ow grew angry and cried: "Your cousin saved your life.
But for his help, you would now be a prisoner. How can you treat him so
rudely?"

At last she came in, dressed in everyday clothes, with a look of deep
unhappiness in her face. She had not put on any ornaments. Her hair hung
down in coils, the black of her two eyebrows joined, her cheeks were not
rouged. But her features were of exquisite beauty and shone with an
almost dazzling lustre.

Chang bowed to her, amazed. She sat down by her mother's side and looked
all the time towards her, turning from him with a fixed stare of
aversion, as though she could not endure his presence.

He asked how old she was. The widow answered, "She was born in the year
of the present Emperor's reign that was a year of the Rat, and now it is
the year of the Dragon in the period Cheng1-yuuan.[6] So she must be
seventeen years old."

[6] I.e., A.D. 800.

Chang tried to engage her in conversation, but she would not answer, and
soon the dinner was over. He was passionately in love with her and
wanted to tell her so, but could find no way.

Ying-ying had a maid-servant called Hung-niang, whom Chang sometimes met
and greeted. Once he stopped her and was beginning to tell her of his
love for her mistress; but she was frightened and ran away. Then Chang
was sorry he had not kept silence.

Next day he met Hung-niang again, but was ashamed and did not say what
was in his mind. But this time the maid herself broached the subject and
said to Chang, "Master, I dare not tell her what you told me, or even
hint at it. But since your mother was a kinswoman of the Ts`uis, why do
you not seek my mistress's hand on that plea?"

Chang said, "Since I was a child in arms, my nature has been averse to
intimacy. Sometimes I have idled with wearers of silk and gauze, but my
fancy was never once detained. I little thought that in the end I should
be entrapped.

"Lately at the banquet I could scarcely contain myself; and since then,
when I walk, I forget where I am going and when I eat, I forget to
finish my meal, and do not know how to endure the hours from dawn to
dusk.

"If we were to get married through a matchmaker and perform the
ceremonies of Sending Presents and Asking Names, it would take many
months, and by that time you would have to look for me 'in the
dried-fish shop.' What is the use of giving me such advice as that?"

The maid replied, "My mistress clings steadfastly to her chastity, an