A fishing fleet was steering in from the open sea, scudding before the wind like a flock of seabirds. All night long had the fishers toiled in the deep. Now they were returning with the results of their labor. A young Chinese girl, watching the fleet from the beach of Fisherman’s Cove, shivered in the morning air. Over her blue cotton blouse she wore no wrap; on her head, no covering. All her interest was centred in one lone boat which lagged behind the rest, being heavier freighted. The fisherman was of her own race. When his boat was beached he sprang to her side. “O’Yam, what brings you here?” he questioned low, for the curious eyes of his fellow fishermen were on her. “Your mother is dying,” she answered. The young man spake a few words in English to a Greek whose boat lay alongside his. The Greek answered in the same tongue. Then Fou Wang threw down his nets and, with the girl following, walked quickly along the waterfront, past the wharves, the warehouses, and the grogshops, up a zigzag hill and into the heart of Chinatown. Neither spoke until they reached their destination, a dingy three-storied building. The young man began to ascend the stairs, the girl to follow. Fou Wang looked back and shook his head. The girl paused on the lowest step. “May I not come?” she pleaded. “Today is for sorrow,” returned Fou Wang. “I would, for a time, forget all that belongs to the joy of life.” The girl threw her sleeve over her head and backed out of the open door. “What is the matter?” inquired a kind voice, and a woman laid her hand upon her shoulder. O’Yam’s bosom heaved. “Oh, Liuchi,” she cried, “the mother of Fou Wang is dying, and you know what that means to me.” The woman eyed her compassionately. “Your father, I know,” said she, as she unlocked a door and led her companion into a room opening on to the street, “has long wished for an excuse to set at naught your betrothal to Fou Wang; but I am sure the lad to whom you are both sun and moon will never give him one.” She offered O’Yam some tea, but the girl pushed it aside. “You know not Fou Wang,” she replied, sadly yet proudly. “He will follow his conscience, though he lose the sun, the moon, and the whole world.” A young woman thrust her head through the door. “The mother of Fou Wang is dead,” cried she. * * * * * “She was a good woman—a kind and loving mother,” said Liuchi, as she gazed down upon the still features of her friend. The young daughter of Ah So Nan burst into fresh weeping. Her pretty face was much swollen. Ah So Nan had been well loved by her children, and the falling tears were not merely waters of ceremony.