she's got into this frame of mind, I mayn't even suffer in her stead!"

The self-reproaches, however, which gnawed his heart made it impossible
for him to refrain from tears, much as he fought against them. Hsi Jen
saw them both crying, and while attending to Pao-yue, she too unavoidably
experienced much soreness of heart. She nevertheless went on rubbing
Pao-yue's hands, which were icy cold. She felt inclined to advise Pao-yue
not to weep, but fearing again lest, in the first place, Pao-yue might be
inwardly aggrieved, and nervous, in the next, lest she should not be
dealing rightly by Tai-yue, she thought it advisable that they should all
have a good cry, as they might then be able to leave off. She herself
therefore also melted into tears. As for Tzu-Chuean, at one time, she
cleaned the expectorated medicine; at another, she took up a fan and
gently fanned Tai-yue. But at the sight of the trio plunged in perfect
silence, and of one and all sobbing for reasons of their own, grief,
much though she did to struggle against it, mastered her feelings too,
and producing a handkerchief, she dried the tears that came to her eyes.
So there stood four inmates, face to face, uttering not a word and
indulging in weeping.

Shortly, Hsi Jen made a supreme effort, and smilingly said to Pao-yue:
"If you don't care for anything else, you should at least have shown
some regard for those tassels, strung on the jade, and not have wrangled
with Miss Lin."

Tai-yue heard these words, and, mindless of her indisposition, she rushed
over, and snatching the trinket, she picked up a pair of scissors, lying
close at hand, bent upon cutting the tassels. Hsi Jen and Tzu Chuean were
on the point of wresting it from her, but she had already managed to
mangle them into several pieces.