The Foreign Office is only a few hundred yards to the left of the Imperial entrance to the Palace. Mrs. Conger was one of the first ladies to arrive. When the other ladies came, all walked over to the gate of the Palace, and, after entering, went to a pavilion at the right of the Audience Hall, where they arranged themselves in the order in which they were to be presented.
The verandah and large marble platform of approach to the Audience Hall were shaded with tent-like silken awnings and covered, for the day, with red carpets, the latter a concession to foreign taste; for Her Majesty, though having many beautiful carpets stored up, has none in use, and only in winter and for certain functions are the courts carpeted. She never uses them in the interior.
A double line of Princesses, led by the Princess Imperial, descended the steps of the Audience Hall and met the ladies on the marble platform. The Princesses then turned and preceded them into the Audience Hall. Here they separated and stood in a picturesque group on either side of the Throne dais.
Here, in the dim obscurity, sat the Empress Dowager on the Dynastic Throne, with the Emperor seated at her left. In front of Her Majesty stood the official table, with its cover of Imperial yellow reaching to the floor. To the ladies standing below the dais only the heads and shoulders of the Empress Dowager were visible above the table, with its pyramids of fruits and flowers.
The ladies made three reverences on entering, and each advanced and went up on the dais at her presentation. Her Majesty’s interpreter, the elder Miss Yu, stood at her right, a little behind, and repeated the Chinese name and title of each lady presented. Her Majesty, who has a royal memory for faces, recognized each lady who had been presented before, but treated all with equal cordiality. This cordiality was sometimes construed by the ladies, on their first presentation, as a special mark of interest in themselves; but it was the Empress Dowager’s invariable position toward all the foreigners at these diplomatic receptions. Like all well-bred hostesses, she was most particular to show no difference even to those ladies she liked best.
When all had been presented, the eunuchs removed the official table behind which the Empress Dowager received the formal presentations, and she descended from the dais. One of her yellow satin chairs was brought and she sat down at the right side of the Audience Hall. The ladies were then, collectively, presented by Her Majesty to the young Empress and the Princess Imperial, and tea was ordered. While the ladies were drinking tea, standing around the Empress Dowager’s chair, she said a few words to each, informally.
When the tea was finished, the ladies, conducted by the eunuchs and accompanied by the Princesses, went through the court of the Theater, past the Palace of the young Empress, through Her Majesty’s court to her Throne-room, where luncheon was served. This was in alternate courses of foreign and Chinese food. There were foreign wines and table waters, as well as Chinese, and quantities of sweet champagne, without which, the Chinese imagine, no foreigner can eat.
After luncheon, at which the Imperial Princess and Princesses acted as hostesses, the visiting ladies went to the marble terrace overlooking the lake. Here they were met by the young Empress and the secondary wife of the Emperor, for they were never present at the table when the foreign ladies were entertained, any more than Her Majesty herself.
The Empress Dowager’s barge did not lead the Palace fleet that day. There were three big houseboats, each of which ponderous affairs had a large cabin with a yellow-covered seat for Her Majesty, which, though she never used, was never occupied by any one else. Anything covered with yellow is sacred to Their Majesties, and is never used except by them.
