she
wishes to intimate that she has made a choice; purple and orange when
she is betrothed or married; light blue when she is divorced or a widow,
and would marry again. Light blue is of course seldom seen.

Among a people where all are of so high a type of beauty, it is
difficult to single out one as peculiarly handsome. My young friend's
choice seemed to me to possess the average of good looks; but there was
an expression in her face that pleased me more than did the faces of the
young Gy-ei generally, because it looked less bold--less conscious of
female rights. I observed that, while she talked to Bra, she glanced,
from time to time, sidelong at my young friend.

"Courage," said I, "that young Gy loves you."

"Ay, but if she shall not say so, how am I the better for her love?"

"Your mother is aware of your attachment?"

"Perhaps so. I never owned it to her. It would be un-Anly to confide
such weakness to a mother. I have told my father; he may have told it
again to his wife."

"Will you permit me to quit you for a moment and glide behind your
mother and your beloved? I am sure they are talking about you. Do not
hesitate. I promise that I will not allow myself to be questioned till I
rejoin you."

The young An pressed his hand on his heart, touched me lightly on the
head, and allowed me to quit his side. I stole unobserved behind his
mother and his beloved. I overheard their talk. Bra was speaking;
said she, "There can be no doubt of this: either my son, who is of
marriageable age, will be decoyed into marriage with one of his many
suitors, or he will join those who emigrate to a distance and we shall
see him no more. If you really care for him, my dear Lo, you should
propose."

"I do care for him, Bra; but I doubt if I could really ever win his
affections. He is fond of his inventions and timepieces; and I am not
like Zee, but so dull that I fear I could not enter into his favourite
pursuits, and then he would get tired of me, and at the end of three
years divorce me, and I could never marry another--never."

"It is not necessary to know about timepieces to know how to be so
necessary to the happiness of an An, who cares for timepieces, that he
would rather give up the timepieces than divorce his Gy. You see, my
dear Lo," continued Bra, "that precisely because we are the stronger
sex, we rule the other provided we never show our strength. If you were
superior to my son in making timepieces and automata,