that
some expert way out of the annoyance of the lesser and more unimportant
things not to be done should be arrived at, but the time when he might
reasonably expect an answer to these written papers had not yet arrived.

It was about this period that intelligence was brought to Ling from the
villages on the road to Peking, how Li Keen, having secretly ascertained
that his Yamen was standing and his goods uninjured, had determined
to return, and was indeed at that hour within a hundred li of Si-chow.
Furthermore, he had repeatedly been understood to pronounce clearly
that he considered Ling to be the head and beginning of all his
inconveniences, and to declare that the first act of justice which
he should accomplish on his return would be to submit the person in
question to the most unbearable tortures, and then cause him to lose his
head publicly as an outrager of the settled state of things and an
enemy of those who loved tranquillity. Not doubting that Li Keen would
endeavour to gain an advantage by treachery if the chance presented
itself, Ling determined to go forth to meet him, and without delay
settle the entire disturbance in one well-chosen and fatally-destructive
encounter. To this end, rather than disturb the placid mind of Mian,
to whom the thought of the engagement would be weighted with many
disquieting fears, he gave out that he was going upon an expedition
to surprise and capture certain fish of a very delicate flavour, and
attended by only two persons, he set forth in the early part of the day.

Some hours later, owing to an ill-considered remark on the part of the
deaf attendant, to whom the matter had been explained in an imperfect
light, Mian became possessed of the true facts of the case, and
immediately all the pleasure of existence went from her. She despaired
of ever again beholding Ling in an ordinary state, and mournfully
reproached herself for the bitter words which had risen to her lips when
the circumstance of his condition and the arrangement with Chang-ch'un
first became known to her. After spending an interval in a polished
lament at the manner in which things were inevitably tending, the
thought occurred to Mian whether by any means in her power she could
influence the course and settled method of affairs. In this situation
the memory of the person Wang, and the fact that on several occasions he
had made himself objectionable when Ling had proposed to place himself
in such a position th