Page:Strange stories from a Chinese studio.djvu/387

358 STRANGE STORIES FROM high reward for the body, which, however, was not forth- coming. So he went home in despair, and then, fearing lest his father-in-law should come to visit his daughter, he started on a visit to a connection of his, who had an appointment in Honan. In the course of a year or two, when on his homeward journey, he chanced to be detained by bad weather at a roadside inn of rather cleaner appearance than usual. Within he saw an old woman playing with a child, which, as soon as he entered, held out its arms to him to be taken. Wang took the child on his knee, and there it remained, refusing to go back to its nurse ; and, when the rain had stopped, and Wang was getting ready to go, the child cried out, " Pa-pa gone ! " The nurse told it to hold its tongue, and, at the same moment, out from behind the screen came Wang's long-lost wife. " You bad fellow," said she, " what am I to do with this ? " pointing to the child ; and then Wang knew that the boy was his own son. He was much affected, and swore by the sun that the words he had uttered had been uttered in jest, and by-and-by his wife's anger was soothed. She then explained how she had been picked up by a passing boat, the occupant of which was the owner of the house they were in, a man of sixty years of age, who had no children of his own, and who kindly adopted her. She also told him how she had had several offers of marriage,