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Thinking he
was trying to comfort me, I nodded, but did
not take the words seriously. Then we said
goodbye.
The following
year when the festival came round, my father
took me to dine with my fiancé's family
in a flat overlooking the sea. Although wishing
in a sentimental way to do as the old man had
asked, I easily allowed myself to be dissuaded
by my father's "You cannot just walk out of a
dinner party and go off into the night by
yourself. Whatever would the Huangs think of a
girl who behaved like that?"
The meal
started late and was a noisy, long-drawn-out
affair. We were still at table when the clock
struck ten (mid-point of the hour of the boar).
Suddenly I felt strangely dizzy and was advised
to go out on to the balcony of the flat, which
faced directly on to the sea-shore. It was a
lovely clear night with a brilliant moon shining
down upon the small foam-capped waves. Presently
two of these foam-caps rose strangely into the
air and sailed rapidly towards me. I put this
down to my giddiness until, all of a sudden, I
realized that what I had taken for foam-caps
were two large white herons! Flying very low,
they came almost up to where I was sitting and
flew round and round uttering what I can only
call very happy-sounding cries, long-sustained
and beautiful. While this was happening, a
sensation of extraordinary bliss made me tingle
from head to toe. Instantly I knew that my
Taoist friend had not only kept his promise, but
had even touched me with something of the
ecstasy that would be his for ever in his union
with the void!
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