no sons, you and father are dependent on us to tend and wait upon you. Then, mother, we are so perfectly happy in each other's society that we need no other companionship, and it would break our hearts to be separated from each other and from you."

"I am touched by your expressions of affection, my children," answered their mother; "but my mind is quite made up, as I have just told your father, who is foolish enough to think, poor man, that he ought to have the management of the business. And now go back to your embroideries, and remember what I have said to you about keeping the matter secret."

Mrs Ma's announcement, although not altogether unexpected, fell with a heavy blow upon the twins, who had other and deeper reasons than those they had expressed for disliking the idea of having husbands of their mother's choice forced upon them. Women seldom, if ever, in the first instance give their real reasons, at least in China. Their habit is to fence them round with a succession of outworks, in the shape of plausible excuses, which, if strong enough to resist the questioner, preserve inviolate their secret motives. If, however, they are driven by persistence out of the first line of defence, they retreat to the second, and so on, until the citadel is reached, where they are commonly obliged to yield at last, though even then they generally manage to march out with all the honours of war. In this case Mrs Ma had no motive for breaking the fence of the twins, and so never learnt, as she might otherwise have possibly done, that though the garden wall was high, it was not too hard to climb, and that often when she fancied her daughters were

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gaged at their embroideries, or practising their guitars, they were flirting merrily in the garden with two young scholars, under the chaperonage of "Golden-lilies," to whom recollection brought a fellow-feeling for such escapades, and who always carefully watched over her charges, though at a judicious distance. These two youths, Messrs Tsin and Te, presented the real obstacles to the adoption of Mrs Ma's proposals by the twins. And it was at least evidence of the good taste of the young ladies that they preferred them to the young men of the shopkeeper class, among whom their mother thought to find them husbands. It was true that neither Tsin nor Te had at that time much of this world's goods, nor did there appear any immediate prospect of their being able to marry; for their fathers, who were ex-officials, were unendowed with anything beyond the savings they had accumulated during their terms of office, and these were not more than enough to enable them to end their days in retired comfort.

In these circumstances the ambitions of the young men centred in their chance of winning official rank at the examinations. Of Tsin's success no one who had sounded the depth of his scholarship had any doubt. Te, however, was by no means so gifted. His essays were dull reading, and his odes were wooden things, painfully elaborated in accordance with purely mechanical rules. He had none of the facility with which Tsin struck off a copy of verses, and could no more have penned the lines to Plum-blossom's eyebrows, which first attracted the attention of the sisters to the young scholars, than he could have flown. It was on the occasion of the Feast of Lanterns at the be

ginning of this year, that Tsin and Te first became aware of the existence of the twins, who, under the charge of Golden-lilies, were on the evening of that festival admiring the illuminations in the streets. Struck by the incomparable beauty of the young ladies, the youths followed them about in blank amazement, until Tsin's imagination having been suddenly fired by seeing an expression of delight pass over Plum-blossom's beaming countenance at the sight of an illumination more brilliant than usual, he hurriedly penned a stanza, in which the ideas of willowleaf eyebrows and jade-like features were so skilfully handled, that when it fell into that young lady's hands she was lost in admiration at the grace and beauty of the lines. A hurried glance of acknowledgment was enough to keep the young men at the heels of the twins until the portals of the ex-chemist closed upon them; and when, on the next afternoon, Convolvulus found in the summerhouse a stanza marked by all the grace of diction which characterised the ode of the previous day, she had no hesitation in ascribing the authorship to the same gifted being. This message of homage was a prelude to a hurried visit paid and received beneath the bunches of wistaria which hung around the favourite garden retreat of the twins, and this again to other and longer interviews, in which Tsin gradually came to devote himself to Plum-blossom, and Te to Convolvulus.

It was while toying at one such meeting that the twins were summoned to hear the designs which their mother had formed for their future; and when they left the maternal presence, it was with feelings akin to despair that they poured their griefs into Golden

lilies' sympathetic bosom. "What are we to do?" was their plaintive cry.

"Do?" said Golden-lilies cheerily-"why, do as the juggler did who was sentenced to death last year."

"You have always some wise saying or queer story ready, dear Golden-lilies. But explain; what did the juggler do except die?"

"That is just what he did not do, for when the Emperor told him that his life should be spared on condition that he made the Emperor's favourite mule speak, the man undertook to do it within twelve months by the calendar."

"What a fool he must have been!"

"So his friends said; but he replied, 'Not so, for many things may happen in a year-the mule may die, or the Emperor may die, or I may die; and even if the worst comes to the worst, and none of these things happen, I shall at least have had another year of life.' Now, though you are not in such a parlous state as the juggler was, yet, as you cannot resist your mother, you had better appear to submit, and trust to the chapter of accidents.”

But Mrs Ma was evidently disposed to leave as little as possible to accident, for the very next morning she sallied out in her sedan-chair, and paid a visit to a well-known "go-between" in the town. This woman, delighted to have the credit of arranging the marriage of the beautiful twins, chose from her list of bachelors two young men, one the son of a silk-mercer and the other of a saltmerchant, who fulfilled Mrs Ma's main requirement of being rich.

"They are nice young men, too," she added, "though neither of them is likely to attract the admiration of the goddess of the North

Star like the matchless Chang-le. But if ugly men never mated, the imperial race of China would soon die out."

"I don't care a melon-seed," said Mrs Ma, as she ate two or three of those delicacies from the dainty dish by her side, "about beauty in a man. None can be called deformed but the poor money is beauty, and to my mind the true deformity is an empty purse. So please make the proper overtures at once, and let me know the result. I have reasons for wishing to preserve secrecy in this matter, and I would therefore beg you not to talk of it until all is arranged."

It was not long before the gobetween reported confidentially that her proposal had been received both by the silk-mercer Yang and the salt-merchant Le on behalf of their sons with enthusiasm. Nor did the fortuneteller throw any obstacles in the way of the speedy fulfilment of Mrs Ma's schemes; for the almanac pointed with unmistakable clearness to the next full moon as being one of the most fortunate in the whole year for marriages.

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Everything seemed therefore to lie level with the wish of Mrs Ma; and under the combined influences of good fortune and satisfaction evoked from the conviction that she was doing her duty as mother, her good-nature knew no bounds. She was even civil to Ma, and in her superior way smiled to herself at the beaming self-content which had lately come over him, and which she naturally regarded as a reflection of her own good-humour. As the day for receiving the presents approached, she chuckled to see how easily he was persuaded to have the chairs and divan in the reception - hall

re-covered and the walls redecorated. On the day itself. - poor foolish man!-far from expressing any surprise at the superlative toilet in which she had bedecked herself, he paid her the compliment of likening her to a fairy from the palace of the "Royal Mother of the West," and even went the length, as though following her example, of arraying himself in his costliest garments. As the day advanced, the actions of each seemed to have a strange fascination for the other, and when, at the usual evening hour for the presentation of betrothal presents, the merry strains of the "Dragon and the Phoenix," played by more than one band, struck upon their ears, they glanced at one another with gratified curiosity rather than surprise. As the noise in the street swelled into a roar compounded of bands, drums, and the shouts of coolies, Mrs Ma's pride rose at the thought that she had succeeded in capturing such liberal and munificent suitors, and she had almost forgotten the opposition of her husband when four young men, bearing letters, and each leading a goose and a gander -the recognised emblems of conjugal affection-followed by servants carrying a succession of rich presents, advanced to the audiencehall. That her two protégés should have sent eight geese appeared to her unnecessary, although she accepted the multiplication of the birds as a pretty token of the ardour of the lovers; but her sense of this excess was soon lost in her admiration of the unusually numerous gifts which now filled the courtyard.

With many deep reverences the young men presented their letters to Ma, who was at first too much dazed by the confusion which

reigned about him to do more than to incline his head and open the envelopes. As he read the first letter, however, his confused expression of countenance was exchanged for one of puzzled surprise.

"There is," he said, "some mistake here. I know nothing of this Mr Yang who writes. You must," he added, turning to the young man who had presented the letter, "have come to the wrong house by mistake."

"Pardon me,” replied the young gentleman, "your humble servitor has made no mistake, unless, indeed, you are not the honourable father of the incomparable twins whom you have deigned to betroth to my principal, Mr Yang, and his friend Mr Le."

The mention of these names recalled Mrs Ma to the actualities of the position; and, advancing towards her husband, she said with some embarrassment—

"There is no mistake in the matter. I told you that I should arrange our daughters' marriages, and I have done so. Messrs Yang and Le are the gentlemen I have chosen, and these are their presents in due form."

For a moment Ma looked at her in angry astonishment, and then, as the whole affair took shape in his mind, he lost all control over himself, and, trembling with passion, he broke out

"You stupid, obstinate woman, how dare you disobey my orders and practise this deceit upon me? By what pretence of right have you ventured to interfere in this matter? You have brought disgrace upon me and infamy upon yourself. I have arranged alliances for the twins with the sons of my friends Messrs Tsai and Fung, and it is these they shall marry and no others!" Then

turning to Yang and Le's young squires, he added with scant courtesy-"Take away your gifts, young men, and tell your principals that this rebuff serves them right for dealing in an underhand way with a headstrong woman." "Don't listen to him," cried Mrs Ma.

"I accept your presents." "Take them away!" shouted Ma.

"You shameless boor!" screamed Mrs Ma-"you miserable, vapouring good-for-nothing! Do you talk to me of 'daring' and 'venturing'? Why, you may thank Buddha that you have got a wife who knows how and when to act; and I tell you that your friends Tsai and Fung may as well try to join the hare in the moon as hope to raise the veils of my daughters. So if these young men represent them they had better be off at once and take their rubbish with them."

This was more than Ma's irascible nature was able to endure, and raising his hand to strike, he rushed at his wife. Fortunately his servants were near enough to intervene, and an exchange of blows-for Mrs Ma had seized a flute from an amazed musician, and stood ready for the assault -was for the moment averted. Foiled in finding the natural outlet for his rage, Ma, with as wild gesticulations as were possible with a man holding each arm and a third dragging at his skirts, shouted orders to his servants to turn Yang and Le's squires, with their presents, out into the street. With equal vehemence Mrs Ma invoked the direst misfortunes and deepest curses on the head of any one who ventured to lay hands on them, and at the same time called on her partisans to throw the other people and their gifts out of doors. The hubbub thus created was aggravated by the incursion of idlers

from the street, some of whom presently took sides, as the squires and their followers showed signs of acting on the taunts and adjurations of Ma and his wife. From words the adverse hosts speedily came to blows, and a scene of indescribable confusion ensued. The presents, which had made such a goodly show but a few minutes before, were broken to pieces and scattered over the courtyard; while the eight geese, with outstretched wings and wild cacklings, flew, seeking places of refuge. With impartial wisdom the servants of the house, aided by some unbiassed onlookers, threw their weight on the combatants in the direction of the door. By this manœuvre the courtyard was gradually cleared, and eventually the front gates were closed on the surging, fighting crowd, which was dispersed only when some few of the ringleaders had been carried off to the magistrate's yamun.

As a neighbour and an acquaintance of Ma, I thought it best, on being informed of what had taken place, to call in to see if I could be of any use. I had some difficulty in getting inside the front gates; but when I did, a scene of confusion presented itself such as I have never seen equalled. The courtyard was covered with débris, as though some typhoon had been creating havoc in an upholsterer's shop; while in the audience - hall Ma was inflicting chastisement on his wife with a mulberry - twig, which he had evidently torn from the tree at hand in the yard. I was fortunately in time to prevent the punishment becoming severe, though at the time I could not but feel that Mrs Ma's conduct was of a kind which could only be adequately punished by corporal

chastisement.

As a husband and a Confucianist, I deprecate the use of the rod towards a wife except in extreme cases. There are, however, some women whose intellects are So small and their obstinacy so great that reasoning is thrown away upon them. upon them. They have nothing to which one can appeal by argument; and with such persons bodily fear is the only fulcrum on which it is possible to rest a lever to move them. From all I hear, Mrs Ma is a typical specimen of this class. She prides herself on her obstinacy, which she regards as a token of a strong mind, and she is utterly destitute of that intelligence which should make her aware of the misery and discomfort it causes to those about

her. No camel is more obstinate and no donkey more stupid than she.

But while quite recognising this, I could not but feel some compassion for her, as, weeping and dishevelled, she escaped from the hall when I succeeded in releasing her from her husband's wrath. At first Ma's fury was so uncontrollable that I could do nothing with him; but gradually he quieted down, and, acting on my advice, went over to his friend Ting to consult as to what should be done in the very unpleasant circumstances in which he was placed. It was plain that some decided step would have to be taken, as the arrest of some of the rioters had brought the whole affair within the cognisance of the mandarins, and it is always best in such matters to be the one to throw the first stone. After much discussion it was, as I afterwards learned, decided that Ma should present a petition to the prefect, praying him, in the interest of marital authority and social order,