at six. As this was
our first visit to the Palace, Prince Ching's message threw us into a
great state of excitement, and we were naturally anxious to look our
best and to be there on time. It had been the dream of my life to go to
the Palace and see what it was like, and up to this time I had never
had an opportunity, as most of my life had been spent out of Peking,--in
fact, out of China. Another reason why this chance had never come
before was, that my father had never registered our names (my sister and
myself) in the Government book for the registration of births of Manchu
children, in consequence of which the Empress Dowager did not know until
we came back from Paris that Lord Yu Keng had any daughters. My father
told me the reason why he did not put our names in this book was, that
he wished to give us the best education obtainable, and the only way
he could do it was not to let the Empress Dowager know. Besides this,
according to the Manchu custom, the daughters of all Manchu officials
of the second rank and above, after reaching the age of fourteen years,
should go to the Palace, in order that the Emperor may select them for
secondary wives if he so desires, and my father had other plans and
ambitions for us. It was in this way that the late Empress Dowager was
selected by the Emperor Hsien Feng.

(comment: li is 1/3 mile or 1/2 km)

We started at three o'clock that morning in total darkness riding in
four coolie sedan chairs, one on each side of the chair. In going such a
long distance it was necessary to have two relays of chair coolies. This
meant twenty-four coolies for the three chairs, not counting an extra
coolie for each chair who acted as a sort of head chair bearer. Besides
this there were three military officers on horses, one for each chair
and two servants riding at the back of each chair. In addition there
were three big Chinese carts following behind for the chair coolies to
ride in and rest. This made a cavalcade consisting of forty-five men,
nine horses and three carts.

I had a rather nervous feeling riding along in the chair surrounded by
inky blackness, with nothing to relieve the stillness of the night but
the rough voices of the chair bearers calling back and forth to each
other to be careful of stones and holes in the road, which was very
uneven, and the clump, clump of the horses. To my readers who have never
had the experience of riding a long distance in a sedan chair I would
s