you perchance put that thing away?' he eagerly asked Hsi Jen.
'What thing?' inquired Hsi Jen.
'The unicorn,' explained Pao-yue, 'I got the other day.'
'You've daily worn it about you, and how is it you ask me?' remarked Hsi Jen.
As soon as her answer fell on his ear, Pao-yue clapped his hands. 'I've lost it!' he cried. 'Where can I go and look for it!' There and then, he meant to go and search in person; but Shih Hsiang-yuen heard his inquiries, and concluded that it must be he who had lost the gem. 'When did you too,' she promptly smiled, 'get a unicorn?'
'I got it the other day, after ever so much trouble;' rejoined Pao-yue, 'but I can't make out when I can have lost it! I've also become quite addle-headed.'
'Fortunately,' smiled Shih Hsiang-yuen, 'it's only a sort of a toy! Still, are you so careless?' While speaking, she flung open her hand. 'Just see,' she laughed, 'is it this or not?'
As soon as he saw it, Pao-yue was seized with unwonted delight. But, reader, if you care to know the cause of his delight, peruse the explanation contained in the next chapter.
CHAPTER XXXII.
Hsi Jen and Hsiang-yuen tell their secret thoughts.
Tai-yue is infatuated with the living Pao-yue.
While trying to conceal her sense of shame and injury Chin Ch'uan is driven by her impetuous feelings to seek death.
But to resume our narrative. At the sight of the unicorn, Pao-yue was filled with intense delight. So much so, that he forthwith put out his hand and made a grab for it. 'Lucky enough it was you who picked it up!' he said, with a face beaming with smiles. 'But when did you find it?'
'Fortunately it was only this!' rejoined Shih Hsiang-yuen laughing. 'If you by and bye also lose your seal, will you likely banish it at once from your mind, and never make an effort to discover it?'
'After all,' smiled Pao-yue, 'the loss of a seal is an ordinary occurrence. But had I lost this, I would have deserved to die.'
Hsi Jen then poured a cup of tea and handed it to Shih Hsiang-yuen. 'Miss Senior,' she remarked smilingly, 'I heard that you had occasion the other day to be highly pleased.'
Shih Hsiang-yuen flushed crimson. She went on drinking her tea and did not utter a single word.
'Here you are again full of shame!' Hsi Jen smiled. 'But do you remember when we were living, about ten years back, in those warm rooms on the west side and you confided in me one evening, you didn't feel any shame then; and how is it you blush like this now?'
'Do you still speak about that!' exclaimed Shih Hsiang-yuen laughingly. 'You and I were then great friends. But when our mother subsequently died and I went home for a while, how is it you were at once sent to be with my cousin Secundus, and that now that I've come back you don't treat me as you did once?'
'Are you yet harping on this!' retorted Hsi Jen, putting on a smile. 'Why, at first, you used to coax me with a lot of endearing terms to comb your hair and to wash your face, to do this and that for you. But now that you've become a big girl, you assume the manner of a young mistress towards me, and as you put on these airs of a young mistress, how can I ever presume to be on a familiar footing with you?'
'O-mi-to-fu,' cried Shih Hsiang-yuen. 'What a false accusation! If I be guilty of anything of the kind, may I at once die! Just see what a broiling hot day this is, and yet as soon as I arrived I felt bound to come and look you up first. If you don't believe me, well, ask Lue Erh! And while at home, when did I not at every instant say something about you?'
Scarcely had she concluded than Hsi Jen and Pao-yue tried to soothe her. 'We were only joking,' they said, 'but you've taken everything again as gospel. What! are you still so impetuous in your temperament!'
'You don't say,' argued Shih Hsiang-yuen, 'that your words are hard things to swallow, but contrariwise, call people's temperaments impetuous!'
As she spoke, she unfolded her handkerchief and, producing a ring, she gave it to Hsi Jen.
Hsi Jen did not know how to thank her enough. 'When;' she consequently smiled, 'you sent those to your cousin the other day, I got one also; and here you yourself bring me another to-day! It's clear enough therefore that you haven't forgotten me. This alone has been quite enough to test you. As for the ring itself, what is its worth? but it's a token of the sincerity of your heart!'
'Who gave it to you?' inquired Shih Hsiang-yuen.
'Miss Pao let me have it.' replied Hsi Jen.
'I was under the impression,' remarked Hsiang-yuen with a sigh, 'that it was a present from cousin Lin. But is it really cousin Pao, that gave it to you! When I was at home, I day after day found myself reflecting that among all these cousins of mine, there wasn't one able to compare with cousin Pao, so excellent is she. How I do regret that we are not the offspring of one mother! For could I boast of such a sister of the same flesh and blood as myself, it wouldn't matter though I had lost both father and mother!'
While indulging in these regrets, her eyes got quite red.
'Never mind! never mind!' interposed Pao-yue. 'Why need you speak of these things!'
'If I do allude to this,' answered Shih Hsiang-yuen, 'what does it matter? I know that weak point of yours. You're in fear and trembling lest your cousin Lin should come to hear what I say, and get angry with me again for eulogising cousin Pao! Now isn't it this, eh!'
'Ch'ih!' laughed Hsi Jen, who was standing by her. 'Miss Yuen,' she said, 'now that you've grown up to be a big girl you've become more than ever openhearted and outspoken.'
'When I contend;' smiled Pao-yue, 'that it is difficult to say a word to any one of you I'm indeed perfectly correct!'
'My dear cousin,' observed Shih Hsiang-yuen laughingly, 'don't go on in that strain! You'll provoke me to displeasure. When you are with me all you are good for is to talk and talk away; but were you to catch a glimpse of cousin Lin, you would once more be quite at a loss to know what best to do!'
'Now, enough of your jokes!' urged Hsi Jen. 'I have a favour to crave of you.'
'What is it?' vehemently inquired Shih Hsiang-yuen.
'I've got a pair of shoes,' answered Hsi Jen, 'for which I've stuck the padding together; but I'm not feeling up to the mark these last few days, so I haven't been able to work at them. If you have any leisure, do finish them for me.'
'This is indeed strange!' exclaimed Shih Hsiang-yuen. 'Putting aside all the skilful workers engaged in your household, you have besides some people for doing needlework and others for tailoring and cutting; and how is it you appeal to me to take your shoes in hand? Were you to ask any one of those men to execute your work, who could very well refuse to do it?'
'Here you are in another stupid mood!' laughed Hsi Jen. 'Can it be that you don't know that our sewing in these quarters mayn't be done by these needleworkers.'
At this reply, it at once dawned upon Shih Hsiang-yuen that the shoes must be intended for Pao-yue. 'Since that be the case,' she in consequence smiled; 'I'll work them for you. There's however one thing. I'll readily attend to any of yours, but I will have nothing to do with any for other people.'
'There you are again!' laughed Hsi Jen. 'Who am I to venture to trouble you to make shoes for me? I'll tell you plainly, however, that they are not mine. But no matter whose they are, it is anyhow I who'll be the recipient of your favour; that is sufficient.'
'To speak the truth,' rejoined Shih Hsiang-yuen, 'you've put me to the trouble of working, I don't know how many things for you. The reason why I refuse on this occasion should be quite evident to you!'
'I can't nevertheless make it out!' answered Hsi Jen.
'I heard the other day,' continued Shih Hsiang-yuen, a sardonic smile on her lip, 'that while the fan-case, I had worked, was being held and compared with that of some one else, it too was slashed away in a fit of high dudgeon. This reached my ears long ago, and do you still try to dupe me by asking me again now to make something more for you? Have I really become a slave to you people?
'As to what occurred the other day,' hastily explained Pao-yue smiling, 'I positively had no idea that that
