on the
stone steps, asking to be punished for his carelessness and neglect of
duty. Her Majesty said that it was not his fault and ordered him to take
the offender away. During all this time the offender was still on the
ground, and did not dare to move. Two eunuchs each took hold of a foot
and dragged him out of the courtyard. We were all afraid even to breathe
aloud for fear Her Majesty would say that we were pretending to be
frightened at witnessing this punishment, at the same time when it
was over we would go and gossip about how cruel she was. No one was
surprised at what had happened, as we were accustomed to seeing it
almost every day and were quite used to it. I used to pity them, but I
changed my mind very soon after I had arrived.

The first person I saw punished was a servant girl, she had made a
mistake about Her Majesty's socks and had brought two which were not
mates, Her Majesty finding that out, ordered another servant girl to
slap her face ten times on each cheek. This girl did not slap hard
enough, so Her Majesty said they were all good friends and would not
obey her orders, so she told the one who had been slapped to slap the
other. I thought that was too funny for anything and wanted to laugh
the worst way, but of course did not dare. That night I asked those two
girls how they felt slapping each other that way. The reason why I asked
them was because they were laughing and joking as usual immediately they
were out of Her Majesty's bedchamber. They told me that was nothing;
that they were quite used to it and never bothered themselves about such
small things. I in turn soon became used to it, and was as callous as
they were.

Now regarding the servant girls, they are a much better class of people
than the eunuchs. They are the daughters of Manchu soldiers, and must
stay ten years at the Palace to wait upon Her Majesty, and then they are
free to marry. One got married after my first month at the Court. Her
Majesty gave her a small sum of money, five hundred taels. This girl was
so attached to Her Majesty that it was very hard for her to leave
the Court. She was an extremely clever girl. Her name was Chiu Yuen
(Autumn's Cloud). Her Majesty named her that because she was so very
delicate looking and slight. I liked her very much during the short time
that we were together. She told me not to listen to anyone's gossip at
the Court, also that Her Majesty had told her she was very fond of me.
On the tw