While she conversed on every-day topics, the presents had to be put away; and, as she, at the same time, expressed a wish to keep the new arrivals to partake of some wine and eatables, lady Feng had, needless to say, much extra work added to her ordinary duties.

Li Wan and Pao-ch'ai descanted, of course, with their aunts and cousins on the events that had transpired since their separation. But Tai-yu, though when they first met, continued in cheerful spirits, could not again, when the recollection afterwards flashed through her mind that one and all had their relatives, and that she alone had not a soul to rely upon, avoid withdrawing out of the way, and giving vent to tears.

Pao-yu, however, read her feelings, and he had to do all that lay in his power to exhort her and to console her for a time before she cheered up.

Pao-yu then hurried into the I Hung court. Going up to Hsi Jen, She Yueh and Chi'ng Wen: "Don't you yet hasten to go and see them?" he smiled.

"Who'd ever have fancied that cousin Pao-ch'ai's own cousin would be what he is? That cousin of hers is so unique in appearance and in deportment. He looks as if he were cousin Pao-ch'ai's uterine younger brother. But what's still more odd is, that you should have kept on saying the whole day long that cousin Pao-ch'ai is a very beautiful creature. You should now see her cousin, as well as the two girls of her senior sister-in-law. I couldn't adequately tell you what they're like.

Good heavens! Good heavens! What subtle splendour and spiritual beauty must you possess to produce beings like them, so superior to other human creatures! How plain it is that I'm like a frog wallowing at the bottom of a well! I've throughout every hour of the day said to myself that nowhere could any girls be found to equal those at present in our home; but, as it happens, I haven't had far to look! Even in our own native sphere, one would appear to eclipse the other! Here I have now managed to add one more stratum to my store of learning! But can it possibly be that outside these few, there can be any more like them?"

As he uttered these sentiments, he smiled to himself. But Hsi Jen noticed how much under the influence of his insane fits he once more was, and she promptly abandoned all idea of going over to pay her respects to the visitors.

Ch'ing Wen and the other girls had already gone and seen them and come back. Putting on a smile, "You'd better," they urged Hsi Jen, "be off at once and have a look at them. Our elder mistress' niece, Miss Pao's cousin, and our senior lady's two sisters resemble a bunch of four leeks so pretty are they!"

But scarcely were these words out of their lips, than they perceived T'an Ch'un too enter the room, beaming with smiles. She came in quest of Pao-yu.

"Our poetical society is in a flourishing way," she remarked.

"It is," smiled Pao-yu. "Here no sooner do we, in the exuberance of our spirits, start a poetical society, than the devils and G.o.ds bring through their agency, all these people in our midst! There's only one thing however. Have they, I wonder, ever learnt how to write poetry or not?"

"I just now asked every one of them," T'an Ch'un replied. "Their ideas of themselves are modest, it's true, yet from all I can gather there's not one who can't versify. But should there even be any who can't, there's nothing hard about it. Just look at Hsiang Ling. Her case will show you the truth of what I say."

"Of the whole lot," smiled Ch'ing Wen, "Miss Hsueh's cousin carries the palm. What do you think about her, Miss Tertia?"

"It's really so!" T'an Ch'un responded. "In my own estimation, even her elder cousin and all this bevy of girls are not fit to hold a candle to her!"

Hsi Jen felt much surprise at what she heard. "This is indeed odd!" she smiled. "Whence could one hunt up any better? We'd like to go and have a peep at her."

"Our venerable senior," T'an Ch'un observed, "was at the very first sight of her so charmed with her that there's nothing she wouldn't do.

She has already compelled our Madame Hsing to adopt her as a G.o.dchild.

Our dear ancestor wishes to bring her up herself; this point was settled a little while back."

Pao-yu went into ecstasies. "Is this a fact?" he eagerly inquired.

"How often have I gone in for yarns?" T'an Ch'un said. "Now that our worthy senior," continuing, she laughed, "has got this nice granddaughter, she has banished from her mind all thought of a grandson like you!"

"Never mind," answered Pao-yu smiling. "It's only right that girls should be more doated upon. But to-morrow is the sixteenth, so we should have a meeting."

"That girl Lin Tai-yu is no sooner out of bed," T'an Ch'un remarked, "than cousin Secunda falls ill again. Everything is, in fact, up and down!"

"Our cousin Secunda," Pao-yu explained, "doesn't also go in very much for verses, so, what would it matter if she were left out?"

"It would be well to wait a few days," T'an Ch'un urged, "until the new comers have had time to see enough of us to become intimate. We can then invite them to join us. Won't this be better? Our senior sister-in-law and cousin Pao have now no mind for poetry. Besides, Hsiang-yun has not arrived. P'in Erh is just over her sickness. The members are not all therefore in a fit state, so wouldn't it be preferable if we waited until that girl Yun came? The new arrivals will also have a chance of becoming friendly. P'in Erh will likewise recover entirely. Our senior sister-in-law and cousin Pao will have time to compose their minds; and Hsiang Ling to improve in her verses. We shall then be able to convene a full meeting; and won't it be better? You and I must now go over to our worthy ancestor's, on the other side, and hear what's up. But, barring cousin Pao-ch'ai's cousin,--for we needn't take her into account, as it's sure to have been decided that she should live in our home,--if the other three are not to stay here with us, we should entreat our grandmother to let them as well take up their quarters in the garden.

And if we succeed in adding a few more to our number, won't it be more fun for us?"

Pao-yu at these words was so much the more gratified that his very eyebrows distended, and his eyes laughed. "You've got your wits about you!" he speedily exclaimed. "My mind is ever so dull! I've vainly given way to a fit of joy. But to think of these contingencies was beyond me!"

So saying the two cousins repaired together to their grandmother's suite of apartments; where, in point of fact, Madame w.a.n.g had already gone through the ceremony of recognizing Hsueh Pao-ch'in as her G.o.dchild.

Dowager lady Chia's fascination for her, however, was so much out of the common run that she did not tell her to take up her quarters in the garden. Of a night, she therefore slept with old lady Chia in the same rooms; while Hsueh K'o put up in Hsueh P'an's study.

"Your niece needn't either return home," dowager lady Chia observed to Madame Hsing. "Let her spend a few days in the garden and see the place before she goes."

Madame Hsing's brother and sister-in-law were, indeed, in straitened circ.u.mstances at home. So much so that they had, on their present visit to the capital, actually to rely upon such accommodation as Madame Hsing could procure for them and upon such help towards their travelling expenses as she could afford to give them. When she consequently heard her proposal, Madame Hsing was, of course, only too glad to comply with her wishes, and readily she handed Hsing Chou-yen to the charge of lady Feng. But lady Feng, bethinking herself of the number of young ladies already in the garden, of their divergent dispositions and, above all things, of the inconvenience of starting a separate household, deemed it advisable to send her to live along with Ying Ch'un; for in the event, (she thought), of Hsing Chou-yen meeting afterwards with any contrarieties, she herself would be clear of all responsibility, even though Madame Hsing came to hear about them. Deducting, therefore any period, spent by Hsing Chou-yen on a visit home, lady Feng allowed Hsing Chou-yen as well, if she extended her stay in the garden of Broad Vista for any time over a month, an amount equal to that allotted to Ying Ch'un.

Lady Feng weighed with unprejudiced eye Hsing Chou-yen's temperament and deportment. She found in her not the least resemblance to Madame Hsing, or even to her father and mother; but thought her a most genial and love-inspiring girl. This consideration actuated lady Feng (not to deal harshly with her), but to pity her instead for the poverty, in which they were placed at home, and for the hard lot she had to bear, and to treat her with far more regard than she did any of the other young ladies. Madame Hsing, however, did not lavish much attention on her.

Dowager lady Chia, Madame w.a.n.g and the rest had all along been fond of Li Wan for her virtuous and benevolent character. Besides, her continence in remaining a widow at her tender age commanded general esteem. When they therefore now saw her husbandless sister-in-law come to pay her a visit, they would not allow her to go and live outside the mansion. Her sister-in-law was, it is true, extremely opposed to the proposal, but as dowager lady Chia was firm in her determination, she had no other course but to settle down, along with Li Wen and Li Ch'i, in the Tao Hsiang village.

They had by this time a.s.signed quarters to all the new comers, when, who would have thought it, Shih Ting, Marquis of Chung Ching, was once again appointed to a high office in another province, and he had shortly to take his family and proceed to his post. But so little could old lady Chia brook the separation from Hsiang-yun that she kept her behind and received her in her own home. Her original idea was to have asked lady Feng to have separate rooms arranged for her, but Shih Hsiang-yun was so obstinate in her refusal, her sole wish being to put up with Pao-ch'ai, that the idea had, in consequence, to be abandoned.

At this period, the garden of Broad Vista was again much more full of life than it had ever been before. Li Wan was the chief inmate. The rest consisted of Ying Ch'un, T'an Ch'un, Hsi Ch'un, Pao-ch'ai, Tai-yu, Hsiang-yun, Li Wen, Li Ch'i, Pao Ch'in and Hsing Chou-yen. In addition to these, there were lady Feng and Pao-yu, so that they mustered thirteen in all. As regards age, irrespective of Li Wan, who was by far the eldest, and lady Feng, who came next, the other inmates did not exceed fourteen, sixteen or seventeen. But the majority of them had come into the world in the same year, though in different months, so they themselves could not remember distinctly who was senior, and who junior.

Even dowager lady Chia, Madame w.a.n.g and the matrons and maids in the household were unable to tell the differences between them with any accuracy, given as they were to the simple observance of addressing themselves promiscuously and quite at random by the four words representing 'female cousin' and 'male cousin.'

Hsiang Ling was gratifying her wishes to her heart's content and devoting her mind exclusively to the composition of verses, not presuming however to make herself too much of a nuisance to Pao-ch'ai, when, by a lucky coincidence, Shih Hsiang-yun came on the scene. But how was it possible for one so loquacious as Hsiang-yun to avoid the subject of verses, when Hsiang Ling repeatedly begged her for explanations? This inspirited her so much the more, that not a day went by, yea not a single night, on which she did not start some loud argument and lengthy discussion.

"You really," Pao-ch'ai felt impelled to laugh, "kick up such a din, that it's quite unbearable! Fancy a girl doing nothing else than turning poetry into a legitimate thing for raising an argument! Why, were some literary persons to hear you, they would, instead of praising you, have a laugh at your expense, and say that you don't mind your own business.

We hadn't yet got rid of Hsiang Ling with all her rubbish, and here we have a chatterbox like you thrown on us! But what is it that that mouth of yours keeps on jabbering? What about the bathos of Tu Kung-pu; and the unadorned refinement of Wei Su-chou? What also about Wen Pa-ch'a's elegant diction; and Li I-shan's abstruseness? A pack of silly fools that you are! Do you in any way behave like girls should?"

These sneers evoked laughter from both Hsiang Ling and Hsiang-yun. But in the course of their conversation, they perceived Pao-ch'in drop in, with a waterproof wrapper thrown over her, so dazzling with its gold and purplish colours, that they were at a loss to make out what sort of article it could be.

"Where did you get this?" Pao-ch'ai eagerly inquired.

"It was snowing," Pao-ch'in smilingly replied, "so her venerable ladyship turned up this piece of clothing and gave it to me."

Hsiang Ling drew near and pa.s.sed it under inspection. "No wonder," she exclaimed, "it looks so handsome! It's verily woven with peac.o.c.k's feathers."

"What about peac.o.c.k's feathers?" Hsiang-yun laughed. "It's made of the feathers plucked from the heads of wild ducks. This is a clear sign that our worthy ancestor is fond of you, for with all her love for Pao-yu, she hasn't given it to him to wear."

"Truly does the proverb say: 'that every human being has his respective lot.'" Pao-ch'ai smiled. "Nothing ever was further from my thoughts than that she would, at this juncture, drop on the scene! Come she may, but here she also gets our dear ancestor to lavish such love on her!"

"Unless you stay with our worthy senior," Hsiang-yun said, "do come into the garden. You may romp and laugh and eat and drink as much as you like in these two places. But when you get over to Madame Hsing's rooms, talk and joke with her, if she be at home, to your heart's content; it won't matter if you tarry ever so long. But should she not be in, don't put your foot inside; for the inmates are many in those rooms and their hearts are evil. All they're up to is to do us harm."

These words much amused Pao-ch'ai, Pao-ch'in, Hsiang-Ling, Ying Erh and the others present.

"Were one to say," Pao-ch'ai smiled, "that you're heartless, (it wouldn't do); for you've got a heart. But despite your having a heart, your tongue is, in fact, a little too outspoken! You should really to-day acknowledge this Ch'in Erh of ours as your own sister!"

"This article of clothing," Hsiang-yun laughed, casting another glance at Pao-ch'in, "is only meet for her to wear. It wouldn't verily look well on any one else."

Saying this, she espied Hu Po enter the room. "Our old mistress," she put in smiling, "bade me tell you, Miss Pao-ch'ai, not to keep too strict a check over Miss Ch'in, for she's yet young; that you should let her do as she pleases, and that whatever she wants you should ask for, and not be afraid."

Pao-ch'ai hastily jumped to her feet and signified her obedience.

Pushing Pao-ch'in, she laughed. "Even you couldn't tell whence this piece of good fortune hails from," she said. "Be off now; for mind, we might hurt your feelings. I can never believe myself so inferior to you!"

As she spoke, Pao-yu and Tai-yu walked in. But as Pao-ch'ai continued to indulge in raillery to herself, "Cousin Pao," Hsiang-yun smilingly remonstrated, "you may, it's true, be jesting, but what if there were any one to entertain such ideas in real earnest?"

"If any one took things in earnest," Hu Po interposed laughing, "why, she'd give offence to no one else but to him." Pointing, as she uttered this remark, at Pao-yu.

"He's not that sort of person!" Pao-ch'ai and Hsiang-yun simultaneously ventured, with a significant smile.

"If it isn't he," Hu Po proceeded still laughing, "it's she." Turning again her finger towards Tai-yu.