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.
"I am sorry to say I have not," I replied. "I have tried
repeatedly to secure one, but thus far have failed. I have
inquired at all the best stores on Liu Li Chang, the great curio
street, but they have none, and cannot tell me where I can find
one."
"No, you cannot get them in the stores; she does not paint for
the trade," he explained.
"I am sorry," I continued, "for I should like very much to get
one. I am told she is a very good artist."
"Oh, yes, she paints very well," he went on in a careless way.
"She lives over near our palace. We have a good many of her
paintings. They are very easily gotten."
"It may be easy for you to get them," I replied, "but it is no
small task for me."
"If you want some," he volunteered, "I'll get some for you."
"That would be very kind of you," I answered, "but how would you
undertake to get them?"
"Oh, I would just steal a few and bring them over to you."
It is hardly necessary to assure my readers as I did him that I
could not approve of this method of obtaining paintings from the
Lady Miao's brush. However he must have told the Princess of my
desire, for the next time Mrs. Headland called at the palace the
Princess entertained her by showing her a number of paintings by
the Lady Miao, together with others from the brush of the Empress
Dowager.
"And these are really the work of Her Majesty?" said Mrs.
Headland with a rising inflection
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