"The empress was a remarkable woman. She had been one of the widows of a
monarch, and when his son succeeded to the throne she married him. She had
great ambition and great ability. She put down her enemies, and she put
herself forward. She took her husband's place in all the imperial
consultations and decisions, and very soon set him aside, and for forty
years was actual ruler of the empire.

"She was a great woman, this Empress Woo. Very little happened in her
dominions that she did not know, and when two wanderers arrived from the
far and unknown West, she sent for me and my wife to appear before her at
the palace. We were received with much favor, for we could do her no
possible harm, and she was very eager for knowledge. My wife was an object
of great curiosity to her, as she was so different from the Chinese women.
But as poor Rina could never acquire a word of the language of the country,
the empress soon ceased to take interest in her. As I was always very good
at picking up languages, she had me at the palace a great deal, asking all
sorts of questions about the Western countries and people. I was also able
to tell her much about bygone ages, which information she thought,
of course, I had acquired by reading.

[Illustration: "'ASKING ALL SORTS OF QUESTIONS.'"]

"One day the empress asked me about the marriage customs in the West,
and wanted to know how many wives a man could have in our country. She
seemed to be so much in earnest, as she spoke, that I was frightened.
I did not know what to answer. But fortunately one of her generals was
announced, and she did not press the question. As I was leaving the
palace, one of the officers of the court took me aside, and told me that
the empress was thinking of marrying me, and that I had better put on some