"He pays you with nothing more substantial?"
"Not even a ring has he given me."
"No, not a ring, but little pieces of paper, little pieces of paper which you have not been able to exchange for money. Wouldn't you like Lao Yang's assistance to cash them?"
Kuei-lien's face grew red with a blush the girl could not check, but she held her body from a second telltale jerk.
"I don't understand what you mean," she said.
"Come now," protested the t'ai-t'ai, "you can't deny that you received checks for these amounts." She reeled off from memory the sums and dates of the checks she was certain Kuei-lien had received.
"What should I do with checks?" asked the girl.
"That's just the point," the t'ai-t'ai smiled in return; "what should you do with them? They are useless in their present form and you will never be permitted to change them."
"I don't know anything about these things," Kuei-lien persisted stubbornly.
"Just think a little," her mistress went on in the same bland voice, "and don't try to keep up appearances before me. Who brought you up, may I ask? Who saved you from being a slattern in the scullery at this very moment? It's worth remembering, because the same person who lifted you to your present favor can throw you down again." The t'ai-t'ai allowed a minute for these words to have their effect while she looked round the room. "You are very comfortable here," she remarked, "you have prospered well for the short time you have been here—well-filled boxes, plenty of clothes; I have indeed been generous to you. It would be a pity to lose them all."