inquired.

"I'm going back home," answered Tai-yue.

"I'll go along with you then," smiled Pao-yue.

"But if I die?" asked Tai-yue.

"Well, if you die," rejoined Pao-yue, "I'll become a bonze."

The moment Tai-yue caught this reply, she hung down her head. "You must,
I presume, be bent upon dying?" she cried. "But what stuff and nonsense
is this you're talking? You've got so many beloved elder and younger
cousins in your family, and how many bodies will you have to go and
become bonzes, when by and bye they all pass away! But to-morrow I'll
tell them about this to judge for themselves what your motives are!"

Pao-yue was himself aware of the fact that this rejoinder had been
recklessly spoken, and he was seized with regret. His face immediately
became suffused with blushes. He lowered his head and had not the
courage to utter one word more. Fortunately, however, there was no one
present in the room.

Tai-yue stared at him for ever so long with eyes fixed straight on him,
but losing control over her temper, "Ai!" she shouted, "can't you
speak?" Then when she perceived Pao-yue reduced to such straits as to
turn purple, she clenched her teeth and spitefully gave him, on the
forehead, a fillip with her finger. "Heug!" she cried gnashing her
teeth, "you, this......" But just as she had pronounced these two words,
she heaved another sigh, and picking up her handkerchief, she wiped her