it should come into his possession.

The matter which concerned Mian in the dark wood, when she was only
saved by the appearance of the person who is already known as Ling,
entirely removed all pleasurable emotions from the magician's mind, and
on many occasions he stated in a definite and systematic manner that he
would shortly end an ignoble career which seemed to be destined only
to gloom and disappointment. In this way an important misunderstanding
arose, for when, two days later, during the sound of matchlock
firing, the magician suddenly approached the presence of Mian with an
uncontrollable haste and an entire absence of dignified demeanour,
and fell dead at her feet without expressing himself on any subject
whatever, she deliberately judged that in this manner he had carried his
remark into effect, nor did the closed vessel of yellow liquid which he
held in his hand seem to lead away from this decision. In reality, the
magician had fallen owing to the heavy and conflicting emotions which
success had engendered in an intellect already greatly weakened by
his continual disregard of the higher virtues; for the bottle, indeed,
contained the perfection of his entire life's study, the very expensive
and three-times purified gold liquid.

On perceiving the magician's condition, Mian at once called for the two
attendants, and directed them to bring from an inner chamber all the
most effective curing substances, whether in the form of powder or
liquid. When these proved useless, no matter in what way they were
applied, it became evident that there could be very little hope of
restoring the magician, yet so courageous and grateful for the benefits
which she had received from the person in question was Mian, that, in
spite of the uninviting dangers of the enterprise, she determined to
journey to Ki to invoke the assistance of a certain person who was known
to be very successful in casting out malicious demons from the bodies
of animals, and from casks and barrels, in which they frequently took
refuge, to the great detriment of the quality of the liquid placed
therein.

Not without many hidden fears, Mian set out on her journey, greatly
desiring not to be subjected to an encounter of a nature similar to the
one already recorded; for in such a case she could hardly again hope for
the inspired arrival of the one whom she now often thought of in secret
as the well-formed and symmetrical young sword-user. Nevertheless, an
ev