most magnificent and costly thing I ever saw. This cape was made
of about three thousand five hundred pearls the size of a canary
bird's egg, all exactly alike in color and perfectly round. It was
made on the fish net pattern and had a fringe of jade pendants and
was joined with two pure jade clasps. In addition to this Her
Majesty wore two pairs of pearl bracelets, one pair of jade
bracelets, several jade rings and on her third and little fingers
of her right hand she wore gold finger nail protectors about three
inches long and on the left hand two finger nail protectors made
of jade and about the same length. Her shoes were trimmed with
small tassels made of pearls and embroidered with tiny pieces of
different colored jade.

Her Majesty stood up when she saw us and shook hands with us. She
had a most fascinating smile and was very much surprised that we
knew the Court etiquette so well. After she had greeted us, she
said to my mother: "Yu tai tai (Lady Yu), you are a wonder the way
you have brought your daughters up. They speak Chinese just as
well as I do, although I know they have been abroad for so many
years, and how is it that they have such beautiful manners?"
"Their father was always very strict with them," my mother
replied; "he made them study their own language first and they had
to study very hard." "I am pleased to hear their father has been
so careful with them," Her Majesty said, "and given them such a
fine education." She took my hands and looked into my face and
smiled and kissed me on both cheeks and said to my mother: "I wish
to have your daughters and hope they will stay with me." We were
very much pleased at this and thanked her for her kindness. Her
Majesty asked all sorts of questions about our Paris gowns and
said we must wear them all the time, as she had very little chance