CHAPTER LII.
The beautiful P'ing Erh endeavours to conceal the loss of the bracelet, made of work as fine as the feelers of a shrimp. The brave Ch'ing Wen mends the down-cloak during her indisposition.
But let us return to our story.
"Quite so!" was the reply with which dowager lady Chia (greeted ladyFeng's proposal). "I meant the other day to have suggested thisarrangement, but I saw that every one of you had so many urgent mattersto attend to, (and I thought) that although you would not presume tobear me a grudge, were several duties now again superadded, you wouldunavoidably imagine that I only regarded those young grandsons andgranddaughters of mine, and had no consideration for any of you, whohave to look after the house. But since you make this suggestionyourself, it's all right."
And seeing that Mrs. Hsueeh, and 'sister-in-law' Li were sitting withher, and that Madame Hsing, and Mrs. Yu and the other ladies, who hadalso crossed over to pay their respects, had not as yet gone to theirquarters, old lady Chia broached the subject with Madame Wang, and therest of the company. "I've never before ventured to give utterance tothe remarks that just fell from my lips," she said, "as first of all Iwas in fear and trembling lest I should have made that girl Feng morepresumptuous than ever, and next, lest I should have incurred thedispleasure of one and all of you. But since you're all here to-day, andevery one of you knows what brothers' wives and husbands' sisters mean,is there (I ask) any one besides her as full of forethought?"
Mrs. Hsueeh, 'sister-in-law' Li and Mrs. Yu smiled with one consent."There are indeed but few like her!" they cried. "That of others issimply a conventional 'face' affection, but she is really fond of herhusband's sisters and his young brother. In fact, she's as genuinelyfilial with you, venerable senior."
Dowager lady Chia nodded her head. "Albeit I'm fond of her," she sighed,"I can't, on the other hand, help distrusting that excessive shrewdnessof hers, for it isn't a good thing."
"You're wrong there, worthy ancestor," lady Feng laughed with alacrity."People in the world as a rule maintain that 'too shrewd and clever aperson can't, it is feared, live long.' Now what people of the worldinvariably say people of the world invariably believe. But of you alone,my dear senior, can no such thing be averred or believed. For there youare, ancestor mine, a hundred times sharper and cleverer than I; and howis it that you now enjoy both perfect happiness and longevity? But Ipresume that I shall by and bye excel you by a hundredfold, and die atlength, after a life of a thousand years, when you venerable seniorshall have departed from these mortal scenes!"
"After every one is dead and gone," dowager lady Chia laughinglyobserved, "what pleasure will there be, if two antiquated elves, likeyou and I will be, remain behind?"
This joke excited general mirth.
But so concerned was Pao-yue about Ch'ing Wen and other matters that hewas the first to make a move and return into the garden. On his arrivalat his quarters, he found the rooms full of the fragrance emitted by themedicines. Not a soul did he, however, see about. Ch'ing Wen wasreclining all alone on the stove-couch. Her face was feverish and red.When he came to touch it, his hand experienced a scorching sensation.Retracing his steps therefore towards the stove, he warmed his hands andinserted them under the coverlet and felt her. Her body as well was ashot as fire.
"If the others have left," he then remarked, "there's nothing strangeabout it, but are She Yueeh and Ch'iu Wen too so utterly devoid offeeling as to have each gone after her own business?"
"As regards Ch'iu Wen," Ch'ing Wen explained, "I told her to go and haveher meal. And as for She Yueeh, P'ing Erh came just now and called herout of doors and there they are outside confabbing in a mysterious way!What the drift of their conversation can be I don't know. But they mustbe talking about my having fallen ill, and my not leaving this place togo home."
"P'ing Erh isn't that sort of person," Pao-yue pleaded. "Besides, she hadno idea whatever about your illness, so that she couldn't have comespecially to see how you were getting on. I fancy her object was to lookup She Yueeh to hobnob with her, but finding unexpectedly that you werenot up to the mark, she readily said that she had come on purpose tofind what progress you were making. This was quite a natural thing for aperson with so wily a disposition to say, for the sake of preservingharmony. But if you don't go home, it's none of her business. You twohave all along been, irrespective of other things, on such good termsthat she could by no means entertain any desire to injure the friendlyrelations which exist between you, all on account of something thatdoesn't concern her."
"Your remarks are right enough," Ch'ing Wen rejoined, "but I do suspecther, as why did she too start, all of a sudden, imposing upon me?"
"Wait, I'll walk out by the back door," Pao-yue smiled, "and go to thefoot of the window, and listen to what she's saying. I'll then come andtell you."
Speaking the while, he, in point of fact, sauntered out of the backdoor; and getting below the window, he lent an ear to their confidences.
"How did you manage to get it?" She Yueh inquired with gentle voice.
"When I lost sight of it on that day that I washed my hands," P'ing Erhanswered, "our lady Secunda wouldn't let us make a fuss. But the momentshe left the garden, she there and then sent word to the nurses,stationed in the various places, to institute careful search. Oursuspicions, however, fell upon Miss Hsing's maid, who has ever also beenpoverty-stricken; surmising that a young girl of her age, who had neverset eyes upon anything of the kind, may possibly have picked it up andtaken it. But never did we positively believe that it could be some onefrom this place of yours! Happily, our lady Secunda wasn't in the room,when that nurse Sung who is with you here went over, and said, producingthe bracelet, 'that the young maid, Chui Erh, had stolen it, and thatshe had detected her, and come to lay the matter before our ladySecunda. I promptly took over the bracelet from her; and recollectinghow imperious and exacting Pao-yue is inclined to be, fond and devoted ashe is to each and all of you; how the jade which was prigged the otheryear by a certain Liang Erh, is still, just as the matter has cooleddown for the last couple of years, canvassed at times by some peopleeager to serve their own ends; how some one has now again turned up topurloin this gold trinket; how it was filched, to make matters worse,from a neighbour's house; how as luck would have it, she took this ofall things; and how it happened to be his own servant to give him a slapon his mouth, I hastened to enjoin nurse Sung to, on no accountwhatever, let Pao-yue know anything about it, but simply pretend thatnothing of the kind had transpired, and to make no mention of it to anysingle soul. In the second place,' (I said), 'our dowager lady andMadame Wang would get angry, if they came to hear anything. Thirdly, HsiJen as well as yourselves would not also cut a very good figure.' Henceit was that in telling our lady Secunda, I merely explained 'that on myway to our senior mistress,' the bracelet got unclasped, without myknowing it; that it fell among the roots of the grass; that there was nochance of seeing it while the snow was deep, but that when the snowcompletely disappeared to-day there it glistened, so yellow and bright,in the rays of the sun, in precisely the very place where it haddropped, and that I then picked it up.' Our lady Secunda at oncecredited my version. So here I come to let you all know so as to behenceforward a little on your guard with her, and not get her a jobanywhere else. Wait until Hsi Jen's return, and then devise means topack her off, and finish with her."
"This young vixen has seen things of this kind before," She Yueehejaculated, "and how is it that she was so shallow-eyed?"
"What could, after all, be the weight of this bracelet?" P'ing Erhobserved. "It was once our lady Secunda's. She says that this is calledthe 'shrimp-feeler'-bracelet. But it's the pearl, which increases itsweight. That minx Ch'ing Wen is as fiery as a piece of cracklingcharcoal, so were anything to be told her, she may, so little able isshe to curb her temper, flare up suddenly into a huff, and beat or scoldher, and kick up as much fuss as she ever has done before. That's why Isimply tell you. Exercise due care, and it will be all right."
/> With this warning, she bid her farewell and went on her way.
Her words delighted, vexed and grieved Pao-yue. He felt delighted, onaccount of the consideration shown by P'ing Erh for his own feelings.Vexed, because Chui Erh had turned out a petty thief. Grieved, that ChuiErh, who was otherwise such a smart girl, should have gone in for thisdisgraceful affair. Returning consequently into the house, he toldCh'ing Wen every word that P'ing Erh had uttered. "She says," he went onto add, "that you're so fond of having things all your own way that wereyou to hear anything of this business, now that you are ill, you wouldget worse, and that she only means to broach the subject with you, whenyou get quite yourself again."
Upon hearing this, Ch'ing Wen's ire was actually stirred up, and herbeautiful moth-like eyebrows contracted, and her lovely phoenix eyesstared wide like two balls. So she immediately shouted out for Chui Erh.
"If you go on bawling like that," Pao-yue hastily remonstrated with her,"won't you show yourself ungrateful for the regard with which P'ing Erhhas dealt with you and me? Better for us to show ourselves sensible ofher kindness and by and bye pack the girl off, and finish."
"Your suggestion is all very good," Ch'ing Wen demurred, "but how couldI suppress this resentment?"
"What's there to feel resentment about?" Pao-yue asked. "Just you takegood care of yourself; it's the best thing you can do."
Ch'ing Wen then took her medicine. When evening came, she had anothercouple of doses. But though in the course of the night, she broke outinto a slight perspiration, she did not see any change for the better inher state. Still she felt feverish, her head sore, her nose stopped, hervoice hoarse. The next day, Dr. Wang came again to examine her pulse andsee how she was getting on. Besides other things, he increased theproportions of certain medicines in the decoction and reduced others;but in spite of her fever having been somewhat brought down, her headcontinued to ache as much as ever.
"Go and fetch the snuff," Pao-yue said to She Yueeh, "and give it to herto sniff. She'll feel more at ease after she has had several strongsneezes."
She Yueeh went, in fact, and brought a flat crystal bottle, inlaid with acouple of golden stars, and handed it to Pao-yue.
Pao-yue speedily raised the cover of the bottle. Inside it, hediscovered, represented on western enamel, a fair-haired young girl, ina state of nature, on whose two sides figured wings of flesh. Thisbottle contained some really first-rate foreign snuff.
Ch'ing Wen's attention was fixedly concentrated on the representation.
"Sniff a little!" Pao-yue urged. "If the smell evaporates, it won't beworth anything."
Ch'ing Wen, at his advice, promptly dug out a little with her nail, andapplied it to her nose. But with no effect. So digging out again a goodquantity of it, she pressed it into her nostrils. Then suddenly sheexperienced a sensation in her nose as if some pungent matter hadpenetrated into the very duct leading into the head, and she sneezedfive or six consecutive times, until tears rolled down from her eyes andmucus trickled from her nostrils.
Ch'ing Wen hastily put the bottle away. "It's dreadfully pungent!" shelaughed. "Bring me some paper, quick!"
A servant-girl at once handed her a pile of fine paper.
Ch'ing Wen extracted sheet after sheet, and blew her nose.
"Well," said Pao-yue smiling, "how are you feeling now?"
"I'm really considerably relieved." Ch'ing Wen rejoined laughing. "Theonly thing is that my temples still hurt me."
"Were you to treat yourself exclusively with western medicines, I'm sureyou'd get all right," Pao-yue added smilingly. Saying this, "Go," heaccordingly desired She Yueeh, "to our lady Secunda, and ask her forsome. Tell her that I spoke to you about them. My cousin over thereoften uses some western plaster, which she applies to her temples whenshe's got a headache. It's called 'I-fo-na.' So try and get some of it!"
She Yueeh expressed her readiness. After a protracted absence, she, invery deed, came back with a small bit of the medicine; and going quicklyfor a piece of red silk cutting, she got the scissors and slit two roundslips off as big as the tip of a finger. After which, she took themedicine, and softening it by the fire, she spread it on them with ahairpin.
Ch'ing Wen herself laid hold of a looking-glass with a handle and stuckthe bits on both her temples.
"While you were lying sick," She Yueeh laughed, "you looked like amangy-headed devil! But with this stuff on now you present a fine sight!As for our lady Secunda she has been so much in the habit of stickingthese things about her that they don't very much show off with her!"
This joke over, "Our lady Secunda said," she resumed, addressing herselfto Pao-yue, "'that to-morrow is your maternal uncle's birthday, and thatour mistress, your mother, asked her to tell you to go over. Thatwhatever clothes you will put on to-morrow should be got ready to-night,so as to avoid any trouble in the morning.'"
"Anything that comes first to hand," Pao-yue observed, "will do wellenough! There's no getting, the whole year round, at the end of all thefuss of birthdays!"
Speaking the while, he rose to his feet and left the room with the ideaof repairing to Hsi Ch'un's quarters to have a look at the painting. Assoon as he got outside the door of the court-yard, he unexpectedly spiedPao-ch'in's young maid, Hsiao Lo by name, crossing over from theopposite direction. Pao-yue, with rapid step, strode up to her, andinquired of her whither she was going.
"Our two young ladies," Hsiao Lo answered with a smile, "are in MissLin's rooms; so I'm also now on my way thither."
Catching this answer, Pao-yue wheeled round and came at once with her tothe Hsiao Hsiang Lodge. Here not only did he find Pao-ch'ai and hercousin, but Hsing Chou-yen as well. The quartet was seated in a circleon the warming-frame; carrying on a friendly chat on everyday domesticmatters; while Tzu Chuean was sitting in the winter apartment, working atsome needlework by the side of the window.
The moment they caught a glimpse of him, their faces beamed with smiles."There comes some one else!" they cried. "There's no room for you tosit!"
"What a fine picture of beautiful girls, in the winter chamber!" Pao-yuesmiled. "It's a pity I come a trifle too late! This room is, at allevents, so much warmer than any other, that I won't feel cold if I plantmyself on this chair."
So saying, he made himself comfortable on a favourite chair of Tai-yue'sover which was thrown a grey squirrel cover. But noticing in the winterapartment a jadestone bowl, full of single narcissi, in clusters ofthree or five, Pao-yue began praising their beauty with all the languagehe could command. "What lovely flowers!" he exclaimed. "The warmer theroom gets, the stronger is the fragrance emitted by these flowers! Howis it I never saw them yesterday?"
"These are," Tai-yue laughingly explained, "from the two pots ofnarcissi, and two pots of allspice, sent to Miss Hsueeh Secunda by thewife of Lai Ta, the head butler in your household. Of these, she gave mea pot of narcissi; and to that girl Yuen, a pot of allspice. I didn't atfirst mean to keep them, but I was afraid of showing no considerationfor her kind attention. But if you want them, I'll, in my turn, presentthem to you. Will you have them; eh?"
"I've got two pots of them in my rooms," Pao-yue replied, "but they'renot up to these. How is it you're ready to let others have what cousinCh'in has given you? This can on no account do!"
"With me here," Tai-yue added, "the medicine pot never leaves the fire,the whole day long. I'm only kept together by medicines. So how could Iever stand the smell of flowers bunging my nose? It makes me weaker thanever. Besides, if there's the least whiff of medicines in this room, itwill, contrariwise, spoil the fragrance of these flowers. So isn't itbetter that you should have them carried away? These flowers will thenbreathe a purer atmosphere, and won't have any mixture of smells toannoy them."
"I've also got now some one ill in my place," Pao-yue retorted with asmile, "and medicines are being decocted. How comes it you happen toknow nothing about it?"
"This is strange!" Tai-yue laughed. "I was really speaking quitethoughtlessly; for who ever knows what's going
on in your apartments?But why do you, instead of getting here a little earlier to listen toold stories, come at this moment to bring trouble and vexation upon yourown self?"
Pao-yue gave a laugh. "Let's have a meeting to-morrow," he proposed, "forwe've also got the themes. Let's sing the narcissus and allspice."
"Never mind, drop that!" Tai-yue rejoined, upon hearing his proposal. "Ican't venture to write any more verses. Whenever I indite any, I'mmulcted. So I'd rather not be put to any great shame."
While uttering these words she screened her face with both hands.
"What's the matter?" Pao-yue smiled. "Why are you again making fun of me?I'm not afraid of any shame, but, lo, you screen your face."
"The next time," Pao-ch'ai felt impelled to interpose laughingly, "Iconvene a meeting, we'll have four themes for odes and four for songs;and each one of us will have to write four odes and four roundelays. Thetheme of the first ode will treat of the plan of the great extreme; therhyme fixed being 'hsien,' (first), and the metre consisting of fivewords in each line. We'll have to exhaust every one of the rhymes under'hsien,' and mind, not a single one may be left out."
"From what you say," Pao-ch'in smilingly observed, "it's evident thatyou're not in earnest, cousin, in setting the club on foot. It's clearenough that your object is to embarrass people. But as far as the versesgo, we could forcibly turn out a few, just by higgledy-piggledy takingseveral passages from the 'Canon of Changes,' and inserting them in ourown; but, after all, what fun will there be in that sort of thing? WhenI was eight years of age, I went with my father to the western seaboardto purchase foreign goods. Who'd have thought it, we came across a girlfrom the 'Chen Chen' kingdom. She was in her eighteenth year, and herfeatures were just like those of the beauties one sees represented inforeign pictures. She had also yellow hair, hanging down, and arrangedin endless plaits. Her whole head was ornamented with one mass ofcornelian beads, amber, cats' eyes, and 'grandmother-green-stone.' Onher person, she wore a chain armour plaited with gold, and a coat, whichwas up to the very sleeves, embroidered in foreign style. In a belt, shecarried a Japanese sword, also inlaid with gold and studded withprecious gems. In very truth, even in pictures, there is no one asbeautiful as she. Some people said that she was thoroughly conversantwith Chinese literature, and could explain the 'Five classics,' that shewas able to write odes and devise roundelays, and so my father requestedan interpreter to ask her to write something. She thereupon wrote anoriginal stanza, which all, with one voice, praised for its remarkablebeauty, and extolled for its extraordinary merits."
"My dear cousin," eagerly smiled Pao-yue, "produce what she wrote, andlet's have a look at it."
"It's put away in Nanking;" Pao-ch'in replied with a smile. "So howcould I at present go and fetch it?"
Great was Pao-yue's disappointment at this rejoinder. "I've no luck," hecried, "to see anything like this in the world."
Tai-yue laughingly laid hold of Pao-ch'in. "Don't be humbugging us!" sheremarked. "I know well enough that you are not likely, on a visit likethis, to have left any such things of yours at home. You must havebrought them along. Yet here you are now again palming off a fib on usby saying that you haven't got them with you. You people may believewhat she says, but I, for my part, don't."
Pao-ch'in got red in the face. Drooping her head against her chest, shegave a faint smile; but she uttered not a word by way of response.
"Really P'in Erh you've got into the habit of talking like this!"Pao-ch'ai laughed. "You're too shrewd by far."
"Bring them along," Tai-yue urged with a smile, "and give us a chance ofseeing something and learning something; it won't hurt them."
"There's a whole heap of trunks and baskets," Pao-ch'ai put in laughing,"which haven't been yet cleared away. And how could one tell in whichparticular one, they're packed up? Wait a few days, and when things willhave been put straight a bit, we'll try and find them: and every one ofus can then have a look at them; that will be all right. But if youhappen to remember the lines," she pursued, speaking to Pao-ch'in, "whynot recite them for our benefit?"
"I remember so far that her lines consisted of a stanza with fivecharacters in each line," Pao-ch'ai returned for answer. "For a foreigngirl, they're verily very well done."
"Don't begin for a while," Pao-ch'ai exclaimed. "Let me send for YuenErh, so that she too might hear them."
After this remark, she called Hsiao Lo to her. "Go to my place," sheobserved, "and tell her that a foreign beauty has come over, who's asplendid hand at poetry. 'You, who have poetry on the brain,' (say toher), 'are invited to come and see her,' and then lay hold of thisverse-maniac of ours and bring her along."
Hsiao Lo gave a smile, and went away. After a long time, they heardHsiang-yuen laughingly inquire, "What foreign beauty has come?" But whileasking this question, she made her appearance in company with HsiangLing.
"We heard your voices long before we caught a glimpse of your persons!"the party laughed.
Pao-ch'in and her companions motioned to her to sit down, and, in duecourse, she reiterated what she had told them a short while back.
"Be quick, out with it! Let's hear what it is!" Hsiang-yuen smilinglycried.
Pao-ch'in thereupon recited:
Last night in the Purple Chamber I dreamt. This evening on the 'Shui Kuo' Isle I sing. The clouds by the isle cover the broad sea. The zephyr from the peaks reaches the woods. The moon has never known present or past. From shallow and deep causes springs love's fate. When I recall my springs south of the Han, Can I not feel disconsolate at heart?
After listening to her, "She does deserve credit," they unanimouslyshouted, "for she really is far superior to us, Chinese though we be."
But scarcely was this remark out of their lips, when they perceived SheYueeh walk in. "Madame Wang," she said, "has sent a servant to informyou, Master Secundus, that 'you are to go at an early hour to-morrowmorning to your maternal uncle's, and that you are to explain to himthat her ladyship isn't feeling quite up to the mark, and that shecannot pay him a visit in person.'"
Pao-yue precipitately jumped to his feet (out of deference to hismother), and signified his assent, by answering 'Yes.' He then went onto inquire of Pao-ch'ai and Pao-ch'in, "Are you two going?"
"We're not going," Pao-ch'ai rejoined. "We simply went there yesterdayto take our presents over but we left after a short chat."
Pao-yue thereupon pressed his female cousins to go ahead and he thenfollowed them. But Tai-yue called out to him again and stopped him. "Whenis Hsi Jen, after all, coming back?" she asked.
"She'll naturally come back after she has accompanied the funeral,"Pao-yue retorted.
Tai-yue had something more she would have liked to tell him, but shefound it difficult to shape it into words. After some moments spent inabstraction, "Off with you!" she cried.
Pao-yue too felt that he treasured in his heart many things he would fainconfide to her, but he did not know what to bring to his lips, so aftercogitating within himself for a time, he likewise observed smilingly:"We'll have another chat to-morrow," and, as he said so, he wended hisway down the stairs. Lowering his head, he was just about to take a stepforward, when he twisted himself round again with alacrity. "Now thatthe nights are longer than they were, you're sure to cough often andwake several times in the night; eh?" he asked.
"Last night," Tai-yue answered, "I was all right; I coughed only twice.But I only slept at the fourth watch for a couple of hours and then Icouldn't close my eyes again."
"I really have something very important to tell you," Pao-yue proceededwith another smile. "It only now crossed my mind." Saying this, heapproached her and added in a confidential tone: "I think that thebirds' nests sent to you by cousin Pao-chai...."
Barely, however, had he had time to conclude than he spied dame Chaoenter the room to pay Tai-yue a visit. "Miss, have you been all rightthese last few days?" she inquired.
Tai-yue readily guessed that this was an attention extended to her merelyas she had, on her wa
y back from T'an Ch'un's quarters, to pass by herdoor, so speedily smiling a forced smile, she offered her a seat.
"Many thanks, dame Chao," she said, "for the trouble of thinking of me,and for coming in person in this intense cold."
Hastily also bidding a servant pour the tea, she simultaneously winkedat Pao-yue.
Pao-yue grasped her meaning, and forthwith quitted the apartment. As thishappened to be about dinner time, and he had been enjoined as well byMadame Wang to be back at an early hour, Pao-yue returned to hisquarters, and looked on while Ch'ing Wen took her medicine. Pao-yue didnot desire Ch'ing Wen this evening to move into the winter apartment,but stayed with Ch'ing Wen outside; and, giving orders to bring thewarming-frame near the winter apartment, She Yueh slept on it.
Nothing of any interest worth putting on record transpired during thenight. On the morrow, before the break of day, Ch'ing Wen aroused SheYueh.
"You should awake," she said. "The only thing is that you haven't hadenough sleep. If you go out and tell them to get the water for tea readyfor him, while I wake him, it will be all right."
She Yueh immediately jumped up and threw something over her. "Let's callhim to get up and dress in his fine clothes." she said. "We can summonthem in, after this fire-box has been removed. The old nurses told usnot to allow him to stay in this room for fear the virus of the diseaseshould pass on to him; so now if they see us bundled up together in oneplace, they're bound to kick up another row."
"That's my idea too," Ch'ing Wen replied.
The two girls were then about to call him, when Pao-yue woke up of hisown accord, and speedily leaping out of bed, he threw his clothes overhim.
She Yueeh first called a young maid into the room and put thingsshipshape before she told Ch'in Wen and the other servant-girls toenter; and along with them, she remained in waiting upon Pao-yue while hecombed his hair, and washed his face and hands. This part of his toiletover, She Yueeh remarked: "It's cloudy again, so I suppose it's going tosnow. You'd better therefore wear a woollen overcoat!"
Pao-yue nodded his head approvingly; and set to work at once to effectthe necessary change in his costume. A young waiting-maid then presentedhim a covered bowl, in a small tea tray, containing a decoction made ofFu-kien lotus and red dates. After Pao-yue had had a couple of mouthfuls,She Yueeh also brought him a small plateful of brown ginger, preparedaccording to some prescription. Pao-yue put a piece into his mouth, and,impressing some advice on Ch'ing 'Wen, he crossed over to dowager ladyChia's suite of rooms.
His grandmother had not yet got out of bed. But she was well aware thatPao-yue was going out of doors so having the entrance leading into herbedroom opened she asked Pao-yue to walk in. Pao-yue espied behind the oldlady, Pao-ch'in lying with her face turned towards the inside, and notawake yet from her sleep.
Dowager lady Chia observed that Pao-yue was clad in a deep-red feltfringed overcoat, with woollen lichee-coloured archery-sleeves and withan edging of dark green glossy satin, embroidered with gold rings."What!" old lady Chia inquired, "is it snowing?"
"The weather is dull," Pao-yue replied, "but it isn't snowing yet."
Dowager lady Chia thereupon sent for Yuean Yang and told her to fetch thepeacock down pelisse, finished the day before, and give it to him. YueanYang signified her obedience and went off, and actually returned withwhat was wanted.
When Pao-yue came to survey it, he found that the green and golden huesglistened with bright lustre, that the jadelike variegated colours on itshone with splendour, and that it bore no resemblance to the duck-downcoat, which Pao-ch'in had been wearing.
"This," he heard his grandmother smilingly remark, "is called 'birdgold'. This is woven of the down of peacocks, caught in Russia, twistedinto thread. The other day, I presented that one with the wild duck downto your young female cousin, so I now give you this one."
Pao-yue prostrated himself before her, after which he threw the coat overhis shoulders.
"Go and let your mother see it before you start," his grandmotherlaughingly added.
Pao-yue assented, and quitted her apartments, when he caught sight ofYuean Yang standing below rubbing her eyes. Ever since the day on whichYuean Yang had sworn to have done with the match, she had not exchanged asingle word with Pao-yue. Pao-yue was therefore day and night a prey todejection. So when he now observed her shirk his presence again, Pao-yueat once advanced up to her, and, putting on a smile, "My dear girl," hesaid, "do look at the coat I've got on. Is it nice or not?"
Yuean Yang shoved his hand away, and promptly walked into dowager ladyChia's quarters.
Pao-yue was thus compelled to repair to Madame Wang's room, and let hersee his coat. Retracing afterwards his footsteps into the garden, he letCh'ing Wen and She Yueeh also have a look at it, and then came and toldhis grandmother that he had attended to her wishes.
"My mother," he added, "has seen what I've got on. But all she said was:'what a pity!' and then she went on to enjoin me to be 'careful with itand not to spoil it.'"
"There only remains this single one," old lady Chia observed, "so if youspoil it you can't have another. Even did I want to have one made foryou like it now, it would be out of the question."
At the close of these words, she went on to advise him. "Don't," shesaid, "have too much wine and come back early." Pao-yue acquiesced byuttering several yes's.
An old nurse then followed him out into the pavilion. Here theydiscovered six attendants, (that is), Pao-yue's milk-brother Li Kuei, andWang Ho-jung, Chang Jo-chin, Chao I-hua, Ch'ien Ch'i, and Chou Jui, aswell as four young servant-lads: Pei Ming, Pan Ho, Chu Shao and SaoHung; some carrying bundles of clothes on their backs, some holdingcushions in their hands, others leading a white horse with engravedsaddle and variegated bridles. They had already been waiting for a goodlong while. The old nurse went on to issue some directions, and the sixservants, hastily expressing their obedience by numerous yes's, quicklycaught hold of the saddle and weighed the stirrup down while Pao-yuemounted leisurely. Li Kuei and Wang Ho-jung then led the horse by thebit. Two of them, Ch'ien Ch'i and Chou Jui, walked ahead and showed theway. Chang Jo-chin and Chao I-hua followed Pao-yue closely on each side.
"Brother Chou and brother Ch'ien," Pao-yue smiled, from his seat on hishorse, "let's go by this side-gate. It will save my having again todismount, when we reach the entrance to my father's study."
"Mr. Chia Cheng is not in his study," Chou Jui laughed, with a curtsey."It has been daily under lock and key, so there will be no need for you,master, to get down from your horse."
"Though it be locked up," Pao-yue smiled, "I shall have to dismount allthe same."
"You're quite right in what you say, master;" both Ch'ien Ch'i and LiKuei chimed in laughingly; "but pretend you're lazy and don't get down.In the event of our coming across Mr. Lai Ta and our number two Mr. Lin,they're sure, rather awkward though it be for them to say anything totheir master, to tender you one or two words of advice, but throw thewhole of the blame upon us. You can also tell them that we had notexplained to you what was the right thing to do."
Chou Jui and Ch'ien Ch'i accordingly wended their steps straight for theside-gate. But while they were keeping up some sort of conversation,they came face to face with Lai Ta on his way in.
Pao-yue speedily pulled in his horse, with the idea of dismounting. ButLai Ta hastened to draw near and to clasp his leg. Pao-yue stood up onhis stirrup, and, putting on a smile, he took his hand in his, and madeseveral remarks to him.
In quick succession, he also perceived a young servant-lad make hisappearance inside leading the way for twenty or thirty servants, ladenwith brooms and dust-baskets. The moment they espied Pao-yue, they, oneand all, stood along the wall, and dropped their arms against theirsides, with the exception of the head lad, who bending one knee, said:"My obeisance to you, sir."
Pao-yue could not recall to mind his name or surname, but forcing a faintsmile, he nodded his head to and fro. It was only when the horse hadwell gone past, that the lad eventually led the bevy of s
ervants off,and that they went after their business.
Presently, they egressed from the side-gate. Outside, stood theservant-lads of the six domestics, Li Kuei and his companions, as wellas several grooms, who had, from an early hour, got ready about tenhorses and been standing, on special duty, waiting for their arrival. Assoon as they reached the further end of the side-gate, Li Kuei and eachof the other attendants mounted their horses, and pressed ahead to leadthe way. Like a streak of smoke, they got out of sight, without anyoccurrence worth noticing.
Ch'ing Wen, meanwhile, continued to take her medicines. But still sheexperienced no relief in her ailment. Such was the state of exasperationinto which she worked herself that she abused the doctor right and left."All he's good for," she cried, "is to squeeze people's money. But hedoesn't know how to prescribe a single dose of efficacious medicine forhis patients."
"You have far too impatient a disposition!" She Yueeh said, as sheadvised her, with a smile. "'A disease,' the proverb has it, 'comes likea crumbling mountain, and goes like silk that is reeled.' Besides,they're not the divine pills of 'Lao Chuen'. How ever could there be suchefficacious medicines? The only thing for you to do is to quietly lookafter yourself for several days, and you're sure to get all right. Butthe more you work yourself into such a frenzy, the worse you get!"
Ch'ing Weng went on to heap abuse on the head of the young-maids. "Wherehave they gone? Have they bored into the sand?" she ejaculated. "Theysee well enough that I'm ill, so they make bold and runaway. But by andbye when I recover, I shall take one by one of you and flay your skinoff for you."
Ting Erh, a young maid, was struck with dismay, and ran up to her withhasty step. "Miss," she inquired, "what's up with you?"
"Is it likely that the rest are all dead and gone, and that there onlyremains but you?" Ch'ing Wen exclaimed.
But while she spoke, she saw Chui Erh also slowly enter the room.
"Look at this vixen!" Ch'ing Wen shouted. "If I don't ask for her, shewon't come. Had there been any monthly allowances issued and fruitsdistributed here, you would have been the first to run in! But approacha bit! Am I tigress to gobble you up?"
Chui Erh was under the necessity of advancing a few steps nearer to her.But, all of a sudden, Ch'ing Wen stooped forward, and with a dashclutching her hand, she took a long pin from the side of her pillow, andpricked it at random all over.
"What's the use of such paws?" she railed at her. "They don't ply aneedle, and they don't touch any thread! All you're good for is to prigthings to stuff that mouth of yours with! The skin of your phiz isshallow and those paws of yours are light! But with the shame you bringupon yourself before the world, isn't it right that I should prick you,and make mincemeat of you?"
Chui Erh shouted so wildly from pain that She Yueh stepped forward andimmediately drew them apart. She then pressed Ch'ing Wen, until sheinduced her to lie down.
"You're just perspiring," she remarked, "and here you are once more bentupon killing yourself. Wait until you are yourself again! Won't you thenbe able to give her as many blows as you may like? What's the use ofkicking up all this fuss just now?"
Ch'ing Wen bade a servant tell nurse Sung to come in. "Our masterSecundus, Mr. Pao-yue, recently asked me to tell you," she remarked onher arrival, "that Chui Erh is very lazy. He himself gives her orders toher very face, but she is ever ready to raise objections and not tobudge. Even when Hsi Jen bids her do things, she vilifies her behind herback. She must absolutely therefore be packed off to-day. And if Mr. Paohimself lays the matter to-morrow before Madame Wang, things will besquare."
After listening to her grievances, nurse Sung readily concluded in hermind that the affair of the bracelet had come to be known. "What yousuggest is well and good, it's true," she consequently smiled, "but it'sas well to wait until Miss Hua (flower) returns and hears about thethings. We can then give her the sack."
"Mr. Pao-yue urgently enjoined this to-day," Ch'ing Wen pursued, "so whatabout Miss Hua (flower) and Miss Ts'ao (grass)? We've, of course, gobrules of propriety here, so you just do as I tell you; and be quick andsend for some one from her house to come and fetch her away!"
"Well, now let's drop this!" She Yueeh interposed. "Whether she goes soonor whether she goes late is one and the same thing; so let them take heraway soon; we'll then be the sooner clear of her."
At these words, nurse Sung had no alternative but to step out, and tosend for her mother. When she came, she got ready all her effects, andthen came to see Ch'ing Wen and the other girls. "Young ladies," shesaid, "what's up? If your niece doesn't behave as she ought to, why,call her to account. But why banish her from this place? You should,indeed, leave us a little face!"
"As regards what you say," Ch'ing Wen put in, "wait until Pao-yue comes,and then we can ask him. It's nothing to do with us."
The woman gave a sardonic smile. "Have I got the courage to ask him?"she answered. "In what matter doesn't he lend an ear to any settlementyou, young ladies, may propose? He invariably agrees to all you say! Butif you, young ladies, aren't agreeable, it's really of no avail. Whenyou, for example, spoke just now,--it's true it was on the sly,--youcalled him straightway by his name, miss. This thing does very well withyou, young ladies, but were we to do anything of the kind, we'd belooked upon as very savages!"
Ch'ing Wen, upon hearing her remark, became more than ever exasperated,and got crimson in the face. "Yes, I called him by his name," sherejoined, "so you'd better go and report me to our old lady and MadameWang. Tell them I'm a rustic and let them send me too off."
"Sister-in-law," urged She Yueeh, "just you take her away; and if you'vegot aught to say, you can say it by and bye. Is this a place for you tobawl in and to try and explain what is right? Whom have you seendiscourse upon the rules of propriety with us? Not to speak of you,sister-in-law, even Mrs. Lai Ta and Mrs. Lin treat us fairly well. Andas for calling him by name, why, from days of yore to the very present,our dowager mistress has invariably bidden us do so. You yourselves arewell aware of it. So much did she fear that it would be a difficult jobto rear him that she deliberately wrote his infant name on slips ofpaper and had them stuck everywhere and anywhere with the design thatone and all should call him by it. And this in order that it mightexercise a good influence upon his bringing up. Even water-coolies andscavenger-coolies indiscriminately address him by his name; and how muchmore such as we? So late, in fact, as yesterday Mrs. Lin gave him butonce the title of 'Sir,' and our old mistress called even her to task.This is one side of the question. In the next place, we all have to goand make frequent reports to our venerable dowager lady and Madame Wang,and don't we with them allude to him by name in what we have to say? Isit likely we'd also style him 'Sir?' What day is there that we don'tutter the two words 'Pao-yue' two hundred times? And is it for you,sister-in-law, to come and pick out this fault? But in a day or so, whenyou've leisure to go to our old mistress' and Madame Wang's, you'll hearus call him by name in their very presence, and then you'll feelconvinced. You've never, sister-in-law, had occasion to fulfil anyhonourable duties by our old lady and our lady. From one year's end tothe other, all you do is to simply loaf outside the third door. So it'sno matter of surprise, if you don't happen to know anything of thecustoms which prevail with us inside. But this isn't a place where you,sister-in-law, can linger for long. In another moment, there won't beany need for us to say anything; for some one will be coming to ask youwhat you want, and what excuse will you be able to plead? So take heraway and let Mrs. Lin know about it; and commission her to come and findour Mr. Secundus and tell him all. There are in this establishment overa thousand inmates; one comes and another comes, so that though we knowpeople and inquire their names, we can't nevertheless imprint themclearly on our minds."
At the close of this long rigmarole, she at once told a young maid totake the mop and wash the floors.
The woman listened patiently to her arguments, but she could find nowords to say anything to her by way of reply. Nor did she have theaudacity to protract her s
tay. So flying into a huff, she took Chui Erhalong with her, and there and then made her way out.
"Is it likely," nurse Sung hastily observed, "that a dame like youdoesn't know what manners mean? Your daughter has been in these roomsfor some time, so she should, when she is about to go, knock her headbefore the young ladies. She has no other means of showing hergratitude. Not that they care much about such things. Yet were she tosimply knock her head, she would acquit herself of a duty, if nothingmore. But how is it that she says I'm going, and off she forthwithrushes?"
Chui Erh overheard these words, and felt under the necessity of turningback. Entering therefore the apartment, she prostrated herself beforethe two girls, and then she went in quest of Ch'iu Wen and hercompanions, but neither did they pay any notice whatever to her.
"Hai!" ejaculated the woman, and heaving a sigh--for she did not ventureto utter a word,--she walked off, fostering a grudge in her heart.
Ch'ing Wen had, while suffering from a cold, got into a fit of angerinto the bargain, so instead of being better, she was worse, and shetossed and rolled until the time came for lighting the lamps. But themoment she felt more at ease, she saw Pao-yue come back. As soon as heput his foot inside the door, he gave way to an exclamation, and stampedhis foot.
"What's the reason of such behaviour?" She Yueeh promptly asked him.
"My old grandmother," Pao-yue explained, "was in such capital spiritsthat she gave me this coat to-day; but, who'd have thought it, Iinadvertently burnt part of the back lapel. Fortunately however theevening was advanced so that neither she nor my mother noticed what hadhappened."
Speaking the while, he took it off. She Yueeh, on inspection, foundindeed a hole burnt in it of the size of a finger. "This," she said,"must have been done by some spark from the hand-stove. It's of noconsequence."
Immediately she called a servant to her. "Take this out on the sly," shebade her, "and let an experienced weaver patch it. It will be all rightthen."
So saying, she packed it up in a wrapper, and a nurse carried itoutside.
"It should be ready by daybreak," she urged. "And by no means let ourold lady or Madame Wang know anything about it."
The matron brought it back again, after a protracted absence. "Notonly," she explained; "have weavers, first-class tailors, andembroiderers, but even those, who do women's work, been asked about it,and they all have no idea what this is made of. None of them thereforewill venture to undertake the job."
"What's to be done?" She Yueeh inquired. "But it won't matter if youdon't wear it to-morrow."
"To-morrow is the very day of the anniversary," Pao-yue rejoined."Grandmother and my mother bade me put this on and go and pay my visit;and here I go and burn it, on the first day I wear it. Now isn't thisenough to throw a damper over my good cheer?"
Ch'ing Wen lent an ear to their conversation for a long time, untilunable to restrain herself, she twisted herself round. "Bring it here,"she chimed in, "and let me see it! You haven't been lucky in wearingthis; but never mind!"
These words were still on Ch'ing Wen's lips, when the coat was handed toher. The lamp was likewise moved nearer to her. With minute care shesurveyed it. "This is made," Ch'ing Wen observed, "of gold thread, spunfrom peacock's feathers. So were we now to also take gold thread,twisted from the feathers of the peacock, and darn it closely, byimitating the woof, I think it will pass without detection."
"The peacock-feather-thread is ready at hand," She Yueeh remarkedsmilingly. "But who's there, exclusive of you, able to join thethreads?"
"I'll, needless to say, do my level best to the very cost of my life andfinish," Ch'ing Wen added.
"How ever could this do?" Pao-yue eagerly interposed. "You're justslightly better, and how could you take up any needlework?"
"You needn't go on in this chicken-hearted way!" Ch'ing Wen cried. "Iknow my own self well enough."
With this reply, she sat up, and, putting her hair up, she threwsomething over her shoulders. Her head felt heavy; her body light.Before her eyes, confusedly flitted golden stirs. In real deed, shecould not stand the strain. But when inclined to give up the work, sheagain dreaded that Pao-yue would be driven to despair. She therefore hadperforce to make a supreme effort and, setting her teeth to, she borethe exertion. All the help she asked of She Yueeh was to lend her a handin reeling the thread.
Ch'ing Wen first took hold of a thread, and put it side by side (withthose in the pelisse) to compare the two together. "This," she remarked,"isn't quite like them; but when it's patched up with it, it won't showvery much."
"It will do very well," Pao-yue said. "Could one also go and hunt up aRussian tailor?"
Ch'ing Wen commenced by unstitching the lining, and, inserting under it,a bamboo bow, of the size of the mouth of a tea cup, she bound it tightat the back. She then turned her mind to the four sides of the aperture,and these she loosened by scratching them with a golden knife. Makingnext two stitches across with her needle, she marked out the warp andwoof; and, following the way the threads were joined, she first andforemost connected the foundation, and then keeping to the originallines, she went backwards and forwards mending the hole; passing herwork, after every second stitch, under further review. But she did notply her needle three to five times, before she lay herself down on herpillow, and indulged in a little rest.
Pao-yue was standing by her side. Now he inquired of her: "Whether shewould like a little hot water to drink." Later on, he asked her torepose herself. Now he seized a grey-squirrel wrapper and threw it overher shoulders. Shortly after, he took a pillow and propped her up. (Theway he fussed) so exasperated Ch'ing Wen that she begged and entreatedhim to leave off.
"My junior ancestor!" she exclaimed, "do go to bed and sleep! If you situp for the other half of the night, your eyes will to-morrow look as ifthey had been scooped out, and what good will possibly come out ofthat?"
Pao-yue realised her state of exasperation and felt compelled to come andlie down anyhow. But he could not again close his eyes.
In a little while, she heard the clock strike four, and just managing tofinish she took a small tooth-brush, and rubbed up the pile.
"That will do!" She Yueeh put in. "One couldn't detect it, unless oneexamined it carefully."
Pao-yue asked with alacrity to be allowed to have a look at it. "Really,"he smiled, "it's quite the same thing."
Ch'ing Wen coughed and coughed time after time, so it was only afterextreme difficulty that she succeeded in completing what she had topatch. "It's mended, it's true," she remarked, "but it does not, afterall, look anything like it. Yet, I cannot stand the effort any more!"
As she shouted 'Ai-ya,' she lost control over herself, and dropped downupon the bed.
But, reader, if you choose to know anything more of her state, perusethe next chapter.