China -- Court and courtiers -- Anecdotes; Cixi, Empress dowager of China, 1835-1908 -- Anecdotes; Empresses -- China -- Anecdotes
After the sketch was finished Her Majesty was delighted and thought
it was wonderful for Miss Carl to have made it so quickly and so
accurately. I explained that this was a rough sketch and that when Miss
Carl commenced painting, she would soon see the difference. Her Majesty
told me to ask Miss Carl whether she was tired and would like to rest;
also to tell her that she was very busy all the day, and would only be
able to give her a few minutes' sitting each day. We then took Miss
Carl to luncheon, together with Mrs. Conger, and after luncheon we
accompanied Her Majesty to the theatre.
After Mrs. Conger had departed I took Miss Carl to my room to rest. As
soon as we arrived there, Her Majesty sent a eunuch to call me to her
bedroom. Her Majesty said: "I don't want this lady to paint during my
afternoon rest. She can rest at the same time. As soon as I am up you
can bring her here to paint. I am glad that it looks like turning out
better than I had anticipated." I therefore told Miss Carl Her Majesty's
wishes in this respect and that she could paint for a little while,
if she chose to, after Her Majesty had had her rest. Miss Carl was so
interested in Her Majesty, she told me she didn't want to rest at
all, but that she would like to go on with the painting right away. Of
course, I did not like to tell her anything the first day, as it might
upset her, and did not say that this was a command from Her Majesty.
After a lot of maneuvering I got her to give up the idea of continuing
straight off, without offending her. I took her out on the veranda as
the eunuch was preparing the table for Her Majesty's dinner in the room
we were then occupying. The Young Empress kept Miss Carl busy talking, I
acting as interpreter. Soon one of the eunuchs came and informed us that
Her Majesty had finished dinner, and would we please come and take ours.
On entering the room I was very much surprised to see that chairs had
been placed there, as this had never been done previously, everybody,
with the exception of Her Majesty, taking their meals standing. The
Young Empress was also very much surprised and asked me whether I knew
anything about it. I said that perhaps it was on account of Miss Carl
being there. The Young Empress told me to go over and ask Her Majesty,
as she was afraid to sit down without receiving orders to do so.
Her Majesty whispered to me: "I don't want Miss Carl to think we are
barbarians, and treat the Young Empress and the Court ladies in that
manner. Of course, she does not understand our Court etiquette and might
form a wrong impression, so you can all sit down without coming over to
thank me, but be natural, as though you were accustomed to sitting down
to dinner every day."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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