At last he said: "Then if we have met often, you
should be very certain of my voice and body. Look at me well, and
think."
The gaolers exclaimed:
"What he says is just. If there were a mistake, would you leave him to
die?"
Eternal Life was puzzled, and looked at him earnestly. He repeated:
"Is it I? Dear heart, speak quickly!"
"He who came," she said at last, "was perhaps bigger. But it was
always dark, and how can I be sure? But I remember that on your left
shoulder you have a scar as big as a copper piece."
The bystanders at once exclaimed:
"That is easy to verify. There can be no further mistake. Uncle,
unclothe yourself quickly. If there is nothing there, we shall inform
the Governor."
Chang immediately uncovered his shoulder, and the white flesh was as
smooth as marble. Eternal Life could not believe her eyes. When the
young man had gone back, filled full of hope, to his prison, the
gaolers made their report to the Governor, who had already summoned
ma-ma Lu.
In the audience chamber the old woman knelt down and was quite
overcome. The judge began by ordering her forty strokes for having
acted as an abettor of corruption. The flesh of her thighs was nothing
but a bloody paste. She told the whole story.
After coming back from Chang's house without having seen him, old Lu
had found her son Wu-han in their little food shop.
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