appealed to her, she must have had to slave away, who knows how much, till the third watch in the middle of the night. What a stupid thing I was! Had I known this sooner, I would never have told her a word about it.'
'Last time;' continued Pao-ch'ai, 'she told me that when she was at home she had ample to do, that she kept busy as late as the third watch, and that, if she did the slightest stitch of work for any other people, the various ladies, belonging to her family, did not like it.'
'But as it happens,' explained Hsi Jen, 'that mulish-minded and perverse-tempered young master of ours won't allow the least bit of needlework, no matter whether small or large, to be made by those persons employed to do sewing in the household. And as for me, I have no time to turn my attention to all these things.'
'Why mind him?' laughed Pao-ch'ai. 'Simply ask some one to do the work and finish.'
'How could one bamboozle him?' resumed Hsi Jen. 'Why, he'll promptly find out everything. Such a thing can't even be suggested. The only thing I can do is to quietly slave away, that's all.'
'You shouldn't work so hard,' smiled Pao-ch'ai. 'What do you say to my doing a few things for you?'
'Are you in real earnest!' ventured Hsi Jen smiling. 'Well, in that case, it is indeed a piece of good fortune for me! I'll come over myself in the evening.'
But before she could conclude her reply, she of a sudden noticed an old matron come up to her with precipitate step. 'Where does the report come from,' she interposed, 'that Miss Chin Ch'uan-erh has gone, for no rhyme or reason, and committed suicide by jumping into the well?'
This bit of news startled Hsi Jen. 'Which Chin Ch'uan-erh is it,' she speedily inquired.
'Where are two Chin Ch'uan-erhs to be found!' rejoined the old matron. 'It's the one in our Mistress,' Madame Wang's, apartments, who was the other day sent away for something or other, I don't know what. On her return home, she raised her groans to the skies and shed profuse tears, but none of them worried their minds about her, until, who'd have thought it, they could see nothing of her. A servant, however, went just now to draw water and he says that 'while he was getting it from the well in the south-east corner, he caught sight of a dead body, that he hurriedly called men to his help, and that when they fished it out, they unexpectedly found that it was she, but that though they bustled about trying to bring her round, everything proved of no avail''
'This is odd!' Pao-ch'ai exclaimed.
The moment Hsi Jen heard the tidings, she shook her head and moaned. At the remembrance of the friendship, which had ever existed between them, tears suddenly trickled down her cheeks. And as for Pao-ch'ai, she listened to the account of the accident and then hastened to Madame Wang's quarters to try and afford her consolation.
Hsi Jen, during this interval, returned to her room. But we will leave her without further notice, and explain that when Pao-ch'ai reached the interior of Madame Wang's home, she found everything plunged in perfect stillness. Madame Wang was seated all alone in the inner chamber indulging her sorrow. But such difficulties did Pao-ch'ai experience to allude to the occurrence, that her only alternative was to take a seat next to her.
'Where do you come from?' asked Madame Wang.
'I come from inside the garden,' answered Pao-ch'ai.
'As you come from the garden,' Madame Wang inquired, 'did you see anything of your cousin Pao-yue?'
'I saw him just now,' Pao-ch'ai replied, 'go out, dressed up in his fineries. But where he is gone to, I don't know.'
'Have you perchance heard of any strange occurrence?' asked Madame Wang, while she nodded her head and sighed. 'Why, Chin Ch'uan Erh jumped into the well and committed suicide.'
'How is it that she jumped into the well when there was nothing to make her do so?' Pao-ch'ai inquired. 'This is indeed a remarkable thing!'
'The fact is,' proceeded Madame Wang, 'that she spoilt something the other day, and in a sudden fit of temper, I gave her a slap and sent her away, simply meaning to be angry with her for a few days and then bring her in again. But, who could have ever imagined that she had such a resentful temperament as to go and drown herself in a well! And is not this all my fault?'
'It's because you are such a kind-hearted person, aunt,' smiled Pao-ch'ai, 'that such ideas cross your mind! But she didn't jump into the well when she was in a tantrum; so what must have made her do so was that she had to go and live in the lower quarters. Or, she might have been standing in front of the well, and her foot slipped, and she fell into it. While in the upper rooms, she used to be kept under restraint, so when this time she found herself outside, she must, of course, have felt the wish to go strolling all over the place in search of fun. How could she have ever had such a fiery disposition? But even admitting that she had such a temper, she was, after all, a stupid girl to do as she did; and she doesn't deserve any pity.'
'In spite of what you say,' sighed Madame Wang, shaking her head to and fro, 'I really feel unhappy at heart.'
'You shouldn't, aunt, distress your mind about it!' Pao-ch'ai smiled. 'Yet, if you feel very much exercised, just give her a few more taels than you would otherwise have done, and let her be buried. You'll thus carry out to the full the feelings of a mistress towards her servant.'
'I just now gave them fifty taels for her,' pursued Madame Wang. 'I also meant to let them have some of your cousin's new clothes to enshroud her in. But, who'd have thought it, none of the girls had, strange coincidence, any newly-made articles of clothing; and there were only that couple of birthday suits of your cousin Lin's. But as your cousin Lin has ever been such a sensitive child and has always too suffered and ailed, I thought it would be unpropitious for her, if her clothes were also now handed to people to wrap their dead in, after she had been told that they were given her for her birthday. So I ordered a tailor to get a suit for her as soon as possible. Had it been any other servant-girl, I could have given her a few taels and have finished. But Chin Ch'uan-erh was, albeit a servant-maid, nearly as dear to me as if she had been a daughter of mine.'
Saying this, tears unwittingly ran down from her eyes.
'Aunt!' vehemently exclaimed Pao-ch'ai. 'What earthly use is it of hurrying a tailor just now to prepare clothes for her? I have a couple of suits I made the other day and won't it save trouble were I to go and bring them for her? Besides, when she was alive, she used to wear my old clothes. And what's more our figures are much alike.'
'What you say is all very well,' rejoined Madame Wang; 'but can it be that it isn't distasteful to you?'
'Compose your mind,' urged Pao-ch'ai with a smile. 'I have never paid any heed to such things.'
As she spoke, she rose to her feet and walked away.
Madame Wang then promptly called two servants. 'Go and accompany Miss Pao!' she said.
In a brief space of time, Pao-ch'ai came back with the clothes, and discovered Pao-yue seated next to Madame Wang, all melted in tears. Madame Wang was reasoning with him. At the sight of Pao-ch'ai, she, at once, desisted. When Pao-ch'ai saw them go on in this way, and came to weigh their conversation and to scan the expression on their countenances, she immediately got a pretty correct insight into their feelings. But presently she handed over the clothes, and Madame Wang sent for Chin Ch'uan-erh's mother, to take them away.
But, reader, you will have to peruse the next chapter for further details.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
A brother is prompted by ill-feeling to wag his tongue a bit.
A depraved son receives heavy blows with a rattan cane.
Madame Wang, for we shall now continue our story, sent for Chin Ch'uan-erh's mother. On her arrival, she gave her several hair-pins and rings, and then told her that she could invite several Buddhist priests as well to read the prayers necessary to release the spirit from purgatory. The mother prostrated herself and expressed her gratitude; after which, she took her leave.
Indeed, Pao-yue, on his return from entertaining Yue-ts'un, heard the tidings that Chin Ch'uan-erh had been instigated by a sense of shame to take her own life and he at once fell a prey to grief. So much so, that, when he came inside, and was again spoken to and admonished by Madame Wang, he could not utter a single word in his justification. But as soon as he perceived Pao-ch'ai make her appearance in the room, he seized the opportunity to scamper out in precipitate haste. Whither he was trudging, he himself had not the least idea. But throwing his hands behind his back and drooping his head against his chest, he gave way to sighs, while with slow and listless
