“I say, Mr. S.”  I whispered, touching him with my foot, “what does all this mean?”

“Please, sir,” he murmured, “do not look! do not speak! do not turn your head! or I shall be beheaded!”

“Oh!  I do not mind that at all,” said I, laughingly, as my friend was squashing what he had in the shape of a nose into the dust.

At this point there was another noise at the window, as if it were being pushed quite open, and I heard a whisper.  The supreme moment had come, and I was bold.  I turned quickly round.  It was just as I had judged.  The queen, with her bright, jet black eyes and refined features, was there, caught in the act of thrusting her head out of the window, while several ladies of different ages were in the background, apparently on the tips of their toes and peeping over Her Majesty’s shoulders.  I had just time to see her face; for, taken as she was by surprise at such an unbounded bit of forwardness on my part, she remained perplexed for a second, then quickly withdrew, coming into dreadful collision with her ladies-in-waiting, who were at the moment just moving forward.  The sliding window was hurriedly closed; there were shrieks of laughter from inside—­apparently they had enjoyed the fun—­and by the sound of a shrill whistle the men who had been lying “dead” rose and fled, relieved from their uncomfortable position.

“Do you know,” said my Corean friend, as he got up and shook the dust and dirt off his beautiful silk gown, quite ignorant of what had happened, “do you know that if you had turned your head round and looked, I would be a dead man to-morrow?”

“Why; who was there?”

“The queen, of course.  Did you not hear the two shrieks and the whistle?  Those were the signs of her coming and going.”

“If you were to be beheaded, Mr. S., would you be afraid of death?”

“Oh, no, sir,” he said emphatically.  “I am a brave man, and I come of a family of braves.  I would die like a hero.”

“Oh,” said I, changing the conversation, “how pretty the queen looked!”

“Did you see her?” said he, horrified.

“Yes, I did.”

“Oh, poor me, poor me, poor me!” he cried in despair.  “You have seen her!  I shall die!  Oh, poor me, poor me, poor me!” and he shivered and shuddered and trembled.

“I thought that you were not afraid of death, Mr. S.?”

“Now that you have seen her, I am!” he mumbled pitifully.

“All right, Mr. S. Do not be afraid, I shall take all the blame on myself, and you will not be punished, I promise you.”

At this point Prince Min came to fetch me, and I told him the whole story, relieving Mr. S. of all responsibility for my cheeky action, after which, having made sure that he would not be punished, we proceeded to the feast.  The hour, be it noted, was about noon.  As we were passing along the wall of the King’s apartment, His Majesty peeped over the wall and smiled most graciously to me.  Shortly after he sent a messenger to the dining-room to express regret that he was not able to entertain me himself owing to pressing State affairs.