curred
in a family with which I am intimate. The eldest daughter was married
into a home where she received ill-treatment from her mother-in-law. For
several years she was systematically underfed and overworked, and when
at last she gave birth to a son we all expected she would receive more
consideration. The hatred of her mother-in-law was, however, in no
degree abated, and when the child was a month old she brought her
daughter a meal of hot bread in which the girl detected an unusual
flavour which made her suspicious. She threw the remainder to the dog,
and before many hours had passed both the unfortunate girl and the dog
were dead.

Her father was away from home at the time, the young men of the family
meanwhile carrying on the work of the farm. A few days later her
brothers and first cousins, strong, vigorous young farmers, being
together in the fields, her cousin, aged twenty-two, suddenly exhibited
symptoms of distress. He trembled and wept violently. Those with him
becoming alarmed at so unusual a sight went to his assistance, intending
to take him home. He wept, however, the more violently, saying: "I am
Lotus-bud; I was cruelly done to death. Why is there no redress?" Others
of the family were by this time at hand, and recognising the effort made
by the girl's spirit to communicate with her own people whom she had had
no opportunity of seeing in the hour of her death, spoke directly to
her, as though present. Telling her the facts of the case, they
explained that all demands must remain in abeyance until her father's
return, when the guilty party would be dealt with by her family whose
feeling was in no sense one of indifference. In about an hour's time the
attack passed, leaving the young man exhausted and unconscious of what
had taken place.

The criminal law of China can only be put in action under such
circumstances by the girl's own family undertaking a long and expensive
lawsuit, the result of which may end in the punishment of the criminal,
or may terminate in quite a different way. In this case the demands took
the form of a requirement, the granting of which constituted a tacit
acknowledgment of guilt. The demand in fact was that a funereal monument
should be erected in memory of the dead girl. This constituted so
uncalled-for an honour paid to one in her position, as to be a public
recognition that redress was due to her, and a law case was avoided.

It may be remembered that in the first chapter