surroundings, forgotten the time, forgotten most things, I am afraid,
and was deep in the middle of an astonishing conversation, which never
flagged and which was continually broken with laughter. Then I was
brought to ominously. I heard a door shut with a thump; I saw the
women pinch and look at one another and cease talking. What did that
door mean?

On purpose I did not turn round; that would have been fatal. I did as
I always do now: I gained time to lessen the shock. Some day, when I
have much leisure, I shall, doubtless, prepare tables specially
adapted to every situation and to every temperament, which will show
exactly the number of seconds, minutes, and hours which are necessary
on an average to accustom one's self to anything. It is possible to do
so; it will be astonishing when it is done. For the time being, I
thought of this rather glumly--indeed, without a trace of
enthusiasm--and I wished a little that I had not been so foolish in
putting my head inside the lion's mouth. I remembered the story a
former Secretary of the British Legation used to tell us of two
Englishmen, who, in the unregenerate days in Cairo--or was it
Constantinople?--climbed into the harem, and were cruelly mutilated
for their audacity before they could be rescued. I became so glum as
this flashed through my mind, that my great system of preparation was
in imminent danger of breaking down. So I turned suddenly round on my
heel, and looked squarely ... it was as I had thought.

The door I had entered had been quietly locked, and now, inside, were
standing, with moving lips and menacing air, those evil-looking
eunuchs. This time there were four of them. Two were the two who had
knelt and prayed that we should not enter the Empress Dowager's
private apartments; one was the man who had stood up and been almost
threatening; the last one was so tall that his aspect of strength
almost gave the lie to the assumption that he had been mutilated for
Palace use. These last two would be difficult; the others I could
leave out of my calculations.

Faithful to my theory, and trusting to this strange ally, I merely
opened my revolver-pocket; then it was with a sense that I was
irretrievably lost that I saw that two of the opponents were armed in
the same way. My theories and preparations were all falling to the
ground. I would probably follow them in person in a very few minutes.
Nobody would be the wiser....

I stood there waiting while these me