"I've got a great deal more of it over there," lady Feng remarked.

"I'll tell a servant-girl to go and fetch it," Tai-yu replied.

"No need," lady Feng went on. "I'll send it over with some one. I also have a favour to ask of you to-morrow, so I may as well tell the servant to bring it along at the same time."

When Lin Tai-yu heard these words, she put on a smile. "You just mark this," she observed. "I've had to-day a little tea from her place, and she at once begins making a tool of me!"

"Since you've had some of our tea," lady Feng laughed, "how is it that you have not yet become a wife in our household?"

The whole party burst out laughing aloud. So much so, that they found it difficult to repress themselves. But Tai-yu's face was suffused with blushes. She turned her head the other way, and uttered not a word.

"Our sister-in-law Secunda's jibes are first-rate!" Pao-ch'ai chimed in with a laugh.

"What jibes!" exclaimed Tai-yu; "they're purely and simply the prattle of a mean mouth and vile tongue! They're enough to evoke people's displeasure!"

Saying this, she went on to sputter in disgust.

"Were you," insinuated lady Feng, "to become a wife in my family, what is there that you would lack?" Pointing then at Pao-yu, "Look here!" she cried--"Is not this human being worthy of you? Is not his station in life good enough for you? Are not our stock and estate sufficient for you? and in what slight degree can he make you lose caste?"

Tai-yu rose to her feet, and retired immediately. But Pao-ch'ai shouted out: "Here's P'in Erh in a huff! Don't you yet come back? when you've gone, there will really be no fun!"

While calling out to her, she jumped up to pull her back. As soon, however, as she reached the door of the room, she beheld Mrs. Chao, accompanied by Mrs. Chou; both coming to look up Pao-yu. Pao-yu and his companions got up in a body and pressed them into a seat. Lady Feng was the sole person who did not heed them.

But just as Pao-ch'ai was about to open her lips, she perceived a servant-girl, attached to Madame w.a.n.g's apartments, appear on the scene.

"Your maternal uncle's wife has come," she said, "and she requests you, ladies and young ladies, to come out and see her."

Li Kung-ts'ai hurriedly walked away in company with lady Feng. The two dames, Mrs. Chao and Mrs. Chou, in like manner took their leave and quitted the room.

"As for me, I can't go out," Pao-yu shouted. "But whatever you do, pray, don't ask aunt to come in here." "Cousin Lin," he went on to say, "do stay on a while; I've got something to tell you."

Lady Feng overheard him. Turning her head towards Lin Tai-yu, "There's some one," she cried; "who wants to speak to you." And forthwith laying hold of Lin Tai-yu, she pushed her back and then trudged away, along with Li Kung-ts'ai.

During this time, Pao-yu clasped Tai-yu's hand in his. He did nothing than smile. But not a word did he utter. Tai-yu naturally, therefore, got crimson in the face, and struggled to escape his importunities.

"Ai-ya!" exclaimed Pao-yu. "How my head is sore!"

"It should be!" rejoined Tai-yu. "O-mi-to-fu."

Pao-yu then gave vent to a loud shout. His body bounced three or four feet high from the ground. His mouth was full of confused shrieks. But all he said was rambling talk.

Tai-yu and the servant-girls were full of consternation, and, with all possible haste, they ran and apprised Madame w.a.n.g and dowager lady Chia.

w.a.n.g Tzu-t'eng's wife was, at this time, also with them, so they all came in a body to see him. Pao-yu behaved more and more as if determined to clutch a sword or seize a spear to put an end to his existence. He raged in a manner sufficient to subvert the heavens and upset the earth.

As soon as dowager lady Chia and Madame w.a.n.g caught sight of him, they were struck with terror. They trembled wildly like a piece of clothing that is being shaken. Uttering a shout of: "My son," and another of: "My flesh," they burst out into a loud fit of crying. Presently, all the inmates were seized with fright. Even Chia She, Madame Hsing, Chia Cheng, Chia Chen, Chia Lien, Chia Jung, Chia Yun, Chia P'ing, Mrs.

Hsueh, Hsueh P'an, Chou Jui's wife, and the various members of the household, whether high or low, and the servant-girls and married women too, rushed into the garden to see what was up.

The confusion that prevailed was, at the moment, like entangled flax.

Every one was at a loss what to do, when they espied lady Feng dash into the garden, a glistening sword in hand, and try to cut down everything that came in her way, ogle vacantly whomsoever struck her gaze, and make forthwith an attempt to despatch them. A greater panic than ever broke out among the whole a.s.semblage. But placing herself at the head of a handful of st.u.r.dy female servants, Chou Jui's wife precipitated herself forward, and clasping her tight, they succeeded in s.n.a.t.c.hing the sword from her grip, and carrying her back into her room.

P'ing Erh, Feng Erh, and the other girls began to weep. They invoked the heavens and appealed to the earth. Even Chia Cheng was distressed at heart. One and all at this stage started shouting, some, one thing; some, another. Some suggested exorcists. Some cried out for the posture-makers to attract the devils. Others recommended that Chang, the Taoist priest, of the Yu Huang temple, should catch the evil spirits. A thorough turmoil reigned supreme for a long time. The G.o.ds were implored. Prayers were offered. Every kind of remedy was tried, but no benefit whatever became visible.

After sunset, the spouse of w.a.n.g Tzu-t'eng said good-bye and took her departure. On the ensuing day, w.a.n.g Tzu-t'eng himself also came to make inquiries. Following closely upon him, arrived, in a body, messengers from the young marquis Shih, Madame Hsing's young brother, and their various relatives to ascertain for themselves how (lady Feng and Pao-yu) were progressing. Some brought charm-water. Some recommended bonzes and Taoist priests. Others spoke highly of doctors. But that young fellow and his elder brother's wife fell into such greater and greater stupor that they lost all consciousness. Their bodies were hot like fire. As they lay prostrate on their beds, they talked deliriously. With the fall of the shades of night their condition aggravated. So much so, that the matrons and servant-girls did not venture to volunteer their attendance.

They had, therefore, to be both moved into Madame w.a.n.g's quarters, where servants were told off to take their turn and watch them.

Dowager lady Chia, Madame w.a.n.g, Madame Hsing and Mrs. Hsueh did not budge an inch or a step from their side. They sat round them, and did nothing but cry. Chia She and Chia Cheng too were a prey, at this juncture, to misgivings lest weeping should upset dowager lady Chia. Day and night oil was burnt and fires were, mindless of expense, kept alight. The bustle and confusion was such that no one, either master or servant, got any rest.

Chia She also sped on every side in search of Buddhist and Taoist priests. But Chia Cheng had witnessed how little relief these things could afford, and he felt constrained to dissuade Chia She from his endeavours. "The destiny," he argued, "of our son and daughter is entirely dependent upon the will of Heaven, and no human strength can prevail. The malady of these two persons would not be healed, even were every kind of treatment tried, and as I feel confident that it is the design of heaven that things should be as they are, all we can do is to allow it to carry out its purpose."

Chia She, however, paid no notice to his remonstrances and continued as. .h.i.therto to fuss in every imaginable way. In no time three days elapsed.

Lady Feng and Pao-yu were still confined to their beds. Their very breaths had grown fainter. The whole household, therefore, unanimously arrived at the conclusion that there was no hope, and with all despatch they made every necessary preparation for the subsequent requirements of both their relatives.

Dowager lady Chia, Madame w.a.n.g, Chia Lien, P'ing Erh, Hsi Jen and the others indulged in tears with keener and keener anguish. They hung between life and death. Mrs. Chao alone was the one who a.s.sumed an outward sham air of distress, while in her heart she felt her wishes gratified.

The fourth day arrived. At an early hour Pao-yu suddenly opened his eyes and addressed himself to his grandmother Chia. "From this day forward,"

he said, "I may no longer abide in your house, so you had better send me off at once!"

These words made dowager lady Chia feel as if her very heart had been wrenched out of her. Mrs. Chao, who stood by, exhorted her. "You shouldn't, venerable lady," she said, "indulge in excessive grief. This young man has been long ago of no good; so wouldn't it be as well to dress him up and let him go back a moment sooner from this world. You'll also be thus sparing him considerable suffering. But, if you persist, in not reconciling yourself to the separation and this breath of his is not cut off, he will lie there and suffer without any respite...."

Her arguments were scarcely ended, when she was spat upon by dowager lady Chia. "You rotten-tongued, good-for-nothing hag!" she cried abusively. "What makes you fancy him of no good! You wish him dead and gone; but what benefit will you then derive? Don't give way to any dreams; for, if he does die, I'll just exact your lives from you! It's all because you've been continuously at him, inciting and urging him to read and write, that his spirit has become so intimidated that, at the sight of his father, he behaves just like a rat trying to get out of the way of a cat! And is not all this the result of the bullying of such a mean herd of women as yourselves! Could you now drive him to death, your wishes would immediately be fulfilled; but which of you will I let off?"

Now she shed tears; now she gave vent to abuse.

Chia Cheng, who stood by, heard these invectives; and they so enhanced his exasperation that he promptly shouted out and made Mrs. Chao withdraw. He then exerted himself for a time to console (his senior) by using kindly accents. But suddenly some one came to announce that the two coffins had been completed. This announcement pierced, like a dagger, dowager lady Chia to the heart; and while weeping with despair more intense, she broke forth in violent upbraidings.

"Who is it,"--she inquired; "who gave orders to make the coffins? Bring at once the coffin-makers and beat them to death!"

A stir ensued sufficient to convulse the heavens and to subvert the earth. But at an unforeseen moment resounded in the air the gentle rapping of a 'wooden fish' bell. A voice recited the sentence: "Ave!

Buddha able to unravel retribution and dispel grievances! Should any human being lie in sickness, and his family be solicitous on his account; or should any one have met with evil spirits and come across any baleful evils, we have the means to effect a cure."

Dowager lady Chia and Madame w.a.n.g at once directed servants to go out into the street and find out who it was. It turned out to be, in fact, a mangy-headed bonze and a hobbling Taoist priest. What was the appearance of the bonze?

His nose like a suspended gall; his two eyebrows so long, His eyes, resembling radiant stars, possessed a precious glow, His coat in tatters and his shoes of straw, without a home; Rolling in filth, and, a worse fate, his head one ma.s.s of boils.

And the Taoist priest, what was he like?

With one leg perched high he comes, with one leg low; His whole frame drenching wet, bespattered all with mud.

If you perchance meet him, and ask him where's his home, "In fairyland, west of the 'Weak Water,' he'll say."

Chia Cheng ordered the servants to invite them to walk in. "On what hill," he asked those two persons, "do you cultivate the principles of reason?

"Worthy official!" the bonze smiled, "you must not ask too many questions! It's because we've learnt that there are inmates of your honourable mansion in a poor state of health that we come with the express design of working a cure."

"There are," explained Chia Cheng, "two of our members, who have been possessed of evil spirits. But, is there, I wonder, any remedy by means of which they could he healed?"

"In your family," laughingly observed the Taoist priest, "you have ready at hand a precious thing, the like of which is rare to find in the world. It possesses the virtue of alleviating the ailment, so why need you inquire about remedies?"

Chia Cheng's mind was forthwith aroused. "It's true," he consequently rejoined, "that my son brought along with him, at the time of his birth, a piece of jade, on the surface of which was inscribed that it had the virtue of dispelling evil influences, but we haven't seen any efficacy in it."