to the Sea Palace, but as the thirteenth day was the anniversary of the
death of the Emperor Kang Hsi, it was decided that we should remain in
the Forbidden City, where the ceremony was to be held. The Emperor Kang
Hsi ruled over the Chinese Empire for sixty-one years, the longest reign
of any Chinese Ruler up to the present time, and Her Majesty told us
that he was the most wonderful Emperor China had ever had and that we
must respect his memory accordingly.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN--THE AUDIENCE HALL

ON the fourteenth day of the eleventh moon, after the morning audience,
Her Majesty informed us that there was a likelihood of war breaking
out between Russia and Japan and that she was very much troubled, as
although it actually had nothing whatever to do with China, she was
afraid they would fight on Chinese territory and that in the long run
China would suffer in some way or other. Of course we did not bother
ourselves about it much at the moment, but the next morning the head
eunuch reported to Her Majesty that fifty eunuchs were missing. As there
was no apparent reason for this, everybody was much excited. There
was no rule against any of the eunuchs going into the city after their
duties were ended, providing they returned before the Palace Gate was
closed, but when on the following morning it was reported that another
hundred eunuchs had also disappeared, Her Majesty at once said: "I know
now what the trouble is; they must have heard what I said about this war
coming on and are afraid there may be a repetition of the Boxer trouble,
and so they have cleared out." It was the custom whenever a eunuch
was missing to send out search parties and have him brought back and
punished, but in the present instance Her Majesty gave instructions that
nothing was to be done about recapturing them. One morning, however,
one of Her Majesty's personal attendants was missing, which made her
furious. She said that she had been very kind to this particular eunuch
in many ways, and this was all the thanks she got; he ran away at the
first sign of trouble. I myself had noticed how good she had been to
this eunuch, but I was not really sorry that he had left, as he used to
take advantage of every opportunity of getting some of the Court ladies
into trouble.

These disappearances continued from day to day until Her Majesty decided
that it would be safer for us to remain in the Forbidden City until the
following spring at any rate.

On