King is able to penetrate the meaning of my verses, she won't like them.
Without saying so in so many words, I have told her with sufficient
plainness that I will have nothing to say to her. But stupidity is a
shield sent by Providence to protect the greater part of mankind from
many evils; so perhaps she will escape."

It certainly in this case served to shield Miss King from Jasmine's
shafts. She was delighted at receiving the verses, and at once sat down
to compose a quatrain to match Jasmine's in reply. With infinite labour
she elaborated the following:

"Sung Yuh on th' eastern wall sat deep in thought,
And longed with P'e to pluck the fragrant fruit.
If all the well-known tunes be newly set,
What use to take again the half-burnt lute?"

Having copied these on a piece of silk-woven paper, she sent them to
Jasmine by her faithful attendant. On looking over the paper, Jasmine
said, smiling, "What a clever young lady your mistress must be! These
lines, though somewhat inconsequential, are incomparable."

But, though Jasmine was partly inclined to treat the matter as a joke,
she saw that there was a serious side to the affair, more especially as
the colours under which she was sailing were so undeniably false. She
knew well that for Sung Yuh should be read Miss King, and for P'e
her own name; and she determined, therefore, to put an end to the
philandering of Miss King, which, in her present state of mind, was
doubly annoying to her.

"I am deeply indebted to your young lady," she said, and then, being