een lost. One of the waiting maids is suspected of being the thief," Hsi-feng explained to the astonished Pao-yü, as a reason for the late visit. While she sat down and took tea the supervisors proceeded with the search. All the staff, one after the other, had to open their boxes and trunks and turn

out the contents. It came to a heated exchange of words between Wang and the indignant Ch'ing Wen, in which the former entrenched herself behind the order of her Tai tai and the latter used as her trump card her position of confidence with the old Tai tai. However, the search did not bring to light any forbidden, telltale things of masculine origin.

It was now the turn of the Bamboo Hermitage, the Jungle Courtyard having been passed over in consideration of the fact that its mistress did not belong to the inner circle of the family but only lived there as a guest. Tai-yü had already gone to bed when the search commission arrived. She was about to dress hurriedly but Hsi-feng considerately stopped her, made her

lie down again, and sat and chatted pleasantly with her while the delegation was at work.

Here also the search was without result. There were only a few suspicious articles found among the maid Tzu Chuan's things, such as fans with writing on them, little bags, and belt buckles, but Hsi-feng at once confirmed these as being harmless birthday gifts from Pao-yü,.They went on to the pavilion of T'an Ch'un Pao-yü,'s half sister. She had already been

informed of their coming and was awaiting the delegation in front of the door at the head of her waiting maids, a candle in her hand. She seemed really annoyed about the matter.

"If my waiting maids steal, then of course I am the head of the robber band. Will you not begin your search with me? My boxes and trunks are there open for you, you will certainly find the stolen articles in them," she replied irritably to the flowery apologies to which Hsi-feng treated

her before beginning. She ordered the maids to spread out all her stock of clothing and linen and jewelry before the eyes of the high commission. Hsi-feng ordered the maids to clear them away again without looking at them.

"I am acting on higher authority; therefore you need not be angry with me," she said with an embarrassed smile, trying to pacify the angry girl.

"Oh, please, do not be deterred!" replied T'an Ch'un irritably. "What is fair to my maids is fair to me. Besides, I know up to the last needle what they have, and they certainly have nothing which is stolen, you may be sure of that! You would be more likely to find stolen goods with me. . . ."

She talked on in this way in the greatest agitation, even coming to tears. Hsi-feng, who knew Taste of Spring to be a difficult character, wanted to end the scene quickly and rose to go.

"Oh, do please search thoroughly! There may not be another opportunity immediately, and in any case I will not be here for it a second time," urged Taste of Spring.

"Oh, it's all right, I take your word that your waiting maids are not thieves," protested Hsi-feng with a smile.

"Have you searched thoroughly?" asked T'an Ch'un turning to the other members of the commission.

"Yes, thoroughly," replied the supervisors, smiling, as they followed Hsi-feng to the door. But one of them, namely, the wife of Wang Shan Pao, was not so easily satisfied. As confidential serving woman of Princess Shieh, and special delegate of the Tai tai Cheng, she felt conscious of her authority. Her pride would not allow her to be intimidated by this young girl,

for whom in any case she had little respect. She went up to T'an Ch'un daringly seized the lapel of her gown, lifted it up, and inquisitively poked into every fold.

"Only a little personal search," she remarked, grinning maliciously.

"Come along, old woman! Stop this foolery!" Hsi-feng warned her angrily, arid at the same moment she heard Taste of Spring give the old woman a resounding box on the ears.

"How dare you touch me!" cried T'an Ch'un enraged. "If the Tai tai wishes my person to be searched, very well, I will submit to it. But I will on no account permit myself to be touched by the like of you. You think, because you are old and have my aunt behind you, that you can bark at us and take all kinds of liberties. But this time your impudence has gone too far!"

While she fastened up the buttons of her gown with her left hand, she drew Hsi-feng back with her right.

"Will you search me, please? I have no objection, but spare me the ignominy of being searched by a slave!" she cried angrily.

Hsi-feng and She Yüe together put her clothing right again.

"The old woman has drunk two mouthfuls too much wine; that explains her recklessness. She has just been with the Tai tai. Do not be angry with her!" said Hsi-feng, trying to pacify the excited girl. "And you get out of here!" she cried to old Wang.

"I will complain to the old Tai tai tomorrow," declared T'an Ch'un angrily.

"And I will complain to my mistress and to your mother," the scolding voice of the old woman, who had fled, called up from under the window. "Such a thing has never happened to me before in my life! To have my ears boxed in my old age! 1 demand satisfaction!"

"Do you hear her bawling? Apparently she has not yet had enough," said Taste of Spring scornfully, turning to her waiting maids. One of the waiting maids ran out in front of the window.

"Be reasonable and keep quiet at last!" she said to the old woman. "We won't mind if you go away, then we shall at last be rid of you, you old intriguer. But make haste! You are staying here too long for us!"

By their united efforts Hsi-feng and She Yüe at last succeeded in calming the ruffled tempers on both sides, and the commission continued on its way. The next objective was the Rice Farm. In consideration of the fact that the Widow Chu was not well, they refrained from alarming her by waking her up, and confined themselves to a brief search of her servants' belongings, which yielded no result.

Then they went on to the near-by Little Castle of Warm Perfumes, the residence of Grief of Spring. Hsi Ch'un the youngest of the cousins and still little more than a child, was naturally considerably frightened by the nocturnal search, which was quite incomprehensible to her,

and Hsi-feng had all she could do to calm her. Who would have dreamed that the cause of all the trouble would be found in the house of this innocent, youngest girl, still half a child?

Hidden in the painting maid's trunk they discovered a heavy parcel of thirty or forty silver bars, each weighing ten ounces. That was indeed a surprising discovery that instead of the scandalous things they were looking for, stolen goods should be brought to light! But they did

not have to wait long for the scandalous objects, too, for they rummaged out a jade belt tablet,

and a whole pile of men's stockings and slippers. "Where did you get all this from?" Hsi-feng, her face quite yellow with shock, asked the painting maid.

"They are presents from Prince Chen to my brother," confessed the painting maid, falling on her knees in tears. "My brother gave me the things to keep for him, for my parents are on a journey to the southern provinces and my brother is living with Aunt and Uncle at present.

And as Aunt and Uncle play cards and drink, my brother was afraid that they would take away his things and gamble them away or sell them for drink."

"That is outrageous! And I did not have the slightest suspicion of it! You must certainly punish

her and take her away from here, Sister-inlaw Hsi-feng. I do not like such a person to be near me," said Hsi Ch'un indignantly.

"Did your brother bring the things here himself?" asked Hsi-feng severely.

"No, a serving woman brought them. I do not know her name."

"Well, that is a good thing," said Hsi-feng, relieved. "Now we must find out whether your information is correct. If you have told the truth then you may be forgiven. After all, it is not wrong of you to take care of other people's things. It is the woman who smuggled in the articles who deserves to be reprimanded. Certainly, if your brother had brought them here or if they were stolen goods, then it would go badly with you."

"Inquire of the serving woman and of Prince Chen! I have definitely

told the truth," whimpered the painting maid. "Have me and my brother beaten to death if I have lied!"

"Now, calm yourself. Nothing will happen to you if the Prince confirms your information. But in future you must not take other people's belongings into your charge."

"Why are you so lenient, Sister-in-law Hsi-feng? I do not like her any more. At best she will corrupt the others," declared Grief of Spring.

"Let it be! After all, she is otherwise capable and useful. Everyone makes a little mistake sometime," said Hsi-feng with a placating smile. "If I only knew who it was who smuggled in the things."

"Probably old Chang at the back gate," said Grief of Spring. "She is always very friendly with our waiting maids, and the maids think an extraordinary lot of her."

"Take a note of her name! I shall question her later," said Hsi-feng, turning to her attendants and making ready to depart. The wife of the steward Chou Jui had to pack up the articles which had been found and take them with her.

It happened that the aforementioned Chang was a relative of old Wang but they had been on bad terms for some time past. Since old Wang had become the special confidante of Princess Shieh she had no time for her relatives, and when Chang reproached her with this one day they quarrelled fiercely and had not spoken to one another since. Now, hearing her enemy's name mentioned, it seemed to old Wang just the right moment to give full vent to the grudge she had been piling up since the abuse she had been given shortly before by Taste of Spring.

"Probably it was old Chang who smuggled the indecent perfume bag into the park," she whispered to Hsi-feng on the way. "You must certainly question her."

"No need for you to tell me that; I know it myself," replied Hsi-feng brusquely.

They had now arrived at Greeting of Spring's dwelling. Greeting of Spring was already asleep, her maids were going to bed, and it was quite a long while before the belated visitors' knocking was heard and they were admitted.

"The young lady need not be disturbed; let her sleep on," said Hsi-feng, and went straight into the waiting maids' room. When they had finished turning out and searching the belongings of all the other maids, they came at last to the chess maid's things.

Old Wang, elsewhere so thorough in her searching, was strikingly indulgent and superficial this time; for the chess maid was her own granddaughter. After she had looked hurriedly through her granddaughter's open trunk, she murmured "Nothing to be found" and was about to close the cover, when the steward's wife, Mrs. Chou Jui, stopped her.

"Now, now! I don't call that a thorough search! One must be just!" she said and began to root in the trunk herself. And lo and behold, she pulled out a pair of men's padded socks and of men's satin slippers. And that was not all. A Jui mascot dagger such as lovers present to each other was found, wrapped in a blue shawl; and a red greeting card, with writing on it. Chou

handed the articles to Hsi-feng. Now, as manageressof the Yungkuo palace household, Hsi-feng came in touch every day with all sorts of accounts and written documents and so, in the course of time, she had acquired some knowledge of the written language. She was therefore able to decipher the writing on the card, and to her surprise she read the following: "... now

our parents also know how we stand with each other, since your visit of last month, and they approve. Of course, as long as your young lady is still unmarried, we cannot think of getting married. If a meeting in the park is possible give me word again through Mother Chang. It is

much easier to talk undisturbed in the park than at home. Today I duly received the prayer beads made of fragrantly perfumed wood which you sent me. I send you herewith a perfume bag, the decoration on which indicates my feelings for you. But put it away carefully ! I wish you peace and bow my head. "Your cousin Fan."

Hsi-feng was delighted with her discovery. Here in her hand she had the conclusive evidence which would clear and exonerate her completely in her aunt's eyes. She could not repress a self-satisfied smile.

"There must be blunders in the account to make the Nai nai laugh?" asked the illiterate old Wang, doubtfully and hesitantly.

"Oh, no, the 'account' is correct, only I had not added it up. But why does your granddaughter's cousin bear the name of Fan and not your family name of Wang?" asked Hsi-feng mischievously.

"You probably mean Fan Yo An, who ran away recently? Certainly he is my granddaughter's cousin; his mother is a Fan by marriage."

When she heard the contents of the supposed "account," which in reality was a love letter addressed to her granddaughter, and noticed the head-shaking around her, old Wang was so confounded and ashamed that she wished the ground could have swallowed her. She had been out to catch others sinning, and now she and her family were themselves exposed and disgraced.

"Now, what do you say to this piece of evidence, Mother Wang? It can't be quibbled or explained away," remarked her colleague Chou Jui, maliciously.

"They meant it well and wanted to spare their grandmother the trouble of negotiating. At night,

when all the birds were silent, they met together," added Hsi-feng, derisively turning to Chou.

She could not delight enough in old Wang's embarrassment. But the old woman who had been thus disgraced boxed her own ears and cried out in selfabasement that she must certainly have been an old whore in a previous existence, since she had to do such penance now. Meantime

the guilty and convicted chess maid sat there silently with bowed head. Hsi-feng was disagreeably surprised to observe that her attitude betrayed neither fear nor shame. She looked on indifferently, sunk in her own thoughts, as if she had already finished with life and would like to kill herself. Hsi-feng therefore instructed two serving women to take charge of

her and not let her out of their sight. And then, on account of the lateness of the hour, further searches were postponed.