The principal incident which marked the progress of the Embassy must also be fresh in the public mind--namely, the demand of the German Court that the Prince should perform the _kowtow_, and his refusal. It was at this stage that I first felt myself to be doing something to earn the lavish rewards of the Dowager Empress. Left to himself, I believe the barber would have given way, and performed the degrading obeisance, thereby lowering the honour of the Imperial House beyond redemption. The wretched man was thoroughly frightened at finding himself so far from home; and, in his ignorance of Western manners, he really thought that the Kaiser might have him imprisoned and beheaded if he provoked his Majesty. Fortunately we were on Swiss territory at the time, and by means of my secret agency I was able to procure a written despatch from the Chinese Ambassador at another Court, in the name of the Empress, positively forbidding Prince Chung’s substitute to comply with the offensive demand. The circumstances of our public audience in the Palace of Berlin were sufficient to daunt any impostor. I confess to some slight nervousness on my own part, though I was, of course, disguised beyond the possibility of recognition, as I stood before the monarch who had so often trusted me in his most confidential affairs, and listened to the faltering speech of the false Prince. The Kaiser was attired in his most magnificent costume, wearing the famous winged helmet on his head, and surrounded by a galaxy of ministers and great officers, all arrayed in the utmost military splendour. It was a sight calculated to strike terror into an Oriental mind, and I admired the theatrical completeness of the spectacle, almost regretting that it should be wasted on an obscure underling. Had the real Prince been there he might have learned a valuable lesson, and given some good advice to the Empress of China on his return. On the evening after the ceremony the Prince’s substitute was compelled to attend a banquet, given in order to mark the termination of strife, and the restoration of good feeling between the two empires. At this banquet I was unable to be present, my position being too low for me to receive an invitation, and too high for me to appear as an attendant on the Prince. What incident it was that occurred to rouse the Kaiser’s suspicion, I have never been able to learn--the luckless barber himself could not tell me. But late that night a wire reached me from my office in Paris, to this effect-- ‘_Urgent wire received from German Emperor requiring you immediately in Berlin. What reply?_’ With the reception of that telegram a light burst upon my mind. A doubt which I had tried in vain to stifle had vexed me all along as to the sufficiency of the Empress’s motive for retaining my services, at a high cost, to do practically nothing.