dows, and so when I am re-born into another
part of China, with a new father and mother, I shall hold within my
memory my recollection of you. The years will pass quickly, for I
shall be looking for you, and this day eighteen years hence will be the
happiest in my life, for it will bring you to me never more to be
separated from me.

"But I must hasten on," she hurriedly exclaimed, "for the footsteps of
fate are moving steadily towards me. In a few minutes the gates of
Hades will have closed against me, and Willow will have vanished, and I
shall be a babe once more with my new life before me. See, but a
minute more is left me, and I seem to have so much to say. Farewell!
Never forget me! I shall ever remember you, but my time is come!"

As she uttered these words, a smile of ineffable sweetness flashed
across, her beautiful face, and she was gone.

Chan was inexpressibly sad at the loss he had sustained by the re-birth
of Willow, and in order to drive away his sorrow he threw his heart and
soul into his studies. His books became his constant companions, and
he tried to find in them a solace for the loneliness which had come
upon him since the visits of Willow had ceased. He also became a
diligent worshipper of the idols, and especially of the Goddess of
Mercy, who had played such an important part in the history of his
beloved Willow.

The years went slowly by, and Chan began to feel that he was growing
old. His hair became dashed with silver threads, and wrinkles appeared
in his forehead and under his eyes. The strain of waiting for the one
woman who had taken complete possession of his heart had been too much
for him. As the time drew near, too, when he should go to meet her, a
great and nervous dread began to fill him with anxiety. Would she
recognize him? And would she, a young girl of eighteen, be content to
accept as a husband a man so advanced in years as he now was? These
questions were constantly flashing through his brain.

At last only a few months remained before he was to set out on his
journey to the distant province where Yam-lo had decided that Willow
was to begin her new life on earth.

He was sitting one evening in his study, brooding over the great
problem that would be solved before long, when a man dressed in black
silently entered the room. Looking on Chan with a kindly smile which
seemed to find its way instantly to his heart, he informed him that he
was a fairy from the Weste