He had said to
her:
"You come at the right time. I must kill a pig this morning, and our
assistant has gone out for the day."
The old woman did not like this work. But she was very much afraid of
her son, and did not dare to refuse.
"Wait till I have changed my clothes!" was all she said.
While she was taking off her outer garment, a parcel fell from the
sleeve of it. Thinking that it was money, Wu-han quickly picked it up
and opened it. It was the pair of embroidered slippers. He said:
"Oh! Oh! Who is the little girl who has such feet? She must be of a
very loving nature. If I could hold her to my heart for a whole night,
I should not have lived in vain. But how do these slippers come here,
for they have already been worn?"
"Give them back to me!" she cried. "There is much money in them,
which I will hand to you." And she told him the whole matter. But he
objected:
"It has been a common saying from the earliest times that acts not
committed can alone remain unknown. This P'an is a bravo. If he learns
of the matter, all the silver which you receive will be too little to
buy his silence. Our whole shop would fall into his hands."
In dismay the old woman replied:
"Your words are full of reason. I am going to give back the silver
and the slippers. I am going to let it be understood that I refuse to
embroil myself with curtain affairs.
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