Vice-President King, for whom for years he has been trying to find
a suitable match. The position is peculiar, for the lady declares
positively that she will not marry any one she has not seen and approved
of. Until now she has not been able to find any one whom she would care
to marry. But the presence of your Excellency has thrown a light across
her path which has shown her the way to the plum-groves of matrimonial
felicity."

Here King paused, expecting some reply; but Jasmine was too absorbed in
thought to speak, so Mr. King went on:

"This old son of Han, hearing that your Excellency is still unmarried,
has taken it upon himself to make a proposal of marriage to you, and to
offer his cousin as your 'basket and broom.' [wife] His interview with
you has, he may say, shown him the wisdom of his cousin's choice, and he
cannot imagine a pair better suited for one another, or more likely to
be happy, than your Excellency and his cousin."

"I dare not be anything but straightforward with your worship," said
Jasmine, "and I am grateful for the extraordinary affection your cousin
has been pleased to bestow upon me; but I cannot forget that she belongs
to a family which is entitled to pass through the gate of the palace [a
family of distinction], and I fear that my rank is not sufficient for
her. Besides, my father is at present under a cloud, and I am now on
my way to Peking to try to release him from his difficulties. It is no
time, therefore, for me to be binding myself with promises."

"As to your Excellency's first objection," replied King, "you are
already the wearer of a hat with a silken tassel, and a man need not be
a prophet to foretell that in time to come any office, either civil or