We were still having daily walks in the gardens, and there was always some delightful little incident to make them pleasant and memorable. One day, when we were out and were resting, while Her Majesty was sitting alone before the “Peony Mountain,” the young Empress and Ladies stood in a group at a little distance. We were near some arborvitae trees, and the young Empress picked a piece that looked like a “peacock’s feather.” She told me to kneel and let her “decorate” me. She stuck the curiously shaped branch in my hair so that it hung over the neck and looked like the “peacock feather,” which is given as a reward of merit to the highest officials, and is always worn upon their hats. When she had placed it, she told me to rise, and called me “Your Excellency Carl,” which is the title of those who possess the decoration of the peacock feather. I kept it in my hair and soon quite forgot my “decoration.” When we were walking on, Her Majesty noticed it. She had been preoccupied and sad that day, but when she saw it she smiled, and said, “Who decorated you with the peacock feather?” I told her the young Empress had done so. She said that was her prerogative, but she added, “If you were a man you would win it, and probably a yellow jacket also, for you are fearless.” Why did she think me fearless? Could she have heard that the foreigners in Peking seemed to think it was almost as much as taking my life in my own hands to go and live entirely alone among the Chinese at Court, and put myself in Her Majesty’s power, after the Boxer trouble?
Pai-lou in Grounds of Summer Palace—On the Shore of the Lake
Another afternoon we went into the Great Audience Hall when we were passing it, and I had an opportunity of studying in detail the interior of this magnificent hall. I examined closely some of the rare old niellée bronzes and wonderful Chinese cloisonné, for here are some of the finest