"Is the 'Water Spirit' monastery in this neighbourhood?" Pao-yu eagerly inquired, upon hearing his proposal. "Yes, that would be better; let's press forward."

With this reply, he touched his horse with his whip. While advancing on their way, he turned round. "The nun in this 'Water Spirit' monastery,"

he shouted to Pei Ming, "frequently comes on a visit to our house, so that when we now get there and ask her for the loan of a censer, she's certain to let us have it."

"Not to mention that that's a place where our family burns incense," Pei Ming answered, "she could not dare to raise any objections, to any appeal from us for a loan, were she even in a temple quite unknown to us. There's only one thing, I've often been struck with the strong dislike you have for this 'Water Spirit' monastery, master, and how is that you're now, so delighted with the idea of going to it?"

"I've all along had the keenest contempt for those low-bred persons,"

Pao-yu rejoined, "who, without knowing why or wherefore, foolishly offer sacrifices to the spirits, and needlessly have temples erected. The reason of it all is, that those rich old gentlemen and unsophisticated wealthy women, who lived in past days, were only too ready, the moment they heard of the presence of a spirit anywhere, to take in hand the erection of temples to offer their sacrifices in, without even having the faintest notion whose spirits they were. This was because they readily credited as gospel-truth such rustic stories and idle tales as chanced to reach their ears. Take this place as an example. Offerings are presented in this 'Water Spirit' nunnery to the spirit of the 'Lo'

stream; hence the name of 'Water Spirit' monastery has been given to it.

But people really don't know that in past days, there was no such thing as a 'Lo' spirit! These are, indeed, no better than legendary yarns invented by Ts'ao Tzu-chien, and who would have thought it, this sort of stupid people have put up images of it, to which they offer oblations.

It serves, however, my purpose to-day, so I'll borrow of her whatever I need to use."

While engaged in talking, they reached the entrance. The old nun saw Pao-yu arrive, and was thoroughly taken aback. So far was this visit beyond her expectations, that well did it seem to her as if a live dragon had dropped from the heavens. With alacrity, she rushed up to him; and making inquiries after his health, she gave orders to an old Taoist to come and take his horse.

Pao-yu stepped into the temple. But without paying the least homage to the image of the 'Lo' spirit, he simply kept his eyes fixed intently on it; for albeit made of clay, it actually seemed, nevertheless, to flutter as does a terror-stricken swan, and to wriggle as a dragon in motion. It looked like a lotus, peeping its head out of the green stream, or like the sun, pouring its rays upon the russet clouds in the early morn. Pao-yu's tears unwittingly trickled down his cheeks.

The old nun presented tea. Pao-yu then asked her for the loan of a censer to burn incense in. After a protracted absence, the old nun returned with some incense as well as several paper horses, which she had got ready for him to offer. But Pao-yu would not use any of the things she brought. "Take the censer," he said to Pei Ming, "and go out into the back garden and find a clean spot!"

But having been unable to discover one; "What about, the platform round that well?" Pei Ming inquired.

Pao-yu nodded his head a.s.sentingly. Then along with him, he repaired to the platform of the well. He deposited the censer on the ground, while Pei Ming stood on one side. Pao-yu produced the incense, and threw it on the fire. With suppressed tears, he performed half of the ceremony, and, turning himself round, he bade Pei Ming clear the things away. Pei Ming acquiesced; but, instead of removing the things, he speedily fell on his face, and made several prostrations, as his lips uttered this prayer: "I, Pei Ming, have been in the service of Master Secundus for several years. Of the secrets of Mr. Secundus' heart there are none, which I have not known, save that with regard to this sacrifice to-day; the object of which, he has neither told me; nor have I had the presumption to ask. But thou, oh spirit! who art the recipient of these sacrificial offerings, must, I expect, unknown though thy surname and name be to me, be a most intelligent and supremely beautiful elder or younger sister, unique among mankind, without a peer even in heaven! As my Master Secundus cannot give vent to the sentiments, which fill his heart, allow me to pray on his behalf! Should thou possess spirituality, and holiness be thy share, do thou often come and look up our Mr. Secundus, for persistently do his thoughts dwell with thee! And there is no reason why thou should'st not come! But should'st thou be in the abode of the dead, grant that our Mr. Secundus too may, in his coming existence, be transformed into a girl, so that he may be able to amuse himself with you all! And will not this prove a source of pleasure to both sides?"

At the close of his invocation, he again knocked his head several times on the ground, and, eventually, rose to his feet.

Pao-yu lent an ear to his utterances, but, before they had been brought to an end, he felt it difficult to repress himself from laughing. Giving him a kick, "Don't talk such stuff and nonsense!" he shouted. "Were any looker-on to overhear what you say, he'd jeer at you!"

Pei Ming got up and put the censer away. While he walked along with Pao-yu, "I've already," he said, "told the nun that you hadn't as yet had anything to eat, Master Secundus, and I bade her get a few things ready for you, so you must force yourself to take something. I know very well that a grand banquet will be spread in our mansion to-day, that exceptional bustle will prevail, and that you have, on account of this, Sir, come here to get out of the way. But as you're, after all, going to spend a whole day in peace and quiet in here, you should try and divert yourself as best you can. It won't, therefore, by any manner of means do for you to have nothing to eat."

"I won't be at the theatrical performance to have any wine," Pao-yu remarked, "so what harm will there be in my having a drink here, as the fancy takes me?"

"Quite so!" rejoined Pei Ming. "But there's another consideration. You and I have run over here; but there must be some whose minds are ill at ease. Were there no one uneasy about us, well, what would it matter if we got back into town as late as we possibly could? But if there be any solicitous on your account, it's but right, Master Secundus, that you should enter the city and return home. In the first place, our worthy old mistress and Madame w.a.n.g, will thus compose their minds; and secondly, you'll observe the proper formalities, if you succeed in doing nothing else. But even supposing that, when once you get home, you feel no inclination to look at the plays and have anything to drink, you can merely wait upon your father and mother, and acquit yourself of your filial piety! Well, if it's only a matter of fulfilling this obligation, and you don't care whether our old mistress and our lady, your mother, experience concern or not, why, the spirit itself, which has just been the recipient of your oblations, won't feel in a happy frame of mind!

You'd better therefore, master, ponder and see what you think of my words!"

"I see what you're driving at!" Pao-yu smiled. "You keep before your mind the thought that you're the only servant, who has followed me as an attendant out of town, and you give way to fear that you will, on your return, have to bear the consequences. You hence have recourse to these grandiloquent arguments to shove words of counsel down my throat! I've come here now with the sole object of satisfying certain rites, and then going to partake of the banquet and be a spectator of the plays; and I never mentioned one single word about any intention on my part not to go back to town for a whole day! I've, however, already accomplished the wish I fostered in my heart, so if we hurry back to town, so as to enable every one to set their solicitude at rest, won't the right principle be carried out to the full in one respect as well as another?"

"Yes, that would be better!" exclaimed Pei Ming.

Conversing the while, they wended their way into the Buddhistic hall.

Here the nun had, in point of fact, got ready a table with lenten viands. Pao-yu hurriedly swallowed some refreshment and so did Pei Ming; after which, they mounted their steeds and retraced their steps homewards, by the road they had come.

Pei Ming followed behind. "Master Secundus!" he kept on shouting, "be careful how you ride! That horse hasn't been ridden very much, so hold him in tight a bit."

As he urged him to be careful, they reached the interior of the city walls, and, making their entrance once more into the mansion by the back gate, they betook themselves, with all possible despatch, into the I Hung court. Hsi Jen and the other maids were not at home. Only a few old women were there to look after the rooms. As soon as they saw him arrive, they were so filled with gratification that their eyebrows dilated and their eyes smiled. "O-mi-to-fu!" they said laughingly, "you've come! You've all but driven Miss Hua mad from despair! In the upper quarters, they're just seated at the feast, so be quick, Mr.

Secundus, and go and join them."

At these words, Pao-yu speedily divested himself of his plain clothes and put on a coloured costume, reserved for festive occasions, which he hunted up with his own hands. This done, "Where are they holding the banquet?" he inquired.

"They're in the newly erected large reception pavilion," the old women responded.

Upon catching their reply, Pao-yu straightway started for the reception-pavilion. From an early moment, the strains of flageolets and pipes, of song and of wind-instruments faintly fell on his ear. The moment he reached the pa.s.sage on the opposite side, he discerned Yu Ch'uan-erh seated all alone under the eaves of the verandah giving way to tears. As soon as she became conscious of Pao-yu's arrival, she drew a long, long breath. Smacking her lips, "Ai!" she cried, "the phoenix has alighted! go in at once! Hadn't you come for another minute, every one would have been quite upset!"

Pao-yu forced a smile. "Just try and guess where I've been?" he observed.

Yu Ch'uan-erh twisted herself round, and, paying no notice to him, she continued drying her tears. Pao-yu had, therefore, no option but to enter with hasty step. On his arrival in the reception-hall, he paid his greetings to his grandmother Chia, to Madame w.a.n.g, and the other inmates, and one and all felt, in fact, as happy to see him back as if they had come into the possession of a phoenix.

"Where have you been," dowager lady Chia was the first to ask, "that you come back at this hour? Don't you yet go and pay your congratulations to your cousin?" And smiling she proceeded, addressing herself to lady Feng, "Your cousin has no idea of what's right and what's wrong. Even though he may have had something pressing to do, why didn't he utter just one word, but stealthily bolted away on his own hook? Will this sort of thing ever do? But should you behave again in this fashion by and bye, I shall, when your father comes home, feel compelled to tell him to chastise you."

Lady Feng smiled. "Congratulations are a small matter?" she observed.

"But, cousin Pao, you must, on no account, sneak away any more without breathing a word to any one, and not sending for some people to escort you, for carriages and horses throng the streets. First and foremost, you're the means of making people uneasy at heart; and, what's more, that isn't the way in which members of a family such as ours should go out of doors!"

Dowager lady Chia meanwhile went on reprimanding the servants, who waited on him. "Why," she said, "do you all listen to him and readily go wherever he pleases without even reporting a single word? But where did you really go?" Continuing, she asked, "Did you have anything to eat? Or did you get any sort of fright, eh?"

"A beloved wife of the duke of Pei Ching departed this life," Pao-yu merely returned for answer, "and I went to-day to express my condolences to him. I found him in such bitter anguish that I couldn't very well leave him and come back immediately. That's the reason why I tarried with him a little longer."

"If hereafter you do again go out of doors slyly and on your own hook,"

dowager lady Chia impressed on his mind, "without first telling me, I shall certainly bid your father give you a caning!"

Pao-yu signified his obedience with all prompt.i.tude. His grandmother Chia was then bent upon having the servants, who were on attendance on him, beaten, but the various inmates did their best to dissuade her.

"Venerable senior!" they said, "you can well dispense with flying into a rage! He has already promised that he won't venture to go out again.

Besides, he has come back without any misadventure, so we should all compose our minds and enjoy ourselves a bit!"

Old lady Chia had, at first, been full of solicitude. She had, as a matter of course, been in a state of despair and displeasure; but, seeing Pao-yu return in safety, she felt immoderately delighted, to such a degree, that she could not reconcile herself to visit her resentment upon him. She therefore dropped all mention of his escapade at once. And as she entertained fears lest he may have been unhappy or have had, when he was away, nothing to eat, or got a start on the road, she did not punish him, but had, contrariwise, recourse to every sort of inducement to coax him to feel at ease. But Hsi Jen soon came over and attended to his wants, so the company once more turned their attention to the theatricals. The play acted on that occasion was, "The record of the boxwood hair-pin." Dowager lady Chia, Mrs. Hsueh and the others were deeply impressed by what they saw and gave way to tears. Some, however, of the inmates were amused; others were provoked to anger; others gave vent to abuse.

But, reader, do you wish to know the sequel? If so, the next chapter will explain it.

CHAPTER XLIV.

By some inscrutable turn of affairs, lady Feng begins to feel the pangs of jealousy.

Pao-yu experiences joy, beyond all his expectations, when P'ing Erh (receives a slap from lady Feng) and has to adjust her hair.

But to resume our narrative. At the performance of the 'Record of the boxwood hairpin,' at which all the inmates of the household were present, Pao-yu and his female cousins sat together. When Lin Tai-yu noticed that the act called, 'The man offers a sacrifice' had been reached, "This w.a.n.g Shih-p'eng," she said to Pao-ch'ai, "is very stupid!

It would be quite immaterial where he offered his sacrifices, and why must he repair to the riverside? 'At the sight of an object,' the proverb has it, 'one thinks of a person. All waters under the heavens revert but to one source.' So had he baled a bowlful from any stream, and given way to his lamentations, while gazing on it, he could very well have satisfied his feelings."

Pao-ch'ai however made no reply.

Pao-yu then turned his head round and asked for some warm wine to drink to lady Feng's health. The fact is, that dowager lady Chia had enjoined on them that this occasion was unlike others, and that it was absolutely necessary for them to do the best to induce lady Feng to heartily enjoy herself for the day. She herself, nevertheless, felt too listless to join the banquet, so simply reclining on a sofa of the inner room, she looked at the plays in company with Mrs. Hsueh; and choosing several kinds of such eatables as were to her taste, she placed them on a small teapoy, and now helped herself to some, and now talked, as the fancy took her. Then allotting what viands were served on the two tables a.s.signed to her to the elder and younger waiting-maids, for whom no covers were laid, and to those female servants and other domestics, who were on duty and had to answer calls, she urged them not to mind but to seat themselves outside the windows, under the eaves of the verandahs, and to eat and drink at their pleasure, without any regard to conventionalities. Madame w.a.n.g and Madame Hsing occupied places at the high table below; while round several tables outside sat the posse of young ladies.

"Do let that girl Feng have the seat of honour," old lady Chia shortly told Mrs. Yu and her contemporaries, "and mind be careful in doing the honours for me, for she is subjected to endless trouble from one year's end to another!"

"Very well," said Mrs. Yu. "I fancy," she went on to smile, "that little used as she is to filling the place of honour, she's bound, if she takes the high seat, to be so much at a loss how to behave, as to be loth even to have any wine!"

Dowager lady Chia was much amused by her reply. "Well, if you can't succeed," she said, "wait and I'll come and offer it to her."

Lady Feng with hasty step walked into the inner room. "Venerable ancestor!" she smiled, "don't believe all they tell you! I've already had several cups!"