father and mother in trouble?"

These words did not escape Shih-yin's ear; but persuaded that they
amounted to raving talk, he paid no heed whatever to the bonze.

"Part with her and give her to me," the Buddhist still went on to say.

Shih-yin could not restrain his annoyance; and hastily pressing his
daughter closer to him, he was intent upon going in, when the bonze
pointed his hand at him, and burst out in a loud fit of laughter.

He then gave utterance to the four lines that follow:

You indulge your tender daughter and are laughed at as inane;
Vain you face the snow, oh mirror! for it will evanescent wane,
When the festival of lanterns is gone by, guard 'gainst your doom,
'Tis what time the flames will kindle, and the fire will consume.

Shih-yin understood distinctly the full import of what he heard; but his
heart was still full of conjectures. He was about to inquire who and
what they were, when he heard the Taoist remark,--"You and I cannot
speed together; let us now part company, and each of us will be then
able to go after his own business. After the lapse of three ages, I
shall be at the Pei Mang mount, waiting for you; and we can, after our
reunion, betake ourselves to the Visionary Confines of the Great Void,
there to cancel the name of the stone from the records."

"Excellent! first rate!" exclaimed the Bonze. And at the conclusion of
these words, the two men parted, each going his own way, and no trace
was again seen of them.