"Don't worry yourself about that;" laughed Pao-yu. "She will certainly know what I mean."

Ch'ing Wen, at this rejoinder, had no help but to take the handkerchiefs and to go to the Hsiao Hsiang lodge, where she discovered Ch'un Hsien in the act of hanging out handkerchiefs on the railings to dry. As soon as she saw her walk in, she vehemently waved her hand. "She's gone to sleep!" she said. Ch'ing Wen, however, entered the room. It was in perfect darkness. There was not even so much as a lantern burning, and Tai-yu was already ensconced in bed. "Who is there?" she shouted.

"It's Ch'ing Wen!" promptly replied Ch'ing Wen.

"What are you up to?" Tai-yu inquired.

"Mr. Secundus," explained Ch'ing Wen, "sends you some handkerchiefs, Miss."

Tai-yu's spirits sunk as soon as she caught her reply. "What can he have sent me handkerchiefs for?" she secretly reasoned within herself. "Who gave him these handkerchiefs?" she then asked aloud. "They must be fine ones, so tell him to keep them and give them to some one else; for I don't need such things at present."

"They're not new," smiled Ch'ing Wen. "They are of an ordinary kind, and old."

Hearing this, Lin Tai-yu felt downcast. But after minutely searching her heart, she at last suddenly grasped his meaning and she hastily observed: "Leave them and go your way."

Ch'ing Wen was compelled to put them down; and turning round, she betook herself back again. But much though she turned things over in her mind during the whole of her way homewards, she did not succeed in solving their import.

When Tai-yu guessed the object of the handkerchief, her very soul unawares flitted from her. "As Pao-yu has gone to such pains," she pondered, "to try and probe this dejection of mine, I have, on one hand, sufficient cause to feel gratified; but as there's no knowing what my dejection will come to in the future there is, on the other, enough to make me sad. Here he abruptly and deliberately sends me a couple of handkerchiefs; and, were it not that he has divined my inmost feelings, the mere sight of these handkerchiefs would be enough to make me treat the whole thing as ridiculous. The secret exchange of presents between us," she went on to muse, "fills me also with fears; and the thought that those tears, which I am ever so fond of shedding to myself, are of no avail, drives me likewise to blush with shame."

And by dint of musing and reflecting, her heart began, in a moment, to bubble over with such excitement that, much against her will, her thoughts in their superabundance rolled on incessantly. So speedily directing that a lamp should be lighted, she little concerned herself about avoiding suspicion, shunning the use of names, or any other such things, and set to work and rubbed the ink, soaked the pen, and then wrote the following stanzas on the two old handkerchiefs:

Vain in my eyes the tears collect; those tears in vain they flow, Which I in secret shed; they slowly drop; but for whom though?

The silk kerchiefs, which he so kindly troubled to give me, How ever could they not with anguish and distress fill me?

The second ran thus:

Like falling pearls or rolling gems, they trickle on the sly.

Daily I have no heart for aught; listless all day am I.

As on my pillow or sleeves' edge I may not wipe them dry, I let them dot by dot, and drop by drop to run freely.

And the third:

The coloured thread cannot contain the pearls cov'ring my face.

Tears were of old at Hsiang Chiang shed, but faint has waxed each trace.

Outside my window thousands of bamboos, lo, also grow, But whether they be stained with tears or not, I do not know.

Lin Tai-yu was still bent upon going on writing, but feeling her whole body burn like fire, and her face scalding hot, she advanced towards the cheval-gla.s.s, and, raising the embroidered cover, she looked in. She saw at a glance that her cheeks wore so red that they, in very truth, put even the peach blossom to the shade. Yet little did she dream that from this date her illness would a.s.sume a more serious phase. Shortly, she threw herself on the bed, and, with the handkerchiefs still grasped in her hand, she was lost in a reverie.

Putting her aside, we will now take up our story with Hsi Jen. She went to pay a visit to Pao-ch'ai, but as it happened, Pao-ch'ai was not in the garden, but had gone to look up her mother. Hsi Jen, however, could not very well come back with empty hands so she waited until the second watch, when Pao-ch'ai eventually returned to her quarters.

Indeed, so correct an estimate of Hsueh P'an's natural disposition did Pao-ch'ai ever have, that from an early moment she entertained within herself some faint suspicion that it must have been Hsueh P'an, who had instigated some person or other to come and lodge a complaint against Pao-yu. And when she also unexpectedly heard Hsi Jen's disclosures on the subject, she became more positive in her surmises. The one, who had, in fact, told Hsi Jen was Pei Ming. But Pei Ming too had arrived at the conjecture in his own mind, and could not adduce any definite proof, so that every one treated his statements as founded partly on mere suppositions, and partly on actual facts; but, despite this, they felt quite certain that it was (Hsueh P'an) who had intrigued.

Hsueh P'an had always enjoyed this reputation; but on this particular instance the harm was not, actually, 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-yu has got into trouble; why is it?"

Mrs. Hsueh 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 Hsueh P'an wince. "When did I stir up any trouble?" he quickly asked.

"Do you still go on shamming!" cried Mrs. Hsueh. "Every one knows full well that it was you, who said those things, and do you yet prevaricate?"

"Were every one," insinuated Hsueh P'an, "to a.s.sert that I had committed murder, would you believe even that?"

"Your very sister is well aware that they were said by you." Mrs. Hsueh 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 Hsueh 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 a.s.sociate 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!"

Hsueh 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-yu 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 e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, 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-yu has been flogged they find no means of making a display of their zeal. But, is Pao-yu 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-yu 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, s.n.a.t.c.hing it up, he there and then was running off, to the consternation of Mrs. Hsueh, who clutched him in her arms. "You murderous child of retribution!" she cried. "Whom would you go and beat?

come first and a.s.sail me?"

From excitement Hsueh 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-yu 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," Hsueh 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," Hsueh 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-yu 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-yu 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. Hsueh 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!" Hsueh 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-yu, 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!"

Hsueh 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-yu 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. Hsueh, she melted into tears. "Mother," she observed, "have you heard what brother says, what is it all about?"

Hsueh 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-yu standing alone under the shade of the trees, who inquired of her: "Where she was off to?"

"I'm going home," Hsueh Pao-ch'ai replied. And as she uttered these words, she kept on her way.

But Tai-yu 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 Hsueh Pao-ch'ai gave is not yet known to you, reader, lend an ear to the explanation contained in the next chapter.