ably lit with only one lamp. But the center room was hung with mourning curtains and outside stood Big Liang and his brothers.
"He is laid out in there," Big Liang's grandmother said, pointing to the room. "After His Excellency received his appointment I gave up the center room to him. He is laid in there now."
Before the mourning curtains stood a long narrow table and in front of that, a square table. On the latter were laid out ten dishes of food. I was stopped by two men in long white robes as I stepped into the room; they stared at me with fishy eyes betraying surprise and suspicion. I told them who I was and of my friendship with Lien-shu, attested to by Big Liang's grandmother, whereupon their eyes and hands relaxed and they allowed me to go in.
No sooner did I bow than there came the sound of weeping from below. I looked in that direction and saw a boy of over ten years of age prostrated on a straw mat. He was in white, a large string of hemp tied around his closely cropped head.
After I had exchanged greetings with the men in white and had learned that they were the closest relations of Lien-shu, I begged to be allowed to take a last look at an old friend. They tried to dissuade me, saying that they would not think of putting me to the trouble, but my persistence prevailed and they lifted up the mourning curtains.
Now I beheld Lien-shu in death. How strange it was! Though his short coat and his trousers were wrinkled and bore traces of blood and though his face was painfully thin, he looked very much the same as I used to know him. His mouth and eyes were closed and he seemed to be sleeping
