THE PRINCESSES OF THE MINGS, AND THE LADY CANDIDA.
Enwrapped as the mind of Nicholas had been in the delicious scene around
him, no sooner did he reach the ground than a bitter feeling arose that
his beloved Emperor should be content to repose in such soft and costly
indolence, while millions of his subjects were being plundered by
rapacious nobles. In deep thought he reached the far-famed mulberry
orchard, where, for a time, he stood contemplating the industry of the
marvelous little worms whose number and color cast a sickly hue over the
broad green foliage of the trees, then in full leaf. Passing through
this orchard, he came in front of a mimic palace, hewn out of rock
crystal, and which glittered in the sun, so that it was some minutes
before his dazzled vision could perceive that he was near the imperial
menagerie and aviary, where were kept the rare beasts and birds
presented to the Emperor by his tributary kings. The sight was curious,
and he would have stopped, but for the rustling of leaves in the
orchard, and the sound of soft footsteps, that warned him of his
imprudence, and made him seek shelter in a small pagoda, from whence,
through a kind of loophole which fronted the menagerie, he could see
without being seen. Now his heart beat tremulously; the footsteps might
be those of the princess and her ladies. He was right in his conjecture,
for scarcely had he placed himself at the loophole, when two ladies,
attended by female slaves, who held above the heads of their mistresses
umbrellas of embroidered yellow silk deeply fringed with gold, came
toward the menagerie. The princess was of middle height, with a form as
graceful and elastic as a fawn; her face, like those of all of her race,
was broad, but fair almost as a European blonde, yet looked the fairer
from its contrast with the raven hair and eyelashes which beneath the
thin brows shaded a pair of tiny jet black eyes, which like the purest
diamonds, compensated by fire for their deficiency in size, and with the
delicately small mouth, parted by a pair of thin pouting lips, lit up
her sweet countenance with animation and vivacity. Of her hands and feet
I can say nothing, for they were hidden beneath the ample folds of her
long gold-embroidered robe of yellow satin. Upon her head she wore a
kind of crown of rich silk, decorated upon each side with a
"fong-hoang," the phoenix of China, which it is believed has but once
appeared, and whose next advent will be the fore-running of the golden
age. The extended wings of the little birds, which were of frosted gold,
and sparkling with jewels, rested upon the forepart of the crown, so
that while their beaks fell over the forehead, the spreading plumage of
their tails afforded a graceful crest upon its summit; moreover they
appeared to come with a tiny parterre of artificial flowers, which were
fastened with a bevy of silver bodkins, whose heads were formed out of
pearls, diamonds, and rubies; but far beyond her rare beauty and costly
attire was the artlessness of her manner, which, arising from a virtuous
heart and cultivated mind, won the love of all with whom she came in
contact.
As for Nicholas, he was bewitched, and from the moment his eyes rested
upon her, he lost all doubt of the success of his mission.
Of the lady in attendance I will only say, that she was of maturer age,
and of fuller form. More plainly attired than the royal lady, she wore a
robe of green silk, embroidered with flowers of the same color, and a
head-dress of silk, slightly sprinkled with large pearls; her brow was
high, and her features regular and handsome, but seemingly shadowed with
care for the interests and ministers of Christ, to whose doctrines she
had long been a convert; for this lady was no other than the illustrious
Candida Hiu, of whom the colao had spoken to Nicholas. Her history was
remarkable, and may be told in a few lines. The Emperor at the
commencement of his reign, had been so favorably disposed to the
Christian religion, that, although not a convert himself, he had
permitted many of the lords and ladies of his court to embrace its
tenets; chief and most sincere among the proselytes had been the prime
minister, Paul Syu, whose influence over his weak-minded master had
enabled him to protect the missionaries from the jealous bonzes and
pagan mandarins around. No sooner, however, had this good man gone to
his grave, than the bonzes accused the Christians of endeavoring to
subvert the reigning family, and so artfully did they intrigue, that the
Emperor ordered the Christians to leave China, and a terrible
persecution took place, when all the court but the Lady Candida and the
son and daughter of the monarch, returned to the worship of Fo. As I
have said, the Emperor's love was so great for his beautiful daughter,
that he permitted the princess and her friend Candida to follow the
dictates of their own hearts; hence it was that the good lady had been
able to protect her fellow-Christians from the rapacity of the bonzes
and mandarins, even to obtaining permission for them to remain in Pekin.
Further, to show her zeal, she founded at her own cost no less than
thirty churches in different parts of the empire, and had vast numbers
of religious books translated into Chinese, which she distributed by
means not only of blind beggars, but vagabond fortune-tellers, whom she
paid handsomely to stand at the corners of streets, and read the Gospel,
in place of practicing upon the credulity of the populace with their
vile falsehoods. Such were the two ladies now within a few yards of
Nicholas.