And in grace and elegance of manners, in skill in the
arts of poetry and the lute, what could surpass them?
Like a parterre of flowers they surrounded her Majesty, and
awaited her pleasure with perfect decorum, when, having saluted
them with affability she thus addressed them - "Lovely ones -
ladies distinguished by the particular attention of your
sovereign and mine, I have sent for you to resolve a doubt and a
difficulty. On questioning our sovereign as to whom he regarded
as the loveliest of his garden of beauty he benignantly replied:
"The Lady A-Kuei is incomparable," and though this may well be,
he further graciously added that he had never seen her. Nor, on
pursuing the subject, could I learn the Imperial reason. The
artist Lo Cheng follows in his Master's footsteps, he also never
having seen the favored lady, and he and she reply to me that
this is an Imperial secret. Declare to me therefore if your
perspicacity and the feminine interest which every lady property
takes in the other can unravel this mystery, for my liver is
tormented with anxiety beyond measure.
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