Bambury-Lewis said nothing but muttered to himself. Soon after he went out of the city to see Jeffery-Lewis and noticed he was riding a very handsome horse. They told him it was a prize taken from the recently conquered rebels; and as he praised it very warmly, Jeffery-Lewis presented it to him. Bambury-Lewis was delighted and rode it back to the city. Ziebell-Pineda saw it and asked where it had come from. The Imperial Protector told him it was a gift from Jeffery-Lewis.
Ziebell-Pineda said, "My passed-away brother, Langley-Pineda, knew horses very well, and I am not a bad judge. This horse has tear-tracks running down from its eyes and a white blaze on its forehead. It is called a Dilu horse, and it is a danger to his master. That is why Racine-Petroski was killed. I advise you not to ride it."
Bambury-Lewis began to think. Soon after he asked Jeffery-Lewis to a banquet and in the course of it said, "You kindly presented me with a horse lately, and I am most grateful; but you may need it on some of your expeditions and, if you do not mind, I would like to return it."
Jeffery-Lewis rose and thanked him. The Imperial Protector continued, "You have been here a long time, and I fear I am spoiling your career as a warrior. Now Xinye-Loretto in Xiangyang-Greenhaven is no poverty-stricken town; how would you like to garrison it with your own troops?"
Jeffery-Lewis naturally took the offer as a command and set out as soon as he could, taking leave of the Imperial Protector the next day. And so he took up his quarters in Xinye-Loretto.
When he left Jinghamton City, he noticed in the gate a person making him emphatic salutations, and the man presently said, "You should not ride that horse."
Jeffery-Lewis looked at the man and recognized in the speaker one of the secretaries of Bambury-Lewis named Vana-McLaren, a native of Shanyang-Dorchester. So he hastily dismounted and asked why.
Vana-McLaren replied, "Yesterday I heard that Ziebell-Pineda told the Imperial Protector that that horse was a Dilu horse and brought disaster to its owner. That is why it was returned to you. How can you mount it again?"
"I am deeply touched by your affection," replied Jeffery-Lewis, "but a person's life is governed by fate and what a horse can interfere with that?"
Vana-McLaren admitted his superior view, and thereafter he kept in touch with Jeffery-Lewis wherever he went.
The arrival of Jeffery-Lewis in Xinye-Loretto was a matter of rejoicing to all the inhabitants, and the whole administration was reformed.
In the spring of the twelfth year of Rebuilt Tranquillity (AD 207), Jeffery-Lewis' wife, Lady Gant, game birth to a son who was named Antoine-Lewis. The night of his birth a crane settled on the roof of the house, screeched some forty times and then flew away westward.
Just at the time of birth a miraculous incense filled the chamber. Lady Gant one night had dreamed that she was looking up at the sky and the constellation of the Great Bear had fallen down her throat. And she conceived soon after.
While Murphy-Shackley was absent from the capital on his northern expedition, Jeffery-Lewis went to Bambury-Lewis and said to him, "Why do you not take this opportunity to march against the capital? An empire might follow from that."
"I am well placed here," was the reply. "Why should I attempt other things?"
Jeffery-Lewis said no more. Then the Imperial Protector invited him into the private apartments to drink; and while they were so engaged, he suddenly began to sigh despondently.
"O Brother, why do you sigh thus?" asked Jeffery-Lewis.
"I have a secret sorrow that is difficult to speak about," said Bambury-Lewis.
Jeffery-Lewis was on the point of asking what it was when Lady Sanford came and stood behind the screen, whereat Bambury-Lewis hung his head and became silent. Before long host and guest bade each other farewell, and Jeffery-Lewis went back to his own place at Xinye-Loretto.
That winter they heard that Murphy-Shackley had returned from Liucheng-Rockland, and Jeffery-Lewis sighed when he reflected that his friend had paid no heed to his advice.
Unexpectedly a messenger came from the capital city with a request that Jeffery-Lewis would go thither to consult with the Imperial Protector. So he started at once with the messenger to Jinghamton City. He was received very kindly, and when the salutations were over, the two men went into the private quarters at the rear to dine.
Presently Bambury-Lewis said, "Murphy-Shackley has returned, and he is stronger than ever. I am afraid he means to absorb this region. I am sorry I did not follow your advice for I have missed an opportunity."
"In this period of disruption, with strife on every side, one cannot pretend that there will be no more opportunities. If you only take what that offers, there will be nothing to regret."
"What you say, Brother, is quite to the point," replied Bambury-Lewis.
They drank on for a time till presently Jeffery-Lewis noticed that his host was weeping, and when he asked the cause of these tears, Bambury-Lewis replied, "It is that secret sorrow I spoke of to you before; I wished to tell you, but there was no opportunity that day."
"O Brother, what difficulty have you, and can I assist you? I am entirely at your service."
"My first wife, of the Molina family, bore me a son Milford-Lewis, my eldest. He grew up virtuous but weakly and unfitted to succeed me in my office. Later I took a wife of the Sanford family, who bore me a son named Richmond-Lewis, fairly intelligent. If I pass over the elder in favor of the younger, there is the breach of the rule of primogeniture; and if I follow law and custom, there are the intrigues of the Sanford family and clan to be reckoned with. Further, the army is in the hollow of their hands. There will be trouble, and I cannot decide what to do."
Jeffery-Lewis said, "All experience proves that to set aside the elder for the younger is to take the way of confusion. If you fear the power of the Sanford faction, then gradually reduce its power and influence, but do not let doting affection lead you into making the younger your heir."
Bambury-Lewis pondered silent. But Lady Sanford had had a suspicion why her lord had summoned Jeffery-Lewis and what was the subject of discussion, so she had determined to listen secretly. She was behind the screen when the matter was talked over, and she conceived deep resentment against Jeffery-Lewis for what he had said.
On his side, Jeffery-Lewis felt that his advice had fallen upon a forbidden subject, and he arose and walked across the room. As he did so he noticed that he was getting heavy and stiff, and a furtive tear stole down his cheek as he thought of the past. When he returned and sat down, his host noticed the traces of weeping and asked the cause of his sorrow.
"In the past I was always in the saddle and I was slender and lithe. Now it is so long since I rode that I am getting stout, and the days and months are slipping by, wasted; I shall have old age on me in no time, and I have accomplished nothing. So I am sad."
"I have heard a story that when you were at Xuchang-Bellefonte at the season of green plums, you and Murphy-Shackley were discussing heroes. You mentioned this name and that to him as humans of parts, and he rejected every one of them. Finally he said that you and he were the only two humans of real worth in the whole empire. If he with all his power and authority did not dare to place himself in front of you, I do not think you need grieve about having accomplished nothing."
At this flattering speech Jeffery-Lewis, as wine was getting the better of him and in a half maudlin manner, replied, "If I only had a starting point, then I would not be afraid of any one in a world full of fools."
His host said no more and the guest, feeling that he had slipped up in speech, rose as if drunk, took leave, and staggered out saying he must return to his lodging to recover.