With these words, she speedily left her companions and repaired
straightway into the Hsiao Hsiang lodge.

While she was going on her errand, she met Wen Kuan and the rest of the
girls, twelve in all, on their way to seek the party. Drawing near, they
inquired after her health. After exchanging a few commonplace remarks,
Pao-ch'ai turned round and pointing, said: "you will find them all in
there; you had better go and join them. As for me, I'm going to fetch
Miss Lin, but I'll be back soon."

Saying this, she followed the winding path, and came to the Hsiao Hsiang
lodge. Upon suddenly raising her eyes, she saw Pao-yue walk in. Pao-ch'ai
immediately halted, and, lowering her head, she gave way to meditation
for a time. "Pao-yue and Lin Tai-yue," she reflected, "have grown up
together from their very infancy. But cousins, though they be, there are
many instances in which they cannot evade suspicion, for they joke
without heeding propriety; and at one time they are friends and at
another at daggers drawn. Tai-yue has, moreover, always been full of
envy; and has ever displayed a peevish disposition, so were I to follow
him in at this juncture, why, Pao-yue would, in the first place, not feel
at ease, and, in the second, Tai-yue would give way to jealousy. Better
therefore for me to turn back."

At the close of this train of thought, she retraced her steps. But just
as she was starting to join her other cousins, she unexpectedly
descried, ahead of her, a pair of jade-coloured butterflies, of the size
of a circular fan. Now they soared high, now they made a swoop down, in
their flight against the breeze; much to her amusement.