With this response, she went on the errand; and only returned after a long lapse of time. "I said," she laughed, "that it would be perfectly useless for me to go. How ever could our lady not readily accede to an excellent proposal like this?"
Hearing this, T'an Ch'un forthwith joined Li Wan in directing a servant to ask for the roll, containing the names of the matrons in the garden, and bring it to them. When produced, they all held council together, and fixing cursorily upon several persons, they summoned them to appear before them. Li Wan then explained to them the general outline of their duties; and not one was there among the whole company, who listened to her, who would not undertake the charge. One said: "If you confide that bamboo tree for twelve months to my care, it will again next year be a single tree, but besides the shoots, which will have been eaten at home, I shall be able, in the course of the year, to also pay in some money." "Hand me over," another one remarked, "that portion of paddy field, and there will, during the year, be no need to touch any public funds on account of the various birds, large and small, which are kept for mere fun. Besides that, I shall be in a position to give in something more."
T'an Ch'un was about to pass a remark when a servant reported that the doctor had come; and that he had entered the garden to see Miss Shih. So the matrons were obliged to go and usher the doctor in.
"Were there a hundred of you here," promptly expostulated P'ing Erh, "you wouldn't know what propriety means! Are there perchance no couple of housekeepers about to push themselves forward and see the doctor in?"
"There's dame Wu and dame T'an," the servant, who brought the message, replied. "The two are on duty at the south-west corner at the 'accumulated splendour' gate."
At this answer, P'ing Erh allowed the subject to drop.
After the departure of the matrons, T'an Ch'un inquired of Pao-ch'ai what she thought of them.
"Such as are diligent at the outset," Pao-ch'ai answered smiling, "become remiss in the end; and those who have a glib tongue have an eye to gain."
T'an Ch'un listened to her reply; and nodding her head, she extolled its wisdom. Then showing them with her finger several names on the list, she submitted them for the perusal of the trio. P'ing Erh speedily went and fetched a pen and inkslab.
"This old mother Chu," the trio observed, "is a trustworthy woman. What's more, this old dame and her sons have generation after generation done the sweeping of the bamboo groves. So let's now place the various bamboo trees under her control. This old mother T'ien was originally a farmer, and everything in the way of vegetables and rice, in and about the Tao Hsiang village, should, albeit they couldn't, planted as they are as a mere pastime, be treated in such earnest as to call for large works and extensive plantations, be entrusted to her care; for won't they fare better if she can be on the spot and tend them with extra diligence at the proper times and seasons?"