and thought the sky was clouded. I went to Her Majesty's own
Palace and found the Young Empress already there. She was always the
first and always looked so tidy I often wondered how early she had to
get up. She told me that I was not late, although Her Majesty was
awake but not up yet. I went into her bedroom and made my usual morning
courtesy to her. The first thing she asked me was about the weather. I
had to tell her the truth--that there was no sign of rain. Her Majesty
got up, dressed, and had her breakfast as usual, and told us there
would be no audience that morning. The Emperor went to the Temple,
sacrificing, and there was nothing important to attend to. We prayed for
three days in succession, but no rain came. I found that Her Majesty was
truly discouraged, and ordered each of us to pray twenty times a day.
We marked a spot with vermilion powder and a little water on big yellow
sheets of paper each time we prayed.

On the sixth day of the fourth moon the sky was clouded. I ran to Her
Majesty's bedroom that morning to tell her the news, but found that
someone had told her already. She smiled, and said to me: "You are not
the first one to give me the good news. I know everyone of you wanted to
be the first to tell me. I feel very tired today, and wish to lie down
a little longer. You can go, and I will send for you when I am ready
to get up." When I went to search for the Young Empress I found all the
Court ladies there also. They all asked me if I had noticed the rain. We
came out of the waiting room and found that the courtyard was wet, and
after a while it rained very fast. Her Majesty got up, and we prayed as
usual. Fortunately the rain did not stop, but came pouring down all that
day.

Her Majesty played solitaire with the dominoes, and I stood at the back
of her chair watching her. I saw that the Young Empress and all the
girls were standing on the veranda. Her Majesty saw them, too, and said
to me: "Go and tell them to wait in the waiting room. Can't they
see that the veranda is wet?" I went to them, but before I had the
opportunity of telling them anything the Young Empress told me that the
waiting room was wet, and that the water had gone in. As I said before,
this building was very old, and there were no drains at all. Her
Majesty's own Palace was high; it had twelve steps, while our waiting
room, which was on the left side of her Palace, was built right on the
ground, with no raised foundation at al