This person has submitted the dilemma to the
test of omens, and after considering well the reply, he has decided to
obtain the price of the maiden in a not very honourable manner, which
now presents itself, so that Liao may send out his silk-bound gifts
without delay.'
"'It is an unalluring alternative,' said Ah-Ping, whose only inside
thought was one of gratification that the exchange money for Ts'ain
would so soon be in his possession, 'yet this person fails to perceive
how you could act otherwise after the decision of the omens. He now
understands, moreover, that the loss you referred to on his part was
in the nature of a figure of speech, as one makes use of thunderbolts
and delicately-scented flowers to convey ideas of harsh and amiable
passions, and alluded in reality to the forthcoming departure of his
daughter, who is, as you so versatilely suggested, the comfort and
riches of his old age.'
"'O venerable, but at this moment somewhat obtuse, Ah-Ping,' cried
Quen, with a recurrence to his former method of expressing his
unfeigned agitation, 'is your evenly-balanced mind unable to grasp the
essential fact of how this person's contemplated action will affect
your own celestial condition? It is a distressing but entirely
unavoidable fact, that if this person acts in the manner which he has
determined upon, he will be condemned to the lowest place of torment
reserved for those who fail at the end of an otherwise pure existence,
and in this he will never have an opportunity of meeting the very much
higher placed Ah-Ping, and of restoring to him the thirty-thousand
taels as agreed upon.
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