“So she is,” said the woman, “and from her window yonder she espies them, for they all put up at this inn.  Hitherto she has made fun of them all, and describes their appearance and habits in the most amusing way.  ‘See this one,’ says she, ’with his bachelor cap on and his new official clothes and awkward gait, looking for all the world like a barn-door fowl dressed up as a stork; or that one, with his round shoulders, monkey-face, and crooked legs;’ and so she tells them off.”

“What does she say of me, I wonder?” said Jasmine, amused.

“Of your Excellency she says that her comparisons fail her, and that she can only hope that the Fates who guided your jewelled chariot hitherward will not tantalise her by an empty vision, but will bind your ankles to hers with the red matrimonial cords.”

“How can I hope for such happiness?” said Jasmine, smiling.  “But please to tell your young lady that, being only a guest at this inn, I have nothing worthy of her acceptance to offer in return for her bounteous gifts, and that I can only assure her of my boundless gratitude.”

With many bows, and with reiterated wishes for Jasmine’s happiness and endless longevity, the woman took her leave.

“Truly this young lady has formed a most perverted attachment,” said Jasmine to herself.  “She reminds me of the man in the fairy tale who fell in love with a shadow, and, so far as I can see, she is not likely to get any more satisfaction out of it than he did.”  So saying, she took up a pencil and scribbled the following lines on a scrap of paper: 

“With thoughts as ardent as a quenchless thirst,
She sends me fragrant and most luscious fruit;
Without a blush she seeks a phenix guest [a bachelor]
Who dwells alone like case-enveloped lute.”

After this mental effort Jasmine went to bed.  Nor had her interview with the waiting-woman made a sufficient impression on her mind to interfere in any way with her sleep.  She was surprised, however, on coming into her sitting-room in the morning, to meet the same messenger, who, laden with a dish of hot eggs and a brew of tea, begged Jasmine to “deign to look down upon her offerings.”

“Many thanks,” said Jasmine, “for your kind attention.”

“You are putting the saddle on the wrong horse,” replied the woman.  “In bringing you these I am but obeying the orders of Miss King, who herself made the tea of leaves from Pu-erh in Yunnan, and who with her own fair hands shelled the eggs.”

“Your young lady,” answered Jasmine, “is as bountiful as she is kind.  What return can I make her for her kindness to a stranger?  Stay,” she said, as the thought crossed her mind that the verses she had written the night before might prove a wholesome tonic for this effusive young lady, “I have a few verses which I will venture to ask her to accept.”  So saying, she took a piece of peach-blossom paper, on which she carefully copied the quatrain and handed it to the woman.  “May I trouble you,” said she, “to take this to your mistress?”