Return to the Summer Palace
Sending off the picture to St. Louis did not sever my connection with the Palace, for I had still other work to finish! At the end of April, a month later than usual, the Court moved out to the Summer Palace for the rest of the year. The country was beautiful, the trees were almost in full leaf, and lilacs, blue and white, bloomed everywhere. My garden in the Park of the Palace of the Emperor’s Father was full of them, and over my entrance gate clambered a beautiful yellow rosebush laden with masses of blooms. Wild flowers were springing up at every turn, and my dog Me-lah in his wild races through the park, when we were out for our walks, would often start up coveys of birds; or rabbits would scurry away at his approach. I went back to my favorite haunts in the park, to the summerhouse, where upon the threshold, cut in stone, lay the plaint of the Seventh Prince! It was a delightful change to be in this beautiful spot after the four months in Peking, and to see Nature everywhere budding into perfection. The grounds of the Summer Palace were one maze of delight. The peonies in all their royal splendor, the fragrant lilac, the stately magnolia, and the budding elms, each added their charm to this beautiful spot, where everything was lovely. I could not wonder at the Empress Dowager’s desire to come back again to all this beauty.
A charming studio was fitted up for me at the Summer Palace on our return. Her Majesty saw how much more satisfactory it was for me to have a proper place to work in, where I would be undisturbed, and even had she not seen the utility of a studio, I think she would have granted my request for one, for she was always kind and considerate. Upper windows of plate-glass were put into the north side of one of His Majesty’s Throne-rooms, behind the Imperial loge. It looked over a