24
THE meal came to an end in a somewhat startling manner, for Wang ceased abruptly from conversation and entered a trance of contemplation, while Hsiao went fast asleep.
“This,” said Lord Sombrewater to Ambrose, “is a great compliment. I quite see that it may be regarded as the last gesture of true refinement.” He rose, and with Frew-Gaff and Ruby followed Lychnis and Yuan, who were strolling among the paths of the bamboo grove. “I desire to hear more of the conversation of that young man,” he remarked.
“I don’t believe he is young,” said Sprot to Ambrose. “I shouldn’t be surprised to find he was a hundred. I don’t like these people. Did you ever hear such views? And I think it very wrong to let Lychnis go walking off confidentially like that with a young married man. He’s sure to be married. And anyway, he’s a foreigner—more than a foreigner. In my opinion a Chinaman’s more than foreign—like a frog. You don’t suppose”—he came closer to Ambrose—“you don’t suppose Lychnis would ... I mean, a nice young girl wouldn’t....”
“I should recommend you, as a mental exercise,” said Ambrose, “to formulate to yourself more precisely what is in your mind. It makes my record of the conversation more precise.”
Lord Sombrewater beckoned, and he joined the brilliant figures in the bamboo grove. Yuan was discoursing of the bamboo and Lychnis listening bright-eyed.
“There are many plants here that I have not seen before,” said Lord Sombrewater. “They are of a rare beauty.”
“We have assisted Nature,” said Yuan, smiling.
“How do you propagate? May I ask?”
“In the usual ways—by seed, by division, by cuttings of the base of the culm, by cuttings of rhizomes. Layering is impossible for most of these plants. We create a favourable position for them, and make special soils and dressings.”
“The warmth and the sea-mists are helpful, I have no doubt. What about rats and voles?”
“We have exterminated them, except for some that we keep for special purposes.”
“They really are very beautiful plants,” said Lord Sombrewater, with envy.
“It is most wonderful,” replied Yuan, “when all of them over an immense region flower at once.”
“And do you find that they die?”
“They disappear.”
“Many travellers have agreed that the plants die after flowering.”
“How are the plants renewed? My opinion is that they do not die, after flowering, until they have given off suckers from the roots.”
They discussed technical questions of extreme difficulty. Lychnis and Ambrose followed in a world of fluttering green butterflies, peering at spikelet and bract, while Yuan described and demonstrated, until Wang Li and Hsiao were heard calling from their barge.