Page:Leaves from my Chinese Scrapbook - Balfour, 1887.djvu/210

 and by some wonderful means restored every one of my flowers, everything is all right again. But she has gone off as suddenly as she came, without waiting to be thanked; pray, gentlemen, did either of you see which way she took?"

The two old men listened to this story with astonishment. "How is it possible," they said, "that flowers once cut should be refixed? Who was this wonderful girl, pray? And how long is it since she disappeared?"

"Just now," replied Tsiu eagerly; "not a minute ago. You must have seen her go out of the gate."

"We have been here a considerable time," said the old men, "and we have seen no girl; nobody has come out of the gate at all."

When Tsiu heard that, the conviction suddenly flashed upon him that his little benefactress must have been a fairy, and not a human child at all. As he was pondering the affair, his two friends began to question him about it, and he told them the whole story from beginning to end; whereupon they exclaimed, " But how is such a miracle possible? Let us both come into your garden and see it with our own eyes."

So Tsiu ushered them in, and they walked round and round, the excited proprietor never ceasing to repeat, "Oh, it was a fairy. Yes, it must have been a fairy. Human beings cannot work such wonders." Then he burnt a large quantity of fragrant incense, and kotowed in gratitude to Heaven, while his two old friends said, "Yes, it must have been so. This is the recompense of your sincerity of heart and your unconquerable love of flowers. Now, to-morrow you must invite Chang and his rascally associates to come here and see the marvel