taken in this her first _coup
d'etat_, is left to conjecture. Penetrating and ambitious she
was not content to be a tool in the hands of the Eight. The senior
Empress yielded to the ascendency of a superior mind, as she continued
to do for twenty years.

There was another actor whom it would be wrong to overlook, namely,
Kweiliang, the good secretary, who had signed the treaties at Tientsin.
His daughter
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was Prince Kung's principal wife, and though too old to take a
leading part in the Court revolutions, it was he who prompted Prince
Kung, who was young and inexperienced, to strike for his life.

The reigning title of the infant Emperor was changed from
_Kisiang_, "good luck," to _Tung-chi_, "joint government";
and the Empire acquiesced in the new regime.

One person there was, however, who was not quite satisfied with
the arrangement. This was the restless, ambitious young Dowager.
The Empire was quiet; and things went on in their new course for
years, Prince Kung all the time growing in power and dignity. His
growing influence gave her umbrage; and one morning a decree from
the two Dowagers stripped him of power, and confined him a prisoner
in his palace. His alleged offence was want of respect to their
Majesties; he threw himself at their feet and implored forgiveness.

The ladies were not implacable; he was restored to favour and clothed
with all his former dignities, except one. The title of
_Icheng-wang_, "joint regent," never reappeared.

In 1881 the death of the senior Dowager left the second Dowager
alone in her glory. So harmoniously had they cooeperated during
their joint regency, and so submissive had the former been to the
will of the latter, that there was no ground for suspicion of foul
play, yet such suspicions are always on the wing, like bats in
the twilight of an Oriental court.

On the death of Tung-chi, the adroit selection of a nephew of three
summers to succeed to the throne as her adopted son, gave the Dowager
the prospect of another long regency. Recalled to power by the
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reactionaries, in 1898, after a brief retirement, the Empress Dowager
dethroned her puppet by a second _coup-d'etat_.

During the ruinous recoil that followed she had the doubtful
satisfaction of feeling herself sole aristocrat of the Chinese
Empire. Was it not the satisfaction of a gladiator who seated himself
on the throne of the Caesars in a burning amphitheatre? Was she
not made sensible th