about to make some response but Pao-yue had worked himself into such
another passion as to get quite yellow in the face, and she was obliged
to rein in her temper. Pushing Ch'ing Wen, "Dear sister," she cried,
"you had better be off for a stroll! it's really we, who are to blame!"

The very mention of the word "we" made it certain to Ch'ing Wen that she
implied herself and Pao-yue, and thus unawares more fuel was added again
to her jealous notions. Giving way to several loud smiles, full of
irony: "I can't make out," she insinuated, "who you may mean. But don't
make me blush on your account! Even those devilish pranks of yours can't
hoodwink me! How and why is it that you've started styling yourself as
'we?' Properly speaking, you haven't as yet so much as attained the
designation of 'Miss!' You're simply no better than I am, and how is it
then that you presume so high as to call yourself 'we.'"

Hsi Jen's face grew purple from shame. "The fact is," she reflected,
"that I've said more than I should."

"As one and all of you are ever bearing her malice," Pao-yue
simultaneously observed, "I'll actually raise her to-morrow to a higher
status!"

Hsi Jen quickly snatched Pao-yue's hand. "She's a stupid girl," she said,
"what's the use of arguing with her? What's more, you've so far borne
with them and overlooked ever, so many other things more grievous than
this; and what are you up to to-day?"

"If I'm really a stupid girl," repeated Ch'ing Wen, smiling
sarcastically, "am I a fit person for you to hold converse with? Why,
I'm purely and simply a slave-girl; that's all."