she plies the scissors so admirably, why, you might as well tell her to
finish the shoes for you."

"She couldn't," replied Hsi Jen, "for besides other things our venerable
lady is still in fear and trembling lest she should tire herself in any
way. The doctor likewise says that she will continue to enjoy good
health, so long as she is carefully looked after; so who would wish to
ask her to take them in hand? Last year she managed to just get through
a scented bag, after a whole year's work. But here we've already reached
the middle of the present year, and she hasn't yet taken up any needle
or thread!"

In the course of their conversation, a servant came and announced 'that
the gentleman who lived in the Hsing Lung Street had come.' "Our
master," he added, "bids you, Mr. Secundus, come out and greet him."

As soon as Pao-yue heard this announcement, he knew that Chia Yue-ts'un
must have arrived. But he felt very unhappy at heart. Hsi Jen hurried to
go and bring his clothes. Pao-yue, meanwhile, put on his boots, but as he
did so, he gave way to resentment. "Why there's father," he
soliloquised, "to sit with him; that should be enough; and must he, on
every visit he pays, insist upon seeing me!"

"It is, of course, because you have such a knack for receiving and
entertaining visitors that Mr. Chia Cheng will have you go out,"
laughingly interposed Shih Hsiang-yuen from one side, as she waved her
fan.

"Is it father's doing?" Pao-yue rejoined. "Why, it's he himself who asks
that I should be sent for to see him."