tensified them; perhaps
they are always there; perhaps this is the chronic atmosphere of Peking,
where each power is trying to outdo the other, to overreach the other,
in their dealings with China. Anyway, E---- and I were intensely aware
of it in this "scrambling together" of all diplomatic Peking.

No Japanese was present, although a few Japanese are members of the
club. And it is significant that no Chinese, no matter how high in rank,
is admitted to membership. The impression we derived of this European
playground is that the attempt to play is a farce. You look over your
shoulder to behold a knife at your back.

After tiffin two more invisible races took place, but no one made an
attempt to see them. The dust sifted in through the windows and lay
thick on the tables, and one made footprints in it on the floor. Then we
were all cheered by the announcement that the special train was
returning an hour earlier than the time scheduled, and there was a
general move to go. The walk back across the plains was even worse, if
possible, than that from the station to the club-house, for the wind was
stronger, the dust more blinding. Yet the whole procession was
light-hearted, somehow: there were prospects of a bath at the journey's
end. As we reached the station the train was pulling in. E---- was
walking just ahead of me, talking to the Russian minister, Prince K----.
A gust more violent than usual struck us, and I saw her suddenly leap
aboard while the train was moving. When I joined her a moment later she
seemed rather dubious.

"I don't know that that's exactly the way to take leave of a prince,"
she said doubtfully, "to jump on a moving train in the middle of a
sentence."

VII

A BOWL OF PORRIDGE

While we were at the races yesterday in all that dust, exciting things
were happening in Peking. We no sooner returned to the hotel than there
were a dozen people to tell us of them. It seems that at a cabinet
meeting yesterday morning (March 5) the prime minister, Tuan Chi jui,
wished to send a circular telegram to the governors of the various
provinces announcing China's determination to sever diplomatic relations
with Germany. The President of China, Li Yuan Hung, who is strongly
opposed to this course, rejected the premier's proposal, whereupon Tuan
tendered his resignation and flew off in a huff to Tientsin. Tuan is
forever resigning his post as prime minister, and is forever being
coaxed back. A deputation