d to help them a bit.

"How is your sister?" I inquired, for the sad fate of this young girl
weighed like a burden on my heart.

"She fasted more than usual during the early summer, but she bathed
daily and changed her clothes, dressing herself in her most beautiful
garments. She had not been sleeping well for some time, and one day she
ordered her women to leave her and not return until they were called.
They remained away until a married sister and a sister-in-law-a niece
of Li Hung-chang--called and wanted to see her. We went to her room but
found it locked. We knocked but received no answer. We finally punched
a hole through the paper window and saw her sitting on her brick bed,
her head bolstered up with cushions and her eyes closed. We supposed
she was sleeping, but on forcing open the door we found that she had
gone to join her boy husband, though her colour and appearance was that
of a living person."

"And are you sure she had not swooned?"

"She remained in this condition for twenty-two hours without pulse or
heart beat, and so we put her in her casket."

I could not but feel sad that I had not been in the city, and had had
an opportunity to help them to ascertain whether her life had really
gone out. But the girls seemed proud of the distinction of having had a
sister of such consummate virtue. Numerous embroidered scrolls and
laudatory inscriptions were sent her from friends of the Li family as
well as of their own, and it is expected that the throne will order a
memorial arch erected to her memory.

On another occasion I was requested to go to the palace of one of the
princes. The fourth Princess, a beautiful little child of five, was ill
with diphtheria, and the first greeting of the mother as I went in was
that she "was homesick to see me." The child had been ill for several
days before they sent for me, and I told them at once that the case was
dangerous. I wanted to do all I could for them and at the same time
protect my own children from the danger of infection. After the first
treatment with antitoxin she seemed to rally, her throat cleared up,
but I soon found that the poison had pervaded her entire system, and so
I stayed with her day and night.

I found that the child had contracted the disease from another about
her own age, who was both her playmate and her slave. It is the custom
among the wealthy to purchase for each daughter a companion who plays
with her as a child, becomes a companio