tructions carried out quickly. While I was
searching, one of the eunuchs came in and told me that Her Majesty
wanted to see me, and of course I had to go to her. Before she could say
anything to me, I informed Her Majesty that I had not been able to
ask Miss Carl about the parcel as she was asleep, but would do so
immediately she got up. Her Majesty said: "I don't want Miss Carl to
think I have told you to ask what the parcel contains, otherwise she
might think I am suspicious of what is going on, so you must manage
to get the information somehow without mentioning the matter; you are
clever enough to do that much." Shortly afterwards, while I was walking
along with Miss Carl to Her Majesty's Palace, to proceed with the
portrait, I noticed that she was carrying the parcel in question, which
was a great relief to me, I can assure you. On arrival at the Palace,
Miss Carl said to me: "You need not trouble to pose at present, as it is
rather dark, and I can be painting the throne; you can look through
this magazine, if you like, to pass the time away." So I opened up the
parcel, which proved to contain nothing more than an ordinary American
monthly magazine. After glancing through the book, I made an excuse to
hurry away and inform Her Majesty. However, she had already gone out
for her usual trip on the lake, so I took my chair and followed. When I
reached the lake, Her Majesty, who had seen me, sent a small boat and I
was rowed out to the launch. Before I could get a chance to speak, Her
Majesty said with a smile: "I know all about it, it was a book and Miss
Carl handed it to you to read." I was very much disappointed that I had
had my journey for nothing. I knew that the eunuchs would report it to
Her Majesty at the first opportunity, but I hardly expected they would
have done so already. Her Majesty was now quite satisfied, and simply
asked whether Miss Carl suspected that she had enquired about the
matter.

As I was about to return to Miss Carl, Her Majesty called me and said:
"There is one thing I want to tell you and that is whenever any foreign
ladies are visiting the Palace, always keep close to the Emperor so that
in the event of their speaking to him you can interpret." I answered
that so far whenever any foreigners were present I was present also and
did not think that anybody had held any conversation with the Emperor
whatsoever. She explained that her reason for mentioning this was
that she wanted me to be just