At this reply, old lady Chia spurted contemptuously. "I made just one
remark," she added, "and you couldn't stand it, and can Pao-yue likely
put up with that death-working cane? You say that your object in
correcting your son is to reflect lustre on your ancestors and splendour
on your seniors, but in what manner did your father correct you in days
gone by?"

Saying this, tears suddenly rolled down from her eyes also.

Chia Cheng forced another smile. "Mother;" he proceeded, "you shouldn't
distress yourself! Your son did it in a sudden fit of rage, but from
this time forth I won't touch him again."

Dowager lady Chia smiled several loud sneering smiles. "But you
shouldn't get into a huff with me!" she urged. "He's your son, so if you
choose to flog him, you can naturally do so, but I cannot help thinking
that you're sick and tired of me, your mother, of your wife and of your
son, so wouldn't it be as well that we should get out of your way, the
sooner the better, as we shall then be able to enjoy peace and quiet?"

So speaking, "Go and look after the chairs." she speedily cried to a
servant. "I and your lady as well as Pao-yue will, without delay, return
to Nanking."

The servant had no help but to assent.

Old lady Chia thereupon called Madame Wang over to her. "You needn't
indulge in sorrow!" she exhorted her. "Pao-yue is now young, and you
cherish him fondly; but does it follow that when in years to come he
becomes an official, he'll remember that you are his mother? You mustn't