to command the fulfilment of the contract entered into by the petitioner with Fung and Tsai.

On the following morning Ma, in pursuance of this arrangement, presented himself at the prefect's yamun, and after having paid handsome douceurs to the doorkeeper and secretary, was admitted into the august presence of his Excellency Lo. Having only lately arrived in the prefecture, Lo's appearance had been hitherto unknown to Ma, who was much awed and impressed by the dignified airs and grand ways of his Excellency. A A man severe he is and stern to view, and yet beneath his outward seeming there is a strong undercurrent of human nature, held in check, it is true, by the paralysing effect of our educational system, but still capable of being aroused and worked upon at times. As Ma knelt before him he glanced down the memorial, and demanded a full explanation of the circumstances. Nothing loath, Ma poured forth his version of the story, in which he by no means extenuated his wife's conduct, and wound up by emphasising the importance of checking the insubordination of the women, which was becoming only too prevalent in that neighbourhood.

"You certainly have made out a prima facie case for further investigation," said the prefect; "and what you say about women is, to your credit, precisely in accord with the teachings of Confucius, who laid down that 'women should yield absolute obedience to their husbands, and that beyond the threshold of their apartments they should not be known either for good or for evil.' I shall therefore summon your wife to appear at once before me; and meanwhile you may stand aside."

The summoning officer was not long in executing his mission, and the time had scarcely begun to hang heavily on Ma's hands when Mrs Ma entered the yamun. That lady looked anything but comfortable when she saw her husband talking with an assured air to the officers of the court, and answered his glance of recognition with the kind of look that a house-dog gives a stranger cur when it crosses his threshold. On learning that Mrs Ma had arrived, the prefect at once took his place on the bench; and as both disputants fell on their knees in the courtyard, he ordered Mrs Ma to explain her conduct in disobeying the commands of her husband.

66

May it please your Excellency," she began, "I am a poor ignorant woman.

I had always been told, at least by my great" A warning glance from the prefect here checked her eloquence, and she went on-"I have always learned that the marriage of a daughter is the particular province of her mother. I should never have dreamed, your Excellency, of interfering if it had been our son's marriage. Not that we have a son, your Excellency, though many is the time I have been to the temple of Kwanyin to pray for one; and as to money, your Excellency"

'Bring a one-inch bamboo," said the prefect to one of the lictors.

"Oh, please spare me, your Excellency, and I will say anything you wish!"

"All I want is that you should tell the truth and speak only the record. Do this, and I will listen; lie or wander, and I shall flog you."

"Well then, your Excellency, I found also that the two young men selected by my husband were in no way proper matches for my daughters, who are very beautiful. One of these wretched youths is blind in one eye, and the other has one leg shorter than its fellow. In these circumstances I took the matter in hand, and discovered two veritable dragons, who were yearning to link their fate with the pair of phoenixes who rest beneath my humble roof. As destiny decreed, my husband's cripples sent their betrothal presents at the same moment that Messrs Yang and Le sent theirs. Upon this my husband gave way to wild fury, broke the presents to atoms, beat the servants, and flogged your humble servant until she was one mass of bruises."

"Is it true that these protégés of yours are as your wife describes them?" asked the prefect of Ma.

"No, your Excellency; she has grossly exaggerated their defects. It is true that the sight of one of Fung's eyes is partially affected, and that Tsai's legs are not quite of an equal length, but the difference between them is so slight that it is outwardly invisible, and is only perceptible if he walks over a wooden floor, when there is a slightly hop-and-go-one sound about his steps. But, your Excellency, she would have been wise to have remembered the proverb, 'Don't laugh at your neighbour's wart when your own throat is disfigured by a wen;' for it is as well known as that your Excellency is the quintessence of wisdom, that Yang is only, as we people say, nine parts of a whole; and as for young Le, he bears so evil a reputation that no respectable citizen will allow him to enter his doors."

'Well, if this were a matter which only concerned you two, I should not trouble myself further about it, for you are a pair of the simplest of simpletons; but as your daughters' interests are at stake, I have thought it right to send for them, that I may find out what they feel on the subject."

At this moment the twins entered the court, and advanced with graceful modesty, swaying from side to side like tender shrubs gently moved by a passing breeze. Never had they looked more lovely; their jade-like complexions, exquisite features, and lustrous eyes lent so ethereal a beauty to their budding womanhood that they seemed more than mortal. With the winsomest mien, and wielding their fans as only Eastern women can, they bowed low before the prefect, and then stood awaiting his orders. poor man gazed on them as a man gazes on spirits from the other

The

world. He had looked up as they entered, expecting to see in them repetitions of their vulgar-looking parents; but to his unutterable surprise they stood before him resplendent as the moon on the fourteenth night, and as fascinating as fairies. As it happened, they had just arrayed themselves in their most becoming costumes in expectation of a visit from Tsin and Te, when the prefect's summons came. Every charm, therefore, which personal adornment could add to their natural beauty was present with them, and the picture they made as they stood in the middle of the courtyard was one which struck the spectators dumb with astonishment. The prefect dropped his pencil, and seemed quite to forget that anything was expected of him; and for the moment no one, except the twins and their parents, did expect anything from him; for one and all-secretaries, ting-chais, lictors, and clerks were so ravished by the sight, that all consciousness of the fitness of things was lost to view. After some moments of silence, which seemed to the twins like so many hours, the prefect awoke from his rapt astonishment, and said

"Are you really the daughters of these people before me? Is it possible that nature should have played such a trick, and should have moulded you in manners as in shape, in blood and in virtue, on a model as widely separated from your parents as earth is from heaven?"

"May it please your Excellency," replied Plum-blossom, in a low and nervous tone, "we are the children-the only childrenof these our parents.'

"Come nearer," rejoined the prefect, in a voice that had no

stern judicial ring about it, "and speak without reserve to me; for if I do not espouse your cause and shield you from wrong, may my father's ashes be scattered to the wind, and my mother's grave be dishonoured. Tell me, now, have you any desire to marry any of the four suitors your father and mother have provided for you? and if you have, tell me to which you incline."

"We know nothing of these young men, your Excellency," said Plum-blossom.

'Well, when you hear that, according to your parents' description, one is blind, another lame, a third silly, and the fourth wicked, I should hardly expect that you would care to make their acquaintance. However, as they are in attendance I shall have them in, that you may see what manner of men they are." Turning to an officer, he added, "Send in the four suitors in this case."

As the young men entered, all eyes were turned towards them, and certainly a sorrier quartet it would be difficult to find anywhere. Their natural failings fully justi fied the description given of them by Ma and his wife, and were in this instance exaggerated by the consciousness of the ordeal they were called upon to undergo. The prefect looked at them with surprise and disgust; and the twins, who held Tsin and Te as their models, regarded them with horror from behind their fans.

"Well?" said the prefect, turning to Plum-blossom and Convolvulus.

"Oh, your Excellency!" plaintively ejaculated the twins in one breath.

"I quite understand you, and your verdict is exactly what I should have expected; and since

it is plain to me,- -come a little nearer; I fear you cannot hear what I say, that your parents are as incapable of understanding your value as monkeys are of appraising the price of apple-green jade, I shall take on myself the matter of your marriages. Are not prefects the fathers and mothers of the people'? and if so, then I am both your father and your mother. Put yourselves into my hands, then. Trust in me; and if I do not do the best I can for you, may I die childless, and may beggars worship at my tomb!"

"How can we thank you," said Plum-blossom, who was always readiest with her words, "for your boundless condescension and infinite kindness towards your handmaidens? May your Excellency live for ten thousand years, and may descendants of countless generations cheer your old age!" "Thank you for your good wishes," said the prefect. must take time to consider the course I shall pursue, and will let you know the result." Then turning to Ma and his wife, he said in quite another tone-"Take your daughters home, and do not venture to make any arrangements for their future until you hear from me."

"I

So saying he rose, but, contrary to his usual habit, waited to arrange his papers until the sylphlike forms of the twins had disappeared through the folding-doors, when he retired precipitately.

The next morning Ma was surprised by a visit from the prefect, who had found it necessary, he said, to inform the twins in person of his intentions towards them. Having greeted his wards with all the affection of a guardian, he said—

"On thinking over the matter

of your marriages, I have determined to hold an examination preliminary to the coming official examination, and I propose to offer you as the prizes to be awarded to the two scholars who shall come out at the top of the list. In this way we shall have at least a guarantee that your husbands will be learned, and likely to gain distinction in official life."

"But suppose," put in Convolvulus timidly, "they should be married men?"

Ah, I never thought of that!" said the prefect, laughing. "Well, I will tell you what I will do. It happens that a hunter brought me in this morning a brace of the most beautiful gazelles, and these I will give to the two top married men, as dim and bleared emblems of the still more lovely creatures which will fall to the lot of the two successful bachelors."

The prefect accompanied his remark with a smile and bow which added another tinge of colour to the blushes which had already suffused the brilliant cheeks of the twins, whose modest confusion had scarcely subsided when he took his departure.

The appearance, two or three days after this interview, of a semi-official proclamation announcing the examination and specifying the prizes in store for the winners, produced the wildest excitement in the town. The proceedings before the prefect had become notorious, and the rare beauty of the twins was, if possible, exaggerated by the thousand-tongued rumours which spread of their exceeding loveliness. To Plum-blossom the ordeal suggested no uneasiness. For, feeling confident of the surpassing talent of Tsin, she entertained no doubt that he would