No sooner had Madame Hong's sedan chair disappeared from view, than another chair arrived at the gate of the Ho Garden, bearing the Prefect of Yangzhou, Wu Zhirong. Trinket was too down in the dumps at the departure of several of his favourite women to appreciate this visit.'What have you come for?' he enquired, somewhat brusquely.'I have a piece of particularly confidential military information I should like to share with Your Excellency' replied the ever'smarmy Wu. Somewhat reluctantly Trinket led Wu into his study, where Wu insisted that they be alone. Trinket dismissed his various guards.'Well, what is this all about?'After an enormous amount of humming and hawing, and endless references to the huge honour he had of serving the Emperor (not to mention his Envoy) in his humble capacity as Prefect, Wu finally came to the point. With a highly conspiratorial expression, he produced from within his gown a manuscript, and presented it with both hands to Trinket. 'This, Excellency, is a manuscript collection of poems I chanced upon yesterday. Please be so good as to glance through it.'

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