and once more intoned a couplet aloud:

The gem in the cask a high price it seeks,
The pin in the case to take wing it waits.

As luck would have it, Shih-yin was at the moment approaching, and upon
hearing the lines, he said with a smile: "My dear Yue-ts'un, really your
attainments are of no ordinary capacity."

Yue-ts'un lost no time in smiling and replying. "It would be presumption
in my part to think so," he observed. "I was simply at random humming a
few verses composed by former writers, and what reason is there to laud
me to such an excessive degree? To what, my dear Sir, do I owe the
pleasure of your visit?" he went on to inquire. "Tonight," replied
Shih-yin, "is the mid-autumn feast, generally known as the full-moon
festival; and as I could not help thinking that living, as you my worthy
brother are, as a mere stranger in this Buddhist temple, you could not
but experience the feeling of loneliness. I have, for the express
purpose, prepared a small entertainment, and will be pleased if you will
come to my mean abode to have a glass of wine. But I wonder whether you
will entertain favourably my modest invitation?" Yue-ts'un, after
listening to the proposal, put forward no refusal of any sort; but
remarked complacently: "Being the recipient of such marked attention,
how can I presume to repel your generous consideration?"

As he gave expression to these words, he walked off there and then, in
company with Shih-yin, and came over once again into the court in front
of the library. In a few minutes, tea was over.

The cups and dishes had been laid from an early hour, and needless to