occurrence. But had I lost this, I would have deserved to die."

Hsi Jen then poured a cup of tea and handed it to Shih Hsiang-yuen. "Miss
Senior," she remarked smilingly, "I heard that you had occasion the
other day to be highly pleased."

Shih Hsiang-yuen flushed crimson. She went on drinking her tea and did
not utter a single word.

"Here you are again full of shame!" Hsi Jen smiled. "But do you remember
when we were living, about ten years back, in those warm rooms on the
west side and you confided in me one evening, you didn't feel any shame
then; and how is it you blush like this now?"

"Do you still speak about that!" exclaimed Shih Hsiang-yuen laughingly.
"You and I were then great friends. But when our mother subsequently
died and I went home for a while, how is it you were at once sent to be
with my cousin Secundus, and that now that I've come back you don't
treat me as you did once?"

"Are you yet harping on this!" retorted Hsi Jen, putting on a smile.
"Why, at first, you used to coax me with a lot of endearing terms to
comb your hair and to wash your face, to do this and that for you. But
now that you've become a big girl, you assume the manner of a young
mistress towards me, and as you put on these airs of a young mistress,
how can I ever presume to be on a familiar footing with you?"

"O-mi-to-fu," cried Shih Hsiang-yuen. "What a false accusation! If I be
guilty of anything of the kind, may I at once die! Just see what a
broiling hot day this is, and yet as soon as I arrived I felt bound to