"Though my mind could not wholly restrain its admiration, yet
secrecy was necessary, for had the facts been known, every lady,
from the Princess of Feminine Propriety to the Junior Beauty of
the Bed Chamber would henceforward have observed only silence and
a frigid decorum in the Dragon Bed Chamber. And though the
Emperor be a philosopher, yet a philosopher is still a man, and
there are moments when decorum -"
The Emperor paused discreetly; then resumed.
"The world should not be composed entirely of A-Kueis, yet in my
mind I behold the Incomparable Lady fair beyond expression. Like
the moon she sails glorious in the heavens to be adored only in
vision as the one woman who could respect the absorption of the
Emperor, and of whose beauty as she lay beside him the
philosopher could remain unconscious and therefore untroubled in
body. To see her, to find her earthly, would be an experience for
which the Emperor might have courage, but the philosopher never.
And attached to all this is a moral:"
The Pearl Empress urgently inquired its nature.
"Let the wisdom of my august parent discern it," said the Emperor
sententiously.
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