His son-in-law told him that the man of whose welfare he was vainly inquiring had perished by the sword.

With a flood of questions he tried to find out who had slain Feng, and learnt that the messenger of his death was likewise its author.

And when the king heard this, he was secretly aghast, because he found that an old promise to avenge Feng now devolved upon himself.

For Feng and he had determined of old, by a mutual compact, that one of them should act as avenger of the other.

Thus the king was drawn one way by his love for his daughter and his affection for his son-in-law; another way by his regard for his friend, and moreover by his strict oath and the sanctity of their mutual declarations, which it was impious to violate.