inquiring from my eunuch the cause of these disappearances, he said
that it was just as Her Majesty suspected; they were afraid of getting
mixed up in another such affair as the Boxer trouble, and added that
he was not a bit surprised at Her Majesty's favorite eunuch going along
with the rest. He further told me that even Li Lien Ying himself was not
to be absolutely relied upon, as at the time of Her Majesty's leaving
Peking for Shi An during the Boxer movement, he had feigned sickness,
and followed a little later, so that in the event of anything happening,
he would be able to return and make his escape. While talking about Li
Lien Ying, my eunuch told me in confidence that he was responsible for
the death of many innocent people, mostly eunuchs. He had unlimited
power at the Court, and it was very easy for him to get anybody put
away who offended him or to whom, for some reason or another, he took
a dislike. Furthermore, the eunuch informed me that, although not
generally known, Li Lien Ying was addicted to opium-smoking, which habit
he indulged in very freely. Even Her Majesty was unaware of this, as
opium-smoking was strictly forbidden in the Palace.

Each morning there was fresh news regarding the trouble between Russia
and Japan, and of course everybody gradually became very much excited
at the Palace. One day Her Majesty summoned the whole of the Court to a
special audience and there informed us that there was no need for us to
get excited at all; that if any trouble did occur, it was none of our
business and we should not be interfered with, as the spirits of our
ancestors were watching over us, and she did not want to hear any more
talk and gossip on the subject. However, she summoned all of the Court
ladies to her apartment and there commanded us to pray to the spirits of
our ancestors to protect us, which plainly showed that she was just as
much worried as we were ourselves. In spite of what she had said with
reference to gossiping about this trouble, Her Majesty often spoke about
it herself, and during one of our conversations she said she wished she
could get information each day as to what was actually occurring, so
I suggested that it would be very easy to get all the latest news by
taking the foreign papers and also Reuter's specials. Her Majesty jumped
at the suggestion and told me to have these sent each day to my father's
house in his name, and have them brought to the Palace, where I could
translate