in with the
arrangement. When she had paid her ransom, Miss Li had a hundred pieces
of gold left over; and with them she hired a vacant room, five doors
away. Here she gave the young man a bath, changed his clothes, fed him
with hot soup to relax his stomach, and later on fattened him up with
cheese and milk.

In a few weeks she began to place before him all the choicest delicacies
of land and sea; and she clothed him with cap, shoes and stockings of
the finest quality. In a short time he began gradually to put on flesh,
and by the end of the year, he had entirely recovered his former health.

One day Miss Li said to him: "Now your limbs are stout again and your
will strong! Sometimes, when deeply pondering in silent sorrow, I wonder
to myself how much you remember of your old literary studies?" He
thought and answered: "Of ten parts I remember two or three."

Miss Li then ordered the carriage to be got ready and the young man
followed her on horseback. When they reached the classical bookshop at
the side-gate south of the Flag tower, she made him choose all the books
he wanted, till she had laid out a hundred pieces of gold. Then she
packed them in the cart and drove home. She now made him dismiss all
other thoughts from his mind and apply himself only to study. All the
evening he toiled at his books, with Miss Li at his side, and they did
not retire till midnight. If ever she found that he was too tired to
work, she made him lay down his classics and write a poem or ode.

In two years he had thoroughly mastered his subjects and was admired by
all the scholars of the realm. He said to Miss Li, "_Now_, surely, I am
ready for the examiners!" but she would not let him compete and made him
revise all he had learnt, to prepare for the "hundredth battle." At the
end of the third year she said, "Now you may go." He went in for the
examination and passed at the first attempt. His reputation spread
rapidly through the examination rooms and even older men, when they saw
his compositions, were filled with admiration and respect, and sought
his friendship.

But Miss Li would not let him make friends with them, saying, "Wait a
little longer! Nowadays when a bachelor of arts has passed his
examination, he thinks himself fit to hold the most advantageous posts
at Court and to win a universal reputation. But your unfortunate conduct
and disreputable past put you at a disadvantage beside your
fellow-scholars. You must 'grind, tem