his own doing; yet as every one, with one consent, tenaciously affirmed that it was he, it was no easy matter for him, much though he might argue, to clear himself of blame.
Soon after his return, on this day, from a drinking bout out of doors, he came to see his mother; but finding Pao-ch'ai in her rooms, they exchanged a few irrelevant remarks. 'I hear,' he consequently asked, 'that cousin Pao-yue has got into trouble; why is it?'
Mrs. Hsueeh was at the time much distressed on this score. As soon therefore as she caught this question, she gnashed her teeth with rage, and shouted: 'You good-for-nothing spiteful fellow! It's all you who are at the bottom of this trouble; and do you still have the face to come and ply me with questions?'
These words made Hsueeh P'an wince. 'When did I stir up any trouble?' he quickly asked.
'Do you still go on shamming!' cried Mrs. Hsueeh. 'Every one knows full well that it was you, who said those things, and do you yet prevaricate?'
'Were every one,' insinuated Hsueeh P'an, 'to assert that I had committed murder, would you believe even that?'
'Your very sister is well aware that they were said by you.' Mrs. Hsueeh continued, 'and is it likely that she would accuse you falsely, pray?'
'Mother,' promptly interposed Pao-ch'ai, 'you shouldn't be brawling with brother just now! If you wait quietly, we'll find out the plain and honest truth.' Then turning towards Hsueeh P'an: 'Whether it's you, who said those things or not,' she added, 'it's of no consequence. The whole affair, besides, is a matter of the past, so what need is there for any arguments; they will only be making a mountain of a mole-hill! I have just one word of advice to give you; don't, from henceforward, be up to so much reckless mischief outside; and concern yourself a little less with other people's affairs! All you do is day after day to associate with your friends and foolishly gad about! You are a happy-go-lucky sort of creature! If nothing happens well and good; but should by and bye anything turn up, every one will, though it be none of your doing, imagine again that you are at the bottom of it! Not to speak of others, why I myself will be the first to suspect you!'
Hsueeh P'an was naturally open-hearted and plain-spoken, and could not brook anything in the way of innuendoes, so, when on the one side, Pao-ch'ai advised him not to foolishly gad about, and his mother, on the other, hinted that he had a foul tongue, and that he was the cause that Pao-yue had been flogged, he at once got so exasperated that he jumped about in an erratic manner and did all in his power, by vowing and swearing, to explain matters. 'Who has,' he ejaculated, heaping abuse upon every one, 'laid such a tissue of lies to my charge! I'd like to take the teeth of that felon and pull them out! It's clear as day that they shove me forward as a target; for now that Pao-yue has been flogged they find no means of making a display of their zeal. But, is Pao-yue forsooth the lord of the heavens that because he has had a thrashing from his father, the whole household should be fussing for days? The other time, he behaved improperly, and my uncle gave him two whacks. But our venerable ancestor came, after a time, somehow or other, I don't know how, to hear about it, and, maintaining that it was all due to Mr. Chia Chen, she called him before her, and gave him a good blowing up. And here to-day, they have gone further, and involved me. They may drag me in as much as they like, I don't fear a rap! But won't it be better for me to go into the garden, and take Pao-yue and give him a bit of my mind and kill him? I can then pay the penalty by laying down my life for his, and one and all will enjoy peace and quiet!'
While he clamoured and shouted, he looked about him for the bar of the door, and, snatching it up, he there and then was running off, to the consternation of Mrs. Hsueeh, who clutched him in her arms. 'You murderous child of retribution!' she cried. 'Whom would you go and beat? come first and assail me?'
From excitement Hsueeh P'an's eyes protruded like copper bells. 'What are you up to,' he vociferated, 'that you won't let me go where I please, and that you deliberately go on calumniating me? But every day that Pao-yue lives, the longer by that day I have to bear a false charge, so it's as well that we should both die that things be cleared up?'
Pao-ch'ai too hurriedly rushed forward. 'Be patient a bit!' she exhorted him. 'Here's mamma in an awful state of despair. Not to mention that it should be for you to come and pacify her, you contrariwise kick up all this rumpus! Why, saying nothing about her who is your parent, were even a perfect stranger to advise you, it would be meant for your good! But the good counsel she gave you has stirred up your monkey instead.'
'From the way you're now speaking,' Hsueeh P'an rejoined, 'it must be you, who said that it was I; no one else but you!'
'You simply know how to feel displeased with me for speaking,' argued Pao-ch'ai, 'but you don't feel displeased with yourself for that reckless way of yours of looking ahead and not minding what is behind!'
'You now bear me a grudge,' Hsueeh P'an added, 'for looking to what is ahead and not to what is behind; but how is it you don't feel indignant with Pao-yue for stirring up strife and provoking trouble outside? Leaving aside everything else, I'll merely take that affair of Ch'i Kuan-erh's, which occurred the other day, and recount it to you as an instance. My friends and I came across this Ch'i Kuan-erh, ten times at least, but never has he made a single intimate remark to me, and how is it that, as soon as he met Pao-yue the other day, he at once produced his sash, and gave it to him, though he did not so much as know what his surname and name were? Now is it likely, forsooth, that this too was something that I started?'
'Do you still refer to this?' exclaimed Mrs. Hsueeh and Pao-ch'ai, out of patience. 'Wasn't it about this that he was beaten? This makes it clear enough that it's you who gave the thing out.'
'Really, you're enough to exasperate one to death!' Hsueeh P'an exclaimed. 'Had you confined yourselves to saying that I had started the yarn, I wouldn't have lost my temper; but what irritates me is that such a fuss should be made for a single Pao-yue, as to subvert heaven and earth!'
'Who fusses?' shouted Pao-ch'ai. 'You are the first to arm yourself to the teeth and start a row, and then you say that it's others who are up to mischief!'
Hsueeh P'an, seeing that every remark, made by Pao-ch'ai, contained so much reasonableness that he could with difficulty refute it, and that her words were even harder for him to reply to than were those uttered by his mother, he was consequently bent upon contriving a plan to make use of such language as could silence her and compel her to return to her room, so as to have no one bold enough to interfere with his speaking; but, his temper being up, he was not in a position to weigh his speech. 'Dear Sister!' he readily therefore said, 'you needn't be flying into a huff with me! I've long ago divined your feelings. Mother told me some time back that for you with that gold trinket, must be selected some suitor provided with a jade one; as such a one will be a suitable match for you. And having treasured this in your mind, and seen that Pao-yue has that rubbishy thing of his, you naturally now seize every occasion to screen him....'
However, before he could finish, Pao-ch'ai trembled with anger, and clinging to Mrs. Hsueeh, she melted into tears. 'Mother,' she observed, 'have you heard what brother says, what is it all about?'
Hsueeh P'an, at the sight of his sister bathed in tears, became alive to the fact that he had spoken inconsiderately, and, flying into a rage, he walked away to his own quarters and retired to rest. But we can well dispense with any further comment on the subject.
Pao-ch'ai was, at heart, full of vexation and displeasure. She meant to give vent to her feelings in some way, but the fear again of upsetting her mother compelled her to conceal her tears. She therefore took leave of her parent, and went back all alone. On her return to her chamber, she sobbed and sobbed throughout the whole night. The next day, she got out of bed, as soon as it dawned; but feeling even no inclination to comb her chevelure or perform her ablutions, she carelessly adjusted her clothes and came out of the garden to see her mother.
As luck would have it, she encountered Tai-yue standing alone under the shade of the trees, who inquired of her: 'Where she was off to?'
'I'm going home,' Hsueeh Pao-ch'ai replied. And as she uttered these words, she kept on her way.
But Tai-yue perceived that she was going off in a disconsolate mood; and, noticing that her eyes betrayed signs of crying, and that her manner was unlike that of other days, she smilingly called out to her from behind: 'Sister, you should take care of yourself a bit. Were you even to cry so much as to fill two water jars with tears, you wouldn't heal the wounds inflicted by the cane.'
But as what reply Hsueeh Pao-ch'ai gave is not yet known to you, reader, lend an ear to the explanation contained in the next chapter.
CHAPTER XXXV.
