mouth; added to this, his eyebrows were swordlike, his eyes resembled
stars, his nose was straight, his cheeks square.

This servant girl turned away in a hurry and made her escape.

"This man so burly and strong," she communed within herself, "yet at the
same time got up in such poor attire, must, I expect, be no one else
than the man, whose name is Chia Yue-ts'un or such like, time after time
referred to by my master, and to whom he has repeatedly wished to give a
helping hand, but has failed to find a favourable opportunity. And as
related to our family there is no connexion or friend in such straits, I
feel certain it cannot be any other person than he. Strange to say, my
master has further remarked that this man will, for a certainty, not
always continue in such a state of destitution."

As she indulged in this train of thought, she could not restrain herself
from turning her head round once or twice.

When Yue-ts'un perceived that she had looked back, he readily interpreted
it as a sign that in her heart her thoughts had been of him, and he was
frantic with irrepressible joy.

"This girl," he mused, "is, no doubt, keen-eyed and eminently shrewd,
and one in this world who has seen through me."

The servant youth, after a short time, came into the room; and when
Yue-ts'un made inquiries and found out from him that the guests in the
front parlour had been detained to dinner, he could not very well wait
any longer, and promptly walked away down a side passage and out of a
back door.