begged
me to give him instructions to order General Nieh, who was afterwards
killed by the Boxers, to bring his troops to protect the Legations. Of
course I gave him this instruction at once, and also told him that he
must see Prince Tuan at once and Duke Lan to tell them that this was
a very serious affair and that they had better not interfere with Yung
Lu's plans. Matters became worse day by day and Yung Lu was the only one
against the Boxers, but what could one man accomplish against so many?
One day Prince Tuan and Duke Lan came and asked me to issue an Edict
ordering the Boxers to kill all the Legation people first and then all
remaining foreigners. I was very angry and refused to issue this Edict.
After we had talked a very long time, Prince Tuan said that this must
be done without delay, for the Boxers were getting ready to fire on the
Legations and would do so the very next day. I was furious and ordered
several of the eunuchs to drive him out, and he said as he was going
out: 'If you refuse to issue that Edict, I will do it for you whether
you are willing or not,' and he did. After that you know what happened.
He issued these Edicts unknown to me and was responsible for a great
many deaths. He found that he could not carry his plans through and
heard that the foreign troops were not very far from Peking. He was so
frightened that he made us all leave Peking." As she finished saying
this, she started to cry, and I told her that I felt very sorry for her.
She said: "You need not feel sorry for me for what I have gone through;
but you must feel sorry that my fair name is ruined. That is the only
mistake I have made in my whole life and it was done in a moment of
weakness. Before I was just like a piece of pure jade; everyone admired
me for what I have done for my country, but the jade has a flaw in it
since this Boxer movement and it will remain there to the end of my
life. I have regretted many, many times that I had such confidence
in, and believed that wicked Prince Tuan; he was responsible for
everything."

By the end of the third moon Her Majesty had had enough of the Sea
Palace and the Court moved into the Summer Palace. This time we
travelled by boat as it was very beautiful weather. On reaching the
water-gates of the Palace we found everything just lovely and the peach
blossoms were in full bloom. Her Majesty plainly showed how glad she
was to be back once more and for the time being seemed to have forgo