quite a time. Finally she said to me: "According to my book the
next lucky day will not occur for another ten days or so," and handed me
the book to look myself. Eventually she picked out the twentieth day of
the second-fifth moon as the most lucky day for beginning the work. Next
she had to consult the book again in order to fix on the exact hour,
finally fixing on 7 o'clock in the evening. I was very much worried when
she told me that, as by that time it would be quite dark, so I explained
to Her Majesty as nicely as I could that it would be impossible for Miss
Carl to work at that hour of the day. Her Majesty replied: "Well, we
have electric lights here. Surely that would be sufficient light for
her." Then I had to explain that it would not be possible to get such
good results by means of artificial light as if it were painted during
the daytime. You see I was anxious to get her to change the hour, as
I was sure that Miss Carl would refuse to paint by means of electric
light. Her Majesty replied: "What a bother. I can paint pictures myself
in any kind of light, and she ought to be able to do the same." After
much discussion it was finally settled that 10 o'clock on the morning of
the twentieth day of the second-fifth moon should be the time for Miss
Carl to commence to paint this portrait, and I can assure you that I
felt very much relieved when it was all settled. When the eunuch brought
in my portrait, he also brought in several photographs which I had had
taken during my stay in Paris, but I decided not to show them to Her
Majesty in case she should decide to have a photograph taken instead of
having this portrait painted, as it would be much quicker and save her
the trouble of sitting each day. However, as Her Majesty was passing on
the veranda in front of my bedroom the next morning she stepped into
the room just to have a look around and, as she put it, to see whether
I kept everything clean, and in good order. This was the first time
she had visited me in my own room, and I was naturally very much
embarrassed, as she very rarely visited the rooms of her Court ladies. I
could not keep her standing, and I could not ask her to sit down in
any of my own chairs, as it is the Chinese custom that the Emperor and
Empress should only sit down in their own special chairs, which are
usually carried by an attendant wherever they go. I therefore was on the
point of giving an order for her own stool to be brought in, when Her