ng had given him had vanished as if they had never been. The
young man had not been able to avoid giving certain presents, and he
had also bought blankets and other necessities for the journey. Sadly
he asked himself what to be done, but she said to him:

"My Lord may cease to disturb himself. Our friends have given yet more
help."

She opened her metal casket, while he looked on in shame. She took out
a red silk bag and put it on the table, bidding him open it. He found
the bag heavy; for, in fact, it contained fifty ounces of silver.
Shih-niang had already shut the casket again, without saying what
further was in it, now she said smilingly:

"Have not our sisters the most desirable instinct? They did not wish
us to have any difficulty on our journey, and in this way they enable
us to cross mountains and rivers."

Li Chia exclaimed in his delight and surprise:

"If I had not met such generosity, I should have had no choice but
to wander, and at last to die without burial. Even when my hair turns
white, I shall not forget such virtue and such friendship."

And he shed tears of emotion, until Shih-niang consoled him by,
diverting his thoughts.

Some days later they reached Kua-chow, where the big junk stopped. But
Li Chia was now able to hire a smaller vessel for themselves alone,
and in this he stowed their baggage. On the morrow they were to travel
across the great river.

* * * * *

It was then the second quarter of the second month of winter. The moon
shone like water. The pair were sitting on the deck of the junk, and
the boy said:

"Since we left the capital we have not been able to talk freely,
because we were in a cabin and our neighbors could hear us. Now we are
alone on our own junk. Also, we have left the cold of the North and
will to-morrow be on the south side of the river. Is it not a fitting
time to drink and rejoice, so as to forget our former sorrows? You to
whom I owe so much, what do you say?"

"It is now long since your slave was deprived of little pleasantries
and laughters, and she had the same sentiment as yourself. Your words
prove that we have but one soul."

They brought wine on deck; and, seated on a carpet beside his
mistress, he offered her cups.

So they drank joyously, until they were a little drunk; and at length
he said:

"O my benefactress, your voice of marvel used to trouble the six
theatres. Every time I heard you then, my spirit took