the savour of a woman about the 'young noble.' I hope she is
not one of those heaven-born genii who appear on earth to plague men,
and who, just when they have aroused the affections they wished to
excite, ascend through the air and leave their lovers mourning."

Just at this moment the door opened, and Jasmine entered, looking more
lovely than ever, with the flush begotten by exercise on her beautifully
moulded cheeks. At sight of her Tu again burst out laughing, to
Jasmine's not unnatural surprise, who, thinking that there must be
something wrong with her dress, looked herself up and down, to the
increasing amusement of Tu.

"So," said he at last, "you deceitful little hussy, you have been
deceiving me all these years by passing yourself off as a man, when in
reality you are a girl."

Overcome with confusion, Jasmine hung her head, and murmured:

"Who has betrayed me?"

"You have betrayed yourself," said Tu, holding up the incriminating
document; "and here we have the story of the arrow with which you shot
the hawk, but what the box of precious ointment means I don't know."

Confronted with this overwhelming evidence, poor Jasmine remained
speechless, and dared not even lift her eyes to glance at Tu. That young
man, seeing her distress, and being in no wise possessed by the scorn
which he had put into his tone, crossed over to her and gently led her
to a seat by him.

"Do you remember," he said, in so altered a voice that Jasmine's heart
ceased to throb as if it wished to force an opening through the finely
formed bosom which enclosed it, "on one occasion in our study at home I
wished that you were a woman that you might become my wife? Little did
I think that my wish might be gratified. Now it is, and I beseech you to
let us join our lives in one, and seek the happiness of the gods in each
other's perpetual presence."

But, as if suddenly recollecting herself, Jasmine withdrew her hand from
his, and, standing up before him with quivering lip and eyes full of
tears, said:

"No. It can never be."

"Why not?" said Tu, in alarmed surprise.

"Because I am bound to Wei."

"What! Does Wei know your secret?"

"No. But do you remember when I shot that arrow in front of your study?"

"Perfectly," said Tu. "But what has that to do with it?"

"Why, Wei discovered my name on the shaft, and I, to keep my secret,
told him that it was my sister's name. He then wanted to marry my
sister, and I undertook, fool that