a
portrait. I replied that it was customary to pay very handsomely, but
she would not hear of such a suggestion, saying that in China it was not
the custom and that it would be regarded as an insult to offer money for
such a service. She suggested decorating Miss Carl as a reward for her
services, which she considered would be appreciated far more than
a money present. There was nothing for me to say at this time but I
determined to mention the matter again when a favorable opportunity
occurred.

During the ninth moon a Russian circus visited Peking and of course
everybody talked of little else. Her Majesty, hearing so much talk about
this circus asked what it was like, and after we had explained to her,
she became very interested and said that she would like to see it. My
mother thought it would be a good idea to have the circus brought up to
the Summer Palace, where they could perform, so she asked Her Majesty
whether this might be done. Her Majesty was delighted with the idea, and
arrangements were accordingly made for the performance. While everything
was being fixed, the people belonging to the circus, and the animals,
were quartered near our own house and we had to feed them at our own
expense. However, we wanted to show Her Majesty what a circus was like
so the expense did not matter. It took them two days to erect the tent
and make all necessary preparations, and during this time Her Majesty
received reports as to what was being done, and the progress they were
making.

The day before the performance, we noticed that Her Majesty, on coming
from her audience, looked very angry, and on our enquiring what was the
matter she informed my mother and myself that some censors had raised
objections against having this circus in the Palace grounds, as there
had never been anything of this kind allowed before and they had begged
Her Majesty to give up the idea. Her Majesty was very angry, and said:
"You see how much power I have here; I cannot even have a circus without
somebody raising objections. I think we had better pay them something
and let them go away." Of course we agreed to anything she thought best.
After considering for a time Her Majesty jumped up and said: "They have
the tent up already; they will talk just the same whether we have the
circus or not; I will have it anyway." So the performance duly took
place and Her Majesty and all the Court were delighted. One item
consisted of a young girl walking and da