I had nothing to do with the Christians. I felt guilty at
having deceived her that way, but it was absolutely necessary, and there
was no other way out of it. I knew that I had to answer her question
at once, because it would never do for her to see any hesitation, which
would arouse her suspicions. Although my face showed nothing, my heart
stopped beating for a while. I felt ashamed to have fooled her. The
earliest training I had was never to be ashamed to tell the truth. When
Her Majesty heard me say that I was not a Christian, she smiled
and said: "I admire you; although you have had so much to do with
foreigners, yet you did not adopt their religion. On the contrary, you
still keep to your own. Be strong and keep it as long as you live. You
have no idea how glad I am now, for I suspected you must believe in the
foreign God. Even if you don't want to, they can make you believe it.
Now I am ready for bed."

We helped her to undress, and I, as usual, put away her jewels, and
noticed she wore only one pair of jade bracelets to sleep. She changed
into her bed clothes and lay down between the silk covers and said
to us: "You can go now." We courtesied to her and withdrew from her
bedroom. Out in the hall there was on the cold stone floor six eunuchs.
They were the watchmen and must not sleep at all during the night. In
her bedroom were two eunuchs, two servant girls, two old women servants
and sometimes two Court ladies. These people also must not sleep. The
two girls massaged her legs every night, and the two women were there to
watch the girls, the two eunuchs to watch the two old women, and the two
Court ladies to watch them all, in case they did any mischief. They all
took turns, and that was the reason why sometimes two Court ladies must
sit overnight when it happened that the eunuchs were not reliable. Her
Majesty trusted the Court ladies the most. I was never more surprised
in my life than when one of these six eunuchs told me in the hall, for I
had asked what they were all doing there.

Later on one of the Court ladies said to me that it was customary for
them to take turns to attend at Her Majesty's bedchamber in the morning
to wake her up, and that I should take my turn the next morning and my
sister the following morning. While saying this she smiled in a most
peculiar way. I did not understand at the time, but found out later. I
asked her what I should do to wake Her Majesty, and she said: "There
is no partic