hed
himself with his master's robes and ornaments, wrapped his own garment
about Chou-hu instead, and opening a stone door let into the ground
rolled the body through so that it dropped down into the cave beneath.
He next altered the binding of his hair a little, cut his lips deeply
for a set purpose, and then reposing upon the couch of the inner
chamber he took up one of Chou-hu's pipes and awaited Tsae-che's
return.

"It is unendurable that they of the silk market should be so
ill-equipped," remarked Tsae-che discontentedly as she entered. "This
pitiable one has worn away the heels of her sandals in a vain
endeavour to procure a suitable embroidery, and has turned over the
contents of every stall to no material end. How have the events of the
day progressed with you, my lord?"

"To the fulfilling of a written destiny. Yet in a measure darkly, for
a light has gone out," replied Yuen Yan.

"There was no unanticipated divergence?" inquired the woman with
interest and a marked approval of this delicate way of expressing the
operation of an unpleasant necessity.

"From detail to detail it was as this person desired and contrived,"
said Yan.

"And, of a surety, this one also?" claimed Tsae-che, with an internal
emotion that something was insidiously changed in which she had no
adequate part.

"The language may be fully expressed in six styles of writing, but who
shall read the mind of a woman?" replied Yan evasively. "Nevertheless,
in explicit words, the overhanging shadow has departed and the future
is assured."

"It is well," said Tsae-che. "Yet how altered is your voice, and for
what reason do you hold a cloth before your mouth?"

"The staff broke and a splinter flying upwards pierced my lips," said
Yan, lowering the cloth. "You speak truly, for the pain attending each
word is by no means slight, and scarcely can this person recognize his
own voice."

"Oh, incomparable Chou-hu, how valiantly do you bear your sufferings!"
exclaimed Tsae-che remorsefully. "And while this heedless one has been
passing the time pleasantly in handling rich brocades you have been
lying here in anguish. Behold now, without delay she will prepare food
to divert your mind, and to mark the occasion she had already
purchased a little jar of gold-fish gills, two eggs branded with the
assurance that they have been earth-buried for eleven years, and a
small serpent preserved in oil."

When they had eaten for some time in silence Yuen Ya