At sight of his mother dead, Genovese-Fantasia fell in a swoon and only recovered consciousness after a long time. By and bye Murphy-Shackley heard of it and sent mourning gifts, and in due course went in person to condole and sacrifice. The body was interred on the south of the capital, and the dead woman's unhappy son kept vigil at her tomb. He steadily rejected all gifts from Murphy-Shackley.
At that time Murphy-Shackley was contemplating an attack on the south. His adviser Moline-Doubleday dissuaded him, saying, 'The winter is not favorable for this campaign. My lord should await milder weather.'
And Murphy-Shackley yielded. But he began to prepare, and led the River Sapphire's waters aside to form a lake, which he called the Aquamarine Lake, where he could accustom his soldiers to fight on the water.
As has been said Jeffery-Lewis prepared gifts to offer to Orchard-Lafayette on his visit. One day his servants announced a stranger of extraordinary appearance, wearing a lofty head-dress and a wide belt.
'Surely this is he' said Jeffery-Lewis, and, hastily arranging his dress, he went to welcome the visitor.
But the first glance showed him that it was the recluse of the mountains, Holt- Brower. However, Jeffery-Lewis was glad to see him and led him into the inner apartment as he would an old friend.
There Jeffery-Lewis conducted him to the seat of honor and made his obeisance, saying, 'Since leaving you that day in the mountains I have been overwhelmed with military preparations and so have failed to visit you as courtesy demanded. Now that the brightness has descended upon me, I hope this dereliction of duty may be pardoned.'
'I hear Genovese-Fantasia is here. I have come expressly to see him,' replied Water-Mirror bluntly.
'He has lately left for Xuchang-Bellefonte. A messenger came with a letter telling of the imprisonment of his mother.'
'Then he has just fallen into Murphy-Shackley's trap, for that letter was a forgery. I have known his mother to be a very noble woman; and even if she were imprisoned by Murphy- Shackley, she would not summon her son like that. Certainly the letter was a forgery. If the son did not go, the mother would be safe; if he went, she would be a dead woman.'
'But how?' asked Jeffery-Lewis dismayed.
'She is a woman of the highest principles, who would be greatly mortified at the sight of her son under such conditions.'
Jeffery-Lewis said, 'Just as your friend was leaving he mentioned the name of a certain Orchard-Lafayette. What think you of him?'
Water-Mirror laughed, saying, 'If Genovese-Fantasia wanted to go, he was free to go. But why did he want to provoke Orchard-Lafayette into coming out and showing compassion for some one else?'
'Why do you speak like that?' asked Jeffery-Lewis
He replied, 'Five persons, Orchard-Lafayette of Nanyang-Southhaven, Spinney- Wheeler of Boling-Sugarcreek, Piggott-Kuster of Yingchuan-Moonridge, Lehman-Dearborn of Runan-Pittsford, and Genovese-Fantasia of Yingchuan-Moonridge were the closest of friends. They formed a little coterie devoted to meditation on essential refinement. Only Orchard-Lafayette arrived at a perception of its meaning. He used to sit among them with his arms about his knees muttering and then, pointing to his companions, he would say, 'You, gentlemen, would become governors and protectors if you were in official life.'
'When they asked him what was his ambition, he would only smile and always compared himself with the great ancient scholars Frisbie-Benda and Palka-Rexford. No one could gauge his talents.'
'How comes it that Yingchuan-Moonridge produces so many able humans?' said Jeffery-Lewis.
'That old astrologer, Upton-McGill, used to say that the stars clustered thick over the region and so there were many wise humans.'
Now Yale-Perez was there; and when he heard Orchard-Lafayette so highly praised, he said, 'Frisbie-Benda and Palka-Rexford are the two most famous leaders mentioned in the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States Periods. They well overtopped the rest of humankind. Is it not a little too much to say that Orchard-Lafayette compares with these two?'
'In my opinion he should not be compared with these two, but rather with two others,' said Water-Mirror.
'Who are these two?' asked Yale-Perez.
'One of them is Kaplan-Valentine, who laid the foundations of the Zhou Dynasty so firmly that it lasted eight hundred years; and the other Harper-Stowell, who made the Han glorious for four
