collecting together such sums of money as he could procure from the
amiable and well-disposed, and with them building temples and engaging
in other benevolent works. From this cause it arose the Quen obtained
around Lu-kwo a reputation for high-minded piety, in no degree less
than that which had been conferred upon him in earlier times, so that
pilgrims from far distant places would purposely contrive their
journey so as to pass through the town containing so unassuming and
virtuous a person.

"During this entire period Quen had been accompanied by his only son,
a youth of respectful personality, in whose entertaining society he
took an intelligent interest. Even when deeply engaged in what he
justly regarded as the crowning work of his existence--the planning
and erecting of an exceptionally well-endowed marble temple, which was
to be entirely covered on the outside with silver paper, and on the
inside with gold-leaf--he did not fail to observe the various
conditions of Liao's existence, and the changing emotions which from
time to time possessed him. Therefore, when the person in question,
without displaying any signs of internal sickness, and likewise
persistently denying that he had lost any considerable sum of money,
disclosed a continuous habit of turning aside with an unaffected
expression of distaste from all manner of food, and passed the entire
night in observing the course of the great sky-lantern rather than in
sleep, the sage and discriminating Quen took him one day aside, and
asked him, as one who might aid him in the matter, who the maiden was,
and what class and position her father occupied.

"'Alas!' exclaimed Liao, with many unfeigned manifestations of an
unbearable fate, 'to what degree do the class and position of her
entirely unnecessary parents affect the question? or how little hope