At home in the evening he fed the cat, the bird, and the flowers. Then, seating himself in a carved black chair—a present from his wife on his last birthday—he took out his pipe and smoked. The cat jumped into his lap. He stroked it softly and tenderly. It had been much fondled by Mrs. Spring Fragrance, and Mr. Spring Fragrance was under the impression that it missed her. “Poor thing!” said he. “I suppose you want her back!” When he arose to go to bed he placed the animal carefully on the floor, and thus apostrophized it: “O Wise and Silent One, your mistress returns to you, but her heart she leaves behind her, with the Tommies in San Francisco.” The Wise and Silent One made no reply. He was not a jealous cat. Mr. Spring Fragrance slept not that night; the next morning he ate not. Three days and three nights without sleep and food went by. There was a springlike freshness in the air on the day that Mrs. Spring Fragrance came home. The skies overhead were as blue as Puget Sound stretching its gleaming length toward the mighty Pacific, and all the beautiful green world seemed to be throbbing with springing life. Mrs. Spring Fragrance was never so radiant. “Oh,” she cried light-heartedly, “is it not lovely to see the sun shining so clear, and everything so bright to welcome me?” Mr. Spring Fragrance made no response. It was the morning after the fourth sleepless night. Mrs. Spring Fragrance noticed his silence, also his grave face. “Everything—everyone is glad to see me but you,” she declared, half seriously, half jestingly. Mr. Spring Fragrance set down her valise. They had just entered the house. “If my wife is glad to see me,” he quietly replied, “I also am glad to see her!” Summoning their servant boy, he bade him look after Mrs. Spring Fragrance’s comfort. “I must be at the store in half an hour,” said he, looking at his watch. “There is some very important business requiring attention.” “What is the business?” inquired Mrs. Spring Fragrance, her lip quivering with disappointment. “I cannot just explain to you,” answered her husband. Mrs. Spring Fragrance looked up into his face with honest and earnest eyes. There was something in his manner, in the tone of her husband’s voice, which touched her. “Yen,” said she, “you do not look well. You are not well. What is it?” Something arose in Mr. Spring Fragrance’s throat which prevented him from replying. “O darling one! O sweetest one!” cried a girl’s joyous voice. Laura Chin Yuen ran into the room and threw her arms around Mrs. Spring Fragrance’s neck. “I spied you from the window,” said Laura, “and I couldn’t rest until I told you. We are to be married next week, Kai Tzu and I. And all through you, all through you—the sweetest jade jewel in the world!” Mr. Spring Fragrance passed out of the room.