with the inumerable _changed to_
relations with the innumerable
Page 56
made repeated obesiance and withdrew _changed to_
made repeated obeisance and withdrew
Page 101
the blonde hair was marceled into _changed to_
the blonde hair was marcelled into
Page 126
body with hers, as far as he could _changed to_
body with hers, as far as she could
Page 128
At the Feet of Kwayin Ko _changed to_
At the Feet of Kwanyin Ko
Page 189
ordinary English visting card _changed to_
ordinary English visiting card
Page 209
Gregory asked dearily _changed to_
Gregory asked drearily
Page 255
the mandarin said quiety _changed to_
the mandarin said quietly
Page 261
of any sacrifice, it it not _changed to_
of any sacrifice, is it not
Page 273
Almost wthin sound of your _changed to_
Almost within sound of your
Page 313
Basil Grgory saw two girls _changed to_
Basil Gregory saw two girls