But while she was chiding them, they noticed Pao-yue arrive.

"Cousin Yuen, have you come?" he smiled. "How is it that you wouldn't
come the other day when some one was despatched to fetch you?"

"It's only a few minutes," Madame Wang said, "since our venerable senior
called that one to task, and now here he comes and refers to names and
surnames!"

"Your cousin Pao," ventured Lin Tai-yue, "has something good, which he
has been waiting to give you."

"What good thing is it?" asked Hsiang-yuen.

"Do you believe what she says?" observed Pao-yue laughingly. "But how
many days is it that I have not seen you, and you've grown so much
taller!"

"Is cousin Hsi Jen all right?" inquired Hsiang-yuen.

"She's all right," answered Pao-yue. "Many thanks for your kind thought
of her."

"I've brought something nice for her," resumed Hsiang-yuen.

Saying this, she produced her handkerchief, tied into a knot.

"What's this something nice?" asked Pao-yue. "Wouldn't it have been
better if you'd brought her a couple of those rings with streaked stones
of the kind you sent the other day?"