the features of Dr. Shen Fu smiling down upon him.
"I have come back for my hand," he said gently, "but I cannot release it from your throat. Therefore I shall walk about the marble paths of your garden and enjoy the wonder of the night until I can reclaim it without effort. What a pity that you could not have met the supreme adventure gracefully?"
So saying, Dr. Shen Fu walked slowly out into the garden. With measured footsteps he walked to the music of the trees under a sky tremulous with stars. He knew that it would not be long before his hand had completed its task.
"Ah Chow," he reflected, "was a shrewd trader, but not shrewd enough. He had neglected to reason that it would be hard, very hard to kill an alchemist who was able to successfully manufacture 'The Golden Pill of Immortality.'"
| Moonlight | (From the French of Paul Verlaine) |
Your soul, it is a garden set apart
For masque and bergamasque of mummers gay,
Who dance, and strum the cithern, but at heart
Are almost sad in their fantasque array.
Singing in minor mode, to minor string,
Of love triumphant and life opportune,
They scarce believe the happy theme they sing,
And their songs pass and mingle with the moon,
The lucent, mournful moon so fair and high,
Making the bird to dream in coverts lone,
And the frail fount to sob with ecstasy
Among the tranquil statues bowed in stone.
Translated by Timeus Gaylord
