elong to the Court and I wondered who he could be. At
the other end of the veranda I saw two or three of the Court ladies
whispering together and smiling. They finally came over to me and asked
if I knew who he was. I told them that he was a stranger to me and
they ought to know better than I did as they had been at the Court much
longer. Anyhow I gave it as my opinion that he was decidedly ugly. That
same evening Her Majesty asked me whether I had noticed this young man,
and told me that he was the son of a very high Manchu official; that his
father was dead and that he had succeeded to the title and to a large
amount of money. I was surprised that Her Majesty should give such a
lengthy explanation about this young man, but I told her that I did
not think him very handsome. Her Majesty was talking in a very serious
manner but I did not think anything of the occurrence at the time but a
few days later while I was posing for the portrait I heard Her Majesty
whispering to my mother at the other end of the room. I saw that Her
Majesty was holding a photograph in her hands which she showed to my
mother, at the same time asking whether my mother considered him good
looking. My mother answered "not very." On Her Majesty replying that
beauty was not everything I began to suspect that there was something
going on which directly concerned me. I began to think of some excuse
in order to get out of what I could plainly see was a proposed marriage
between myself and this gentleman. I knew that if Her Majesty had made
up her mind that I was to marry him I could not help myself, but, at the
same time, I made up my own mind that rather than marry anyone whom I
did not like, especially one I had never seen before, I would leave the
Court altogether. When Her Majesty retired for her usual afternoon rest
she told me she wanted to see me for a moment. After beating about the
bush for some time, she asked me whether I would like to stay with her
always or whether I would like to go away again to some foreign country.
I at once answered that I was quite satisfied to stay with her as long
as she cared to have me but that when she was tired of me she could then
send me away. Her Majesty informed me that it had been her intention to
marry me to this young gentleman and asked my opinion. I told her that I
did not want to get married at all, especially seeing that my father was
sick at this time, and leaving home to go to live apart from my family