Free Peony: A Novel of China by Pearl S. Buck Page A

it there stood Wang Ma, and behind her chair bearers carried an empty sedan.
    “Come in, Elder Sister,” Rachel said. “No one is awake yet here.”
    Wang Ma came in, looking almost like the mistress of a house herself. She wore a dark blue coat and trousers of homespun silk, and there were gold earrings in her ears and gold rings on her middle fingers. Her oiled black hair was brushed into a round knot on her neck and held by a fine black silk net, and she had plucked and darkened her eyebrows, and rubbed her cheeks so clean that they were still very red.
    “Not awake!” she echoed. She knew Rachel and they were good friends in the solid fashion of women who are respected in whatever households they serve. Both of them obeyed Madame Ezra above all others, Rachel because Madame Ezra had given her money at times when her husband was ill or idle, and Wang Ma because she knew that Madame Ezra ruled the House of Ezra.
    “The Rabbi is old,” Rachel said, “and the young man did not come in until after midnight, and Leah, doubtless, the poor young thing—”
    Wang Ma’s black eyebrows went up. “Why poor young thing?” she demanded. “She is lucky to come into our house.”
    “Of course—of course,” Rachel said peaceably. “Come in and drink some tea, Elder Sister. I will wake her.”
    “I will wake her,” Wang Ma said firmly. “Do you attend to the two men. We had better make haste, lest today the caravan comes. The gateman told me when I passed that a runner reached our house the second hour after midnight, to say the caravan had reached the Village of Three Bells. But say nothing to the young lady. Our mistress does not wish her distracted.”
    “Has the caravan come indeed?” Rachel exclaimed. “How lucky are you, Elder Sister, to be in that household!”
    “So I am, in some ways,” Wang Ma replied. “In other ways—well, let us do our duty!” She shrugged her shoulders. Rachel nodded and led her to Leah’s room.
    So it happened that when Leah opened her eyes, they fell first upon Wang Ma’s handsome rosy face. She was half bemused with her dreams, and she faltered.
    “Why—why, but I am still at home—”
    “Up with you, Young Lady,” Wang Ma said briskly. “I am sent to fetch you.”
    Leah sat up and brushed back her long hair. “Oh—oh,” she whispered in distress. “Today of all days to oversleep!”
    “Never mind,” Wang Ma said. “Put something on and come along. Our mistress has new garments ready for you. You need bring nothing.”
    “Ah, but my box is packed—I am ready!” Leah exclaimed.
    So saying, she got quickly out of bed. Then she looked shyly at Wang Ma. Never in her life had she taken off her clothes before anyone, and she could not now. But Wang Ma would have no shyness.
    “Come, come,” she said, “no silliness, Young Lady! If you are to stay in our house, I shall have the washing and tending of you, at least until our Peony learns, and you have nothing that old women like me cannot see.”
    So with her back turned to Wang Ma, Leah undressed and washed herself at a basin and ewer, Wang Ma all the time telling her to make haste.
    “You need not be too careful,” Wang Ma urged her. “I shall wash you again and perfume you before we put you into new garments.”
    Then Rachel brought a bowl of hot rice soup, and so between them Leah was ready. But there were the farewells to be said. No one could help her with those. She went tiptoe into Aaron’s room, and he lay still asleep. She stood looking down at him, the tears gathering under her eyelids. Her brother lay before her in his weakness and in his too slender youth, and his pale ugly face touched her heart. Who would love this brother of hers? There was nothing in him to love. Her own rich love, always ready to well up at the sight of someone needy and weak, came up now, and she bent and kissed his cheek. His breath was foul and his hair smelled unwashed.
    “Oh, Aaron,” she murmured, “what shall I do for