r Majesty had rested a while, she told us that it was time we
were returning to the city, as it was getting late. She gave us eight
big yellow boxes of fruit and cakes to take home with us. She said to
my mother: "Tell Yu Keng (my father) to get better soon and tell him to
take the medicine I am sending by you and to rest well. Also give him
these eight boxes of fruit and cakes." I thought my father, who had been
quite ill since we returned from Paris, would not be much benefited if
he ate all those cakes. However, I knew he would appreciate her kind
thoughtfulness even if it were detrimental to his health.

As perhaps most of my readers know, it is the custom to kowtow when Her
Majesty gives presents and we kowtowed to her when she gave us the fruit
and cakes and thanked her for her kindness.

Just as we were leaving, Her Majesty said to my mother that she liked us
very much and wanted us to come and be her Court ladies and stay at the
Palace. We thought this was another great favor and again thanked her,
and she asked us when we could come and told us to bring our clothes and
things only, as she would fix everything for us and showed us the house
we would live in when we came and told us to come back inside of two
days. This house contained three very large rooms and was situated on
the right side of her own or private Palace. This Palace Ler Shou Tong
(Ever Happy Palace) is situated on the shores of the lake and was Her
Majesty's favorite place and where she spent most of her time, reading
and resting and when the spirit moved her she would go for a sail on the
lake. In this Palace she had quite a number of bedrooms and made use of
them all.

When she had finished showing us this house we took leave of Her
Majesty, the Young Empress and the Court ladies, and after a long and
tiresome ride, reached home exhausted but happy, after the most eventful
day of our lives. When we got into the house, we were surprised to find
several eunuchs waiting our return. They had brought us each four rolls
of Imperial brocade from Her Majesty. Once more we had to bend to custom
in thanking her for these gifts. This time, the gift having been sent to
the house, we placed the silk on a table in the center of the room and
kowtowed to thank Her Majesty and told the eunuchs to tell Her Majesty
how grateful we were to her for all her kindness and for the beautiful
gifts.

There is another thing that had to be done according to the custom,