“Now, if I were a young man,” said she to herself, “I ought to feel my heart beat at the sight of such loveliness, and it would be my bounden duty to swear that I would win the owner of it in the teeth of dragons.  But as my manhood goes no deeper than my outer garments, I can afford to sit here with a quiet pulse and a whole skin.”

The next day Jasmine was busily engaged in interviewing some officials in the interest of her father, and only reached the shelter of her inn toward evening.  As she passed through the courtyard she instinctively looked up at the window, and again caught a glimpse of the vision of beauty which she had seen the evening before.  “If she only knew,” thought Jasmine, “that I was such a one as herself, she would be less anxious to see me, and more likely to avoid me.”

While amusing herself at the thought of the fair watcher, the inn door opened, and a waiting-woman entered carrying a small box.  As she approached Jasmine she bowed low, and with bated breath thus addressed her: 

“May every happiness be yours, sir.  My young lady, Miss King, whose humble dwelling is the adjoining house, seeing that you are living in solitude, has sent me with this fruit and tea as a complimentary offering.”

So saying, she presented to Jasmine the box, which contained pears and a packet of scented tea.

“To what am I indebted for this honour?” replied Jasmine; “I can claim no relationship with your lady, nor have I the honour of her acquaintance.”

“My young lady says,” answered the waiting-woman, “that, among the myriads who come to this inn and the thousands who go from it, she has seen no one to equal your Excellency in form and feature.  At sight of you she was confident that you came from a lofty and noble family, and having learned from your attendants that you are the son of a colonel, she ventured to send you these trifles to supplement the needy fare of this rude inn.”

“Tell me something about your young lady,” said Jasmine, in a moment of idle curiosity.

“My young lady,” said the woman, “is the daughter of Mr. King, who was a vice-president of a lower court.  Her father and mother having both visited the ‘Yellow Springs’ [Hades], she is now living with an aunt, who has been blessed by the God of Wealth, and whose main object in life is to find a husband whom her niece may be willing to marry.  The young gentleman, my young lady’s cousin, is one of the richest men in Ch’engtu.  All the larger inns belong to him, and his profits are as boundless as the four seas.  He is as anxious as his mother to find a suitable match for the young lady, and has promised that so soon as she can make a choice he will arrange the wedding.”

“I should have thought,” said Jasmine, “that, being the owner of so much wealth and beauty, the young lady would have been besieged by suitors from all parts of the empire.”