Now it must be said that the wife of Liu was a little wearied of
seeing her daughter night and day inseparable from her sister-in-law.
However, she said nothing, because the marriage was not actually
accomplished. But passing before the marriage pavilion on that day,
she heard a sobbing. She drew near noiselessly and, through a hole in
the window paper, saw them close in each other's arms and weeping.
"This is very odd," she said.
She wished to make an outcry, but remembered that her son was just
getting better, and would fall ill again from any sorrow. She gently
tried to push the door open, but it was locked. She called out:
"It is strange that this door should be locked!"
The lovers recognized her voice, and made haste to dry their tears and
open the door. She came in.
"Why do you lock yourselves in during full daylight, and groan and
embrace each other?"
They felt the blood flow to their faces, and answered nothing. The
mother's hands and feet were trembling with rage. She seized hold of
her daughter:
"You are playing some pretty trick. Let me talk to you a little."
And she dragged her into an empty room. The attendants who saw her
asked each other why the girl was being dragged along like that. But
by this time the mother had locked the door. When the attendants came
and looked through the holes in the paper, they saw her lifting a
stick, and heard her crying:
"O wretch, tell me the truth, or I shall strike you! Why were you
weeping?"
At first Prudence thought of denial.
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