himself to She Yueeh and her companions: 'Who would have fancied her also in here? But were I to enter, she'll bolt away in another tantrum! Better then that we should retrace our steps, and let them quietly have a chat together, eh? Hsi Jen was alone, and down in the mouth, so it's a fortunate thing that she joined her in such good time.'
As he spoke, they once more walked out of the court with gentle tread. Pao-yue went to the back of the rockery, and stopping short, he raised his clothes. She Yueeh and Ch'iu Wen stood still, and turned their faces away. 'Stoop,' they smiled, 'and then loosen your clothes! Be careful that the wind doesn't blow on your stomach!'
The two young maids, who followed behind, surmised that he was bent upon satisfying a natural want, and they hurried ahead to the tea-room to prepare the water.
Just, however, as Pao-yue was crossing over, two married women came in sight, advancing from the opposite direction. 'Who's there?' they inquired.
'Pao-yue is here,' Ch'ing Wen answered. 'But mind, if you bawl and shout like that, you'll give him a start.'
The women promptly laughed. 'We had no idea,' they said, 'that we were coming, at a great festive time like this, to bring trouble upon ourselves! What a lot of hard work must day after day fall to your share, young ladies.'
Speaking the while, they drew near. She Yueeh and her friends then asked them what they were holding in their hands.
'We're taking over,' they replied, 'some things to the two girls: Miss Chin and Miss Hua.'
'They're still singing the 'Eight Worthies' outside,' She Yueeh went on to observe laughingly, 'and how is it you're running again to Miss Chin's and Miss Hua's before the 'Trouble-first moon-box' has been gone through?'
'Take the lid off,' Pao-yue cried, 'and let me see what there's inside.'
Ch'in Wen and She Yueeh at once approached and uncovered the boxes. The two women promptly stooped, which enabled Pao-yue to see that the contents of the two boxes consisted alike of some of the finest fruits and tea-cakes, which had figured at the banquet, and, nodding his head, he walked off, while She Yueeh and her friend speedily threw the lids down anyhow, and followed in his track.
'Those two dames are pleasant enough,' Pao-yue smiled, 'and they know how to speak decently; but it's they who get quite worn out every day, and they contrariwise say that you've got ample to do daily. Now, doesn't this amount to bragging and boasting?'
'Those two women,' She Yueeh chimed in, 'are not bad. But such of them as don't know what good manners mean are ignorant to a degree of all propriety.'
'You, who know what's what,' Pao-yue added, 'should make allowances for that kind of rustic people. You should pity them; that's all.'
Speaking, he made his exit out of the garden gate. The matrons had, though engaged in drinking and gambling, kept incessantly stepping out of doors to furtively keep an eye on his movements, so that the moment they perceived Pao-yue appear, they followed him in a body. On their arrival in the covered passage of the reception-hall, they espied two young waiting-maids; the one with a small basin in her hand; the other with a towel thrown over her arm. They also held a bowl and small kettle, and had been waiting in that passage for ever so long.
Ch'iu Wen was the first to hastily stretch out her hand and test the water. 'The older you grow,' she cried, 'the denser you get! How could one ever use this icy-cold water?'
'Miss, look at the weather!' the young maid replied. 'I was afraid the water would get cold. It was really scalding; is it cold now?'
While she made this rejoinder, an old matron was, by a strange coincidence, seen coming along, carrying a jug of hot water. 'Dear dame,' shouted the young maid, 'come over and pour some for me in here!'
'My dear girl,' the matron responded, 'this is for our old mistress to brew tea with. I'll tell you what; you'd better go and fetch some yourself. Are you perchance afraid lest your feet might grow bigger by walking?'
'I don't care whose it is,' Ch'iu Wen put in. 'If you don't give me any, I shall certainly empty our old lady's teapot and wash my hands.'
The old matron turned her head; and, catching sight of Ch'iu Wen, she there and then raised the jug and poured some of the water.
'That will do!' exclaimed Ch'iu Wen. 'With all your years, don't you yet know what's what? Who isn't aware that it's for our old mistress? But would one presume to ask for what shouldn't be asked for?'
'My eyes are so dim,' the matron rejoined with a smile, 'that I didn't recognise this young lady.'
When Pao-yue had washed his hands, the young maid took the small jug and filled the bowl; and, as she held it in her hand, Pao-yue rinsed his mouth. But Ch'iu Wen and She Yueeh availed themselves likewise of the warm water to have a wash; after which, they followed Pao-yue in.
Pao-yue at once asked for a kettle of warm wine, and, starting from sister-in-law Li, he began to replenish their cups. (Sister-in-law Li and his aunt Hsueeh) pressed him, however, with smiling faces, to take a seat; but his grandmother Chia remonstrated. 'He's only a youngster,' she said, 'so let him pour the wine! We must all drain this cup!'
With these words, she quaffed her own cup, leaving no heel-taps. Mesdames Hsing and Wang also lost no time in emptying theirs; so Mrs. Hsueeh and 'sister-in-law' Li had no alternative but to drain their share.
'Fill the cups too of your female cousins, senior or junior,' dowager lady Chia went on to tell Pao-yue. 'And you mayn't pour the wine anyhow. Each of you must swallow every drop of your drinks.'
Pao-yue upon hearing her wishes, set to work, while signifying his assent, to replenish the cups of the several young ladies in their proper gradation. But when he got to Tai-yue, she raised the cup, for she would not drink any wine herself, and applied it to Pao-yue's lips. Pao-yue drained the contents with one breath; upon which Tai-yue gave him a smile, and said to him: 'I am much obliged to you.'
Pao-yue next poured a cup for her. But lady Feng immediately laughed and expostulated. 'Pao-yue!' she cried, 'you mustn't take any cold wine. Mind, your hand will tremble, and you won't be able to-morrow to write your characters or to draw the bow.'
'I'm not having any cold wine,' Pao-yue replied.
'I know you're not,' lady Feng smiled, 'but I simply warn you.'
After this, Pao-yue finished helping the rest of the inmates inside, with the exception of Chia Jung's wife, for whom he bade a maid fill a cup. Then emerging again into the covered passage, he replenished the cups of Chia Chen and his companions; after which, he tarried with them for a while, and at last walked in and resumed his former seat.
Presently, the soup was brought, and soon after that the 'feast of lanterns' cakes were handed round.
Dowager lady Chia gave orders that the play should be interrupted for a time. 'Those young people,' (she said) 'are be to pitied! Let them too have some hot soup and warm viands. They then can go on again. Take of every kind of fruit,' she continued, ''feast of lanterns' cakes, and other such dainties and give them a few.'
The play was shortly stopped. The matrons ushered in a couple of blind singing-girls, who often came to the house, and put two benches, on the opposite side, for them. Old lady Chia desired them to take a seat, and banjos and guitars were then handed to them.
'What stories would you like to hear?' old lady Chia inquired of 'sister-in-law' Li and Mrs. Hsueeh.
'We don't care what they are;' both of them rejoined with one voice. 'Any will do!'
'Have you of late added any new stories to your stock?' old lady Chia asked.
'We've got a new story,' the two girls explained. 'It's about an old affair of the time of the Five Dynasties, which trod down the T'ang dynasty.'
'What's its title?' old lady Chia inquired.
'It's called: 'A Feng seeks a Luan in marriage': (the male phoenix asks the female phoenix in marriage),' one of the girls answered.
'The title is all very well,' dowager lady Chia proceeded, 'but why I wonder was it ever given to it. First tell us its general purport, and if it's interesting, you can continue.'
'This story,' the girl explained, 'treats of the time when the T'ang dynasty was extinguished. There lived then one of the gentry, who had originally been a denizen of Chin Ling. His name was Wang Chun. He had been minister under two reigns. He had, about this time, pleaded old age and returned to his home. He had about his
