a-mi, her father's house being Chun," replied the
maiden agreeably. "In addition to the erratic but now repentant animal
that has thus, as it were, brought us within the same narrow compass,
he possesses a wooden plough, two wheel-barrows, a red bow with
threescore arrows, and a rice-field, and is therefore a person of
some consequence."

"True," agreed Lao Ting, "though perhaps the dignity is less imposing
than might be imagined in the eye of one who, by means of successive
examinations, may ultimately become the Right hand of the Emperor."

"Is the contingency an impending one?" inquired Hoa-mi, with polite
interest.

"So far," admitted Lao Ting, "it is more in the nature of a vision.
There are, of necessity, many trials, and few can reach the ultimate
end. Yet even the Yangtze-kiang has a source."

"Of your unswerving tenacity this person has already been witness,"
said the maiden, with a glance of refined encouragement.

"Your words are more inspiring than the example of the aged woman of
Shang-li to the student Tsung," declared Lao Ting gratefully. "Unless
the Omens are asleep they should tend to the same auspicious end."

"The exact instance of the moment escapes my recollection." Probably
Hoa-mi was by no means willing that one of studious mind should
associate her exclusively with water-buffaloes. "Is it related in the
Classics?"

"Possibly, though in which actual masterpiece just now evades my
grasp. The youth referred to was on the point of abandoning a literary
career, appalled at the magnitude of the task before him, when he
encountered an aged woman who was employed in laboriously rubbing away
the surface of an iron crowbar on a block of stone. To his inquiry she
cheerfully replied: 'The one who is thus engaged required a needle to
complete a task. Being unable to procure one she was about to give way
to an ignoble despair when chance put into her hands this bar, which
only requires bringing down to the necessary size.' Encouraged by this
painstaking example Tsung returned to his books and in due course
became a high official."

"Doubtless in the time of his prosperity he retraced his footsteps and
lavishly rewarded the one to whom he was thus indebted," suggested
Hoa-mi gracefully.

"Doubtless," admitted Lao Ting, "but the detail is not pursued to so
remote an extremity in the Classic. The delicate poise of the analogy
is what is chiefly dwelt upon, the sign for a needle harmonizing with
that f