Part 6

The old man crossed to them in silence, and laying the box on the platform by the coffin lifted the lid.... A faint scent of spices drifted out; it floated about them and enveloped them as he took out, one by one, the soft thin papers that filled the box, and revealed lying at the bottom something that glowed and shimmered a little.

Eleanor More leaned forward breathless. Her hands half-reached to the shimmer of blue and gold as the old man lifted it from the box and opened it with slow, reverent fingers.... The dragon’s played across the surface, and on the breast as he held it up were four cabalistic marks—the signs in the transparent map that guided them on their journey.

They stood a moment in silence. All the color of the coat seemed to gather to a soft intensity, and glow.

Eleanor More caught her breath with a little sound. “I had forgotten!” she said. “I had forgotten....!” Her face was filled with light—a look of happiness pervaded it.

Richard More glanced at her. “Ask him how much it is,” he said in a low voice to the interpreter.

The interpreter spoke the words and listened a moment and translated the answer swiftly: “Money will not buy the coat—not all the gold in all the world,” he chanted back.

Again and again Richard More made his demand.... And again he offered larger sums. But the old face opposite remained untouched.

“Money cannot buy it,” replied the interpreter.

It was like a refrain that came and went between the two men, as they faced each other—Richard More urgent, imperious, and strong; the old Chinaman impassive and quiet. His face had not changed from its look of calm endurance.

“He will not sell it,” repeated the interpreter. “He only shows it to you at the priest’s command. It is a legacy—from mother to son.”

“His son is dead,” said Richard almost harshly. His hand moved to the coffin with an abrupt gesture.... “His son is dead——-”

The words held themselves on his lips.

He was facing a small door across the room. His hand fell to his side in a gesture of silence.

The woman in the doorway stood looking at them with deep, intent gaze. Then she moved toward them—as one who comes in her own right.

She spoke a word to the interpreter. He gave quiet assent and waited while she spoke.

“She says the coat is of royal lineage,” he translated slowly—“a heritage in her family—since Time.... She is of a dynasty long since deposed. Only the coat remains. No one remembers whence it came—no one reads the dragon marks....” He translated the words as they came from her lips in quaint exact phrasing. “But there is a tradition—” his voice went on——

He listened again—a half-curious flutter of his lids rested on Eleanor More’s face.

She had withdrawn to one side and stood looking down at the red-and-black lacquered surface of the coffin.... Her hands were folded quietly. Something within her seemed to hold itself remote.

His gaze ran from her to the woman who stood speaking the words that he translated, half under his breath———

“There is a tradition—” he repeated softly, “that the coat is immortal—”

They turned to it where it lay beside the coffin. It seemed to shimmer and gather light.

“—a tradition that the coat is immortal,” went on the singing voice of the interpreter.... “And one day there shall come from the East—a woman—a woman out of the East.... And her sons shall cherish the coat!”

Eleanor More stirred a little.

The voice of the interpreter took on a high sing-song note, alternating with the low, gentle phrasing of the Chinese woman’s words.... “Her sons and her sons’ sons—forever.”

The voice ceased and the room was very still. From somewhere in the house came a rustling sound that rose and died away.

Eleanor More raised her eyes and looked steadfastly at the other woman. She moved a step—and half held out her hands. But the other did not stir and she crossed the space between them.... They were of equal height. As Richard More turned a startled glance, he was aware of something curiously alike in the two figures—a lift of the head, an air of quiet endurance—but more than all, a kind of dignity—something regal—that stirred vague memories.... When had he stood before and seen two women thus?... Surely in some other life—in some other age and time, he had looked on at a supreme moment of joy and abnegation.

For a long moment, the two women confronted each other, gazing deep into the other’s eyes. Then with a little gesture, the Oriental, in her softly rustling garments, moved to the platform and lifted the Chinese coat in her hands and placed it in Eleanor More’s.

Were there tears in the eyes that gazed... or only a deep, still joy?

Before Richard More could question—the look was gone. The Oriental woman was moving from them and the door closed softly behind her.

He watched it swing together, with a sense that something irretrievable had passed—a mystery and wonder—out of life.... Then he turned and saw his wife’s face.

She was gazing down at the coat with a look almost of fear. “Her sons and her sons’ sons—forever,” flashed through his mind.... She lifted her eyes and smiled at him, holding out the coat.

“Carry it for me, Dick!”

He moved quickly toward her. “You are tired?” he said tenderly.

“No—I am not tired!” She looked about her. “I am only glad.... It was a long journey, wasn’t it?” She spoke with quiet conviction. “But now it seems short—and easy to find....”

She looked about her again. Her eyes rested wonderingly on the shrine of the Buddha and on the shallow platform with its coffin and the three men standing by it....

“I have been here before, I think—and yet...” She passed her hand across her eyes. “I cannot——”

“Never mind!” He had taken the coat from her and handed it to the interpreter, who was folding it in slow, skilful hands.

The old Chinaman had not stirred from his place, a little to one side. He looked on with impassive gaze.

Richard More glanced at him and a sense of something wonted came to him... a sudden vision of the oak-tree with its great roots protruding from the ground, and the low-swung branches. He moved quickly to the platform. From about his neck he removed the long strings of cash and placed them beside the coffin and from his pocket he took handfuls of the Chinese silver “shoes” that had served them on their journey.... They would not need them now.... He piled them about the coffin.

The old eyes of the Chinaman gazed straight before him. His lips parted in half-spoken words that the interpreter took up, translating softly.

“He will go to the grave of his ancestors.... He is old and his sons are dead.... He will bury this son, the last of his race—” His hand touched the lacquered surface gently. “He will offer worship at the sacred mountain and pay vows before the tomb of his ancestors. The money you have given shall make glad the hearts of his ancestors.”

He ceased. The old man approached the coffin. For a long moment he stood with hands resting on it—as if he would gather from it something of the strength of the race that was passing. Then with grave face he lifted the strings of cash and placed them about his neck and gathered up the silver shoes from beside the coffin and took from a little shelf by the platform a red umbrella and a pair of half-worn sandals. With courteous gesture he passed from the room.

XXIV |In the grove outside the city wall they paused to rest.

The interpreter, who had come with them from the house and refused to leave them till the city gate was reached, had been paid and was returning to the temple.

As they passed through the streets, they had been conscious of curious whispers, glances from behind opaque windows and rustling from concealed doorways and passages beyond—so a hive of bees despoiled of its comb stirs with low-murmured sound and the restless whir of wings.... But no one had approached them, no one barred passage to the light oblong box that Richard More carried so carefully in his hand.

At the entrance to the grove he glanced at his wife.

“We shall rest here,” he said with quiet decision.

And she acquiesced—a little smile coming to her lips as they entered the grove.

The green light filtered through the boughs. It touched the twisted trunks with a still look of mystery and strangeness.

“How beautiful!” she said under her breath.

He made a place for her to sit down, and as she leaned against the gnarled trunk, looking up to the boughs where the filtering light came through, he was struck again by the pallor of her face.

“You are tired!” he exclaimed. “I shall signal Kou Ying to bring the chairs!” He moved to the entrance of the grove—but she stayed him.

“No—wait! I like it—to be alone with you.... Don’t call Kou Ying—yet!”

She looked about with dreamy eyes. “It is so beautiful here—and quiet—I shall rest,” she said slowly.

Then her eyes fell on the box and she smiled.

“Open it!” she commanded.

And as his fingers undid the cord and lifted the thin rustling papers and drew the coat from its place, she laughed and chatted like a child. And her laughter, sounding through the grove, had something sweet and strange in it.

He lifted the coat and laid it before her. She looked down at it. She put out her hand and stroked the dragons, the laughter still in her eyes.

“For William Archer,” she said.

“And his sons,” responded Richard.

“And his sons’ sons forever,” she finished dreamily.

Her hand still stroked the dragons.

“I did not think you—would get it—for me!” she said.

“Of course I should get it—if you wanted it.... You had only to say you wanted it!”

“You knew that!” he added after a minute.

“Yes, I knew.” A little sigh touched her lips.

They sat a moment in silence. Then he lifted the coat. “Put it on,” he insisted gently.

She lifted her arms to the sleeves and smiled at him as he wrapped it about her.... Suddenly the look of pallor was in her face. It grew strangely quiet, and a touch of wistfulness curved the smile of the lips.

He looked down at her, startled... the pallor in the quiet face seemed passed to his own.

Hastily he laid down the still figure and ran to the entrance of the grove.... At the edge of the path he paused and looked up and motioned—gesticulating swiftly to a single figure on the plateau above.

From his post above Kou Ying started. He leaned forward and lifted his hand in a swift gesture.

He gave a harsh call.

The men behind him leaped to their feet and ran from the trees. There was confusion and hurry and a swift chatter of voices, as they seized the empty sedan chairs and slung them to their shoulders, and moved forward toward the winding path that led from the hill.

From the edge of the hill before he descended Kou Ying looked down again.

The valley below was still. No one moved among the trees.

From the mountain opposite, the quiet face of the Buddha looked across to the plain.

XXV

In the grove he bent above the deathlike face. A tremor crossed it.

She brushed a hand lightly across her eyes, as if visions fled, and sat up. The color came slowly back to her face.

“I had a dream!” she breathed.

The green light of the grove shimmered about her softly and touched her face.

“It was William Archer and the coat. But I cannot remember—” She passed a hand across her forehead.

“Never mind,” said Richard. “We are going to take it home to him.”

Her hand dropped to the dragons and smoothed them absently.

“And to his sons’ sons forever!” she murmured happily.

At the entrance to the grove, dark incurious faces peered in at the blue-robed figure that rested against the gnarled trunk.... The sound of quick, indrawn breath passed among the leaves.

Richard More lifted her to her feet.

“Come!” he said.

They passed out of the grove where the sedan chairs waited them. The bearers prone on their faces on the ground uttered low words that rose in a kind of chant and ended in the long indrawn note of awe.

Kou Ying alone stood erect.

He held out his hand to the blue-robed figure and escorted it to the sedan chair and seated it with grave care.

Richard More took his place in the chair beside her.

“We return by the lower route,” said Kou Ying.

He spoke a sharp word to the bearers. They sprang to their feet and touched the handles of the chairs.

“Keep to the lower hill by the spur,” he commanded.

The procession moved toward the low hill that edged the plain. And as they made their way up the long slope at an easy trot Richard More’s eyes rested on his wife.

She sat erect beneath the canopy of the chair, the blue robe with its gold dragons wrapped about her. Her tranquil face in its white hair looked across the plain.... She was more beautiful than he had ever known her! A queen in this robe of the Past!

He reached his hand till it touched the one that lay on the arm of the chair. The face with its tranquil smile turned to him.

And he saw with a start that the blue of the eyes and the blue of the coat were one....

They reached the spur of the hill and Kou Ying gave the signal to halt.

Behind them in the face of the cliff the seated Buddha looked across the plain.

And ahead, far beyond them on the plain, a single figure beneath a red umbrella plodded stolidly on, moving toward the tomb of its ancestors.

And as it went the red umbrella bobbed slowly, a spot of color in the distant far-reaching grayness of the plain.