per and sharpen' your attainments,
that you may secure a second victory. Then you will be able to match
yourself against famous scholars and contend with the illustrious."

The young man accordingly increased his efforts and enhanced his value.
That year it happened that the Emperor had decreed a special examination
for the selection of candidates of unusual merit from all parts of the
Empire. The young man competed, and came out top in the "censorial
essay." He was offered the post of Army Inspector at Ch`eng1-tu Fu.
The officers who were to escort him were all previous friends.

When he was about to take up his post, Miss Li said to him, "Now that
you are restored to your proper station in life, I will not be a burden
to you. Let me go back and look after the old lady till she dies. You
must ally yourself with some lady of noble lineage, who will be worthy
to carry the sacrificial dishes in your Ancestral Hall. Do not injure
your prospects by an unequal union. Good-bye, for now I must leave you."

The young man burst into tears and threatened to kill himself if she
left him, but she obstinately refused to go with him. He begged her
passionately not to desert him, and she at last consented to go with him
across the river as far as Chien-men1.[4] "There," she said, "you must
part with me." The young man consented and in a few weeks they reached
Chien-men1. Before he had started out again, a proclamation arrived
announcing that the young man's father, who had been Governor of
Ch`ang-chou, had been appointed Governor of Ch`eng1-tu and Intendant
of the Chien-nan Circuit. Next morning the father arrived, and the young
man sent in his card and waited upon him at the posting-station. His
father did not recognize him, but the card bore the names of the young
man's father and grandfather, with their ranks and titles. When he read
these, he was astounded, and bidding his son mount the steps he caressed
him and wept. After a while he said: "Now we two are father and son once
more," and bade him tell his story. When he heard of the young man's
adventures, he was amazed. Presently he asked: "And where is Miss Li?"
He replied: "She came with me as far as here, but now she is going back
again."

[4] The "Sword-gate": commanding the pass which leads into Szechuan from
the north.

"I cannot allow it," the father said. Next day he ordered a carriage for
his son and sent him on to report himself at Ch`eng1-tu; but he
detained Miss L