3

"Well, Mr. Ts'èng," he began, as he seated himself uninvited, “I have come according to arrangement to settle about last night's job."

heard the sound of pickaxes and shovels, | his visitor that he had the game in his
and that to his question of "Who was hands.
there?" he had failed to get a reply. The
writer excused himself for not having
gone into the graveyard, by pleading the
lateness of the hour and the darkness of
the night. But he "humbly ventured to
recommend that Ts'èng should look into
the matter."

With a look of indescribable misery, Ts'èng handed this letter to Golden-lilies, who throughout the morning, partly, possibly, because hers was not the head in danger, had shown a much bolder front to fortune than her lord and master had been able to do, but also, doubtless, because, though of the softer sex, she was made of sterner stuff.

"Sit down and answer the letter at once," she said, "and while thanking him for his vigilance" ("Curse him for it," muttered Ts'èng,)"say that you will send at once to make inquiries.”

Ts'èng did as he was bid, and then relapsed into blank misery. Possibly he was under the delusion that remorse for having taken the life of a fellow-creature was the mainspring of his mental agony; but had he analyzed his feelings carefully, he would have found that that feeling hardly entered at all into his cogitations. Blank fear it was that oppressed him; fear of being dragged off to prison as a murderer-fear of having to face the magistrate who had so lately entertained him-fear of being tortured if he did not confess, and fear, if he did, of the executioner's fatal weapon. If he had been capable of diving into his inner feelings, he would have known that an assurance that his crime would never be discovered, had that been possible, would have lifted the whole weight from his overburdened soul; but now, while at one moment in his terror he almost wished that it might be brought to light at once, that he might escape from his torturing suspense, at another, he tried to buoy himself up with the hope that it would never be found out. One thing he had determined to do, and that was, as soon as he had settled with Lai, who was to call after dusk, he would go himself to the graveyard to make quite sure that the work was well done. Much though he hated and feared the ferryman, he now had a morbid longing for his ar rival; and when that worthy appeared, he received him with open arms.

"Yes, yes; don't say anything more about that," said Ts'èng, shuddering. "I have here two hundred taels of silver, which I hope you will accept from me."

"That is not enough," answered Lai; "do you think I would have buried a murdered man

"Oh don't, don't. Well, come, I will give you another fifty taels; surely that will satisfy you," said Ts'èng, who, though anxious to quiet Lai, had an intense dislike to parting with his money.

"Now, look here, Mr. Ts'èng," said Lai deliberately, and with a threatening countenance, "if you don't give me down three hundred taels, good weight, I shall go on at once to the magistrate's to

"Say no more, you shall have the three hundred. And now, I have something to ask of you I want you to row me up to the graveyard and show me where it is."

Very well," replied Lai; "there will not be any one wanting to cross the lake to-night, so we can start now if you like."

"Is it dark enough?" asked Ts'èng. "It is so dark that you might run into your best friend's arms without his knowing you; and unless you have the eyes of a cat or an owl, you won't see much when you get there."

With much caution the expedition was made, and Ts'èng satisfied himself, as far as the darkness would allow, that every care had been taken to make the newly made grave as much like the surrounding soil as possible. He returned, therefore, with his mind now at rest, and as days went by and nothing serious occurred to arouse his fears, he gradually recovered much of his ordinary placidity. Not that he altogether escaped annoyance; for Lai, luxuriating in his suddenly acquired wealth, showed a tendency to break out into riot, and in his cups he allowed himself to talk of his friendship with " 'young Ts'èng" in a way which, coupled with his sudden wealth, made his neighbors wonder and gossip. From some of these Ts'èng learned what was going on. bare idea of his alliance with Lai becoming a subject of tittle-tattle was torture to him, and he took an opportunity of begLai was as undemonstrative and self-ging the ferryman to be more cautious. possessed as Ts'èng was effusive and flurried; and a glance at that unfortunate young gentleman was enough to convince VOL. XLIX 2522

LIVING AGE.

The

Being not unwilling to worry poor Ts'èng, Lai affected to be indifferent to anything people might say, and adopted altogether

so defiant a tone, that he brought Ts'èng | pear, every approaching horse's hoof once again to his knees.

brought hope, which as often was destined
to be disappointed as the tramp died away
again in the distance. Meanwhile Prim-
rose grew worse and worse.
As night
came on unconsciousness set in; and just
before dawn the little thing gave a deep
sigh and passed into the land of shades.

Both Ts'èng and Golden-lilies were completely crushed by the ruin of all their hopes; and when Tan made his appear. ance towards noon, they scarcely heeded his explanation that he had waited all night at the doctor's house, expecting his

and that, when morning came, he had thought it best to come back, even without the doctor, to report his want of suc cess.

To add to Ts'èng's anxieties, little Primrose was seized one evening with a violent headache and every symptom of high fever. For three days the child lay tossing to and fro with burning skin, parched mouth, and throbbing head; and when, at the end of that time, these symptoms abated, their origin was made plain by an eruption which was unmistakably that of smallpox. The doctor who was summoned felt the pulse of the sufferer and prescribed ginseng, and broth made of cassia shoots, in accordance with the dic-return from a distant professional visit, tum of the highest authorities. But to this orthodox treatment the disease declined to submit. The virulence of the distemper was unchecked; and though Golden-lilies paid numerous visits to the shrine of the Goddess of Smallpox, and spent large sums of money in the purchase of offerings to that deity, the child daily and hourly grew worse, until the doctor had unwillingly to acknowledge that he could do nothing more. It is dif ficult to say which of the parents during these dark days suffered the greatest mental agony. Golden-lilies' distress was that of an agonized mother, tortured by the fear of losing her only child; while Ts'èng's grief at the possible loss of his fondling was aggravated by a supersti. tious belief that his own crime had brought this misery upon him. Even the doctor, accustomed as he was to displays of affection, was touched by the grief of the young couple, and, forgetful of all professional etiquette, he recommended Ts'èng, as a last hope, to send for a quack practitioner, residing at a town some twenty miles away, who had, he said, acquired a reputation for the successful treatment of similar desperate cases.

Eagerly catching at this straw, Ts'èng wrote a note begging the doctor "to deign to visit his straw hut, and to bend his omniscient mind to the case of his insig. nificant child," and bade Tan carry it at once to its destination. But since the night when Ts'èng had been obliged to place his secret in the hands of his two servants, their manner had been less respectful than formerly, and sometimes even defiant. To Tan the present mis. sion was evidently distasteful; and it was only by the promise of a handsome reward that Ts'èng at last succeeded in getting him off. During the whole afternoon of that day, time seemed to the watchers to stand still; and towards night, when they hoped that the expected doctor might ap

Much sympathy was felt with the sorrow-stricken parents at the loss of their only child, and many were the visits of condolence which Ts'èng received during the ensuing days. Among others, a relation called, who, after having expressed his sympathy, added with evident reluc tance, "There is a matter, my brother, about which I feel bound to speak to you, although I am most unwilling to trouble you about ordinary affairs at such a time as this."

"Please don't let my affliction interfere with any matter of business," said Ts'èng.

"Well, the fact is," said his guest, "that the other morning—it was, I remember, the morning after your little one departed for the Yellow Springs one of my servants came home very much the worse for wine and opium; and on my asking him for an explanation of his couduct, he said that a man of yours named Tan had kept him up all night drinking and smoking at the opium tavern in the town. Can this be true?"

"It is quite impossible," replied Ts'èng; "for the whole of that night Tan was twenty miles away, at the house of a doctor to whom I had sent him."

"Well, I have brought my man,” said the other, “that he may repeat his story in your presence, and that, if necessary, we should confront him with Tan.”

"Let him come in, by all means," said Ts'èng.

In obedience to a summons Tan's ac cuser entered the room. He was a dissipated-looking fellow. His face was thin and drawn, and of that peculiar mahogany hue which is begotten by long-continued indulgence in the opium-pipe. From the same habit his teeth were blackened, and the whites of his eyes looked as though

"Are not you ashamed to tell such a lie in the sight of heaven?" said the man, quite taken aback by the coolness of the denial; "but fortunately I have some evi-ing, he directed three of his servants to dence of the truth of my story, which you will find it hard to meet. Did you deliver your master's letter to the doctor? "

"Mur

out, "What is the warrant for?"
der," answered the man, as he laid his
hand on Ts'èng's arm. It was fortunate
for Ts'èng that he did so, for without some
support he would have fallen prone to the

to his bed, where, under the influence of restoratives, he was by degrees brought back to life. But it was many days before he was able to move; and even then his weakness was so great and his nerves so shattered, that he had the air of a man re-ground. As it was, it was as much as the covering from a long illness. If, however, Ts'èng had hoped that the punishment would have produced penitence, he was much mistaken. At the best of times Tan's temper was not good. He was by nature morose and revengeful, and a certain want of courage in his composition disposed him towards deceit. With regaining strength he brooded more and more over the treatment he had received, and he vowed a fierce vow that for every blow that had been inflicted on him he would exact a tenfold vengeance.

Meanwhile the anxiety, grief, and excitement of the last few days had reduced Ts'èng to the verge of illness, and his general debility added a new cause of anxiety to poor Golden-lilies' already overbur dened bosom. So serious was his condition, that she persuaded him to pay a visit to his brother at Soo-chow, for the sake of the change of scene and air. The reedy was exactly what he required; and after a fortnight's absence, he wrote to say that he was so much better that he should follow his letter at the interval of a day.

By this time Tan was able to walk, and so soon as he was assured of the date of his master's return, he absented himself from the house for the rest of the day. Towards evening he returned, and though his mood was exultant, he was strictly reticent as to his doings while abroad. His fellow-servants were too busy to be inquisitive; and as his enfeebled condition still prevented him from serving, he was

left to himself.

two men could do to support his tottering steps for a few yards, and then his legs refused to move, and his head fell forward on his chest as he dropped off into a dead faint. Seeing the condition of their master, the coolies brought forward his sedan, and the policemen accepting their aid, put the inanimate form of their prisoner into the chair, and directed the coolies to carry it to the prison at the district magistrate's yamun. The distance was not great, and the coolies, anxious to save their mas ter from additional shame, hurried fast through the streets. On arriving at the yamun, they entered the front gates, and were then directed by the policemen to turn off to the left through a door, the insignia of which, a painted tiger's head, with huge, staring eyes, and widely opened jaws, marked it as the entrance to the prison. Passing through this they entered a narrow passage, at the end of which was a courtyard, where the coolies were ordered to put down their load. It had never been the fate of either of these two men to find themselves within a prison before; and the sights which met their eyes made them shudder to think what their master's feelings would be when he awoke to consciousness and found himself in such a place.

In the courtyard itself, groups of pris oners, bound with heavy chains, were huddled together, whose appearance was enough to carry horror and compassion to the minds of all but those case-hardened by habit. Their faces were thin and worn, The next day, towards evening, as and bore the cadaverous hue which is Ts'èng's chair turned into the road in commonly begotten by want and foul air; which his house stood, two police runners, while the listless expression of their eyes who had been sitting on a doorstep oppo- and the languid movements of their limbs site, rose and crossed over to Ts'èng's furnished additional testimony to the state gateway. At the familiar shout of the of weakness to which they had been rechair coolies, Tung-chia lai-lo ("The mas- duced. The condition of their persons ter has come"), the big folding-doors were was filthy in the extreme. Skin disease thrown open, and the bearers were on the in every form was rife among them; and point of crossing the threshold, when one it was plain that a rich harvest was ripenof the policemen advanced, and producinging for death within the walls of the jail. a warrant, ordered the coolies to stop and Ts'èng to dismount. Instinctively Ts'èng obeyed, and was for the first moment or two so dazed that he hardly seemed to be aware what was going on. By degrees the dress of the policeman, with his redtasseled official cap and long robe, helped him to realize the situation, and be gasped

As the poor wretches crowded round the sedan-chair to see who could be the new arrival who came in such state, the coolies instinctively drew back; and if the head jailer had not made his appearance at the moment, and with a sweeping blow and a curse driven his charges backwards, the still insensible Ts'èng would have been

left in his chair. Scarcely less repulsive | not, but he was aroused from it by the than the prisoners was the jailer, but for entrance of the prisoners from the courtdifferent reasons. There were no signs yard, who were being driven in for the of want or ill health about him, nor was night. Already the platform was full he dirtier than Chinamen of his class enough, but with these new arrivals the generally are, but a harder and more ma- overcrowding became excessive; and as lignant face than his it is impossible to the weary wretches struggled with their imagine. And that these outward signs little remaining strength for the places were but the reflection of the savage cru- nearest to the grating, they jostled Ts'èng, elty of his character, was proved by the and fought across him like wild beasts, look of abject terror with which the pris- adding a new horror to his misery. The oners regarded him. In a voice thick and atmosphere of the den became also even grating, he ordered two of his myrmidons fouler than before; and what with the to manacle Ts'èng, and then to carry him heat and stench, Ts'èng began to feel into one of the cells which formed the feverish and ill. His head ached fiercely, eastern and western sides of the court- his skin burnt, and his mouth was dry and yard. Even from the outside these places parched. In his agony he called aloud looked more like wild-beast dens than the for water; and though at first his cries dwellings of human beings. The roofs were disregarded, his importunity prewere low, and a double row of strong vailed with a prisoner less callous than wooden palisades, reaching from the the rest, who filled a tin mug from a tub ground to the eaves, guarded them in which stood in the middle of the cell. 3 front. Into one of these dungeons, over The act of moving the water caused a whose portal was inscribed, as if in bitter fetid stench to rise from the slimy surface mockery, the motto, "The misery of day of the reservoir; and so foul were the may be the happiness of to-morrow," contents of the mug, that, though burning Ts'èng was carried. The coolies, deter- with fever, Ts'èng could scarcely make mined to see the last of their master, fol- up his mind to taste them. But thirsty lowed him in. As they reached the door men will swallow anything; and at last he they recoiled as though a blast of a char- drained the cup to its dregs, and even nel-house had rushed out against them. returned it to his benefactor with grateful Never were human senses assailed by an thanks. atmosphere more laden with pestilence and death. After a moment's hesitation, however, they mustered up courage to enter, and waited just long enough to see their master laid on the raised wooden platform which extended along the side of the den. As they were not allowed to do anything for him, and as the turnkeys promised that he should be looked after, they escaped into the open air.

3

All night long he tossed about, burning with fever and tortured by delirium. His restlessness earned for him the anathemas of his fellow-prisoners, who, having been long inured to the foul atmosphere of the den, slept in comparative quiet. As daylight dawned the figures about him mixed themselves up with his delirious dreams, which, however, could add noth. ing to the horrors actually presented to True to their word, and possibly in the his eye. Shocking as had been the ashope of a reward, the turnkeys applied pect of his fellow-prisoners in the courtwater to Ts'èng's face and head, and suc- yard the day before, it was nothing to be ceeded in reawakening life. At first he compared to the condition of many of began to move restlessly, and to moan those whose weakness had prevented them piteously, and then opened his lack-lustre from groping their way into the outer air. eyes. For a moment or two he saw noth-One group of these were huddled together ing, but by degrees his power of conscious sight returned, and he looked wildly round the cell. His first impression was that he had passed into a land of eternal punishment, such as he had heard Buddhists speak of, and he shrieked aloud for mercy. The sight, however, of the policeman who had served the warrant on him, recalled to his recollection the circumstances of his arrest; and as his real condition dawned upon him, he sank back on the stage, overcome with horror and despair. How long he lay in this condition he knew

at the end of the platform, whose ema ciated bodies and look of fierce agony told only too plainly that they were starving. One of their number had already been released from his tortures by death; and the rats, more conscious of the fact than the jailers, were gnawing at the only fleshy parts of his skeleton-like form. A like fate was the only portal of escape left to those about him, and eagerly they desired to meet it. Ever and anon sleep relieved Ts'èng's eyes from the contemplation of these horrors, and then in his dreams, as