I think the Lady Om guessed the truth and kept it to herself; wit was not her desire, but, as Hamel had said, a bull throat and a man's yellow hair.
Much that pawed between us I shall not relate, though the Lady Om is dear dust these centuries.

But she was not to be denied, nor was I; and when a man and woman will their hearts together heads may fall and kingdoms crash and yet they will not forgo.
Came the time when our marriage was mooted--oh, quietly, at first, most quietly, as mere palace gossip in dark corners between eunuchs and waiting-women.

But in a palace the gossip of the kitchen scullions will creep to the throne.

Soon there was a pretty to-do.

The palace was the pulse of Cho-Sen, and when the palace rocked, Cho-Sen trembled.