"I'm going to die... I'm going to die," she moaned, her teeth grinding on the sheet, muffling the screams that followed with more spasms and chills and more, on and on and on and then stopping. Quite suddenly.

At first she thought she had truly died but soon her senses focused and she saw that the room had ceased spinning, the flame of the lamp was low but still burning and she heard the tick of the clock. The hands of the clock pointed to 5:42.

She struggled up in the bed, feeling awful. A glance in her hand mirror frightened her. Ashen features, hair lank with sweat, lips discolored by the medicine. She rinsed her mouth with some of the green tea and spat into the chamber pot and pushed it back under the bed again. Grimly she fought out of her soiled nightdress, used a damp towel to clean her face and neck as best she could, combed her hair and lay back exhausted but feeling better for the toil. It was only then that she noticed the red smear on her nightdress, thrown carelessly onto the threadbare carpet.

A quick examination confirmed that blood was seeping. She arranged a clean towel between her legs and, in the dawn, lay back once more, almost sinking into the mattress with fatigue. Warmth spread through her tired limbs. The flow increased.

Sunday, 9th November

Sunday, 9th November: "Illustrious Chen said to tell you anything that might affect the tai-pan, Elder Sister,"

Ah Soh began uneasily. "The night before last Golden Pubics started her monthly and sh--"

"Ah, that's why she took to her bed and would not see my son," Ah Tok said. They were in her room at the end of the corridor, safe from prying ears. "He was like a teething child all day, worse this morning, it's time we went home."

"Yes. But listen further: she says it's her monthly but I know her dates like my own. It seems not possible. Normally she is like any young civilized virgin, regular, though..." Ah Soh toyed nervously with her smock, "though now that I remember it her last one was sparse, almost as if she missed it."

The older woman belched and used a toothpick. "To miss, or to be little, or irregular with all the anxiety over my son's wounds and the vile, murdering barbarians surrounding us here is ordinary news, not unusual." On the table between them were various bowls with the remains of her lunch: sweet sour soup, stir-fried mixed fresh vegetables, a ginger basted fish with soy, pork slivers in black bean sauce, garlic prawns, and rice. "It's ordinary, Younger Sister."

"What is un-ordinary is that yesterday morning when I went to bring her tea, and hot water to bathe, I had to bang several times to awaken her and she would not let me into her room, just shrieked rudely, "Go away!" through the door in that vulgar voice of hers, and then..." Ah Soh dropped her voice dramatically, "... just minutes later, Big Pointed Nose, that other sort of foreign devil our foreign devils call Frogs, he knocked softly like this." She rapped three times, then a fourth. "She let him in at once!"

Ah Tok blinked. "At once? Him? The Frog? She let him in but not you? You saw him?"

"Yes, but he did not see me."

"Ayeeyah! That was clever. Go on, Younger Sister!" Ah Tok said, now hanging on every word. "Go on."

"He stayed a few minutes, then came out carrying things wrapped in a brown piece of silk. Like a thief in the darkest night. But he did not see me spying on him." Ah Soh paused again, loving--like all Chinese--to be the purveyor of gossip and secrets. "... Or even when I followed him."

"By all gods great and small, you did?" Ah Tok poured two glasses of the Madeira wine they savored. "Long life, Younger Sister, may your Jade Gate never trouble you. Go on, go on!"

"He went down to the shore and got into a rowing boat and rowed out to sea. After a while I saw him drop whatever it was over the side into the sea."

"No!"

"Yes. Then he rowed back. But he didn't see me, never."

"What could it have been?"

Ah Soh leaned closer. "When Missee let me in I looked around carefully. Her bed and nightdress were soaked with sweat, and she looked as though she had had a Happy Valley fever.

Her personal towels were soaked, heavier than usual. She told me to clean everything, to bring hot water and not to let anyone in--even the tai-pan. As soon as I had done what was necessary she flopped back in bed and went to sleep."

"That's not strange, but Pointed Nose is!"

Ah Tok nodded sagely. "This is like donkey dung, shiny on the outside but still all dung.

Clearly he disposed of something for her."

Ah Soh hesitated. "Your Honored Son, is there a chance he has lain with her?"

Ah Tok cackled. "I am sure he has tried but Golden Pubics will not let his Celestial Stem relish the breaching of her Gate, though she flaunts it every chance she gets.

I've heard him moaning her name in his sleep, poor man. Disgusting, if she was a civilized person we could arrange the price and that would end it."

Ah Soh watched Ah Tok thoughtfully pluck a piece of the decimated fish head with her chopsticks, suck the bone clean and spit it into her bowl. The younger woman would gladly have partaken of the leftovers, their cook not as good as Ah Tok's. "How's your cook these days?" she asked innocently.

"Improving. The dog comes from my village so he had promise. I'm training him, of course." Ah Tok grimaced. "Baffling, Younger Sister. How is the Empress today?"

"Irritable as usual. The flow continues, stronger than normal. Medicine Man Giant came to see her this morning but she would not see him, told me to send him away. There's someth--"

"Has my son seen her yet?"

"She will see him this afternoon."

"Good, today his tongue's like an asp to his old Mother over her. Pointed Nose and Pubics in a secret plot? Smelly, smelly indeed.

Keep your eyes and ears open, Younger Sister."

"There's something else." Ah Soh's eyes rolled with excitement. She reached into her pocket and put the cork on the table. The lower part was stained purple to black. "I found this under the bed when I was reaching for the chamber pot."

The wrinkled face became even more wrinkled with puzzlement. "So?"

"Smell it, Elder Sister."

Ah Tok obeyed. The odor was pungent, slightly familiar. "What is it?"

"I cannot be not sure... but it smells to me like Dark of the Moon. I think the bottle this corked, contained Dark of the Moon... with other herbs."

The older woman gasped. "The expeller?

To cause a miscarriage? Impossible! Why should she want to do that?"

"Very bad face for your son to be named a father before marriage, eh? You know how foreign devils carry on about marriage and scandals and virginity, no fornication before the wedding--the man always blamed, how foolish! Bad face for your son. Then there's Tai-tai Tess to answer to, as well as her foul and vengeful foreign devil god."

Both women shuddered. Ah Tok sniffed the cork again. "You think Pointed Nose threw the bottle into the sea?"

"I'm missing a teapot too, that could have been for the accompanying herbs, she wanted hot water and honey too."

"To take away the taste! Ayeeyah!"

Gravely Ah Tok said, "My son is... is quite unbalanced about that woman."

"What should we do?"

"You were right to tell me. We will write at once to Illustrious Chen and send him the cork in the first mail. He will know if you are right, and then what to do." Shakily Ah Tok poured another glass of wine for each of them.

"Keep your eyes wide, be like a clam, I will do the same--not a word to her, my son, or anyone until we hear from him what to do."

Malcolm Struan was hobbling across the High Street heading for the Struan Building, leaning heavily on his sticks. The sky was overcast, a slight wind off the sea, the afternoon chilly and his crushing worry had dropped away. Seeing Angelique, convinced that she was all right, more lovely than ever, though pale and drowsy had done it. He had stayed only moments not wanting to tire her.