Kinfolk by Pearl S. Buck

Author:Pearl S. Buck
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Classics, Historical
ISBN: 9780855947910
Publisher: C.Chivers
Published: 1949-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

11

THE WINTER WAS DRAWING ON in New York and for Dr. Liang the best part of the year was at hand. Now that he had got used to a quiet house he was beginning to like it. Moreover, the presence of the children in China gave him protection. When some of his enemies, and he was always pained by their number, mentioned their surprise that he continued to stay abroad when his country so obviously needed all well-educated citizens, he could smile rather sadly and say, “I am supporting four young citizens now in China. Somebody unfortunately has to pay the bills, and with inflation what it is, this is done more easily with American money than Chinese.”

The fact that he had not yet sent them any money was beginning to weigh on his conscience. Neither he nor Mrs. Liang had ever mentioned the concubine quarrel again, but she had asked him several times whether and when he was going to send the children money.

“Even though James and Mary have jobs, I am sure it is not enough,” she said one day with the stubbornness natural to her. “Besides, we are the parents and we should support the younger ones at least enough to pay for their rice.”

“Certainly you are right,” he replied with unusual politeness to her. “As soon as the lecture season begins, I intend to double my engagements and send them a generous amount.”

“Meantime?” she asked.

“Well, well,” he said impatiently.

The end of this was that Mrs. Liang began another private savings account. One she already had. She had begun it aimlessly, merely for her own comfort in case she should decide someday that she could not bear America any more and that even respect for a husband was not everything in a woman’s life. The money was not deposited in a bank. Instead she had put it thriftily out to loan in Chinatown, and Billy Pan managed it for her, as a favor to the famous Dr. Liang, who knew nothing about it. Each month the capital increased with pleasant regularity. Mrs. Liang was sometimes a little angry because the interest rate was low, but Mr. Pan declared that he could not break the American law, which could be invoked if those who borrowed felt themselves ill used.

“It seems strange that I cannot lend my own money on my own terms,” Mrs. Liang said.

“Well, you can’t except in China,” Billy Pan said flatly. He did not propose to break American law, however absurd. America was still greater than the Chinese Dr. Liang.

“It is another way of stealing,” Mrs. Liang exclaimed. But she did not withdraw her accumulating capital.

The second savings account she merely put into a box which she kept behind the towels and sheets in a closet. She thought of it as the children’s money, though she had no idea how to get it to them. Had Lili married James it would have been easy to ask Mr. Li to exchange the American dollars for Chinese

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.