Mr. Conger was then our Minister to China, and after spending a few very busy days sightseeing we went to the Legation to visit him. The Legation quarter, which had been laid in ruins during the Boxer troubles, had not yet begun to assume an aspect of orderliness, and many were the evidences of the weeks of horror through which the besieged foreign representatives had lived.

As the Empress Dowager and her court had not yet returned, we hoped to be able to see all the mysteries of the Forbidden City, but order had been restored to a point where it was possible to make the palaces once more “forbidden,” so we were shown only enough to whet our curiosity. But the wonderful walls and the temples, the long, unbelievable streets and the curious life of the people were sufficient to save us from any feeling of disappointment in our visit. At a dinner given for us by our Minister we met a number of men and women who had been through the siege, and I sat next to Sir Robert Hart, of the Imperial Chinese Customs, the most interesting man, perhaps, that the great occidental-oriental cooperation has ever produced.