"He was very helpful in the matter of your honoured father's difficulty, and only left when he thought he could not do any more.""How do matters stand now?" asked Jasmine, eagerly.
"We have posted a memorial at the palace gate," said Tu, "and have arranged that it shall reach the right quarter.Fortunately, also, I have an acquaintance in the Board of War who has undertaken to do all he can in that direction, and promises an answer in a few days.""I have brought with me," said Jasmine, "a petition prepared by my father.What do you think about presenting it?""At present I believe that it would only do harm.A superabundance of memorials is as bad as none at all.Beyond a certain point, they only irritate officials.""Very well," said Jasmine; "I am quite content to leave the conduct of affairs in your hands.""Well then," said Tu, "that being understood, I propose that you should move your things over to this inn.There is Wei's room at your disposal, and your constant presence here will be balm to my lonely spirit.At the Hata Gate you are almost as remote as if you were in our study at Mienchu."Jasmine was at first startled by this proposal.Though she had been constantly in the company of Tu, she had never lived under the same roofwith him, and she at once recognised that there might be difficulties in the way of her keeping her secret if she were to be constantly under the eyes of her friend.But she had been so long accustomed to yield to the present circumstances, and was so confident that Fortune, which, with some slight irregularities, had always stood her friend, would not desert her on the present occasion, that she gave way.
"By all means," she said."I will go back to my inn, and bring my things at once.This writing-case I will leave here.I brought it because it contains my father's petition."So saying, she took her leave, and Tu retired to his easy-chair under the cotton-tree.But the demon of curiosity was abroad, and alighting on the arm of Tu's chair, whispered in his ear that it might be well if he ran his eye over Colonel Wen's petition to see if there was any argument in it which he had omitted in his statement to the Board of War.At first, Tu, whose nature was the reverse of inquisitive, declined to listen to these promptings, but so persistent did they become that he at last put down his book--"The Spring and Autumn Annals"--and, seating himself, at the sitting-room table, opened the writing-case so innocently left by Jasmine.On the top were a number of red visiting-cards bearing the inscription, in black, of Wen Tsunk'ing, and beneath these was the petition.Carefully Tu read it through, and passed mental eulogies on it as he proceeded.The colonel had put his case skilfully, but Tu had no difficulty in recognising Jasmine's hand, both in the composition of the document and in the penmanship."If my attempt," he thought, "does not succeed, we will try what this will do." He was on the point of returning it to its resting-place, when he saw another document in Jasmine's handwriting lying by it.This was evidently a formal document, probably connected, as he thought, with the colonel's case, and he therefore unfolded it and read as follows:
"The faithful maiden, Miss Wen of Mienchu Hien, with burning incense reverently prays the God of War to release her father from his present difficulties, and speedily to restore peace to her own soul by nullifying, in accordance with her desire, the engagement of the bamboo arrow and the contract of the box of precious ointment.A respectful petition."As Tu read on, surprise and astonishment took possession of his countenance.A second time he read it through, and then, throwing himself back in his chair, broke out into a fit of laughter.
"So," he said to himself, "I have allowed myself to be deceived by a young girl all these years.And yet not altogether deceived," he added, trying to find an excuse for himself; "for I have often fancied that there was the savour of a woman about the 'young noble.' I hope she is not one of those heaven-born genii who appear on earth to plague men, and who, just when they have aroused the affections they wished to excite, ascend through the air and leave their lovers mourning."Just at this moment the door opened, and Jasmine entered, looking more lovely than ever, with the flush begotten by exercise on her beautifully moulded cheeks.At sight of her Tu again burst out laughing, to Jasmine's not unnatural surprise, who, thinking that there must be something wrong with her dress, looked herself up and down, to the increasing amusement of Tu.
"So," said he at last, "you deceitful little hussy, you have been deceiving me all these years by passing yourself off as a man, when in reality you are a girl."Overcome with confusion, Jasmine hung her head, and murmured: "Who has betrayed me?""You have betrayed yourself," said Tu, holding up the incriminating document; "and here we have the story of the arrow with which you shot the hawk, but what the box of precious ointment means I don't know."Confronted with this overwhelming evidence, poor Jasmine remained speechless, and dared not even lift her eyes to glance at Tu.That young man, seeing her distress, and being in no wise possessed by the scorn which he had put into his tone, crossed over to her and gently led her to a seat by him.
"Do you remember," he said, in so altered a voice that Jasmine's heart ceased to throb as if it wished to force an opening through the finely formed bosom which enclosed it, "on one occasion in our study at home I wished that you were a woman that you might become my wife? Little did I think that my wish might be gratified.Now it is, and I beseech you to letus join our lives in one, and seek the happiness of the gods in each other's perpetual presence."But, as if suddenly recollecting herself, Jasmine withdrew her hand from his, and, standing up before him with quivering lip and eyes full of tears, said:
"No.It can never be."
