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celebrations commenced. The decorations were beautiful; the Courtyards
being covered with glass roofs to keep out the snow. The theatres were
in full swing each day. The actual ceremony, which took place on the
tenth, did not differ in any respect from previous ones. Everything
passed off smoothly, and the Court removed again into the Sea Palace.

While at the Sea Palace we received news that my father's condition was
becoming serious, and he again tendered his resignation to Her Majesty.
She sent her eunuchs to find out exactly what the matter was, and on
learning that he was really very ill, accepted his resignation. Her
Majesty agreed that it might be better for him to go to Shanghai and see
if the foreign physicians could do him any good. She said she supposed
it would be necessary for my mother to accompany him to Shanghai, but
did not consider it serious enough to send my sister and myself along
also. I tried to explain that it was my duty to go along with him as he
might be taken worse and die before I could get down to see him again,
and I begged Her Majesty to allow me to go. She offered all kinds of
objections but eventually, seeing that I was bent on going, she said:
"Well, he is your father, and I suppose you want to be with him, so you
may go on the understanding that you return to Court as soon as ever
possible." We did not get away until the middle of the eleventh moon, as
Her Majesty insisted on making clothes for us and other preparations
for our journey. Of course we could do nothing but await Her Majesty's
pleasure.

When everything was ready Her Majesty referred to her book to choose a
suitable day for our departure, and fixed on the thirteenth as being the
best. We therefore left the Palace for our own house on the twelfth.
We kowtowed and said good-bye to Her Majesty, thanking her for her many
kindnesses during our stay with her. Everybody cried, even Her Majesty.
We then went to say good-bye to the Emperor and Young Empress. The
Emperor simply shook hands and wished us "Good Luck" in English.
Everybody appeared sorry to see us leave. After standing about for a
long time Her Majesty said it was no use wasting any more time and that
we had better start. At the gate the head eunuch bade us good-bye and
we entered our carriage and drove to my father's house, our own eunuchs
accompanying us to the door. We found everything prepared for our
journey, and early the next morning we took train to Tientsi