t might be after the
lapse of many years, the mother cut off the last joint of the little
finger of his left hand; and then, with tears and sighs, and with her
heart full of unspoken agony, she took a last, lingering look upon the
face of the little one.

A confidential slave woman carried him out of her room, and by devious
ways and secret paths finally laid him on the river's bank. Casting a
final glance at the precious bundle to see that no danger threatened
it, she hurried back in the direction of the city, with the faint cries
of the abandoned infant still sounding in her ears.

And now the child was in the hands of Heaven. That this was so was
evident from the fact that in a few minutes the abbot of the monastery,
which could be seen crowning the top of a neighbouring hill, passed
along the narrow pathway by the side of the river. Hearing a baby's
cry, he hastened towards the place from which the sounds came, and
picking up the little bundle, and realizing that the infant had been
deserted, he carried it up to the monastery and made every arrangement
for its care and comfort. Fortunately he was a man of a deeply
benevolent nature, and no more suitable person could have been found to
take charge of the child.

We must now allow eighteen years to pass by. The child that had been
left on the margin of the river had grown up to be a fine, handsome
lad. The abbot had been his friend ever since the day when his heart
had been touched by his cries, and his love for the little foundling
had grown with the years. The boy had become a kind of son to him, and
in order not to be parted from him he had taught him the temple duties,
so that he was now a qualified priest in the service of the gods.

One morning the young man, whose name was Sam-Choang, came to the abbot
with a restless, dissatisfied look on his face, and begged to be told
who his father was, and who his mother. The old priest, who had long
been aware of the tragic story of Kwang-Jui's murder, felt that the
time had come when the lad ought to know what he had hitherto concealed
from him. Taking out the document which he had found upon him as a
baby, he read it to him, and then the great secret was out. After this
a long and serious discussion took place between the two as to the
wisest methods to be adopted for bringing the Prefect to justice and
delivering the lad's mother from the humiliating position which she had
so heroically borne for all thes