The Ginger Tree

by Oswald Wynd

  Your loving daughter,

  Mary

  Legation Quarter, Peking

  February 22nd, 1903

  I am back to the notebooks I never thought I would write in again after I was with Richard. For the last four days it has been nothing but parties, first an evening here for me to meet some of the diplomats of all nations, though mostly of the lesser ranks in the legations. Then we went to a reception at the home of the British Minister, Sir Claude Macdonald, who organised the defence against the Boxers and is expected to be moved shortly to another post. Lady Macdonald is in England but Sir Claude was most charming to me, saying he is looking forward to a splendid wedding which will do them all good. He asked me if I was related to the Mackenzies of Achtarn who are distant connections of his but I had to say that my family had lived on the East Coast for some time and so had lost contact with Highland relations. At that his eyebrows shot up as though I had surprised him. He is a big man who dresses in fancy waistcoats as if formal occasions bother him a little, though I expect that in diplomatic uniform he will be most splendid. Against him all Chinese must appear very small physically. He is really like a Highland Chieftain and though very friendly is also grand. I think Richard feels it a little that he was not here during the Boxer Troubles which makes a division between him and all those who were. I have noticed that he does not like too much Boxer talk, though interested enough in the way battles were fought.

  Mr and Mrs Harding are being very kind to me, though I do not see much of him. When we meet at meals they both talk to me but don’t seem to talk much to each other, as though they are no longer finding things to talk about. I suppose this must happen, but it is rather sad. It is not easy for a husband and wife to have interests together in Peking. Tennis is played here in the Quarter during the summer, but there are no winter activities such as there used to be, like skating outside the city walls and sometimes race meetings, because that area is still unsafe for Europeans. One can’t go riding out there, either. What everyone complains about most is not being able to go to temples in the Western Hills because of bandits and some Boxers still wandering about. Those temples used to be hired for weekends or longer stays and the priests just moved out temporarily. I am not sure I would care for a holiday in a Buddhist church but when I said this to the wife of the First Secretary she told me that their temples are not nearly so sacred as our churches and that they adapt quite easily for picnics or as holiday houses. When I asked about the consecration of these buildings I learned that the Chinese do not bother about such things, though I am beginning to wonder a little whether the foreigners in this country pay enough attention to native customs and practices? Christians seem very sure of themselves when surrounded by other religions. This is right, of course, but somehow it makes me a little uncomfortable.

  Legation Quarter

  February 24th, 1903

  Last night Richard and I went, with the Hardings, to dinner with the First Secretary of the French Legation, a Monsieur and Madame de Chamonpierre. According to Mrs Harding he is really Le Vicomte de Chamonpierre but does not use the title since his country is now a republic, and he is not in favour of inherited rank. Mrs Harding suggested that this was an affectation, but now that I have met Monsieur and Madame I do not think so. Though we were introduced at Sir Claude’s reception I did not really get a chance to talk to them, but I noticed Madame’s dress, which was of stiff silk, very plain, only striking in cut and colour, a deep cerise which made her stand out in the room. She is very dark, not beautiful, rather a big nose, but it is her eyes you notice which on first meeting seem to be searching at once to see what you are made of. I cannot guess what she discovered I was made of, but it is flattering to find her giving me the kind of attention which she does not give Mrs Harding. Perhaps there is something still in the Auld Alliance between France and Scotland? It may, of course, be only kindness because she sees me as young and helpless in a new place, but I think not. Towards Richard she is slightly teasing in a way I’m surprised he accepts so easily. He didn’t seem at all embarrassed when Madame said she hoped I realised what a responsibility I was taking on, marrying the most beautiful man in Peking. I cannot imagine Richard allowing an Englishwoman to call him beautiful, but perhaps he excuses such expressions from her because that is the way she speaks English, as though every word was directly translated from the French.

  The important guest at dinner was Sir Robert Hart, whom Richard says is the most respected Englishman in China and who could have received Sir Claude’s position as British Minister if he had wanted it, but did not, for he regards being Controller of Chinese Customs as much more important. It would seem he does not often go to dinner-parties at the level of Legation Secretaries, but makes an exception in the case of the de Chamonpierres, something that I can see irritates Mrs Harding very much. I did not exchange a word with Sir Robert all evening, partly because I was at the other end of the table at dinner, but later in the drawing-room he never came near my chair, as though military attachés’ fiancées did not exist for him. I had been warned by Mrs Harding that for this evening I would probably be seated next to our host, but that I must not regard this as anything more than an exception to the usual rules of entertaining in which a Second Secretary’s wife takes precedence over the wife of the military attaché. I do not think that Mrs Harding much cares for the de Chamonpierres’ informality and she said afterwards that she did not enjoy the spectacle of the hostess totally controlling the conversation at dinner and after.

  Madame did not control the conversation in that way, but what she did do was join in what Mrs Harding would regard as men’s talk and make that the talk of the table. After the tea-parties I liked this very much, though I did not say so to Mrs H. Madame does not care for the Russians and was quite vehement about them. She says that if they are not stopped they will not only take over Manchuria, where their influence is very strong already, but the whole of North China and probably Korea as well. She says the Czar is a useless puppet under the control of scoundrelly Ministers, and that it will be quite shocking if the European powers with interests in China allow Japan to go to war by itself to stop the advance of Russian Imperialism. At this point Richard said that if Japan took on the Russian giant she would be committing suicide but Madame wouldn’t have that, claiming that one Japanese soldier was worth three Russians. She added that a Captain Kurihama had told her it would be an honour to die in so worthy a cause as fighting the Russians. Everyone except me seemed to know who Captain Kurihama was, and I noticed Richard frowning, as though the name disturbed him in some way. I was quite silent. I have never heard anyone, least of all a woman, talking about Royalty the way Madame was talking about the Czar who is, after all, closely related to our Royal Family.

  It was an interesting evening. I will never be able to, but I would still like to guide the talk at my own dinner table as Madame does. Richard, though, would hate that. We walked home from the dinner, only a short distance and the night fine, this all right for Mrs Harding who had her sables, but in my cloth coat I was quite chilled. I was beside Mr Harding who had been sparing of personal opinions during my stay in his house and, perhaps to provoke him, I asked what he thought of Madame? He said at once that she intended to make her husband French Ambassador to London or Berlin and though he wasn’t a betting man he would back her all the way to do it. This made me laugh. Richard looked around, I think because he had heard, and though the street was ill lit I had a feeling he was staring at me. Could he perhaps be wondering whether a Scotch wife will try to make him a General or a Field Marshal?

  Another thing that Madame de Chamonpierre has done for me is to make me dissatisfied with the way I dress. I would like her for a friend. As we were leaving she said: ‘You will call me Marie.’ So I shall.

  Letter from Mary Mackenzie to her mother

  Legation Quarter, Peking

  February 28th, 1903

  Dearest Mama – I can now give you the address of my home-to-be in Peking
even though I still haven’t seen it. If this seems strange it is because as soon as the house became available, the day before yesterday, Richard moved in from his bachelor quarters and so far Mrs Harding has not been free to accompany me as chaperone. It is very necessary to observe all the proprieties here for the gossip is like a village and I do not wish to give any excuse for talk about what I am doing. I’m sure you will approve of this.

  My address after the wedding will be 157 Hutung Feng-huang. It may surprise you that our house has a number just as at home, though the Chinese system of numbering is rather erratic and Richard tells me that our neighbour on one side is eighty-four and on the other one hundred and twenty-three. The hutung means lane and Feng-huang is translated rather vaguely as fabulous bird, which I gather means a bird that is both male and female. So your daughter will be living in the lane of the fabulous bird. I expect that, like so many narrow streets in this city, it will be rather smelly, for there is a system of open drains along the edges of all of them. Even in the winter freeze-up these are noticeable and what they will be like under summer heat I cannot imagine, for they only get washed out by rain. However, we seem to be behind quite a high wall, a little compound of our own, so that may help.

  Our house has quite an interesting history. The Germans have now returned home and Richard bought over their furniture, paying a hundred and twenty pounds for everything, which is quite a bargain even if a lot of the things are not to my taste. I can make changes slowly. We are really very lucky for houses are hard to find in Peking since the destruction. Before the Boxer Troubles ours belonged to quite a high court official (it has fourteen rooms not including kitchen and servants’ quarters) who was one of the men backing the Empress Dowager in her wicked policies against Europeans. After order had been restored the Allies demanded the execution of certain ringleaders of the Boxers and the owner of our house was one of the ones who had his head cut off at a public execution. I don’t know what happened to the dead man’s family for the house was empty when the Germans found it. If all this seems rather gruesome to you then you must remember that the Boxers were ruthless and cruel and certain reparations were called for.

  Richard has so far engaged a houseboy, a kind of butler, and a cook and a handyman, which does not seem many servants for the kind of life we must live here, but no doubt I will be able to arrange for more when I have taken charge. We will go straight to the house after the wedding for there is to be no honeymoon. With the state of the country there is no place we could go to except Tientsin, which would be rather foolish for I didn’t think it was an attractive city in spite of the European shops.

  As you can imagine I am most anxious to see my new home and find it a little trying that Mrs Harding hasn’t been able to make the time to come with me. Still, I must not complain for they have been most kind to me during this waiting period. I have tried not to get in the way but I remember what you said when I came back after being with the Blairs in Aviemore for ten days, that any guest for more than a week becomes a nuisance. Alas, I fear I am being that, but though I suggested going to the hotel in the Quarter they would not hear of it.

  I have met a French lady in their Legation who will, I think, be a good friend to me. When I called to leave cards for Richard and me after dining there she had me in and we had tea and talked for two hours. She is most entertaining about diplomatic life, a sharp tongue but a kind heart, like many Scotchwomen.

  There is one thing that is troubling me a little and on which I suppose it might be said I have made a stand, perhaps foolish. The delay in our wedding is because the Bishop of Shanghai is due to come to Peking and Richard arranged that he should conduct the ceremony. Apparently this Bishop is very High Church Episcopal, what they call Anglo-Catholic, and even uses incense. When he heard that I was a Presbyterian he let it be known that he does not perform mixed marriages himself, but his Curate would do it, since I am a Christian. It may have been wrong of me but when I first heard this from Richard I was angry, though I couldn’t really believe it. Then it was confirmed by Mrs Harding. What is expected of me is that I make a statement rejecting the Church of Scotland and accepting the Church of England as my faith. It is almost as if I was being asked to go over to Rome. If our union is to be consecrated by this Bishop I cannot remain a Presbyterian. What I said was: ‘Very well, I will take the Curate.’ Now Richard is angry with me, and of course I can see why, this being the first wedding in the Quarter since the Troubles, and Sir Claude has offered his home for the reception, an honour we never expected. Richard clearly thinks I am mad not to be willing to make a statement that I will adhere to my husband’s religion, but it is not just that, I do not want to become an English Episcopalian. Why should I? I have been baptised. I told Richard that when King Edward comes to Scotland to shoot grouse he automatically becomes a Presbyterian and Richard couldn’t believe this until he found out from someone in the Legation that it is true, but even then he will scarcely accept it.

  I am not asking for your advice because long before I could receive it I will be a wife, one way or the other, so the decision will be mine alone. Last night I was awake for hours trying to make it, but could not. You must not trouble yourself about this, in a way it is a storm in a teacup. Though it is also a question of principle. Or will you think your daughter is just being silly, or worse, refusing to obey her future husband?

  I have bought the black Manchurian wildcat coat. Mrs Harding has five fur coats but I think she likes mine better than any of hers except her sables, which are beautiful. From little hints that come from time to time I think she is quite a rich woman in her own right. Also, she has that air of not having to listen to her husband unless she wishes to. The dinner gong has just gone, so must close.

  Your loving daughter,

  Mary

  PS (after dinner) Mrs Harding, who is a skilled bargainer, got the fur coat reduced to just over nine pounds in British money which means I have not been so extravagant after all, since a coat which will last me the rest of my life has cost less than the blue dress you got for me.

  Legation Quarter, Peking, China

  March 2nd, 1903

  This morning Marie de Chamonpierre sent a messenger with a ‘chitty’ asking me to come to tea this afternoon, and naturally I was very happy to. She received me most pleasantly, saying that to really enjoy afternoon tea in the English manner she feels she must have someone from England to share it with her. Like everyone, she talks about England when she means Great Britain, but I have stopped telling people that Scotland is not part of England, it does no good. Her boudoir was very hot from steam heating in pipes in the American style and I found the atmosphere stuffy, made more so by many plants on stands and a huge pot of heavily scented lilies. Marie was wearing a negligée which was quite revealing and was certainly more comfortable than I was in outdoor clothes. When we had been served tea she asked if I would be shocked if she now indulged in her secret vice. I had no idea at all what she meant until she opened a box and took out a long, black cigarette.

  Only two months ago if I had seen a lady do that in her Edinburgh drawing-room I would have been shocked but today all I felt was a kind of surprise and then I thought that there is no reason for women to be ashamed for doing something in private that men do openly everywhere. I cannot, however, imagine a world in which ladies would use smoking-rooms as men do, but having a cigarette behind closed doors doesn’t seem a matter to cause scandal, though Marie says it would in Legation circles. Her husband knows, of course, but has only asked that his wife’s smoking be a rumour about which no one is ever allowed to have actual evidence. It was a great compliment to me that I should be taken into her confidence like this, and it can only mean she is certain I would never give her away, which I never will. I don’t think Marie has many close friends amongst the other Legation ladies even though she was here during the Boxer Troubles and worked very hard for the wounded. Little things Mrs Harding has said suggest she is not too popular and, of course, ther
e is that prejudice that French means Fast. Perhaps French women are not generally liked by their own sex because they are too successful with men.

  She teased me about Richard, saying that since he came to Peking she has always tried to get him for her dinner-parties since he is better decoration than the most elaborate floral arrangement. She also said that when his engagement to me was announced here the youngest daughter of the Belgian Minister collapsed at a tea-party on hearing the news and soon afterwards left for Europe to take the waters at Baden-Baden. I told Marie that I was sure most of the ladies here had no idea at all what Richard had seen in me, at which she seemed a little surprised, as though she thought that I, of all people, ought to know what had made my fiancé propose marriage, but now I am not sure that I do. Marie began to talk of what she called the ‘science’ of marriage, at which I felt she was not candid in the way Mrs Brinkhill used to be, veiling what she really meant, though this could be that she is at times a little uncertain in her English and does not wish to be misunderstood.

  I was just going to ask her advice about changing my hairstyle when suddenly she switched to religion, which I would not have expected of her. She said she came from Bordeaux, though educated in Paris, and that she had cousins in that city who were French Protestants, so she could understand my feelings. I was too surprised to say anything at all and she went on about how religion affected one’s life in the diplomatic service. This seemed to be that it is essential for those who officially represent their countries abroad to be adherents of that country’s main religion. She said that, though Catholic by birth, had she been a Protestant like her cousins when her marriage was being arranged, she would have seen the essential need to convert to the Roman Faith for the sake of her husband’s career. I then asked if her husband had been a Protestant would she have deserted the Catholic Church to worship with him? She said she couldn’t answer me since this wasn’t a thing that could ever happen in France. I said I had heard there were many atheists in France and she agreed that was true, but there were none in the diplomatic corps.