Short Stories
Chun informed him that he must wait his turn, that Maud was
the oldest and that she must be married first. It was shrewd poli-
cy. The whole family was made vitally interested in marrying off
Maud, which it did in three months, to Ned Humphreys, the
United States immigration commissioner. Both he and Maud
complained, for the dowry was only two hundred thousand. Ah
Chun explained that his initial generosity had been to break the
ice, and that after that his daughters could not expect otherwise
than to go more cheaply.
Clara followed Maud, and thereafter, for a space of two
years; there was a continuous round of weddings in the bunga-
low. In the meantime Ah Chun had not been idle. Investment af-
ter investment was called in. He sold out his interests in a score
of enterprises, and step by step, so as not to cause a slump in the
market, he disposed of his large holdings in real estate. Toward
the last he did precipitate a slump and sold at sacrifice. What
caused this haste were the squalls he saw already rising above
the horizon. By the time Lucille was married, echoes of bicker-
ings and jealousies were already rumbling in his ears. The air
was thick with schemes and counter-schemes to gain his favour
and to prejudice him against one or another or all but one of his
sons-in-law. All of which was not conducive to the peace and re-
pose he had planned for his old age.
He hastened his efforts. For a long time he had been in corre-
spondence with the chief banks in Shanghai and Macao. Every
steamer for several years had carried away drafts drawn in fa-
vour of one, Chun Ah Chun, for deposit in those Far Eastern
banks. The drafts now became heavier. His two youngest daugh-
ters were not yet married. He did not wait, but dowered them
with a hundred thousand each, which sums lay in the Bank of
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