cate love might not be able
to bear so offensive a test as that of seeing him grow old and remain
intolerably healthy--perhaps with advancing years actually becoming
lighter day by day, and thereby lessening in value before her eyes--when
the natural infirmities of age and the presence of an ever-increasing
posterity would make even a moderate amount of taels of inestimable
value.

No doubt remained in Ling's mind that the process of frequently making
smooth his surfaces would yield an amount of gold enough to suffice for
his own needs, but a brief consideration of the matter convinced him
that this source would be inadequate to maintain an entire household
even if he continually denuded himself to an almost ignominious extent.
As he fully weighed these varying chances the certainty became more
clear to him with every thought that for the virtuous enjoyment of
Mian's society one great sacrifice was required of him. This act, it
seemed to be intimated, would without delay provide for an affluent
and lengthy future, and at the same time would influence all the
spirits--even those who had been hitherto evilly-disposed towards
him--in such a manner that his enemies would be removed from his path
by a process which would expose them to public ridicule, and he would be
assured in founding an illustrious and enduring line. To accomplish this
successfully necessitated the loss of at least the greater part of one
entire member, and for some time the disadvantages of going through an
existence with only a single leg or arm seemed more than a sufficient
price to pay even for the definite advantages which would be made
over to him in return. This unworthy thought, however, could not long
withstand the memory of Mian's steadfast and high-minded affection,
and the certainty of her enlightened gladness at his return even in the
imperfect condition which he anticipated. Nor was there absent from his
mind a dimly-understood hope that the matter did not finally rest with
him, but that everything which he might be inspired to do was in reality
only a portion of the complete and arranged system into which he had
been drawn, and in which his part had been assigned to him from the
beginning without power for him to deviate, no matter how much to the
contrary the thing should appear.

As no advantage would be gained by making any delay, Ling at once sought
the most favourable means of putting his resolution into practice, and
after many ski