his face burn with shame, for he knew that a
sneer was lurking on the face of everyone who had gathered to have a
look at her.

A profound feeling of hatred entered his narrow soul, and as the days
went by the one purpose of his life was to humiliate this
sweet-tempered woman, who had been sacrificed simply to further the
ambitious schemes of her designing father-in-law, Mr. Yin. For a few
weeks he simply ignored her, but by degrees he treated her so cruelly
that many a time she had serious thoughts of putting an end to her
life. It soon turned out that a systematic attempt was being made by
both father and son to get rid of the whole family.

The old father and mother, whom Yin had agreed to provide for during
the rest of their lives, found things so intolerable that they
voluntarily left the miserable quarters assigned to them and returned
to their empty cottage. Every stick of furniture had been sold in
order to buy their daughter's wedding garments, so that when they
reached their old home they found absolutely nothing in it. With a few
bundles of straw they made up a bed on the floor, but there was no food
to eat, and not a single thing to comfort them in this their hour of
darkest misery.

Sorrow for their daughter, and disappointment and anguish of heart at
the thought of how they had been tricked and cheated by Mr. Yin in
order that he might gain possession of their bit of land, so told upon
their spirits that they both fell ill of a low fever, which laid them
prostrate on their bed of straw. As they lived remote from other
people, for some time no one knew that they were sick. Days went by
without anyone visiting them, and when at last one kindly-hearted
farmer came to make enquiries, he found to his horror that both husband
and wife lay dead, side by side, in their miserable cabin.

The news of their death produced the greatest pleasure in the mind of
the wretched man who was really the cause of it. He was now freed from
the compact compelling him to provide for them during their life, and
so there would be an actual saving of the money which he would have had
to spend in providing them with food and clothing. A cruel, wintry
smile lingered on his hard face for several days after the poor old
couple had been lain to rest on the hillside near their cottage, and
this was the only look of mourning his features ever assumed.

From this time Pearl's life became more and more of a burden to her.
Love,