fro, and ornamented branches nodded their heads about. In addition to this, the members of the family were clad in such fineries that they put the peach tree to shame, made the almond yield the palm, the swallow envious and the hawk to blush. We could not therefore exhaustively describe them within our limited space of time.
Pao-ch'ai, Ying Ch'un, T'an Ch'un, Hsi Ch'un, Li Wan, lady Feng and other girls, as well as Ta Chieh Erh, Hsiang Ling and the waiting-maids were, one and all, we will now notice, in the garden enjoying themselves; the only person who could not be seen was Lin Tai-yue.
'How is it,' consequently inquired Ying Ch'un, 'that I don't see cousin Liu? What a lazy girl! Is she forsooth fast asleep even at this late hour of the day?'
'Wait all of you here,' rejoined Pao-ch'ai, 'and I'll go and shake her up and bring her.'
With these words, she speedily left her companions and repaired straightway into the Hsiao Hsiang lodge.
While she was going on her errand, she met Wen Kuan and the rest of the girls, twelve in all, on their way to seek the party. Drawing near, they inquired after her health. After exchanging a few commonplace remarks, Pao- ch'ai turned round and pointing, said: 'you will find them all in there; you had better go and join them. As for me, I'm going to fetch Miss Lin, but I'll be back soon.'
Saying this, she followed the winding path, and came to the Hsiao Hsiang lodge. Upon suddenly raising her eyes, she saw Pao-yue walk in. Pao-ch'ai immediately halted, and, lowering her head, she gave way to meditation for a time. 'Pao-yue and Lin Tai-yue,' she reflected, 'have grown up together from their very infancy. But cousins, though they be, there are many instances in which they cannot evade suspicion, for they joke without heeding propriety; and at one time they are friends and at another at daggers drawn. Tai-yue has, moreover, always been full of envy; and has ever displayed a peevish disposition, so were I to follow him in at this juncture, why, Pao-yue would, in the first place, not feel at ease, and, in the second, Tai-yue would give way to jealousy. Better therefore for me to turn back.'
At the close of this train of thought, she retraced her steps. But just as she was starting to join her other cousins, she unexpectedly descried, ahead of her, a pair of jade-coloured butterflies, of the size of a circular fan. Now they soared high, now they made a swoop down, in their flight against the breeze; much to her amusement.
Pao-ch'ai felt a wish to catch them for mere fun's sake, so producing a fan from inside her sleeve, she descended on to the turfed ground to flap them with it. The two butterflies suddenly were seen to rise; suddenly to drop: sometimes to come; at others to go. Just as they were on the point of flying across the stream to the other side, the enticement proved too much for Pao-ch'ai, and she pursued them on tiptoe straight up to the Ti Ts'ui pavilion, nestling on the bank of the pond; while fragrant perspiration dripped drop by drop, and her sweet breath panted gently. But Pao-ch'ai abandoned the idea of catching them, and was about to beat a retreat, when all at once she overheard, in the pavilion, the chatter of people engaged in conversation.
This pavilion had, it must be added, a verandah and zig-zag balustrades running all round. It was erected over the water, in the centre of a pond, and had on the four sides window-frames of carved wood work, stuck with paper. So when Pao-ch'ai caught, from without the pavilion, the sound of voices, she at once stood still and lent an attentive ear to what was being said.
'Look at this handkerchief,' she overheard. 'If it's really the one you've lost, well then keep it; but if it isn't you must return it to Mr. Yuen.'
'To be sure it is my own,' another party observed, 'bring it along and give it to me.'
'What reward will you give me?' she further heard. 'Is it likely that I've searched all for nothing!'
'I've long ago promised to recompense you, and of course I won't play you false,' some one again rejoined.
'I found it and brought it round,' also reached her ear, 'and you naturally will recompense me; but won't you give anything to the person who picked it up?'
'Don't talk nonsense,' the other party added, 'he belongs to a family of gentlemen, and anything of ours he may pick up it's his bounden duty to restore to us. What reward could you have me give him?'
'If you don't reward him,' she heard some one continue, 'what will I be able to tell him? Besides, he enjoined me time after time that if there was to be no recompense, I was not to give it to you.'
A short pause ensued. 'Never mind!' then came out again to her, 'take this thing of mine and present it to him and have done! But do you mean to let the cat out of the bag with any one else? You should take some oath.'
'If I tell any one,' she likewise overheard, 'may an ulcer grow on my mouth, and may I, in course of time, die an unnatural death!'
'Ai-ya!' was the reply she heard; 'our minds are merely bent upon talking, but some one might come and quietly listen from outside; wouldn't it be as well to push all the venetians open. Any one seeing us in here will then imagine that we are simply chatting about nonsense. Besides, should they approach, we shall be able to observe them, and at once stop our conversation!'
Pao-ch'ai listened to these words from outside, with a heart full of astonishment. 'How can one wonder,' she argued mentally, 'if all those lewd and dishonest people, who have lived from olden times to the present, have devised such thorough artifices! But were they now to open and see me here, won't they feel ashamed. Moreover, the voice in which those remarks were uttered resembles very much that of Hung Erh, attached to Pao-yue's rooms, who has all along shown a sharp eye and a shrewd mind. She's an artful and perverse thing of the first class! And as I have now overheard her peccadilloes, and a person in despair rebels as sure as a dog in distress jumps over the wall, not only will trouble arise, but I too shall derive no benefit. It would be better at present therefore for me to lose no time in retiring. But as I fear I mayn't be in time to get out of the way, the only alternative for me is to make use of some art like that of the cicada, which can divest itself of its
She had scarcely brought her reflections to a close before a sound of 'ko-chih' reached her ears. Pao-ch'ai purposely hastened to tread with heavy step. 'P'in Erh, I see where you're hiding!' she cried out laughingly; and as she shouted, she pretended to be running ahead in pursuit of her.
As soon as Hsiao Hung and Chui Erh pushed the windows open from inside the pavilion, they heard Pao-ch'ai screaming, while rushing forward; and both fell into a state of trepidation from the fright they sustained.
Pao-ch'ai turned round and faced them. 'Where have you been hiding Miss Lin?' she smiled.
'Who has seen anything of Miss Lin,' retorted Chui Erh.
'I was just now,' proceeded Pao-ch'ai, 'on that side of the pool, and discerned Miss Lin squatting down over there and playing with the water. I meant to have gently given her a start, but scarcely had I walked up to her, when she saw me, and, with a
As she spoke, she designedly stepped in and searched about for her. This over, she betook herself away, adding: 'she's certain to have got again into that cave in the hill, and come across a snake, which must have bitten her and put an end to her.'
So saying, she distanced them, feeling again very much amused. 'I have managed,' she thought, 'to ward off this piece of business, but I wonder what those two think about it.'
Hsiao Hung, who would have anticipated, readily credited as gospel the remarks she heard Pao-ch'ai make. But allowing just time enough to Pao-ch'ai to got to a certain distance, she instantly drew Chui Erh to her. 'Dreadful!' she observed, 'Miss Lin was squatting in here and must for a certainty have overheard what we said before she left.'
Albeit Chui Erh listened to her words, she kept her own counsel for a long time. 'What's to be done?' Hsiao Hung consequently exclaimed.
'Even supposing she did overhear what we said,' rejoined Chui Erh by way of answer, 'why should she meddle in what does not concern her? Every one should mind her own business.'
'Had it been Miss Pao, it would not have mattered,' remarked Hsiao Hung, 'but Miss Lin delights in telling mean things of people and is, besides, so petty-minded. Should she have heard and anything perchance comes to light, what will we do?'
During their colloquy, they noticed Wen Kuan, Hsiang Ling, Ssu Ch'i, Shih Shu and the other girls enter the pavilion, so they were compelled to drop the conversation and to play and laugh with them. They then espied lady Feng standing on the top of the hillock, waving her hand, beckoning to Hsiao Hung. Hurriedly therefore leaving the company, she ran up to lady Feng and with smile heaped upon smile, 'my lady,' she inquired, 'what is it that you
