The Lamps of Limehouse

A New Series of Limehouse Sketches. IV. The Perfect White Girl

By THOMAS BURKE, author of "Limehouse Nights"Broken Blossoms," etc.

IT is one of the little tales of John Sway Too, which he tells at evening to his wandering fellows in the half-lit room behind his store in Poplar High Street.

There, amid the pungent odours of suey sen and jagree dust, and unguents, tempered by the sweeter essence of areca nut, gather the youthful yellow seamen newly come to London. There, from the venerable lips of John Sway Too, they learn Rules of Conduct for this strange land and gather much entertainment besides, for John Sway Too has seen the passing of many seasons under the steel skies of Limehouse.

"It is to be observed," he remarked one evening to a semi-circle of young admirers, "that the white daughters of this stream which men call the Thames, by whose banks we now sojourn, are very apt in guile."

"Ao!" cried the company in chorus.

"And now that statements of a highly objectionable nature are daily being made in the bazaars and in the printed leaves by the men of this land against the association of their daughters with the serene and refined ones from the land of the White Poppy, this person who addresses you would advise you all to abjure the company of the white maidens."

He paused to reach from a shelf, a jar of li-un, and extract a portion of its contents with his yen-hok.

"This refined assembly," he continued, "will doubtless refrain from expressions of displeasure, and will concede from their own experience that the words of this person are weighted with wisdom when he tells them that the attraction which they possess for these white maidens is almost wholly in proportion to the number of taels—or, as the barbarian tongue has it, coins—in their possession; whereby the maidens may be afforded refined and polished relaxation in tea-houses and theatres."

THE company looked doubtfully around the room and about the floor, but none met the eye of his fellows or the eye of John Sway Too.

"Nevertheless," continued the narrator, complacently, "I have myself found one white maiden of these cold streets—a maiden of surpassing virtue and of beauty like to dew upon chrysanthemums. Fairer than the Great Night Lantern over the garden is she; kinder than the sun to the bursting bud; sweeter than the rain to the parched field; more gracious than the nest to the tired bird."

"Hi-yah!" cried his audience. "Will not the estimable John Sway Too tell us of her?"

John Sway Too took the portion of li-un into his hand and rubbed it slowly into a pellet; and the company drew closer.

"It was about the time of Clear Weather," he began, "when, in our country, the almondblossom is scattering its colour about the garden-walks, and the swallow comes again; when, beneath the brown earth begin those agreeable stirrings that rise at last to the full laughter of the harvest; when, beneath the bosoms of refined youths such as those I now see before me, begin these not unpleasing tremors that come at last to harvest in a kiss.

"I had, on a fair evening of this season, followed my custom of visiting a tea-house within this street, and there engaging myself with white men in a game of fan-tan. But upon that evening some evil spirit was in possession of the cards, and all my skill could not prevent my losing many cash to my base associates. At a point when but a few cash were left to me, I resolved to play one game more, believing that my unremitting devotion to my ancestors would lead them to intervene on behalf of their miserable son. The agreeable state of mind with which I entered upon this game was, however, violently displaced by emotions of the most agitating nature; for I soon observed that the cards which had fallen to my hand were intolerably inadequate to the purpose of recovering any portion of my coins. When, therefore, the game was well begun, I contrived, by that dexterity which my dignified father had passed to me as his highest gift, to thwart the evil spirit that sought to undo me, and to substitute, by a rapid movement of the arm, five cards of high value, which I carried always in my tunic as a charm against evil-doers, for those then in my hand.

"But alas! misfortune pursues even those most attentive to the Four Books and most devout in service to their ancestors. Scarce had I effected the substitution, when the pig-like eye of the wholly detestable Bill Hawkins perceived the movement; and, disregarding all the laws of the Book of Rites, he cried aloud his discovery in that voice which many have likened to the filing of an iron chain by a number of watermen under the influence of rice-spirit. Immediately, the assembled company laid aside their dignity, and fell upon me with blows and base comments upon my accomplished father and the method by which he bred me. With a total loss of the perpendicular I was hurried from the tea-house to the Causeway, and there subjected to usage of a degrading and highly painful nature.

"SUDDENLY, at a point when the repeated blows had become well-nigh unbearable, they ceased, and a silence fell upon my persecutors; and there appeared in our midst a white maiden of loveliness surpassing any loveliness that this person had at any time conceived. Dazed as I was by my brutal treatment, I was yet swift to note how my heart leapt and cried at sight of her. Dense, dark hair streamed about her milk-white brow. Whiter than the blossom of the cherry were her hands, and her eyes shone with the lights of a thousand festival lanterns. The running lines of her limbs were as happy to the eye as the flashing curves of the swallow in the middle air; and through the dusk her face glowed like an evening water-lily.

"While I lay prone on the hard road, she addressed high words to my tormentors, and her bright hands flashed against them like fireflies; and I felt that, sweeter to my wounds than all ointments and dressings, would be one caress from those white hands. And lo! when she had made an end of speaking, my persecutors crept sadly away, and she bent to me—to this utterly degraded and altogether insignificant person—and placed an arm about me, and helped me to a position of dignity. Like a roll of silk was her arm, and my heart became as the sun at high noon. I murmured foolish words to her, not thanking her as my rescuer, but blessing her for the touch of her hands and for her gracious presence; blessing her for her beauty and for that I was vouchsafed to gaze upon her.

"Then she led me away to her Palace. I have wandered much about these parts, alongside this stream, but in all my wanderings had found nothing but the large ungainly buildings of the merchants and the disreputable hovels where dwell the mean and the base of this city. Scarce, however, had we made one turn out of the Causeway, than we came upon a noble and dignified mansion, with iron gates, tiled paths, and a green door. By means of a key this maiden of surpassing loveliness opened the green door and motioned me to enter. With trembling limbs, partly due to the vile treatment to which I had been subjected, and partly due to the mystery and enchantment of her presence, J did so.

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"When she had made light, she illuminated two lanterns, and I found myself walking upon soft rugs in a chamber garnished with flowers and silks. Bidding me rest upon a purple couch, she retired; and presently returned with soft water and unguents, and with these she blessed my bruises—ay, with those lily hands she tended me. While I lay there in all my baseness and misery, this white maiden soothed and caressed my hurt places, and fed my bosom with the rich light of her eyes. When I was fully comforted, she brought me wine and sweet foods, and sat by me as I ate, and ate with me, and my heart grew so light as I received her smiles that I scarce knew it was there; nay, it had changed, I think, into a little murmurous song or a soft flower of the Springtide.

THE hours grew to the noon of night. Yet I moved not. I could not move, for her beauty held me in delicious bonds. As she sat by me, my heart danced with the fumes of the time of Clear Weather, and little white thoughts flowed and fluttered between our hearts, and the room was sweetened by them. My offending fingers wandered through the forest of her hair. Her lucid face was a field for my eyes to rove in. In my arms I held her, heart to heart, and all her shining loveliness was mine. Her soft robes ran through my fingers, and the strip of lace about her neck was to me fairer than the jewels of the temple. When the lanterns faded, her eyes flooded the night with silver, and with my head upon her young breast I dreamed of these streets in Limehouse, and how all men were kind to us; where white maidens scoffed not at us because our faces are golden like the sun; nor deceived us with soft words for the purpose of obtaining taels from us.

"To me, John Sway Too, she gave these hours of beauty. But she gave me more than this. She gave me her inner mind. She gave me kindness and warm understanding; and though our spoken words fell without significance upon each other's ears, we had full knowledge without them. So passed the hours in the bliss of sympathy and beauty.

"When at last I felt that I should depart, she pressed upon me many taels, knowing that I was without substance, and a basket of elegant provisions. When I would have made a dignified refusal, she smiled upon me, and I then took what she had offered me and knew that I need speak no words of thanks. She led me herself from her own noble mansion to the door of my base and despicable hovel; and there, in the street, she left me with a memory of love that scattered wonder and beauty upon the mean houses about me, and made even the shadows of the shops that fell upon the pathway she had trodden, more dear and desirable than all the substance of my own country."

JOHN SWAY TOO paused, and reached for his pipe, while the company sat mute with shining eyes and gaping mouths.

Presently—"And did you never see her again—this maiden of surpassing virtue and loveliness?" asked one.

"Many times since have I seen her, my son. And each time she is more lovely and gracious, and pours sweeter blessings upon my unworthy person."

"Ao! Ao!" they cried eagerly. "She is stili here then? She is still to be seen about these streets? Could it be granted that we might at some time catch even a distant glimpse of her enchantments— could for one moment behold her?"

"In truth, yes. More than that, you may see her and be with her even as I have been with her. You may feast of her white beauty and rare mind, even as I. She will come to all men in whom live the high qualities of service and sacrifice, of courage and pity and forgiveness, whether their skins be white or black or golden like our own. To all these she offers the love and understanding that each desires; and in the soft circle of her arms you shall find peace and pardon."

"Hi-yah! Where, oh, where may we find her, O refined and elegant John Sway Too? Tell us quickly. Direct us to her, to this one white maid who will not scorn our worship."

"The gracious and high-minded company," replied John Sway Too, "who have listened so attentively to my trivial and wearisome discourse, may find the Perfect White Maid even as I found her; and once they have found her they will renounce the company of all other daughters of this sunless land. They will find her in any one of these little pellets of li-un, which I am about to smoke in this very ordinary and illconstructed pipe.

"And now the hour grows late, and we will retire."