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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/13450-0.txt b/13450-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..57864b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/13450-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6758 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13450 *** + + THE MOTOR MAIDS IN FAIR JAPAN + + BY KATHERINE STOKES + +AUTHOR OF "THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS," "THE MOTOR MAIDS BY PALM AND +PINE," "THE MOTOR MAIDS ACROSS THE CONTINENT," "THE MOTOR MAIDS BY ROSE, +SHAMROCK AND THISTLE" ETC. + + 1913 + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I. OFF FOR JAPAN + + II. TEA IN THE GARDEN + + III. SHOPPING IN JINRIKSHAS + + IV. THE GARDEN IN THE RAIN + + V. IN THE LIBRARY + + VI. CHERRY BLOSSOMS + + VII. A BAD QUARTER OF AN HOUR + + VIII. THE COMPASSIONATE GOD, JIZU + + IX. A BIRTHDAY PARTY + + X. IN THE DARK + + XI. THE COMET DISGUISED + + XII. A THEATER PARTY + + XIII. A FALLING OUT + + XIV. A LETTER THAT CAME, THOUGH IT WAS NEVER SENT + + XV. THE ANCIENT CITY OF SLEEP + + XVI. THE STORM KING + + XVII. A VISIT OF CEREMONY + +XVIII. THE MAGNET AND THE SILVER CHURN + + XIX. FATHER AND DAUGHTER + + XX. THE TYPHOON + + XXI. CONUNDRUMS AND ANSWERS + + XXII. GOOD BYE, SUMMER + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +OFF FOR JAPAN. + + +"The Motor Maids are off again," announced the West Haven Courier one +morning, as if every citizen in the gray old town on the coast was not +already well aware of it. + +The four famous travelers and their chaperone, Miss Helen Campbell, were +always off somewhere in the red motor car. If they were not making a +voyage to England with the "Comet" stored in the hold of the ship for +immediate use on arrival, or taking perilous journeys across the American +continent in the faithful car, they were making excursions to Shell +Island or Seven League Island, or down the coast to the Sailors' Inn. + +"Where is it to be this time, Nancy-Bell?" Captain Brown had asked his +daughter when she had broken the news to him that she must give up the +spring term at High School for something far more educational than mere +books. Perhaps the sea captain had intended to be stern when he asked +that question; but Nancy had her own peculiar methods of dispelling +sternness. A beaming anticipatory smile irradiated her face and +scattered parental disapproval even as the warm rays of the sun scatter +the morning mists. + +"Japan!" she announced solemnly; and Captain Brown, who himself had made +voyages to Japan in his youth, pricked up his ears like an old hunting +dog when he hears the call of the pack. The name of High School faded +from his memory. It was the high seas he was thinking of--the great +desert of waters, the fresh salt breeze and the foam track left by the +little ship as it cut through the waves. + +Without a word, he opened an old sea chest and drew out an atlas and +chart. Nancy blinked her eyes and smiled happily. She wondered if the +other girls were having as easy a time in breaking the amazing news to +their parents. Would Elinor Butler's father and mother consent to her +taking this long journey? Would Mrs. Price be willing to part with Mary +for many, many months while that young person journeyed to the other side +of the world? Captain Brown settled himself on a settee in front of the +crackling driftwood fire and Nancy seated herself beside him. + +"You see, it's this way, father," she began, while Captain Brown turned +the leaves of the atlas with reverent fingers. "Billie Campbell's +father is a great engineer--" + +"I've known him since he was a boy, child," interrupted the Captain. + +"He's been invited by the Japanese government to go to Japan on some +consulting work, and he says he can't live without Billie another summer, +and Billie says she can't exist without us; so Mr. Campbell is to take a +house in Tokyo and we are all to go. Mr. Ignatius Donahue is going to +take us across to San Francisco in his private car. He says it's a very +small return for something we did for him once, and the end of the story +is that we are to sail for Japan in two weeks. Isn't that delightful, +Captain Brown?" she added, giving her father a tight hug and kissing him +on the end of his nose. "And aren't you overjoyed for your little +daughter to have such an opportunity to see the other side of the world?" + +The Captain returned the kiss with good measure and resumed his study of +the maps and charts. + +"You'll be a member of the Royal Geographical Society next," he observed. + +"It's all happened because Billie Campbell has a mole on the sole of her +left foot and a Gypsy once told her that was the mark of the wanderer." + +"But you and Elinor and Mary haven't any moles on the soles of your feet, +have you?" + +"No, and neither has Miss Campbell." + +"It's just as well," commented the Captain. "One is enough in the party +if it's going to take my little daughter away from her home most of the +time." + +"Not most of the time, father," protested Nancy. "Only to Palm Beach and +across the Continent and to England--" + +At this dangerous turn in the conversation, the +door was pushed open and Billie Campbell rushed +in, followed by Elinor Butler and Mary Price. + +"It's all settled, Nancy-Bell," she cried. "Cousin Helen has consented +and the girls can go. Everything depends on you, now--" + +"We are just studying the map," answered Nancy quickly, with a demure +smile. + +Immediately the other girls seated themselves in a circle about the sea +captain and his charts, and Mrs. Brown, whose consent had already been +gained, presently appeared with a large platter of cookies. + +So it was that the Motor Maids and Miss Campbell sailed through the +Golden Gate of San Francisco harbor one morning en route for the island +empire of Japan. On the long and sometimes tedious voyage we will not +dwell; nor shall we pause until we have left them on the piazza of their +new home in Tokyo, while seven Japanese servants are making profound +obeisances at the entrance and their attendant families, including three +grandmothers and five funny little children, bob and bow in the rear of +this formidable company. + +Billie, who had scarcely left her father's side since the joyful moment +of their reunion, hung on his arm and smiled up into his face +inquiringly; while Miss Helen Campbell, his cousin, exclaimed: + +"Dear me, Duncan; I thought we were to stay at a private house--not a +hotel." + +Mr. Campbell, from his mysterious dwelling places in far distant lands, +had made so many things possible for the Motor Maids that Billie's three +friends had come to regard him as a kind of powerful spirit who had only +to will things to happen and they happened. At first they were rather shy +of the real Mr. Campbell, big and strong and splendid, the very image of +his daughter, Billie, if she had grown half a foot and cropped her light +brown hair closely all over her head. + +"But, Cousin Helen, this is a private house," answered this human +presentment of the good spirit, a subdued humor lighting his gray eyes, +exactly as they had seen Billie's eyes kindle hundreds of times. "This is +your very own villa and this is your staff of domestics," he added, +indicating the regiment of servants who again bowed low like the chorus +in a comic opera. "You are to regard yourself as queen of this little +realm," he went on, pointing to the charming grounds and garden +surrounding the house, "and you are to be in absolute command. Nellie and +Nannie and Mollie and Billie are to be your maids of honor and I'll be +general factotum and protector. As for the staff," he continued in a +whisper, "their combined wages for one month amount to about one good +servant's hire at home." + +The maid in the front of the cohort now stepped forth. She was much older +than the others; her hair was short and her blue cotton robe seemed +severe and plain in comparison to the gay colored kimonos of the younger +maids. + +"This is our housekeeper and cook, O'Haru San," announced Mr. Campbell. +"I shall leave you in her charge now and keep an appointment." + +So saying, Mr. Duncan Campbell kissed his daughter, smiled delightfully +on the company in general and hastened down the walk to the road, for the +villa was in the suburbs of Tokyo. + +"Will honorable ladies enter humble, small house," said O'Haru making an +obeisance. + +But before they could move an inch, the maids were at their feet deftly +unfastening their shoes. + +"What in the world are they doing?" demanded Miss Campbell. + +"One never wears shoes in the house, Cousin, don't you remember? Papa +told us so this morning," answered Billie slipping her feet into the +straw sandals provided. + +"Perfect nonsense!" exclaimed Miss Campbell, shuffling into the hall in +her loose footgear. "I suppose I shall be expected to sit on the floor +and eat my meals on a door mat," she complained, "and that I positively +will not do. My old joints are far too stiff to be doubled up like a pair +of nut crackers." + +The girls giggled and the four little Japanese maids giggled, too; not +that they understood a word of the language, but good humor is the +keynote of the Japanese character and strangers are treated with a +sympathetic courtesy and hospitality unequaled in any other country. + +However, Miss Campbell's fears were immediately set at rest, for the +long, low-ceiled drawing-room of the villa was furnished in European +fashion with plenty of comfortable arm-chairs and sofas made of bamboo. +The floors were covered with thick soft mats and the front walls facing +the piazza were really sliding panels covered with opaque paper through +which the light cast a soft mellow luster. As a matter of fact, Dr. and +Mrs. Spears, the owners of the villa, had kept it as Japanese as possible +without interfering with their foreign ideas of comfort. The only +ornaments were several beautiful scrolls and screens and a few vases. + +Instead of sitting down quietly and being served to tea, which was +evidently the next duty expected of them by these formal domestics, +Billie and her friends rushed from one room to another in a state of +eager curiosity. They poked their inquisitive little noses into the +charming bedrooms and even peeped into the mysterious kitchen quarters +where O'Haru reigned supreme, + +"It's Japanese enough to be pretty and American enough to be +comfortable," observed Nancy, arranging her curls at one of the bedroom +mirrors. + +"I don't know why you call it 'American,'" objected Billie. "I think you +should say 'international,' since beds may be imported from Turkey, +Russia, Prussia, England, or France, to say nothing of Germany and +Italy." + +"Well, no matter what nationality it is, I'm glad I'm going to sleep on a +bed instead of on the floor as Japanese girls do, with a little bench for +a pillow to keep from rumpling my hair." + +Just then a Japanese girl appeared in the doorway. She was quite young, +perhaps seventeen, perhaps older, and enchantingly pretty. + +"Her eyes are like stewed prunes," wrote Nancy to her mother that night, +"rich and black and luscious. Her hair is as black as father's ebony box +and quite as shiny; her skin smooth and creamy. She has a little rosebud +mouth and a small straight nose and she wore the most beautiful kimono, +all blue with a cerise sash or _obi_, as it is called. Her name is +'Onoye' and she's the daughter of the cook, O'Haru. She is just one of +the maids in the house, I suppose, but she seems better class and she +speaks a little English. Her mother adores her and I suppose Onoye is +being spoiled Japanese fashion, which is very different from American +fashion. Japanese girls are the most unselfish, uncomplaining, +considerate, everything-that-I'm-not little souls I ever saw." + +Nancy's description of O'Haru's daughter was not exaggerated in the +least. Little Onoye, pausing timidly at the entrance to their bedroom, +was a vision to charm the eye. She blushed, smiled deprecatingly and hung +her head. + +"Will honorable ladies be pleased to employ humble refreshment?" she +announced in a funny high voice with a prim, precise accent. + +The girls would have laughed if it had not been impolite. All their +impulsive actions must be checked in this land of perfect manners, or +they would certainly appear rude and rough. + +"We should be most pleased and happy, I am sure," answered Billie, +feeling that she must not be outdone in lofty expression, "But what +excellent English you speak. Do you live here, too?" + +Onoye looked up and her face brightened. + +"I make studying of American language one time," she said. + +"And are we to have tea now?" asked Nancy as the Japanese girl backed out +of the room. + +"If pleasingly to gracious ladies," she answered. + +With bobs and bows, she led the way to a summer house in the garden where +the others were already installed in comfortable chairs. + +"These are certainly the most hospitable servants I ever saw," Miss +Campbell was saying to Mary and Elinor. "They make one feel like a guest +in one's own house. I am sure if I lived here long, I should learn to +meet myself at the front door and invite myself to take refreshments in +the garden." + +The girls smiled lazily. They seemed somehow to have entered into a land +of unrealities and dream pictures. The bamboo and rice paper villa was a +doll's house, the lovely garden, a stage setting and the picturesque band +of Japanese servants gliding noiselessly about, the chorus. + +And while they talked and sipped their tea, a fat, decrepit pug dog came +slowly toward them down the walk on spindle legs. As the aged creature +approached, O'Haru paused and made it a profound bow. The girls choked +and sputtered in their tea and Miss Campbell laughed outright. They +learned afterwards that this venerable animal was "Nedda," the Spears' +pet pug, eighteen years old, and that every servant attached to the +household regarded her with great respect because they believed that she +was really Mr. Spears' grandmother. + +Old Nedda was very pleased to meet with a little human company of her own +social status. She wagged her twisted tail cordially and when she heard +American voices speaking the language of her youth, she gave a little +expressive whine of pleasure. + +"You poor old lonesome thing," exclaimed the compassionate Billie. + +Just then a maid hurried up with a cushion. She had evidently been +detailed to look after Nedda in the absence of the mistress of the house; +to feed and bathe her; to see that she was covered up at night; to guard +against her sleeping in damp places. Nedda stepped gingerly on the mat, +moved round and round in a circle several times, even as the most +primitive dog might do, and settled herself in a round heap for her late +afternoon siesta. Then O'Sudzu, the little maid, spread a wadded silk +cover over the pampered old Nedda and departed, bowing again. + +They were still laughing over this absurd incident when Mr. Campbell +appeared on the walk with two companions. One was a good looking young +man about twenty-one and the other a Japanese in European clothes, and +very handsome, the girls thought him, in spite of his Oriental features +and dark complexion. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +TEA IN THE GARDEN. + + +Nancy Brown instinctively put her hand to her curls when she saw the +three approach. Elinor patted her coronet braids. Mary blushed and +shrank timidly into the depths of her chair, for she was very shy; and +Billie, whose candid nature had no coquetry, looked calmly interested and +remarked: + +"Dear old Papa, there he is with two visitors." + +"I'm not at all surprised," said Miss Campbell smiling, "your Papa is one +of the most general inviters I ever knew. He always loved to entertain." + +"How do my five beautiful American ladies feel?" called her jovial +relation as he entered the summer house. "Rested with humble refreshment +in poor modest little house?" + +"Yes, indeed, honorable father," answered Billie laughing. + +"I want you to meet my two friends, Nicholas Grimm and Yoritomo Ito," +went on Mr. Campbell. + +Nicholas Grimm was apparently a young Dutchman. His figure was well set +up and stocky, his features regular, his mouth firm with a good square +chin, and his clear dark eyes under bushy brows gazed on the world with a +frank, good-humored expression. + +Yoritomo Ito was the best type of Japanese, lithe and straight, rather +tall, with shrewd brown eyes and a smile that always hovered about his +shapely mouth. He was immaculately neat and his skin looked as if it +might have been scrubbed and then polished. Not a speck of dust marred +his spotless linen or his dark blue suit. + +"Mr. Ito, will you sit on a mat on the floor or in a chair?" asked Miss +Campbell when the introductions were over. + +"Oh, he can be Japanese or American, whichever suits him," interrupted +Mr. Campbell, "though I'll wager you didn't do much floor sitting when +you went to Harvard, did you, Yoritomo?" + +The Japanese's smile broadened somewhat when he answered with a slight +accent: + +"American floors are not intended to be used as chairs." + +"Meaning, Mr. Ito, that the American floors are not as entirely free from +dust as the Japanese floors?" inquired Miss Campbell. + +"Oh, no, Madam," protested the Japanese, horrified at this implication of +rudeness but unable to dispel the impression nevertheless. + +"I grant you that our houses are not as clean as yours," went on Miss +Campbell, "but you see we haven't time to remove our shoes whenever we +enter the house, and then we have so much furniture and so many hangings +to catch the dust. I don't see how you Japanese can resist the collecting +habit in a country where there are so many beautiful things to collect." + +"My dear Cousin, they are as great collectors as anybody, only they keep +their valuables stored in a fire-proof house--what is it you call it, +Yoritomo?" asked Mr. Campbell. + +"It is called in English language a 'go-down.'" + +"So it is, a 'go-down.' It always reminds me of a steep grade down the +side of a mountain. Here they keep all their best clothes and vases and +ornaments and only bring out one vase and one scroll at a time. When they +grow tired of those things, they are stored and something else is brought +out, so that there is perpetual variety in the Japanese home." + +"I should hate to have my best clothes locked in a fire-proof house," +announced Nancy. "Suppose one wanted to make a quick change and the +key was mislaid." + +"Ah, Miss Nancy," laughed Mr. Campbell, "it is not difficult to see where +your heart lies." + +Yoritomo looked at Nancy with polite though evident interest which +gradually developed into a cautiously veiled admiration. He was about +to speak, when he was interrupted by the troop of little maids headed by +Onoye with tea and refreshments. It was Onoye who served the young +Japanese. First she bowed before him until her forehead almost touched +the ground. Then she placed a mat for him to sit upon and a low lacquer +tray containing tea and rice cakes. But Yoritomo, ignoring these humble +services, sat himself in a chair next to Nancy and little Onoye hastened +to rectify her mistake. + +In the meantime, Nicholas Grimm was talking to Billie and Elinor. + +"Are you from Holland?" they asked him. + +"Several hundreds of years ago I was. Kinterhook, New York, has been my +home for the last generation." + +"Good," exclaimed Billie, "I thought you were a Dutchman and it's lots +nicer to be an American, don't you think so?" + +"I wouldn't care to change," answered Nicholas solemnly. "America's good +enough for me." + +"Are you one of the engineers on the new railroad they are building?" +asked Billie. + +"I'm going to lay a few ties," he answered. + +"Are you going to build those little funny openwork bridges over all the +streams?" demanded Elinor. + +"Something like it. Everything is picturesque in this country from +beggars to railroad bridges, and, speaking of bridges, have you explored +the garden yet? There's a ripping little bridge down there. When Mrs. +Spears gave garden parties that was one of the strolling places." + +"Why, we didn't know we had such a pretentious garden!" exclaimed Billie. +"Papa wrote that he had sublet a suburban villa near Tokyo with an acre +or so of ground around it." + +"An acre or so?" repeated Nicholas. "That's an estate to them. They can +put as much into an acre without crowding it as other people put into +ten. Perhaps you would like to explore the garden if you have had enough +honorable refreshment?" + +"Oh, yes," they answered eagerly, and drawing shy little Mary from the +depths of her chair, Billie followed Elinor and the new friend down the +garden path. + +"Would you be interested in seeing the garden?" asked Yoritomo of Nancy. + +"I might be induced," she answered drooping her long eyelashes, to the +great amusement of Mr. Campbell, and they also wandered off, leaving the +two older people for a cousinly chat. + +The girls were amazed at the beauty of the garden back of the house. +Against the high wall surrounding the small estate clustered masses of +flowers. Everywhere were little winding paths and an occasional grove of +stunted pines that gave the impression of great age. It was in exquisite +order, the green turf clipped to the smoothness of a velvet carpet. In +all the garden there was not a leaf nor twig out of place. Back of the +house the land sloped slightly and at the foot of this gentle depression +trickled a musical little stream. Here was a stone lantern five feet +high, also the miniature curved bridge; and to make the picture complete +in every Japanese detail, leaning pensively on the railing of the bridge, +stood Onoye. She herself might have been a bright colored flower in her +gay kimono and sash. + +Only Mary noticed that the little Japanese was weeping softly. When she +saw the Americans coming, she hastily withdrew down one of the paths and +in another moment had disappeared entirely. + +"Poor little thing," thought Mary, "perhaps her mother has been scolding +her." + +Perhaps she had, indeed, for O'Haru, the housekeeper, presently appeared +looking for her daughter. Shading her eyes with one hand, she scanned the +vistas of the garden. + +Mary left the group of friends and hastened down the path. + +"Are you looking for Onoye?" she asked the old woman. + +"Yes, honorable lady," answered O'Haru, trying to replace her uneasy and +troubled expression with a pleasant smile. + +"She was on the bridge a moment ago. Is she unhappy? I think she was +crying." + +"Have greatly kindness to forgive humble Japanese girl," answered O'Haru +in a low voice. + +Mary thought the housekeeper was going to say more and no doubt, if she +had poured out her confidences at that time, many later misunderstandings +might have been averted. As it was, they were interrupted by Nancy and +her Japanese cavalier who turned the curve of the path and came full upon +them quite suddenly. + +Instead of hastening away as quietly as possible, O'Haru immediately fell +on her knees and began speaking in a low voice in her own language. + +There was nothing unusual in this. All the servants seemed to be in a +continual state of "nervous prostration," as Billie expressed it, and +Nancy, smiling and dimpling, followed Yoritomo down the path without +thinking any more about O'Haru. + +"What was she saying, Mr. Ito?" she asked. + +"You might accuse me of being a flatterer if I told you," he answered. + +"But I don't understand." + +"I mean she was speaking of you. 'The honorable young American lady,'" +she said, "'is very beautiful.'" + +Nancy was flattered, as who would not have been over this frank +compliment. A rosy flush spread over her face and the dimple deepened +in her cheek. + +"You see, you are an unusual type in this country, Miss Brown," continued +the Japanese. "You must expect to arouse comment wherever you go. Hair +with so much color to it, like polished copper and curling, too, causes +much admiration. You are very different from the Japanese." + +Again Nancy felt flattered. + +"I really believe I am rather pretty," she +thought. What she said was: "You are very +kind, Mr. Ito, but I am sure I think the Japanese +girls are just as pretty as American girls. Little +Onoye, our maid, is charming. She is a perfect +picture." + +For the rest of the day, however, vain Nancy was enveloped in a rosy +cloud of self-satisfaction. It was pleasing to be admired and still more +pleasing to feel that the admiration was justified. + +The truth is, that admiration was quite as stimulating to Nancy as it is +to the rest of us, and when she realized that the young Japanese had +fallen an instant victim to her charms, she felt some pardonable pride in +the power of her blue eyes and bright curls. + +By this time the others had returned to the pagoda-like summer house. + +"Come, Nancy, dear," floated Miss Campbell's voice across the garden. She +was too careful a chaperone to permit one of her girls to wander +at dusk with a strange young Japanese. + +Nancy quickened her pace. Nevertheless, she felt a little impatient with +all these restrictions. + +"I am almost eighteen. I suppose I might be trusted to look after myself +occasionally," she thought with some irritation. + +"May I not see you again to-morrow, Miss Brown?" Yoritomo was asking. + +"I am afraid you'll have to ask Miss Campbell." + +"It is now almost the American dinner hour," he went on thoughtfully, +looking at his watch. "If I should be strolling to-morrow at this time +down by the bridge, it would be very pleasant. We could have a few words +together." + +"But--" began Nancy, and the voices of her friends interrupted her. + +They had paused near a great bush of azaleas in full bloom. Almost over +their heads the silver crescent of the new moon hung poised like a fairy +scimitar. It was exquisite and unreal. Nancy felt somehow out of place in +the lovely picture, while the young Japanese, standing intense and rigid +beside her, was as much a part of the Oriental garden as the stone +lantern and the fragrant spice bush near the path. Even his blue serge +European suit seemed to have lost its values in the deepening shadows. + +"If I come every day to see you, there would be great comment," he said +in a low voice. "But often I shall wait on the bridge about this time." + +It was only a little time ago that Nancy's mother had lengthened her +little daughter's skirts from shoe tops to ankles. The line of the old +hem was still noticeable in some of her summer frocks. Just six months +since, Nancy had tucked up the bunch of curls into a Psyche knot and +transformed the ribbon bow into a velvet bandeau. Since she had been old +enough to go to parties she had had boy admirers who had said sweet +things to her. But this was quite different, and Nancy, almost eighteen, +and capable of looking after herself, felt suddenly frightened. + +"I--I must hurry," she said, and turning she ran as fast as she could up +the garden path nearly colliding with Billie and Mary who had come to +look for her. + +"Why, Nancy, you are chasing along like a scared rabbit," cried Billie. +"Has anything happened to you?" + +"Oh, no. I thought we had better run because it was so late," she +answered breathlessly, while Yoritomo, following close behind, calm and +collected, bade them a formal good night and hurried over to the summer +house to pay his respects to Miss Campbell and her cousin. + +Nancy decided that night not to tell Billie, her intimate confidante, +what the Japanese had said to her. The walls were too thin, she thought. +Besides, she was curious to know if Yoritomo would be on the bridge the +next afternoon. Just how she intended to find this out, she had not +then decided. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +SHOPPING IN JINRIKSHAS. + + +"I feel very much like a baby in a baby carriage," observed Miss Helen +Campbell as Mr. Campbell almost lifted her into the graceful little +two-wheeled vehicle. "And is that poor soul going to turn into a horse +and pull me?" she demanded. + +"You aren't such a heavy load," replied her cousin. "I doubt if the S. P. +C. A. would get excited over it. I am only sorry you have to be alone, +but I suppose those four inseparables are paired off as usual. Billie +with Nancy and Mary with Elinor." + +"Indeed, I much prefer to be alone," said Miss Campbell. "Then I can hold +on with both hands in case I am upset backwards." + +"You never will be. They will treat you like spun glass. You will take +good care of the ladies, Komatsu," he said to the 'riksha man who, +leaning against the garden wall, resembled a bronze figure, brown and +muscular. + +"Gracious lady of fearing not need," answered Komatsu with an +ingratiating smile as he stepped between the shafts of the 'riksha. + +"It is impossible to tell how much English they know and how much they +don't know," Mr. Campbell confided to his relative in a low voice. "They +never ask twice and they always make some kind of an out at a reply. But +I think, until I can go with you, it is safer for you to go in the +'rikshas. The common people here aren't used to motor cars and there are +still some fanatics in Japan, you know, who are opposed to every sort of +progress and the invasion of foreign customs." + +"Good-by, Papa," called Billie, "I do wish you were not a working man so +that you could go with us." + +"I am sorry I must be a laborer in the vineyards, Miss Wilhelmina," he +answered, "but it's only that you may ride in a fine carriage and wear a +silk robe." + +"Silk robe?" repeated Miss Campbell. "That's just what I want. Komatsu, +we wish to go to a silk shop," she ordered the man-servant, speaking +very loud and distinctly as if she were addressing a deaf person. + +Komatsu grinned amiably. + +"I bring honorable lady to fine shop with quickness." + +The next moment the three vehicles were flying along the road drawn by +three tireless individuals, whose good nature, like the widow's cruse, +knew no diminishing. + +It would be difficult to find in all the world a more beautiful city than +Tokyo at this season of the year. It is really a city of gardens and +everywhere are palms and pines and waving willow trees, magnificent +arbors of wisteria not yet in bloom and splendid azalea bushes bursting +into masses of white and pink blossoms. Even the humblest brown cottage +has its bit of garden, for the love of flowers is innate in every +Japanese nature: it is a national trait. + +"There is no prospect that isn't graceful and picturesque," thought Mary +watching an old fruit and vegetable man in front of them. He wore a dull +blue cotton tunic much faded but still a heavenly color, and on either +end of a pole resting on his shoulders was a flat brown basket filled +with small oranges and vegetables of an unknown variety. Behind him +walked an old woman in a dull brown and purple dress with an orange sash +around her waist. Her back was burdened with a great bundle of bark. The +sun was hot and many of the wayfarers carried paper umbrellas. Most of +the women had babies swung on their backs and sometimes shiny little +black eyes peeped out from the front of a kimono, the mother's arms being +engaged in supporting another burden on her back. + +"It seems to me the women work very hard in this country," remarked +Elinor severely, pointing to a cart filled with charcoal propelled by two +women and a man. One of the women had a baby on her back and another +child holding to her skirts. + +"They do," said Mary. "Even the women in the upper classes have to work +hard. Don't you remember what the missionary on the steamer told us? The +wife is always the first one up in the household no matter how many +servants she has. She has to bring her mean old mother-in-law a cup of +tea and get out her husband's clothes. The mother-in-law has had to work +so hard when she was a daughter-in-law that she takes it out on her son's +wife later." + +"I'd like to see an American wife ridden by her mother-in-law that way," +broke in Elinor indignantly. + +"But then the Japanese daughter-in-law's turn comes later," said Mary +laughing, "when she gets to be a mother-in-law. So it's all nicely +balanced." + +But the streets were too interesting to pursue the subject of +mother-in-law any further. They were passing a row of open-fronted shops +on the edges of which customers were squatted looking at materials while +the proprietor bobbed and smiled and dickered over his bargains. Red and +yellow banners hung in a row from the roof of the shop, the gay colored +hieroglyphics on them indicating what manner of goods were displayed +within. + +"Here's a nice little silk shop, Komatsu. Let us stop here," called Miss +Campbell. + +But Komatsu only grinned over his shoulder and called: + +"Too littleness for gracious big lady." + +"But I like the looks of this place, Komatsu," said the gracious big lady +helplessly. + +However Komatsu had his own ideas of obedience and he trotted on, never +pausing until he reached a large silk store thronged with clerks and +customers. + +Here all the 'rikshas drew up and the girls alighted with Miss Campbell, +who was a little red in the face but determined to overlook the +annoyance of orders disregarded. + +The front of the store was screened from the street by dark blue cotton +curtains behind which was a roofed platform carpeted with matting. Here +sat a group of clerks, each with his _soroban_ or adding machine at his +side. Little Japanese boys, their shoulders loaded with bales of rich +materials, staggered about, and through the open doors of the fire-proof +warehouse they caught glimpses of costly stuffs stored away. An +obsequious clerk who spoke excellent English came forward and presently, +when their eyes became accustomed to the busy, brilliantly colored scene, +they began to examine silk materials on their own account. Miss Campbell +made each of her charges a present of _crêpe de chine_ and still was not +very much out of pocket. As they were about to leave, they were followed +by a chorus of shouts. + +"What in the world is the matter?" demanded Miss Campbell uneasily. "Has +the place caught fire, or didn't we give the right amount of change?" + +"No, madam," answered the polite English-speaking clerk, who had +accompanied her to the sidewalk. "They are saying farewell. In English +it would mean, 'Thanks for your continued favors.'" + +"Don't mention it," said Miss Campbell. "We'll come again." + +The clerk smiled and bowed formally and once more they whirled away in +their 'rikshas. They visited many shops in Tokyo that morning. It was +like a fascinating bazaar and it seemed impossible to tear themselves +away, although Komatsu kept always close to their elbows and several +times observed: + +"Muchly more time. Come again." + +At last, just as an ominous mass of black clouds had spread itself over +the heavens, against which the brilliant colors of the signs and the +people's clothes stood out in bold relief, they started for home. But on +the outskirts of the city great drops of rain pelted them in the face, +the advance scouts of a tremendous downpour. + +"Oh, Komatsu, we will ruin our clothes," cried Miss Campbell in alarm. +"You must take us somewhere until the rain is over." + +They were passing the high walls of a garden, the gate of which stood +open. Without an instant's hesitation Komatsu turned in and the three +'rikshas raced up a broad walk toward a Japanese house at the end. +Several smiling hospitable persons whom they took to be servants ran out +with large umbrellas made of oiled paper and protected the five ladies, +who hurried unceremoniously into the house just as the heavens opened and +the rain came down in bucketfuls. + +Three Japanese ladies, seated on the floor drinking tea, rose quickly and +made low formal bows. The five refugees from the storm returned the bows +with some bewilderment. + +"I do hope you will pardon this intrusion," Miss Campbell found herself +saying. "The storm was so sudden and terrible, we fled to the nearest +house." + +One of the little Japanese ladies bowed. She was evidently the mistress +of the house, but she spoke no English. + +Miss Campbell pointed outside to the rain and made expressive signs +indicative of haste. It was really like being in a deaf and dumb asylum. +Then the little lady smiled again and bowed again, and the others bowed. + +"Good heavens, Billie, what am I to do? Must I continue to smile and bob +and bow forever? Do come to my rescue!" + +But the hospitable hostess now hurried from the room and presently +reappeared followed by her maids, each of whom carried a little lacquered +table. It was indicated that the American guests would confer a favor if +they would seat themselves. + +"I've never sat on the floor in my life," complained Miss Campbell in a +low voice. "It will kill me. I am certain it will displace a ligament." + +"You'll just have to, Cousin. Try sitting on your feet. That's the way +they do." + +"I think tailor-fashion would be easier," answered the poor lady. "Don't +help me. They might take it for rudeness. Everything is bad manners in +this country." + +Crossing her feet, she slid slowly to the floor. The visitors were +promptly served with delicious tea, rice cakes, candied fruits and other +confections molded and colored like the flowers in season. + +Certainly that was one of the most silent and ceremonious tea parties +ever given. It was all dumb show, but the manners of the three Japanese +ladies were exquisite. While this excruciatingly polite scene transpired, +there raged such a storm of wind and rain that at each moment they feared +the fragile bamboo and rice paper abode would be blown from its slight +foundations. + +"They won't lose much if it's blown away," thought Billie. "There's not a +stick of furniture to be seen except a screen." + +In one corner of the room was a splendid vase almost as tall as she was, +and on the wall hung a scroll showing two women gathering cherry +blossoms. On the floor were soft mats fitted closely together. + +Suddenly Billie blushed scarlet. + +"Oh, Cousin Helen," she exclaimed. "We forgot to take off our shoes." + +"Don't speak to me," answered her relation. "My legs have gone to sleep +and I have lost the power to move them. I am in an agony of pain." + +At this moment a figure darkened the doorway. The three Japanese women +rose and bowed low and the servants made obeisances. The five Americans +were amazed to recognize their friend of yesterday, Yoritomo Ito. He was +quite as amazed as they were, although he did not show it except by the +flick of an eyelash, because no well-bred Japanese ever shows surprise. + +"How do you do, Mr. Ito?" cried Miss Campbell. "Is it possible that this +is your house we have broken into so rudely?" + +It was indeed Mr. Ito's home, and, the three ladies were his mother, his +aunt and his sister. + +"It is a great pleasure, I am sure, that you have found refuge in my +home. I trust they have served you well." + +Then he spoke rapidly in Japanese to his mother, who smiled and clasped +her hands with joy, as if heaven could not have bestowed a greater gift +than the privilege to entertain these delightful foreigners. + +"And are you the head of the family, Mr. Ito?" asked Miss Campbell. + +"No, my father takes first place. He is a tea merchant in Tokyo. I have +also a younger brother who works with him. He did not wish to go to +America with me." + +At this moment a human doll baby toddled into the room. His round little +head was bald except for a thick mat of hair on top. His beady black eyes +gleamed like polished glass. He wore a dark red kimono and his feet and +legs were bare. + +"Oh, the darling," cried Mary whose love of children overcame any shyness +she might feel before strangers. The three Japanese were pleased at the +attention the little person created. The girls gathered around him in a +circle while he stood perfectly still regarding them curiously, as if +they were some new strange birds which had dropped into his room from the +skies. + +Yoritomo also was pleased. He took the little fellow's hand in his and +led him from one to another while his relatives stood in a beaming row. + +Children are called "treasure-flowers" in Japan, and are petted and +spoiled quite as much as American children. + +"What a cunning little baby brother, Mr. Ito," said Nancy. "What is his +name?" + +"Kenkyo," answered Yoritomo. Suddenly he turned and spoke to one of the +women and the "treasure-flower" was led from the room. + +"Oh, don't send him away," objected Miss Campbell. "I haven't had half a +chance to see him yet." + +"He is not dressed to see distinguished visitors," answered Yoritomo, +quickly. "My mother would like to show you some of her embroidery if +you would care to see it." + +So the subject of little Kenkyo was dropped and Madame Ito, hurrying +away, returned in a moment with an armful of linen and silk on which she +had worked the most wonderful floral designs. + +In the meantime, the faithful 'riksha man, Komatsu, had trotted all the +way through floods of rain to the Campbell villa half a mile distant, and +now returned in company with O'Haru. Between them they carried a covered +basket containing five mackintoshes, five pairs of overshoes and five +umbrellas. + +Komatsu was very angry with O'Haru. He explained to Miss Campbell: + +"I not wish, but she coming without not wish." + +He pointed accusingly at the sad old face. O'Haru, dripping and +imperturbable, stood on the piazza near the entrance to the villa. + +"That was very good of you, O'Haru; we appreciate your devotion," said +Miss Campbell, but the housekeeper did not appear to grasp all this fine +English. She seemed to be taking in every detail of the room and its +occupants. Nobody took any notice of her. All the ladies and the servants +were engaged in helping the guests on with their rain coats and +overshoes. Mme. Ito insisted on doing up their hats in paper bundles. + +In the midst of a great deal of leave-taking and much smiling and bowing, +Yoritomo found time to say to Nancy: + +"You see, chance has favored me to-day. The rain which kept me away from +the bridge has brought you to my home." + +Nancy blushed in spite of her efforts not to. She felt half pleased and +half frightened at the earnest manner of the young Japanese. He was +undeniably handsome and graceful, with a self-possession she had never +seen equaled. Just then a dark figure darted across the floor so swiftly +that it was like a flash of brown wings in the air. There was a low +exclamation from the ladies, a bird-like chatter from the servants, and +for one brief moment the surprised Americans beheld old O'Haru on her +knees before little Kenkyo in the act of touching her forehead to the +floor. She drew a beautiful, bright-colored toy from her bosom and gave +it to the solemn-eyed little boy. Then, bowing again with extreme +reverence, she rose and left the house. When they next saw her she was +swinging along in the rain on her wooden clogs. Miss Campbell made +Komatsu stop the 'riksha and invited her to climb in, but she refused +politely but firmly. + +"Extraordinary creature," exclaimed Miss Campbell, but Komatsu could +offer no explanation. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE GARDEN IN THE RAIN. + + +For three interminable days the rain poured down uninterruptedly. The +floodgates of heaven had opened and it seemed as though they would never +close again. The all-pervading dampness and chill brought illness to the +Campbell household of a kind not to be healed by medicine. Homesickness +it was, and it spread rapidly like a contagious disease. Only one member +of the party of Americans was not afflicted and that was Mr. Campbell, +who had lived in many climates and countries and was accustomed to +seasons of rain and wet. Moreover, as he himself had said, he had no home +to be sick for. He felt a supreme content in the thought of having his +daughter with him and no amount of rain could chill his enthusiasm. + +Miss Campbell took to her bed with an attack of rheumatism, brought on, +she insisted, from having sat on the floor at the home of Mme. Ito. Mary +began a diary of her experiences in Japan and had several private weeping +spells entirely due to the unsurpassed dismalness of the weather. Billie +endeavored to throw off her depression by giving Onoye lessons in English +in exchange for lessons in Japanese, and in the course of these lessons +she learned a little of Onoye's history. O'Haru had been obliged to go to +work after the death of her husband who had lost all his property in a +fire. Onoye's only brother had been killed in great "bat-tel." The family +had had "muchly unfortune. All money gone--nothing." + +At the conclusion of this sad story told mostly by expressive gestures +and queerly chosen words, Onoye smiled sweetly. That is the only polite +thing for a well brought up Japanese girl to do even when her own +misfortunes are the subject of the conversation. + +"What a shame," Billie exclaimed sympathetically. "I should think you +would learn something, some trade, I mean, Onoye. You are much too clever +to be a housemaid. But I suppose you will marry. I hear there are no old +maids in Japan." + +Onoye shook her head and smiled sadly. Perhaps she did not understand +Billie's remark because she did not reply. + +"Old maid, Onoye, is one who never marries," explained Nancy at the +dressing table arranging her hair. + +"Ah, Komatsu old maid. He not marry." + +"No, no, Komatsu is a man," said Billie trying not to laugh. "Old maid is +a woman who has no husband, like Miss Campbell." + +"Old maid," repeated Onoye, and because of what happened that very +evening, it was evident that the retentive Japanese memory had not lost +the words. + +In the afternoon there came a characteristic note from Mr. Campbell to +his cousin. + +"Tell O'Haru to put on the big pot and the little," it ran, "and to kill +the fatted calf. I am going to cheer up my gloomy household by bringing +four men home to dinner. If it were not for these flimsy little card +houses, I would suggest a dance afterwards, but I couldn't answer for +the walls and roof if two young Americans danced a two-step in the +parlor." + +"I am sure a two-step is no rougher than one of these storms of wind and +rain," observed Miss Campbell, feeling a sudden loyalty toward everything +American, including dances. + +O'Haru was informed of the party and the house became at once a beehive +of activity. Several of the little maids, without being told, took down +all the dresses in the wardrobes and began drying them out with square +boxes of red embers. + +"I'd like to be done the same way," remarked Miss Campbell. "I think I am +just as mildewed as my clothes." + +The kitchen quarters of the house fairly vibrated with the stir of +preparation. In the living rooms the air was dried with small charcoal +stoves. The gardener was seen bringing in armfuls of flowers; and with +all the activity and preparation, there was no noise, not a sound. It +was positively uncanny. + +Late in the afternoon Nancy slipped away from this noiseless busy scene +and tripped demurely down a garden path toward the bridge. She was not +exactly bent on mischief but she wanted to satisfy her curiosity about +something. The rain had lessened considerably but it was still necessary +for her to protect her recently arranged curls with her small blue silk +umbrella. In her mackintosh of changeable silk in two shades of blue, she +made a charming picture coming down the rain-soaked path. The garden +itself was a thing of beauty. On the end of every pine needle hung a +crystal drop, and through the thin veil of mist clinging to the shrubbery +a clump of azaleas glowed like a crimson flame. Taking a path to the +left, Nancy began the gentle and almost imperceptible descent to the +little bridge. The air was filled with the perfume of wild roses and late +plum blossoms. It was really a fairy land, this Japan; a place too +exquisite and unreal for human beings to live in. She began to sing +softly to herself Elinor's favorite song: + +"'Know'st thou the land of the citron bloom?'" + +As she approached the bridge she felt a little frightened for some +reason. It was rather reckless of her to come down to this lonely place +in the late afternoon even if it was their own premises. It was the first +time she had done it and she decided it would be the last. But as long as +she had come, she would see it through. Nancy could hardly explain to +herself what she meant by "seeing it through." + +She would stroll carelessly down the path, walk across the bridge, pause +a moment and walk back again, not looking behind her of course, as, if +she were observed, and she was sure she was not, she would pretend she +was out for a walk and had not expected to meet anyone. Thus Nancy +reasoned with herself, but by the time she had reached the bridge she had +changed her mind and was about to turn and hasten back, when she noticed +a beautiful tea rose that had been laid conspicuously on the hand rail of +the bridge. + +"He has been here," she thought. "He must have just gone. The rose is +quite fresh." + +Sticking its long stem through the buttonhole of her raincoat, she +glanced about her curiously. Somehow, behind every clump of shrubs and +every branching pine tree she felt black eyes staring at her and yet she +was sure she was alone. Again she started for the house, feeling +profoundly relieved that Yoritomo had not waited, if, indeed, it was he +who had left the rose. Suddenly Nancy's heart jumped into her throat and +she felt a cold chill down her spinal column,--and for no reason, except +that standing in front of her was not a man, but a woman. The stranger +was too tall to be a Japanese and she was dressed, moreover, in European +clothes,--a beautifully fitting tailor-made suit and English traveling +hat of stitched cloth. But there was something faintly suggestive of the +Japanese about her face. Perhaps it was the slightly slanting eyes and +the smooth olive skin. Her hair was much lighter than her eyes and quite +fluffy; her features were regular and there was a graceful dignity in the +poise of her head on her shoulders. Nancy concluded after a swift +examination that she was, if peculiar looking, still strangely +fascinating. + +"May I ask your pardon for intruding on your beautiful gardens?" began +the woman, speaking with a slightly English accent. "I did not expect +to meet any one on this rainy afternoon." + +Nancy wondered how she had got into the garden and where she had come +from. These things the stranger did not explain. However, Nancy answered +politely: + +"It isn't my garden, but I am sure Mr. Campbell would be delighted to +have other people enjoy it." + +"You are a sweet child," said the woman, deliberately taking Nancy's chin +in her hand and looking down at her, "a sweet, exquisite child." + +After all, Nancy decided, this mysterious lady was both fascinating and +beautiful. + +"And who is Mr. Campbell?" + +Nancy explained. In fact, after a few leading questions, she disclosed +the entire history of the household; who they were, how long they +expected to stay, and how they happened to be spending the summer in +Japan. + +"Is it possible that you are the Motor Maids who have ridden so many +thousands of miles in a red car?" asked the stranger. + +Nancy opened her eyes. + +"Yes," she answered. "But we never dreamed we were so famous as that." + +"Ah, you will find that Tokyo is not so far removed from the world," +answered the woman, smiling gravely. "And Mr. Campbell is building a +railroad, you say?" + +"No, I didn't say so," replied Nancy, a little surprised. "He's not +building anything that I know of. He is being consulted, or something." + +But the stranger did not seem to have heard her. + +"I must be going," she said absently. "You are an adorably pretty child. +It's been a pleasure to see you. I only wandered in here because I was +unhappy and wanted to be alone, but you have cheered me up. Run along, +now, and don't walk in Japanese gardens at dusk unattended too often." +Her glance fell on the tea rose. "And remember that the Japanese do not +understand the meaning of the word 'flirtation.' Good-by, _ma cherie, +belle et charmante_. You won't tell your Mr. Campbell that I trespassed +on his garden, will you? Promise?" + +"I promise," answered Nancy, quite bewildered and fascinated. + +Then the mysterious lady disappeared down a dripping path and Nancy was +left standing alone in the rain. + +"I am sorry I promised," was her first thought. "It would have been such +fun to tell Billie." But her second thought was: "Billie would have +asked me why I had gone walking at dusk in the rain, and what a teasing I +should have got." + +It was late and she hurried back to dress for dinner. No one had missed +her because Billie had been helping Miss Campbell into her best evening +frock, and the others were all engaged in their own toilets. + +That evening at half past seven a very jolly party gathered around the +dinner table, which was a miracle of beauty with its decorations of apple +blossoms. Besides Nicholas Grimm and Yoritomo Ito, there were two +Englishmen, Reginald Carlton, a young man who was taking a trip around +the world by way of finishing his education, and Mr. Buxton, an older man +who lived in Tokyo. All the men wore evening clothes, although Mr. +Campbell had sighed when Billie made him appear in his. He was a man of +camps and open air and seldom appeared in society. Nancy watched his +rugged, handsome face admiringly. + +"What a splendid looking man he is," she was thinking, when Yoritomo at +her right said in a low voice: + +"You did go to the bridge." + +"How do you know?" she asked. + +"Because I saw the rose. It was fastened on your rain coat, which you +left on a hook in the passage with your wet umbrella." + +"I only went for the air," said Nancy hastily. "I shall not go again +alone." + +Yoritomo's face darkened, and he turned his attention to his dinner. + +In the meantime the others were all amusing themselves in various ways, +and there was a great deal of talk and laughter. Miss Campbell felt +rejuvenated and her rheumatic twinges had entirely disappeared. + +"There is nothing like a little pleasure for driving acidity out of the +system," she thought, as she finished the last spoonful of her dessert of +beautifully preserved fruits. + +Onoye had entered, carrying a small lacquered tray on which lay a square, +foreign-looking visiting card. + +"A lady calling to the honorable old maid," she announced calmly at Miss +Campbell's elbow. + +"The what?" cried Mr. Campbell. + +"The honorable old maid," repeated poor Onoye, with her precise accent, +smiling innocently. + +There was a perfect shout of laughter. Only Yoritomo's face remained +impassive, but who could tell what angry thoughts were hidden behind that +mask-like face? Billie tried to explain how the mistake had occurred, and +Onoye rushed from the room in an agony of embarrassment and shame. + +"Don't scold her, Cousin. She thought she had learned a new English +word," Billie besought Miss Campbell. + +"Scold her? I should think not. I don't mind being called an 'honorable +old maid,' I am sure. But who is this caller, I wonder?" she added, in +a lower voice. + +Mr. Campbell examined the card with some curiosity. "Mme. Marie +Fontaine," it read. Miss Campbell hastened into the drawing-room, and +Nancy, peeping through the doors a few minutes later, was surprised to +find that Mme. Fontame was her recent companion in the garden. + +The visit was very brief, and Miss Campbell presently returned looking +somewhat amused and a little annoyed. + +"Mme. Fontaine wished to know if she might have an interview with the +Motor Maids on the subject of their motor trip across the American +continent and through the British Isles." + +"And what did you tell her?" demanded the four girls in one voice, it +must be confessed somewhat eagerly. + +"I told her that while we appreciated the compliment, it would be +impossible." + +"Quite right," said Mr. Campbell. "Publicity is the thing of all others I +wish to avoid, and if an article like that appeared in a Tokyo paper, +either in Japanese or English, you would probably be the object of the +most disagreeable curiosity. Am I not right, Yoritomo?" + +"Oh, yes. It would not be agreeable to the young ladies. Many people +would come to look at them." + +"I am very glad my action is approved, then," said Miss Campbell. "I have +an old-fashioned horror of notoriety like that, and I am sure none of my +girls would care to see herself in a newspaper. Would she?" + +"No, indeed," they answered promptly in a chorus. + +In a secret place in Nancy's mind, however, she saw a picture of her own +pretty face occupying at least one-third of a newspaper page and +underneath, blazoned in large letters: "The Beautiful Miss Anne Starbuck +Brown, One of the Famous Motor Maids." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +IN THE LIBRARY. + + +The house Mr. Campbell had sub-let for the summer was somewhat +labyrinthian in design, since it was only one story high and contained +many rooms for living and sleeping, besides the servants' quarters in the +rear. Mr. Spears had engaged a Japanese architect to build the house and +Japanese and European ideas were curiously combined in its construction. +Down the middle ran a broad hall, intersected at the back by another hall +running across the house. This was known as "the passage," and it was in +a manner a social boundary line, dividing the quarters of master and +servants. Only one opening broke the monotony of the uninterrupted +partition on the far side of the passage. This was the door into the +library which had been placed in a quiet and out-of-the-way corner +overlooking the garden. + +This library was decidedly the most attractive and home-like room in the +villa. There was a large open fireplace at one end where a pile of +blazing logs now crackled cheerfully. It would have taken an immense +"go-down" to accommodate all the books which lined the walls. But Mr. +Spears was evidently not afraid of fire, for they stood in serried ranks, +rows and rows of them, and between each group of shelves was a panel of +carved and polished wood. Over the mantel hung a beautiful Japanese +print. Curtains of some heavy material, old rose in color, hung at the +windows, and instead of the usual three by six mats, the floor was +covered with an Oriental rug in soft warm colors. There were many low, +comfortable chairs about and several tables on which stood shaded lamps. + +Later in the evening after Mr. Campbell's dinner party, the three older +members of the company sat down in the drawing-room for a quiet game, +while the young people repaired to the library where they might talk and +laugh freely without fear of disturbing the players. + +"Oh, I say, what a jolly room," exclaimed Reginald Carlton, looking about +him with interest. + +"Isn't it?" agreed Billie. "Papa says that if people would only stick to +Japanese notions of decoration and add a few comfortable chairs to sit +in, they would never make any mistakes. You see, there's only one picture +in this room, but that's considered very fine. It's by a famous Japanese +artist." + +"I like that one-picture idea," put in Nicholas Grimm, "especially if it +is at a comfortable elevation. Just pull up an easy chair and raise your +eyes and you have seen all there is to see. There's a delightful +simplicity about that to me. But I suppose Yoritomo would call this room +crowded, nevertheless. How about it, old man? It wouldn't take you +fifteen minutes to pull down the curtains and roll up the rug and store +them in the 'go-down.' Would it, now, honor bright?" + +"No, no. I like the European furnishings," protested the Japanese. "You +must remember that I lived in America for many years. There is only one +thing I would store in the 'go-down,' and that is the little safe." + +He pointed to a small American fire-proof safe in a corner of the room. + +"But that is our 'go-down,'" laughed Billie. "We haven't any other. When +Papa first came here he discovered that there was no place to lock up +anything except some desk drawers, and he rented this little safe for his +papers. A Japanese gentleman advised him to do it. He told Papa there was +a great deal of curiosity here about the private business of foreigners." + +A dark flush overspread Yoritomo's face and gradually faded out. The +others did not notice it, however. They had followed Nicholas across +the room and were standing in a circle around the safe, while the young +American touched it with a caressing hand. + +"Made in Newark, N.J., U.S.A.," he exclaimed. "Think of that. It's like +meeting an old friend from home." + +"A very proper kind of friend," observed Reginald. "The kind that keeps a +secret behind a combination lock." + +"I don't call it being a real friend to have any combination at all," put +in Elinor, "because anybody who learns the combination can get the +secret." + +Nicholas laughed. + +"You don't understand the Japanese, Miss Butler," he exclaimed. "They +regard all persons with important secrets as combination safes. Sooner or +later they believe they can learn any combination if they only persist." + +"Why don't you stand up for your country, Mr. Ito?" asked Nancy. + +"What Nicholas says is true," answered Yoritomo. "If the secret concerns +his country, the Japanese will learn it if he must give up his life. What +you call 'spy' in your language should be changed to patriot, or one who +risks all for his country. Every Japanese is a spy, because every +Japanese will suffer for Japan." + +"Perfectly good logic," said Nicholas. + +"Are you a spy?" asked Mary, so innocently that even the imperturbable +Yoritomo laughed. + +"I am, in the sense of being a patriot," he answered. "There is nothing I +would not do for Japan." + +"Are you a Samurai?" asked Billie, hardly understanding the meaning of +the word. + +"My grandfather was. There are no real samurai now. Only descendants." + +"But what were they?" + +Yoritomo's face became strangely animated. + +"A samurai was a soldier," he said. "He was brave and feared neither +death nor suffering in any form. He carried two swords, a long one for +fighting and a short one for defense. The sword was the emblem of the +samurai spirit. He took pride in keeping it sharp and bright." + +"Aren't some of the descendants of the old warrior samurai rather +fanatical?" asked Reginald. "That is, I mean--" he hesitated, seeing a +peculiar gleam in Yoritomo's eyes, "aren't some opposed to the entrance +of foreigners into Japan, and the invasion of foreign ideas--perhaps that +feeling has died out now?" + +"The old samurai defended his country against the foreigner and no +descendant of a samurai, either now or ever, would endure for a foreigner +to learn the secrets of his country. But that is not fanaticism. That is +patriotism. He is very jealous of his country's honor, you understand. +You will look at the history of other countries. First it is only a few +foreigners; then more and more. They slip into the government. They +spread their ideas and customs--they get a foot-hold--then--all of a +sudden, what is it? Not Japan any longer--but--America--England." + +"Oh, come off, Yoritomo," cried Nicholas, laughing. "What in the name of +all the powers are you driving at? There are about forty millions of +people on this island and I guess a few foreigners won't make much +headway in such a bunch as that." + +"At least, you are not afraid of being Americanized, Mr. Ito," broke in +Nancy, "since you were educated in America." + +"I am not afraid of the invasion of beautiful American young ladies," +answered Yoritomo gallantly, and the others laughed and felt somewhat +relieved that the conversation had drifted into a less serious vein. They +drew their chairs into a circle about the fire and talked pleasantly for +some time, when they were summoned back to the drawing-room by Mr. +Campbell, who reminded Elinor of a promise she had made to him to sing +for them with her guitar. + +This performance was a subject of wondering curiosity to the servants of +the household. Through the door to the dining-room Elinor caught a +glimpse of a multitude of natives crouched on the floor behind the +screen, including Komatsu and O'Haru, all the little maids, the +numerous grandmothers, and the 'riksha men who had brought the guests out +from Tokyo. If the music seemed strange to the Japanese ear trained for +centuries to a curious uneven scale, at least they admired Elinor's +lovely voice, clear and sweet as a bell. She had a large repertoire and +knew all the favorites of everybody. While she was singing "Oh, that we +two were Maying," at the request of Miss Campbell, Nancy, seated on the +couch beside Billie, near the door, whispered into her friend's ear: + +"I left my handkerchief in the library," and slipped into the hall. +Hardly a moment later Billie, glancing through the door, saw Nancy in +the distance, beckoning violently. She rose and followed, much against +her will, thinking perhaps Nancy wished to bestow a confidence which +might just as well be kept until later. + +"What on earth do you want?" she asked, with the irritability intimate +friends use toward each other without meaning really to be cross. + +"The queerest thing has happened. The library is perfectly black dark." + +"I don't think there is anything specially remarkable about that. The +fire had burned low before we left and I suppose one of the maids put out +the lamps. The Japs are nothing if not economical." + +"They are nothing if not polite, too," argued Nancy. "And I am sure they +wouldn't put out the lights before the company left. Besides, they are +all listening to Elinor sing." + +"Well, the lights are out and I don't see that it matters much, +Nancy-Bell. Let's go back and hear the rest of the song." + +"Won't you come with me first to get my handkerchief?" pleaded Nancy. "I +know exactly where I left it, and I am afraid to go alone, if you want to +know the real truth." + +"Oh, you little coward," laughed Billie good-naturedly, taking her arm. +"Come along, then." + +The two young girls hastened down the long hall until they reached the +passage. + +"Billie," whispered Nancy, pausing at the door. "You won't think me silly +if I tell you this? Of course it may have been imagination, but I was +awfully frightened when I came in here just now. I opened the door +suddenly and ran into the room before I realized it was dark. Then, of +course, I stopped short. The door had closed behind me and it seemed to +me that some one else was in the room. I remembered that as I opened the +door I heard some one move or collide with a chair. I stood perfectly +still for an instant. I was really frightened. Then I just flew." + +"Perhaps it was one of the servants who had put out the lights and was +afraid to acknowledge it," suggested Billie. "The little maids are as +timid as wild things." + +"But every servant in the house is in the dining room, I tell you. I saw +them as I went down the hall, and I counted them just for fun. There were +the four little maids and Onoye and O'Haru and Komatsu and the three +jinriksha men and the three old grandmothers and the gardener. There +aren't any others." + +The door leading into the library was not a sliding panel of thick opaque +paper, like the usual Japanese door, but a real European door of heavy +wood with a brass handle. + +"Don't you think we had better get your father, Billie, or one of the +boys?" whispered Nancy, placing a detaining hand on her friend's arm. + +"But that would be a needless alarm. Everybody would want to know what +was the matter. There would have to be explanations and Cousin Helen +would be frightened. Besides, I am sure it was just your vivid +imagination, Nancy." + +She opened the door very softly and peeped in. The room was flooded with +the radiance of two shaded lamps, both burning brightly; in fact, one had +been turned up too high, as if lighted in haste. + +"Oh," gasped Nancy, in amazement. + +But Billie was determined not to be surprised. + +"Take my word for it, Nancy; one of the servants put out the lights by +mistake, thinking we had finished in here for the night, and when you +returned he or she was frightened and lit them again, thinking that +honorable American young lady might be displeased." + +Nancy found her handkerchief. + +"Very well," she said. "If that is your expert opinion I am willing to +abide by it, but I was fright--" + +Before she could finish one of the long French windows blew open and a +gust of wet wind extinguished the lamp on a table near the window. Billie +marched boldly over and closed and bolted the window. + +"Whoever it was," she said, "must have got out this way." + +The girls exchanged a long glance of uneasy speculation. In the dim light +of the remaining lamp the room seemed filled with shadows. Billie drew +the heavy curtains across the casement. Those at the other window were +already drawn. + +"Come along, Nancy-Bell," she exclaimed. "Thieves don't blow out lights +and then come back and relight them. It would be extremely unprofessional +if they did and very reckless besides. It's certain to be one of those +timid little persons in a kimono. We had better be getting back to the +drawing-room or Papa will be wondering what has become of us." + +Hardly had they closed the door after them, when a figure, wrapped from +head to foot in a long brown garment something like a cape, emerged from +behind the other curtains. Whoever it was, whether man or woman, it was +impossible to judge, opened the door, peeped cautiously into the passage +and, finding it quite empty, marched boldly out. In another moment the +intruder had disappeared into the garden. + +As the girls passed along the hall they paused to notice the picturesque +group of servants gathered near the door. There was a smile on every +face, not a smile of ridicule, but of courteous enjoyment. + +"Is there any rude person in the length and breadth of Japan?" thought +Billie, while Nancy once more counted heads and then shook her own +thoughtfully. + +"I don't understand," she pondered, "but Billie is usually right, so I'll +just cease to worry." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +CHERRY BLOSSOMS. + + +A few hours of brilliant sunshine and all the dampness had been sucked up +from the earth; the air was warmed and dried and the mists rolled back +from the garden, revealing a fairy-land too exquisite to be real. + +Something especially wonderful had happened that morning. The faces of +the little maids had been filled with a joyous expectancy as they hurried +from room to room on their household duties. A mysterious smile hovered +on the lips of Komatsu when he appeared to receive his orders. Even old +O'Haru was secretly immensely pleased about something, but they all had +evidently agreed among themselves to keep the great news secret until the +psychological moment had arrived when the ladies of the house and Mr. +Campbell had assembled on the piazza just before breakfast. + +When this occurred word was swiftly and silently conveyed over the +household and all persons belonging to the domestic staff instantly +gathered in the hall and doorway. + +"Why, what on earth is the matter with them?" Miss Campbell asked +uneasily. "Will you please look: the entire household collected in the +front hall." + +Mr. Campbell was as much at a loss as his cousin. + +"They look as if they were going to play a joke on us," observed Billie, +"Did you ever see anything so guileless and simple-hearted as they are?" + +"Oh, I know what it is," cried Mary, clasping her hands with delight. +"There," she said, pointing to the old gardener, who was approaching by +way of one of the paths. There was an inimitable smile on his face, and +he carried tenderly and gingerly a double handful of brown branches on +which clustered delicate pink blossoms. + +"It's the cherry blossoms! They are in bloom!" Mary shouted in her +enthusiasm. "That's why they are all so delighted. The dears! They are +just like a lot of children." + +The crown of the year for the Japanese had indeed arrived, the season +when every cherry tree becomes a magnificent nosegay which has caught the +sunset's glow, and all the world goes forth to view the splendid sight. + +The love of these people, young and old and of all classes, for flowers, +and particularly for cherry blossoms, is touching in its simplicity and +sincerity. + +The old gardener was himself a delightful picture in his blue cotton, +tunic-like coat, queer, tight-fitting trousers and an enormous hat that +resembled an inverted flower basket. Against the coarse blue of his tunic +rested the delicate rosy cloud of blossoms. With an elaborate bow he +presented Mr. Campbell and each of the ladies with a branch. "Him muchly +more big soon all same," he said. + +"Thank you, Saiki. They are very beautiful," said Miss Campbell, speaking +in the distinct, loud tone she used for persons not understanding her +own language. + +The girls exclaimed and admired and Mr. Campbell was delighted. He felt a +kind of reverence for the old man's simple unaffected love of beauty. In +the meantime, the regiment of servants who had witnessed and enjoyed the +ceremony of presenting the first cherry blossoms to the master and +mistress of the house retired to their various occupations. + +The pleasure and surprise of the foreigners over the beauty of the cherry +blossoms would be a memory for these humble people to cherish all their +lives. Perhaps they had never seen the like before, these honorable +barbarians; certainly nothing so perfect as the double blossom, of a +delicacy and shade not to be surpassed. + +Later at the breakfast table Billie concocted a scheme. + +"Papa," she began, "can't we take the 'Comet' and go sight-seeing? It +would be such fun, and while the 'rikshas are very nice, we are so +separated, we can't all sympathize together as we usually do." + +"A kind of sympathy in detachments, is it?" asked Mr. Campbell. "But I +wanted to go with you on your first ride in the 'Comet.' I don't know +just how the people will take to a girl's driving a red 'devil-wagon,' as +they call it." + +"Why not let Komatsu go along?" + +"What do you think, Cousin?" asked Mr. Campbell. + +Up to this time Miss Campbell had kept out of the discussion. The truth +is, she yearned to relieve the tedium of life by taking a trip in the red +motor car. + +"Couldn't you get away and go with us?" + +"Impossible this afternoon, because I have an appointment to meet some +very distinguished persons to discuss various plans. One can hardly be +polite enough as it is in this good-mannered country, and it would never +do to break an engagement. In another week or so I shall be free to take +the ladies on excursions." + +"What is it all about, Papa?" asked Billie. + +"Oh, government improvements, child. Things that are too important to be +talked about." He pinched her cheek. "Well, beautiful American ladies, if +you take Komatsu with you as interpreter and protector, guide and friend, +I think you might be trusted to make a little cherry-blossom excursion in +the 'Comet.' Only don't go too far or too fast and on your life don't run +over anything, even a chicken, or there'll be trouble for all concerned." + +So it was settled, and after breakfast Billie rushed to the mysterious +back premises of the place on the other side of the house, where various +hitherto unsuspected industries seemed to be in progress. There was a +kitchen garden hidden by a hedge of althea bushes, a chicken yard, and +in a most picturesque building, used by the Spears for a carriage house, +the "Comet." So far they had been unable to find a chauffeur, and Mr. +Campbell himself had gone over all the machinery and put it in order. +Billie cranked up, and, jumping into her old accustomed place, guided the +motor car into the open. Komatsu came at a run from around the side of +the house. He was so amazed at sight of Billie in the chauffeur's seat +that he could not conceal his feelings. + +"Komatsu, we want you to go with us to-day. We want you to show us the +cherry trees in Tokyo and Uyeno Park. I suppose we couldn't get to all +the famous cherry blossom places in one afternoon?" + +"Him fast runner. No sakura all same see." + +"No, no. We shall go quite slowly. We want to see everything." + +In less than an hour the _hanami_, signifying in Japanese a picnic to a +famous place to view certain flowers in season, conducted on the most +modern lines in a red motor car, proceeded on its way. Komatsu, a +strangely incongruous figure, sat on the front seat beside Billie. + +On the way to Tokyo the "Comet" created a sensation. All the varied +wayfarers on that picturesque highway paused and stared, pointing and +gesticulating. + +The city was a vision of beauty. Most of its broad avenues are lined with +close set rows of cherry trees which were now bursting into blossom in +all the most delicate and exquisite shades of pink known to nature. +Komatsu guided them about the city with a kind of pleased and gratified +delight as if he were showing his own property. Sometimes he stood up and +pointed to the feathery tops of carefully nurtured cherry trees, glimpses +of which could be seen over the high walls surrounding private gardens. + +The motorists were fairly bewildered by the beauty of it all. It was like +a vast conservatory with the roof taken off. Nothing could have been more +exotic or more lovely than the vista through the park with the white peak +of Fujiyama, queen of mountains, glistening in the distance. + +Moreover, this little jaunt in the car had stirred their blood into +action. They felt once more the call of the road, the fever to be going. +The old accustomed sensation that they must make a certain place by such +and such a time had returned. They were of one opinion, this party of +Motor-Gypsies: to go back home until sunset would be a foolish waste of +golden hours. Their five wishes accorded like the notes of an harmonious +chord and presently Billie, influenced by the force of this silent +opinion, exclaimed: + +"Suppose we take a country road and eat lunch later at some wayside tea +house?" + +"Splendid!" cried the others almost before she had finished. + +Miss Campbell raised one feeble objection--something about the +weather--but it was promptly overridden by her relative at the wheel, +and presently she settled down in her seat and abandoned herself to the +joy of motion. + +"In all the ten thousands of miles we have covered in this car," she +remarked, "I never was happier than I am at this moment." + +"Why can't we go to the Arakawa Ridge?" suggested Mary, consulting a +guide book. "It's only seven miles from here on the Sumida River and +there are miles and miles of road bordered by double-flowering cherry +trees." + +This was agreeable to all concerned, and, accordingly, Komatsu guided +them to this famous spot, the pride of Tokyo. On the way they passed +hundreds of people in jinrikshas or on foot. Many of the pedestrians +carried paper parasols and fans, exactly like the chorus in the "Mikado." +Those who rode in the graceful little two-wheeled buggies looked out upon +the world with expressions of calm enjoyment. + +The "Comet" was a conspicuous object as it progressed slowly along the +road, but so far all things worked together for good and there was no +cause for uneasiness. At a little roadside tea house they paused for +lunch. The building was nothing more than a shed with a low-hanging +thatched roof and sides made of coarse strips of matting joined together +with bamboo sticks. Humble as it was it possessed a peculiar charm, all +its own. They were presently to find that the rear of the tea house +facing a little garden was glorified into something rich and strange by a +magnificent azalea bush in full bloom. It reached to the roof of the +house and was a mass of deep red blossoms. + +The ear was left in a pine grove near the house, and following Komatsu +along a rocky path they presently found themselves in this delectable +little garden. Here they were met by an old man and his wife, a very aged +couple whose gentle deprecating expressions almost moved Miss Campbell to +tears. + +"The adorable old things," she exclaimed. "They remind me of two old +turtle doves." + +Close at their heels came two little maids who conducted the ladies into +the tea house and brought tea for temporary refreshment, while Komatsu +consulted with the proprietor regarding lunch. + +Presently one of the little maids hurried in and placed a menu in front +of Miss Campbell. + +"Me speak little honorable American language," she said. "You like all +same American food? Will gracious lady make eyes to look?" + +Miss Campbell raised her lorgnette and examined the menu while the small +maid backed away and disappeared, in the throes of extreme shyness over +her endeavors. + +"Girls," said Miss Campbell, in a curious, strained voice, "don't any of +you dare to laugh because of course they are all peeping at us from +somewhere, but I want you all to make eyes to look at this amazing +production." + +They crowded about her and over her shoulder read the following menu: + +_Soup by egge +Eels to rice +Seaweed +Podadoe Sweete +Sponge boiled +Doormats a la U. S._ + +There were tears of laughter in Miss Campbell's eyes and her voice was so +shaky she could hardly trust herself to speak, even when she saw the +little maid returning around the corner of the azalea bush. The faces of +the four girls were crimson with suppressed laughter. + +"Very nice, my dear," said Miss Campbell, "you may bring in luncheon as +soon as you can." + +After she had gone there was a brief but eloquent silence. + +"Do, some one, make a joke," whispered Elinor. + +At that moment a strange looking bob-tailed cat walked by. + +"There," cried Nancy, and they all instantly burst into hysterical +laughter. + +"In the name of good health and excellent digestion, tell me what are +doormats?" asked Billie. + +"Dear knows," answered her cousin, "but I think if they must be eaten it +would be best to take boiled sponges afterward." + +The luncheon was purely Japanese, in spite of the English menu, and it +was really excellent. + +"I never thought to come to eels," Miss Campbell observed, but she +enjoyed her portion, nevertheless. + +"Doormats a la U. S." turned out to be a sweet cake with a sugary icing. + +"I believe they were intended for doughnuts," observed that astute little +person, Mary Price, and no doubt she was quite right. + +When the feast was over Miss Campbell paid the bill, which was +pathetically small, since there was no charge for tea and sweetmeats. + +"How do we give the tip?" she asked. + +"I know," answered Billie, "Papa taught me about that the other day." She +consulted her note book. Tearing out a leaf, she wrapped up what would +amount to about a dollar in American money, then with her little silver +pencil she wrote on the package "On chadai." "That means 'honorable money +for tea,'" she explained. + +Next she clapped her hands. All through the house voices could be heard +calling "Hai! Hai!" + +Presently the maid appeared hanging her head humbly. Billie motioned to +her that she wished the proprietor, who, indeed, was close at hand. With +an expression of much surprise he received the chadai and bowing to the +ground murmured something which Komatsu explained meant honorable thanks +for poor insignificant service. + +Each guest on departing received a fan as a souvenir; because, as they +were to learn before they left Japan, no Japanese ever receives a present +without giving another in return. Every person attached to the tea house +went out to see the departure of the car, and the old woman clutched her +husband's arm fearfully when she heard the vibrations of the machinery +and saw Billie turn the "Comet" down the hillside to the main road. + +At last, fortified by strange if not unpalatable food and thoroughly +enjoying themselves, they arrived at the entrance to the magnificent +avenue called Arakawa Ridge, along each side of which, as far as the eye +could see, ran two rows of cherry trees in full bloom. + +The avenue was lined with 'rikshas, and hundreds of pedestrians paced +slowly along. They were in holiday attire and the bright colors of the +kimonos and obis made a bewildering and brilliant picture. At intervals +booths had been erected, decorated with lanterns, where refreshments were +sold, and nearby a roving band of musicians and dancers were entertaining +the crowd. + +The mistake Billie made was to attempt to take the car through the +crowded road where apparently there were only pedestrians and jinrikshas. +But Komatsu had not objected and since they had been accustomed to take +the "Comet" wherever there was a navigable road, they pushed innocently +on. As for the populace celebrating the cherry blossom festival, they +evidently regarded the sight of a young woman driving a red devil-wagon +as something just short of miraculous. Slowly and at a dignified pace the +motor car moved along the avenue, and suddenly like a bolt from the blue +two things happened. + +A little boy escaped from his sister's hand and ran across the road. +Billie reversed the lever just as the child fell under the wheels. At the +same instant a tire on a rear wheel exploded with a loud report. + +Miss Campbell groaned and hid her face in her hands. + +Instantly they were surrounded by a mob of angry people. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +A BAD QUARTER OF AN HOUR. + + +In the uncertainty of that terrible moment everything turned black before +Billie's eyes. + +"I am a murderer," was all she could think. "I've killed a little child." + +When the mists had cleared away she saw a weird scene about her: hundreds +of Japanese men and women, speaking in low angry voices which somehow +reminded her of the breaking of the surf on the beach--perhaps because +the Japanese language has a sing-song rhythm. The little boy, apparently +limp and lifeless, lay in his sister's arms. Komatsu had leapt clear over +the front of the car and pushed his way through the people gathered about +them. With a hand as skillful as a doctor's he felt the child's pulse and +placed his ear over his heart. + +"Baby only make believe dead," he said. "Honorable heart beating all same +like steam engine." + +At these hopeful words Miss Campbell came to herself with a start. For a +moment she had been faint and sick with the notion of what had happened. +Never before in all their thousands of miles of touring in the "Comet" +had they injured so much as a fly; and now to run down a little child! It +was too dreadful to contemplate. + +"Komatsu," she ordered, in an unsteady voice, "tell the girl to get in +and we will take her brother to the nearest doctor." + +Komatsu conveyed this message to the stricken sister, who shook her head +violently. + +"Honorable devil-wagon shoot pistol. Japanese no likee," he said. + +Closer and closer pressed the tense mob about the party. These courteous +and gentle Japanese had suddenly been transformed into a fierce, savage +people. + +From one end of Japan to the other a child is considered a sacred thing. +If Billie had injured a grown person the public sentiment would not have +been so strong, but to harm one of these little "treasure flowers" was to +strike at the very heart of the nation. + +"Can't you understand that we are sorry and anxious to help you?" cried +Miss Campbell, addressing the mob, but her voice was lost in the subdued +threatening murmur which sounded like distant thunder heralding the +approach of a storm. + +"Good heavens, Komatsu, what are we to do? The child might be saved if +they would only listen to reason." + +"People no likee honorable devil-wagon. Going breaking little pieces all +same like sticks." + +"No, no, they must not," ejaculated Billie. "We are sorry," she cried, +stretching out her hands appealingly to the circle of Japanese pressed +around the car. "We didn't mean to do it." + +In the meantime Miss Campbell had produced her bottle of smelling salts, +the same that had accompanied her on all her trips, and climbed out of +the car. With a motion imperious and compelling she pushed aside the men +and women in the circle. + +The sister had laid the child on the ground and was kneeling beside him. +Komatsu knelt on the other side, feeling the little legs and body. + +"No break bones," he said briefly. + +Miss Campbell sat on the ground by the unconscious child, wondering +vaguely if she would ever rise again. + +"They may tear us to pieces before we get back. They are like an angry, +silent pack of wolves," she thought to herself. "Komatsu," she said +aloud, "I believe he has fainted from fright," She put the smelling +bottle to the baby's funny snub nose. + +Presently the boy opened his eyes. + +At this moment from the midst of the crowd there came a strange shrill +cry and a distracted looking woman began beating and fighting her way +toward the group. + +"Honorable mother come in big hurry," said Komatsu, in a low voice. +"Gracious lady, take jinriksha. Honorable quickness best now." + +"But the child isn't injured, Komatsu. Look, he's opened his eyes and +he's going to sit up. It was simply fright." + +"No like honorable devil-wagon," went on Komatsu steadily. + +While this low, rapid dialogue was taking place Billie, standing on the +front seat of the "Comet" on the lookout for help, saw something that +made her blood turn cold. A band of fierce looking young men in Japanese +costume was approaching on the run. The leader was brandishing a short +knife with a two-edged glittering blade and the others flourished sword +canes. Billie was thankful that Miss Campbell was too much occupied at +that moment in assuring the poor mother that her child was not injured to +notice this murderous looking company. Komatsu had quietly placed himself +beside the car, faithful soul, ready to die in the service of his ladies. + +Were they all going to be cut to pieces or was only the "Comet" to be +sacrificed in revenge for the accident? + +The Motor Maids exchanged frightened glances. + +"If I only knew six words in Japanese," thought Billie. + +"Make honorable quickness to descend, gracious lady. Come, come," Komatsu +urged. "To jinriksha. Leave red devil-wagon. This place no good for +staying in." + +"Oh, Komatsu, try and reason with them," pleaded Billie. "We don't want +to lose the 'Comet,' It wasn't his fault. He was going quite slowly. He +didn't mean to hurt the little boy. He's the kindest hearted old thing. +It wasn't anybody's fault. Can't you tell them that?" + +Billie was too distracted and unhappy to realize how absurd her words +might have sounded to any English-speaking person. It had always seemed +to her that a real heart beat somewhere in the mechanical organism of the +red motor. Gasoline was his life's blood and his pulse-beats were only +the throb of the engine, but, to Billie, he was a faithful and devoted +soul and she was not quite prepared to say what she would do in order to +save him from destruction. + +However, at the moment that the band of young men, scarcely more than +boys any of them, reached the car, some one sprang into the machine from +the other side. + +Turning quickly, Billie was confronted by a tall, slender young woman in +a white serge suit and a big black hat. She had a dark, creamy +complexion, dark eyes that slanted slightly and hair of a queer mousy +shade of brown. + +"Wait," said the stranger, "I will speak to them," and mounting the seat, +she addressed the crowd in their own tongue with extraordinary fluency, +the girls thought, remembering what they had heard concerning the +difficulties of that language. There was an elegance and fascination +indescribable about the stranger. Nancy recognized her instantly as the +lady in the garden. Miss Campbell knew her as Mme. Fontaine, newspaper +correspondent. The others in the party imagined her to be almost anything +romantic and interesting; perhaps a foreign princess; a great actress; +something remarkable, surely. + +In a beautiful, cultured voice, far reaching in spite of its soft tones, +she harangued the multitude which little by little fell back. The group +of fierce young men put away their weapons and disappeared in the mob. +The little boy, the cause of all the trouble, was now standing on his +feet blinking his eyes at Miss Campbell. How the picture was stamped on +their minds like a vividly colored print! + +Miss Campbell took out her purse and gave the mother of the boy some +money. Being still quite ignorant of Japanese coinage she did not pause +to make any laborious calculations, but poured all the money in the purse +into the woman's outstretched hand. It must have been an undreamed-of +sum, for the mother's face was wreathed in delighted smiles. She bowed +until her forehead almost touched the ground, as did the witnesses of +this princely generosity. + +"It's all over now," said Mme. Fontaine, stepping down from the seat and +smiling at Billie. "You had a bad quarter of an hour, though, I fear." + +"I don't know how we can ever thank you," exclaimed Billie. "You not only +saved the car from destruction, but you may have saved us, too. There's +no telling how far they would have gone once they got started." + +"No, no, they would not have harmed you, but they might have injured the +car. They are a good deal like children, but they are not butchers. I +think they admired your courage, too, for not deserting the sinking +ship." + +Miss Campbell now approached and held out her hand gratefully. + +"You are heaping coals of fire on my head, Mme. Fontaine," she said. +"Yesterday I refused to grant you a favor and to-day you are placing us +everlastingly in your debt." + +"No, no, you must not put it that way," said the other woman, with a +graceful movement of protest. "You were quite right not to be interviewed +if you did not wish it. Some Americans do not object to publicity, you +know. One can never tell. But what I did just now any other person who +spoke both languages would have been glad to do." + +The end of the episode was that Mme. Fontaine waited with Miss Campbell +and the three girls, while Billie, in the center of a curious circle of +onlookers and with the help of Komatsu, put on a new tire. + +"Are you in a 'riksha?" asked Miss Campbell of their deliverer. "We would +be glad if you would let us take you back to Tokyo in the car. My young +cousin is a careful and experienced chauffeur. This is the only accident +of the sort we have ever had and I think it was entirely the fault of the +child." + +"Oh, I am not in the least timid in motor cars and I accept with +pleasure," answered Mme. Fontaine quickly. + +Some twenty minutes later, with Komatsu running ahead to clear the road, +the "Comet" threaded his way at a snail's pace along the Arakawa Ridge. +No doubt his mechanical organism, which Billie had endowed with a soul, +heaved a sigh of relief when they took the road home. + +"Who were the young men with the knives and sword canes, Mme. Fontaine?" +asked Mary on the way back. + +"Oh, they are a group of fanatical young persons opposed to foreigners. +Most of them are descendants of the samurai. They believe in old Japan. +They talk the wildest kind of nonsense, and while their beliefs are +opposed to progress, they represent in Japan what the Nihilists represent +in Russia and the Anarchists and such people in other countries. They +will outgrow it in time. Some of the finest men in Japan once belonged to +these clubs of _soshi_, as they are called. In another generation there +will be very few of them left. In the meantime they are quite dangerous +occasionally. About fifty years ago a band of them attacked the English +Legation at Takanawa and there was a fierce fight. But I feel perfectly +sure that they wouldn't attack people now. Only motor cars and the like." + +"That would have been bad enough," remarked Billie, patting the wheel of +the "Comet." + +Mme. Fontaine smiled pleasantly. + +"After the great excitement may I not have the pleasure of offering you a +reviving cup of tea at my house? It would make me very happy." + +Miss Campbell would have much preferred to go straight home, but to +decline the invitation would have seemed ungracious and she accepted +promptly. + +Along the broad streets of Tokyo, under out-stretched boughs heavy with +blossoms, they rolled, and at last Billie paused as directed at a gate in +a wall behind which was a charming little house, set in the usual +beautiful garden. + +If Mme. Fontaine was fascinating and elegant, so also was her home. The +drawing-room, which seemed to occupy most of the second floor, was +furnished in European fashion with deep chairs and couches, Oriental rugs +and rich hangings. There was a grand piano near the windows, and on the +walls were the rarest and most beautiful Japanese prints. It was a +blending of the East and West and was one of the most artistic and +delightful apartments the girls had ever seen. In the dim shadowy +confines they caught glimpses of teakwood cabinets in which were carved +ivories and pieces of fine porcelain. The girls would have liked well to +linger another hour among all these interesting and strange objects, but +Miss Campbell, for some reason, was in her most conventional mood. While +her manner toward Mme. Fontaine left nothing to be desired and she was +graciousness personified, she cut the call to twenty-five minutes by the +French clock on the mantel, and then go she would. As they were leaving +Mary noticed on a table near the door two splendid swords, one very large +and heavy and one with a double-edged blade of much smaller size. + +"Oh, are these the swords of a samurai warrior?" she demanded, with +excited interest. + +"Yes," answered Mme. Fontaine. "They belonged to my great grandfather." + +Not until they were back in the "Comet" and well on the way home did they +realize the meaning of her words. + +"Then," exclaimed Nancy, "she is half Japanese." + +"And I've invited her to dine the day after tomorrow," Miss Campbell +remarked irrelevantly. + +The adventure on Arakawa Ridge was far-reaching in its results as a +matter of fact, but the most immediate one was a severe punishment +administered by that usually kind and gentle person, Mr. Campbell, on no +less a victim than the "Comet." Just what the punishment was you will +find out when the Motor Maids themselves discover it. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE COMPASSIONATE GOD, JIZU. + + +Miss Campbell was very dubious about having invited Mme. Fontaine to +dine. + +"Of course she was very kind," she remarked, "and we owe her a great +deal, but I wish we could show our appreciation in some other way. We +don't know anything about her: who she is; where she came from; whether +she has any family." + +"But, my dear cousin," said Mr. Campbell, who had wandered about the +world so much that he was accustomed to taking people without any +questions, "what difference does it make? You say she is refined and +well-bred. We know she is kind because of what she did for us. But I will +make some inquiries about her if you like--" + +"I never liked mixed bloods," interrupted Miss Campbell, not listening to +her relation. + +"Everybody has some mixture of bloods," laughed Billie. "Look at +Mary--French and English; look at Elinor--Scotch and Irish." + +"No, no," protested Miss Campbell "Those aren't the kinds of mixtures I +referred to. It's those queer Oriental bloods--yellow people and white +people." + +The others all smiled indulgently. Miss Campbell was just a little +old-fashioned lady with old-fashioned restricted views, they thought. She +was the only one of the motor party who had not fallen under the spell of +Mme. Fontaine, and apparently the only cause for her objection was +because this charming stranger was part Japanese and wrote for the +newspapers. + +That evening Mr. Campbell endeavored to set her fears at rest. + +"I have inquired about your mysterious Mme. Fontaine," he said. "She is a +widow. Her husband was editor of a paper in Shanghai. She herself is a +writer and a newspaper correspondent. She has written several novels +published in Shanghai, and she is generally considered to be a very +bright person. She has been living in Tokyo not quite a year and goes out +very little." + +This fragment of her history only seemed to deepen the atmosphere of +romance which enveloped the "Widow of Shanghai," as Mr. Campbell would +call her, and the Motor Maids rather eagerly awaited the evening when she +was to dine with them. + +In the meantime, they were to receive a ceremonious call from the family +of Yoritomo Ito, and he himself was to act as interpreter for the three +Japanese ladies, his mother, his aunt and his sister. They appeared one +afternoon in two jinrikshas and such a bowing and smiling was never seen +before. The day had been sultry and hot and tea was served in the +summer-house in the garden by the little maids attached to the household. +Miss Campbell was sorry that the pretty Onoye, flower of the staff, did +not appear. However, these things were all left to O'Haru, and she said +nothing. + +Yoritomo's sister, O'Kami San (that is to say: the honorable Miss Kami), +spoke a very little English. This fact she had bashfully hidden from the +girls on the occasion of their first meeting. But when Billie, through +Yoritomo, asked his sister to walk in the garden, she answered herself: + +"Receive thanks. Honorable walk will confer pleasure." + +Assuredly the Japanese-English dictionaries and phrase books must all use +the most stilted and ceremonious English words, so Billie thought. + +"'Receive thanks and confer pleasure!' How absurd!" + +But then Billie did not realize that the Japanese language abounds in +such ceremonious words and high-sounding phrases and, in order to keep +the spirit of the original, translations are generally literal. + +Off they trooped down a garden path, followed by the reproachful eyes of +Miss Helen Campbell, who found it a decided strain on the nerves to keep +a second-hand conversation going. Nancy lingered behind and helped her +out by giving Yoritomo an account of their accident on Arakawa Ridge. +This he immediately passed on to his mother and aunt. + +In the meantime, O'Kami San, trotting along beside Billie, with Mary and +Elinor following behind, might have just stepped out of a Japanese fan. +She was so entirely unreal and cunning that the girls had no eyes for the +rosy rain of cherry blossoms dropping from the trees, nor the lovely +vista of garden with its flaming bushes of azaleas and cool green clumps +of ferns. Out of compliment to the season O'Kami San wore a robe of +delicate pink embroidered all over with sprays of cherry blossoms in +deeper shades. Her obi, or sash, was of pale green silk. Her hair was +elaborately pompadoured and drawn up in the back into a large glossy roll +held in place with tortoise shell pins. No doubt it had taken hours to +arrange; two, at the very least. + +Billie patted her own smooth rolls serenely. + +"Suppose I had to sleep with my neck on a little wooden bench every night +to preserve my _coiffure_," she thought. "I think I'd just lay my head +on the executioner's block and say, 'Strike it off. It's not worth the +trouble.'" + +"Think garden pretty, O'Kami San?" began Mary, whose method of talking +with the Japanese was to preserve only the framework of a sentence and +drop all articles and small words. + +"Much pretty. Me--like honorable garden and beautiful American ladee," +answered O'Kami, speaking slowly and distinctly. + +English pronunciation never seemed to trouble the Japanese. It was only +choice of words and construction. + +"What do you do all day, O'Kami San?" asked Elinor. + +"Much honorable work," answered the Japanese girl. "Cook-ing; sew-ing"; +she pointed to her kimono; "mu-seek; book-stu-dee. Ah, much work to +become wife." + +"You are not thinking of marrying, surely? Your brother says you are only +sixteen," protested Mary. + +O'Kami nodded her head and smiled. + +"Arrange all the day before to this." + +"Do you love him?" asked Mary, in an awed tone of voice. + +O'Kami looked puzzled. The word "love" she had not learned. + +"O'Kami much happy. Honorable mother of husband not any more. Gone." She +pointed up. + +"Goodness!" broke in Elinor. "She means that there will be no +mother-in-law, so the marriage is sure to be a happy one. What a +mother-in-law ridden place this country is!" + +She spoke too rapidly for the Japanese girl to grasp the meaning of any +word except "mother-in-law." + +"Mother-in-law," she repeated slowly. "Little Japanese girl much afraid +to great mother-in-law." + +The girls laughed and O'Kami's silvery note mingled with theirs. + +"I found something quite new and interesting in the garden the other +day," observed Mary. "Or rather not quite new, but quite old. Who wants +to see it?" + +"Lead on, Macduff," ordered Billie. + +"It's an old shrine," continued Mary. "Komatsu says it's to the +Compassionate God, Jizu. He's sitting cross-legged in a little niche in +the hillside below the bridge and he has a beautiful frame of clematis +vines around him. I think he's delightful." + +O'Kami San was unable to grasp the meaning of this rapid fire of words, +at least it seemed to her to be a rapid fire. Most people are under the +impression that a foreign language is spoken faster than their own. But +she trotted along beside the others, always with the same polite, +intelligent smile, as if she understood every word. + +Having crossed the bridge, they followed a narrow path through a grove of +pine trees. The path took an unexpected curve to the right and led them +around the side of a grassy embankment under which sat the stone image of +the Compassionate God, Jizu. The inscrutable smile of the nation hovered +on the lips of the ancient idol, and his compassionate stone eyes looked +out upon the green little world around him with a gentle tolerance. Time +and tempests had worn away his arms and softened the outlines of his +stone countenance. He was indeed a graven image of kindly mien and of a +certain majesty of expression. + +But there was, another visitor at the shrine of the Compassionate God. +She lay flat on her face in a tumbled, many-colored little heap before +the gray old image at whose feet was her offering: a pitiful little bunch +of wild roses. She had been sobbing. It was easy to tell. The storm of +weeping had passed now and she lay quite still, but at intervals there +was that catch in the breath which follows a period of bitter crying. + +The three American girls paused at the edge of the miniature lawn about +the shrine and exchanged embarrassed glances. O'Kami Sail drew back a +step or two. It was their intention to creep away as noiselessly as +possible and leave the unhappy worshiper at the shrine none the wiser +that she had been observed by profane, foreign eyes. But at this moment a +temple bell not far off sent out a clear silver note in the stillness. +The bright-colored heap stirred into life and the sorrowful worshiper +rose and looked about her bewildered. + +It was Onoye, as they had suspected, and Mary recalled that it was the +second time she had seen the Japanese girl crying miserably when she +thought she was alone. + +Onoye tried to smile when she saw the three young ladies of the house +looking at her with great concern. She ran to Billie and fell on her +knees. + +"Forgive, gracious lady," she said, endeavoring to compose her expression +to its usual tranquility. + +"Why, you poor dear, what have I to forgive?" exclaimed Billie, trying to +raise Onoye to her feet. + +"Why are you so unhappy, Onoye? Is there anything we can do for you?" +asked Elinor. + +"Do tell us and let us help you," put in Mary. + +But Onoye was silent. + +"O'Kami San, will you not ask her?" said Billie. "Perhaps she would tell +you in Japanese when she can't in English." + +At the words "O'Kami San," Onoye jumped to her feet in subdued +excitement. + +"O'Kami San," she repeated. + +The two Japanese girls confronted each other. They spoke in low, rapid +voices and their faces were so calm and unemotional they might have been +two Japanese dolls wound tip to move the lips and occasionally make a +slight gesture with one hand. Presently Onoye slipped from her _obi_ a +small package done up in crêpe paper and gave it to O'Kami, who concealed +it in the voluminous folds of her own kimono. They exchanged low, +ceremonious bows and Onoye hurried away, while O'Kami turned to the +mystified young-Americans with an apologetic smile. + +"Receive excuses and pardon grant," she said. + +Billie made a superhuman effort not to laugh, while Mary stooped to break +off a spray of azaleas and Elinor examined intently a stunted pine tree +planted in a big green jar near the path. + +Japanese gardeners are very fond of cultivating these dwarf trees. Some +of the tiniest are said to be of great age. The arrested development +contorts the venerable branches into strange twisted forms but they put +forth blossoms and foliage with systematic dignity. + +"What is the matter with our little maid? Were you able to find out?" +Billie asked the visitor. + +But O'Kami San was not inclined to be communicative, and they were +obliged to return to the summer-house with their curiosity entirely +unsatisfied. In the meantime, Miss Campbell and Nancy were in a painful +state of embarrassment about what to say next. The conversation had come +to a dead stop, while Miss Campbell, with a flushed face, raised her eyes +to heaven with a prayerful look and Nancy endeavored to say a few words +about the weather. Yoritomo was inclined to be silent, too. He kept his +eyes on the floor and only raised them to transmit Miss Campbell's +remarks to his mother and aunt. + +"Will you ask your mother, Mr. Ito, if--she suffers from rheumatism from +sitting on the floor so much?" asked Miss Campbell, groaning mentally and +sending up a prayer that the visitors would see fit to bring the visit to +an immediate end. + +There was a short colloquy between mother and son, during which Mme. Ito +smiled blandly and waved her fan to and fro. + +"No, Madam, my mother does not have that complaint," answered her son in +precise English. + +Miss Campbell flashed a glance of black reproach at Nancy, as much as to +say: + +"It's your turn now, ungrateful girl. Speak, for heaven's sake." + +Nancy exchanged a hopeless glance with the distracted lady. Then she +remarked: + +"Mr. Ito, is your aunt married?" + +Yoritomo smiled broadly. + +"She is a widow," he replied. "In Japan all widows cut their hair short." + +"But what a strange custom," objected Nancy. "That would keep them from +ever marrying a second time. I'm sure I should never cut my hair if my +husband died. I should use hair tonic to make it grow longer and +thicker." + +Yoritomo laughed outright and communicated Nancy's views to his +relatives. They laughed, too, and contemplated her knot of chestnut curls +with much admiration. + +There came another uncomfortable pause. Two simultaneous winged prayers +went up into the ether and relief was granted in an unexpected and +startling guise. Billie and her friends had just returned and tea and +refreshments of a light volatile nature were being passed for the fourth +time, by order of Miss Campbell. The visitors were elaborately declining +all further nourishment when Nancy saw an arm raised from behind a thick +clump of shrubbery near the summer-house. It was clothed in nondescript +brown and long fingers clutched a stone. The arm gave a swift circular +movement, as if to gain impetus. Then it went backward with a movement of +a pitcher about to throw a ball. + +"Yoritomo," shrieked Nancy, for the stone seemed to be aimed straight at +his head. + +In the fraction of an instant the young Japanese had ducked and the stone +had crashed into the summer-house and fallen at his feet, making a dent +in the floor. + +Undoubtedly Nancy had saved his life. + +"Oh, oh, oh!" cried Miss Campbell, but Mme. Ito and her sister and +daughter were perfectly calm and silent, as were also the Japanese maids, +gathered in a frightened group behind them. + +"I never saw people take on so little," Miss Campbell observed later, +describing the incident to her cousin. + +Nancy wept softly. It was never very difficult for her to weep and she +emerged from one of these gentle paroxysms--even as the flowers after +a summer rain--a little dewy but refreshed. + +Yoritomo vaulted over the rail of the summer-house and ran in the +direction of the group of shrubbery. But, of course, no one was there. +Who could expect an assassin to wait and be caught? + +"I think we had better get into the house at once," ordered Miss +Campbell, and taking Mme. Ito's arm, she hurried the little lady up the +path, calling to the others to follow. Once in the drawing-room, all the +windows were ordered closed and the doors locked, while Komatsu was sent +to search the premises. + +"What is your opinion, Mr. Ito?" asked Billie. "Was it an enemy of yours +or some one who wanted to exterminate us because we are foreigners?" + +But Yoritomo could not enlighten her. + +"I cannot say," was all they could get out of him. + +He was only deeply chagrined, as was his mother, that the American ladies +should have been subjected to such treatment in Japan. + +The Campbell party finally arrived at the conclusion that it was an +insane person, and Mr. Campbell immediately engaged a day and night +watchman and reported the matter to the police. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +A BIRTHDAY PARTY. + + +It so happened that the dinner to Mme. Fontaine became a triple +celebration. Billie recalled that it was her father's birthday, for one +thing. + +"He's forgotten it himself," she said. "He never did remember that he was +entitled to a birthday." + +Furthermore, it was the occasion always of great rejoicing in Japan, +being the fifth day of the fifth month on which the Boys' Festival--_O +Sekku_, as it is called there--is celebrated. + +"Think of my sweet old boy being born on this lucky day!" cried Billie. +"Why can't we give him a real Japanese surprise party, Cousin Helen, and +invite those nice men to come? Mr. Ito will tell us what to do." + +When Mr. Campbell departed for Tokyo that lovely morning on the fifth of +May he had no idea of the plans that were hatching in his home. Scarcely +had his 'riksha disappeared down the road, when the entire household +became actively busy. Komatsu made a hurried visit to town, bearing notes +of invitation to the few acquaintances of the Campbells and returned +later in the day accompanied by two men carrying large bales on their +backs. That evening when the master of the house returned in time to +dress for dinner he scarcely recognized his abode, which had been +decorated in a most extraordinary manner. + +Across the front of the house on long poles were at least six enormous +paper carp, which rose and fell and became realistically inflated with +every passing breeze. Very fantastic they appeared with their gaping +mouths, their enormous bulging eyes and fins and their scales shining in +the sunlight. + +The carp, it must be known, is the sacred emblem of the male child in +Japan. It also signifies courage, endurance and other admirable though +not exclusively masculine qualities. This valiant fish can accomplish the +difficult feat of swimming up the rapids, even as a brave youth must +conquer difficulties and surmount obstacles. His name is synonymous with +perseverance and fortitude. The fifth of May is every boy's birthday in +Japan, no matter what his real birthday is, and on that day a feast is +kept in every home, rich or poor, where there is a son. + +"I suppose, because we have only one son in our house, we are entitled to +only one carp," observed Billie, "but I think our nice old boy is good +enough for us to string up twenty carp." + +This statement was unanimously acceded to by all persons connected with +the feast. + +All the afternoon the girls had worked over the decorations. The garden +was strung with lanterns much more beautiful and artistic in design than +any that ever reach America; and the house, under the supervision of +Onoye and her mother, was made beautiful with the splendid iris in all +its varying shades from deep purple to pale mauve. Among their long, +slender, delicate leaves the flowers seemed to be growing in the shallow +dishes in which devices of soft lead held them in place. + +"Are we entertaining a family of sons this evening or have we just +decided to celebrate whether we have sons or not?" asked Mr. Campbell, +greeting his daughter on the piazza. + +"We are entertaining for our only son, the most promising and delightful +young man in the entire universe," answered Billie, kissing him. + +"I always thought you were a singularly fortunate young man, Duncan," +remarked Miss Campbell, "but I shall no longer attribute it entirely to +industry, intelligence and good looks." + +"What's the reason, then, Cousin Helen?" asked Mr. Campbell, laughing. + +"Why, have you forgotten, boy, that this is your birthday? Forty-five +years old, and you don't remember it!" + +"I did forget it," said Mr. Campbell, "but I don't see where the luck +comes in." + +They explained the meaning of the Boys' Festival and the lucky +coincidence that had brought him into the world on that auspicious day. + +"Go in now and get dressed, for the Widow of Shanghai will be arriving +pretty soon and other company besides," ordered Billie. + +The girls had dressed early and their pretty summer frocks gleamed softly +against the green of the shrubbery as they flitted about the garden and +the lawn in the twilight. Nancy was wearing her first train that night; +it was only a wee bit of a train, nothing regal and sweeping; but it gave +her a secret thrill to throw it over one arm, displaying her lace trimmed +petticoat underneath, while she tripped along the garden path. The dress +was of pink batiste and delicate lace, and from the round neck her throat +rose soft and white like a column. She was the first of the four friends +to wear a train. Even Elinor, tall and slender in her white lingerie +frock, had not aspired to that dignity. Billie was wearing her best blue +mulle that became her mightily because it was near the shade of her +blue-gray eyes, and little Mary was dressed in one of the dainty muslin +frocks that her mother excelled in making. + +"They are no longer little girls," thought Miss Campbell, rather sadly, +it must be confessed. She was sitting in a long-chair on the piazza +watching her four charges flit about the lawn. "They are almost young +ladies now, and how pretty they are, too; each is so different from the +other and each charming in her own way. Billie, I think, is too much of a +tomboy to worry about yet. Elinor is far too dignified; Mary is too shy. +But I feel I shall have to keep a sharp eye on Nancy. Those blue eyes of +hers are simply wells of coquetry. I believe the child would flirt with a +stone. I doubt if half the time she realizes herself how eloquent she can +make them. Little mischief!" + +The little lady smiled indulgently, recalling her own blue eyes and the +mischief they had been known to stir up. + +"And now this Widow from Shanghai comes and breaks in on us," her +thoughts proceeded irrelevantly. "I don't in the least wish to cultivate +her friendship, but I know her kind. Once she gets her foot in the door +there'll be no shaking her off." + +As a matter of fact, Miss Helen Campbell, spinster, was never very +enthusiastic about widows. + +"I don't care for them," she used to say. "They are a knowing, designing +lot." + +Once when she was asked by a missionary society in West Haven to +contribute to a fund for the widows in India, to induce them not to mount +their husbands' funeral pyres and permit themselves to be consumed by +mortuary flames, Miss Campbell indignantly refused. + +"I am sure, if they are so foolish, that's much the best place for them," +she announced. "I prefer to give my money for more worthy causes." + +And now a widow, who, far from having mounted any funeral pyre, appeared +to enjoy life immensely, had placed them under obligations. + +"She is a slant-eyed widow with a yellow skin," Miss Campbell thought +uncharitably, "and her hair that ought to be dark is light. Of course +that isn't her fault and neither is her peculiar complexion nor her slant +eyes, but I do wish she were one thing or the other and not half and +half." + +Of course all these inhospitable and unfriendly notions the little lady +was careful to keep to herself. When presently the Widow of Shanghai +rode up in a 'riksha and was helped to alight by three maids at once, +Miss Campbell was all graciousness and affability. + +Mme. Fontaine wore a beautiful white embroidered crêpe dinner dress. Her +figure was so slender Miss Campbell feared it might sway and bend with +the least breath of wind. Her curious fluffy hair was arranged on top of +her head and her only ornament was a string of small pearls wound twice +around her throat. They were very beautiful pearls, each one perfect to +the casual eye. + +"But then, who can tell the real from the unreal nowadays," thought Miss +Campbell, regarding the jewels critically. "They might be imitation, +every one of them." + +"Reggie" Carlton, as he came to be known to the girls, and Nicholas Grimm +soon followed the widow, and after them came Mr. Buxton. Yoritomo could +not appear that evening, because of the celebration in his own home where +he must remain and share in the family feast. + +Mme. Fontaine was reserved almost to the point of shyness with the four +men of the party, whom she now met for the first time. But she drew the +girls around her by a kind of irresistible attraction. Billie found +herself talking as freely as she talked with her three friends. The widow +had a curiously sympathetic way of listening that provoked confidences. +There was a good deal of friendly rivalry among the Motor Maids for her +society. They took turns sitting by her side during the half hour before +dinner was announced; but Nancy felt a certain superiority over the +others. Was she not bound by a secret tie to this fascinating person +because of their chance meeting in the garden in the rain? + +"These four girls of mine seem to have acquired a monopoly over you, Mme. +Fontaine," observed Mr. Campbell, just returned from a short conference +with Mr. Buxton in the library. "They don't give the rest of us half a +chance. They have fenced you around as if you were a sacred image of +Buddha." + +"I feel that they have paid me a great compliment," answered the widow, +smiling, "To a lonely woman the friendship of four charming young girls +is very sweet." + +Mr. Campbell somehow felt extremely sorry for this lonely lady. Mr. +Buxton also was touched with commiseration, and the younger men, too, +were moved to cast glances of sympathy in her direction. + +For the first time in her life Miss Campbell experienced the same +sensation a young girl feels when she is left sitting against the wall at +a dance while her friends are being whirled about. At first she thought +the sensation was a touch of indigestion which frequently brings with it, +its near relative, depression. But when the circle closed in around the +Widow of Shanghai, and Helen Campbell, spinster, of America, was left +sitting quite alone to contemplate the view, she decided that it was not +indigestion nor any of its ramifications that ailed her. What the +sensation was she could not name, but she felt a profound and entirely +human irritation with the Widow of Shanghai and her ingratiating methods. + +Fortunately dinner was announced and on the arm of Mr. Buxton she led the +way to the dining room with the air of an exiled queen. + +Billie was very anxious about the success of her father's birthday +dinner. She had herself assisted in decorating the table, and had +insisted on placing a crystal bowl of goldfish in the center, although +O'Haru had told her that goldfish were not carp, and therefore had no +significance whatever with the day. + +However, Onoye had caught the idea at once and had carried it out +charmingly. Hiding behind the screen, where she could see without being +seen, her heart warmed with joy when she heard the exclamations of the +guests. The center of the table was arranged to resemble a little lake. +The shallow bowl of goldfish was placed on a flat round mirror, on the +edge of which nodded groups of iris and their sword-like leaves planted +in shallow green dishes; pebbles and water grasses hid the perforations +which held them in place. Two little boats sailed on the lake, and at one +side was a miniature grotto formed of rocks and moss, and spanned by a +little bridge. + +"Isn't it cunning?" asked Billie proudly, "and isn't Onoye clever to have +carried out the scheme so perfectly?" + +"She is, indeed," assented Miss Campbell, feeling suddenly glad to praise +some one to counteract the unusual sensations that had possessed her a +moment before. + +"It is a part of every Japanese girl's education to learn the art of +arranging flowers," said Mme. Fontaine. "She is taught that, just as +girls in other countries are taught music and languages. It often takes +several hours to arrange a group of flowers. The object is, you see, to +make them look as natural as possible in the vase." + +"It is a pretty accomplishment," said Miss Campbell, "but I doubt if any +American girl would have the patience to learn it. Can you imagine, +Billie, spending two hours arranging three lilies in a bowl to make them +look as if they had grown there?" + +"No, I can't," laughed Billie, "but I have spent two hours many times on +my back under the 'Comet' trying to find a loose screw." + +"If I had a wife--" here Nicholas remarked and paused because everybody +laughed. + +"Well, if you had one, what would you do with her? Beat her?" asked Mr. +Buxton. + +"Do I look like a wife beater?" demanded Nicholas indignantly. "No. I was +going to say I'd rather she would know about loose screws in machinery +than how to arrange flowers." + +"You speak as if marriage was one long motor trip, my boy," observed Mr. +Campbell. + +"And, surely," put in Miss Campbell, "if the machinery broke down, you +wouldn't compel your wife to repair it?" + +"I am afraid very few girls would be eligible for your wife, Mr. Grimm," +remarked Mme. Fontaine. + +As for Billie, she said nothing at all, but glanced down at her plate, +because Nicholas looked straight at her and then burst out with: + +"Don't jump on me, everybody, with both feet. I only meant that it's a +jolly fine girl who can--er--who--knows--" + +He broke down in confusion. + +"You mean that a young lady chauffeur would make an excellent wife?" +laughed Mr. Campbell. + +"Spare his blushes," put in Reggie, and then the talk shifted to other +subjects. + +It is customary in Japan on the day of the Boys' Festival to tell stories +of the heroes of the country, and after dinner when they had gathered in +the lantern-hung summer-house for coffee, Mme. Fontaine, urged by the +girls, recounted an incident in the life of Yamato, or O'Osu, as he was +then known. He was the son of the Emperor Keiko, and when a mere slip of +a boy was sent by his father to slay two fierce robbers who had been +spreading terror through the country. O'Osu gladly undertook the affair +and since the outlaws were giants and he just a boy, he devised a cunning +scheme to outwit the terrible brigands. He was slender and small and his +hair still long, so that in the gorgeous clothes of a dancing girl no one +would ever have guessed he was a brave and reckless young prince. + +One night when the robbers were feasting in their cave after pillaging +the country for miles around, the beautiful dancing girl appeared before +them like a vision. She charmed them with her songs and dances and then +suddenly she whipped out a sharp sword and slew the nearest robber. As +the other fled terror-stricken to the entrance of the cave, she thrust +him in the back and he fell to the ground. + +"'Pause, oh Prince, for prince thou surely art,' he gasped. 'But why hast +thou done this deed?' + +"And the prince, standing over him with the dripping sword, said: + +"'I am O'Osu, messenger of the Emperor and avenger of evil.' + +"'Then,' said the dying robber, 'thou shalt have a new name. Until this +hour my brother and I have been called the bravest men in the West. To +thee, august boy, I bequeath the title. Let men call thee the bravest in +Yamato.' + +"From that day O'Osu was called 'Yamato Take,' and never did he wrong the +name." + +Mary sighed when Mme. Fontaine had finished the story. She yearned for +the gift of language and the power to chain the attention of a circle of +people. How had she done it, this mysterious foreigner who could handle +the English language even better than English people? Her words were +simple and gestures she used almost none. It was her voice, Mary thought. +There was an undercurrent of dramatic power in it, like a subterranean +river. It could only be guessed at, but it was there, powerful and deep. +Even Miss Campbell, unreasonably prejudiced, felt the undercurrent. + +"That is a charming story," she observed. "I suppose Japan is filled with +many romantic stories of that sort." + +"Hundreds of them," answered the widow. "Volumes and volumes could be +written about them and still the half not be told." + +"And you know many of them, I suppose?" asked Billie. + +"Oh, yes. One could not live in Japan without studying her history, so +filled with romances and legends of heroic deeds. It is fascinating, I +assure you, and furnishes no end of subjects for decorations from a +picture on a fan to the masterpiece of a great artist." + +There was a moment's silence in the company of which Mme. Fontaine +certainly seemed the center. She looked suddenly very Japanese. Against +the white of her dress her soft skin gleamed like polished old ivory. Her +eyes were darker and more noticeably slanting than ever before. If she +only had had dark hair! What country had given her those strangely +incongruous locks? + +And now it was proposed that they should wander in the garden, and off +they started by various paths and bypaths all leading eventually to the +little curved bridge at the far end, where Nancy had hung two large +yellow lanterns on the ends of supple willow wands. + +The Widow of Shanghai walked between Billie and Mr. Campbell, but she had +little to say. The moon, swinging over them like another yellow lantern, +had glorified the garden into a little earthly paradise. It seemed +somehow inappropriate to speak above a whisper in the midst of so much +exquisite beauty. The wisteria had opened up during the day and now hung +in magnificent purple clusters from an arbor across the main walk. + +From the servants' quarters came the tinkle of the samisen, and a breeze +laden with the scent of flowers brought with it also the distant sound of +voices and laughter. + +Nicholas Grimm had joined Billie, and the two young people now lingered +in the arbor. In the curve of a path they caught an occasional glimpse +of a white dress. The music of Nancy's laugh came to them mingled with +Mary's high, sweet note. Gradually the voices died away. The garden +seemed to be under a spell. Billie, sitting beside Nicholas in the arbor, +waited breathlessly. Then at last in the stillness there burst forth such +a stream of full-throated singing as had never been heard. + +"It's a nightingale," whispered Nicholas. + +Billie felt that she would like very much to cry. Nothing had ever +stirred her as this flood of melody which seemed to have been turned on +for their especial benefit. While they listened, there came the sound of +three pistol shots in quick succession and a cry. Was it an English cry +for help? + +Instantly Nicholas was on his feet. + +"You had better stay here," he said. "I'll run and see what has +happened." + +Before Billie could reply, Nancy dashed up. + +"We are all to go into the house," she said. "Someone has shot a pistol +in the far end of the garden. The men have gone down there." + +Billie considered the situation for a moment. Certainly neither her +father nor his three guests were armed. Would it not be a good precaution +to go to the library and get her father's pistol? It was merely an +impulse, and she could hardly explain it later, but she obeyed it. + +"It's nothing serious, Mr. Buxton says. Probably someone who has been +celebrating has wandered into the garden, but we had better wait for +them in the house," Billie heard Miss Campbell remark, as she ran along +the path to the side entrance. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +IN THE DARK. + + +The impulse that had moved Billie to run ahead of her friends and dash +into the library for her father's pistol carried her so fast, indeed, +that she was in the room with the door closed behind her before she +realized what she was doing. It was perfectly dark there. Not even the +brilliant moonlight outside penetrated through the heavy curtains drawn +for the night. + +"There are always matches on the desk," she thought, remembering that her +father usually smoked while he worked over his papers. + +With her hand still on the doorknob she turned and faced the desk without +moving a step. Why was she so frightened? It was absurd. Her father would +be ashamed of her for being afraid of the dark. Giving herself a little +impatient shake, she took two steps in front of her, groping with her +hands like a blind person for obstacles in the way. + +She stopped short and listened. Every nerve in her body was tingling and +she felt she was trembling. For half a minute she hardly breathed. Then +she resolutely began her march in the dark. At last the desk was reached +and her hand was on the green china match holder. She stood for a moment +irresolute. The pistol was in the lower left-hand desk drawer. She knew +exactly where it was. Her father had shown it to her only the other day. + +"I think you had better know where I keep it," he had said, "not that you +will ever need to use it, I hope, because either Komatsu or I shall +always be here to protect you, but just as a matter of precaution." + +Again she reached for the match holder, but it was empty. Softly opening +the drawer, she felt in the back until her fingers grasped the pistol. +Carefully she drew it out and transferred it from her right hand to her +left. There was an unacknowledged relief in Billie's heart that there +were no matches. She felt she would rather get out of the library in the +dark than make any investigations with a match. Once in the hall she +would decide what to do. + +She was morally certain now that someone else was in the room. She could +see nothing, hear nothing, but in the dark she felt the presence of +another human being. She recalled Nancy's experience. + +"Perhaps it wasn't her imagination, after all," she thought. + +The thing was to get back to the door and out of it. Billie wished with +all her soul she had never come in at all. It had been a reckless, silly +notion. Why should her father need a pistol? After all, it was just some +roisterer on his way home from the festival. She had heard that _sake_, +the Japanese brandy, made the men who drank it wild, no doubt wild enough +to shoot off a pistol in the suburbs where there were no policemen about +to interfere. + +And all because she had heard this pistol shot, she had obeyed a foolish +impulse to find her father's pistol. How reckless! How foolhardy! How +stupid! Because, to come right down to a fine point, here she was shut up +in a perfectly huge room, as black as the pit, with--someone else! + +Never in all her experience had Billie been so frightened. Her knees +knocked together and her head was quite giddy as she made her way +unsteadily toward the door, still with the pistol in her left hand. + +But she seemed to have lost all sense of direction. Groping with her +right hand, she encountered a chair. There had been no chairs in the +way before,--was it an hour ago or only a minute? + +It would be better to get to the wall and feel her way along the shelves +until she reached the door. + +Why was she so panic-stricken? After all was she so sure about that other +person crouching somewhere--anywhere? + +Then the thing happened that she had known was going to happen all the +time. + +Reaching out in the dark, she encountered an arm. Instantly her right +hand was seized in a grip of steel. There was a struggle. She was +thrown to the floor; a shot; a cry--was it her own or another person's +voice? Then absolute silence. + +When Billie came back to consciousness, she was lying on a couch in the +library. Miss Helen was kneeling beside her with the smelling salts. +Mary was bathing her forehead with cold water and her father was chafing +her wrists and saying in a low voice: + +"You are not hurt, are you, Billie-girl? There, speak to father. Are you +all right?" + +There seemed to be a great many other people scattered about the room, +the guests and the servants and her own particular friends leaning over +her anxiously. + +"I hope I didn't kill him?" she said weakly. + +Mr. Campbell could not refrain from smiling. + +"You are just a little girl after all, Billie," he said. "No, you didn't +kill him, but you hit him. Look at that." He pointed to some blood spots +on the rug. "You certainly winged him, whoever he was. In some way, he +escaped. I don't know how, because we were in the hall when the shot was +fired and the windows are still locked. He may have got out through the +servants' quarters but that would have been difficult, too, without +being seen." + +Billie sat up. + +"I'm all right now," she said. "It was only fright because I lost my way +in the dark and couldn't find the door, and it was so ghastly running +into another person in the blackness like that. Father, I wish you would +tell them not to put out the lights in this room so early. It's the +second time it's happened now." + +"O'Haru, you hear what the lady says," said Mr. Campbell half humorously. + +Billie, knowing her father as she did, was suddenly aware that he was +trying to make light of the affair for the benefit of the others in the +room. That the episode was far more serious than he cared to admit, she +knew perfectly well. + +O'Haru left the doorway where she had been standing and came over to the +group by the couch. + +"What was the honorable wish of the young lady?" + +"Not to have the lights in the library put out so early in the evening. +To wait until bedtime at least." + +O'Haru disliked to contradict, but the august young lady was honorably +mistaken. The lights had never been put out by any servant attached to +the household. She herself, or her daughter, attended to that after the +honorable family had retired for the night. + +"Never mind," said Mr. Campbell in a soothing voice, indicating to Billie +by a slight shake of the head that he would be glad if she would let the +matter drop. Billie nodded. There was perfect understanding between the +father and the daughter. + +"How do you feel now, Miss Billie?" asked Nicholas Grimm coming to the +foot of the couch. + +"I'm all right again. I am ashamed of having been such a coward. If it +had been daylight I shouldn't have been half so frightened." + +"I feel that it was all my fault for running off and leaving you alone. I +should have seen you to the house at least." + +"Nonsense," said Billie. "That wouldn't have altered matters in the +least. I would have come back here just the same for the pistol. You see +I had a feeling that Papa might need it. Besides, we were all alone here. +There were no men--" + +"I am only glad it was someone else that was shot and not you, my darling +child," broke in Miss Campbell tremulously. "Duncan, I do wish you +wouldn't keep pistols lying around the house. They are so dangerous." + +"But I don't, Cousin. It was carefully stored in the back compartment of +a bottom desk drawer. If this reckless young relative of ours would go +and dig it out, I'm sure it's not my fault." + +"I'm sure I can't imagine why you treat the matter as such a joke," Miss +Campbell was saying, when Mme. Fontaine swept into the room. + +Her face was whiter than the long white wrap that enveloped her. + +"I am so glad you were not injured," she said standing beside Billie. + +"You must thank Mme. Fontaine, Billie. It was she who found you first. +The rest of us were not certain in which room the shot was fired. I +thought it was in the kitchen." + +"Oh," said Billie, turning to the widow. "Were you the first person on +the scene? You couldn't have seen much, it was so dark. How did you know +I was here? I don't suppose the robber made any noise." + +"It was very dark. I should not have known, if--if I had not smelt the +smoke of the powder." + +"I thought perhaps you were going to say you heard the robber groan," +went on Billie. "You see I hit him. I think I must have a pretty good +natural aim to shoot with the left hand in the dark and not fire wide of +the mark. But I don't think he was very badly hurt. He got away so fast. +I just winged him, I suppose." + +"How do you know you shot him?" asked Mme. Fontaine. + +Miss Helen pointed dramatically to the blood stains on the floor. + +Suddenly the widow's lips turned quite white and a blue line appeared +around her mouth. She swayed slightly and Mr. Campbell caught her. Billie +was on her feet in a moment and they laid her on the couch. + +"Unfasten her wrap," ordered Miss Campbell. + +"No, no," said Mme. Fontaine in a very weak, thin voice. "The sight of +blood--" she closed her eyes. "I shall be all right in a moment." Beads +of perspiration appeared on her forehead and she shivered with a chill. + +"I think Mme. Fontaine had better stay here to-night. She's too ill to +get back to town," said Mr. Campbell. + +"Oh, do," echoed the girls, and Miss Campbell added hospitably: + +"We shall be so glad." + +"I am quite well now," said the widow rising unsteadily to her feet. "You +will forgive me, I hope. It is a faintness that comes to me at the sight +of blood. Will you call my 'riksha now, Mr. Campbell? I must be going. I +won't try to shake hands," she added, reaching the door. "I am still so +light in the head, I am afraid of the effort. But I want to thank you for +a delightful evening. I am only sorry it ended so disastrously." + +Making a ceremonious Oriental bow to Miss Campbell and smiling and +nodding to the others, she left the room followed by Mr. Campbell and +the four girls. + +"No one has told me yet what the shots were in the garden," announced +Billie after the widow had departed. + +"There was nothing to tell. We never found anything at all," answered +Nicholas. + +The next morning Mr. Campbell engaged another night watchman. His duty +was to patrol the inside of the house, making his rounds every hour +through the halls and living rooms. Between times he sat in the library. + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +THE COMET DISGUISED. + + +"Where is Onoye, O'Haru?" Miss Campbell asked, a few days after the +excitement in the library. + +"Honorable Madam, Onoye much business." + +To Miss Campbell, a seasoned housekeeper, this reply seemed a little +irregular. + +"What kind of business, O'Haru?" she demanded rather severely. + +O'Haru looked amiably sad. It is true that Onoye was on the pay roll of +the household servants, but then, did not her mother do work for two when +Onoye was not actively engaged? The Japanese reasons thus: if the work is +done properly, it is of no consequence who does it. Certainly the +machinery of the household moved on without a hitch. There was no cause +for complaint, but it seemed to Miss Campbell that if Onoye received +wages she should appear about the house. Her position, which was +practically that of ladies' maid, had been filled by one of the other +small maids while O'Haru had covered up that vacancy by her own redoubled +labors. + +"Will you send Onoye to me, please," ordered Miss Campbell. "I have some +sewing for her to do." + +Poor O'Haru bowed. Her face looked wan and sad and it seemed to the Motor +Maids that Miss Campbell might not have been so severe; but as a +housekeeper, that small, gentle lady was a disciplinarian. + +They waited with some curiosity for Onoye to appear. In five minutes +O'Sudzu, one of the other maids, stood framed in the doorway like a +Japanese souvenir post card life size. She bowed low and entered the room +timidly. + +"But I sent for Onoye," exclaimed Miss Campbell. + +O'Sudzu only smiled. She spoke no English. + +"Onoye. Wish Onoye," repeated Miss Campbell. She pointed to the door. + +O'Sudzu departed. + +O'Matsu appeared next, and after O'Matsu came O'Kiku, who was followed +presently by Masako, until these successive apparitions of Japanese maids +became positively bewildering. The girls were consumed with the giggles +and Miss Campbell was scarcely able to maintain a serious expression. + +"No, no!" she would say each time, "Onoye! Wish Onoye!" + +At last O'Haru appeared once more. + +"August one, much kindness bestow. O'Haru make sewing." + +"Where is Onoye? Where is your daughter?" demanded Miss Campbell. + +O'Haru on her knees hung her head humbly. + +"I think I know what's the matter," put in Mary. "Onoye is ill. I am sure +it must be that." + +"Is there anything the matter with Onoye?" asked Miss Campbell, but +apparently O'Haru's English did not extend so far. + +"Much sickness?" asked Billie. + +O'Haru's head sank lower and lower. + +"Poor thing," exclaimed Mary. "Onoye is ill, Miss Campbell, and O'Haru is +afraid to say so." + +"You must not be afraid, O'Haru. If little daughter ill, we take care of +her. Bring doctor. See?" + +"No, no, Onoye better. Onoye soon well," said the woman in a low voice. +"Ask much pardons, gracious lady." + +"Can't we see her?" asked Billie. + +"Onoye see no one. Onoye only humble servant" + +"Nonsense, she might be very ill," put in Miss Campbell. "I'll go with +you now, O'Haru. Lead the way." + +The housekeeper gave a sigh of patient resignation and rose to her feet. +Miss Campbell and the girls followed her down the long hall and across +the passage to the servants' quarters. + +At last they came to a small room at the end of the house. The floor was +covered with the usual wicker mats. The _shoji_, or sliding partitions, +were drawn together, and in the dim mellow light which filtered through +these opaque walls they saw Onoye. She was stretched on the mat which is +the usual Japanese bed, her neck on the uncomfortable little pillow +bench. With a murmur of surprise and apology, she pulled herself weakly +to her knees and touched her forehead to the floor. + +"Pardon, gracious lady," she said, drawing her kimono closely about her. + +"But, child, we didn't know you were so ill," said Miss Campbell, gently +forcing the girl to lie down on her bed. "Has the doctor seen you?" + +"Yes, gracious lady" + +"What is the matter with you?" + +Onoye shook her head. + +"Not say it in English." She touched her forehead. "Muchly fire." + +"It's fever, of course," said Miss Campbell, kneeling beside the sick +girl and feeling her forehead. "I think you had better not stay here, +children. It might be something contagious." + +"Nonsense," thought Billie; but Miss Campbell was in one of her +compelling humors and they retreated obediently, leaving her to hold a +conference with O'Haru and to see that everything was done that could be +done to alleviate Onoye's sufferings. She finally departed, after +satisfying herself that Onoye was in the toils of a bilious attack. But +she did not administer calomel as she would have done in ordinary cases +of torpid liver. "I suppose the doctor knows what he is about," she said, +"and there must be a Japanese equivalent to calomel in a country where it +rains eternally." + +It was decided that they should take the "Comet" out after lunch. Miss +Campbell wished to visit an apothecary shop and there were other plans +for sight-seeing,--perhaps the magnificent Shiba Temple and the wisteria +in the park. But before they were to go, there were two surprises in +store, one for Billie alone and one for all of them. Just after luncheon +while the others were dressing for the trip, Billie, who needed about two +minutes for pinning on her hat and slipping on her coat, went back to the +stable to take the "Comet" from his garage. On the way, she passed the +room occupied by O'Haru and her daughter. Not having the least fear of +contagion, she entered a back passage of the intricate house, which +reminded her of the houses she used to build with cards as a child. +Pushing back the partition she marched into Onoye's room without +announcing herself. + +"There's nothing to knock on, so why knock?" she thought. + +Billie surprised the little Japanese girl sitting up examining her arm, +which was wrapped in bandages. + +"Why, Onoye, I didn't know you had been injured," she exclaimed, running +over and kneeling beside the sick girl. + +Onoye was speechless. She tried to cover her arm with the sleeve of her +kimono and to apologize and bow all at the same time. + +"Not muchly badly," she said at last in a low voice. + +"But how did it happen?" + +"Not nothing. Pardon grant," murmured Onoye. + +"Of course, you poor dear, but how did you injure yourself?" + +She laid the bandaged wrist gently on the palm of her hand and looked at +it. + +"Poor small accident," said Onoye. + +"But why was it?" + +The two girls looked at each other silently. + +"Was it in the library that night?" asked Billie after a long pause. + +Onoye's head drooped more and more. + +"Poor little thing. Poor child," exclaimed Billie, consumed with pity and +remorse, since it had been her own carelessness that had caused the poor +small accident. + +Onoye had doubtless put out the lights and when she, Billie, had crept +into the room like a thief, the Japanese girl was frightened and hid +herself behind a chair. Then when they had collided, they had both lost +their heads and the pistol had gone off. In spite of her remorse, Billie +was immensely relieved. + +"Papa will be, too," she thought. "It had much better be Onoye than a +robber." + +And Mr. Campbell was decidedly relieved when he heard the story from his +daughter that night. + +"I'll keep it a secret, Onoye, dear," said Billie, moved by compassion. +"I'll only tell Papa. I am so sorry I shot you. It must have hurt +terribly." + +Onoye tried to smile. + +"Forgiveness grant," she murmured again. + +"I think I'd better say 'forgiveness grant,'" said Billie. "But I must be +going now." She patted Onoye on the cheek and then tiptoed out of the +room. "It is a relief," she thought, turning her footsteps toward the +garage. + +Some minutes later, Billie ran into her cousin's room breathlessly. + +"Ready in one moment," called Miss Campbell, who had heard the whir of +the motor at the door. + +"I want to prepare you for a surprise," said Billie solemnly. "I don't +mind telling you that I have had the shock of my life." + +"But what is it?" they all demanded in one voice. + +"I'll only say this much. Papa has punished the 'Comet' for running over +the child that day." + +"How?" + +"You'll see. I thought I had better prepare you. The shock might have +killed you if I hadn't." + +"Goodness gracious me, what is it?" cried Miss Campbell, seizing her +reticule and gloves and rushing into the hall, followed by the others. + +When she reached the piazza, she sat down flat in a chair and gasped. + +There was the "Comet," to be sure. His outlines were as familiar as the +profile of a beloved brother, but his beautiful scarlet coat had been +taken from him and he wore instead a quiet covering of dark blue. The +luxurious red cushions were covered with buff linen. One small decoration +had been conceded by Mr. Campbell. The dark, quietly colored coat was +relieved on each side by the buff-colored initials, "M-M" lovingly +intertwined. + +"I suppose Papa thought the red coat was too gaudy," said Billie, who was +indeed just a little tearful over the loss of that cheerful and familiar +scarlet dress which would never again flash along the highways like a +scarlet bird. "But he's the same old 'Comet' inside," she added hastily. +"You couldn't change his noble disposition if you painted him sea green." + +"I think he looks beautiful," put in Elinor. "He's so neat and elegant in +buff and blue. It's like a livery." + +The other girls laughed because Elinor's speech was so characteristic. + +"Oh, you regal young person," exclaimed Nancy. "Your imagination doesn't +stop at anything short of liveried retinues of servants. There is no +doubt you were a royal princess in a previous existence. And suppose you +are a fat old pug in another life, like Nedda!" + +"I am sure Nedda is waited on hand and foot," cried Elinor. "She has a +maid who follows her around with a cushion and a silk cover." + +Komatsu, standing at the side of the motor, grinned with amusement. + +"They are foolish children, aren't they, Komatsu?" observed Miss +Campbell, climbing into her accustomed seat. + +Nedda, hearing her name mentioned, wobbled on her uncertain old legs to +the edge of the piazza and whined piteously. + +"Go back to your mat, you pathetic, pampered old great grandmother," +called Nancy. + +The aged animal turned obediently and curled herself on her cushion. Then +she lifted her wrinkled, snub-nosed face to watch the departing +motorists. + +"She does look like our Irish cook's grandmother," said Nancy. + +Everybody laughed gaily and the feelings regarding the "Comet's" new blue +coat were dispelled. Nedda had been a welcome interruption. + +"Papa always does the right thing," Billie announced presently. "I'm glad +he did it now. I was a little hurt at first, of course. But I understand +perfectly what his reasons were. Everybody will be looking out for a red +motor car that runs over people and they'll never recognize the 'Comet' +It's just as if he wore a disguise." + +The dark blue car was, as a matter of fact, not nearly so conspicuous as +he skimmed along over the road, and it was the very wisest thing Billie's +father could have done to change the color. Probably every man, woman and +child in the multitude that had clustered around the car that day on +Arakawa Ridge would be constantly on the look-out for the red machine, +and never glance twice at the blue one. + +"I do feel so inconspicuous and quiet and lady-like," remarked Billie +when some time later they left the motor car in charge of Komatsu and +went in to visit Shiba Temple in Shiba Park. These chapels are mostly the +tombs of the Shoguns who for many years were powerful nobles and who +really ruled Japan in place of the Emperor, a mere figurehead in those +days. The magnificent tombs they built for themselves are now the very +pride of Tokyo. Within the great red gates of the main temple, upheld +with scarlet columns, wheeled flights of pigeons quite tame. The girls +bought packages of grain from little booths and fed them and presently +one of the pretty creatures perched on Mary's wrist and ate from her +hand. + +"Don't frighten him," she whispered, her eyes brimming with tears of +pleasure. + +All the afternoon the tourists wandered through the wide courts where +were armies of stone lanterns placed in exactly the right spots. They +passed softly flowing fountains wherein the worshippers washed themselves +and climbed stately stairs by fern-set walls. Court within court they +entered adorned with magnificent paintings and carvings of marvelous +workmanship. They walked through the great hall of books where scrolls of +immense value are kept, each swathed in silk and lying in its own lacquer +box. At last dazzled and silenced by the succession of magic courts, they +returned to the outer world of the living, and climbed into the motor +car. + +"Before we go home, don't you think we had better inquire for Mme. +Fontaine?" Billie suggested. + +Miss Campbell assented. So long as they did not go in, she was quite +willing. + +They found the gate of the Widow of Shanghai's garden stretched wide +open; a jinriksha was about to pass into the street. A Japanese lady +in a rich costume was the occupant. She exchanged one swift glance with +Billie and quickly looked the other way. Billie started slightly. She +felt uncomfortable. It seemed to her that she had been looking straight +into the eyes of Mme. Fontaine. + +"Did you notice," said Mary, "that the Japanese lady in the 'riksha wore +her arm in a sling?" + +No, they had not noticed it, but there was nothing remarkable in that. No +one even commented on the fact, while they waited for Komatsu to inquire +and leave their cards. + +"Mme. Fontaine was still very much indisposed," the message came back, +"but she would be glad if the ladies would enter and have some +refreshment. She regretted she would not be able to see them herself." + +The ladies would not enter, however, as it was nearing the hour when Mr. +Campbell would return and expect to find them in the garden waiting tea, +and the "Comet" bore them swiftly home. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A THEATER PARTY. + + +"It's very easy for a bachelor to entertain in Japan," remarked Mr. +Buxton one afternoon in the Campbells' summer house. "A busy man is +saved all bother and inconvenience if he wants to give a theater party, +say, with a dinner to follow, by putting the affair in the hands of an +'elder sister,'" + +"Suppose he hasn't any elder sister," put in Miss Campbell feeling +slightly offended. Perhaps she was older than Mr. Buxton, but she was +sure she didn't look it and she had no intention of being designated as +his "elder sister." + +"Oh, but he always has," replied Mr. Buxton. "A Japanese providence +always provides a _Nesan_, or elder sister, for persons desiring to +entertain. All she requires of you is to leave her alone and pay the +bill." + +Miss Campbell felt somewhat mollified. + +"But what does she do?" asked Mary. + +"She does all the work, makes all the arrangements, engages the boxes and +the 'rikshas, orders the dinner, tells you how to act; in fact, does +everything any good elder sister would do to oblige a little brother." + +The others smiled at this droll notion but there was something rather +touching, too, about the simple title of elder sister or _Nesan_ for this +efficient and reliable individual who took all the burdens on her own +shoulders. As a matter of fact a _Nesan_ is the proprietor of a tea house +and her business is to get up entertainments. + +"And it is for this reason," continued Mr. Buxton, "that I am able to ask +all of you for the honor of your company to the theater to-morrow at +three and later to dinner. I could never have undertaken it alone, but +having been provided with an efficient relative older and wiser than I +am, although she looks to be under thirty, I feel no uneasiness +whatever." + +"I am inclined to accept your reluctant invitation on the spot, Buxton," +laughed Mr. Campbell, "for self and family." + +"I didn't intend it to appear reluctant," answered the Englishman. "I +only wanted to assure you that if you would do me the honor of coming to +the entertainment, all things would be correctly carried out according to +Japanese etiquette and there would not be a hitch in the whole affair. +Will you come?" + +"We shall be delighted, Mr. Buxton," answered Miss Campbell. + +"I thought you would," he added. "Indeed, I was so certain of it that the +little _Nesan_ has already got a list of the guests and the whole thing +has been arranged." + +"And to make assurance doubly sure, you thought you would just mention +the matter to us?" asked Mr. Campbell, who enjoyed teasing this rather +odd and amusing old bachelor. + +"How do we dress?" asked Nancy. + +"I never thought to ask the _Nesan_ how the ladies should dress. But if +you take my advice, I should say comfortably. That is, if you can. I +believe a woman's clothes are never really comfortable." + +"Mine are," broke in Billie, poised on the railing of the summer house +swinging her feet carelessly. + +"Would you have us dress like men?" demanded Miss Campbell indignantly. + +"No indeed, Madam," answered the bachelor, "but in your present costume, +you must admit that it would be difficult to sit on the floor." + +"But I don't wish to sit on the floor," exclaimed the spinster. "It's a +perfectly absurd custom. Besides, you are edging away from the main +point--trying to draw out of the--" + +"There will be no chairs to-morrow," interrupted the other, blinking his +eyes like a wise old bird. "And," he continued as he took his departure, +"neither will there be any knives and forks." + +"I shall take mine along, then," called Miss Campbell, whose discussions +with the bachelor kept them in a constant state of amusement. + +"It would be an unpardonable breach of etiquette," he called over his +shoulder. Presently he turned back and added, "You are not to use that +infernal machine for my party. The _Nesan_ provided 'rikshas for all +guests." + +"But that's just an additional expense to you, Buxton," cried Mr. +Campbell. + +"I know it perfectly well and I so suggested to my elder sister, but she +didn't seem to understand, and I decided I would rather hire a gross +of 'rikshas than try and make her. So you may expect three of 'em +to-morrow at a quarter past two. The performance begins at three." + +"Dear old 'Comet,' he's always getting slighted nowadays," remarked +Billie. "He never gets to go anywhere." + +"He's probably glad enough to sit in his cell and meditate on the +mutability of human events," answered Mr. Buxton, and this time he really +did go. + +It happened therefore that the "Comet" was once more left in humiliating +retirement while his young mistresses rode off in jinrikshas which +appeared at the door exactly at the hour mentioned by the host of the +afternoon. Indeed the motor car had good reason to be a disgruntled +machine. He never did seem to be a part of the Japanese landscape like +the graceful 'riksha. As a matter of fact he was a blot on the scene and +entirely out of place against a background of an ancient temple or a +group of picturesque individuals in clothes more brilliant in hue than +his own boyhood coat. + +Converging from various points in Tokyo but all timed to meet at the +theater door exactly at five minutes to three, came the other guests of +the party in 'rikshas provided by the _Nesan_. Mme. Fontaine was one of +these. + +"What a picture she is," exclaimed Nancy, noticing at once the +widow's beautiful costume of embroidered pongee over which she wore a +kimono-shaped mantle of the same embroidered silk, the sleeves of which +covered her arms and hands completely. + +Nodding and smiling at the girls brightly, she followed Miss Campbell +into the theater where they were met by the plump, hospitable little +_Nesan_, who prostrated herself before each guest and removed shoes at +the same time. + +Miss Campbell groaned. + +"Oh, dear," she complained. "Even at the theater! I shall never get +accustomed to walking flat-footed. I shall be wearing bifurcated +stockings next, I suppose." + +"Etiquette, Madam, etiquette," said Mr. Buxton. "You must do as the +Romans do, remember, or else be thought extremely rude." + +But there was no time for argument and the party hastily distributed +themselves in the two boxes. Yoritomo Ito kept close beside Nancy while +Nicholas Grimm and Reggie Carlton sat tailor fashion in the back of the +box. The theater was a strange place to the Western eye. There was not a +chair in the entire house and Mr. Buxton chuckled aloud over Miss +Campbell's complaints when she was obliged to sit on a mat on the floor. +Below the two tiers of boxes, the pit appeared like a gigantic +checker-board divided into square compartments by partitions about a foot +high. In each compartment squatted six people. Running from the rear of +the house to the stage was a slightly raised walk three feet broad to be +used by the actors as an exit. The stalls were crowded with men and women +and children. Here and there were groups of geishas or dancing girls. +Their rich apparel made bright spots of color in the scene. The children +ran about with perfect freedom, up and down the aisles at the sides and +in and out of the stalls, eating sweetmeats and visiting their friends. +And there was scarcely a grown person in the entire audience of Japanese +who was not smoking, for women as well as men smoke in Japan: one pinch +of tobacco in a short pipe, one puff, a little whiff of smoke inhaled and +the operation is over. Before the curtain rose, the _Nesan_ flew busily +from one box to the other with cushions and sweetmeats, baskets of +oranges and boxes of sweet pickled black beans. Presently came the sound +of two blocks of wood striking together. Then the curtain rose and the +audience settled itself for three hours of the most intense enjoyment. +The play was a Japanese legend and the actors picturesque and dramatic, +but if all the greatest actors in the world had combined to give the +performance, Miss Campbell could not have maintained her cramped position +a minute longer than two hours. + +"I am sure my limbs will refuse their office, Duncan," she whispered. "If +this goes on much longer, I shall have to be carried from the theater +like a helpless paralytic." + +"Buxton, don't you think we've had enough?" suggested Mr. Campbell, and +the bachelor, glad to stretch his own cramped legs, took the hint and +gave the signal for departure. + +Once more they were in the 'rikshas, only this time Nancy found herself +seated by Yoritomo and Billie and Nicholas had paired off in the same +way. Miss Campbell was not sure that she approved of this change. + +"In my day," she remarked to her cousin, "young ladies never rode alone +in buggies with young men." + +"But they aren't buggies, Cousin," he answered good-naturedly. + +"They are, all but the horse," said Miss Campbell. + +But they had arrived at the gate of the tea house before the argument +could proceed and were presently rolling through a garden enclosed by +high walls. It was a fairyland of a place, even more beautiful than the +Campbells' own garden, filled with brilliant beds of flowers and here and +there a small grove of stunted pine trees. + +Through the door of a tea house, low roofed and brown (houses are not +painted in Japan), rushed a score of _musumes_ (maids), pink-cheeked and +bare-footed, who greeted the guests with low bows and removed their +shoes. There also was their own particular _Nesan_, owner of that +particular tea house, who bowed gracefully and said in Japanese: + +"Be honorably pleased to enter." + +Inside, the tea house was scrupulously clean. The bare boards in the hall +seemed worn thin by scrubbing and nowhere were any furniture or ornaments +except the hanging scroll. The floors were covered with soft wicker mats +and presently they were all seated in a semicircle at one end of the +room. The younger members of the party were in a perfect gale of subdued +laughter by this time. Elinor, too dignified to look where she was going, +had stubbed her august toe and for at least half a minute had hopped on +one foot in an agony of pain. Nicholas had privately circulated a rumor +that live carp would be one of the courses, and not to eat a small piece +would give grievous offense to the _Nesan_ and her _musumes_. + +After a little table about a foot high had been placed before each guest, +a procession of miniature waitresses entered with the dinner. In quick +succession were served fish soup, crushed birds with sugared walnuts and +oranges, broiled fish with tiny balls of sweetened potatoes, and numerous +other strange but not unpalatable dishes, and all the while streams of +_hors d'ouvres_: horseradish, spinach and seaweed. But they were not +obliged to eat with chop sticks. Mr. Buxton had provided knives and +forks. + +At last with the greatest ceremony, the little proprietor herself +appeared bearing a large silver tray. + +"Here it comes," whispered Nicholas. "What did I tell you?" + +There, sure enough, was the carp, taken from the water a moment before +and sliced into delicate pink steaks. He lay on a bed of fresh water +grasses and leaves, and each portion was served in a dainty mat of +twisted grass. Nobody refused a sacrificial morsel, but only Yoritomo and +Mr. Buxton had the courage to eat it. Mr. Buxton swallowed his at a gulp +and Miss Campbell shivered all over at the sight. + +"How could you?" she exclaimed in a whisper. + +"Etiquette," he answered. "I would swallow a mouse for the sake of +etiquette in this polite country." + +During the dinner there had been a sound of suppressed laughter and the +tinkle of music behind the partitions, and now, after the last round of +the innumerable courses had been served, the partitions were shoved aside +and four samisen players entered followed by eight dancing girls. Nothing +could equal the grace of their bows as they glided softly in. Their +smiles of welcome were inimitable. Then their faces became grave and +serious and the dance began. The oldest was hardly more than fifteen and +the youngest about ten. They were like sober-faced little dolls in +gorgeous brocaded robes as they paraded, stamped their white-stockinged +feet and postured with elaborate fans. + +Mme. Fontaine, who had eaten no dinner and talked very little, watched +the dancers with intense interest. + +"Are they not charming little creatures?" she asked Mr. Campbell. "They +are trained to be so,--to sing, dance and amuse and to look pretty. But I +assure you some of them develop into splendid women. Many of them marry +well. The geisha girl is not always a butterfly." + +There was a subdued fire in her eyes as she spoke. + +Mr. Campbell looked at her curiously. + +"You have a special tenderness for them, I see," he remarked. + +"I was one," she said. + +While this little colloquy was going on, Yoritomo was whispering into +Nancy's ear: + +"You think they are pretty? But they are not so beautiful as you. There +are no blue eyes in Japan." + +And Nicholas was saying to Billie: + +"By Jove, it's terrible sitting in this position for three hours at a +stretch. Do you think we could slip into the garden? I have something I +want to tell you." + +Being on the end of the semi-circle, they crept behind one of the sliding +partitions and rose stiffly to their feet. Two steps more and they were +in the garden, now flooded with moonlight. + +"It's romantic," observed Billie, "but what will Cousin Helen say? She's +a very strict chaperone." + +"Tell her you couldn't endure it another moment; or tell her I couldn't, +which would be perfectly true. I feel as if I had shrunk a few inches. I +can't stand up straight." + +Turning down a walk leading to the little gold fish pond, they presently +paused on the miniature bridge and looked down at the reflections of the +stars mirrored in the pool beneath. They were quite silent for a moment. +Then Nicholas cleared his throat and began in an embarrassed and +hesitating way: + +"Miss Billie, can you keep a secret?" + +"Don't you think that is rather an uncomplimentary question?" answered +Billie. "I must have made a poor impression on you." + +"Indeed you haven't. You have made just the other kind," he replied with +boyish candor. "That's why I wanted to tell you something, but it was a +stupid way to begin. Please forgive me. Of course you can keep a secret. +Any girl who is cool-headed enough to run a motor car and--and keep +machinery in order and--" + +"Well--and what?" + +"I think you are just great, Miss Billie. I never met a girl like you +before," he mumbled half audibly. "That's why I wanted to tell you +something--that is--confide something to you." + +Billie looked uncomfortable. She was only a month younger than Nancy, but +she Was far less experienced in the ways of the world, her tastes being +more boyish and simple than those of that gay little coquette. + +"In the first place, you knew I was a civil engineer. That's how I +happened to meet your father. Every engineer in the country wanted to +meet him, because he is a very famous one himself, as you probably know." + +Billie was pleased at this compliment. Her father was too modest to tell +such things about himself, and she had no way of knowing his reputation +unless other people told her. + +"It was through Yoritomo that I came to Japan. We were friends in New +York; and it was through his uncle, who is high up in public affairs +here, that I got an appointment almost immediately. It's been interesting +work, most of the time around Tokyo, and I have enjoyed the experience. +But, you see, I came here with just a little money and fell on my feet +and feel that I am under obligations to Yoritomo and his family for a +good many favors." + +"Of course," answered Billie. "But what of it?" + +"Well," began Nicholas slowly, "Yoritomo has been a good friend to me. I +have always liked him and looked up to him because he's a deal cleverer +than I am and a wonderful student,--but lately,--it's hard to explain to +you, Miss Bille, but I--" + +"Don't you like him any more?" + +"No, no, it isn't that." Nicholas paused again and wiped beads of +perspiration from his face. He shifted his position and dug his hands +into his pockets. "I don't think I can say it," he said. "I thought I +could, but it's too deuced hard." + +"Go on, you silly boy." + +"Well, to tell you the truth, I don't trust him," he blurted out. + +"But Papa likes him," said Billie, simply, feeling that her father's +sanction was as good as a royal stamp of approval. + +"Oh, yes, of course. Everybody likes him. It isn't that." + +"Then what are you driving at?" + +"Good heavens, I don't know what I am driving at. Only, you see, I +introduced Yoritomo to the family and something happened the other day +that made me uneasy. It seemed to me that I ought to warn you not to get +too thick with him--that is--not you but Miss Brown. You see, Japanese +are different--they take things more seriously--" Nicholas plunged deeper +and deeper in. + +"Can't you tell me what happened?" + +"That's the queer part. There's nothing really to tell. It was one of +those little incidents that mean everything or nothing. I couldn't tell +Mr. Campbell because it was too insignificant, but I thought I might make +a clean breast of it to you and you could warn Miss Brown--well--not to +talk too much to Yoritomo. She might tell him something--" + +"But Nancy hasn't any secrets to tell, Mr. Grimm." + +"I thought you promised to call me Nicholas? I didn't say she had, but +these Japanese are the wiliest people. They will use you without your +knowing you are being used. Couldn't you just tell Miss Nancy to be +careful without explaining why? Don't girls ever do that? Just say that +Yoritomo's a Jap, and Japs are deep people and she had better not tell +him all she knows." + +Billie laughed. + +"Why, yes, I could, I suppose, but I'm sure it's not necessary. She +doesn't know anything to tell." + +"Whew!" ejaculated Nicholas, fanning himself with his hat. "I'd rather +dig a tunnel through a mountain than have to do that again. I decided +I had to do it and I have been working it over in my mind for days. First +I thought of Miss Campbell, but she would have gone off her head about +it. Miss Brown wouldn't have understood, either. She would have been +angry, I suppose. So I decided to come to you. I felt sure you would +understand and know exactly what to do." + +Billie smiled. She was beginning to be very fond of this boyish, honest +young man whose nature was not unlike her own. Just at that moment they +saw Yoritomo and Nancy strolling along a moonlit path. He was talking to +her in a low intense voice and she was smiling and dimpling as usual. It +occurred to Billie that Nancy was getting very grown up all of a sudden +and for her part, she couldn't see any fun in it at all. She had noticed +lately that Nancy did not enjoy their old-time girlish fun half so much +as she used to. She would rather stroll in the garden with a young man +than with her four devoted friends, and "hen parties" as she called them, +did not amuse her any longer. + +Billie began to feel quite serious about the benighted state of her best +friend. Her nature was deeply tinged with sympathy and sweetness, but she +was not yet old enough to feel tolerant with Nancy for growing up and +craving beaux and flattery. + +"I will speak to Nancy Brown," she thought, and that night going home in +the 'riksha by Nancy's side she turned the matter over in her mind. "But +not to-night," she decided, for Nancy had never seemed more adorable than +on that ride, chatting with her friend about the evening's pleasures. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +A FAILING OUT. + + +Several days went swiftly by and still Billie had not delivered the +warning to her beloved Nancy. + +After all, was it really necessary to warn Nancy not to talk too much and +tell all she knew? That was a man's idea of a girl's conversation: to +tell all she knew. How absurd! Besides, Nancy was not much of a +conversationalist and it's only people who talk all the time who tell +secrets. After they exhaust every other subject, they begin to draw on +their confidential stock. + +The more Billie turned the question over in her mind, the more +far-fetched it seemed, and at last she determined not to mention it at +all. + +"Who am I to be scolding anybody?" she said to herself. "I am sure I am +far from perfect and it would look rather presumptuous to criticize +Nancy who hasn't done anything to be criticized for." + +But these noble and modest sentiments were not destined to remain +unchanged in Billie's mind. By a curious chain of circumstances, the very +thing she had concluded to avoid was brought about. + +The circumstances began in the morning before breakfast and led up, one +after another, to the first real quarrel the two friends had ever had +since their friendship began. + +It had been raining all night, a hot sticky downpour, and nobody in the +house had slept well. The atmosphere was oppressive, and breathing became +a conscious effort; so that the American members of the household were +fretful and out of humor after a disagreeable and restless night. Even +the most even-tempered and well-balanced natures are upset by a steaming, +humid temperature which seems to creep into the soul and enshroud the +brighter self with mist. + +Billie felt the general depression and after breakfast she followed her +friends in a disconsolate procession to the library. + +"There are as many different kinds of rain as there are people," she +observed. "The rain in Scotland was like a brisk scolding person. At +least there was nothing monotonous and tiring about it. It had plenty of +vigor and energy. But this Japanese summer rain is like a great, fat, +stupid, lazy creature who never lifts a little finger to do anything but +just rain and rain and turn into misty steam!" + +"One hasn't even the energy to read a book," sighed Mary. + +"As Reggie Carlton says, 'it's so infernally damp,'" put in Elinor, and +the others smiled languidly. Elinor was indeed feeling the humidity to +quote a semi-profane expression. + +Nancy was really the most cheerful member of the party. She had an air of +expecting something which appeared to give her a reason for existing. + +After the outbursts of her three friends, there was a long and heavy +silence broken only by the steady patter of the rain on the roof. + +At last Nancy rose and smiling mysteriously, said: + +"Excuse me, ladies. While your company is highly exciting, I must leave +you to write letters." + +"I can't imagine to whom," exclaimed Billie. + +"I mailed four for you yesterday to your mother and father and 'Merry' +and Percy St. Clair." + +Billie knew Nancy's affairs quite as well as she knew her own; two +sisters could hardly have been more intimately associated. + +"Guess again, Miss Inquisitive," said Nancy. "And guess fifty times more +if you like. You'll never guess the right person and I shan't tell you +for punishment. So there!" + +For some reason--of course it was the weather--Billie felt teased and +hurt. Not for anything would she have kept Nancy in ignorance of any of +her correspondence. + +"I didn't mean to be inquisitive." she called, half apologetically. "I +was merely surprised at your being so mysterious." + +"When you get to be as old as I am," said Nancy in a lofty tone, "you'll +know better than to tell all you know." + +"I'll never get to be as old as you are, Miss Nancy-Bell," retorted +Billie. "It's a physical impossibility, since you are two months older +than I am." + +Nancy departed from the room, calling out laughingly: + +"Smarty! Smarty!" + +Billie kicked off her slipper after her, and so the quarrel started with +good natured raillery. But the memory of the letter lingered in Billie's +mind all the morning, although why it should have connected itself with +Onoye, who, an hour later, stepped out into the garden on high wooden +clogs with an oiled paper umbrella, she could not say. Standing idly by +the window, Billie watched the little figure disappear down the path. + +"I suppose she's going to visit the Compassionate God again," Billie +thought to herself absently. "I hope he'll be compassionate enough to +clear the weather by to-morrow." + +The next link in the chain of circumstances was forged when Onoye +returned from her pilgrimage. Billie, who had drawn a stool to the window +and was sitting with her face pressed against the glass, saw her walking +slowly along the dripping path to the house. The Japanese girl was +looking at something she held in her free hand, an envelope undoubtedly. +Just as she reached the piazza, Onoye slipped the letter into the folds +of her sash and hurried in. + +Billie's mind gave a sudden leap of conjecture but she continued to sit +quietly, her face against the window, peering into the mist-hung garden. + +"Funny," she said to herself. "It couldn't have been a Japanese letter +because those are rolled up on little sticks." + +Not long afterwards, she encountered Onoye in the passage. The Japanese +girl smiled lovingly into her face. Little by little her feeling for +Billie was growing and expanding into a real devotion, + +"And I'm sure I don't know why she should caress the hand that smote +her," Billie had thought. "She's a dear, faithful little soul." + +"Are you quite well again, Onoye?" she asked, pausing and slipping her +arm around the Japanese girl's shoulders. + +"Yes, honorable lady. Not any sickly arm no more." + +"And have you been writing a letter to thank the Compassionate God Jizu +for your recovery?" went on Billie. + +A frightened look came into Onoye's eyes. The English had been too much +for her comprehension, but the word "letter" she had understood +perfectly. + +"No understand," she said, bowing ceremoniously. And she hastened away, +leaving Billie much puzzled and rather curious, too. + +The day dragged slowly on, and still the rain poured and the mist steamed +and there was no relief from the circumstances of the weather. Miss +Campbell had been feeling rheumatic twinges in her "old joints," as she +called them, and remained in bed reading an agreeable novel. Once more +the four friends retired to the library where Mary read aloud and the +others engaged in various characteristic pursuits. Elinor was +embroidering a royal coat-of-arms in colored silks on a cushion cover; +Nancy was darning a rent in a lace flounce and Billie was darning her +father's socks. This task she undertook each week with extraordinary +cheerfulness, although Onoye had offered to do it for her, and O'Haru had +almost taken the darning needle and egg from her by force. + +As the hands of the clock neared four, Nancy rose. + +"Go on with your reading, Mary," she said. "I need some more thread and I +shall have to look for it. So don't wait." + +"What number do you want?" asked Elinor. + +Nancy looked annoyed. + +"Oh, something quite fine. I know you haven't it, Elinor." + +"Will a hundred do?" asked Elinor, extracting the spool from her neat +sewing bag. + +"That's too fine." + +"I have all sizes here." + +"Never mind," exclaimed Nancy impatiently, and hastened from the room, +taking her lace-flounced skirt with her. + +"Stubborn person," observed Elinor and once more plunged into her +aristocratic labors. + +Billie grew more and more restless. The book Mary was reading aloud was a +detective story, lately arrived from America. It had reached a thrilling +point, but Billie could not fasten her attention. + +"I think I'll just be obliged to get out and walk," she burst out +unexpectedly. "I can't stand this life of inaction a minute longer. Don't +stop reading on my account, Mary, dear. I don't suppose I could tempt +either of you two hot-house plants to come with me, could I?" + +"Since it's just as hot outside as inside, I don't think you could," +answered Elinor. + +"Perhaps Nancy will go," thought Billie, hastening down the long hall to +their joint apartment. + +But Nancy was not in the room. Her lace petticoat had been thrown hastily +on the bed with her sewing box. Billie searched over the entire house for +her friend without success. + +"Funny," she thought, slipping on her over-shoes and raincoat and seizing +an umbrella from the stand in the passage. + +Presently she found herself in the mist-hung garden, and instinctively +her steps turned toward the little bridge and the shrine to the +Compassionate God. All the way, she kept thinking: + +"What is Nancy-Bell up to? Not that,--surely. Why should she write +letters that way? Nobody would object to their coming by mail. It's just +her romantic notions," her thoughts continued as she reached the bridge. + +Taking the curved path to the foot of the small embankment, the next +moment Billie came full upon Nancy and Yoritomo Ito talking earnestly +together. There was something rather amusing in their appearance, because +down the ribs of their two umbrellas rivulets of water dripped and +poured in streams about them. + +"Oh, I beg your pardon," exclaimed Billie, the prey to varying emotions: +embarrassment, hurt feelings, surprise and, it must be confessed, a dash +of anger. + +"Oh, Billie," said Nancy, starting violently, "how you frightened me." + +"How do you do, Mr. Ito," said Billie stiffly. + +"How do you do, Miss Campbell. We seem to be having several unexpected +encounters this afternoon. Here was Miss Brown out for a wet stroll on a +day when ladies usually remain indoors, and now you come, too. American +young ladies are very athletic." + +"It isn't a case of exercise with me, Mr. Ito. I came out really to find +Nancy," said Billie coldly. + +"I shall bid you good afternoon," answered Yoritomo in his most formal +manner. "I was just taking a short cut. Pardon my trespassing on your +grounds." + +Billie detested untruths and she knew quite well that Yoritomo was not +speaking the real truth. She looked at Nancy reproachfully. + +"Good-bye," she said and turned her back. + +Yoritomo made an elaborate bow and departed and Nancy followed Billie +slowly up the dripping path. Half way back, Billie stopped short and +wheeled around. + +"I should think you'd be ashamed of yourself, Nancy Brown," she +exclaimed. + +Nancy had never seen Billie really angry before and she was frightened at +the new hard look that had come into the frank gray eyes. But Nancy was +in no mood to be scolded. The truth is, she had reached a difficult age +and it was not going to be easy to manage her by lecturing and argument. +She had an enormous appetite for flattery and the power of her prettiness +had intoxicated her. + +"Oh, I don't suppose you would understand, Billie, even if I tried to +explain," she answered hotly. "I haven't done anything to be ashamed of." + +"Meeting people in the garden secretly isn't anything to be proud of," +pursued Billie. "And exchanging letters by a servant," she burst out +suddenly recalling Onoye's unaccountable trip that morning an the rain. +"I have been told to warn you not to talk too much to Mr. Ito. He's not +to be trusted, and I think this a very good time to do it." + +Nancy flushed. She was angrier than Billie now. The two girls had turned +and were facing each other furiously. Billie felt the pulse leap in her +temples and something gripped her throat. The sensation was so new to her +that she scarcely knew how to handle it. It was like trying to rein in a +runaway horse. + +"He's just as nice as Nicholas Grimm," cried Nancy. "I should think you'd +be ashamed to spy on anyone. I never thought it of you." + +This statement was so unjust that Billie's rage leaped out of all bounds +and got beyond her control entirely. + +"That is untrue. I did not spy on you. I merely put two and two together +and guessed the rest. Can you deny it? And do you call it lady-like and +honorable? I don't. I call it common and horrid." + +Billie's voice in her extreme anger was very stern. She carefully avoided +calling Nancy by name. She felt if she spoke the name of her friend, she +must cry and not for anything did she want to humble herself just then. + +"I tell you I won't explain," ejaculated Nancy. "I've done nothing wrong +and I think you are very hard and unjust. It's because you are still a +child about some things, Billie. When you are older and have had more +experience, you will learn not to be a prig." + +Older and more experienced! Now all the saints defend us! Billie laughed +bitterly. Both girls were on the point of weeping and perhaps, if their +anger had changed to tears at that moment, much bitterness might have +been saved them. But they were interrupted by Mr. Campbell, who now +appeared, walking at a leisurely gait up the path. + +"Well, well, children! Here is devotion indeed," he exclaimed when he +espied his daughter and her friend standing stock still in the pouring +rain. "So intimate and absorbed in each other's society that you are +oblivious to the weather! That's the right kind of friendship. I would +not have it any other way. How are you, little daughter?" he asked, +kissing Billie and shaking hands with Nancy at the same time. "And how's +little daughter's friend?" + +Not for worlds would they have disclosed the real truth to Mr. Campbell. +Billie drew her arm through her father's and Nancy followed them to the +house. + +"Do you think the rain will ever let up, Papa?" asked Billie, resting her +cheek against her father's shoulder. + +Nancy felt suddenly frightfully homesick for her own bluff good-natured +parent. + +"Well, it once rained forty days and forty nights, you know," said Mr. +Campbell. "And what's happened before may happen again." + +Habitual wranglers regard quarrels as mere ripples on the surface and +soon forget about them, but the two girls were unaccustomed to such +scenes and their feelings were deeply lacerated. + +"Let not the sun go down upon your wrath," Billie thought, as she lay +beside Nancy that night, but she remembered that Nancy had called her +a spy and her soul was filled with bitterness. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +A LETTER THAT CAME THOUGH IT WAS NEVER SENT. + + +The two girls put the width of the bed between them that night. Each lay +stiffly on the very edge of the mattress and silently pondered over the +situation. Anger was not a self-indulgence with either of them and the +attack was so unusual that it left them both unnerved and shaken. Nancy +had only played with her food at dinner and Billie, who had eaten without +an appetite, now felt the discomfort of a burning indigestion. At last, +as the hours dragged on, they fell asleep, each profoundly unhappy. + +Long ago the two friends had dropped the formality which usually exists +between guest and hostess, no matter how intimate. Their relations were +as those of two sisters. For the Motor Maids had become as one family in +their wanderings together. But next morning, Nancy, still feeling the +sting of fancied wrongs, suddenly recalled the fact that she was +accepting hospitality from one who no longer liked her. It was all very +absurd, but so does the young person at the awkward age between girlhood +and womanhood often exaggerate trivial things and enlarge on fancied +injustice. + +Foolish, pretty Nancy permitted herself to slip into the most extreme +state of wretchedness. She imagined that her friend, whom in her heart +she loved devotedly, had treated her with unnecessary cruelty and +sternness. She got it into her silly little head that Billie had confided +the meeting in the garden to the others. She was ashamed and mortified +and she felt indeed that the whole world had turned against her. Mr. +Campbell was cold to her. Miss Helen Campbell hardly civil Mary and +Elinor looked at her askance. There was not a word of truth in it, of +course; it was just a figment of Nancy's morbid imaginings. Miss Campbell +was bored to extinction with the continued rain. Mr. Campbell was +preoccupied because of business engagements of great importance, and Mary +and Elinor, if the truth must be told, were intensely homesick; and who +would not have been with home on the other side of the world and rain +pouring ceaselessly on this side? As for Billie, she tried to be exactly +the same as usual, but the cloud of an unsettled disagreement hovered +between them. + +Therefore after a week of steady rain and black depression which did not +seem more profound in Nancy than in anyone else, silly little Nancy took +a bold step. Putting on her overshoes and mackintosh late one afternoon, +she slipped out of the house and hastened down the avenue. On the road, +she hailed an empty 'riksha returning from some suburban home and gave +Mme. Fontaine's address in Tokyo. + +Nancy was in search of sympathy and of someone who would tell her she had +done right when she knew she had done wrong. + +Mme. Fontaine was in and would be delighted to see Miss Brown, so she was +informed at the widow's front door, and Nancy, a little frightened, now +that the deed was done, was ushered into the beautiful drawing-room. + +"Why, you sweet child, this is a great pleasure," exclaimed that lady +herself, entering at the same moment by another door. "Where are your +friends? Are you alone?" she added looking around for the others. + +"Oh, yes," answered Nancy, embarrassed and agitated. + +"Not even the austere old lady who chaperones you?" asked the other +drawing the young girl down beside her on the couch and looking into the +blue eyes which suddenly welled up with tears and overflowed, + +"Why, my dear, are you unhappy? What is the matter? Tell me all about +it," ejaculated Mme. Fontaine, unpinning Nancy's hat and drawing the +curly head down on her shoulder. + +So it happened that Nancy Brown unburdened herself to the sympathetic +Widow of Shanghai, and gave an entirely biased and favorable-to-herself +account of the incident in the garden. + +Mme. Fontaine sat silent for a while after the story was finished, and +Nancy wondered if the charming new friend had heard what she had been +saying. + +"Do you think Miss Campbell would consent to let you make a visit, +Nancy?" she asked presently, calling her Nainsi, as if it were a French +name. + +Nancy drooped her long lashes. + +"I don't know," she answered. + +Mme. Fontaine gave one of her inscrutable Mona Lisa smiles and rose from +the couch. + +"We will try her and see. Does she know you were out walking?" + +"No," answered Nancy struggling to keep back her tears. + +"Does anyone in the house know?" + +She shook her head. + +The widow sat down at a carved desk inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and +wrote the following note: + +"My dear Miss Campbell: + +"I trust you will not think I have been unpardonably presumptuous in +keeping one of your girls over night with me. She had evidently set out +for a long walk and chance brought us together. The child was wet and +tired and I have kept her for tea. As the rain is still pouring, she has +consented to remain over night with your permission which I cannot but +feel sure will be granted under the circumstances. With the very kindest +regards for you and your household, I am, + +"Faithfully yours, + +"ANIELA FONTAINE." + +Never was cordial and polite note couched in more non-committal language. +It was sent out by a messenger and Miss Campbell sat painfully up in bed +to read it. Both knees and one wrist were swathed in bandages of +wintergreen liniment and a hot water bottle lay against one hip, + +"Why, I didn't know the child had left the house," she exclaimed, when +she had finished reading the letter and passed it on to the three +remaining Motor Maids. "How did she happen to go alone on a tramp like +that? What am I to do? I can't order her to return without being +exceedingly rude, but I do wish Nancy hadn't been so reckless. She ought +never to have left the grounds alone. Surely the garden is quite large +enough for exercising in, if anyone wanted to make the effort." + +The little spinster groaned and slipped down among her pillows again. + +The girls were silent. Mary secretly sympathized with Nancy. It would be +rather fascinating to spend a night in the widow's interesting home. +Elinor disapproved slightly at this unconventional visit, but it is +doubtful if she would have declined the invitation if she had been in +Nancy's place. As for Billie, she was puzzled and unhappy. She felt sure +that there was something back of the departure of her friend. She wished +with all her heart they had made up their differences. She yearned for +Nancy and her soul was filled with forebodings. She felt somehow as if +Nancy had died. That night, with the sheet over her head, she indulged in +a fit of weeping and resolved to settle all differences the first moment +they could get alone. + +Why should Nancy Brown have unexpectedly grown up like this and become so +independent and secretive? Elinor, the eldest of the four girls, had +never shown a disposition to have affairs and write notes. For her part, +Billie would have liked to go on in the same jolly old way forever, with +or without beaux. It was all one to her. But Nancy was different. The +society of her friends was no longer an unmixed pleasure and she was +beginning to crave more excitement and admiration than was good for her. + +The next day was like a dozen of its fellows, wet and muggy. The roads +were too slippery for the "Comet," and as Miss Campbell still kept her +bed with rheumatism, it was decided that Billie should go alone for Nancy +in a 'riksha. + +She was so eager to make up with her friend, that she felt as if the +reconciliation had already taken place and her faithful heart was filled +with happiness. She had made up her mind to humble herself by offering +Nancy an apology. After all, was it the act of true friendship to pick +out all the defects and flaws in a friend's nature? + +"A real friend is blind to everything but the best in another friend," +reasoned Billie, as her 'riksha splashed along the road, drawn by +Komatsu. + +So, prepared to embrace Nancy tenderly and let bygones be bygones, Billie +could scarcely wait to leap down from the 'riksha and ring the widow's +bell. The house had a shut-up appearance, but all Japanese houses look +thus in rainy weather. Somehow, Billie's inflated enthusiasm received a +prick when the bell echoed through the rooms with a hollow, empty sound. +She waited impatiently but no one came to answer it. Usually Mme. +Fontaine's well-trained maid was bowing and smiling almost before the +vibrations of the bell had ceased. Billie rang again and again, and +still there was no answer. She walked around the side of the house and +peered through the slats of the Venetian blinds but all was dark within. + +What could it mean? Where was Nancy? Where was Mme. Fontaine? + +"Oh, dear; oh, dear," ejaculated Billie, wiping away the tears that would +trickle down her cheeks. + +But of course they had gone shopping, and the maid was at market, +perhaps. That was the only explanation. + +There was a bench on the piazza and Billie sat down to wait. Komatsu +stood patiently under his oiled paper umbrella which he always placed in +the bottom of the 'riksha in bad weather. + +Exactly one hour they waited and at last Billie, disconsolate and +disappointed, returned to the 'riksha and ordered Komatsu to take her to +some of the shops. Everywhere she watched for the familiar gleam of +Nancy's blue mackintosh, but there was no sign of it anywhere. Finally +they returned to Mme. Fontaine's house, to find it still closed. + +"Komatsu, where are they?" asked Billie desperately. + +"Not know, but honorable young lady not look inside?" + +"I can't get inside. The doors are locked. Besides, I don't like to break +in on a private house like a burglar." + +But to the Japanese the end justifies the means, and being on a search +for Nancy, Komatsu was willing to go to any strategic lengths to find +her. + +"All same look and see," he said and together they followed the gallery +around the entire house. + +"Komatsu make to go up," he said after a fruitless search for an +entrance. He pointed to one of the slender pillars which upheld the roof +of the lower gallery forming the floor of the upper one. The next moment +he had shinned up the pole and Billie could hear him walking softly on +the wooden floor above. Presently he returned and placed in Billie's lap +the fragments of a letter which had been pieced together and pasted on +a sheet of paper. + +"Top muchly more easy than bottom," he said smiling. "Empty house but all +same muchly inside." + +Billie glanced hastily at the scraps of paper and saw her own name in one +corner. + +"Why, it's to me," she exclaimed, and sitting on the bench, she began to +decipher the pieced letter. + +"Dear Billie: + +"Since you all hate and disapprove of me, I do not wish to stay with you +any longer. You have been anything but a friend to me, but I will not say +anything more about that. I will only say that I can never forgive what +you said to me the other day. I think I have outgrown you. You are just a +child still and it will be a long time before you understand the ways of +the world, or sympathize with me when I say that I want to broaden my +life. Now, Mme. Fontaine, who knows everything, has promised--" + +Here the letter broke off. + +On the other side of the sheet were some more fragments of paper +carefully pieced together. + +"--do not wish to stay because--father's work--he should not--Mme. +Fontaine thinks--" + +Billie folded the paper and slipped it into her pocket. Tears were +rolling down her cheeks and she felt suddenly stiff and tired. Komatsu +regarded her from a distance with respectful sympathy. + +"Back home," she ordered, and all the way she indulged in the bitterest +weeping she had ever known in her life. + +"Nancy, Nancy, how could you?" she kept repeating to herself. + +Before she reached the house she dried her eyes and leaning out of the +'riksha let the rain beat against her face. + +"I must think of something to tell them," she said to herself. "What did +she mean about Papa's work?" + +Again Billie read the last part of the note. + +"I believe it's that woman who made her do this," she cried out suddenly. +"She worked her up to the point--'broaden her life'--'papa's work,' and +all that. How could Nancy have thought of such things? And then after +Nancy wrote the letter she repented--or perhaps the widow wouldn't let +her send it--but how did it happen to be pieced together like this?" + +It was all very puzzling and strange. Billie wanted time to think about +it and work it out in her own mind, and she was sorry when at last +Komatsu came to a full stop at their own front door. Slowly she descended +and walked into the house. Suddenly there was a cry of joy from the back. +It was the other girls rushing to meet Nancy who had not come, Billie +thought miserably. + +And, lo, it was Nancy herself, laughing and crying at once and embracing +her beloved Billie, as if they had been separated for a year and a day. + +"Where did you come from?" Billie managed to gasp in a bewildered voice. + +"I got back a little while ago and oh, I've been so homesick. Are you +glad to see me, Billie, dearest?" + +"I should think I was," said Billie, kissing Nancy's soft round cheek. +"It seems an age instead of just one night." + +"Mme. Fontaine invited me to make her a visit," went on Nancy, "but--but +I was too lonesome--I never slept a wink last night." + +"We are all of us quite jealous of you, Nancy," put in Mary, who, with +Elinor, had come upon the scene a moment before. + +Billie put her hand in her pocket and felt the pieced-together letter. It +almost seemed like a bad dream now. + +"So you decided to come back to us, Nancy?" she asked, trying to smile +naturally. + +"If I almost passed away from homesickness in one night, how should I +have borne it for--for longer?" answered Nancy, flushing. + +"We missed you terribly," was all Billie could trust herself to say as +she hurried to her room to take off her wet things. + +Just then Onoye sounded the Japanese chimes to announce that luncheon was +served and presently they were all assembled around the table. + +But never a word did Nancy say about the torn letter which some one had +so carefully pieced together. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE ANCIENT CITY OF SLEEP. + + +"How would four young parties and another younger party, who claims to be +old and rheumatic, but isn't, like to take a trip?" asked Mr. Campbell +one evening at dinner. + +Through the inky curtain of blackness that had for days overcast the +skies the sun had at last burst with a radiance that seemed twice as +great to unaccustomed eyes. From somewhere a life-giving breeze had +sprung up and driven away the vapors. Back rolled the walls of mist and +fog, and in a few hours the world became a smiling paradise of flowers +and of grass and foliage of intensest green. + +Immediately the aspect of life changed. Four young parties and a party +who claimed to be old but wasn't were eager for anything that would +furnish variety after the late monotony of existence. + +"I feel," said Mr. Campbell, "that we have all been suffering from +certain states of mind that about match the 'Comet's' disguise, and it +occurred to me that a change of air would be beneficial." + +"And will the 'Cornet' go, too?" asked Billie. + +"I'm afraid the 'Comet' is not built for mountain roads in Japan, little +daughter," answered her father. "We'll go by train and then by +jinrikshas, much as I regret to leave your gasoline pet behind." + +"But where are we going?" asked Miss Campbell, in a tone of noble +resignation, so chastened were her high spirits by the pains of +rheumatism. + +"I am going to take you to Nikko to spend a few days, and in order to +liven up things a bit the boys are coming, too, even old Mr. Buxton." + +"Is--" began Nancy, and checked herself. + +"Well, Miss Nancy, 'is' what?" asked Mr. Campbell, smiling. + +Billie knew perfectly well that Nancy was going to say: "Is Yoritomo +going?" but had changed her mind, when she asked instead: + +"Is Nikko a town?" + +"It's a number of things. It's considered by some people to be the most +beautiful place in the world, for one thing. It's a small town; it's a +magnificent forest of cryptomerias; and it's a sacred mountain, and a +collection of marvelous old temples and tombs and statues of Buddha. +But first and foremost it is a cool, green, lovely spot with good, dry, +pine-scented air for certain persons feeling in need of such." + +If Mr. Campbell had a fault it was that when he decided to do a thing he +wanted to do it at once. Having been a man of camps and considerable +lonely wanderings about the world, he had been able to gratify this +tendency to decide and act quickly. But it was not so simple with a +party of women, and when he announced that they were to start next +morning early there was some silent consternation among them. + +However, such was the force of Mr. Campbell's personality when he +announced a decision that not even that fearless and redoubtable woman, +Helen Campbell, had the courage to raise any objections. It was true she +had engaged a masseuse at eleven o'clock; the laundry had not been +finished; certain persons had planned to shampoo heads, and Mme. Fontaine +had asked permission to call in the afternoon. + +"All of which things must be postponed and overlooked," thought Miss +Campbell. + +Mr. Campbell had hired a villa for their short stay. Komatsu was to go +along as cook and to carry excess luggage. And they were to take a train +at the unearthly hour of eight o'clock a.m., which meant rising at an +even more unearthly hour; all of which to a great engineer was a mere +trifle. + +But who could be in a bad humor on such a glorious morning? Moreover, +several funny things happened which set them all laughing as they started +off. Komatsu appeared, strung with cooking utensils like a tin man. + +"Not muchly good in a renting-house. Komatsu take honorable saucepan," he +explained. + +In his arms, beside the luncheon hamper, he bore also a beautiful bunch +of lilies. + +As they climbed into their 'rikshas they were aware of the sound of +clipping, and glancing toward the summer-house, beheld twelve old women +cutting the grass with large shears. Most of them were widows, as could +readily be seen by their short hair. Their worn old faces were wreathed +in smiles, when they presently touched their foreheads to the grass in +profound obeisances. + +"The dear old things," cried Miss Campbell. "O'Haru, do see that they +have a good lunch." + +No need to give such a command to O'Haru. Refreshments are always given +to persons who come in for a day's work in a private place in Japan. + +The next amusing incident was the appearance of the old gardener, Saiki, +who came running around the house grasping a bunch of roses. + +Giving Mr. Campbell the largest and most beautiful, he divided the others +among the ladies. + +"Honorable flower for looking on train," he said, with his inimitable +smile. + +And so, at last they started. All the servants lined up to bid them a +respectful farewell. Billie, turning around, saw them gathered in a group +on the piazza, fading into spots of bright color in the distance, with +the old grass-cutters' robes making a splash of sky blue on the lawn. + +"Oh, Nancy," she exclaimed, "there never were such people as the +Japanese, so simple and adorable." + +Nancy, engaged in pinning a rose on the lapel of her coat and looking at +the effect with her pocket mirror, made no reply. + +At the railroad station they were met by Reggie, Nicholas and Mr. Buxton. +Everybody was in the wildest spirits because of the change in the +weather, and as they crowded, laughing and jostling each other, into the +train, the Japanese travelers smiled good-naturedly. They liked to see +Americans enjoying the country. + +Scarcely had they settled themselves in the train when they became aware +that two Japanese women were smiling and bowing repeatedly in the most +cordial manner. + +"Why, it's Mme. Ito," exclaimed Miss Campbell. + +"And O'Kami San," finished Mary, who remembered names for everybody. + +"Are you going to Nikko, too, O'Kami San?" asked Billie, sitting beside +the pretty little Japanese. + +O'Kami San looked much embarrassed and hung her head. + +"Make honorable journey to husband's home," she said in a low voice. + +"Have you been getting married?" demanded Billie, astonished. + +"Yesterdays passing four," answered O'Kami San. + +"You mean four days ago?" + +"Yes, honorable Mees Cam-el." + +Both Japanese women were beautifully dressed and it came out during the +conversation that the young bride was wearing no less than five elaborate +kimonos. + +"But why?" demanded Billie. + +O'Kami San explained that it was to avoid the inconveniences of luggage. +They were going to a little town in the hills and it would be difficult +to carry trunks. + +Around her head the bride wore a broad band of pink silk, almost covering +her hair, to keep the horns of jealousy from growing. + +Billie looked at her pityingly. + +"Poor little thing," she thought. "Why doesn't that good-for-nothing +brother teach her something? It doesn't seem to me that his schooling did +him any good. He's so fanatical and bigoted." + +"I hope you will be very happy, O'Kami San," said Mary. "I believe you +said there was no mother-in-law." + +"Not no mother-in-law," answered the bride, in the tone of one describing +a great blessing. "Honorable husband of age like mother-in-law." + +"You mean your husband is not young?" + +O'Kami San nodded. + +"Verily old," she said, with just the faintest quiver at the corners of +her mouth. + +Mary and Billie regarded her with compassion. How little romance there +was in a Japanese girl's life! O'Kami San, so young and pretty and +charming, too, was about to enter into years of drudgery perhaps; the +wife of a cranky old man, and here she was accepting her fate as calmly +as a novitiate about to take the vows for life and enter a convent. + +"New husband much rich," she said. "Much old. Need attentionly young +wife." + +Only once did O'Kami San glance at the two handsome young men who +belonged to the Campbell party. But Nicholas, always gallant and +thoughtful, helped Mme. Ito and her daughter to alight at the way-station +where they were to change cars, while Reggie carried their small +belongings and placed them on the platform. + +"God bless you, O'Kami San," called Billie, leaning far out of the +window. And if the little Japanese girl did not understand the meaning of +the salutation she comprehended the spirit of it. + +"Receive thanks," she said formally, her eyes glistening suspiciously. +Then she gave the Japanese farewell, "Sayonara" (since it must be), and +waved her little hands until the train was out of sight. + +Billie watched her sadly. The lines of the five kimonos, which could be +distinctly counted where they crossed at her neck, seemed to symbolize +the heavy marriage yoke the little bride had slipped so uncomplainingly +over her head, and as for that pink silk head band to keep down the horns +of jealousy, it might just as well have been an iron band with spikes in +it, for all the sentiment and romance it represented. But little O'Kami +San had gone up into the hills to her aged husband, and if she guessed +that there was anything brighter and happier than just being an +"attentionly wife" to an old man, she never murmured. No one has ever +plumbed the depths of unselfishness and self-sacrifice of the little +Japanese wife. + +During the last few miles of the journey they left the train and took to +jinrikshas. Along a magnificent avenue they rode, built through a forest +of cryptomerias towering one hundred and eighty feet high, some of them +with trunks thirty feet in diameter. They were like the columns of a +gigantic cathedral of which the sky was the dome. + +After refreshing themselves with tea at their little villa and removing +the grime of the journey, the travelers wandered off into the ancient +forest, cool and gray and very still, except for the sound of the wind +whispering through the pine trees. + +Terraced stairways of gray stone climb up the mountainside from temple to +temple and court to court. Over a busy little river hung the scarlet +bridge of beauty which no profane foot may ever touch, only the Emperor's +consecrated feet. No human hand has mended the sacred bridge for nearly +three centuries, but it is said to be in perfect repair. + +Passing along the temples and shrines that crowded one another on the +hillside, they came at last to a row of images of Buddha, innumerable +stone statues of the god, his kindly, gentle face almost obliterated by +spray from the river and a soft mantle of moss. There is a tradition +which says that no two people have ever counted these images with the +same results, and while the others wandered up the next terraced flight +of steps, Billie and Mary remained to count the Buddhas. + +The loud song of the little river rushing by them dazed their senses and +when they reached the end Billie had counted eighty and Mary only +seventy-five. + +"Let's try again," said Billie; once more they followed the interminable +line and once more there was a wide discrepancy between the results. + +For the third time they started the count, and finally came as near as +seventy-eight and seventy-nine; but the act of counting and recounting +had a curious effect on their senses. It seemed to make them very sleepy, +or perhaps it was the magic of that ancient place, the monotonous song +of the torrent and the cool gray shadows in the depths of the forest +where the sun never penetrated. + +"Do you know, Billie, I think I'll have to rest a moment before we join +the others," said Mary, leading the way up the hillside and sitting down +under a giant pine tree. "I'm almost paralyzed with sleep." + +"I feel the same way," answered Billie drowsily. "We can catch up with +them later. Suppose we take a little repose, as a French lady I knew used +to say." + +The two girls removed their hats, and making pillows of their jackets +they stretched themselves on the soft carpet of pine needles. Presently, +lulled by the monotonous water song and the murmur of the wind through +the trees, they dropped off into a sleep so profound and deep that they +did not hear the voices of their friends returning to search for them. + +The enchantment of centuries had woven its net about their feet and +stilled their senses; for Nikko is called the "City of Rest," and an +endless number of saints and holy men who once lived and prayed among its +groves now sleep there. + +The two young girls sank deeper and deeper into the peaceful sleep which +the atmosphere of Nikko breathes. Their souls seemed to have entered the +region of the most profound rest that may come to a living person. + +And while they slept the sun sank and the twilight of the forest faded +into night. But the searchers had taken the wrong path and their cries +grew fainter and fainter as they ranged the mountainside for the lost +girls. Among the trees their paper lanterns glowed like fireflies and +occasionally there was a long cry: "A-hai!" + +But Buddha himself must have placed the seal of sleep on the young girls' +eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE STORM KING. + + +While two of the Motor Maids slept in the sacred wood on the mountain two +others rested in one of the bedrooms of the villa straining their ears +for sounds of the returning search party. It was only eight o'clock, but +Miss Campbell, worn out with excitement and fatigue, had already dropped +off to sleep in the next room. + +Nancy was quietly and softly weeping, her face buried in her pillow, and +Elinor lay staring into the darkness. Mr. Campbell had assured them +that the girls could not be lost for long, and that the only mishap that +could possibly come to them in that holy place was sleeping under the +pine trees; but he could not conceal the anxiety he really felt, the +anxiety of a father for his only daughter, the being he loved best in all +the world. + +Nancy had felt the anxiety, too, and remorse had entered into her soul; +not because she had met Yoritomo in the garden and exchanged notes with +him in a romantic manner, the notes having been hidden under a stone near +the old shrine, for she was beginning dimly to realize that such things +were only silly and common. Her remorse was caused by something else more +remote in her consciousness but looming bigger all the time. The cruel +letter she had written to Billie in anger and then torn into pieces and +thrown into a brass vase in Mme. Fontaine's drawing-room! Why had she +been so angry? She could not understand it now. She only knew that the +longer she poured her troubles into Mme. Fontaine's ears the more +sympathetic the widow became until Nancy was worked into a perfect rage. +As for the widow, she had said very little indeed, only a few words now +and then, vague, suggestive remarks, but they had set Nancy thinking; had +stirred her up so violently, indeed, that she had written that foolish +letter. There had been no waste basket by the desk and Nancy, after a +wretched sleepless night, had torn up the letter and dropped it in the +nearest vase. Why had she not torn it into smaller bits? Why had she not +burned it in a charcoal brazier? Why had she ever written it at all? +Why--why--? A dozen whys flashed through her troubled mind. She would +never rest again until she knew the letter had been entirely destroyed, +reduced to ashes. Out of this long train of unhappy thought a resolution +came to Nancy to write to Mme. Fontame and ask her to find the letter and +burn it up. This she accordingly did a few days after the visit to Nikko, +and of what came of it more will be told later. + +In the meantime, while Nancy, goaded by a troubled conscience was weeping +abundantly into her pillow, Billie and little Mary Price lay sleeping +peacefully in the great cathedral forest. + +Precisely at the moment that Nancy's disturbed fancies had taken the form +of a resolution Billie and Mary opened their eyes on a world of velvety +blackness. Straight overhead through the lacework of intertwined boughs +gleamed an occasional tiny star, like the light shining through a pin +prick in a black curtain. Scarcely two hours had passed since they had +slipped into the unknown, and now sitting up and rubbing their eyes, they +wondered where in the world they were. Hearing Mary stirring beside her +in the dark, Billie put out a hand and grasped Mary's groping to meet it. +The two friends sat silently for a few minutes. At last Billie said +softly: + +"What are we going to do, Mary, dear?" + +"I am thinking of what they are going to do," answered Mary. "How +frightened they will be about us, Billie! As for me, I can't help feeling +happy out in this dark peaceful place. I should like to lie here all +night and watch the dawn come through the trees." + +All of which was extremely poetic, but Billie had become suddenly prosaic +at the thought of her father, wild with anxiety she was certain, +searching the terraced mountainside for them at the risk of falling off a +precipice or tumbling into the river. Besides, at that moment, she felt a +puff of hot wind in her face, and immediately was conscious that she was +very thirsty and that the palms of her hands were dry and burning. + +"Don't you think it's very hot, Mary?" she whispered. "I feel as if I had +been baked brown in an oven." + +"The wind has changed," answered Mary. "It was cool and sweet when we +dropped off, and now it's like a wind that's blown over a desert." + +Through the forest came a murmur like thousands of voices gathering in +strength and volume all the time. The gigantic pillars of the cathedral +began swaying and tossing their arched boughs and the whole mountain +seemed to resound with strange sounds, cries and calls, grindings and +poundings. The pin prick stars disappeared and the place was as black as +the pit. + +The two girls rose quickly and clasped hands again. + +"I think we'd better go straight down," said Billie. "We're obliged to +strike a path somewhere and perhaps we may find a temple or a tomb or a +pagoda or something. Anything to get away from that awful thing that's +coming, whatever it is." + +Fortunately the act of descending gave them a sense of direction. Many +times they fell, skinning their shins and their foreheads against trees, +but they picked themselves up again, entirely unconscious of bruises, and +ran on as fast as they could go with the hot devastating wind behind +them. Suddenly the whole mountainside was illuminated by a flash of +lightning, like a jagged stream of fire stretching from heaven to earth. +A deafening roar of thunder followed. Then all the forest seemed to be +perfectly quiet. Such a stillness settled over the place that the girls +stopped and held their breath. + +"Look," whispered Billie, pointing to a strange looking light coming +rapidly nearer, wobbling and undulating like the light on the bow of a +ship in a rough ocean. Then came another terrifying flash of lightning, +and thunder that seemed to rock the whole world. The two girls rushed +toward the friendly light with one accord, and collided with the bearer +with such force that three persons were precipitated with unintentionally +devotional attitudes at the foot of a shrine of Buddha. + +"By Jove, but this is luck," called a familiar voice. + +It was Nicholas Grimm, who calmly picked up himself and then his +oil-paper lantern attached to the end of a slender wand; next he helped +the girls to their feet. + +"Take an arm, each one of you. There's no time to lose. The thing that's +coming, whatever it is, will get here in a minute now." + +Running like mad, on the very wings of the wind, the three young people +followed the windings of the path and presently came up short on a small +temple, the tomb of some holy personage. Into this they rushed without +ceremony just as the storm burst with all its fury, and crouching in a +corner just out of reach of the rain, they listened to the howls and +shrieks of the wind. + +"It's just like some live thing," remarked Mary after a while. "I feel as +if some terrible demon lived up in a cave in the mountain, and when he is +angry he comes down and lashes the earth and shakes the mountain." + +Mary's poetic notion of storms in that region was not so far removed from +the Japanese legends. + +"You struck the nail on the head that time, Miss Price," said Nicholas. +"There is an extinct volcano over here in the northeast and in its side +is a huge cavern. People around here used to believe that all these +frightful storms issued from the cavern. Every spring and every fall +there was a perfectly corking one that tore up the whole place, and they +called the mountain 'Ni-Ko San,' or Two-Storm Mountain. Then an old party +who was a saint, I believe, and very wise, placed a curse on the storm +demon and named the place 'Nikko San,' Mountain of the Sun's Brightness." + +"The demon seems to have returned," remarked Billie. + +"Oh, he did. That was the point. The magic curse had to be repeated every +year, and the saint gave the receipt to a priest and it was handed down +from one generation to another in the priest's family for nearly nine +hundred years, but the demon still pursued, as you have probably +observed." + +They were all silent for a while. Mary was making a picture in her mind +of the aged priest in his white robes standing like a midget on the side +of the vast mountain exorcising the storm king. That personage, she +imagined, was a gigantic figure formed principally of black clouds with a +terrifying human countenance. Every breath was a whirlwind or a hailstorm +and when he struck the side of the mountain with his staff the lightning +flashed-- + +Here Mary's thoughts were interrupted by just such a flash uncomfortably +near. + +Billie leaped to her feet. + +"Oh, Nicholas," she cried, "do you think Papa could still be looking for +me? Suppose he should be out now in all this frightful wind! I hadn't +thought of it until this moment." + +"He'll be all right, Miss Billie," answered Nicholas soothingly. "Don't +you worry." + +"Don't you tell me not to worry," cried Billie, almost angrily. "Do you +think Papa would look after himself if he thought I was lost on the +mountain? Oh, heavens, why did we count those old broken statues?" + +Nicholas laughed. + +"Excuse me," he said, choking back his amusement at sight of Billie's +reproachful eyes which even the dim lantern light could not hide. "What +are you going to do?" he added, as Billie seized the lantern from his +hand. + +"I'm going to wave this at the door and yell with all my strength until I +haven't any voice left. If Papa is anywhere near he may see it and come +straight here." + +Nicholas, who, having also had much training in camps and outdoor life, +had not felt the least uneasiness about Mr. Campbell's safety, now +quietly took the lantern from Billie and began waving it to and fro at +the door, while they both shouted again and again. But their voices were +lost in the roar of the tempest. Billie stifled a sob. + +"Papa!" she whispered to herself. "Dearest, dearest Papa!" + +While she spoke a flash of lightning lit up the side of the mountain, and +in that momentary illumination Billie saw her father toiling up the path +against the wind and rain. + +"Papa, Papa!" she shrieked, seizing the lantern and waving it wildly back +and forth. + +"Halloo!" yelled Nicholas, and then there came an answering shout, a +really human cry this time, and after several breathless moments of +waiting Mr. Campbell staggered into the temple. + +Nicholas and Mary turned their faces away at sight of his emotion when he +found his daughter in his arms. He actually buried his face on her +shoulder and wept like a child. + +"I was beginning to think I was never going to see you again, +sweetheart," he said brokenly. + +It gave Mary a lonesome, remote feeling. She drew away from the others +into a corner of the temple and rested her chin on her hands. + +"I wonder how it would feel to have some one big and strong and--and +handsome to love and protect one like that," she thought contemplatively. + +Just then a figure staggered into the circle of light cast by the +lantern. It was Mr. Buxton. + +"Good evening," he said. "Delightful weather, isn't it? Suppose we shed a +little light on Carlton's path," he added calmly, holding the light to +the door. Reggie was close behind his friend, however, and with feelings +of enormous relief, the little company proceeded to sit down on the floor +and relate their experiences. + +"It all really happened," remarked Mary, after Billie had confessed the +cause of all the trouble, "because we tried to count the four hundred +statues of Buddha and never got the same answer twice, and he naturally +didn't like it, and I suppose he put us to sleep and summoned the +Storm King--" + +"No, child," interrupted Mr. Buxton, "I am sorry to disabuse your +romantic young mind, but it really happened because the pressure of the +coming storm had a stupefying effect. Buddha was a very high-minded +gentleman. He would never have taken offence over such a trivial matter." + +"Don't contradict her, Buxton," said Mr. Campbell. "You have no +imagination to comprehend the supernatural, anyhow." + +"It would be supernatural for two women to count alike," answered the +incorrigible bachelor, who would have the last word. + +Gradually the storm spent its fury, and by midnight they were able to +return to the little villa. Except for a few scratches and bruises, the +only important result of the Storm King's visit was Nancy's determination +to write a letter to Mme. Fontaine. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +A VISIT OF CEREMONY. + + +The most unhappy person in the whole of fair Japan was Miss Nancy Brown +one lovely morning in July. At least she thought she was; which is very +near to being the same thing. She had dispatched a letter to Mme. +Fontaine and received an answer that the brass vase by the writing desk +was now empty--a curious way to put it, Nancy thought, and one which did +not quiet her uneasiness in the least. In return for this bit of +information the Widow of Shanghai asked a strange favor of Nancy, one +which puzzled and troubled her considerably. But it was a simple request +and Nancy could not see any reason for declining to grant it. + +So, Mistress Nancy was the prey to indefinable anxieties and vague +forebodings. Everybody had noticed her sadness. Mr. Campbell had spoken +of it with concern and had promised to take them all on another trip to +the mountains. + +"The heat is too much for the child," he had remarked to his cousin. "I +didn't realize she was such a fragile little thing. Even Mary Price seems +more robust." + +"She never was a fragile little thing before, Duncan," answered Miss +Campbell. "I always thought that Billie and Nancy had unlimited +endurance. The other girls are much more delicate. Do you suppose Nancy +has anything on her mind?" + +Mr. Campbell shook his head. It was impossible for him to think that any +of those light-hearted creatures could have troubles. They had nothing to +think about but their own pleasures; nothing to do but enjoy the house +and the garden, the tea parties and excursions. Their happy laughter and +gay chatter, floating to him through the open window of his library did +not carry a single note of sadness; for Nancy had tried to cover her +unhappiness under a cloak of forced gaiety; but she could not hide her +tragic little face, nor the pathetic droop of her lips and the circles +under her eyes. + +"I can never look Billie in the face again," she had said to herself a +hundred times. "I almost feel as if I had murdered somebody and hidden +the body away. Nobody knows about the letter but it's just as bad as if +they did. I believe I couldn't be more miserable if I had sent it to +Billie. Thinking is just as bad as saying things out loud, and writing +them seems to make it even worse." + +Furthermore, Onoye had been acting very strangely toward Nancy lately. +Twice she had come and stood before the American girl with downcast eyes +and twice tried to say something, failed and slipped quietly away. + +On this wonderful Sunday morning, when the world seemed indescribably +fresh and fair after the recent rains, only Nancy was sad. Mary, who had +blossomed into a flower herself in the soft warm air of Japan, was fairly +dancing along the walk. + +"There is so much to do," she cried. "I haven't a moment to spare. The +red lilies are in bloom. They all live together in a place near the old +shrine. Saiki says if the weather keeps on like this the lotus flowers in +the pond will open. Over against the old south wall there is a climbing +rose bush that is a perfect marvel. You see, Saiki tells me all the +secrets of the garden. He and I are the most devoted friends." + +The girls smiled indulgently at Mary, who seemed to them to have +developed in a few weeks from a timid, shrinking little soul with a tinge +of sadness in her nature into the most joyous being. + +"Go on and tell us some more," put in Elinor. "I like to hear all this +garden gossip. You'll be hearing the secret the white rose whispered to +the red next; and how the sensitive plant shrank when she heard the news, +and the lilies shut up--" + +"And the flags waved and the grasses drew their blades, and the trees +barked and the cow slips and the bull rushes--" cried Billie. And they +all burst into absurd laughter, that is, all except Nancy, who felt +immensely remote from this foolish, pleasant talk. + +"It will never do for you to be a teacher, Mary, dearest," said Elinor. +"You'd simply fade and droop in a schoolroom. We'll just have to look up +some other occupation for you. If I had my way with Providence you should +do nothing but play in a garden all your days in a land of perpetual +summer." + +"I am afraid I should have to pass into another world to accomplish +anything so wonderful," laughed Mary. "It sounds a good deal like +Paradise to me, and I haven't learned to play my harp yet. I would never +be admitted into such a beautiful garden until I had learned to play real +music on the harp, and not discords." + +Mary often spoke in metaphors like this, which half puzzled, half amused +her friends. + +"I never heard you strike a discord, Mary, dear," Nancy observed sadly, +when Billie interrupted: + +"Canst tell me who that grand personage is riding up the avenue?" + +In a jinriksha drawn by one man, while two others ran in front to clear +the way of imaginary obstacles, since there were no real ones, sat a +magnificent person clad in full Japanese regalia. He wore a robe of dark +rich colors, but the girls could not see his face, which was hidden by a +parasol. + +"I think Nankipooh has come to call," whispered Billie, as the vehicle +drew near. + +The girls hid themselves behind a clump of shrubbery and peeped through +the branches. + +"He's bringing gifts," whispered Elinor. + +The 'riksha had drawn up at the piazza and the two runners, after the +personage in fancy dress had descended, lifted out a very aged and no +doubt extremely costly dwarfed apple tree growing in a green vase, and a +lacquered box. + +One of the ever-watchful domestics opened the door and into the hall +stalked the visitor, followed by his retainers. + +"I think he must be a messenger from the Emperor, nothing less," said +Billie. "He's so awfully grand." + +"Perhaps he's the Mikado himself," said Mary. + +The others laughed again and even Nancy forgot her troubles and joined +in. + +"I declare I feel as if I had settled down to live on a Japanese fan," +continued Billie. "Everything is like a decoration. I can't imagine +anything really serious ever happening, it's all so gay and pretty and +the people are like dolls." + +"Here comes one of your live dolls," observed Mary, pointing to Onoye, +who was hastening toward them down the path, the skirts of her flowered +kimono blowing about her ankles as she walked. + +She made straight for the group of girls and falling on her knees before +Nancy, touched her forehead to the ground. + +"What is it, Onoye?" asked Nancy, blushing and paling and blushing again +with some hidden emotion. + +"Gracious lady, warn-ings," she began slowly, as if she had just learned +the words from a book. + +"What on earth?" Nancy asked. + +"Gracious lady, warn-ings," repeated Onoye, in a monotonous voice. + +"What do you mean, Onoye?" demanded Billie. "Don't kneel. Stand up and +tell us all about it." + +"No explaining words to make understanding. Make prayer to honorable Mees +Nancee." + +"But what about?" asked Nancy, puzzled and troubled at the same time. + +"Dee-vorce," answered Onoye, and then touching her forehead to the +ground, she rose quickly and glided away. + +It was so absurd that they were obliged to laugh, and yet they felt that +the Japanese girl was entirely serious in what she was trying to tell. + +"Can't we call her back and ask her some more questions?" suggested +Elinor. + +"We might, but I doubt if she would say another word," answered Billie. +"They never will tell more than they have to, you know, and I daresay she +thinks she's told all that is necessary." + +"I think she's got hold of the wrong words," put in Mary. "Do you +remember how she called Miss Campbell 'the honorable old maid'?" + +"She has had something on her mind a long time," said Billie +thoughtfully. "She's a queer little soul. You don't think she could be a +bit daffy, do you?" + +"I never saw any signs of it," said Nancy. "But I do wish she had +explained why I was to be warned. Perhaps she's got that word wrong, +too." + +"The truth is, the Japanese use synonyms instead of the words themselves. +That's why their English is so queer," remarked Mary, better trained in +English than any of the others and with a remarkably good vocabulary when +she could be persuaded to talk. "Now a synonym of 'to warn' is 'to +summon.' Maybe Onoye wanted to tell you that some one wished to see you." + +Nancy was silent. She vaguely connected Onoye's visit with Mme. Fontaine +and the note, because her thoughts constantly dwelt on those disquieting +subjects. + +The girls lingered for some time in the garden until they saw the +Japanese gentleman in fancy dress riding away in his 'riksha, preceded by +his two runners. Once more Onoye approached them down one of the shady +garden walks. Once more she paused in front of Nancy and prostrating +herself, announced: + +"The honorable master in libraree to Mees Brown." + +Nancy turned as white as a sheet. + +"Why, Nancy, don't be frightened. I am sure it's nothing serious," said +Billie, putting her arm around her friend's waist. + +Except for that first greeting when Billie had returned after her search +for Nancy, it was the first time the two girls had stood thus since the +letter episode, and it was too much for poor, contrite Nancy, who burst +into tears. + +"She thinks it's bad news from home," said Mary, leaning a cheek +sympathetically against Nancy's shoulder, while Elinor pressed her hand +and exclaimed: + +"Dearest, dearest Nancy, I'm sure it's nothing sad. Don't cry." + +If anything could have made Nancy more wretched, it was the sympathy of +her three friends. + +"I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it!" she sobbed, and except for +Billie, they had not the remotest idea what she meant. + +And now in the midst of this highly emotional scene appeared Miss Helen +Campbell accompanied by Messrs. Campbell, Buxton, Carlton and Grimm. +There was an arch and knowing smile on Miss Campbell's face as she +tripped along the walk holding a lavender parasol over her head, and the +four men were grinning broadly. Nancy dried her tears quickly. They never +left any traces on her face nor red rims around her eyelids as with most +people, and except that she was unusually pale, no one would have guessed +that her lachrymal ducts had been overflowing only a moment before. + +"Well, well, Miss Nancy, I am afraid we shall have to put smoked glasses +over those pretty blue eyes of yours before they cause any more mischief +in Japan," exclaimed Mr. Campbell. + +"Oh, you little witch," cried Miss Campbell, pinching Nancy's cheek, +"what shall I do with you, making eyes at these Orientals who don't +understand?" + +"But what--" began Nancy. + +"I know," cried Mary, the gleam of romance in her eyes, "I know now. +She's gone and got proposed to by a Japanese gentleman!" + +"But who?" cried all the girls together, brimming over with curiosity. + +"Why, Mr. Yoritomo Ito, of course," replied Miss Campbell. "He dressed up +in his best Japanese fancy costume and brought presents and servants and +came to ask formally for the hand of Mistress Anne Starbuck Brown." + +"Why, the impudent thing," exclaimed Nancy. "Did he think--could he +imagine for a moment--" + +She broke off, too indignant to express herself. Then her eyes +encountered Billie's and she dropped them in embarrassment. They were +both thinking of the same thing; the two notes left under a stone at the +shrine and the rainy meeting in the garden. After all, perhaps Yoritomo +might have thought she liked him--but the idea was intolerable and Nancy +thrust it aside. + +"How would you like to be mother-in-lawed by Mme. Ito, Nancy?" asked +Elinor. + +"And sleep with your head on a bench and eat with chop sticks?" continued +Mary. + +"You would probably have to do all those things if you married Mr. +Yoritomo Ito," said Mr. Campbell. "It's very evident that he belongs to +the most conservative Japanese class and clings to the old notions about +wives and fancy dress costumes and such things." + +"What did you say to him, Papa?" asked Billie. + +"Oh, I was very polite, of course. I declined his offer, but that didn't +surprise him, because in Japan they never stop to consult a young lady +about her choice. They make it for her and then inform her afterward. Was +I right in my method of dismissing your suitor, Miss Nancy?" he asked, +turning to the young girl with a certain charming manner that was +peculiarly his own, half humorous and half deferential. + +"Oh, yes, Mr. Campbell," exclaimed Nancy, a flush spreading over her +face. "I am ashamed that it ever happened. I'm sure I never meant +him to think--I'm sure I can't understand his presuming--" + +"Never mind, child. Men propose the world over without any more grounds +than that. They are all alike, yellow skins and white ones, and red ones, +too," said Miss Campbell. + +"Don't be so hard on us, Madam," put in Mr. Buxton, seizing the lady's +parasol by force and holding it firmly over her head. "It's not our +fault if we fall victims to a pair of blue eyes. You notice I say +'victims.' One pair has many, I presume." + +Billie and Nicholas brought up the procession which was now moving slowly +toward the pavilion. + +"It's queer that I just learned something about Yoritomo last night," +said Nicholas, "and I was going to tell you to-day." + +"What is it?" asked Billie. + +"He's divorced. You know they get them here on the slightest +provocation--just change their minds after a few months or years and go +to court, and one morning a wife finds herself without a husband, or +children either, if he wants to take them." + +"How perfectly outrageous for him to propose to Nancy!" cried Billie. +"You don't know who his first wife was, do you, Nicholas?" + +"No, I didn't hear." + +"I think I do," said Billie, after a moment's pause. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE MAGNET AND THE SILVER CHURN. + + +"Is it your head, dear? Are you sure nothing else is involved? No +indigestion or pains at the neck or burning at the pit of the stomach?" + +"Perfectly certain, Miss Campbell," answered Nancy, with a wan smile. +"It's just one of those sick headaches like the one I had when I ate crab +salad and peach ice cream that time. You mustn't stay at home on my +account. O'Haru will look after me." + +"But you haven't eaten crab salad and peach ice cream this time, child. +You haven't eaten anything, in fact. Your appetite is getting smaller all +the time." + +"It's just the heat," said Nancy meekly. "I only want to stay in a +darkened room and keep as cool as I can. I am sure I shall be all right +by this evening and I wouldn't for anything interfere with the picnic +to-day. It would make my head much worse. Really it would." + +Each of the Motor Maids offered to stay home with Nancy, but she objected +and protested so strongly that it looked as if she would work herself +into a fever if they persisted. O'Haru was therefore left in charge of +Nancy for the day, while the others, attired for an all-day picnic, +gathered on the front piazza. + +On the driveway stood the "Comet" and behind him at a respectful +distance, like a servant behind his master, stood another car of an +undistinguished character, hired in Tokyo. Into this last climbed Miss +Campbell and Mr. Buxton, while Mr. Campbell took the front seat to run +the car. + +"Won't some little maid keep a lonely man company?" he called, and Mary +Price responded promptly to this appeal. "I am the most honored man in +the whole party," he said, gallantly jumping out and helping her in as if +she were a small queen. + +Mary smiled happily, but she felt in her heart that she was the most +honored of all. No one had ever treated her with such deference and +courtesy as this splendid big man who gazed down at her with a protecting +air and listened to her rather timid conversation with absorbed interest. + +It was a wonderful thing, Mary thought, almost too wonderful to be +believed that a distinguished engineer who had been sent for by +governments to build railroads and give advice about public improvements, +would condescend even to notice a quiet little person like her. But the +famous engineer was really a very simple man, as modest as she herself +was and quite as gentle. + +On the front seat beside Billie sat Nicholas, and Reginald was in the +back with Elinor. Every laddie had a lassie that morning, and Billie, who +was a bit skeptical over Nancy's headache, wondered vaguely if this could +have been the reason for her staying at home. But she put the thought +away from her at once as being unworthy. Billie sighed and gave herself +an impatient little shake. Her heart yearned for the old Nancy of the +early days who seemed so changed now. She was determined never to mention +the letter, but somehow it seemed always to stand between them. Both +girls thought of it constantly, Nancy with remorse and bitterness for her +own disloyalty, and Billie with a kind of puzzled sadness. After all, the +two friends had much to learn about each other's natures. + +Nancy on her bed in the darkened room was saying: + +"If I only could prove to Billie and to all of them that I am not +disloyal!" + +Billie, guiding the "Comet" along the country road, was thinking: + +"If Nancy would only be frank and tell me what's on her mind! How can we +go on like this when we are drifting farther and farther away?" + +The excursion to-day was of special interest to Mr. Campbell and his +guests. They were riding forth to see Fujiyama (or "Fuji San," as the +Japanese call it, "yama," meaning simply "mountain"), the sacred mountain +of perfect beauty and shining whiteness. + +Once Saiki, their old gardener, had conducted them to a small elevation +in the garden, and in a manner both reverential and proud, had pointed +to a vista in the trees carefully made by lopping off certain branches. +There, in the background of a long, narrow perspective loomed the great +mountain, exactly as it does in thousands of Japanese scrolls. Here, many +a time, Mary had sat and watched the white cone shining in the sunlight. +She understood why it was called the "Peak of the White Lotus," The low +green hills at its feet were the leaves of the flower and the eight sided +crater, perfect in symmetry, formed the petals. + +The beautiful Fuji San, the most precious and revered object in all +Japan, is dedicated to a goddess, "the Princess who makes the blossoms of +the trees to bear"; but pilgrims of every religious sect crowd its paths +in warm weather and on its sides dwell holy men or "mountain +worshippers," who practice great austerities. + +It seemed a little unfeeling to be so gay and light-hearted with Nancy +unhappy and ill at home, but there was gaiety in the warm dry air, and it +bubbled into happy laughter and chatter as they flew along the road. + +"Have we brought everything?" called Billie over her shoulder. "The +guitar and the tea basket and the luncheon hamper--" + +"And the mackintoshes?" finished Nicholas. + +Billie frowned and her face darkened. + +"Everything but your raincoat, Billie," said Elinor, counting packages in +the bottom of the car with the toe of her boot. "Did you forget it?" + +"No, it had a torn place in it," answered Billie, still frowning. + +An incident too trivial to mention, but too unusual to put lightly aside +had caused her some annoyance that morning. She had closed the bureau +drawer on a corner of her raincoat, hanging over her arm, and had torn +the hem off one side. + +"How stupid," she had exclaimed impatiently, tossing it into a chair. +"You'll have to lend me your blue raincoat, Nancy-Bell. I've just done +for mine completely." + +Nancy, lying on the bed with her face turned to the wall, did not reply. + +Billie tiptoed to the foot of the bed to see if she was asleep, but the +blue eyes were wide open staring at the wall paper. + +"Will you lend me your raincoat, Miss Nancy?" repeated Billie, trying to +be jocular to overcome the peculiar sensation of annoyance that had crept +into her thoughts. + +"I'm sorry, but I can't," answered Nancy, in a low voice. + +"Why not?" + +"I just can't. That's all." + +Billie felt as if a rough hand had seized her by her collar and given her +a good shaking. + +"Oh, very well, Nancy" she said, and went softly out of the room. + +"I am sure she must be really ill," she thought, trying to put a +charitable interpretation on this act of selfishness, but even illness +could hardly account for anything so entirely remote from their usual +relations. And, apparently, Nancy had no fever and was only a little +under the weather with a headache. + +Therefore, when the subject of her raincoat had come under discussion, +Billie quickly changed it. + +"Do look at that queer-looking crowd," she ejaculated, pointing to a +group of people walking in couples along the roadside. Their white +kirtles were girded high about their waists and they carried staffs. + +As the company marched along, always facing Fuji, they began singing a +weird chant. When the motors drew nearer the tourists saw that each +man wore a huge mushroom hat made of lightest pith and from his neck hung +a piece of matting suspended by a cord. + +"That must be one of the Pilgrim Clubs," announced Nicholas. "There are +hundreds of them in Japan and they are fearfully expensive to join. The +dues are from eight to fifteen cents a year. Every summer a club selects +a delegate to take a nice little walking trip to a shrine and bring back +blessings for the other members. His expenses are paid and lots of the +other members go on their own hook. All the inns make special rates and +it's come to be a jolly way to spend one's vacation, combining pleasure +and religion. You see they've got the costume down to the finest point," +he continued. "They wear umbrellas on their heads, and the matting +hanging around their necks serves as a raincoat, seat and bed. It's the +coolest, lightest and most complete walking equipment I ever saw." + +"They make me feel terribly worldly-minded and luxurious," exclaimed +Billie. "I never thought of bringing back a holy blessing to a friend." + +"We can take back a blessing for Miss Nancy, if you like," said Nicholas, +smiling. "A flask of water from a spring on the sacred mountain would do, +wouldn't it?" + +"But we haven't any flask." + +"We have the thermos bottle," put in Elinor. "That would keep it cool +enough for her to drink." + +"She shouldn't drink it. She should sprinkle herself with it, or bathe in +it," said Nicholas, amused at this ultra-modern way of carrying back a +heavenly blessing. + +But Billie recalled the suggestion later and actually did fill the +thermos bottle from a little spring that bubbled at the foot of Fuji and +trickled down a green slope where the company had stopped for luncheon. + +"I do wish Nancy had come," she found herself saying while she spread the +white cloth on the grass and opened the treasures of the luncheon hamper, +which consisted of cold chicken and sandwiches and eggs prepared in a +peculiar pickly way, as some one had described it. "It was a shame for +her to miss this lovely trip. I am sure Fuji would have cured anybody's +headache. It's so beautiful and so majestic." + +"It's cured mine," remarked Mr. Buxton, "either Fuji or something even +more potent." Here he cast a languishing and eloquent glance toward Miss +Campbell who flicked the grass with the end of her parasol and pretended +not to have heard a word. + +Nicholas and Reggie grinned openly. Mr. Campbell stifled a smile behind a +large sandwich and the girls carefully avoided each other's eyes. + +"He's got it bad, Miss Billie," whispered Nicholas. "Is this a common +occurrence with Miss Campbell?" + +"It is, indeed," answered Billie. "There is always one and sometimes +several wherever we go. Once, in Salt Lake City, it saved us no end of +trouble and brought two lovers together, because a horrid old Mormon +gentleman caught the fever. He had it so badly that we thought he would +just carry Cousin Helen off by force, but he was deathly afraid of her." + +"Remember your promise, Miss Elinor," called Mr. Campbell presently. +"Where's your guitar?" + +Some one fetched the guitar from the car and Elinor, leaning against a +tree, struck several chords and smiled mischievously. + +"Shall it be a love song?" she asked. + +"Something religious would be more appropriate in this sacred spot," +observed Miss Campbell severely. But Elinor, ignoring the suggestion, +began to sing: + +"'O, My Luve's like a red, red rose, + That's newly sprung in June. +My Luve's like the melodie + That's sweetly played in tune. + +"'As fair thou art, my bonnie lass, + So deep in luve am I, +And I will luve thee still, my dear, + Till a' the seas gang dry. + +"'Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear, + And rocks melt wi' the sun, +I will luve thee still, my dear, + While the sands of life shall run. + +"'And fare thee weel, my only Luve, + And fare thee weel a while, +And I will come again My Luve, + Tho' it were ten thousand mile.'" + +While Elinor sang this charming song Mr. Buxton regarded Miss Helen +Campbell with an expression so abjectly adoring that Mr. Campbell gave a +roar of boyish laughter and laid himself flat on the ground in the +ecstasy of his amusement. They all laughed, indeed. Even Miss Campbell +joined in, in spite of her annoyance. + +"I should think you might sing your own songs, Buxton, instead of letting +a young lady do it for you," said Mr. Campbell at last. + +"Allow me," answered the bachelor calmly. + +He seized the guitar, re-tuned it with great care, and began strumming +lightly on the strings. Suddenly he lifted up his voice in song and +nobody attempted to keep a serious countenance because he seemed entirely +oblivious to all jests at his expense. Here is the song he sang: + +"A Magnet hung in a hardware shop, +And all around was a loving crop +Of scissors and needles, nails and knives, +Offering love for all their lives; +But for iron the Magnet felt no whim; +Though he charmed iron, it charmed not him; +From needles and nails and knives he'd turn, +For he'd set his heart on a Silver Churn! + +"A Silver Churn! A Silver Churn! +His most esthetic +Very magnetic +Fancy took this turn: +If I can wheedle +A knife or a needle, +Why not a Silver Churn? + +"And Iron and Steel expressed surprise; +The needles opened their well-drilled eyes, +The penknives felt shut up, no doubt; +The scissors declared themselves cut out. +The kettles, they boiled with rage, 'tis said; +While every nail went off its head +And hither and thither began to roam, +Till a hammer came up and drove them home. + +"It drove them home! It drove them home! +While this magnetic, +Peripatetic +Lover, he lived to learn, +By no endeavor +Can a Magnet ever +Attract a Silver Churn!" + +"Well, really," cried Mr. Campbell, at the end of the song when the +laughter had somewhat died down, "really, I think Buxton, you are the +most shameless old soul I ever met in my life. Come along and start home. +A shower is coming up, and we'd better get the cars into the valley +before it catches us and wets the Silver Churn, and the scissors, and +needles, and nails, and knives." + +A shower did come up, a big one that lasted most of the way home, and +Billie's gray linen suit was wet through, but the weather was warm and +except that she looked extremely bedraggled, she was none the worse and +refused to accept the loan of Nicholas' coat. They left the three guests +in Tokyo with the hired motor car, and Mr. Campbell with Miss Helen and +Mary joined the others in the "Comet." So it was that the subject of the +raincoat came up again. Miss Campbell, seeing her young cousin's wet +suit, exclaimed: + +"Child! Where is your raincoat? How often have I told you never to leave +it behind, especially in this country where it rains more than it +shines." + +"It's torn, Cousin Helen," answered Billie meekly. + +"But why, pray, didn't you take Nancy's?" + +Billie considered a moment what she should say and ended by saying +nothing at all. + +"Why didn't you borrow Nancy's, Billie?" asked Elinor. + +"Nancy didn't seem willing to lend it," answered Billie at last, slowly. + +There was a strained silence. Then Miss Campbell remarked: + +"I believe the child must be seriously ill. It sounds like typhoid fever. +I think we'd better send for the doctor as soon as we reach home." + +However, this was not necessary. There was Nancy waiting for them on the +piazza. Her headache had gone, she said, and she looked quite well and +much more cheerful than usual. She did not notice the faintest tinge of +coldness in their greetings. Even Mr. Campbell was not so cordial as +usual. + +"You must have been caught in the worst of the rain," she said, looking +at Billie's dripping clothes. + +"We were," put in Mary quickly, trying to cover the silence of the +others. + +Somehow Billie felt just a bit savage at the moment. + +"I've brought you some sacred water from Fujiyama, Nancy," she said +presently, in order to hide her hurt feelings. + +"Oh, thanks. What am I to do with it? Drink it down?" + +"Oh, no. Anoint yourself with it. Sprinkle it over the top of your head +for luck." + +"Better put on your mackintosh first, Nancy," broke in Elinor coldly. +"You'll be wetter than Billie if you don't." + +Nancy's face flushed scarlet and she turned and walked into the house +without a word. + +"Oh, Elinor, I wish you hadn't said that," said Billie. "See how you hurt +her." + +"She needed to be hurt," replied Elinor. "She needs to be brought to her +senses." + +All the world was topsy turvy. The Motor Maids were quarreling among +themselves and there was mystery in the air. Their happy little kingdom +was being destroyed by internecine wars, and for what reason, Billie +could not understand. It was inevitable that Mary and Elinor would come +over to her side, now, that is, if Nancy persisted in this strange +behavior. + +That night, lying beside Nancy in the dark, Billie's hand crept out to +meet her unhappy friend's. But Nancy's hands were clasped in front of her +and she lay quite still, staring at the wall, the most miserable young +person in all the universe. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +FATHER AND DAUGHTER. + + +The first thing Billie saw next morning when she opened her eyes on a +beautiful but heated world, was Nancy seated by the window reading a +book, and at a second glance, she recognized it as her own prayer book. +If it had been Mary or Elinor who had risen at dawn to read the prayer +book, Billie would not have been in the least surprised, for one was +deeply religious, and the other also, though she never talked much about +it. + +Nancy, however, little frivolous butterfly, was not given to reading her +testament or prayer book either, except at very infrequent intervals, +certainly never early in the morning when other people were asleep. +Billie wondered and wondered what more could have happened to turn +Nancy's thought into this unusual channel. + +"She must be unhappy," she decided, "or she never would have got up at +this time of day," and there was a kind of sad humor in the thought +which Billie did not appreciate at the moment. + +When Nancy heard Billie stir, she closed the book hastily and crept back +to bed and Billie pretended not to be awake. She was sure Nancy would +rather not have been caught at this act of unusual devotion, and she +disliked the idea of being an eavesdropper, as it were, to Nancy's +innermost thoughts. Nevertheless, when some time later, Nancy had dressed +and gone out of the room, Billie could not resist the temptation to open +the prayer book at the purple ribbon; it had been placed at "Prayers for +Fair Weather," which begins: + +"Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech thee of thy great +goodness to restrain those immoderate rains wherewith for our sins thou +hast afflicted us." + +Billie could scarcely keep from smiling when she followed Nancy into the +dining-room. + +"It's about the queerest state of affairs that ever existed," she +thought, casting a covert glance at her unhappy friend who was munching +dry toast. + +Mr. Campbell came in late. He looked flustered and disturbed about +something. + +"What is the matter with this household?" Billie's thoughts continued. +"One would think an earthquake had shaken us out of our senses. Even Papa +is out of sorts. I don't think I ever saw him quite this way before. As +for me, I can't seem to pull out of the general depression. It's just +closing in on us and drawing us down. Papa," she exclaimed out loud, "I +believe we need a trip. When are you going to take us to the mountains? +Nancy is terribly run down, and Cousin Helen is feeling the heat, and +Elinor and Mary and I are going to be run down, too, if you don't hustle +us off somewhere." + +"Very soon now, daughter. Just one more piece of business to transact +and--er--a question to settle, and I'll pack you all off to a cool, dry +place." + +"It will be the very opposite to this one, then," announced Billie. "Hot +and damp are the words to use about Tokyo, and they do say the long rains +are coming on--" she stopped short and looked at Nancy. + +Everybody was looking at Nancy, in fact. + +Mary and Elinor were wondering why Nancy looked so conscious. Miss +Campbell was thinking how pale the girl looked, and Mr. Campbell was +thinking of something quite different, but very important, concerning +Nancy Brown. + +Billie tried to cover the uncomfortable silence by adding with a forced +cordiality: + +"Nancy-Bell needs the change more than any of us." + +"Very well, if agreeable to your Royal Highness, I will let you know +tonight when we shall break up camp and march for the hills." + +"Good," cried Billie. "The Court is prepared to move on a moment's +notice." + +Mr. Campbell beckoned to his daughter to follow him to his library after +breakfast. Billie had already had a foreboding that something was the +matter, and she was sure of it as soon as she had entered the room and +closed the door. + +Her father was standing at his desk frowning as he looked thoughtfully +into space, and Mr. Campbell never frowned unless he had something to +frown about. + +"What's the matter, Papa?" + +"Where are the others?" + +"Gone to their rooms, I suppose, or in the garden. I didn't notice." + +He drew an easy chair up by the open window and Billie took her seat on +the arm and rested her cheek against his. + +"Papa, is there any trouble brewing in this house?" she asked presently. + +Mr. Campbell blew out a long column of smoke from his morning cigar. + +"What makes you think so, sweetheart?" he asked. + +"I can feel it. It's in the air--it's all about us. It's like a sort of +plague. Nancy's got it, and now you are getting it, and I have a feeling +I shall catch it, too." + +"Has Nancy got it?" + +"She got it first and she's giving it to all the rest of us. Oh, Papa, +it's the very first time anything like this has ever happened on any of +our trips. It's making me quite wretched." + +"But what is it, little girl?" + +"I don't know, at least, not exactly." + +"Not exactly? Then you do know something?" + +Billie did not wish to tell her father about the letter Nancy had +written. She felt that her father might not take such a charitable view +of it as she had, and she had a feeling she must protect poor Nancy, +wounded as she had been by her strange behavior. + +"Then you do know something?" repeated Mr. Campbell. + +"Oh, just the littlest something, but I don't want to tell you, Papa." + +Mr. Campbell settled himself into the depths of his chair and drew his +arm around his daughter's waist. + +"That's right, little daughter. I'd rather you'd be loyal than anything +else in the world," he said, stroking her hand. "But I'm going to tell +you a little bit of something. I want to ask your advice. I don't know +what to do. You must help your old father decide." + +"Fire away, Papa." + +"Yesterday a very strange thing happened in this house while we were +away--a very serious thing, I may say, and one which gives me +considerable uneasiness. Last night I came into the library to work, just +after dinner. I opened the safe and found that some one had been +rummaging among the papers in there." + +"Oh, Papa," ejaculated Billie anxiously, knowing the value of those +documents. + +"They were all there, but they had been disturbed. There had been an +attempt made to trace off some of the drawings. The specifications and +descriptions had been tampered with, too. I never dreamed such a thing +could be managed in the daytime with the house full of servants. The two +watchmen would prevent even a possibility of it at night. Whoever did it +must have laid his plans well, or else--" + +Mr. Campbell paused and looked at his daughter very hard. + +"Nancy has been greatly troubled about something lately, hasn't she, +little daughter?" + +"Yes, Papa, she has, but it's nothing serious," said Billie stoutly. +"Just the heat and that absurd business about Yoritomo. You know she did +really make eyes at him a good deal." + +"Where was she yesterday?" + +"In her room, I suppose?" + +"Billie, I called several of the servants in last night and questioned +them about this business here," he pointed to the safe in the corner. "I +called them in separately and each one made the same statement. Nancy +spent most of the day in this room." + +Billie started. + +"I can't believe it. I won't believe it," she cried, rising to her feet +in her excitement. + +"They told a pretty straight story and they had no reason, as far as I +can see, for telling any other kind." + +"But what does Nancy know about opening a safe, Papa? It's absurd. And +besides what would she want with plans for government improvements or +whatever they are?" + +"I'm just as much in the dark as you are, Billie. I'm only telling you +what O'Haru and Onoye and Komatsu told me. She went into the library +twice during the day; once for a little while in the morning, and after +lunch when the servants were in the back of the house, Onoye saw her come +out of the garden in a pouring rain. She marched straight to this room +and locked the door behind her and here she remained until not long +before we returned." + +"Papa, I'll never go back on Nancy," cried Billie. "I'll never believe +she did it--even--well, even if she were to tell me so herself! I know +her as well as I know myself. I know all her ins and outs, you might say. +She's simply incapable of doing a dishonest thing. Besides, what earthly +use could she have with those papers?" + +"Do you think she could be doing it for some one else?" asked Mr. +Campbell. + +"No," burst out Billie, almost angrily. "Why, Papa, I'm ashamed of you," + +Mr. Campbell drew his daughter to him and kissed her. + +"You are a good friend, Billie, and I'm going to give your friend the +benefit of every doubt in her favor. I'm going to assume that she is +innocent and that there is some big mistake somewhere. But I want you to +help me because it will be necessary to get at the bottom of the business +immediately. Now, Yoritomo Ito is one great big fanatic. I discovered +that the other day when he called here in his foolish garb and demanded +the hand of Miss Nancy. He was very angry over being turned down and just +a bit threatening in his manner. Of course he resents outside people +being called in for the work I am doing. He resents my presence in his +country, in fact." + +"I don't like him, Papa," broke in Billie, "and--you didn't know that he +has been married and divorced?" + +Mr. Campbell looked surprised. + +"No, indeed, I did not know it. He has colossal nerve, I must say. But +divorce is pretty common over here. Most anybody can get one who wants +to." + +"And, Papa," went on Billie, "I believe that our little maid, Onoye, was +his wife, and when her father lost his money, Yoritomo got a divorce, and +she and her mother were so poor they had to go to work." + +Mr. Campbell was even more shocked at this disclosure. + +"And, Papa, I believe she would do most any favor for Yoritomo in order +to get to see her little boy who lives with Mme. Ito. Onoye and her +mother are mad about him, and--and--" went on Billie, slowly working out +the complication in her mind--"they were the ones who laid the blame on +Nancy, weren't they?" + +"I didn't know I had a detective for a daughter," said Mr. Campbell, +smiling. + +"I'm just putting two and two together," said Billie. "You see it works +out like a jigsaw puzzle." + +"So I see," said Mr. Campbell gravely. "There is only one bright spot in +the whole business," he added, with something very like a chuckle. "For +once in my life I've out-tricked a trickster and I've really enjoyed +doing it. Buxton informed me the very night you shot somebody here--" + +"There you are," interrupted Billie. "That was Onoye, remember." + +"Yes, there is no doubt about that. Well, Buxton informed me that they +were after my papers and the safe would be the place they would look for +them. So that very night I substituted some old drawings and put the +important ones in another place. Now a Japanese, when he's after +something, is as crafty and shrewd as a fox. That's why I'm patting +myself on my back for having outwitted one." + +"Where do you keep the real papers, Papa?" + +"Down where the pistol is under some stationery in the back of the desk +drawer, and in the big vase in the corner." + +Billie went straight to the desk and opened the drawer. She drew out the +pistol as she had done that dark night, removed several layers of +envelopes and paper, and came at last to a layer of drawings. + +"Are these the ones?" she asked, placing them on the desk and then +shoving the drawer back with her knee. Something stuck and she pulled it +all the way out in her effort to discover what the trouble was. In the +very back, caught between the drawer and the framework was a +handkerchief. It was small and sheer and in one corner was an embroidered +butterfly. + +Mr. Campbell jumped up in much excitement. + +"By Jove," he exclaimed, "did you find that among my papers?" + +Billie nodded her head sadly. "It's Nancy's, too," she said. + +Mr. Campbell began looking over the papers. + +"She may have dropped her handkerchief," he said, "but I don't think she +got down to these. They are exactly as I left them. I suppose she +rummaged around with her handkerchief in her lap and it fell in and was +shoved back when I took out my papers later." + +The papers in a leather portfolio in the vase were safe, also. + +For some time the father and daughter sat together, turning over the +events of the morning in their minds. + +"Papa," said Billie, after a while, "let's send Cousin Helen and Nancy +and Elinor to the mountains, because they need the trip more than the +rest of us, and suppose you and Mary Price and I stay here and ferret out +the whole thing. Of course the person who did it, and I know Nancy had +nothing to do with it," she added almost fiercely, "but the real person +will be coming back for the rest of the drawings, and that will be our +chance. A detective in the house would give the alarm, but Mary and I +might turn watchmen without arousing any suspicion, especially if some of +the servants are mixed in it." + +Mr. Campbell ended by taking his daughter's advice. + +The very next morning Miss Campbell and two of the Motor Maids were +packed off to Myanoshita, a summer resort in the mountains, with +Komatsu to look after them, while the other two Motor Maids remained with +Mr. Campbell. + +"We'll follow you by the end of the week," he said. "I hope you don't +begrudge a lonely man his daughter for that short time, Cousin." + +"I hope you won't keep her in this awful heat any longer than you can +help," was his cousin's reply. For Miss Campbell had grown to regard +Billie as her especial property. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE TYPHOON. + + +The three conspirators had formed no particular plan for a campaign. Mr. +Campbell was certain of only one thing: if poor Nancy Brown had foolishly +got herself involved in this business, it would be better to keep the +secret in the family, as it were. + +"We'll just give the child a good lecture and take her home," he said to +himself, biting off the end of his cigar and frowning at the disquieting +thought. "Whatever she did was through innocence, I am certain of that. +She may have been flattered or cajoled into it. Who knows? The little +thing is miserable enough without being made more unhappy. I suppose I +should have sent for her and asked for a confession, but I hadn't the +nerve and that's the truth." + +Several uneventful days passed after the departure of the others. It was +very hot and the girls kept indoors until after sunset. But it was a +dull, dispiriting time, and one morning they decided to take a spin in +the "Comet," leaving Mr. Campbell at home to look after things. They had +hardly gone when he was summoned to Tokyo by a messenger, and there was +no one but the servants left in the house. + +The girls motored into town and spent the morning shopping. From one +curio shop to another they wandered in the quest of nothing except +diversion. + +"There is no end to the beautiful things here," sighed Mary, wishing in +her heart that she could carry the most beautiful and priceless thing in +Tokyo home to her mother. + +"Yes, everything is beautiful except the weather," remarked Billie, +pointing to the black clouds which had gathered while they were in a +shop. "We are going to have one of those red-letter storms, Mary. I think +we'd better hurry home as fast as we can." + +But the "Comet," who never had any luck all the time he was in Japan, +proceeded to burst one of his tires and the explosion mingled +threateningly with a low roll of thunder in the distance. + +"We'd better take him to a garage and go back in a 'riksha," announced +Billie, much annoyed. "Poor old 'Comet,' it wasn't his fault, but the +prologues of these storms do put one in a bad temper." + +"They frighten me," said Mary. "They give me evil forebodings." + +The "Comet" was accordingly left at the garage to be repaired, and the +girls were well on their way home in a jinriksha before anything worse +had happened than rumblings and strange mutterings at what seemed a great +distance away. It sometimes takes hours for a great storm in Japan to +reach a head; which, in a way, is rather fortunate, because it gives +people a chance to prepare for the struggle. A house is usually +completely closed with storm shutters. Not even the smallest opening is +left, through which the demon wind can find its way and so carry off +the roof, or even the house itself. Every detachable object out of doors +is taken inside. The gardener is seen hurrying about protecting his most +valuable plants, and by the time the storm bursts upon the scene, filled +with demoniacal shrieks and howls like an army of barbarians pursuing the +enemy, it finds its victims prepared for the attack. + +When the 'riksha turned in at the Campbell gate, it had grown so dark +that only the dim outlines of the house were visible at the end of the +driveway. No one saw them arrive. The servants were probably at the back +putting on the storm shutters, which were all in place at the front. + +Billie invited the 'riksha man to go around to the servants' quarters and +wait until the storm had passed, but he nodded cheerfully and took his +way down the road. + +"Let's go in by the passage door," suggested Mary. "Everything is closed +up here." + +Billie followed her wearily. The heat and oppression were almost beyond +endurance. She felt she might be suffocated at any moment. It was like +trying to breathe under a feather mattress or in a total vacuum, for that +matter. + +"Shall we put on our kimonos and lie on the floor in the library?" she +suggested as they slipped into the passage. And this they accordingly +did without another word or a moment's delay. It was too hot to think or +sleep or eat or speak. All they desired was to stretch out on the rug in +a cool dark room and keep perfectly still. + +There was a deadly quiet in the house when presently two little kimonoed +forms stole through the halls and crept to the library door. Billie felt +for the knob in the darkness and turned it. The door was locked. In the +dense atmosphere it was difficult for them to realize what this meant at +first. + +"Mary, it's--it's the-what-do-you-call-'em," said Billie incoherently. + +Mary nodded silently. She might have shrieked her answer aloud, for the +storm had arrived with a great howling of wind and rain, and with flashes +of lightning followed by repeated and deafening cannonades of thunder. + +The rain rattled on the roof like iron and all the demons in bedlam +seemed to be besieging the house. Then a most sickening thing happened. +The floor appeared to be heaving under their feet. Doors all over the +house banged to with loud reports like revolvers shooting off. There was +a crash in the library, a loud cry from within, the door flew open and a +figure rushed past. Mary, kneeling on the floor at the threshold, +involuntarily reached out her hands and seized the flying skirts of the +apparition, or whatever it was, which disappeared like a shadow through +the passage door, leaving Mary still holding the substance of the shadow +which seemed to be the skirt she had grasped. + +A second shock followed almost immediately, less violent than the first +but quite as sickening. For one instant the house tossed and pitched like +a ship on a choppy sea. Then it settled down on its foundations. Most +Japanese houses are built on wooden supports, stout square pillars +rounded off at the base and resting in a round socket of stone. This +gives a certain elasticity for resisting shocks which a firmly built +house would not endure. + +The girls lay side by side on the floor of the passage, too frightened to +speak. There is a horror about an earthquake that is indescribable to +those who have never felt it; a feeling of sickening inefficiency and +helplessness. + +After a while they plucked up courage to rise and totter weakly into the +library, where Billie, her hand shaking with nervous excitement, struck +a match and lit a candle. The room was in dire confusion. Chairs were +upset, books had fallen off the shelves and lay scattered about the +floor, and the iron safe had crashed over on its face. On the desk and +the floor about it were numbers of loose sheets of paper and a narrow +roll of tracing paper, which had uncoiled itself and lay half on the +desk, half on the floor like a long white serpent. + +Mechanically they began to put things to rights. Mary gathered up the +books and set them back on the shelves and Billie stood the chairs on +their legs and collected the papers. They were not important ones, she +knew, only decoys, as her father had called them. In the mean time the +house rocked in the clutches of the storm. + +"I don't know why we bother to do this," said Billie laughing +hysterically. "We may be flying through the air any minute ourselves +along with the chairs and papers and everything else." + +"The storm at Nikko was mere child's play to this; just an infant babe in +arms," answered Mary, weeping softly while she worked. + +It seemed better to be doing something than to sit still and listen to +the terrifying fury of the tempest, as again and again it hurled itself +against the house. + +"It wouldn't have done any good even if we had caught the thief or spy or +whatever he is," observed Billie after a while. "There would have been no +one to help us." + +Suddenly Mary's perturbed mind harked back to what had happened in the +hall. + +"Billie," she cried, "it wasn't a man; it was a woman. That skirt I +caught--that--that something--where is it?" + +"What are you talking about, Mary?" + +"I tell you I caught hold of something. It came off in my hands." + +She ran into the hall and, groping about on the floor, presently found +what seemed to be a long coat. Rushing back she spread it on the desk. +Billie held the candle high and the two girls stood gazing at it for some +moments without speaking. Then Billie slowly placed the candle on the +desk and sat down. + +"I don't understand, Billie," said Mary, clasping and unclasping her +hands in her excitement and surprise, "it's Nancy's blue raincoat, +but--but I don't understand." + +Billie covered her eyes with one hand as if she would like to hide from +Mary what they might tell of her feelings and thoughts. There was +nothing to say. It _was_ Nancy's blue raincoat, but she refused to think +what the explanation might be. + +After a long time, it seemed, O'Haru came into the room. She was amazed +to find the girls in the library until they explained how they had just +escaped the storm. + +"Oh, much terrible," ejaculated the housekeeper. "Much terrible more +worse than since," from which they gathered that it was one of the worst +storms ever seen in Tokyo. O'Haru brought in lights and presently +returned at the head of a procession of maids with trays of food; though +whether it was luncheon or supper time it was impossible to tell. The +clocks had all stopped in the earthquake and it was still as black as +night. It might have been midnight or midday for all they knew. + +The girls preferred to remain in the library, which seemed to them more +protection than the other rooms, and O'Haru drew up three tables and +arranged the trays with great deftness and celerity. + +"Papa didn't come?" asked Billie, noticing the third table. + +"No, honorable lady." + +"For whom is the other tray, then?" + +"Mees Brown," answered O'Haru, rather surprised. + +"But she is in the mountains," said Billie, growing very red and uneasy. +"Oh, Nancy, Nancy," she groaned inwardly, "could it have really been you +and are you out there in the typhoon?" + +"Pardon grant," said O'Haru. "Mees Brown arriving at morning. Mees Brown +within." + +"I think not, O'Haru," said Billie. + +"Her honorable rainy coat," said Onoye, pointing to the fated blue +mackintosh. + +"Mary, what shall I say?" asked Billie in a low voice. "I don't know what +to do." + +"Ask them questions," said Mary. + +From Onoye they gathered that Miss Brown had arrived soon after Mr. +Campbell had left the house, and had gone straight to her room. She +was very tired, she said, and would lie down until lunch time. Then she +had gone to the library. Just before the storm they had tried to go in +and close the shutters, but had found the door locked. + +Billie formed a resolution to protect Nancy no matter what was to pay. + +"It wasn't the real Miss Brown," she announced firmly. "It was some one +dressed like her. The real Miss Brown is far away from here in the +mountains." + +The two Japanese women withdrew presently, and if they felt any curiosity +about Nancy's strange appearance at the villa, they were careful to hide +it. + +The storm lasted all night and many times the two girls lying side by +side on Billie's bed were prepared for the house to fall on top of them +or to be carried away on the wind like chips of wood. But toward morning +the wind died down and while the rain continued to flood the earth, they +knew the worst was over. Billie drew back the bolts of their storm +shutters and the fresh air came pouring in to revive their drooping +spirits. + +"Mary," she said, creeping back to bed, "I'll never believe it was Nancy. +No, never, never." + +At last they went to sleep, and when they waked the rain had ceased +altogether. The lawn in front of the house was a muddy lake and many +trees lay prone on the ground. It was a scene of devastation that greeted +Mr. Campbell as he hurried home at daylight in a 'riksha. He had +dispatched a messenger in the night, paying a large fee, to see if the +girls were safe at home and had spent the night in Tokyo with Mr. Buxton. + +It was not until much later in the day that Billie plucked up courage to +inform her father of what had happened. + +"Why on earth didn't you tell me about it immediately?" he exclaimed. +"The best way to settle that, is to telegraph to Cousin Helen right off." + +But with the "Comet" in town and Komatsu in the mountains this was not so +easy to manage, and it looked as if Mr. Campbell would have to walk back +to Tokyo. He had got half way down the drive, in fact, when a messenger +appeared running at full speed as fast as a horse; such is the endurance +of a Japanese runner. He had been sent with a telegram from Mr. +Campbell's office, but it had been written in Japanese and had to be +translated. + +Mr. Campbell hurried back to the house and called Onoye: + +"Read this for me if you can," he ordered. + +Onoye looked at the strange script a long time. Then she read slowly: + +"'O'Nainci San gone Tokyo. No honorable telling before for why she make +those journey--'" + +There were a few more words, but Onoye had reached the limit of her +knowledge of the English language. + +Mr. Campbell sighed. Billie was the only girl in the world who wasn't any +trouble, he thought. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +CONUNDRUMS AND ANSWERS. + + +"I tell you Nancy is on her way, now, Papa," said Billie emphatically. +"She would never have had time to get here as soon as yesterday. The +storm would have delayed her. She couldn't have reached here." + +Mr. Campbell shook his head anxiously as he paced up and down the piazza +waiting for the 'riksha the messenger was to send back from Tokyo. + +Billie's faith in her friend was wonderful. He admired it, but he was +obliged to say he felt rather skeptical himself, all things considered. + +"There comes the 'riksha," announced Mary at last. + +Mr. Campbell went into the house for his hat and cane and Billie followed +him. She looked so pale and miserable that he stooped to kiss her and +then led her into the library. + +"Come in here a moment, little daughter," he said, "and we'll talk things +over a bit." + +"How are you going to find her, Papa?" Billie asked, wiping away the +tears that would well in her eyes every few minutes and trickle down her +cheeks. + +"I'll do everything within human power. The police are excellent and so +are the detectives." + +"Why do you think she ran away?" sobbed Billie, breaking down entirely. + +"I don't know, my child. I can't make out what the reason was and we'd +never get anywhere by guessing." + +"Papa, do you think she could have gone to that widow? I never told you, +but she did once before when we had a quarrel. She was awfully sorry +after the first night and came back." + +Mr. Campbell gave a low whistle. He had forgotten the Widow of Shanghai's +very existence until that moment. + +"I hope she's there. That will make it much simpler. But you mustn't take +on so, little daughter. Nancy is like lots of headstrong girls. She +resents criticism. Probably she had a falling out with Cousin Helen and +ran away--" + +"I did run away," said a voice at the door, "but that wasn't the reason." + +"Nancy!" cried Billie and the two girls rushed into each other's arms and +embraced like sisters long separated. In the doorway stood Mary and Mr. +Buxton. Mary's face was beaming with joy and Mr. Buxton wore his old +expression of humorous tolerance. + +"Where did you find her, Buxton?" asked Mr. Campbell gravely. + +"I didn't find her. She found me this morning at an unconscionably early +hour, too, and a fine time we've had of it, I can tell you. We've chased +a widow back to Shanghai and we've placed a fanatic under bond for good +behavior." + +Nancy laughed her old natural laugh with a ripple of gaiety in it. Her +eyes were sparkling and the color flooded her cheeks. She was prettier +than ever, it seemed, and all because she was so happy! Her jaunty little +traveling hat was over one eye and her dress was crushed and wrinkled, +but her charming face was radiant. + +"The morning we left for the mountains," she began, "two letters came for +me by mail but I didn't read them until I got on the train. One of them +was from that awful woman and it frightened me terribly. It seemed +cordial enough on the surface but my eyes have been opened to her. I +don't know just what she is, but she is dangerous I am certain,--like a +cat ready to spring. She said she had taken such a fancy to me that she +must see me again and she thought it would be advisable for me to come to +her home at once. The other letter was from that horrid Yoritomo and he +simply threatened in so many words to blow up the house and everybody in +it unless I listened to him. I didn't think much about the letters until +we were settled in the hotel. Then I began to get more and more uneasy +and I thought the best thing for me to do was to come back to Tokyo and +see Mr. Campbell. I knew, of course, that Miss Helen would never let me +go alone, so I just ran away." + +"And very glad we are to see you, Miss Nancy," broke in Mr. Campbell in +the tone of one who felt enormously relieved. + +"We were all night on the train," continued Nancy. "The storm had washed +the track away in places and we had to wait many times while it was +repaired. As soon as I arrived, I took a 'riksha to Mr. Buxton's lodgings +and then we went to see Mme. Fontaine and Yoritomo--" + +"Oh, that widow woman," interrupted Mr. Buxton. "She's a sly one, I can +tell you. As we entered the front door, she departed at the back. We left +several policemen waiting for her to return but I wouldn't be surprised +if she were well on her way to Shanghai by now." + +"I don't understand," said Billie. + +"The time we quarreled, Billie, and I behaved like such a silly little +goose," Nancy explained, "you remember I went to see her. I don't know +what made me do it, except that I wanted to air my troubles. I've been so +unhappy since, that I feel years older now. I was only a child then, but +I'm quite an old person now. She talked to me a long time that night and +got me all stirred up and believing that I had been badly treated. It was +not what she really said but what she hinted. She seemed to know a good +deal about Mr. Campbell's work. She implied that what he was doing for +the Japanese government was disloyal to America. I was so fascinated with +the way she put things and the way she looked at me, too, that I didn't +seem to have any power over myself any more. It was like being +hypnotized, I suppose. It came into my head to write you a terrible +letter, Billie,--" Nancy's eyes filled with tears and her voice +choked--"I can hardly think of it now without crying. She knew I was +writing it but she didn't ask what was in it, only occasionally, while I +wrote, she would look over at me and say 'Poor darling! Poor pretty +darling!' After I got to bed, I came to my senses and began to realize +what I had done. I was terribly frightened and unhappy and in the middle +of the night I crept into the drawing-room, tore up the letter and threw +the pieces into a vase. Next morning, you remember, I came home. But the +letter was so heavy on my conscience, I couldn't be happy. I had a +feeling it had never been destroyed and would somehow get to you, Billie. +I wrote to the widow and asked her to send me back the pieces if she +could find them, so that I could burn them myself. In her reply, she +simply said the vase was empty and I gradually began to understand that +she had got the letter and intended to keep it. There was a threatening +sound to the note, and she ended by asking to borrow my blue raincoat. I +had to let her have it, but I knew she didn't want it for any good reason +and I was more and more miserable. I began to pray that it wouldn't rain. +People don't wear raincoats in good weather. I tried to argue with myself +about her reasons for wanting my raincoat and even now I don't know what +they were unless it was to involve me in something. But we've frightened +her away, anyhow, and she can have the raincoat if she'll only stay." + +"She certainly did want to get you into a peck of trouble, Miss Nancy," +said Mr. Campbell bringing the famous raincoat from the passage where it +hung on the hat rack. "Here's your coat. She left it behind as a souvenir +yesterday when she broke into the house to steal my drawings. I fooled +her, though," he added, smiling sweetly. "If she thinks she can ever make +anything out of those papers, she'll soon find she has been losing time." + +"It's the third time she's been here masquerading as you, Nancy." broke +in Billie. "She must have managed the disguise perfectly because the +servants were fooled each time." + +"She did," said Mary. "I asked Onoye exactly what she looked like. She +evidently had on a brown curly wig and a hat like Nancy's with a blue +veil around her head." + +At this juncture in the conversation, Onoye announced a visitor who +proved to be a detective. He was a quiet, self-contained young Japanese +who spoke excellent English. He had been sent out in a motor car by the +Chief of Police to find out all he could from the Americans regarding +Mme. Fontaine. + +The Widow of Shanghai, he informed them, was the child of a Russian +father and a Japanese mother. She was considered to be one of the most +accomplished and brilliant spies in the Orient and could assume almost +any disguise and speak most languages. It was a pity a woman of such +wonderful talents should stoop to work like that, and the strange part of +it was that she was sometimes treacherous to Russia and in favor of +Japan: so that it was difficult to tell for which side she worked. Just +now her sympathies were with Russia, since she was trying to get plans +for harbor defenses in Japan. The Chief of Police wished to thank Miss +Brown in behalf of the City of Tokyo for driving the so-called Mme. +Fontaine out of town. She had entered it so quietly that until that very +morning it was not known that Mme. Fontaine and the famous Russian spy +were one and the same person. + +"Of course it was she who was in here the night of your birthday party. +Papa," said Billie. "I must have shot two people instead of one." + +This was actually the case, as Onoye explained to her later. Onoye had +hidden herself behind the curtain that night to watch the couples +strolling about in the moonlight. Mme. Fontaine came very swiftly into +the room and blew out the lights. She carried a little electric dark +lantern. Onoye was too frightened to make her presence known, and had +crept along the edge of the room hoping to reach the door. Then Billie +had come in and somehow they had all drifted together in the dark and the +pistol had gone off. The bullet must have pierced Mme. Fontaine's arm and +lodged in Onoye's wrist. How she managed to hide the wound with a scarf +until she got her long wrap from one of the bedrooms was a marvel +to them all. + +"Anyhow the mystery is all cleared away now," cried Nancy joyfully. "I +suppose you must have thought strange things about me, Mr. Campbell?" + +"We had every reason to think them, Miss Nancy, but this loyal young +person here wouldn't let us. It looked like some pretty convincing +evidence for a while, but she wouldn't budge from the stand she had +taken." + +Once again the two friends embraced. They were radiantly happy. It was +just as if Nancy had died and come to life again. + +"I think I've learned a good lesson," she admitted at last. "It all +happened because I wanted to be silly and romantic and meet people in the +garden and write notes." + +"People?" asked Mary. + +Nancy laughed and dimpled in her old charming way and everybody laughed, +even the reserved young detective. Old Nedda, who had followed them into +the room, carne tottering over to where Nancy sat beside Billie. The aged +animal whined and wagged her tail, as if she, too, wished to take part in +the general thanksgiving. + +"Dearest old great-grandmama," cried Nancy, kneeling beside the aged pug +and hiding her face in the tawny coat, "are you really glad to see me, +too?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +GOOD-BYE, SUMMER. + + +A string of glowing lanterns festooned the piazza of the Campbell villa, +while within the warm reflection of wood fires and shaded lamps made each +window a square of hospitable brightness. The house inside was a blaze of +color. Splendid bunches of scarlet maple leaves and chrysanthemums of +amazing size and beauty filled the vases and jars. + +The Motor Maids, dressed in their very best party frocks, had gathered in +the drawing-room early before the arrival of the three guests. Each maid +sat in a large chair and gazed about her from side to side. The riot of +color, the scarlets and oranges, the tawny browns, pale pinks and +delicate yellows seemed to bewilder them. + +"I suppose it wasn't truly Japanese to decorate a room with all these +masses of flowers and leaves," said Billie. "But I don't care. It's the +most gorgeous thing I've ever seen and since this is our last night here +we want to make it a festive one." + +Their last night! Was it possible that time had slipped by so fast? Here +it was already November, the season of greatest beauty in Japan, when +Nature has dipped her brush into the most brilliant colors on the palette +and touched the foliage with red and gold, the skies with deepest blue, +and the chrysanthemums, favorite flower of the Emperor, with every +gorgeous shade. + +After a good rest in the mountains broken by excursions to various +interesting places about the country, the Campbell party had returned to +Tokyo in time to marvel at the wonders of the chrysanthemum festival, +which is a national affair. + +Away off at the other side of the world a certain High School was now in +full swing. But even Mary Price had lost all scruples concerning her +education. + +"I don't care," she remarked recklessly. "I think all this beauty is just +as good for the mind as bare plastered walls and plain geometry." + +"It's better," exclaimed Nancy, "because it makes one so much happier to +look at chrysanthemums and red maples than to try and understand why the +sum of the three angles of a triangle of any old size must always equal +two right angles. What makes one happy is far more educational than what +makes one aggravated." + +Here was a Pagan theory that Elinor felt inclined to doubt. + +"We shall have to study double time all during the Christmas holidays," +she said. + +"It will be rather fun, I think," put in Billie, always the optimist of +the quartette. "We'll all just have a small private school of four and +jump in and work together. To me, working together is almost as nice as +playing together. I suppose I appreciate it more than the rest of you +because I had to work and play alone for so many years." + +"Billie, you are a perfect dear," ejaculated Nancy. "You furnish all the +amusement and fun and thank us for sharing it with you." + +Billie looked as pleased and happy as if she had never had a compliment +before in her life. The joy of having regained Nancy after that brief +eclipse into shadow was still too recent to be forgotten. The two girls +exchanged one of those telegraphic glances of intimate friends who need +no words to express their meaning. + +"We've had a wonderful time," broke in Mary. "There is something about +the land that makes one forget the realities. If poor little Kenkyo +hadn't died--" + +"Be careful! Onoye is in the next room," interrupted Billie, lifting a +warning finger. + +Onoye had indeed been the wife of Yoritomo as Billie had guessed. No +doubt it was poor old O'Haru who had thrown the stone into the summer +house that day. Billie had mercifully never inquired. And now the little +son, for whom the two women had yearned with a passion that is +extraordinarily deep in Japanese women, had been gathered to his +forefathers. Onoye was dumb and silent with misery during his brief +illness. When he died, she had disappeared for a few days and returned at +last calm and still. No one had seen her shed a tear. Yoritomo, it was +said, was stricken with the wildest grief. But sorrow had cleared his +brain and brought him to his senses. He had made a really manly apology +to Mr. Campbell and had even asked that Onoye might be restored to him. +But this was not to be. Miss Campbell had taken Onoye under her wing. + +"I want you to go back to America with me and be educated, child," said +the kind little lady, "and after a few years, you may return to Japan +and teach the women here how to be independent." + +Onoye had joyfully and gratefully consented to this arrangement, +providing she might act as Miss Campbell's maid in the meantime. + +O'Haru had made an heroic effort to be glad, also. She would continue to +be the Spears' housekeeper, she said, and wait for her daughter to return +to Japan with "muchly honorable learning." + +During the hot weeks when Miss Campbell and the Motor Maids were +sojourning in the mountains, old "great grandmama Nedda" had also passed +into another sphere. Her ending was peaceful, they said; she had slipped +quietly away one day at sunset. The faithful servants buried the gentle +creature in the garden not far from the shrine of the Compassionate God. +When the girls returned they set up a little wooden monument in her +memory on which Mary printed in India ink the following inscription: + +"NEDDA" + +Died August 27, 19-- + +Aged 21. + +"Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting; +The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star, +Hath had elsewhere its setting + And cometh from afar." + +"Here comes someone," announced Billie, peering from the window of the +drawing-room. "It's Mr. Buxton, I think, and he's heavily laden with +parcels, apparently." + +In another moment, the bachelor himself stood in the doorway regarding +the charming picture with his half-humorous, half-grave expression. + +"There were only three Graces, were there not?" he asked. "I've +forgotten. It's been so long since I met them. But there should have +been four." + +"And why not five, since you are adding to the number," asked Mary. + +"Meaning for the fifth the beauteous lady who lingers in her room?" he +demanded. + +"She out-graces us all," exclaimed Billie. "But what did you bring with +you? Do tell us. We are dying of curiosity." + +The bachelor's lips twitched with a crafty smile and he shook one finger +at them like the sly old comedian he was. + +"Walt!" he said, disappearing into the hall and reappearing in a moment +with an aged, gnarled dwarf apple tree growing in a green vase, and a +lacquered box beautifully inlaid with mother-of-pearl. + +"Do you think I have the ghost of a chance?" he asked them in a whisper. + +The girls were consumed with giggles. + +"Not the ghost," laughed Billie. "She wouldn't stay in Japan, not if you +brought her all the Emperor's chrysanthemums in a single bunch." + +"But what's in the box, Mr. Buxton?" demanded Nancy. + +"You shall see," he answered. "Wait until the Fifth Grace appears." + +"Here she is," they cried in a chorus, as Miss Campbell swept into the +room, resplendent in mauve satin covered with billows of fine lace. + +"Madame, you blind me with your magnificence," exclaimed the bachelor, +making a low bow. + +"I'm glad you like my dress," said the elegant little lady. + +"It's not the dress but the eyes," he corrected her, just as Mr. +Campbell, followed by Reggie Carlton and Nicholas Grimm, appeared. + +"We meet to meet again," cried Nicholas, joyfully. + +The two young men were sailing for America on the same ship with the +Campbells, and many a long happy day they were all to have together. + +"And I am to be the only figure left on the Japanese screen," said Mr. +Buxton sadly. "I shall have to walk across the curved bridges alone and +consume tea for two under the flowering cherry tree." + +"I am afraid you will, sir," said Miss Campbell. + +"Madam, permit me," he said solemnly, placing the apple tree at her feet. +"Is this any inducement?" + +"Not the slightest," answered Miss Helen with a laugh. + +Mr. Buxton gazed sadly from one smiling face to another. + +Then he opened the lacquered box and presented each of the Motor Maids +with a beautiful embroidered silk robe. + +"Have an empty box, then, Madam," he announced, placing the casket in her +lap, and because of the riotous and unseemly laughter, no one heard her +reply. + +So ended the last day of the Motor Maids in their pretty Japanese villa. +It was as happy and beautiful an evening as that land of flowers and +hospitality could make it. We should not be sorry ourselves to linger +with them on those lovely shores, but the winter is at land and the +season of dreams has passed. + +Komatsu and O'Haru and old Saiki, the gardener, the four little maids, +the grandmothers and the children remain picturesque figures in a +picturesque land; and behind them, glistening In the sunlight, looms +Fujiyama, sacred mountain of dazzling whiteness and perfect beauty. + +For the Motor Maids this memory will live as the type of all the +experiences and scenes of fair Japan. Above the remembrance of stormy +crises--within and without--of their sojourn there, rises the happy +consciousness of a firmer, larger friendship which they may take with +them as the choicest souvenir of the summer. + +And in their homeland, if we wish, we may join them again to find what +another year of life has revealed to them. In the meantime, let us +anticipate the pleasure in store for us with "The Motor Maids at Sunrise +Camp." + + +END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Motor Maids in Fair Japan, by Katherine Stokes + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13450 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..485a4fb --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #13450 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13450) diff --git a/old/13450.txt b/old/13450.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1ea8959 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13450.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7148 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Motor Maids in Fair Japan, by Katherine Stokes + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Motor Maids in Fair Japan + +Author: Katherine Stokes + +Release Date: September 13, 2004 [EBook #13450] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOTOR MAIDS IN FAIR JAPAN *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Beginners Projects, Mary Meehan and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + + THE MOTOR MAIDS IN FAIR JAPAN + + BY KATHERINE STOKES + +AUTHOR OF "THE MOTOR MAIDS' SCHOOL DAYS," "THE MOTOR MAIDS BY PALM AND +PINE," "THE MOTOR MAIDS ACROSS THE CONTINENT," "THE MOTOR MAIDS BY ROSE, +SHAMROCK AND THISTLE" ETC. + + 1913 + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I. OFF FOR JAPAN + + II. TEA IN THE GARDEN + + III. SHOPPING IN JINRIKSHAS + + IV. THE GARDEN IN THE RAIN + + V. IN THE LIBRARY + + VI. CHERRY BLOSSOMS + + VII. A BAD QUARTER OF AN HOUR + + VIII. THE COMPASSIONATE GOD, JIZU + + IX. A BIRTHDAY PARTY + + X. IN THE DARK + + XI. THE COMET DISGUISED + + XII. A THEATER PARTY + + XIII. A FALLING OUT + + XIV. A LETTER THAT CAME, THOUGH IT WAS NEVER SENT + + XV. THE ANCIENT CITY OF SLEEP + + XVI. THE STORM KING + + XVII. A VISIT OF CEREMONY + +XVIII. THE MAGNET AND THE SILVER CHURN + + XIX. FATHER AND DAUGHTER + + XX. THE TYPHOON + + XXI. CONUNDRUMS AND ANSWERS + + XXII. GOOD BYE, SUMMER + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +OFF FOR JAPAN. + + +"The Motor Maids are off again," announced the West Haven Courier one +morning, as if every citizen in the gray old town on the coast was not +already well aware of it. + +The four famous travelers and their chaperone, Miss Helen Campbell, were +always off somewhere in the red motor car. If they were not making a +voyage to England with the "Comet" stored in the hold of the ship for +immediate use on arrival, or taking perilous journeys across the American +continent in the faithful car, they were making excursions to Shell +Island or Seven League Island, or down the coast to the Sailors' Inn. + +"Where is it to be this time, Nancy-Bell?" Captain Brown had asked his +daughter when she had broken the news to him that she must give up the +spring term at High School for something far more educational than mere +books. Perhaps the sea captain had intended to be stern when he asked +that question; but Nancy had her own peculiar methods of dispelling +sternness. A beaming anticipatory smile irradiated her face and +scattered parental disapproval even as the warm rays of the sun scatter +the morning mists. + +"Japan!" she announced solemnly; and Captain Brown, who himself had made +voyages to Japan in his youth, pricked up his ears like an old hunting +dog when he hears the call of the pack. The name of High School faded +from his memory. It was the high seas he was thinking of--the great +desert of waters, the fresh salt breeze and the foam track left by the +little ship as it cut through the waves. + +Without a word, he opened an old sea chest and drew out an atlas and +chart. Nancy blinked her eyes and smiled happily. She wondered if the +other girls were having as easy a time in breaking the amazing news to +their parents. Would Elinor Butler's father and mother consent to her +taking this long journey? Would Mrs. Price be willing to part with Mary +for many, many months while that young person journeyed to the other side +of the world? Captain Brown settled himself on a settee in front of the +crackling driftwood fire and Nancy seated herself beside him. + +"You see, it's this way, father," she began, while Captain Brown turned +the leaves of the atlas with reverent fingers. "Billie Campbell's +father is a great engineer--" + +"I've known him since he was a boy, child," interrupted the Captain. + +"He's been invited by the Japanese government to go to Japan on some +consulting work, and he says he can't live without Billie another summer, +and Billie says she can't exist without us; so Mr. Campbell is to take a +house in Tokyo and we are all to go. Mr. Ignatius Donahue is going to +take us across to San Francisco in his private car. He says it's a very +small return for something we did for him once, and the end of the story +is that we are to sail for Japan in two weeks. Isn't that delightful, +Captain Brown?" she added, giving her father a tight hug and kissing him +on the end of his nose. "And aren't you overjoyed for your little +daughter to have such an opportunity to see the other side of the world?" + +The Captain returned the kiss with good measure and resumed his study of +the maps and charts. + +"You'll be a member of the Royal Geographical Society next," he observed. + +"It's all happened because Billie Campbell has a mole on the sole of her +left foot and a Gypsy once told her that was the mark of the wanderer." + +"But you and Elinor and Mary haven't any moles on the soles of your feet, +have you?" + +"No, and neither has Miss Campbell." + +"It's just as well," commented the Captain. "One is enough in the party +if it's going to take my little daughter away from her home most of the +time." + +"Not most of the time, father," protested Nancy. "Only to Palm Beach and +across the Continent and to England--" + +At this dangerous turn in the conversation, the +door was pushed open and Billie Campbell rushed +in, followed by Elinor Butler and Mary Price. + +"It's all settled, Nancy-Bell," she cried. "Cousin Helen has consented +and the girls can go. Everything depends on you, now--" + +"We are just studying the map," answered Nancy quickly, with a demure +smile. + +Immediately the other girls seated themselves in a circle about the sea +captain and his charts, and Mrs. Brown, whose consent had already been +gained, presently appeared with a large platter of cookies. + +So it was that the Motor Maids and Miss Campbell sailed through the +Golden Gate of San Francisco harbor one morning en route for the island +empire of Japan. On the long and sometimes tedious voyage we will not +dwell; nor shall we pause until we have left them on the piazza of their +new home in Tokyo, while seven Japanese servants are making profound +obeisances at the entrance and their attendant families, including three +grandmothers and five funny little children, bob and bow in the rear of +this formidable company. + +Billie, who had scarcely left her father's side since the joyful moment +of their reunion, hung on his arm and smiled up into his face +inquiringly; while Miss Helen Campbell, his cousin, exclaimed: + +"Dear me, Duncan; I thought we were to stay at a private house--not a +hotel." + +Mr. Campbell, from his mysterious dwelling places in far distant lands, +had made so many things possible for the Motor Maids that Billie's three +friends had come to regard him as a kind of powerful spirit who had only +to will things to happen and they happened. At first they were rather shy +of the real Mr. Campbell, big and strong and splendid, the very image of +his daughter, Billie, if she had grown half a foot and cropped her light +brown hair closely all over her head. + +"But, Cousin Helen, this is a private house," answered this human +presentment of the good spirit, a subdued humor lighting his gray eyes, +exactly as they had seen Billie's eyes kindle hundreds of times. "This is +your very own villa and this is your staff of domestics," he added, +indicating the regiment of servants who again bowed low like the chorus +in a comic opera. "You are to regard yourself as queen of this little +realm," he went on, pointing to the charming grounds and garden +surrounding the house, "and you are to be in absolute command. Nellie and +Nannie and Mollie and Billie are to be your maids of honor and I'll be +general factotum and protector. As for the staff," he continued in a +whisper, "their combined wages for one month amount to about one good +servant's hire at home." + +The maid in the front of the cohort now stepped forth. She was much older +than the others; her hair was short and her blue cotton robe seemed +severe and plain in comparison to the gay colored kimonos of the younger +maids. + +"This is our housekeeper and cook, O'Haru San," announced Mr. Campbell. +"I shall leave you in her charge now and keep an appointment." + +So saying, Mr. Duncan Campbell kissed his daughter, smiled delightfully +on the company in general and hastened down the walk to the road, for the +villa was in the suburbs of Tokyo. + +"Will honorable ladies enter humble, small house," said O'Haru making an +obeisance. + +But before they could move an inch, the maids were at their feet deftly +unfastening their shoes. + +"What in the world are they doing?" demanded Miss Campbell. + +"One never wears shoes in the house, Cousin, don't you remember? Papa +told us so this morning," answered Billie slipping her feet into the +straw sandals provided. + +"Perfect nonsense!" exclaimed Miss Campbell, shuffling into the hall in +her loose footgear. "I suppose I shall be expected to sit on the floor +and eat my meals on a door mat," she complained, "and that I positively +will not do. My old joints are far too stiff to be doubled up like a pair +of nut crackers." + +The girls giggled and the four little Japanese maids giggled, too; not +that they understood a word of the language, but good humor is the +keynote of the Japanese character and strangers are treated with a +sympathetic courtesy and hospitality unequaled in any other country. + +However, Miss Campbell's fears were immediately set at rest, for the +long, low-ceiled drawing-room of the villa was furnished in European +fashion with plenty of comfortable arm-chairs and sofas made of bamboo. +The floors were covered with thick soft mats and the front walls facing +the piazza were really sliding panels covered with opaque paper through +which the light cast a soft mellow luster. As a matter of fact, Dr. and +Mrs. Spears, the owners of the villa, had kept it as Japanese as possible +without interfering with their foreign ideas of comfort. The only +ornaments were several beautiful scrolls and screens and a few vases. + +Instead of sitting down quietly and being served to tea, which was +evidently the next duty expected of them by these formal domestics, +Billie and her friends rushed from one room to another in a state of +eager curiosity. They poked their inquisitive little noses into the +charming bedrooms and even peeped into the mysterious kitchen quarters +where O'Haru reigned supreme, + +"It's Japanese enough to be pretty and American enough to be +comfortable," observed Nancy, arranging her curls at one of the bedroom +mirrors. + +"I don't know why you call it 'American,'" objected Billie. "I think you +should say 'international,' since beds may be imported from Turkey, +Russia, Prussia, England, or France, to say nothing of Germany and +Italy." + +"Well, no matter what nationality it is, I'm glad I'm going to sleep on a +bed instead of on the floor as Japanese girls do, with a little bench for +a pillow to keep from rumpling my hair." + +Just then a Japanese girl appeared in the doorway. She was quite young, +perhaps seventeen, perhaps older, and enchantingly pretty. + +"Her eyes are like stewed prunes," wrote Nancy to her mother that night, +"rich and black and luscious. Her hair is as black as father's ebony box +and quite as shiny; her skin smooth and creamy. She has a little rosebud +mouth and a small straight nose and she wore the most beautiful kimono, +all blue with a cerise sash or _obi_, as it is called. Her name is +'Onoye' and she's the daughter of the cook, O'Haru. She is just one of +the maids in the house, I suppose, but she seems better class and she +speaks a little English. Her mother adores her and I suppose Onoye is +being spoiled Japanese fashion, which is very different from American +fashion. Japanese girls are the most unselfish, uncomplaining, +considerate, everything-that-I'm-not little souls I ever saw." + +Nancy's description of O'Haru's daughter was not exaggerated in the +least. Little Onoye, pausing timidly at the entrance to their bedroom, +was a vision to charm the eye. She blushed, smiled deprecatingly and hung +her head. + +"Will honorable ladies be pleased to employ humble refreshment?" she +announced in a funny high voice with a prim, precise accent. + +The girls would have laughed if it had not been impolite. All their +impulsive actions must be checked in this land of perfect manners, or +they would certainly appear rude and rough. + +"We should be most pleased and happy, I am sure," answered Billie, +feeling that she must not be outdone in lofty expression, "But what +excellent English you speak. Do you live here, too?" + +Onoye looked up and her face brightened. + +"I make studying of American language one time," she said. + +"And are we to have tea now?" asked Nancy as the Japanese girl backed out +of the room. + +"If pleasingly to gracious ladies," she answered. + +With bobs and bows, she led the way to a summer house in the garden where +the others were already installed in comfortable chairs. + +"These are certainly the most hospitable servants I ever saw," Miss +Campbell was saying to Mary and Elinor. "They make one feel like a guest +in one's own house. I am sure if I lived here long, I should learn to +meet myself at the front door and invite myself to take refreshments in +the garden." + +The girls smiled lazily. They seemed somehow to have entered into a land +of unrealities and dream pictures. The bamboo and rice paper villa was a +doll's house, the lovely garden, a stage setting and the picturesque band +of Japanese servants gliding noiselessly about, the chorus. + +And while they talked and sipped their tea, a fat, decrepit pug dog came +slowly toward them down the walk on spindle legs. As the aged creature +approached, O'Haru paused and made it a profound bow. The girls choked +and sputtered in their tea and Miss Campbell laughed outright. They +learned afterwards that this venerable animal was "Nedda," the Spears' +pet pug, eighteen years old, and that every servant attached to the +household regarded her with great respect because they believed that she +was really Mr. Spears' grandmother. + +Old Nedda was very pleased to meet with a little human company of her own +social status. She wagged her twisted tail cordially and when she heard +American voices speaking the language of her youth, she gave a little +expressive whine of pleasure. + +"You poor old lonesome thing," exclaimed the compassionate Billie. + +Just then a maid hurried up with a cushion. She had evidently been +detailed to look after Nedda in the absence of the mistress of the house; +to feed and bathe her; to see that she was covered up at night; to guard +against her sleeping in damp places. Nedda stepped gingerly on the mat, +moved round and round in a circle several times, even as the most +primitive dog might do, and settled herself in a round heap for her late +afternoon siesta. Then O'Sudzu, the little maid, spread a wadded silk +cover over the pampered old Nedda and departed, bowing again. + +They were still laughing over this absurd incident when Mr. Campbell +appeared on the walk with two companions. One was a good looking young +man about twenty-one and the other a Japanese in European clothes, and +very handsome, the girls thought him, in spite of his Oriental features +and dark complexion. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +TEA IN THE GARDEN. + + +Nancy Brown instinctively put her hand to her curls when she saw the +three approach. Elinor patted her coronet braids. Mary blushed and +shrank timidly into the depths of her chair, for she was very shy; and +Billie, whose candid nature had no coquetry, looked calmly interested and +remarked: + +"Dear old Papa, there he is with two visitors." + +"I'm not at all surprised," said Miss Campbell smiling, "your Papa is one +of the most general inviters I ever knew. He always loved to entertain." + +"How do my five beautiful American ladies feel?" called her jovial +relation as he entered the summer house. "Rested with humble refreshment +in poor modest little house?" + +"Yes, indeed, honorable father," answered Billie laughing. + +"I want you to meet my two friends, Nicholas Grimm and Yoritomo Ito," +went on Mr. Campbell. + +Nicholas Grimm was apparently a young Dutchman. His figure was well set +up and stocky, his features regular, his mouth firm with a good square +chin, and his clear dark eyes under bushy brows gazed on the world with a +frank, good-humored expression. + +Yoritomo Ito was the best type of Japanese, lithe and straight, rather +tall, with shrewd brown eyes and a smile that always hovered about his +shapely mouth. He was immaculately neat and his skin looked as if it +might have been scrubbed and then polished. Not a speck of dust marred +his spotless linen or his dark blue suit. + +"Mr. Ito, will you sit on a mat on the floor or in a chair?" asked Miss +Campbell when the introductions were over. + +"Oh, he can be Japanese or American, whichever suits him," interrupted +Mr. Campbell, "though I'll wager you didn't do much floor sitting when +you went to Harvard, did you, Yoritomo?" + +The Japanese's smile broadened somewhat when he answered with a slight +accent: + +"American floors are not intended to be used as chairs." + +"Meaning, Mr. Ito, that the American floors are not as entirely free from +dust as the Japanese floors?" inquired Miss Campbell. + +"Oh, no, Madam," protested the Japanese, horrified at this implication of +rudeness but unable to dispel the impression nevertheless. + +"I grant you that our houses are not as clean as yours," went on Miss +Campbell, "but you see we haven't time to remove our shoes whenever we +enter the house, and then we have so much furniture and so many hangings +to catch the dust. I don't see how you Japanese can resist the collecting +habit in a country where there are so many beautiful things to collect." + +"My dear Cousin, they are as great collectors as anybody, only they keep +their valuables stored in a fire-proof house--what is it you call it, +Yoritomo?" asked Mr. Campbell. + +"It is called in English language a 'go-down.'" + +"So it is, a 'go-down.' It always reminds me of a steep grade down the +side of a mountain. Here they keep all their best clothes and vases and +ornaments and only bring out one vase and one scroll at a time. When they +grow tired of those things, they are stored and something else is brought +out, so that there is perpetual variety in the Japanese home." + +"I should hate to have my best clothes locked in a fire-proof house," +announced Nancy. "Suppose one wanted to make a quick change and the +key was mislaid." + +"Ah, Miss Nancy," laughed Mr. Campbell, "it is not difficult to see where +your heart lies." + +Yoritomo looked at Nancy with polite though evident interest which +gradually developed into a cautiously veiled admiration. He was about +to speak, when he was interrupted by the troop of little maids headed by +Onoye with tea and refreshments. It was Onoye who served the young +Japanese. First she bowed before him until her forehead almost touched +the ground. Then she placed a mat for him to sit upon and a low lacquer +tray containing tea and rice cakes. But Yoritomo, ignoring these humble +services, sat himself in a chair next to Nancy and little Onoye hastened +to rectify her mistake. + +In the meantime, Nicholas Grimm was talking to Billie and Elinor. + +"Are you from Holland?" they asked him. + +"Several hundreds of years ago I was. Kinterhook, New York, has been my +home for the last generation." + +"Good," exclaimed Billie, "I thought you were a Dutchman and it's lots +nicer to be an American, don't you think so?" + +"I wouldn't care to change," answered Nicholas solemnly. "America's good +enough for me." + +"Are you one of the engineers on the new railroad they are building?" +asked Billie. + +"I'm going to lay a few ties," he answered. + +"Are you going to build those little funny openwork bridges over all the +streams?" demanded Elinor. + +"Something like it. Everything is picturesque in this country from +beggars to railroad bridges, and, speaking of bridges, have you explored +the garden yet? There's a ripping little bridge down there. When Mrs. +Spears gave garden parties that was one of the strolling places." + +"Why, we didn't know we had such a pretentious garden!" exclaimed Billie. +"Papa wrote that he had sublet a suburban villa near Tokyo with an acre +or so of ground around it." + +"An acre or so?" repeated Nicholas. "That's an estate to them. They can +put as much into an acre without crowding it as other people put into +ten. Perhaps you would like to explore the garden if you have had enough +honorable refreshment?" + +"Oh, yes," they answered eagerly, and drawing shy little Mary from the +depths of her chair, Billie followed Elinor and the new friend down the +garden path. + +"Would you be interested in seeing the garden?" asked Yoritomo of Nancy. + +"I might be induced," she answered drooping her long eyelashes, to the +great amusement of Mr. Campbell, and they also wandered off, leaving the +two older people for a cousinly chat. + +The girls were amazed at the beauty of the garden back of the house. +Against the high wall surrounding the small estate clustered masses of +flowers. Everywhere were little winding paths and an occasional grove of +stunted pines that gave the impression of great age. It was in exquisite +order, the green turf clipped to the smoothness of a velvet carpet. In +all the garden there was not a leaf nor twig out of place. Back of the +house the land sloped slightly and at the foot of this gentle depression +trickled a musical little stream. Here was a stone lantern five feet +high, also the miniature curved bridge; and to make the picture complete +in every Japanese detail, leaning pensively on the railing of the bridge, +stood Onoye. She herself might have been a bright colored flower in her +gay kimono and sash. + +Only Mary noticed that the little Japanese was weeping softly. When she +saw the Americans coming, she hastily withdrew down one of the paths and +in another moment had disappeared entirely. + +"Poor little thing," thought Mary, "perhaps her mother has been scolding +her." + +Perhaps she had, indeed, for O'Haru, the housekeeper, presently appeared +looking for her daughter. Shading her eyes with one hand, she scanned the +vistas of the garden. + +Mary left the group of friends and hastened down the path. + +"Are you looking for Onoye?" she asked the old woman. + +"Yes, honorable lady," answered O'Haru, trying to replace her uneasy and +troubled expression with a pleasant smile. + +"She was on the bridge a moment ago. Is she unhappy? I think she was +crying." + +"Have greatly kindness to forgive humble Japanese girl," answered O'Haru +in a low voice. + +Mary thought the housekeeper was going to say more and no doubt, if she +had poured out her confidences at that time, many later misunderstandings +might have been averted. As it was, they were interrupted by Nancy and +her Japanese cavalier who turned the curve of the path and came full upon +them quite suddenly. + +Instead of hastening away as quietly as possible, O'Haru immediately fell +on her knees and began speaking in a low voice in her own language. + +There was nothing unusual in this. All the servants seemed to be in a +continual state of "nervous prostration," as Billie expressed it, and +Nancy, smiling and dimpling, followed Yoritomo down the path without +thinking any more about O'Haru. + +"What was she saying, Mr. Ito?" she asked. + +"You might accuse me of being a flatterer if I told you," he answered. + +"But I don't understand." + +"I mean she was speaking of you. 'The honorable young American lady,'" +she said, "'is very beautiful.'" + +Nancy was flattered, as who would not have been over this frank +compliment. A rosy flush spread over her face and the dimple deepened +in her cheek. + +"You see, you are an unusual type in this country, Miss Brown," continued +the Japanese. "You must expect to arouse comment wherever you go. Hair +with so much color to it, like polished copper and curling, too, causes +much admiration. You are very different from the Japanese." + +Again Nancy felt flattered. + +"I really believe I am rather pretty," she +thought. What she said was: "You are very +kind, Mr. Ito, but I am sure I think the Japanese +girls are just as pretty as American girls. Little +Onoye, our maid, is charming. She is a perfect +picture." + +For the rest of the day, however, vain Nancy was enveloped in a rosy +cloud of self-satisfaction. It was pleasing to be admired and still more +pleasing to feel that the admiration was justified. + +The truth is, that admiration was quite as stimulating to Nancy as it is +to the rest of us, and when she realized that the young Japanese had +fallen an instant victim to her charms, she felt some pardonable pride in +the power of her blue eyes and bright curls. + +By this time the others had returned to the pagoda-like summer house. + +"Come, Nancy, dear," floated Miss Campbell's voice across the garden. She +was too careful a chaperone to permit one of her girls to wander +at dusk with a strange young Japanese. + +Nancy quickened her pace. Nevertheless, she felt a little impatient with +all these restrictions. + +"I am almost eighteen. I suppose I might be trusted to look after myself +occasionally," she thought with some irritation. + +"May I not see you again to-morrow, Miss Brown?" Yoritomo was asking. + +"I am afraid you'll have to ask Miss Campbell." + +"It is now almost the American dinner hour," he went on thoughtfully, +looking at his watch. "If I should be strolling to-morrow at this time +down by the bridge, it would be very pleasant. We could have a few words +together." + +"But--" began Nancy, and the voices of her friends interrupted her. + +They had paused near a great bush of azaleas in full bloom. Almost over +their heads the silver crescent of the new moon hung poised like a fairy +scimitar. It was exquisite and unreal. Nancy felt somehow out of place in +the lovely picture, while the young Japanese, standing intense and rigid +beside her, was as much a part of the Oriental garden as the stone +lantern and the fragrant spice bush near the path. Even his blue serge +European suit seemed to have lost its values in the deepening shadows. + +"If I come every day to see you, there would be great comment," he said +in a low voice. "But often I shall wait on the bridge about this time." + +It was only a little time ago that Nancy's mother had lengthened her +little daughter's skirts from shoe tops to ankles. The line of the old +hem was still noticeable in some of her summer frocks. Just six months +since, Nancy had tucked up the bunch of curls into a Psyche knot and +transformed the ribbon bow into a velvet bandeau. Since she had been old +enough to go to parties she had had boy admirers who had said sweet +things to her. But this was quite different, and Nancy, almost eighteen, +and capable of looking after herself, felt suddenly frightened. + +"I--I must hurry," she said, and turning she ran as fast as she could up +the garden path nearly colliding with Billie and Mary who had come to +look for her. + +"Why, Nancy, you are chasing along like a scared rabbit," cried Billie. +"Has anything happened to you?" + +"Oh, no. I thought we had better run because it was so late," she +answered breathlessly, while Yoritomo, following close behind, calm and +collected, bade them a formal good night and hurried over to the summer +house to pay his respects to Miss Campbell and her cousin. + +Nancy decided that night not to tell Billie, her intimate confidante, +what the Japanese had said to her. The walls were too thin, she thought. +Besides, she was curious to know if Yoritomo would be on the bridge the +next afternoon. Just how she intended to find this out, she had not +then decided. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +SHOPPING IN JINRIKSHAS. + + +"I feel very much like a baby in a baby carriage," observed Miss Helen +Campbell as Mr. Campbell almost lifted her into the graceful little +two-wheeled vehicle. "And is that poor soul going to turn into a horse +and pull me?" she demanded. + +"You aren't such a heavy load," replied her cousin. "I doubt if the S. P. +C. A. would get excited over it. I am only sorry you have to be alone, +but I suppose those four inseparables are paired off as usual. Billie +with Nancy and Mary with Elinor." + +"Indeed, I much prefer to be alone," said Miss Campbell. "Then I can hold +on with both hands in case I am upset backwards." + +"You never will be. They will treat you like spun glass. You will take +good care of the ladies, Komatsu," he said to the 'riksha man who, +leaning against the garden wall, resembled a bronze figure, brown and +muscular. + +"Gracious lady of fearing not need," answered Komatsu with an +ingratiating smile as he stepped between the shafts of the 'riksha. + +"It is impossible to tell how much English they know and how much they +don't know," Mr. Campbell confided to his relative in a low voice. "They +never ask twice and they always make some kind of an out at a reply. But +I think, until I can go with you, it is safer for you to go in the +'rikshas. The common people here aren't used to motor cars and there are +still some fanatics in Japan, you know, who are opposed to every sort of +progress and the invasion of foreign customs." + +"Good-by, Papa," called Billie, "I do wish you were not a working man so +that you could go with us." + +"I am sorry I must be a laborer in the vineyards, Miss Wilhelmina," he +answered, "but it's only that you may ride in a fine carriage and wear a +silk robe." + +"Silk robe?" repeated Miss Campbell. "That's just what I want. Komatsu, +we wish to go to a silk shop," she ordered the man-servant, speaking +very loud and distinctly as if she were addressing a deaf person. + +Komatsu grinned amiably. + +"I bring honorable lady to fine shop with quickness." + +The next moment the three vehicles were flying along the road drawn by +three tireless individuals, whose good nature, like the widow's cruse, +knew no diminishing. + +It would be difficult to find in all the world a more beautiful city than +Tokyo at this season of the year. It is really a city of gardens and +everywhere are palms and pines and waving willow trees, magnificent +arbors of wisteria not yet in bloom and splendid azalea bushes bursting +into masses of white and pink blossoms. Even the humblest brown cottage +has its bit of garden, for the love of flowers is innate in every +Japanese nature: it is a national trait. + +"There is no prospect that isn't graceful and picturesque," thought Mary +watching an old fruit and vegetable man in front of them. He wore a dull +blue cotton tunic much faded but still a heavenly color, and on either +end of a pole resting on his shoulders was a flat brown basket filled +with small oranges and vegetables of an unknown variety. Behind him +walked an old woman in a dull brown and purple dress with an orange sash +around her waist. Her back was burdened with a great bundle of bark. The +sun was hot and many of the wayfarers carried paper umbrellas. Most of +the women had babies swung on their backs and sometimes shiny little +black eyes peeped out from the front of a kimono, the mother's arms being +engaged in supporting another burden on her back. + +"It seems to me the women work very hard in this country," remarked +Elinor severely, pointing to a cart filled with charcoal propelled by two +women and a man. One of the women had a baby on her back and another +child holding to her skirts. + +"They do," said Mary. "Even the women in the upper classes have to work +hard. Don't you remember what the missionary on the steamer told us? The +wife is always the first one up in the household no matter how many +servants she has. She has to bring her mean old mother-in-law a cup of +tea and get out her husband's clothes. The mother-in-law has had to work +so hard when she was a daughter-in-law that she takes it out on her son's +wife later." + +"I'd like to see an American wife ridden by her mother-in-law that way," +broke in Elinor indignantly. + +"But then the Japanese daughter-in-law's turn comes later," said Mary +laughing, "when she gets to be a mother-in-law. So it's all nicely +balanced." + +But the streets were too interesting to pursue the subject of +mother-in-law any further. They were passing a row of open-fronted shops +on the edges of which customers were squatted looking at materials while +the proprietor bobbed and smiled and dickered over his bargains. Red and +yellow banners hung in a row from the roof of the shop, the gay colored +hieroglyphics on them indicating what manner of goods were displayed +within. + +"Here's a nice little silk shop, Komatsu. Let us stop here," called Miss +Campbell. + +But Komatsu only grinned over his shoulder and called: + +"Too littleness for gracious big lady." + +"But I like the looks of this place, Komatsu," said the gracious big lady +helplessly. + +However Komatsu had his own ideas of obedience and he trotted on, never +pausing until he reached a large silk store thronged with clerks and +customers. + +Here all the 'rikshas drew up and the girls alighted with Miss Campbell, +who was a little red in the face but determined to overlook the +annoyance of orders disregarded. + +The front of the store was screened from the street by dark blue cotton +curtains behind which was a roofed platform carpeted with matting. Here +sat a group of clerks, each with his _soroban_ or adding machine at his +side. Little Japanese boys, their shoulders loaded with bales of rich +materials, staggered about, and through the open doors of the fire-proof +warehouse they caught glimpses of costly stuffs stored away. An +obsequious clerk who spoke excellent English came forward and presently, +when their eyes became accustomed to the busy, brilliantly colored scene, +they began to examine silk materials on their own account. Miss Campbell +made each of her charges a present of _crêpe de chine_ and still was not +very much out of pocket. As they were about to leave, they were followed +by a chorus of shouts. + +"What in the world is the matter?" demanded Miss Campbell uneasily. "Has +the place caught fire, or didn't we give the right amount of change?" + +"No, madam," answered the polite English-speaking clerk, who had +accompanied her to the sidewalk. "They are saying farewell. In English +it would mean, 'Thanks for your continued favors.'" + +"Don't mention it," said Miss Campbell. "We'll come again." + +The clerk smiled and bowed formally and once more they whirled away in +their 'rikshas. They visited many shops in Tokyo that morning. It was +like a fascinating bazaar and it seemed impossible to tear themselves +away, although Komatsu kept always close to their elbows and several +times observed: + +"Muchly more time. Come again." + +At last, just as an ominous mass of black clouds had spread itself over +the heavens, against which the brilliant colors of the signs and the +people's clothes stood out in bold relief, they started for home. But on +the outskirts of the city great drops of rain pelted them in the face, +the advance scouts of a tremendous downpour. + +"Oh, Komatsu, we will ruin our clothes," cried Miss Campbell in alarm. +"You must take us somewhere until the rain is over." + +They were passing the high walls of a garden, the gate of which stood +open. Without an instant's hesitation Komatsu turned in and the three +'rikshas raced up a broad walk toward a Japanese house at the end. +Several smiling hospitable persons whom they took to be servants ran out +with large umbrellas made of oiled paper and protected the five ladies, +who hurried unceremoniously into the house just as the heavens opened and +the rain came down in bucketfuls. + +Three Japanese ladies, seated on the floor drinking tea, rose quickly and +made low formal bows. The five refugees from the storm returned the bows +with some bewilderment. + +"I do hope you will pardon this intrusion," Miss Campbell found herself +saying. "The storm was so sudden and terrible, we fled to the nearest +house." + +One of the little Japanese ladies bowed. She was evidently the mistress +of the house, but she spoke no English. + +Miss Campbell pointed outside to the rain and made expressive signs +indicative of haste. It was really like being in a deaf and dumb asylum. +Then the little lady smiled again and bowed again, and the others bowed. + +"Good heavens, Billie, what am I to do? Must I continue to smile and bob +and bow forever? Do come to my rescue!" + +But the hospitable hostess now hurried from the room and presently +reappeared followed by her maids, each of whom carried a little lacquered +table. It was indicated that the American guests would confer a favor if +they would seat themselves. + +"I've never sat on the floor in my life," complained Miss Campbell in a +low voice. "It will kill me. I am certain it will displace a ligament." + +"You'll just have to, Cousin. Try sitting on your feet. That's the way +they do." + +"I think tailor-fashion would be easier," answered the poor lady. "Don't +help me. They might take it for rudeness. Everything is bad manners in +this country." + +Crossing her feet, she slid slowly to the floor. The visitors were +promptly served with delicious tea, rice cakes, candied fruits and other +confections molded and colored like the flowers in season. + +Certainly that was one of the most silent and ceremonious tea parties +ever given. It was all dumb show, but the manners of the three Japanese +ladies were exquisite. While this excruciatingly polite scene transpired, +there raged such a storm of wind and rain that at each moment they feared +the fragile bamboo and rice paper abode would be blown from its slight +foundations. + +"They won't lose much if it's blown away," thought Billie. "There's not a +stick of furniture to be seen except a screen." + +In one corner of the room was a splendid vase almost as tall as she was, +and on the wall hung a scroll showing two women gathering cherry +blossoms. On the floor were soft mats fitted closely together. + +Suddenly Billie blushed scarlet. + +"Oh, Cousin Helen," she exclaimed. "We forgot to take off our shoes." + +"Don't speak to me," answered her relation. "My legs have gone to sleep +and I have lost the power to move them. I am in an agony of pain." + +At this moment a figure darkened the doorway. The three Japanese women +rose and bowed low and the servants made obeisances. The five Americans +were amazed to recognize their friend of yesterday, Yoritomo Ito. He was +quite as amazed as they were, although he did not show it except by the +flick of an eyelash, because no well-bred Japanese ever shows surprise. + +"How do you do, Mr. Ito?" cried Miss Campbell. "Is it possible that this +is your house we have broken into so rudely?" + +It was indeed Mr. Ito's home, and, the three ladies were his mother, his +aunt and his sister. + +"It is a great pleasure, I am sure, that you have found refuge in my +home. I trust they have served you well." + +Then he spoke rapidly in Japanese to his mother, who smiled and clasped +her hands with joy, as if heaven could not have bestowed a greater gift +than the privilege to entertain these delightful foreigners. + +"And are you the head of the family, Mr. Ito?" asked Miss Campbell. + +"No, my father takes first place. He is a tea merchant in Tokyo. I have +also a younger brother who works with him. He did not wish to go to +America with me." + +At this moment a human doll baby toddled into the room. His round little +head was bald except for a thick mat of hair on top. His beady black eyes +gleamed like polished glass. He wore a dark red kimono and his feet and +legs were bare. + +"Oh, the darling," cried Mary whose love of children overcame any shyness +she might feel before strangers. The three Japanese were pleased at the +attention the little person created. The girls gathered around him in a +circle while he stood perfectly still regarding them curiously, as if +they were some new strange birds which had dropped into his room from the +skies. + +Yoritomo also was pleased. He took the little fellow's hand in his and +led him from one to another while his relatives stood in a beaming row. + +Children are called "treasure-flowers" in Japan, and are petted and +spoiled quite as much as American children. + +"What a cunning little baby brother, Mr. Ito," said Nancy. "What is his +name?" + +"Kenkyo," answered Yoritomo. Suddenly he turned and spoke to one of the +women and the "treasure-flower" was led from the room. + +"Oh, don't send him away," objected Miss Campbell. "I haven't had half a +chance to see him yet." + +"He is not dressed to see distinguished visitors," answered Yoritomo, +quickly. "My mother would like to show you some of her embroidery if +you would care to see it." + +So the subject of little Kenkyo was dropped and Madame Ito, hurrying +away, returned in a moment with an armful of linen and silk on which she +had worked the most wonderful floral designs. + +In the meantime, the faithful 'riksha man, Komatsu, had trotted all the +way through floods of rain to the Campbell villa half a mile distant, and +now returned in company with O'Haru. Between them they carried a covered +basket containing five mackintoshes, five pairs of overshoes and five +umbrellas. + +Komatsu was very angry with O'Haru. He explained to Miss Campbell: + +"I not wish, but she coming without not wish." + +He pointed accusingly at the sad old face. O'Haru, dripping and +imperturbable, stood on the piazza near the entrance to the villa. + +"That was very good of you, O'Haru; we appreciate your devotion," said +Miss Campbell, but the housekeeper did not appear to grasp all this fine +English. She seemed to be taking in every detail of the room and its +occupants. Nobody took any notice of her. All the ladies and the servants +were engaged in helping the guests on with their rain coats and +overshoes. Mme. Ito insisted on doing up their hats in paper bundles. + +In the midst of a great deal of leave-taking and much smiling and bowing, +Yoritomo found time to say to Nancy: + +"You see, chance has favored me to-day. The rain which kept me away from +the bridge has brought you to my home." + +Nancy blushed in spite of her efforts not to. She felt half pleased and +half frightened at the earnest manner of the young Japanese. He was +undeniably handsome and graceful, with a self-possession she had never +seen equaled. Just then a dark figure darted across the floor so swiftly +that it was like a flash of brown wings in the air. There was a low +exclamation from the ladies, a bird-like chatter from the servants, and +for one brief moment the surprised Americans beheld old O'Haru on her +knees before little Kenkyo in the act of touching her forehead to the +floor. She drew a beautiful, bright-colored toy from her bosom and gave +it to the solemn-eyed little boy. Then, bowing again with extreme +reverence, she rose and left the house. When they next saw her she was +swinging along in the rain on her wooden clogs. Miss Campbell made +Komatsu stop the 'riksha and invited her to climb in, but she refused +politely but firmly. + +"Extraordinary creature," exclaimed Miss Campbell, but Komatsu could +offer no explanation. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE GARDEN IN THE RAIN. + + +For three interminable days the rain poured down uninterruptedly. The +floodgates of heaven had opened and it seemed as though they would never +close again. The all-pervading dampness and chill brought illness to the +Campbell household of a kind not to be healed by medicine. Homesickness +it was, and it spread rapidly like a contagious disease. Only one member +of the party of Americans was not afflicted and that was Mr. Campbell, +who had lived in many climates and countries and was accustomed to +seasons of rain and wet. Moreover, as he himself had said, he had no home +to be sick for. He felt a supreme content in the thought of having his +daughter with him and no amount of rain could chill his enthusiasm. + +Miss Campbell took to her bed with an attack of rheumatism, brought on, +she insisted, from having sat on the floor at the home of Mme. Ito. Mary +began a diary of her experiences in Japan and had several private weeping +spells entirely due to the unsurpassed dismalness of the weather. Billie +endeavored to throw off her depression by giving Onoye lessons in English +in exchange for lessons in Japanese, and in the course of these lessons +she learned a little of Onoye's history. O'Haru had been obliged to go to +work after the death of her husband who had lost all his property in a +fire. Onoye's only brother had been killed in great "bat-tel." The family +had had "muchly unfortune. All money gone--nothing." + +At the conclusion of this sad story told mostly by expressive gestures +and queerly chosen words, Onoye smiled sweetly. That is the only polite +thing for a well brought up Japanese girl to do even when her own +misfortunes are the subject of the conversation. + +"What a shame," Billie exclaimed sympathetically. "I should think you +would learn something, some trade, I mean, Onoye. You are much too clever +to be a housemaid. But I suppose you will marry. I hear there are no old +maids in Japan." + +Onoye shook her head and smiled sadly. Perhaps she did not understand +Billie's remark because she did not reply. + +"Old maid, Onoye, is one who never marries," explained Nancy at the +dressing table arranging her hair. + +"Ah, Komatsu old maid. He not marry." + +"No, no, Komatsu is a man," said Billie trying not to laugh. "Old maid is +a woman who has no husband, like Miss Campbell." + +"Old maid," repeated Onoye, and because of what happened that very +evening, it was evident that the retentive Japanese memory had not lost +the words. + +In the afternoon there came a characteristic note from Mr. Campbell to +his cousin. + +"Tell O'Haru to put on the big pot and the little," it ran, "and to kill +the fatted calf. I am going to cheer up my gloomy household by bringing +four men home to dinner. If it were not for these flimsy little card +houses, I would suggest a dance afterwards, but I couldn't answer for +the walls and roof if two young Americans danced a two-step in the +parlor." + +"I am sure a two-step is no rougher than one of these storms of wind and +rain," observed Miss Campbell, feeling a sudden loyalty toward everything +American, including dances. + +O'Haru was informed of the party and the house became at once a beehive +of activity. Several of the little maids, without being told, took down +all the dresses in the wardrobes and began drying them out with square +boxes of red embers. + +"I'd like to be done the same way," remarked Miss Campbell. "I think I am +just as mildewed as my clothes." + +The kitchen quarters of the house fairly vibrated with the stir of +preparation. In the living rooms the air was dried with small charcoal +stoves. The gardener was seen bringing in armfuls of flowers; and with +all the activity and preparation, there was no noise, not a sound. It +was positively uncanny. + +Late in the afternoon Nancy slipped away from this noiseless busy scene +and tripped demurely down a garden path toward the bridge. She was not +exactly bent on mischief but she wanted to satisfy her curiosity about +something. The rain had lessened considerably but it was still necessary +for her to protect her recently arranged curls with her small blue silk +umbrella. In her mackintosh of changeable silk in two shades of blue, she +made a charming picture coming down the rain-soaked path. The garden +itself was a thing of beauty. On the end of every pine needle hung a +crystal drop, and through the thin veil of mist clinging to the shrubbery +a clump of azaleas glowed like a crimson flame. Taking a path to the +left, Nancy began the gentle and almost imperceptible descent to the +little bridge. The air was filled with the perfume of wild roses and late +plum blossoms. It was really a fairy land, this Japan; a place too +exquisite and unreal for human beings to live in. She began to sing +softly to herself Elinor's favorite song: + +"'Know'st thou the land of the citron bloom?'" + +As she approached the bridge she felt a little frightened for some +reason. It was rather reckless of her to come down to this lonely place +in the late afternoon even if it was their own premises. It was the first +time she had done it and she decided it would be the last. But as long as +she had come, she would see it through. Nancy could hardly explain to +herself what she meant by "seeing it through." + +She would stroll carelessly down the path, walk across the bridge, pause +a moment and walk back again, not looking behind her of course, as, if +she were observed, and she was sure she was not, she would pretend she +was out for a walk and had not expected to meet anyone. Thus Nancy +reasoned with herself, but by the time she had reached the bridge she had +changed her mind and was about to turn and hasten back, when she noticed +a beautiful tea rose that had been laid conspicuously on the hand rail of +the bridge. + +"He has been here," she thought. "He must have just gone. The rose is +quite fresh." + +Sticking its long stem through the buttonhole of her raincoat, she +glanced about her curiously. Somehow, behind every clump of shrubs and +every branching pine tree she felt black eyes staring at her and yet she +was sure she was alone. Again she started for the house, feeling +profoundly relieved that Yoritomo had not waited, if, indeed, it was he +who had left the rose. Suddenly Nancy's heart jumped into her throat and +she felt a cold chill down her spinal column,--and for no reason, except +that standing in front of her was not a man, but a woman. The stranger +was too tall to be a Japanese and she was dressed, moreover, in European +clothes,--a beautifully fitting tailor-made suit and English traveling +hat of stitched cloth. But there was something faintly suggestive of the +Japanese about her face. Perhaps it was the slightly slanting eyes and +the smooth olive skin. Her hair was much lighter than her eyes and quite +fluffy; her features were regular and there was a graceful dignity in the +poise of her head on her shoulders. Nancy concluded after a swift +examination that she was, if peculiar looking, still strangely +fascinating. + +"May I ask your pardon for intruding on your beautiful gardens?" began +the woman, speaking with a slightly English accent. "I did not expect +to meet any one on this rainy afternoon." + +Nancy wondered how she had got into the garden and where she had come +from. These things the stranger did not explain. However, Nancy answered +politely: + +"It isn't my garden, but I am sure Mr. Campbell would be delighted to +have other people enjoy it." + +"You are a sweet child," said the woman, deliberately taking Nancy's chin +in her hand and looking down at her, "a sweet, exquisite child." + +After all, Nancy decided, this mysterious lady was both fascinating and +beautiful. + +"And who is Mr. Campbell?" + +Nancy explained. In fact, after a few leading questions, she disclosed +the entire history of the household; who they were, how long they +expected to stay, and how they happened to be spending the summer in +Japan. + +"Is it possible that you are the Motor Maids who have ridden so many +thousands of miles in a red car?" asked the stranger. + +Nancy opened her eyes. + +"Yes," she answered. "But we never dreamed we were so famous as that." + +"Ah, you will find that Tokyo is not so far removed from the world," +answered the woman, smiling gravely. "And Mr. Campbell is building a +railroad, you say?" + +"No, I didn't say so," replied Nancy, a little surprised. "He's not +building anything that I know of. He is being consulted, or something." + +But the stranger did not seem to have heard her. + +"I must be going," she said absently. "You are an adorably pretty child. +It's been a pleasure to see you. I only wandered in here because I was +unhappy and wanted to be alone, but you have cheered me up. Run along, +now, and don't walk in Japanese gardens at dusk unattended too often." +Her glance fell on the tea rose. "And remember that the Japanese do not +understand the meaning of the word 'flirtation.' Good-by, _ma cherie, +belle et charmante_. You won't tell your Mr. Campbell that I trespassed +on his garden, will you? Promise?" + +"I promise," answered Nancy, quite bewildered and fascinated. + +Then the mysterious lady disappeared down a dripping path and Nancy was +left standing alone in the rain. + +"I am sorry I promised," was her first thought. "It would have been such +fun to tell Billie." But her second thought was: "Billie would have +asked me why I had gone walking at dusk in the rain, and what a teasing I +should have got." + +It was late and she hurried back to dress for dinner. No one had missed +her because Billie had been helping Miss Campbell into her best evening +frock, and the others were all engaged in their own toilets. + +That evening at half past seven a very jolly party gathered around the +dinner table, which was a miracle of beauty with its decorations of apple +blossoms. Besides Nicholas Grimm and Yoritomo Ito, there were two +Englishmen, Reginald Carlton, a young man who was taking a trip around +the world by way of finishing his education, and Mr. Buxton, an older man +who lived in Tokyo. All the men wore evening clothes, although Mr. +Campbell had sighed when Billie made him appear in his. He was a man of +camps and open air and seldom appeared in society. Nancy watched his +rugged, handsome face admiringly. + +"What a splendid looking man he is," she was thinking, when Yoritomo at +her right said in a low voice: + +"You did go to the bridge." + +"How do you know?" she asked. + +"Because I saw the rose. It was fastened on your rain coat, which you +left on a hook in the passage with your wet umbrella." + +"I only went for the air," said Nancy hastily. "I shall not go again +alone." + +Yoritomo's face darkened, and he turned his attention to his dinner. + +In the meantime the others were all amusing themselves in various ways, +and there was a great deal of talk and laughter. Miss Campbell felt +rejuvenated and her rheumatic twinges had entirely disappeared. + +"There is nothing like a little pleasure for driving acidity out of the +system," she thought, as she finished the last spoonful of her dessert of +beautifully preserved fruits. + +Onoye had entered, carrying a small lacquered tray on which lay a square, +foreign-looking visiting card. + +"A lady calling to the honorable old maid," she announced calmly at Miss +Campbell's elbow. + +"The what?" cried Mr. Campbell. + +"The honorable old maid," repeated poor Onoye, with her precise accent, +smiling innocently. + +There was a perfect shout of laughter. Only Yoritomo's face remained +impassive, but who could tell what angry thoughts were hidden behind that +mask-like face? Billie tried to explain how the mistake had occurred, and +Onoye rushed from the room in an agony of embarrassment and shame. + +"Don't scold her, Cousin. She thought she had learned a new English +word," Billie besought Miss Campbell. + +"Scold her? I should think not. I don't mind being called an 'honorable +old maid,' I am sure. But who is this caller, I wonder?" she added, in +a lower voice. + +Mr. Campbell examined the card with some curiosity. "Mme. Marie +Fontaine," it read. Miss Campbell hastened into the drawing-room, and +Nancy, peeping through the doors a few minutes later, was surprised to +find that Mme. Fontame was her recent companion in the garden. + +The visit was very brief, and Miss Campbell presently returned looking +somewhat amused and a little annoyed. + +"Mme. Fontaine wished to know if she might have an interview with the +Motor Maids on the subject of their motor trip across the American +continent and through the British Isles." + +"And what did you tell her?" demanded the four girls in one voice, it +must be confessed somewhat eagerly. + +"I told her that while we appreciated the compliment, it would be +impossible." + +"Quite right," said Mr. Campbell. "Publicity is the thing of all others I +wish to avoid, and if an article like that appeared in a Tokyo paper, +either in Japanese or English, you would probably be the object of the +most disagreeable curiosity. Am I not right, Yoritomo?" + +"Oh, yes. It would not be agreeable to the young ladies. Many people +would come to look at them." + +"I am very glad my action is approved, then," said Miss Campbell. "I have +an old-fashioned horror of notoriety like that, and I am sure none of my +girls would care to see herself in a newspaper. Would she?" + +"No, indeed," they answered promptly in a chorus. + +In a secret place in Nancy's mind, however, she saw a picture of her own +pretty face occupying at least one-third of a newspaper page and +underneath, blazoned in large letters: "The Beautiful Miss Anne Starbuck +Brown, One of the Famous Motor Maids." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +IN THE LIBRARY. + + +The house Mr. Campbell had sub-let for the summer was somewhat +labyrinthian in design, since it was only one story high and contained +many rooms for living and sleeping, besides the servants' quarters in the +rear. Mr. Spears had engaged a Japanese architect to build the house and +Japanese and European ideas were curiously combined in its construction. +Down the middle ran a broad hall, intersected at the back by another hall +running across the house. This was known as "the passage," and it was in +a manner a social boundary line, dividing the quarters of master and +servants. Only one opening broke the monotony of the uninterrupted +partition on the far side of the passage. This was the door into the +library which had been placed in a quiet and out-of-the-way corner +overlooking the garden. + +This library was decidedly the most attractive and home-like room in the +villa. There was a large open fireplace at one end where a pile of +blazing logs now crackled cheerfully. It would have taken an immense +"go-down" to accommodate all the books which lined the walls. But Mr. +Spears was evidently not afraid of fire, for they stood in serried ranks, +rows and rows of them, and between each group of shelves was a panel of +carved and polished wood. Over the mantel hung a beautiful Japanese +print. Curtains of some heavy material, old rose in color, hung at the +windows, and instead of the usual three by six mats, the floor was +covered with an Oriental rug in soft warm colors. There were many low, +comfortable chairs about and several tables on which stood shaded lamps. + +Later in the evening after Mr. Campbell's dinner party, the three older +members of the company sat down in the drawing-room for a quiet game, +while the young people repaired to the library where they might talk and +laugh freely without fear of disturbing the players. + +"Oh, I say, what a jolly room," exclaimed Reginald Carlton, looking about +him with interest. + +"Isn't it?" agreed Billie. "Papa says that if people would only stick to +Japanese notions of decoration and add a few comfortable chairs to sit +in, they would never make any mistakes. You see, there's only one picture +in this room, but that's considered very fine. It's by a famous Japanese +artist." + +"I like that one-picture idea," put in Nicholas Grimm, "especially if it +is at a comfortable elevation. Just pull up an easy chair and raise your +eyes and you have seen all there is to see. There's a delightful +simplicity about that to me. But I suppose Yoritomo would call this room +crowded, nevertheless. How about it, old man? It wouldn't take you +fifteen minutes to pull down the curtains and roll up the rug and store +them in the 'go-down.' Would it, now, honor bright?" + +"No, no. I like the European furnishings," protested the Japanese. "You +must remember that I lived in America for many years. There is only one +thing I would store in the 'go-down,' and that is the little safe." + +He pointed to a small American fire-proof safe in a corner of the room. + +"But that is our 'go-down,'" laughed Billie. "We haven't any other. When +Papa first came here he discovered that there was no place to lock up +anything except some desk drawers, and he rented this little safe for his +papers. A Japanese gentleman advised him to do it. He told Papa there was +a great deal of curiosity here about the private business of foreigners." + +A dark flush overspread Yoritomo's face and gradually faded out. The +others did not notice it, however. They had followed Nicholas across +the room and were standing in a circle around the safe, while the young +American touched it with a caressing hand. + +"Made in Newark, N.J., U.S.A.," he exclaimed. "Think of that. It's like +meeting an old friend from home." + +"A very proper kind of friend," observed Reginald. "The kind that keeps a +secret behind a combination lock." + +"I don't call it being a real friend to have any combination at all," put +in Elinor, "because anybody who learns the combination can get the +secret." + +Nicholas laughed. + +"You don't understand the Japanese, Miss Butler," he exclaimed. "They +regard all persons with important secrets as combination safes. Sooner or +later they believe they can learn any combination if they only persist." + +"Why don't you stand up for your country, Mr. Ito?" asked Nancy. + +"What Nicholas says is true," answered Yoritomo. "If the secret concerns +his country, the Japanese will learn it if he must give up his life. What +you call 'spy' in your language should be changed to patriot, or one who +risks all for his country. Every Japanese is a spy, because every +Japanese will suffer for Japan." + +"Perfectly good logic," said Nicholas. + +"Are you a spy?" asked Mary, so innocently that even the imperturbable +Yoritomo laughed. + +"I am, in the sense of being a patriot," he answered. "There is nothing I +would not do for Japan." + +"Are you a Samurai?" asked Billie, hardly understanding the meaning of +the word. + +"My grandfather was. There are no real samurai now. Only descendants." + +"But what were they?" + +Yoritomo's face became strangely animated. + +"A samurai was a soldier," he said. "He was brave and feared neither +death nor suffering in any form. He carried two swords, a long one for +fighting and a short one for defense. The sword was the emblem of the +samurai spirit. He took pride in keeping it sharp and bright." + +"Aren't some of the descendants of the old warrior samurai rather +fanatical?" asked Reginald. "That is, I mean--" he hesitated, seeing a +peculiar gleam in Yoritomo's eyes, "aren't some opposed to the entrance +of foreigners into Japan, and the invasion of foreign ideas--perhaps that +feeling has died out now?" + +"The old samurai defended his country against the foreigner and no +descendant of a samurai, either now or ever, would endure for a foreigner +to learn the secrets of his country. But that is not fanaticism. That is +patriotism. He is very jealous of his country's honor, you understand. +You will look at the history of other countries. First it is only a few +foreigners; then more and more. They slip into the government. They +spread their ideas and customs--they get a foot-hold--then--all of a +sudden, what is it? Not Japan any longer--but--America--England." + +"Oh, come off, Yoritomo," cried Nicholas, laughing. "What in the name of +all the powers are you driving at? There are about forty millions of +people on this island and I guess a few foreigners won't make much +headway in such a bunch as that." + +"At least, you are not afraid of being Americanized, Mr. Ito," broke in +Nancy, "since you were educated in America." + +"I am not afraid of the invasion of beautiful American young ladies," +answered Yoritomo gallantly, and the others laughed and felt somewhat +relieved that the conversation had drifted into a less serious vein. They +drew their chairs into a circle about the fire and talked pleasantly for +some time, when they were summoned back to the drawing-room by Mr. +Campbell, who reminded Elinor of a promise she had made to him to sing +for them with her guitar. + +This performance was a subject of wondering curiosity to the servants of +the household. Through the door to the dining-room Elinor caught a +glimpse of a multitude of natives crouched on the floor behind the +screen, including Komatsu and O'Haru, all the little maids, the +numerous grandmothers, and the 'riksha men who had brought the guests out +from Tokyo. If the music seemed strange to the Japanese ear trained for +centuries to a curious uneven scale, at least they admired Elinor's +lovely voice, clear and sweet as a bell. She had a large repertoire and +knew all the favorites of everybody. While she was singing "Oh, that we +two were Maying," at the request of Miss Campbell, Nancy, seated on the +couch beside Billie, near the door, whispered into her friend's ear: + +"I left my handkerchief in the library," and slipped into the hall. +Hardly a moment later Billie, glancing through the door, saw Nancy in +the distance, beckoning violently. She rose and followed, much against +her will, thinking perhaps Nancy wished to bestow a confidence which +might just as well be kept until later. + +"What on earth do you want?" she asked, with the irritability intimate +friends use toward each other without meaning really to be cross. + +"The queerest thing has happened. The library is perfectly black dark." + +"I don't think there is anything specially remarkable about that. The +fire had burned low before we left and I suppose one of the maids put out +the lamps. The Japs are nothing if not economical." + +"They are nothing if not polite, too," argued Nancy. "And I am sure they +wouldn't put out the lights before the company left. Besides, they are +all listening to Elinor sing." + +"Well, the lights are out and I don't see that it matters much, +Nancy-Bell. Let's go back and hear the rest of the song." + +"Won't you come with me first to get my handkerchief?" pleaded Nancy. "I +know exactly where I left it, and I am afraid to go alone, if you want to +know the real truth." + +"Oh, you little coward," laughed Billie good-naturedly, taking her arm. +"Come along, then." + +The two young girls hastened down the long hall until they reached the +passage. + +"Billie," whispered Nancy, pausing at the door. "You won't think me silly +if I tell you this? Of course it may have been imagination, but I was +awfully frightened when I came in here just now. I opened the door +suddenly and ran into the room before I realized it was dark. Then, of +course, I stopped short. The door had closed behind me and it seemed to +me that some one else was in the room. I remembered that as I opened the +door I heard some one move or collide with a chair. I stood perfectly +still for an instant. I was really frightened. Then I just flew." + +"Perhaps it was one of the servants who had put out the lights and was +afraid to acknowledge it," suggested Billie. "The little maids are as +timid as wild things." + +"But every servant in the house is in the dining room, I tell you. I saw +them as I went down the hall, and I counted them just for fun. There were +the four little maids and Onoye and O'Haru and Komatsu and the three +jinriksha men and the three old grandmothers and the gardener. There +aren't any others." + +The door leading into the library was not a sliding panel of thick opaque +paper, like the usual Japanese door, but a real European door of heavy +wood with a brass handle. + +"Don't you think we had better get your father, Billie, or one of the +boys?" whispered Nancy, placing a detaining hand on her friend's arm. + +"But that would be a needless alarm. Everybody would want to know what +was the matter. There would have to be explanations and Cousin Helen +would be frightened. Besides, I am sure it was just your vivid +imagination, Nancy." + +She opened the door very softly and peeped in. The room was flooded with +the radiance of two shaded lamps, both burning brightly; in fact, one had +been turned up too high, as if lighted in haste. + +"Oh," gasped Nancy, in amazement. + +But Billie was determined not to be surprised. + +"Take my word for it, Nancy; one of the servants put out the lights by +mistake, thinking we had finished in here for the night, and when you +returned he or she was frightened and lit them again, thinking that +honorable American young lady might be displeased." + +Nancy found her handkerchief. + +"Very well," she said. "If that is your expert opinion I am willing to +abide by it, but I was fright--" + +Before she could finish one of the long French windows blew open and a +gust of wet wind extinguished the lamp on a table near the window. Billie +marched boldly over and closed and bolted the window. + +"Whoever it was," she said, "must have got out this way." + +The girls exchanged a long glance of uneasy speculation. In the dim light +of the remaining lamp the room seemed filled with shadows. Billie drew +the heavy curtains across the casement. Those at the other window were +already drawn. + +"Come along, Nancy-Bell," she exclaimed. "Thieves don't blow out lights +and then come back and relight them. It would be extremely unprofessional +if they did and very reckless besides. It's certain to be one of those +timid little persons in a kimono. We had better be getting back to the +drawing-room or Papa will be wondering what has become of us." + +Hardly had they closed the door after them, when a figure, wrapped from +head to foot in a long brown garment something like a cape, emerged from +behind the other curtains. Whoever it was, whether man or woman, it was +impossible to judge, opened the door, peeped cautiously into the passage +and, finding it quite empty, marched boldly out. In another moment the +intruder had disappeared into the garden. + +As the girls passed along the hall they paused to notice the picturesque +group of servants gathered near the door. There was a smile on every +face, not a smile of ridicule, but of courteous enjoyment. + +"Is there any rude person in the length and breadth of Japan?" thought +Billie, while Nancy once more counted heads and then shook her own +thoughtfully. + +"I don't understand," she pondered, "but Billie is usually right, so I'll +just cease to worry." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +CHERRY BLOSSOMS. + + +A few hours of brilliant sunshine and all the dampness had been sucked up +from the earth; the air was warmed and dried and the mists rolled back +from the garden, revealing a fairy-land too exquisite to be real. + +Something especially wonderful had happened that morning. The faces of +the little maids had been filled with a joyous expectancy as they hurried +from room to room on their household duties. A mysterious smile hovered +on the lips of Komatsu when he appeared to receive his orders. Even old +O'Haru was secretly immensely pleased about something, but they all had +evidently agreed among themselves to keep the great news secret until the +psychological moment had arrived when the ladies of the house and Mr. +Campbell had assembled on the piazza just before breakfast. + +When this occurred word was swiftly and silently conveyed over the +household and all persons belonging to the domestic staff instantly +gathered in the hall and doorway. + +"Why, what on earth is the matter with them?" Miss Campbell asked +uneasily. "Will you please look: the entire household collected in the +front hall." + +Mr. Campbell was as much at a loss as his cousin. + +"They look as if they were going to play a joke on us," observed Billie, +"Did you ever see anything so guileless and simple-hearted as they are?" + +"Oh, I know what it is," cried Mary, clasping her hands with delight. +"There," she said, pointing to the old gardener, who was approaching by +way of one of the paths. There was an inimitable smile on his face, and +he carried tenderly and gingerly a double handful of brown branches on +which clustered delicate pink blossoms. + +"It's the cherry blossoms! They are in bloom!" Mary shouted in her +enthusiasm. "That's why they are all so delighted. The dears! They are +just like a lot of children." + +The crown of the year for the Japanese had indeed arrived, the season +when every cherry tree becomes a magnificent nosegay which has caught the +sunset's glow, and all the world goes forth to view the splendid sight. + +The love of these people, young and old and of all classes, for flowers, +and particularly for cherry blossoms, is touching in its simplicity and +sincerity. + +The old gardener was himself a delightful picture in his blue cotton, +tunic-like coat, queer, tight-fitting trousers and an enormous hat that +resembled an inverted flower basket. Against the coarse blue of his tunic +rested the delicate rosy cloud of blossoms. With an elaborate bow he +presented Mr. Campbell and each of the ladies with a branch. "Him muchly +more big soon all same," he said. + +"Thank you, Saiki. They are very beautiful," said Miss Campbell, speaking +in the distinct, loud tone she used for persons not understanding her +own language. + +The girls exclaimed and admired and Mr. Campbell was delighted. He felt a +kind of reverence for the old man's simple unaffected love of beauty. In +the meantime, the regiment of servants who had witnessed and enjoyed the +ceremony of presenting the first cherry blossoms to the master and +mistress of the house retired to their various occupations. + +The pleasure and surprise of the foreigners over the beauty of the cherry +blossoms would be a memory for these humble people to cherish all their +lives. Perhaps they had never seen the like before, these honorable +barbarians; certainly nothing so perfect as the double blossom, of a +delicacy and shade not to be surpassed. + +Later at the breakfast table Billie concocted a scheme. + +"Papa," she began, "can't we take the 'Comet' and go sight-seeing? It +would be such fun, and while the 'rikshas are very nice, we are so +separated, we can't all sympathize together as we usually do." + +"A kind of sympathy in detachments, is it?" asked Mr. Campbell. "But I +wanted to go with you on your first ride in the 'Comet.' I don't know +just how the people will take to a girl's driving a red 'devil-wagon,' as +they call it." + +"Why not let Komatsu go along?" + +"What do you think, Cousin?" asked Mr. Campbell. + +Up to this time Miss Campbell had kept out of the discussion. The truth +is, she yearned to relieve the tedium of life by taking a trip in the red +motor car. + +"Couldn't you get away and go with us?" + +"Impossible this afternoon, because I have an appointment to meet some +very distinguished persons to discuss various plans. One can hardly be +polite enough as it is in this good-mannered country, and it would never +do to break an engagement. In another week or so I shall be free to take +the ladies on excursions." + +"What is it all about, Papa?" asked Billie. + +"Oh, government improvements, child. Things that are too important to be +talked about." He pinched her cheek. "Well, beautiful American ladies, if +you take Komatsu with you as interpreter and protector, guide and friend, +I think you might be trusted to make a little cherry-blossom excursion in +the 'Comet.' Only don't go too far or too fast and on your life don't run +over anything, even a chicken, or there'll be trouble for all concerned." + +So it was settled, and after breakfast Billie rushed to the mysterious +back premises of the place on the other side of the house, where various +hitherto unsuspected industries seemed to be in progress. There was a +kitchen garden hidden by a hedge of althea bushes, a chicken yard, and +in a most picturesque building, used by the Spears for a carriage house, +the "Comet." So far they had been unable to find a chauffeur, and Mr. +Campbell himself had gone over all the machinery and put it in order. +Billie cranked up, and, jumping into her old accustomed place, guided the +motor car into the open. Komatsu came at a run from around the side of +the house. He was so amazed at sight of Billie in the chauffeur's seat +that he could not conceal his feelings. + +"Komatsu, we want you to go with us to-day. We want you to show us the +cherry trees in Tokyo and Uyeno Park. I suppose we couldn't get to all +the famous cherry blossom places in one afternoon?" + +"Him fast runner. No sakura all same see." + +"No, no. We shall go quite slowly. We want to see everything." + +In less than an hour the _hanami_, signifying in Japanese a picnic to a +famous place to view certain flowers in season, conducted on the most +modern lines in a red motor car, proceeded on its way. Komatsu, a +strangely incongruous figure, sat on the front seat beside Billie. + +On the way to Tokyo the "Comet" created a sensation. All the varied +wayfarers on that picturesque highway paused and stared, pointing and +gesticulating. + +The city was a vision of beauty. Most of its broad avenues are lined with +close set rows of cherry trees which were now bursting into blossom in +all the most delicate and exquisite shades of pink known to nature. +Komatsu guided them about the city with a kind of pleased and gratified +delight as if he were showing his own property. Sometimes he stood up and +pointed to the feathery tops of carefully nurtured cherry trees, glimpses +of which could be seen over the high walls surrounding private gardens. + +The motorists were fairly bewildered by the beauty of it all. It was like +a vast conservatory with the roof taken off. Nothing could have been more +exotic or more lovely than the vista through the park with the white peak +of Fujiyama, queen of mountains, glistening in the distance. + +Moreover, this little jaunt in the car had stirred their blood into +action. They felt once more the call of the road, the fever to be going. +The old accustomed sensation that they must make a certain place by such +and such a time had returned. They were of one opinion, this party of +Motor-Gypsies: to go back home until sunset would be a foolish waste of +golden hours. Their five wishes accorded like the notes of an harmonious +chord and presently Billie, influenced by the force of this silent +opinion, exclaimed: + +"Suppose we take a country road and eat lunch later at some wayside tea +house?" + +"Splendid!" cried the others almost before she had finished. + +Miss Campbell raised one feeble objection--something about the +weather--but it was promptly overridden by her relative at the wheel, +and presently she settled down in her seat and abandoned herself to the +joy of motion. + +"In all the ten thousands of miles we have covered in this car," she +remarked, "I never was happier than I am at this moment." + +"Why can't we go to the Arakawa Ridge?" suggested Mary, consulting a +guide book. "It's only seven miles from here on the Sumida River and +there are miles and miles of road bordered by double-flowering cherry +trees." + +This was agreeable to all concerned, and, accordingly, Komatsu guided +them to this famous spot, the pride of Tokyo. On the way they passed +hundreds of people in jinrikshas or on foot. Many of the pedestrians +carried paper parasols and fans, exactly like the chorus in the "Mikado." +Those who rode in the graceful little two-wheeled buggies looked out upon +the world with expressions of calm enjoyment. + +The "Comet" was a conspicuous object as it progressed slowly along the +road, but so far all things worked together for good and there was no +cause for uneasiness. At a little roadside tea house they paused for +lunch. The building was nothing more than a shed with a low-hanging +thatched roof and sides made of coarse strips of matting joined together +with bamboo sticks. Humble as it was it possessed a peculiar charm, all +its own. They were presently to find that the rear of the tea house +facing a little garden was glorified into something rich and strange by a +magnificent azalea bush in full bloom. It reached to the roof of the +house and was a mass of deep red blossoms. + +The ear was left in a pine grove near the house, and following Komatsu +along a rocky path they presently found themselves in this delectable +little garden. Here they were met by an old man and his wife, a very aged +couple whose gentle deprecating expressions almost moved Miss Campbell to +tears. + +"The adorable old things," she exclaimed. "They remind me of two old +turtle doves." + +Close at their heels came two little maids who conducted the ladies into +the tea house and brought tea for temporary refreshment, while Komatsu +consulted with the proprietor regarding lunch. + +Presently one of the little maids hurried in and placed a menu in front +of Miss Campbell. + +"Me speak little honorable American language," she said. "You like all +same American food? Will gracious lady make eyes to look?" + +Miss Campbell raised her lorgnette and examined the menu while the small +maid backed away and disappeared, in the throes of extreme shyness over +her endeavors. + +"Girls," said Miss Campbell, in a curious, strained voice, "don't any of +you dare to laugh because of course they are all peeping at us from +somewhere, but I want you all to make eyes to look at this amazing +production." + +They crowded about her and over her shoulder read the following menu: + +_Soup by egge +Eels to rice +Seaweed +Podadoe Sweete +Sponge boiled +Doormats a la U. S._ + +There were tears of laughter in Miss Campbell's eyes and her voice was so +shaky she could hardly trust herself to speak, even when she saw the +little maid returning around the corner of the azalea bush. The faces of +the four girls were crimson with suppressed laughter. + +"Very nice, my dear," said Miss Campbell, "you may bring in luncheon as +soon as you can." + +After she had gone there was a brief but eloquent silence. + +"Do, some one, make a joke," whispered Elinor. + +At that moment a strange looking bob-tailed cat walked by. + +"There," cried Nancy, and they all instantly burst into hysterical +laughter. + +"In the name of good health and excellent digestion, tell me what are +doormats?" asked Billie. + +"Dear knows," answered her cousin, "but I think if they must be eaten it +would be best to take boiled sponges afterward." + +The luncheon was purely Japanese, in spite of the English menu, and it +was really excellent. + +"I never thought to come to eels," Miss Campbell observed, but she +enjoyed her portion, nevertheless. + +"Doormats a la U. S." turned out to be a sweet cake with a sugary icing. + +"I believe they were intended for doughnuts," observed that astute little +person, Mary Price, and no doubt she was quite right. + +When the feast was over Miss Campbell paid the bill, which was +pathetically small, since there was no charge for tea and sweetmeats. + +"How do we give the tip?" she asked. + +"I know," answered Billie, "Papa taught me about that the other day." She +consulted her note book. Tearing out a leaf, she wrapped up what would +amount to about a dollar in American money, then with her little silver +pencil she wrote on the package "On chadai." "That means 'honorable money +for tea,'" she explained. + +Next she clapped her hands. All through the house voices could be heard +calling "Hai! Hai!" + +Presently the maid appeared hanging her head humbly. Billie motioned to +her that she wished the proprietor, who, indeed, was close at hand. With +an expression of much surprise he received the chadai and bowing to the +ground murmured something which Komatsu explained meant honorable thanks +for poor insignificant service. + +Each guest on departing received a fan as a souvenir; because, as they +were to learn before they left Japan, no Japanese ever receives a present +without giving another in return. Every person attached to the tea house +went out to see the departure of the car, and the old woman clutched her +husband's arm fearfully when she heard the vibrations of the machinery +and saw Billie turn the "Comet" down the hillside to the main road. + +At last, fortified by strange if not unpalatable food and thoroughly +enjoying themselves, they arrived at the entrance to the magnificent +avenue called Arakawa Ridge, along each side of which, as far as the eye +could see, ran two rows of cherry trees in full bloom. + +The avenue was lined with 'rikshas, and hundreds of pedestrians paced +slowly along. They were in holiday attire and the bright colors of the +kimonos and obis made a bewildering and brilliant picture. At intervals +booths had been erected, decorated with lanterns, where refreshments were +sold, and nearby a roving band of musicians and dancers were entertaining +the crowd. + +The mistake Billie made was to attempt to take the car through the +crowded road where apparently there were only pedestrians and jinrikshas. +But Komatsu had not objected and since they had been accustomed to take +the "Comet" wherever there was a navigable road, they pushed innocently +on. As for the populace celebrating the cherry blossom festival, they +evidently regarded the sight of a young woman driving a red devil-wagon +as something just short of miraculous. Slowly and at a dignified pace the +motor car moved along the avenue, and suddenly like a bolt from the blue +two things happened. + +A little boy escaped from his sister's hand and ran across the road. +Billie reversed the lever just as the child fell under the wheels. At the +same instant a tire on a rear wheel exploded with a loud report. + +Miss Campbell groaned and hid her face in her hands. + +Instantly they were surrounded by a mob of angry people. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +A BAD QUARTER OF AN HOUR. + + +In the uncertainty of that terrible moment everything turned black before +Billie's eyes. + +"I am a murderer," was all she could think. "I've killed a little child." + +When the mists had cleared away she saw a weird scene about her: hundreds +of Japanese men and women, speaking in low angry voices which somehow +reminded her of the breaking of the surf on the beach--perhaps because +the Japanese language has a sing-song rhythm. The little boy, apparently +limp and lifeless, lay in his sister's arms. Komatsu had leapt clear over +the front of the car and pushed his way through the people gathered about +them. With a hand as skillful as a doctor's he felt the child's pulse and +placed his ear over his heart. + +"Baby only make believe dead," he said. "Honorable heart beating all same +like steam engine." + +At these hopeful words Miss Campbell came to herself with a start. For a +moment she had been faint and sick with the notion of what had happened. +Never before in all their thousands of miles of touring in the "Comet" +had they injured so much as a fly; and now to run down a little child! It +was too dreadful to contemplate. + +"Komatsu," she ordered, in an unsteady voice, "tell the girl to get in +and we will take her brother to the nearest doctor." + +Komatsu conveyed this message to the stricken sister, who shook her head +violently. + +"Honorable devil-wagon shoot pistol. Japanese no likee," he said. + +Closer and closer pressed the tense mob about the party. These courteous +and gentle Japanese had suddenly been transformed into a fierce, savage +people. + +From one end of Japan to the other a child is considered a sacred thing. +If Billie had injured a grown person the public sentiment would not have +been so strong, but to harm one of these little "treasure flowers" was to +strike at the very heart of the nation. + +"Can't you understand that we are sorry and anxious to help you?" cried +Miss Campbell, addressing the mob, but her voice was lost in the subdued +threatening murmur which sounded like distant thunder heralding the +approach of a storm. + +"Good heavens, Komatsu, what are we to do? The child might be saved if +they would only listen to reason." + +"People no likee honorable devil-wagon. Going breaking little pieces all +same like sticks." + +"No, no, they must not," ejaculated Billie. "We are sorry," she cried, +stretching out her hands appealingly to the circle of Japanese pressed +around the car. "We didn't mean to do it." + +In the meantime Miss Campbell had produced her bottle of smelling salts, +the same that had accompanied her on all her trips, and climbed out of +the car. With a motion imperious and compelling she pushed aside the men +and women in the circle. + +The sister had laid the child on the ground and was kneeling beside him. +Komatsu knelt on the other side, feeling the little legs and body. + +"No break bones," he said briefly. + +Miss Campbell sat on the ground by the unconscious child, wondering +vaguely if she would ever rise again. + +"They may tear us to pieces before we get back. They are like an angry, +silent pack of wolves," she thought to herself. "Komatsu," she said +aloud, "I believe he has fainted from fright," She put the smelling +bottle to the baby's funny snub nose. + +Presently the boy opened his eyes. + +At this moment from the midst of the crowd there came a strange shrill +cry and a distracted looking woman began beating and fighting her way +toward the group. + +"Honorable mother come in big hurry," said Komatsu, in a low voice. +"Gracious lady, take jinriksha. Honorable quickness best now." + +"But the child isn't injured, Komatsu. Look, he's opened his eyes and +he's going to sit up. It was simply fright." + +"No like honorable devil-wagon," went on Komatsu steadily. + +While this low, rapid dialogue was taking place Billie, standing on the +front seat of the "Comet" on the lookout for help, saw something that +made her blood turn cold. A band of fierce looking young men in Japanese +costume was approaching on the run. The leader was brandishing a short +knife with a two-edged glittering blade and the others flourished sword +canes. Billie was thankful that Miss Campbell was too much occupied at +that moment in assuring the poor mother that her child was not injured to +notice this murderous looking company. Komatsu had quietly placed himself +beside the car, faithful soul, ready to die in the service of his ladies. + +Were they all going to be cut to pieces or was only the "Comet" to be +sacrificed in revenge for the accident? + +The Motor Maids exchanged frightened glances. + +"If I only knew six words in Japanese," thought Billie. + +"Make honorable quickness to descend, gracious lady. Come, come," Komatsu +urged. "To jinriksha. Leave red devil-wagon. This place no good for +staying in." + +"Oh, Komatsu, try and reason with them," pleaded Billie. "We don't want +to lose the 'Comet,' It wasn't his fault. He was going quite slowly. He +didn't mean to hurt the little boy. He's the kindest hearted old thing. +It wasn't anybody's fault. Can't you tell them that?" + +Billie was too distracted and unhappy to realize how absurd her words +might have sounded to any English-speaking person. It had always seemed +to her that a real heart beat somewhere in the mechanical organism of the +red motor. Gasoline was his life's blood and his pulse-beats were only +the throb of the engine, but, to Billie, he was a faithful and devoted +soul and she was not quite prepared to say what she would do in order to +save him from destruction. + +However, at the moment that the band of young men, scarcely more than +boys any of them, reached the car, some one sprang into the machine from +the other side. + +Turning quickly, Billie was confronted by a tall, slender young woman in +a white serge suit and a big black hat. She had a dark, creamy +complexion, dark eyes that slanted slightly and hair of a queer mousy +shade of brown. + +"Wait," said the stranger, "I will speak to them," and mounting the seat, +she addressed the crowd in their own tongue with extraordinary fluency, +the girls thought, remembering what they had heard concerning the +difficulties of that language. There was an elegance and fascination +indescribable about the stranger. Nancy recognized her instantly as the +lady in the garden. Miss Campbell knew her as Mme. Fontaine, newspaper +correspondent. The others in the party imagined her to be almost anything +romantic and interesting; perhaps a foreign princess; a great actress; +something remarkable, surely. + +In a beautiful, cultured voice, far reaching in spite of its soft tones, +she harangued the multitude which little by little fell back. The group +of fierce young men put away their weapons and disappeared in the mob. +The little boy, the cause of all the trouble, was now standing on his +feet blinking his eyes at Miss Campbell. How the picture was stamped on +their minds like a vividly colored print! + +Miss Campbell took out her purse and gave the mother of the boy some +money. Being still quite ignorant of Japanese coinage she did not pause +to make any laborious calculations, but poured all the money in the purse +into the woman's outstretched hand. It must have been an undreamed-of +sum, for the mother's face was wreathed in delighted smiles. She bowed +until her forehead almost touched the ground, as did the witnesses of +this princely generosity. + +"It's all over now," said Mme. Fontaine, stepping down from the seat and +smiling at Billie. "You had a bad quarter of an hour, though, I fear." + +"I don't know how we can ever thank you," exclaimed Billie. "You not only +saved the car from destruction, but you may have saved us, too. There's +no telling how far they would have gone once they got started." + +"No, no, they would not have harmed you, but they might have injured the +car. They are a good deal like children, but they are not butchers. I +think they admired your courage, too, for not deserting the sinking +ship." + +Miss Campbell now approached and held out her hand gratefully. + +"You are heaping coals of fire on my head, Mme. Fontaine," she said. +"Yesterday I refused to grant you a favor and to-day you are placing us +everlastingly in your debt." + +"No, no, you must not put it that way," said the other woman, with a +graceful movement of protest. "You were quite right not to be interviewed +if you did not wish it. Some Americans do not object to publicity, you +know. One can never tell. But what I did just now any other person who +spoke both languages would have been glad to do." + +The end of the episode was that Mme. Fontaine waited with Miss Campbell +and the three girls, while Billie, in the center of a curious circle of +onlookers and with the help of Komatsu, put on a new tire. + +"Are you in a 'riksha?" asked Miss Campbell of their deliverer. "We would +be glad if you would let us take you back to Tokyo in the car. My young +cousin is a careful and experienced chauffeur. This is the only accident +of the sort we have ever had and I think it was entirely the fault of the +child." + +"Oh, I am not in the least timid in motor cars and I accept with +pleasure," answered Mme. Fontaine quickly. + +Some twenty minutes later, with Komatsu running ahead to clear the road, +the "Comet" threaded his way at a snail's pace along the Arakawa Ridge. +No doubt his mechanical organism, which Billie had endowed with a soul, +heaved a sigh of relief when they took the road home. + +"Who were the young men with the knives and sword canes, Mme. Fontaine?" +asked Mary on the way back. + +"Oh, they are a group of fanatical young persons opposed to foreigners. +Most of them are descendants of the samurai. They believe in old Japan. +They talk the wildest kind of nonsense, and while their beliefs are +opposed to progress, they represent in Japan what the Nihilists represent +in Russia and the Anarchists and such people in other countries. They +will outgrow it in time. Some of the finest men in Japan once belonged to +these clubs of _soshi_, as they are called. In another generation there +will be very few of them left. In the meantime they are quite dangerous +occasionally. About fifty years ago a band of them attacked the English +Legation at Takanawa and there was a fierce fight. But I feel perfectly +sure that they wouldn't attack people now. Only motor cars and the like." + +"That would have been bad enough," remarked Billie, patting the wheel of +the "Comet." + +Mme. Fontaine smiled pleasantly. + +"After the great excitement may I not have the pleasure of offering you a +reviving cup of tea at my house? It would make me very happy." + +Miss Campbell would have much preferred to go straight home, but to +decline the invitation would have seemed ungracious and she accepted +promptly. + +Along the broad streets of Tokyo, under out-stretched boughs heavy with +blossoms, they rolled, and at last Billie paused as directed at a gate in +a wall behind which was a charming little house, set in the usual +beautiful garden. + +If Mme. Fontaine was fascinating and elegant, so also was her home. The +drawing-room, which seemed to occupy most of the second floor, was +furnished in European fashion with deep chairs and couches, Oriental rugs +and rich hangings. There was a grand piano near the windows, and on the +walls were the rarest and most beautiful Japanese prints. It was a +blending of the East and West and was one of the most artistic and +delightful apartments the girls had ever seen. In the dim shadowy +confines they caught glimpses of teakwood cabinets in which were carved +ivories and pieces of fine porcelain. The girls would have liked well to +linger another hour among all these interesting and strange objects, but +Miss Campbell, for some reason, was in her most conventional mood. While +her manner toward Mme. Fontaine left nothing to be desired and she was +graciousness personified, she cut the call to twenty-five minutes by the +French clock on the mantel, and then go she would. As they were leaving +Mary noticed on a table near the door two splendid swords, one very large +and heavy and one with a double-edged blade of much smaller size. + +"Oh, are these the swords of a samurai warrior?" she demanded, with +excited interest. + +"Yes," answered Mme. Fontaine. "They belonged to my great grandfather." + +Not until they were back in the "Comet" and well on the way home did they +realize the meaning of her words. + +"Then," exclaimed Nancy, "she is half Japanese." + +"And I've invited her to dine the day after tomorrow," Miss Campbell +remarked irrelevantly. + +The adventure on Arakawa Ridge was far-reaching in its results as a +matter of fact, but the most immediate one was a severe punishment +administered by that usually kind and gentle person, Mr. Campbell, on no +less a victim than the "Comet." Just what the punishment was you will +find out when the Motor Maids themselves discover it. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE COMPASSIONATE GOD, JIZU. + + +Miss Campbell was very dubious about having invited Mme. Fontaine to +dine. + +"Of course she was very kind," she remarked, "and we owe her a great +deal, but I wish we could show our appreciation in some other way. We +don't know anything about her: who she is; where she came from; whether +she has any family." + +"But, my dear cousin," said Mr. Campbell, who had wandered about the +world so much that he was accustomed to taking people without any +questions, "what difference does it make? You say she is refined and +well-bred. We know she is kind because of what she did for us. But I will +make some inquiries about her if you like--" + +"I never liked mixed bloods," interrupted Miss Campbell, not listening to +her relation. + +"Everybody has some mixture of bloods," laughed Billie. "Look at +Mary--French and English; look at Elinor--Scotch and Irish." + +"No, no," protested Miss Campbell "Those aren't the kinds of mixtures I +referred to. It's those queer Oriental bloods--yellow people and white +people." + +The others all smiled indulgently. Miss Campbell was just a little +old-fashioned lady with old-fashioned restricted views, they thought. She +was the only one of the motor party who had not fallen under the spell of +Mme. Fontaine, and apparently the only cause for her objection was +because this charming stranger was part Japanese and wrote for the +newspapers. + +That evening Mr. Campbell endeavored to set her fears at rest. + +"I have inquired about your mysterious Mme. Fontaine," he said. "She is a +widow. Her husband was editor of a paper in Shanghai. She herself is a +writer and a newspaper correspondent. She has written several novels +published in Shanghai, and she is generally considered to be a very +bright person. She has been living in Tokyo not quite a year and goes out +very little." + +This fragment of her history only seemed to deepen the atmosphere of +romance which enveloped the "Widow of Shanghai," as Mr. Campbell would +call her, and the Motor Maids rather eagerly awaited the evening when she +was to dine with them. + +In the meantime, they were to receive a ceremonious call from the family +of Yoritomo Ito, and he himself was to act as interpreter for the three +Japanese ladies, his mother, his aunt and his sister. They appeared one +afternoon in two jinrikshas and such a bowing and smiling was never seen +before. The day had been sultry and hot and tea was served in the +summer-house in the garden by the little maids attached to the household. +Miss Campbell was sorry that the pretty Onoye, flower of the staff, did +not appear. However, these things were all left to O'Haru, and she said +nothing. + +Yoritomo's sister, O'Kami San (that is to say: the honorable Miss Kami), +spoke a very little English. This fact she had bashfully hidden from the +girls on the occasion of their first meeting. But when Billie, through +Yoritomo, asked his sister to walk in the garden, she answered herself: + +"Receive thanks. Honorable walk will confer pleasure." + +Assuredly the Japanese-English dictionaries and phrase books must all use +the most stilted and ceremonious English words, so Billie thought. + +"'Receive thanks and confer pleasure!' How absurd!" + +But then Billie did not realize that the Japanese language abounds in +such ceremonious words and high-sounding phrases and, in order to keep +the spirit of the original, translations are generally literal. + +Off they trooped down a garden path, followed by the reproachful eyes of +Miss Helen Campbell, who found it a decided strain on the nerves to keep +a second-hand conversation going. Nancy lingered behind and helped her +out by giving Yoritomo an account of their accident on Arakawa Ridge. +This he immediately passed on to his mother and aunt. + +In the meantime, O'Kami San, trotting along beside Billie, with Mary and +Elinor following behind, might have just stepped out of a Japanese fan. +She was so entirely unreal and cunning that the girls had no eyes for the +rosy rain of cherry blossoms dropping from the trees, nor the lovely +vista of garden with its flaming bushes of azaleas and cool green clumps +of ferns. Out of compliment to the season O'Kami San wore a robe of +delicate pink embroidered all over with sprays of cherry blossoms in +deeper shades. Her obi, or sash, was of pale green silk. Her hair was +elaborately pompadoured and drawn up in the back into a large glossy roll +held in place with tortoise shell pins. No doubt it had taken hours to +arrange; two, at the very least. + +Billie patted her own smooth rolls serenely. + +"Suppose I had to sleep with my neck on a little wooden bench every night +to preserve my _coiffure_," she thought. "I think I'd just lay my head +on the executioner's block and say, 'Strike it off. It's not worth the +trouble.'" + +"Think garden pretty, O'Kami San?" began Mary, whose method of talking +with the Japanese was to preserve only the framework of a sentence and +drop all articles and small words. + +"Much pretty. Me--like honorable garden and beautiful American ladee," +answered O'Kami, speaking slowly and distinctly. + +English pronunciation never seemed to trouble the Japanese. It was only +choice of words and construction. + +"What do you do all day, O'Kami San?" asked Elinor. + +"Much honorable work," answered the Japanese girl. "Cook-ing; sew-ing"; +she pointed to her kimono; "mu-seek; book-stu-dee. Ah, much work to +become wife." + +"You are not thinking of marrying, surely? Your brother says you are only +sixteen," protested Mary. + +O'Kami nodded her head and smiled. + +"Arrange all the day before to this." + +"Do you love him?" asked Mary, in an awed tone of voice. + +O'Kami looked puzzled. The word "love" she had not learned. + +"O'Kami much happy. Honorable mother of husband not any more. Gone." She +pointed up. + +"Goodness!" broke in Elinor. "She means that there will be no +mother-in-law, so the marriage is sure to be a happy one. What a +mother-in-law ridden place this country is!" + +She spoke too rapidly for the Japanese girl to grasp the meaning of any +word except "mother-in-law." + +"Mother-in-law," she repeated slowly. "Little Japanese girl much afraid +to great mother-in-law." + +The girls laughed and O'Kami's silvery note mingled with theirs. + +"I found something quite new and interesting in the garden the other +day," observed Mary. "Or rather not quite new, but quite old. Who wants +to see it?" + +"Lead on, Macduff," ordered Billie. + +"It's an old shrine," continued Mary. "Komatsu says it's to the +Compassionate God, Jizu. He's sitting cross-legged in a little niche in +the hillside below the bridge and he has a beautiful frame of clematis +vines around him. I think he's delightful." + +O'Kami San was unable to grasp the meaning of this rapid fire of words, +at least it seemed to her to be a rapid fire. Most people are under the +impression that a foreign language is spoken faster than their own. But +she trotted along beside the others, always with the same polite, +intelligent smile, as if she understood every word. + +Having crossed the bridge, they followed a narrow path through a grove of +pine trees. The path took an unexpected curve to the right and led them +around the side of a grassy embankment under which sat the stone image of +the Compassionate God, Jizu. The inscrutable smile of the nation hovered +on the lips of the ancient idol, and his compassionate stone eyes looked +out upon the green little world around him with a gentle tolerance. Time +and tempests had worn away his arms and softened the outlines of his +stone countenance. He was indeed a graven image of kindly mien and of a +certain majesty of expression. + +But there was, another visitor at the shrine of the Compassionate God. +She lay flat on her face in a tumbled, many-colored little heap before +the gray old image at whose feet was her offering: a pitiful little bunch +of wild roses. She had been sobbing. It was easy to tell. The storm of +weeping had passed now and she lay quite still, but at intervals there +was that catch in the breath which follows a period of bitter crying. + +The three American girls paused at the edge of the miniature lawn about +the shrine and exchanged embarrassed glances. O'Kami Sail drew back a +step or two. It was their intention to creep away as noiselessly as +possible and leave the unhappy worshiper at the shrine none the wiser +that she had been observed by profane, foreign eyes. But at this moment a +temple bell not far off sent out a clear silver note in the stillness. +The bright-colored heap stirred into life and the sorrowful worshiper +rose and looked about her bewildered. + +It was Onoye, as they had suspected, and Mary recalled that it was the +second time she had seen the Japanese girl crying miserably when she +thought she was alone. + +Onoye tried to smile when she saw the three young ladies of the house +looking at her with great concern. She ran to Billie and fell on her +knees. + +"Forgive, gracious lady," she said, endeavoring to compose her expression +to its usual tranquility. + +"Why, you poor dear, what have I to forgive?" exclaimed Billie, trying to +raise Onoye to her feet. + +"Why are you so unhappy, Onoye? Is there anything we can do for you?" +asked Elinor. + +"Do tell us and let us help you," put in Mary. + +But Onoye was silent. + +"O'Kami San, will you not ask her?" said Billie. "Perhaps she would tell +you in Japanese when she can't in English." + +At the words "O'Kami San," Onoye jumped to her feet in subdued +excitement. + +"O'Kami San," she repeated. + +The two Japanese girls confronted each other. They spoke in low, rapid +voices and their faces were so calm and unemotional they might have been +two Japanese dolls wound tip to move the lips and occasionally make a +slight gesture with one hand. Presently Onoye slipped from her _obi_ a +small package done up in crêpe paper and gave it to O'Kami, who concealed +it in the voluminous folds of her own kimono. They exchanged low, +ceremonious bows and Onoye hurried away, while O'Kami turned to the +mystified young-Americans with an apologetic smile. + +"Receive excuses and pardon grant," she said. + +Billie made a superhuman effort not to laugh, while Mary stooped to break +off a spray of azaleas and Elinor examined intently a stunted pine tree +planted in a big green jar near the path. + +Japanese gardeners are very fond of cultivating these dwarf trees. Some +of the tiniest are said to be of great age. The arrested development +contorts the venerable branches into strange twisted forms but they put +forth blossoms and foliage with systematic dignity. + +"What is the matter with our little maid? Were you able to find out?" +Billie asked the visitor. + +But O'Kami San was not inclined to be communicative, and they were +obliged to return to the summer-house with their curiosity entirely +unsatisfied. In the meantime, Miss Campbell and Nancy were in a painful +state of embarrassment about what to say next. The conversation had come +to a dead stop, while Miss Campbell, with a flushed face, raised her eyes +to heaven with a prayerful look and Nancy endeavored to say a few words +about the weather. Yoritomo was inclined to be silent, too. He kept his +eyes on the floor and only raised them to transmit Miss Campbell's +remarks to his mother and aunt. + +"Will you ask your mother, Mr. Ito, if--she suffers from rheumatism from +sitting on the floor so much?" asked Miss Campbell, groaning mentally and +sending up a prayer that the visitors would see fit to bring the visit to +an immediate end. + +There was a short colloquy between mother and son, during which Mme. Ito +smiled blandly and waved her fan to and fro. + +"No, Madam, my mother does not have that complaint," answered her son in +precise English. + +Miss Campbell flashed a glance of black reproach at Nancy, as much as to +say: + +"It's your turn now, ungrateful girl. Speak, for heaven's sake." + +Nancy exchanged a hopeless glance with the distracted lady. Then she +remarked: + +"Mr. Ito, is your aunt married?" + +Yoritomo smiled broadly. + +"She is a widow," he replied. "In Japan all widows cut their hair short." + +"But what a strange custom," objected Nancy. "That would keep them from +ever marrying a second time. I'm sure I should never cut my hair if my +husband died. I should use hair tonic to make it grow longer and +thicker." + +Yoritomo laughed outright and communicated Nancy's views to his +relatives. They laughed, too, and contemplated her knot of chestnut curls +with much admiration. + +There came another uncomfortable pause. Two simultaneous winged prayers +went up into the ether and relief was granted in an unexpected and +startling guise. Billie and her friends had just returned and tea and +refreshments of a light volatile nature were being passed for the fourth +time, by order of Miss Campbell. The visitors were elaborately declining +all further nourishment when Nancy saw an arm raised from behind a thick +clump of shrubbery near the summer-house. It was clothed in nondescript +brown and long fingers clutched a stone. The arm gave a swift circular +movement, as if to gain impetus. Then it went backward with a movement of +a pitcher about to throw a ball. + +"Yoritomo," shrieked Nancy, for the stone seemed to be aimed straight at +his head. + +In the fraction of an instant the young Japanese had ducked and the stone +had crashed into the summer-house and fallen at his feet, making a dent +in the floor. + +Undoubtedly Nancy had saved his life. + +"Oh, oh, oh!" cried Miss Campbell, but Mme. Ito and her sister and +daughter were perfectly calm and silent, as were also the Japanese maids, +gathered in a frightened group behind them. + +"I never saw people take on so little," Miss Campbell observed later, +describing the incident to her cousin. + +Nancy wept softly. It was never very difficult for her to weep and she +emerged from one of these gentle paroxysms--even as the flowers after +a summer rain--a little dewy but refreshed. + +Yoritomo vaulted over the rail of the summer-house and ran in the +direction of the group of shrubbery. But, of course, no one was there. +Who could expect an assassin to wait and be caught? + +"I think we had better get into the house at once," ordered Miss +Campbell, and taking Mme. Ito's arm, she hurried the little lady up the +path, calling to the others to follow. Once in the drawing-room, all the +windows were ordered closed and the doors locked, while Komatsu was sent +to search the premises. + +"What is your opinion, Mr. Ito?" asked Billie. "Was it an enemy of yours +or some one who wanted to exterminate us because we are foreigners?" + +But Yoritomo could not enlighten her. + +"I cannot say," was all they could get out of him. + +He was only deeply chagrined, as was his mother, that the American ladies +should have been subjected to such treatment in Japan. + +The Campbell party finally arrived at the conclusion that it was an +insane person, and Mr. Campbell immediately engaged a day and night +watchman and reported the matter to the police. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +A BIRTHDAY PARTY. + + +It so happened that the dinner to Mme. Fontaine became a triple +celebration. Billie recalled that it was her father's birthday, for one +thing. + +"He's forgotten it himself," she said. "He never did remember that he was +entitled to a birthday." + +Furthermore, it was the occasion always of great rejoicing in Japan, +being the fifth day of the fifth month on which the Boys' Festival--_O +Sekku_, as it is called there--is celebrated. + +"Think of my sweet old boy being born on this lucky day!" cried Billie. +"Why can't we give him a real Japanese surprise party, Cousin Helen, and +invite those nice men to come? Mr. Ito will tell us what to do." + +When Mr. Campbell departed for Tokyo that lovely morning on the fifth of +May he had no idea of the plans that were hatching in his home. Scarcely +had his 'riksha disappeared down the road, when the entire household +became actively busy. Komatsu made a hurried visit to town, bearing notes +of invitation to the few acquaintances of the Campbells and returned +later in the day accompanied by two men carrying large bales on their +backs. That evening when the master of the house returned in time to +dress for dinner he scarcely recognized his abode, which had been +decorated in a most extraordinary manner. + +Across the front of the house on long poles were at least six enormous +paper carp, which rose and fell and became realistically inflated with +every passing breeze. Very fantastic they appeared with their gaping +mouths, their enormous bulging eyes and fins and their scales shining in +the sunlight. + +The carp, it must be known, is the sacred emblem of the male child in +Japan. It also signifies courage, endurance and other admirable though +not exclusively masculine qualities. This valiant fish can accomplish the +difficult feat of swimming up the rapids, even as a brave youth must +conquer difficulties and surmount obstacles. His name is synonymous with +perseverance and fortitude. The fifth of May is every boy's birthday in +Japan, no matter what his real birthday is, and on that day a feast is +kept in every home, rich or poor, where there is a son. + +"I suppose, because we have only one son in our house, we are entitled to +only one carp," observed Billie, "but I think our nice old boy is good +enough for us to string up twenty carp." + +This statement was unanimously acceded to by all persons connected with +the feast. + +All the afternoon the girls had worked over the decorations. The garden +was strung with lanterns much more beautiful and artistic in design than +any that ever reach America; and the house, under the supervision of +Onoye and her mother, was made beautiful with the splendid iris in all +its varying shades from deep purple to pale mauve. Among their long, +slender, delicate leaves the flowers seemed to be growing in the shallow +dishes in which devices of soft lead held them in place. + +"Are we entertaining a family of sons this evening or have we just +decided to celebrate whether we have sons or not?" asked Mr. Campbell, +greeting his daughter on the piazza. + +"We are entertaining for our only son, the most promising and delightful +young man in the entire universe," answered Billie, kissing him. + +"I always thought you were a singularly fortunate young man, Duncan," +remarked Miss Campbell, "but I shall no longer attribute it entirely to +industry, intelligence and good looks." + +"What's the reason, then, Cousin Helen?" asked Mr. Campbell, laughing. + +"Why, have you forgotten, boy, that this is your birthday? Forty-five +years old, and you don't remember it!" + +"I did forget it," said Mr. Campbell, "but I don't see where the luck +comes in." + +They explained the meaning of the Boys' Festival and the lucky +coincidence that had brought him into the world on that auspicious day. + +"Go in now and get dressed, for the Widow of Shanghai will be arriving +pretty soon and other company besides," ordered Billie. + +The girls had dressed early and their pretty summer frocks gleamed softly +against the green of the shrubbery as they flitted about the garden and +the lawn in the twilight. Nancy was wearing her first train that night; +it was only a wee bit of a train, nothing regal and sweeping; but it gave +her a secret thrill to throw it over one arm, displaying her lace trimmed +petticoat underneath, while she tripped along the garden path. The dress +was of pink batiste and delicate lace, and from the round neck her throat +rose soft and white like a column. She was the first of the four friends +to wear a train. Even Elinor, tall and slender in her white lingerie +frock, had not aspired to that dignity. Billie was wearing her best blue +mulle that became her mightily because it was near the shade of her +blue-gray eyes, and little Mary was dressed in one of the dainty muslin +frocks that her mother excelled in making. + +"They are no longer little girls," thought Miss Campbell, rather sadly, +it must be confessed. She was sitting in a long-chair on the piazza +watching her four charges flit about the lawn. "They are almost young +ladies now, and how pretty they are, too; each is so different from the +other and each charming in her own way. Billie, I think, is too much of a +tomboy to worry about yet. Elinor is far too dignified; Mary is too shy. +But I feel I shall have to keep a sharp eye on Nancy. Those blue eyes of +hers are simply wells of coquetry. I believe the child would flirt with a +stone. I doubt if half the time she realizes herself how eloquent she can +make them. Little mischief!" + +The little lady smiled indulgently, recalling her own blue eyes and the +mischief they had been known to stir up. + +"And now this Widow from Shanghai comes and breaks in on us," her +thoughts proceeded irrelevantly. "I don't in the least wish to cultivate +her friendship, but I know her kind. Once she gets her foot in the door +there'll be no shaking her off." + +As a matter of fact, Miss Helen Campbell, spinster, was never very +enthusiastic about widows. + +"I don't care for them," she used to say. "They are a knowing, designing +lot." + +Once when she was asked by a missionary society in West Haven to +contribute to a fund for the widows in India, to induce them not to mount +their husbands' funeral pyres and permit themselves to be consumed by +mortuary flames, Miss Campbell indignantly refused. + +"I am sure, if they are so foolish, that's much the best place for them," +she announced. "I prefer to give my money for more worthy causes." + +And now a widow, who, far from having mounted any funeral pyre, appeared +to enjoy life immensely, had placed them under obligations. + +"She is a slant-eyed widow with a yellow skin," Miss Campbell thought +uncharitably, "and her hair that ought to be dark is light. Of course +that isn't her fault and neither is her peculiar complexion nor her slant +eyes, but I do wish she were one thing or the other and not half and +half." + +Of course all these inhospitable and unfriendly notions the little lady +was careful to keep to herself. When presently the Widow of Shanghai +rode up in a 'riksha and was helped to alight by three maids at once, +Miss Campbell was all graciousness and affability. + +Mme. Fontaine wore a beautiful white embroidered crêpe dinner dress. Her +figure was so slender Miss Campbell feared it might sway and bend with +the least breath of wind. Her curious fluffy hair was arranged on top of +her head and her only ornament was a string of small pearls wound twice +around her throat. They were very beautiful pearls, each one perfect to +the casual eye. + +"But then, who can tell the real from the unreal nowadays," thought Miss +Campbell, regarding the jewels critically. "They might be imitation, +every one of them." + +"Reggie" Carlton, as he came to be known to the girls, and Nicholas Grimm +soon followed the widow, and after them came Mr. Buxton. Yoritomo could +not appear that evening, because of the celebration in his own home where +he must remain and share in the family feast. + +Mme. Fontaine was reserved almost to the point of shyness with the four +men of the party, whom she now met for the first time. But she drew the +girls around her by a kind of irresistible attraction. Billie found +herself talking as freely as she talked with her three friends. The widow +had a curiously sympathetic way of listening that provoked confidences. +There was a good deal of friendly rivalry among the Motor Maids for her +society. They took turns sitting by her side during the half hour before +dinner was announced; but Nancy felt a certain superiority over the +others. Was she not bound by a secret tie to this fascinating person +because of their chance meeting in the garden in the rain? + +"These four girls of mine seem to have acquired a monopoly over you, Mme. +Fontaine," observed Mr. Campbell, just returned from a short conference +with Mr. Buxton in the library. "They don't give the rest of us half a +chance. They have fenced you around as if you were a sacred image of +Buddha." + +"I feel that they have paid me a great compliment," answered the widow, +smiling, "To a lonely woman the friendship of four charming young girls +is very sweet." + +Mr. Campbell somehow felt extremely sorry for this lonely lady. Mr. +Buxton also was touched with commiseration, and the younger men, too, +were moved to cast glances of sympathy in her direction. + +For the first time in her life Miss Campbell experienced the same +sensation a young girl feels when she is left sitting against the wall at +a dance while her friends are being whirled about. At first she thought +the sensation was a touch of indigestion which frequently brings with it, +its near relative, depression. But when the circle closed in around the +Widow of Shanghai, and Helen Campbell, spinster, of America, was left +sitting quite alone to contemplate the view, she decided that it was not +indigestion nor any of its ramifications that ailed her. What the +sensation was she could not name, but she felt a profound and entirely +human irritation with the Widow of Shanghai and her ingratiating methods. + +Fortunately dinner was announced and on the arm of Mr. Buxton she led the +way to the dining room with the air of an exiled queen. + +Billie was very anxious about the success of her father's birthday +dinner. She had herself assisted in decorating the table, and had +insisted on placing a crystal bowl of goldfish in the center, although +O'Haru had told her that goldfish were not carp, and therefore had no +significance whatever with the day. + +However, Onoye had caught the idea at once and had carried it out +charmingly. Hiding behind the screen, where she could see without being +seen, her heart warmed with joy when she heard the exclamations of the +guests. The center of the table was arranged to resemble a little lake. +The shallow bowl of goldfish was placed on a flat round mirror, on the +edge of which nodded groups of iris and their sword-like leaves planted +in shallow green dishes; pebbles and water grasses hid the perforations +which held them in place. Two little boats sailed on the lake, and at one +side was a miniature grotto formed of rocks and moss, and spanned by a +little bridge. + +"Isn't it cunning?" asked Billie proudly, "and isn't Onoye clever to have +carried out the scheme so perfectly?" + +"She is, indeed," assented Miss Campbell, feeling suddenly glad to praise +some one to counteract the unusual sensations that had possessed her a +moment before. + +"It is a part of every Japanese girl's education to learn the art of +arranging flowers," said Mme. Fontaine. "She is taught that, just as +girls in other countries are taught music and languages. It often takes +several hours to arrange a group of flowers. The object is, you see, to +make them look as natural as possible in the vase." + +"It is a pretty accomplishment," said Miss Campbell, "but I doubt if any +American girl would have the patience to learn it. Can you imagine, +Billie, spending two hours arranging three lilies in a bowl to make them +look as if they had grown there?" + +"No, I can't," laughed Billie, "but I have spent two hours many times on +my back under the 'Comet' trying to find a loose screw." + +"If I had a wife--" here Nicholas remarked and paused because everybody +laughed. + +"Well, if you had one, what would you do with her? Beat her?" asked Mr. +Buxton. + +"Do I look like a wife beater?" demanded Nicholas indignantly. "No. I was +going to say I'd rather she would know about loose screws in machinery +than how to arrange flowers." + +"You speak as if marriage was one long motor trip, my boy," observed Mr. +Campbell. + +"And, surely," put in Miss Campbell, "if the machinery broke down, you +wouldn't compel your wife to repair it?" + +"I am afraid very few girls would be eligible for your wife, Mr. Grimm," +remarked Mme. Fontaine. + +As for Billie, she said nothing at all, but glanced down at her plate, +because Nicholas looked straight at her and then burst out with: + +"Don't jump on me, everybody, with both feet. I only meant that it's a +jolly fine girl who can--er--who--knows--" + +He broke down in confusion. + +"You mean that a young lady chauffeur would make an excellent wife?" +laughed Mr. Campbell. + +"Spare his blushes," put in Reggie, and then the talk shifted to other +subjects. + +It is customary in Japan on the day of the Boys' Festival to tell stories +of the heroes of the country, and after dinner when they had gathered in +the lantern-hung summer-house for coffee, Mme. Fontaine, urged by the +girls, recounted an incident in the life of Yamato, or O'Osu, as he was +then known. He was the son of the Emperor Keiko, and when a mere slip of +a boy was sent by his father to slay two fierce robbers who had been +spreading terror through the country. O'Osu gladly undertook the affair +and since the outlaws were giants and he just a boy, he devised a cunning +scheme to outwit the terrible brigands. He was slender and small and his +hair still long, so that in the gorgeous clothes of a dancing girl no one +would ever have guessed he was a brave and reckless young prince. + +One night when the robbers were feasting in their cave after pillaging +the country for miles around, the beautiful dancing girl appeared before +them like a vision. She charmed them with her songs and dances and then +suddenly she whipped out a sharp sword and slew the nearest robber. As +the other fled terror-stricken to the entrance of the cave, she thrust +him in the back and he fell to the ground. + +"'Pause, oh Prince, for prince thou surely art,' he gasped. 'But why hast +thou done this deed?' + +"And the prince, standing over him with the dripping sword, said: + +"'I am O'Osu, messenger of the Emperor and avenger of evil.' + +"'Then,' said the dying robber, 'thou shalt have a new name. Until this +hour my brother and I have been called the bravest men in the West. To +thee, august boy, I bequeath the title. Let men call thee the bravest in +Yamato.' + +"From that day O'Osu was called 'Yamato Take,' and never did he wrong the +name." + +Mary sighed when Mme. Fontaine had finished the story. She yearned for +the gift of language and the power to chain the attention of a circle of +people. How had she done it, this mysterious foreigner who could handle +the English language even better than English people? Her words were +simple and gestures she used almost none. It was her voice, Mary thought. +There was an undercurrent of dramatic power in it, like a subterranean +river. It could only be guessed at, but it was there, powerful and deep. +Even Miss Campbell, unreasonably prejudiced, felt the undercurrent. + +"That is a charming story," she observed. "I suppose Japan is filled with +many romantic stories of that sort." + +"Hundreds of them," answered the widow. "Volumes and volumes could be +written about them and still the half not be told." + +"And you know many of them, I suppose?" asked Billie. + +"Oh, yes. One could not live in Japan without studying her history, so +filled with romances and legends of heroic deeds. It is fascinating, I +assure you, and furnishes no end of subjects for decorations from a +picture on a fan to the masterpiece of a great artist." + +There was a moment's silence in the company of which Mme. Fontaine +certainly seemed the center. She looked suddenly very Japanese. Against +the white of her dress her soft skin gleamed like polished old ivory. Her +eyes were darker and more noticeably slanting than ever before. If she +only had had dark hair! What country had given her those strangely +incongruous locks? + +And now it was proposed that they should wander in the garden, and off +they started by various paths and bypaths all leading eventually to the +little curved bridge at the far end, where Nancy had hung two large +yellow lanterns on the ends of supple willow wands. + +The Widow of Shanghai walked between Billie and Mr. Campbell, but she had +little to say. The moon, swinging over them like another yellow lantern, +had glorified the garden into a little earthly paradise. It seemed +somehow inappropriate to speak above a whisper in the midst of so much +exquisite beauty. The wisteria had opened up during the day and now hung +in magnificent purple clusters from an arbor across the main walk. + +From the servants' quarters came the tinkle of the samisen, and a breeze +laden with the scent of flowers brought with it also the distant sound of +voices and laughter. + +Nicholas Grimm had joined Billie, and the two young people now lingered +in the arbor. In the curve of a path they caught an occasional glimpse +of a white dress. The music of Nancy's laugh came to them mingled with +Mary's high, sweet note. Gradually the voices died away. The garden +seemed to be under a spell. Billie, sitting beside Nicholas in the arbor, +waited breathlessly. Then at last in the stillness there burst forth such +a stream of full-throated singing as had never been heard. + +"It's a nightingale," whispered Nicholas. + +Billie felt that she would like very much to cry. Nothing had ever +stirred her as this flood of melody which seemed to have been turned on +for their especial benefit. While they listened, there came the sound of +three pistol shots in quick succession and a cry. Was it an English cry +for help? + +Instantly Nicholas was on his feet. + +"You had better stay here," he said. "I'll run and see what has +happened." + +Before Billie could reply, Nancy dashed up. + +"We are all to go into the house," she said. "Someone has shot a pistol +in the far end of the garden. The men have gone down there." + +Billie considered the situation for a moment. Certainly neither her +father nor his three guests were armed. Would it not be a good precaution +to go to the library and get her father's pistol? It was merely an +impulse, and she could hardly explain it later, but she obeyed it. + +"It's nothing serious, Mr. Buxton says. Probably someone who has been +celebrating has wandered into the garden, but we had better wait for +them in the house," Billie heard Miss Campbell remark, as she ran along +the path to the side entrance. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +IN THE DARK. + + +The impulse that had moved Billie to run ahead of her friends and dash +into the library for her father's pistol carried her so fast, indeed, +that she was in the room with the door closed behind her before she +realized what she was doing. It was perfectly dark there. Not even the +brilliant moonlight outside penetrated through the heavy curtains drawn +for the night. + +"There are always matches on the desk," she thought, remembering that her +father usually smoked while he worked over his papers. + +With her hand still on the doorknob she turned and faced the desk without +moving a step. Why was she so frightened? It was absurd. Her father would +be ashamed of her for being afraid of the dark. Giving herself a little +impatient shake, she took two steps in front of her, groping with her +hands like a blind person for obstacles in the way. + +She stopped short and listened. Every nerve in her body was tingling and +she felt she was trembling. For half a minute she hardly breathed. Then +she resolutely began her march in the dark. At last the desk was reached +and her hand was on the green china match holder. She stood for a moment +irresolute. The pistol was in the lower left-hand desk drawer. She knew +exactly where it was. Her father had shown it to her only the other day. + +"I think you had better know where I keep it," he had said, "not that you +will ever need to use it, I hope, because either Komatsu or I shall +always be here to protect you, but just as a matter of precaution." + +Again she reached for the match holder, but it was empty. Softly opening +the drawer, she felt in the back until her fingers grasped the pistol. +Carefully she drew it out and transferred it from her right hand to her +left. There was an unacknowledged relief in Billie's heart that there +were no matches. She felt she would rather get out of the library in the +dark than make any investigations with a match. Once in the hall she +would decide what to do. + +She was morally certain now that someone else was in the room. She could +see nothing, hear nothing, but in the dark she felt the presence of +another human being. She recalled Nancy's experience. + +"Perhaps it wasn't her imagination, after all," she thought. + +The thing was to get back to the door and out of it. Billie wished with +all her soul she had never come in at all. It had been a reckless, silly +notion. Why should her father need a pistol? After all, it was just some +roisterer on his way home from the festival. She had heard that _sake_, +the Japanese brandy, made the men who drank it wild, no doubt wild enough +to shoot off a pistol in the suburbs where there were no policemen about +to interfere. + +And all because she had heard this pistol shot, she had obeyed a foolish +impulse to find her father's pistol. How reckless! How foolhardy! How +stupid! Because, to come right down to a fine point, here she was shut up +in a perfectly huge room, as black as the pit, with--someone else! + +Never in all her experience had Billie been so frightened. Her knees +knocked together and her head was quite giddy as she made her way +unsteadily toward the door, still with the pistol in her left hand. + +But she seemed to have lost all sense of direction. Groping with her +right hand, she encountered a chair. There had been no chairs in the +way before,--was it an hour ago or only a minute? + +It would be better to get to the wall and feel her way along the shelves +until she reached the door. + +Why was she so panic-stricken? After all was she so sure about that other +person crouching somewhere--anywhere? + +Then the thing happened that she had known was going to happen all the +time. + +Reaching out in the dark, she encountered an arm. Instantly her right +hand was seized in a grip of steel. There was a struggle. She was +thrown to the floor; a shot; a cry--was it her own or another person's +voice? Then absolute silence. + +When Billie came back to consciousness, she was lying on a couch in the +library. Miss Helen was kneeling beside her with the smelling salts. +Mary was bathing her forehead with cold water and her father was chafing +her wrists and saying in a low voice: + +"You are not hurt, are you, Billie-girl? There, speak to father. Are you +all right?" + +There seemed to be a great many other people scattered about the room, +the guests and the servants and her own particular friends leaning over +her anxiously. + +"I hope I didn't kill him?" she said weakly. + +Mr. Campbell could not refrain from smiling. + +"You are just a little girl after all, Billie," he said. "No, you didn't +kill him, but you hit him. Look at that." He pointed to some blood spots +on the rug. "You certainly winged him, whoever he was. In some way, he +escaped. I don't know how, because we were in the hall when the shot was +fired and the windows are still locked. He may have got out through the +servants' quarters but that would have been difficult, too, without +being seen." + +Billie sat up. + +"I'm all right now," she said. "It was only fright because I lost my way +in the dark and couldn't find the door, and it was so ghastly running +into another person in the blackness like that. Father, I wish you would +tell them not to put out the lights in this room so early. It's the +second time it's happened now." + +"O'Haru, you hear what the lady says," said Mr. Campbell half humorously. + +Billie, knowing her father as she did, was suddenly aware that he was +trying to make light of the affair for the benefit of the others in the +room. That the episode was far more serious than he cared to admit, she +knew perfectly well. + +O'Haru left the doorway where she had been standing and came over to the +group by the couch. + +"What was the honorable wish of the young lady?" + +"Not to have the lights in the library put out so early in the evening. +To wait until bedtime at least." + +O'Haru disliked to contradict, but the august young lady was honorably +mistaken. The lights had never been put out by any servant attached to +the household. She herself, or her daughter, attended to that after the +honorable family had retired for the night. + +"Never mind," said Mr. Campbell in a soothing voice, indicating to Billie +by a slight shake of the head that he would be glad if she would let the +matter drop. Billie nodded. There was perfect understanding between the +father and the daughter. + +"How do you feel now, Miss Billie?" asked Nicholas Grimm coming to the +foot of the couch. + +"I'm all right again. I am ashamed of having been such a coward. If it +had been daylight I shouldn't have been half so frightened." + +"I feel that it was all my fault for running off and leaving you alone. I +should have seen you to the house at least." + +"Nonsense," said Billie. "That wouldn't have altered matters in the +least. I would have come back here just the same for the pistol. You see +I had a feeling that Papa might need it. Besides, we were all alone here. +There were no men--" + +"I am only glad it was someone else that was shot and not you, my darling +child," broke in Miss Campbell tremulously. "Duncan, I do wish you +wouldn't keep pistols lying around the house. They are so dangerous." + +"But I don't, Cousin. It was carefully stored in the back compartment of +a bottom desk drawer. If this reckless young relative of ours would go +and dig it out, I'm sure it's not my fault." + +"I'm sure I can't imagine why you treat the matter as such a joke," Miss +Campbell was saying, when Mme. Fontaine swept into the room. + +Her face was whiter than the long white wrap that enveloped her. + +"I am so glad you were not injured," she said standing beside Billie. + +"You must thank Mme. Fontaine, Billie. It was she who found you first. +The rest of us were not certain in which room the shot was fired. I +thought it was in the kitchen." + +"Oh," said Billie, turning to the widow. "Were you the first person on +the scene? You couldn't have seen much, it was so dark. How did you know +I was here? I don't suppose the robber made any noise." + +"It was very dark. I should not have known, if--if I had not smelt the +smoke of the powder." + +"I thought perhaps you were going to say you heard the robber groan," +went on Billie. "You see I hit him. I think I must have a pretty good +natural aim to shoot with the left hand in the dark and not fire wide of +the mark. But I don't think he was very badly hurt. He got away so fast. +I just winged him, I suppose." + +"How do you know you shot him?" asked Mme. Fontaine. + +Miss Helen pointed dramatically to the blood stains on the floor. + +Suddenly the widow's lips turned quite white and a blue line appeared +around her mouth. She swayed slightly and Mr. Campbell caught her. Billie +was on her feet in a moment and they laid her on the couch. + +"Unfasten her wrap," ordered Miss Campbell. + +"No, no," said Mme. Fontaine in a very weak, thin voice. "The sight of +blood--" she closed her eyes. "I shall be all right in a moment." Beads +of perspiration appeared on her forehead and she shivered with a chill. + +"I think Mme. Fontaine had better stay here to-night. She's too ill to +get back to town," said Mr. Campbell. + +"Oh, do," echoed the girls, and Miss Campbell added hospitably: + +"We shall be so glad." + +"I am quite well now," said the widow rising unsteadily to her feet. "You +will forgive me, I hope. It is a faintness that comes to me at the sight +of blood. Will you call my 'riksha now, Mr. Campbell? I must be going. I +won't try to shake hands," she added, reaching the door. "I am still so +light in the head, I am afraid of the effort. But I want to thank you for +a delightful evening. I am only sorry it ended so disastrously." + +Making a ceremonious Oriental bow to Miss Campbell and smiling and +nodding to the others, she left the room followed by Mr. Campbell and +the four girls. + +"No one has told me yet what the shots were in the garden," announced +Billie after the widow had departed. + +"There was nothing to tell. We never found anything at all," answered +Nicholas. + +The next morning Mr. Campbell engaged another night watchman. His duty +was to patrol the inside of the house, making his rounds every hour +through the halls and living rooms. Between times he sat in the library. + + + + +CHAPTER XL + +THE COMET DISGUISED. + + +"Where is Onoye, O'Haru?" Miss Campbell asked, a few days after the +excitement in the library. + +"Honorable Madam, Onoye much business." + +To Miss Campbell, a seasoned housekeeper, this reply seemed a little +irregular. + +"What kind of business, O'Haru?" she demanded rather severely. + +O'Haru looked amiably sad. It is true that Onoye was on the pay roll of +the household servants, but then, did not her mother do work for two when +Onoye was not actively engaged? The Japanese reasons thus: if the work is +done properly, it is of no consequence who does it. Certainly the +machinery of the household moved on without a hitch. There was no cause +for complaint, but it seemed to Miss Campbell that if Onoye received +wages she should appear about the house. Her position, which was +practically that of ladies' maid, had been filled by one of the other +small maids while O'Haru had covered up that vacancy by her own redoubled +labors. + +"Will you send Onoye to me, please," ordered Miss Campbell. "I have some +sewing for her to do." + +Poor O'Haru bowed. Her face looked wan and sad and it seemed to the Motor +Maids that Miss Campbell might not have been so severe; but as a +housekeeper, that small, gentle lady was a disciplinarian. + +They waited with some curiosity for Onoye to appear. In five minutes +O'Sudzu, one of the other maids, stood framed in the doorway like a +Japanese souvenir post card life size. She bowed low and entered the room +timidly. + +"But I sent for Onoye," exclaimed Miss Campbell. + +O'Sudzu only smiled. She spoke no English. + +"Onoye. Wish Onoye," repeated Miss Campbell. She pointed to the door. + +O'Sudzu departed. + +O'Matsu appeared next, and after O'Matsu came O'Kiku, who was followed +presently by Masako, until these successive apparitions of Japanese maids +became positively bewildering. The girls were consumed with the giggles +and Miss Campbell was scarcely able to maintain a serious expression. + +"No, no!" she would say each time, "Onoye! Wish Onoye!" + +At last O'Haru appeared once more. + +"August one, much kindness bestow. O'Haru make sewing." + +"Where is Onoye? Where is your daughter?" demanded Miss Campbell. + +O'Haru on her knees hung her head humbly. + +"I think I know what's the matter," put in Mary. "Onoye is ill. I am sure +it must be that." + +"Is there anything the matter with Onoye?" asked Miss Campbell, but +apparently O'Haru's English did not extend so far. + +"Much sickness?" asked Billie. + +O'Haru's head sank lower and lower. + +"Poor thing," exclaimed Mary. "Onoye is ill, Miss Campbell, and O'Haru is +afraid to say so." + +"You must not be afraid, O'Haru. If little daughter ill, we take care of +her. Bring doctor. See?" + +"No, no, Onoye better. Onoye soon well," said the woman in a low voice. +"Ask much pardons, gracious lady." + +"Can't we see her?" asked Billie. + +"Onoye see no one. Onoye only humble servant" + +"Nonsense, she might be very ill," put in Miss Campbell. "I'll go with +you now, O'Haru. Lead the way." + +The housekeeper gave a sigh of patient resignation and rose to her feet. +Miss Campbell and the girls followed her down the long hall and across +the passage to the servants' quarters. + +At last they came to a small room at the end of the house. The floor was +covered with the usual wicker mats. The _shoji_, or sliding partitions, +were drawn together, and in the dim mellow light which filtered through +these opaque walls they saw Onoye. She was stretched on the mat which is +the usual Japanese bed, her neck on the uncomfortable little pillow +bench. With a murmur of surprise and apology, she pulled herself weakly +to her knees and touched her forehead to the floor. + +"Pardon, gracious lady," she said, drawing her kimono closely about her. + +"But, child, we didn't know you were so ill," said Miss Campbell, gently +forcing the girl to lie down on her bed. "Has the doctor seen you?" + +"Yes, gracious lady" + +"What is the matter with you?" + +Onoye shook her head. + +"Not say it in English." She touched her forehead. "Muchly fire." + +"It's fever, of course," said Miss Campbell, kneeling beside the sick +girl and feeling her forehead. "I think you had better not stay here, +children. It might be something contagious." + +"Nonsense," thought Billie; but Miss Campbell was in one of her +compelling humors and they retreated obediently, leaving her to hold a +conference with O'Haru and to see that everything was done that could be +done to alleviate Onoye's sufferings. She finally departed, after +satisfying herself that Onoye was in the toils of a bilious attack. But +she did not administer calomel as she would have done in ordinary cases +of torpid liver. "I suppose the doctor knows what he is about," she said, +"and there must be a Japanese equivalent to calomel in a country where it +rains eternally." + +It was decided that they should take the "Comet" out after lunch. Miss +Campbell wished to visit an apothecary shop and there were other plans +for sight-seeing,--perhaps the magnificent Shiba Temple and the wisteria +in the park. But before they were to go, there were two surprises in +store, one for Billie alone and one for all of them. Just after luncheon +while the others were dressing for the trip, Billie, who needed about two +minutes for pinning on her hat and slipping on her coat, went back to the +stable to take the "Comet" from his garage. On the way, she passed the +room occupied by O'Haru and her daughter. Not having the least fear of +contagion, she entered a back passage of the intricate house, which +reminded her of the houses she used to build with cards as a child. +Pushing back the partition she marched into Onoye's room without +announcing herself. + +"There's nothing to knock on, so why knock?" she thought. + +Billie surprised the little Japanese girl sitting up examining her arm, +which was wrapped in bandages. + +"Why, Onoye, I didn't know you had been injured," she exclaimed, running +over and kneeling beside the sick girl. + +Onoye was speechless. She tried to cover her arm with the sleeve of her +kimono and to apologize and bow all at the same time. + +"Not muchly badly," she said at last in a low voice. + +"But how did it happen?" + +"Not nothing. Pardon grant," murmured Onoye. + +"Of course, you poor dear, but how did you injure yourself?" + +She laid the bandaged wrist gently on the palm of her hand and looked at +it. + +"Poor small accident," said Onoye. + +"But why was it?" + +The two girls looked at each other silently. + +"Was it in the library that night?" asked Billie after a long pause. + +Onoye's head drooped more and more. + +"Poor little thing. Poor child," exclaimed Billie, consumed with pity and +remorse, since it had been her own carelessness that had caused the poor +small accident. + +Onoye had doubtless put out the lights and when she, Billie, had crept +into the room like a thief, the Japanese girl was frightened and hid +herself behind a chair. Then when they had collided, they had both lost +their heads and the pistol had gone off. In spite of her remorse, Billie +was immensely relieved. + +"Papa will be, too," she thought. "It had much better be Onoye than a +robber." + +And Mr. Campbell was decidedly relieved when he heard the story from his +daughter that night. + +"I'll keep it a secret, Onoye, dear," said Billie, moved by compassion. +"I'll only tell Papa. I am so sorry I shot you. It must have hurt +terribly." + +Onoye tried to smile. + +"Forgiveness grant," she murmured again. + +"I think I'd better say 'forgiveness grant,'" said Billie. "But I must be +going now." She patted Onoye on the cheek and then tiptoed out of the +room. "It is a relief," she thought, turning her footsteps toward the +garage. + +Some minutes later, Billie ran into her cousin's room breathlessly. + +"Ready in one moment," called Miss Campbell, who had heard the whir of +the motor at the door. + +"I want to prepare you for a surprise," said Billie solemnly. "I don't +mind telling you that I have had the shock of my life." + +"But what is it?" they all demanded in one voice. + +"I'll only say this much. Papa has punished the 'Comet' for running over +the child that day." + +"How?" + +"You'll see. I thought I had better prepare you. The shock might have +killed you if I hadn't." + +"Goodness gracious me, what is it?" cried Miss Campbell, seizing her +reticule and gloves and rushing into the hall, followed by the others. + +When she reached the piazza, she sat down flat in a chair and gasped. + +There was the "Comet," to be sure. His outlines were as familiar as the +profile of a beloved brother, but his beautiful scarlet coat had been +taken from him and he wore instead a quiet covering of dark blue. The +luxurious red cushions were covered with buff linen. One small decoration +had been conceded by Mr. Campbell. The dark, quietly colored coat was +relieved on each side by the buff-colored initials, "M-M" lovingly +intertwined. + +"I suppose Papa thought the red coat was too gaudy," said Billie, who was +indeed just a little tearful over the loss of that cheerful and familiar +scarlet dress which would never again flash along the highways like a +scarlet bird. "But he's the same old 'Comet' inside," she added hastily. +"You couldn't change his noble disposition if you painted him sea green." + +"I think he looks beautiful," put in Elinor. "He's so neat and elegant in +buff and blue. It's like a livery." + +The other girls laughed because Elinor's speech was so characteristic. + +"Oh, you regal young person," exclaimed Nancy. "Your imagination doesn't +stop at anything short of liveried retinues of servants. There is no +doubt you were a royal princess in a previous existence. And suppose you +are a fat old pug in another life, like Nedda!" + +"I am sure Nedda is waited on hand and foot," cried Elinor. "She has a +maid who follows her around with a cushion and a silk cover." + +Komatsu, standing at the side of the motor, grinned with amusement. + +"They are foolish children, aren't they, Komatsu?" observed Miss +Campbell, climbing into her accustomed seat. + +Nedda, hearing her name mentioned, wobbled on her uncertain old legs to +the edge of the piazza and whined piteously. + +"Go back to your mat, you pathetic, pampered old great grandmother," +called Nancy. + +The aged animal turned obediently and curled herself on her cushion. Then +she lifted her wrinkled, snub-nosed face to watch the departing +motorists. + +"She does look like our Irish cook's grandmother," said Nancy. + +Everybody laughed gaily and the feelings regarding the "Comet's" new blue +coat were dispelled. Nedda had been a welcome interruption. + +"Papa always does the right thing," Billie announced presently. "I'm glad +he did it now. I was a little hurt at first, of course. But I understand +perfectly what his reasons were. Everybody will be looking out for a red +motor car that runs over people and they'll never recognize the 'Comet' +It's just as if he wore a disguise." + +The dark blue car was, as a matter of fact, not nearly so conspicuous as +he skimmed along over the road, and it was the very wisest thing Billie's +father could have done to change the color. Probably every man, woman and +child in the multitude that had clustered around the car that day on +Arakawa Ridge would be constantly on the look-out for the red machine, +and never glance twice at the blue one. + +"I do feel so inconspicuous and quiet and lady-like," remarked Billie +when some time later they left the motor car in charge of Komatsu and +went in to visit Shiba Temple in Shiba Park. These chapels are mostly the +tombs of the Shoguns who for many years were powerful nobles and who +really ruled Japan in place of the Emperor, a mere figurehead in those +days. The magnificent tombs they built for themselves are now the very +pride of Tokyo. Within the great red gates of the main temple, upheld +with scarlet columns, wheeled flights of pigeons quite tame. The girls +bought packages of grain from little booths and fed them and presently +one of the pretty creatures perched on Mary's wrist and ate from her +hand. + +"Don't frighten him," she whispered, her eyes brimming with tears of +pleasure. + +All the afternoon the tourists wandered through the wide courts where +were armies of stone lanterns placed in exactly the right spots. They +passed softly flowing fountains wherein the worshippers washed themselves +and climbed stately stairs by fern-set walls. Court within court they +entered adorned with magnificent paintings and carvings of marvelous +workmanship. They walked through the great hall of books where scrolls of +immense value are kept, each swathed in silk and lying in its own lacquer +box. At last dazzled and silenced by the succession of magic courts, they +returned to the outer world of the living, and climbed into the motor +car. + +"Before we go home, don't you think we had better inquire for Mme. +Fontaine?" Billie suggested. + +Miss Campbell assented. So long as they did not go in, she was quite +willing. + +They found the gate of the Widow of Shanghai's garden stretched wide +open; a jinriksha was about to pass into the street. A Japanese lady +in a rich costume was the occupant. She exchanged one swift glance with +Billie and quickly looked the other way. Billie started slightly. She +felt uncomfortable. It seemed to her that she had been looking straight +into the eyes of Mme. Fontaine. + +"Did you notice," said Mary, "that the Japanese lady in the 'riksha wore +her arm in a sling?" + +No, they had not noticed it, but there was nothing remarkable in that. No +one even commented on the fact, while they waited for Komatsu to inquire +and leave their cards. + +"Mme. Fontaine was still very much indisposed," the message came back, +"but she would be glad if the ladies would enter and have some +refreshment. She regretted she would not be able to see them herself." + +The ladies would not enter, however, as it was nearing the hour when Mr. +Campbell would return and expect to find them in the garden waiting tea, +and the "Comet" bore them swiftly home. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A THEATER PARTY. + + +"It's very easy for a bachelor to entertain in Japan," remarked Mr. +Buxton one afternoon in the Campbells' summer house. "A busy man is +saved all bother and inconvenience if he wants to give a theater party, +say, with a dinner to follow, by putting the affair in the hands of an +'elder sister,'" + +"Suppose he hasn't any elder sister," put in Miss Campbell feeling +slightly offended. Perhaps she was older than Mr. Buxton, but she was +sure she didn't look it and she had no intention of being designated as +his "elder sister." + +"Oh, but he always has," replied Mr. Buxton. "A Japanese providence +always provides a _Nesan_, or elder sister, for persons desiring to +entertain. All she requires of you is to leave her alone and pay the +bill." + +Miss Campbell felt somewhat mollified. + +"But what does she do?" asked Mary. + +"She does all the work, makes all the arrangements, engages the boxes and +the 'rikshas, orders the dinner, tells you how to act; in fact, does +everything any good elder sister would do to oblige a little brother." + +The others smiled at this droll notion but there was something rather +touching, too, about the simple title of elder sister or _Nesan_ for this +efficient and reliable individual who took all the burdens on her own +shoulders. As a matter of fact a _Nesan_ is the proprietor of a tea house +and her business is to get up entertainments. + +"And it is for this reason," continued Mr. Buxton, "that I am able to ask +all of you for the honor of your company to the theater to-morrow at +three and later to dinner. I could never have undertaken it alone, but +having been provided with an efficient relative older and wiser than I +am, although she looks to be under thirty, I feel no uneasiness +whatever." + +"I am inclined to accept your reluctant invitation on the spot, Buxton," +laughed Mr. Campbell, "for self and family." + +"I didn't intend it to appear reluctant," answered the Englishman. "I +only wanted to assure you that if you would do me the honor of coming to +the entertainment, all things would be correctly carried out according to +Japanese etiquette and there would not be a hitch in the whole affair. +Will you come?" + +"We shall be delighted, Mr. Buxton," answered Miss Campbell. + +"I thought you would," he added. "Indeed, I was so certain of it that the +little _Nesan_ has already got a list of the guests and the whole thing +has been arranged." + +"And to make assurance doubly sure, you thought you would just mention +the matter to us?" asked Mr. Campbell, who enjoyed teasing this rather +odd and amusing old bachelor. + +"How do we dress?" asked Nancy. + +"I never thought to ask the _Nesan_ how the ladies should dress. But if +you take my advice, I should say comfortably. That is, if you can. I +believe a woman's clothes are never really comfortable." + +"Mine are," broke in Billie, poised on the railing of the summer house +swinging her feet carelessly. + +"Would you have us dress like men?" demanded Miss Campbell indignantly. + +"No indeed, Madam," answered the bachelor, "but in your present costume, +you must admit that it would be difficult to sit on the floor." + +"But I don't wish to sit on the floor," exclaimed the spinster. "It's a +perfectly absurd custom. Besides, you are edging away from the main +point--trying to draw out of the--" + +"There will be no chairs to-morrow," interrupted the other, blinking his +eyes like a wise old bird. "And," he continued as he took his departure, +"neither will there be any knives and forks." + +"I shall take mine along, then," called Miss Campbell, whose discussions +with the bachelor kept them in a constant state of amusement. + +"It would be an unpardonable breach of etiquette," he called over his +shoulder. Presently he turned back and added, "You are not to use that +infernal machine for my party. The _Nesan_ provided 'rikshas for all +guests." + +"But that's just an additional expense to you, Buxton," cried Mr. +Campbell. + +"I know it perfectly well and I so suggested to my elder sister, but she +didn't seem to understand, and I decided I would rather hire a gross +of 'rikshas than try and make her. So you may expect three of 'em +to-morrow at a quarter past two. The performance begins at three." + +"Dear old 'Comet,' he's always getting slighted nowadays," remarked +Billie. "He never gets to go anywhere." + +"He's probably glad enough to sit in his cell and meditate on the +mutability of human events," answered Mr. Buxton, and this time he really +did go. + +It happened therefore that the "Comet" was once more left in humiliating +retirement while his young mistresses rode off in jinrikshas which +appeared at the door exactly at the hour mentioned by the host of the +afternoon. Indeed the motor car had good reason to be a disgruntled +machine. He never did seem to be a part of the Japanese landscape like +the graceful 'riksha. As a matter of fact he was a blot on the scene and +entirely out of place against a background of an ancient temple or a +group of picturesque individuals in clothes more brilliant in hue than +his own boyhood coat. + +Converging from various points in Tokyo but all timed to meet at the +theater door exactly at five minutes to three, came the other guests of +the party in 'rikshas provided by the _Nesan_. Mme. Fontaine was one of +these. + +"What a picture she is," exclaimed Nancy, noticing at once the +widow's beautiful costume of embroidered pongee over which she wore a +kimono-shaped mantle of the same embroidered silk, the sleeves of which +covered her arms and hands completely. + +Nodding and smiling at the girls brightly, she followed Miss Campbell +into the theater where they were met by the plump, hospitable little +_Nesan_, who prostrated herself before each guest and removed shoes at +the same time. + +Miss Campbell groaned. + +"Oh, dear," she complained. "Even at the theater! I shall never get +accustomed to walking flat-footed. I shall be wearing bifurcated +stockings next, I suppose." + +"Etiquette, Madam, etiquette," said Mr. Buxton. "You must do as the +Romans do, remember, or else be thought extremely rude." + +But there was no time for argument and the party hastily distributed +themselves in the two boxes. Yoritomo Ito kept close beside Nancy while +Nicholas Grimm and Reggie Carlton sat tailor fashion in the back of the +box. The theater was a strange place to the Western eye. There was not a +chair in the entire house and Mr. Buxton chuckled aloud over Miss +Campbell's complaints when she was obliged to sit on a mat on the floor. +Below the two tiers of boxes, the pit appeared like a gigantic +checker-board divided into square compartments by partitions about a foot +high. In each compartment squatted six people. Running from the rear of +the house to the stage was a slightly raised walk three feet broad to be +used by the actors as an exit. The stalls were crowded with men and women +and children. Here and there were groups of geishas or dancing girls. +Their rich apparel made bright spots of color in the scene. The children +ran about with perfect freedom, up and down the aisles at the sides and +in and out of the stalls, eating sweetmeats and visiting their friends. +And there was scarcely a grown person in the entire audience of Japanese +who was not smoking, for women as well as men smoke in Japan: one pinch +of tobacco in a short pipe, one puff, a little whiff of smoke inhaled and +the operation is over. Before the curtain rose, the _Nesan_ flew busily +from one box to the other with cushions and sweetmeats, baskets of +oranges and boxes of sweet pickled black beans. Presently came the sound +of two blocks of wood striking together. Then the curtain rose and the +audience settled itself for three hours of the most intense enjoyment. +The play was a Japanese legend and the actors picturesque and dramatic, +but if all the greatest actors in the world had combined to give the +performance, Miss Campbell could not have maintained her cramped position +a minute longer than two hours. + +"I am sure my limbs will refuse their office, Duncan," she whispered. "If +this goes on much longer, I shall have to be carried from the theater +like a helpless paralytic." + +"Buxton, don't you think we've had enough?" suggested Mr. Campbell, and +the bachelor, glad to stretch his own cramped legs, took the hint and +gave the signal for departure. + +Once more they were in the 'rikshas, only this time Nancy found herself +seated by Yoritomo and Billie and Nicholas had paired off in the same +way. Miss Campbell was not sure that she approved of this change. + +"In my day," she remarked to her cousin, "young ladies never rode alone +in buggies with young men." + +"But they aren't buggies, Cousin," he answered good-naturedly. + +"They are, all but the horse," said Miss Campbell. + +But they had arrived at the gate of the tea house before the argument +could proceed and were presently rolling through a garden enclosed by +high walls. It was a fairyland of a place, even more beautiful than the +Campbells' own garden, filled with brilliant beds of flowers and here and +there a small grove of stunted pine trees. + +Through the door of a tea house, low roofed and brown (houses are not +painted in Japan), rushed a score of _musumes_ (maids), pink-cheeked and +bare-footed, who greeted the guests with low bows and removed their +shoes. There also was their own particular _Nesan_, owner of that +particular tea house, who bowed gracefully and said in Japanese: + +"Be honorably pleased to enter." + +Inside, the tea house was scrupulously clean. The bare boards in the hall +seemed worn thin by scrubbing and nowhere were any furniture or ornaments +except the hanging scroll. The floors were covered with soft wicker mats +and presently they were all seated in a semicircle at one end of the +room. The younger members of the party were in a perfect gale of subdued +laughter by this time. Elinor, too dignified to look where she was going, +had stubbed her august toe and for at least half a minute had hopped on +one foot in an agony of pain. Nicholas had privately circulated a rumor +that live carp would be one of the courses, and not to eat a small piece +would give grievous offense to the _Nesan_ and her _musumes_. + +After a little table about a foot high had been placed before each guest, +a procession of miniature waitresses entered with the dinner. In quick +succession were served fish soup, crushed birds with sugared walnuts and +oranges, broiled fish with tiny balls of sweetened potatoes, and numerous +other strange but not unpalatable dishes, and all the while streams of +_hors d'ouvres_: horseradish, spinach and seaweed. But they were not +obliged to eat with chop sticks. Mr. Buxton had provided knives and +forks. + +At last with the greatest ceremony, the little proprietor herself +appeared bearing a large silver tray. + +"Here it comes," whispered Nicholas. "What did I tell you?" + +There, sure enough, was the carp, taken from the water a moment before +and sliced into delicate pink steaks. He lay on a bed of fresh water +grasses and leaves, and each portion was served in a dainty mat of +twisted grass. Nobody refused a sacrificial morsel, but only Yoritomo and +Mr. Buxton had the courage to eat it. Mr. Buxton swallowed his at a gulp +and Miss Campbell shivered all over at the sight. + +"How could you?" she exclaimed in a whisper. + +"Etiquette," he answered. "I would swallow a mouse for the sake of +etiquette in this polite country." + +During the dinner there had been a sound of suppressed laughter and the +tinkle of music behind the partitions, and now, after the last round of +the innumerable courses had been served, the partitions were shoved aside +and four samisen players entered followed by eight dancing girls. Nothing +could equal the grace of their bows as they glided softly in. Their +smiles of welcome were inimitable. Then their faces became grave and +serious and the dance began. The oldest was hardly more than fifteen and +the youngest about ten. They were like sober-faced little dolls in +gorgeous brocaded robes as they paraded, stamped their white-stockinged +feet and postured with elaborate fans. + +Mme. Fontaine, who had eaten no dinner and talked very little, watched +the dancers with intense interest. + +"Are they not charming little creatures?" she asked Mr. Campbell. "They +are trained to be so,--to sing, dance and amuse and to look pretty. But I +assure you some of them develop into splendid women. Many of them marry +well. The geisha girl is not always a butterfly." + +There was a subdued fire in her eyes as she spoke. + +Mr. Campbell looked at her curiously. + +"You have a special tenderness for them, I see," he remarked. + +"I was one," she said. + +While this little colloquy was going on, Yoritomo was whispering into +Nancy's ear: + +"You think they are pretty? But they are not so beautiful as you. There +are no blue eyes in Japan." + +And Nicholas was saying to Billie: + +"By Jove, it's terrible sitting in this position for three hours at a +stretch. Do you think we could slip into the garden? I have something I +want to tell you." + +Being on the end of the semi-circle, they crept behind one of the sliding +partitions and rose stiffly to their feet. Two steps more and they were +in the garden, now flooded with moonlight. + +"It's romantic," observed Billie, "but what will Cousin Helen say? She's +a very strict chaperone." + +"Tell her you couldn't endure it another moment; or tell her I couldn't, +which would be perfectly true. I feel as if I had shrunk a few inches. I +can't stand up straight." + +Turning down a walk leading to the little gold fish pond, they presently +paused on the miniature bridge and looked down at the reflections of the +stars mirrored in the pool beneath. They were quite silent for a moment. +Then Nicholas cleared his throat and began in an embarrassed and +hesitating way: + +"Miss Billie, can you keep a secret?" + +"Don't you think that is rather an uncomplimentary question?" answered +Billie. "I must have made a poor impression on you." + +"Indeed you haven't. You have made just the other kind," he replied with +boyish candor. "That's why I wanted to tell you something, but it was a +stupid way to begin. Please forgive me. Of course you can keep a secret. +Any girl who is cool-headed enough to run a motor car and--and keep +machinery in order and--" + +"Well--and what?" + +"I think you are just great, Miss Billie. I never met a girl like you +before," he mumbled half audibly. "That's why I wanted to tell you +something--that is--confide something to you." + +Billie looked uncomfortable. She was only a month younger than Nancy, but +she Was far less experienced in the ways of the world, her tastes being +more boyish and simple than those of that gay little coquette. + +"In the first place, you knew I was a civil engineer. That's how I +happened to meet your father. Every engineer in the country wanted to +meet him, because he is a very famous one himself, as you probably know." + +Billie was pleased at this compliment. Her father was too modest to tell +such things about himself, and she had no way of knowing his reputation +unless other people told her. + +"It was through Yoritomo that I came to Japan. We were friends in New +York; and it was through his uncle, who is high up in public affairs +here, that I got an appointment almost immediately. It's been interesting +work, most of the time around Tokyo, and I have enjoyed the experience. +But, you see, I came here with just a little money and fell on my feet +and feel that I am under obligations to Yoritomo and his family for a +good many favors." + +"Of course," answered Billie. "But what of it?" + +"Well," began Nicholas slowly, "Yoritomo has been a good friend to me. I +have always liked him and looked up to him because he's a deal cleverer +than I am and a wonderful student,--but lately,--it's hard to explain to +you, Miss Bille, but I--" + +"Don't you like him any more?" + +"No, no, it isn't that." Nicholas paused again and wiped beads of +perspiration from his face. He shifted his position and dug his hands +into his pockets. "I don't think I can say it," he said. "I thought I +could, but it's too deuced hard." + +"Go on, you silly boy." + +"Well, to tell you the truth, I don't trust him," he blurted out. + +"But Papa likes him," said Billie, simply, feeling that her father's +sanction was as good as a royal stamp of approval. + +"Oh, yes, of course. Everybody likes him. It isn't that." + +"Then what are you driving at?" + +"Good heavens, I don't know what I am driving at. Only, you see, I +introduced Yoritomo to the family and something happened the other day +that made me uneasy. It seemed to me that I ought to warn you not to get +too thick with him--that is--not you but Miss Brown. You see, Japanese +are different--they take things more seriously--" Nicholas plunged deeper +and deeper in. + +"Can't you tell me what happened?" + +"That's the queer part. There's nothing really to tell. It was one of +those little incidents that mean everything or nothing. I couldn't tell +Mr. Campbell because it was too insignificant, but I thought I might make +a clean breast of it to you and you could warn Miss Brown--well--not to +talk too much to Yoritomo. She might tell him something--" + +"But Nancy hasn't any secrets to tell, Mr. Grimm." + +"I thought you promised to call me Nicholas? I didn't say she had, but +these Japanese are the wiliest people. They will use you without your +knowing you are being used. Couldn't you just tell Miss Nancy to be +careful without explaining why? Don't girls ever do that? Just say that +Yoritomo's a Jap, and Japs are deep people and she had better not tell +him all she knows." + +Billie laughed. + +"Why, yes, I could, I suppose, but I'm sure it's not necessary. She +doesn't know anything to tell." + +"Whew!" ejaculated Nicholas, fanning himself with his hat. "I'd rather +dig a tunnel through a mountain than have to do that again. I decided +I had to do it and I have been working it over in my mind for days. First +I thought of Miss Campbell, but she would have gone off her head about +it. Miss Brown wouldn't have understood, either. She would have been +angry, I suppose. So I decided to come to you. I felt sure you would +understand and know exactly what to do." + +Billie smiled. She was beginning to be very fond of this boyish, honest +young man whose nature was not unlike her own. Just at that moment they +saw Yoritomo and Nancy strolling along a moonlit path. He was talking to +her in a low intense voice and she was smiling and dimpling as usual. It +occurred to Billie that Nancy was getting very grown up all of a sudden +and for her part, she couldn't see any fun in it at all. She had noticed +lately that Nancy did not enjoy their old-time girlish fun half so much +as she used to. She would rather stroll in the garden with a young man +than with her four devoted friends, and "hen parties" as she called them, +did not amuse her any longer. + +Billie began to feel quite serious about the benighted state of her best +friend. Her nature was deeply tinged with sympathy and sweetness, but she +was not yet old enough to feel tolerant with Nancy for growing up and +craving beaux and flattery. + +"I will speak to Nancy Brown," she thought, and that night going home in +the 'riksha by Nancy's side she turned the matter over in her mind. "But +not to-night," she decided, for Nancy had never seemed more adorable than +on that ride, chatting with her friend about the evening's pleasures. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +A FAILING OUT. + + +Several days went swiftly by and still Billie had not delivered the +warning to her beloved Nancy. + +After all, was it really necessary to warn Nancy not to talk too much and +tell all she knew? That was a man's idea of a girl's conversation: to +tell all she knew. How absurd! Besides, Nancy was not much of a +conversationalist and it's only people who talk all the time who tell +secrets. After they exhaust every other subject, they begin to draw on +their confidential stock. + +The more Billie turned the question over in her mind, the more +far-fetched it seemed, and at last she determined not to mention it at +all. + +"Who am I to be scolding anybody?" she said to herself. "I am sure I am +far from perfect and it would look rather presumptuous to criticize +Nancy who hasn't done anything to be criticized for." + +But these noble and modest sentiments were not destined to remain +unchanged in Billie's mind. By a curious chain of circumstances, the very +thing she had concluded to avoid was brought about. + +The circumstances began in the morning before breakfast and led up, one +after another, to the first real quarrel the two friends had ever had +since their friendship began. + +It had been raining all night, a hot sticky downpour, and nobody in the +house had slept well. The atmosphere was oppressive, and breathing became +a conscious effort; so that the American members of the household were +fretful and out of humor after a disagreeable and restless night. Even +the most even-tempered and well-balanced natures are upset by a steaming, +humid temperature which seems to creep into the soul and enshroud the +brighter self with mist. + +Billie felt the general depression and after breakfast she followed her +friends in a disconsolate procession to the library. + +"There are as many different kinds of rain as there are people," she +observed. "The rain in Scotland was like a brisk scolding person. At +least there was nothing monotonous and tiring about it. It had plenty of +vigor and energy. But this Japanese summer rain is like a great, fat, +stupid, lazy creature who never lifts a little finger to do anything but +just rain and rain and turn into misty steam!" + +"One hasn't even the energy to read a book," sighed Mary. + +"As Reggie Carlton says, 'it's so infernally damp,'" put in Elinor, and +the others smiled languidly. Elinor was indeed feeling the humidity to +quote a semi-profane expression. + +Nancy was really the most cheerful member of the party. She had an air of +expecting something which appeared to give her a reason for existing. + +After the outbursts of her three friends, there was a long and heavy +silence broken only by the steady patter of the rain on the roof. + +At last Nancy rose and smiling mysteriously, said: + +"Excuse me, ladies. While your company is highly exciting, I must leave +you to write letters." + +"I can't imagine to whom," exclaimed Billie. + +"I mailed four for you yesterday to your mother and father and 'Merry' +and Percy St. Clair." + +Billie knew Nancy's affairs quite as well as she knew her own; two +sisters could hardly have been more intimately associated. + +"Guess again, Miss Inquisitive," said Nancy. "And guess fifty times more +if you like. You'll never guess the right person and I shan't tell you +for punishment. So there!" + +For some reason--of course it was the weather--Billie felt teased and +hurt. Not for anything would she have kept Nancy in ignorance of any of +her correspondence. + +"I didn't mean to be inquisitive." she called, half apologetically. "I +was merely surprised at your being so mysterious." + +"When you get to be as old as I am," said Nancy in a lofty tone, "you'll +know better than to tell all you know." + +"I'll never get to be as old as you are, Miss Nancy-Bell," retorted +Billie. "It's a physical impossibility, since you are two months older +than I am." + +Nancy departed from the room, calling out laughingly: + +"Smarty! Smarty!" + +Billie kicked off her slipper after her, and so the quarrel started with +good natured raillery. But the memory of the letter lingered in Billie's +mind all the morning, although why it should have connected itself with +Onoye, who, an hour later, stepped out into the garden on high wooden +clogs with an oiled paper umbrella, she could not say. Standing idly by +the window, Billie watched the little figure disappear down the path. + +"I suppose she's going to visit the Compassionate God again," Billie +thought to herself absently. "I hope he'll be compassionate enough to +clear the weather by to-morrow." + +The next link in the chain of circumstances was forged when Onoye +returned from her pilgrimage. Billie, who had drawn a stool to the window +and was sitting with her face pressed against the glass, saw her walking +slowly along the dripping path to the house. The Japanese girl was +looking at something she held in her free hand, an envelope undoubtedly. +Just as she reached the piazza, Onoye slipped the letter into the folds +of her sash and hurried in. + +Billie's mind gave a sudden leap of conjecture but she continued to sit +quietly, her face against the window, peering into the mist-hung garden. + +"Funny," she said to herself. "It couldn't have been a Japanese letter +because those are rolled up on little sticks." + +Not long afterwards, she encountered Onoye in the passage. The Japanese +girl smiled lovingly into her face. Little by little her feeling for +Billie was growing and expanding into a real devotion, + +"And I'm sure I don't know why she should caress the hand that smote +her," Billie had thought. "She's a dear, faithful little soul." + +"Are you quite well again, Onoye?" she asked, pausing and slipping her +arm around the Japanese girl's shoulders. + +"Yes, honorable lady. Not any sickly arm no more." + +"And have you been writing a letter to thank the Compassionate God Jizu +for your recovery?" went on Billie. + +A frightened look came into Onoye's eyes. The English had been too much +for her comprehension, but the word "letter" she had understood +perfectly. + +"No understand," she said, bowing ceremoniously. And she hastened away, +leaving Billie much puzzled and rather curious, too. + +The day dragged slowly on, and still the rain poured and the mist steamed +and there was no relief from the circumstances of the weather. Miss +Campbell had been feeling rheumatic twinges in her "old joints," as she +called them, and remained in bed reading an agreeable novel. Once more +the four friends retired to the library where Mary read aloud and the +others engaged in various characteristic pursuits. Elinor was +embroidering a royal coat-of-arms in colored silks on a cushion cover; +Nancy was darning a rent in a lace flounce and Billie was darning her +father's socks. This task she undertook each week with extraordinary +cheerfulness, although Onoye had offered to do it for her, and O'Haru had +almost taken the darning needle and egg from her by force. + +As the hands of the clock neared four, Nancy rose. + +"Go on with your reading, Mary," she said. "I need some more thread and I +shall have to look for it. So don't wait." + +"What number do you want?" asked Elinor. + +Nancy looked annoyed. + +"Oh, something quite fine. I know you haven't it, Elinor." + +"Will a hundred do?" asked Elinor, extracting the spool from her neat +sewing bag. + +"That's too fine." + +"I have all sizes here." + +"Never mind," exclaimed Nancy impatiently, and hastened from the room, +taking her lace-flounced skirt with her. + +"Stubborn person," observed Elinor and once more plunged into her +aristocratic labors. + +Billie grew more and more restless. The book Mary was reading aloud was a +detective story, lately arrived from America. It had reached a thrilling +point, but Billie could not fasten her attention. + +"I think I'll just be obliged to get out and walk," she burst out +unexpectedly. "I can't stand this life of inaction a minute longer. Don't +stop reading on my account, Mary, dear. I don't suppose I could tempt +either of you two hot-house plants to come with me, could I?" + +"Since it's just as hot outside as inside, I don't think you could," +answered Elinor. + +"Perhaps Nancy will go," thought Billie, hastening down the long hall to +their joint apartment. + +But Nancy was not in the room. Her lace petticoat had been thrown hastily +on the bed with her sewing box. Billie searched over the entire house for +her friend without success. + +"Funny," she thought, slipping on her over-shoes and raincoat and seizing +an umbrella from the stand in the passage. + +Presently she found herself in the mist-hung garden, and instinctively +her steps turned toward the little bridge and the shrine to the +Compassionate God. All the way, she kept thinking: + +"What is Nancy-Bell up to? Not that,--surely. Why should she write +letters that way? Nobody would object to their coming by mail. It's just +her romantic notions," her thoughts continued as she reached the bridge. + +Taking the curved path to the foot of the small embankment, the next +moment Billie came full upon Nancy and Yoritomo Ito talking earnestly +together. There was something rather amusing in their appearance, because +down the ribs of their two umbrellas rivulets of water dripped and +poured in streams about them. + +"Oh, I beg your pardon," exclaimed Billie, the prey to varying emotions: +embarrassment, hurt feelings, surprise and, it must be confessed, a dash +of anger. + +"Oh, Billie," said Nancy, starting violently, "how you frightened me." + +"How do you do, Mr. Ito," said Billie stiffly. + +"How do you do, Miss Campbell. We seem to be having several unexpected +encounters this afternoon. Here was Miss Brown out for a wet stroll on a +day when ladies usually remain indoors, and now you come, too. American +young ladies are very athletic." + +"It isn't a case of exercise with me, Mr. Ito. I came out really to find +Nancy," said Billie coldly. + +"I shall bid you good afternoon," answered Yoritomo in his most formal +manner. "I was just taking a short cut. Pardon my trespassing on your +grounds." + +Billie detested untruths and she knew quite well that Yoritomo was not +speaking the real truth. She looked at Nancy reproachfully. + +"Good-bye," she said and turned her back. + +Yoritomo made an elaborate bow and departed and Nancy followed Billie +slowly up the dripping path. Half way back, Billie stopped short and +wheeled around. + +"I should think you'd be ashamed of yourself, Nancy Brown," she +exclaimed. + +Nancy had never seen Billie really angry before and she was frightened at +the new hard look that had come into the frank gray eyes. But Nancy was +in no mood to be scolded. The truth is, she had reached a difficult age +and it was not going to be easy to manage her by lecturing and argument. +She had an enormous appetite for flattery and the power of her prettiness +had intoxicated her. + +"Oh, I don't suppose you would understand, Billie, even if I tried to +explain," she answered hotly. "I haven't done anything to be ashamed of." + +"Meeting people in the garden secretly isn't anything to be proud of," +pursued Billie. "And exchanging letters by a servant," she burst out +suddenly recalling Onoye's unaccountable trip that morning an the rain. +"I have been told to warn you not to talk too much to Mr. Ito. He's not +to be trusted, and I think this a very good time to do it." + +Nancy flushed. She was angrier than Billie now. The two girls had turned +and were facing each other furiously. Billie felt the pulse leap in her +temples and something gripped her throat. The sensation was so new to her +that she scarcely knew how to handle it. It was like trying to rein in a +runaway horse. + +"He's just as nice as Nicholas Grimm," cried Nancy. "I should think you'd +be ashamed to spy on anyone. I never thought it of you." + +This statement was so unjust that Billie's rage leaped out of all bounds +and got beyond her control entirely. + +"That is untrue. I did not spy on you. I merely put two and two together +and guessed the rest. Can you deny it? And do you call it lady-like and +honorable? I don't. I call it common and horrid." + +Billie's voice in her extreme anger was very stern. She carefully avoided +calling Nancy by name. She felt if she spoke the name of her friend, she +must cry and not for anything did she want to humble herself just then. + +"I tell you I won't explain," ejaculated Nancy. "I've done nothing wrong +and I think you are very hard and unjust. It's because you are still a +child about some things, Billie. When you are older and have had more +experience, you will learn not to be a prig." + +Older and more experienced! Now all the saints defend us! Billie laughed +bitterly. Both girls were on the point of weeping and perhaps, if their +anger had changed to tears at that moment, much bitterness might have +been saved them. But they were interrupted by Mr. Campbell, who now +appeared, walking at a leisurely gait up the path. + +"Well, well, children! Here is devotion indeed," he exclaimed when he +espied his daughter and her friend standing stock still in the pouring +rain. "So intimate and absorbed in each other's society that you are +oblivious to the weather! That's the right kind of friendship. I would +not have it any other way. How are you, little daughter?" he asked, +kissing Billie and shaking hands with Nancy at the same time. "And how's +little daughter's friend?" + +Not for worlds would they have disclosed the real truth to Mr. Campbell. +Billie drew her arm through her father's and Nancy followed them to the +house. + +"Do you think the rain will ever let up, Papa?" asked Billie, resting her +cheek against her father's shoulder. + +Nancy felt suddenly frightfully homesick for her own bluff good-natured +parent. + +"Well, it once rained forty days and forty nights, you know," said Mr. +Campbell. "And what's happened before may happen again." + +Habitual wranglers regard quarrels as mere ripples on the surface and +soon forget about them, but the two girls were unaccustomed to such +scenes and their feelings were deeply lacerated. + +"Let not the sun go down upon your wrath," Billie thought, as she lay +beside Nancy that night, but she remembered that Nancy had called her +a spy and her soul was filled with bitterness. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +A LETTER THAT CAME THOUGH IT WAS NEVER SENT. + + +The two girls put the width of the bed between them that night. Each lay +stiffly on the very edge of the mattress and silently pondered over the +situation. Anger was not a self-indulgence with either of them and the +attack was so unusual that it left them both unnerved and shaken. Nancy +had only played with her food at dinner and Billie, who had eaten without +an appetite, now felt the discomfort of a burning indigestion. At last, +as the hours dragged on, they fell asleep, each profoundly unhappy. + +Long ago the two friends had dropped the formality which usually exists +between guest and hostess, no matter how intimate. Their relations were +as those of two sisters. For the Motor Maids had become as one family in +their wanderings together. But next morning, Nancy, still feeling the +sting of fancied wrongs, suddenly recalled the fact that she was +accepting hospitality from one who no longer liked her. It was all very +absurd, but so does the young person at the awkward age between girlhood +and womanhood often exaggerate trivial things and enlarge on fancied +injustice. + +Foolish, pretty Nancy permitted herself to slip into the most extreme +state of wretchedness. She imagined that her friend, whom in her heart +she loved devotedly, had treated her with unnecessary cruelty and +sternness. She got it into her silly little head that Billie had confided +the meeting in the garden to the others. She was ashamed and mortified +and she felt indeed that the whole world had turned against her. Mr. +Campbell was cold to her. Miss Helen Campbell hardly civil Mary and +Elinor looked at her askance. There was not a word of truth in it, of +course; it was just a figment of Nancy's morbid imaginings. Miss Campbell +was bored to extinction with the continued rain. Mr. Campbell was +preoccupied because of business engagements of great importance, and Mary +and Elinor, if the truth must be told, were intensely homesick; and who +would not have been with home on the other side of the world and rain +pouring ceaselessly on this side? As for Billie, she tried to be exactly +the same as usual, but the cloud of an unsettled disagreement hovered +between them. + +Therefore after a week of steady rain and black depression which did not +seem more profound in Nancy than in anyone else, silly little Nancy took +a bold step. Putting on her overshoes and mackintosh late one afternoon, +she slipped out of the house and hastened down the avenue. On the road, +she hailed an empty 'riksha returning from some suburban home and gave +Mme. Fontaine's address in Tokyo. + +Nancy was in search of sympathy and of someone who would tell her she had +done right when she knew she had done wrong. + +Mme. Fontaine was in and would be delighted to see Miss Brown, so she was +informed at the widow's front door, and Nancy, a little frightened, now +that the deed was done, was ushered into the beautiful drawing-room. + +"Why, you sweet child, this is a great pleasure," exclaimed that lady +herself, entering at the same moment by another door. "Where are your +friends? Are you alone?" she added looking around for the others. + +"Oh, yes," answered Nancy, embarrassed and agitated. + +"Not even the austere old lady who chaperones you?" asked the other +drawing the young girl down beside her on the couch and looking into the +blue eyes which suddenly welled up with tears and overflowed, + +"Why, my dear, are you unhappy? What is the matter? Tell me all about +it," ejaculated Mme. Fontaine, unpinning Nancy's hat and drawing the +curly head down on her shoulder. + +So it happened that Nancy Brown unburdened herself to the sympathetic +Widow of Shanghai, and gave an entirely biased and favorable-to-herself +account of the incident in the garden. + +Mme. Fontaine sat silent for a while after the story was finished, and +Nancy wondered if the charming new friend had heard what she had been +saying. + +"Do you think Miss Campbell would consent to let you make a visit, +Nancy?" she asked presently, calling her Nainsi, as if it were a French +name. + +Nancy drooped her long lashes. + +"I don't know," she answered. + +Mme. Fontaine gave one of her inscrutable Mona Lisa smiles and rose from +the couch. + +"We will try her and see. Does she know you were out walking?" + +"No," answered Nancy struggling to keep back her tears. + +"Does anyone in the house know?" + +She shook her head. + +The widow sat down at a carved desk inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and +wrote the following note: + +"My dear Miss Campbell: + +"I trust you will not think I have been unpardonably presumptuous in +keeping one of your girls over night with me. She had evidently set out +for a long walk and chance brought us together. The child was wet and +tired and I have kept her for tea. As the rain is still pouring, she has +consented to remain over night with your permission which I cannot but +feel sure will be granted under the circumstances. With the very kindest +regards for you and your household, I am, + +"Faithfully yours, + +"ANIELA FONTAINE." + +Never was cordial and polite note couched in more non-committal language. +It was sent out by a messenger and Miss Campbell sat painfully up in bed +to read it. Both knees and one wrist were swathed in bandages of +wintergreen liniment and a hot water bottle lay against one hip, + +"Why, I didn't know the child had left the house," she exclaimed, when +she had finished reading the letter and passed it on to the three +remaining Motor Maids. "How did she happen to go alone on a tramp like +that? What am I to do? I can't order her to return without being +exceedingly rude, but I do wish Nancy hadn't been so reckless. She ought +never to have left the grounds alone. Surely the garden is quite large +enough for exercising in, if anyone wanted to make the effort." + +The little spinster groaned and slipped down among her pillows again. + +The girls were silent. Mary secretly sympathized with Nancy. It would be +rather fascinating to spend a night in the widow's interesting home. +Elinor disapproved slightly at this unconventional visit, but it is +doubtful if she would have declined the invitation if she had been in +Nancy's place. As for Billie, she was puzzled and unhappy. She felt sure +that there was something back of the departure of her friend. She wished +with all her heart they had made up their differences. She yearned for +Nancy and her soul was filled with forebodings. She felt somehow as if +Nancy had died. That night, with the sheet over her head, she indulged in +a fit of weeping and resolved to settle all differences the first moment +they could get alone. + +Why should Nancy Brown have unexpectedly grown up like this and become so +independent and secretive? Elinor, the eldest of the four girls, had +never shown a disposition to have affairs and write notes. For her part, +Billie would have liked to go on in the same jolly old way forever, with +or without beaux. It was all one to her. But Nancy was different. The +society of her friends was no longer an unmixed pleasure and she was +beginning to crave more excitement and admiration than was good for her. + +The next day was like a dozen of its fellows, wet and muggy. The roads +were too slippery for the "Comet," and as Miss Campbell still kept her +bed with rheumatism, it was decided that Billie should go alone for Nancy +in a 'riksha. + +She was so eager to make up with her friend, that she felt as if the +reconciliation had already taken place and her faithful heart was filled +with happiness. She had made up her mind to humble herself by offering +Nancy an apology. After all, was it the act of true friendship to pick +out all the defects and flaws in a friend's nature? + +"A real friend is blind to everything but the best in another friend," +reasoned Billie, as her 'riksha splashed along the road, drawn by +Komatsu. + +So, prepared to embrace Nancy tenderly and let bygones be bygones, Billie +could scarcely wait to leap down from the 'riksha and ring the widow's +bell. The house had a shut-up appearance, but all Japanese houses look +thus in rainy weather. Somehow, Billie's inflated enthusiasm received a +prick when the bell echoed through the rooms with a hollow, empty sound. +She waited impatiently but no one came to answer it. Usually Mme. +Fontaine's well-trained maid was bowing and smiling almost before the +vibrations of the bell had ceased. Billie rang again and again, and +still there was no answer. She walked around the side of the house and +peered through the slats of the Venetian blinds but all was dark within. + +What could it mean? Where was Nancy? Where was Mme. Fontaine? + +"Oh, dear; oh, dear," ejaculated Billie, wiping away the tears that would +trickle down her cheeks. + +But of course they had gone shopping, and the maid was at market, +perhaps. That was the only explanation. + +There was a bench on the piazza and Billie sat down to wait. Komatsu +stood patiently under his oiled paper umbrella which he always placed in +the bottom of the 'riksha in bad weather. + +Exactly one hour they waited and at last Billie, disconsolate and +disappointed, returned to the 'riksha and ordered Komatsu to take her to +some of the shops. Everywhere she watched for the familiar gleam of +Nancy's blue mackintosh, but there was no sign of it anywhere. Finally +they returned to Mme. Fontaine's house, to find it still closed. + +"Komatsu, where are they?" asked Billie desperately. + +"Not know, but honorable young lady not look inside?" + +"I can't get inside. The doors are locked. Besides, I don't like to break +in on a private house like a burglar." + +But to the Japanese the end justifies the means, and being on a search +for Nancy, Komatsu was willing to go to any strategic lengths to find +her. + +"All same look and see," he said and together they followed the gallery +around the entire house. + +"Komatsu make to go up," he said after a fruitless search for an +entrance. He pointed to one of the slender pillars which upheld the roof +of the lower gallery forming the floor of the upper one. The next moment +he had shinned up the pole and Billie could hear him walking softly on +the wooden floor above. Presently he returned and placed in Billie's lap +the fragments of a letter which had been pieced together and pasted on +a sheet of paper. + +"Top muchly more easy than bottom," he said smiling. "Empty house but all +same muchly inside." + +Billie glanced hastily at the scraps of paper and saw her own name in one +corner. + +"Why, it's to me," she exclaimed, and sitting on the bench, she began to +decipher the pieced letter. + +"Dear Billie: + +"Since you all hate and disapprove of me, I do not wish to stay with you +any longer. You have been anything but a friend to me, but I will not say +anything more about that. I will only say that I can never forgive what +you said to me the other day. I think I have outgrown you. You are just a +child still and it will be a long time before you understand the ways of +the world, or sympathize with me when I say that I want to broaden my +life. Now, Mme. Fontaine, who knows everything, has promised--" + +Here the letter broke off. + +On the other side of the sheet were some more fragments of paper +carefully pieced together. + +"--do not wish to stay because--father's work--he should not--Mme. +Fontaine thinks--" + +Billie folded the paper and slipped it into her pocket. Tears were +rolling down her cheeks and she felt suddenly stiff and tired. Komatsu +regarded her from a distance with respectful sympathy. + +"Back home," she ordered, and all the way she indulged in the bitterest +weeping she had ever known in her life. + +"Nancy, Nancy, how could you?" she kept repeating to herself. + +Before she reached the house she dried her eyes and leaning out of the +'riksha let the rain beat against her face. + +"I must think of something to tell them," she said to herself. "What did +she mean about Papa's work?" + +Again Billie read the last part of the note. + +"I believe it's that woman who made her do this," she cried out suddenly. +"She worked her up to the point--'broaden her life'--'papa's work,' and +all that. How could Nancy have thought of such things? And then after +Nancy wrote the letter she repented--or perhaps the widow wouldn't let +her send it--but how did it happen to be pieced together like this?" + +It was all very puzzling and strange. Billie wanted time to think about +it and work it out in her own mind, and she was sorry when at last +Komatsu came to a full stop at their own front door. Slowly she descended +and walked into the house. Suddenly there was a cry of joy from the back. +It was the other girls rushing to meet Nancy who had not come, Billie +thought miserably. + +And, lo, it was Nancy herself, laughing and crying at once and embracing +her beloved Billie, as if they had been separated for a year and a day. + +"Where did you come from?" Billie managed to gasp in a bewildered voice. + +"I got back a little while ago and oh, I've been so homesick. Are you +glad to see me, Billie, dearest?" + +"I should think I was," said Billie, kissing Nancy's soft round cheek. +"It seems an age instead of just one night." + +"Mme. Fontaine invited me to make her a visit," went on Nancy, "but--but +I was too lonesome--I never slept a wink last night." + +"We are all of us quite jealous of you, Nancy," put in Mary, who, with +Elinor, had come upon the scene a moment before. + +Billie put her hand in her pocket and felt the pieced-together letter. It +almost seemed like a bad dream now. + +"So you decided to come back to us, Nancy?" she asked, trying to smile +naturally. + +"If I almost passed away from homesickness in one night, how should I +have borne it for--for longer?" answered Nancy, flushing. + +"We missed you terribly," was all Billie could trust herself to say as +she hurried to her room to take off her wet things. + +Just then Onoye sounded the Japanese chimes to announce that luncheon was +served and presently they were all assembled around the table. + +But never a word did Nancy say about the torn letter which some one had +so carefully pieced together. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE ANCIENT CITY OF SLEEP. + + +"How would four young parties and another younger party, who claims to be +old and rheumatic, but isn't, like to take a trip?" asked Mr. Campbell +one evening at dinner. + +Through the inky curtain of blackness that had for days overcast the +skies the sun had at last burst with a radiance that seemed twice as +great to unaccustomed eyes. From somewhere a life-giving breeze had +sprung up and driven away the vapors. Back rolled the walls of mist and +fog, and in a few hours the world became a smiling paradise of flowers +and of grass and foliage of intensest green. + +Immediately the aspect of life changed. Four young parties and a party +who claimed to be old but wasn't were eager for anything that would +furnish variety after the late monotony of existence. + +"I feel," said Mr. Campbell, "that we have all been suffering from +certain states of mind that about match the 'Comet's' disguise, and it +occurred to me that a change of air would be beneficial." + +"And will the 'Cornet' go, too?" asked Billie. + +"I'm afraid the 'Comet' is not built for mountain roads in Japan, little +daughter," answered her father. "We'll go by train and then by +jinrikshas, much as I regret to leave your gasoline pet behind." + +"But where are we going?" asked Miss Campbell, in a tone of noble +resignation, so chastened were her high spirits by the pains of +rheumatism. + +"I am going to take you to Nikko to spend a few days, and in order to +liven up things a bit the boys are coming, too, even old Mr. Buxton." + +"Is--" began Nancy, and checked herself. + +"Well, Miss Nancy, 'is' what?" asked Mr. Campbell, smiling. + +Billie knew perfectly well that Nancy was going to say: "Is Yoritomo +going?" but had changed her mind, when she asked instead: + +"Is Nikko a town?" + +"It's a number of things. It's considered by some people to be the most +beautiful place in the world, for one thing. It's a small town; it's a +magnificent forest of cryptomerias; and it's a sacred mountain, and a +collection of marvelous old temples and tombs and statues of Buddha. +But first and foremost it is a cool, green, lovely spot with good, dry, +pine-scented air for certain persons feeling in need of such." + +If Mr. Campbell had a fault it was that when he decided to do a thing he +wanted to do it at once. Having been a man of camps and considerable +lonely wanderings about the world, he had been able to gratify this +tendency to decide and act quickly. But it was not so simple with a +party of women, and when he announced that they were to start next +morning early there was some silent consternation among them. + +However, such was the force of Mr. Campbell's personality when he +announced a decision that not even that fearless and redoubtable woman, +Helen Campbell, had the courage to raise any objections. It was true she +had engaged a masseuse at eleven o'clock; the laundry had not been +finished; certain persons had planned to shampoo heads, and Mme. Fontaine +had asked permission to call in the afternoon. + +"All of which things must be postponed and overlooked," thought Miss +Campbell. + +Mr. Campbell had hired a villa for their short stay. Komatsu was to go +along as cook and to carry excess luggage. And they were to take a train +at the unearthly hour of eight o'clock a.m., which meant rising at an +even more unearthly hour; all of which to a great engineer was a mere +trifle. + +But who could be in a bad humor on such a glorious morning? Moreover, +several funny things happened which set them all laughing as they started +off. Komatsu appeared, strung with cooking utensils like a tin man. + +"Not muchly good in a renting-house. Komatsu take honorable saucepan," he +explained. + +In his arms, beside the luncheon hamper, he bore also a beautiful bunch +of lilies. + +As they climbed into their 'rikshas they were aware of the sound of +clipping, and glancing toward the summer-house, beheld twelve old women +cutting the grass with large shears. Most of them were widows, as could +readily be seen by their short hair. Their worn old faces were wreathed +in smiles, when they presently touched their foreheads to the grass in +profound obeisances. + +"The dear old things," cried Miss Campbell. "O'Haru, do see that they +have a good lunch." + +No need to give such a command to O'Haru. Refreshments are always given +to persons who come in for a day's work in a private place in Japan. + +The next amusing incident was the appearance of the old gardener, Saiki, +who came running around the house grasping a bunch of roses. + +Giving Mr. Campbell the largest and most beautiful, he divided the others +among the ladies. + +"Honorable flower for looking on train," he said, with his inimitable +smile. + +And so, at last they started. All the servants lined up to bid them a +respectful farewell. Billie, turning around, saw them gathered in a group +on the piazza, fading into spots of bright color in the distance, with +the old grass-cutters' robes making a splash of sky blue on the lawn. + +"Oh, Nancy," she exclaimed, "there never were such people as the +Japanese, so simple and adorable." + +Nancy, engaged in pinning a rose on the lapel of her coat and looking at +the effect with her pocket mirror, made no reply. + +At the railroad station they were met by Reggie, Nicholas and Mr. Buxton. +Everybody was in the wildest spirits because of the change in the +weather, and as they crowded, laughing and jostling each other, into the +train, the Japanese travelers smiled good-naturedly. They liked to see +Americans enjoying the country. + +Scarcely had they settled themselves in the train when they became aware +that two Japanese women were smiling and bowing repeatedly in the most +cordial manner. + +"Why, it's Mme. Ito," exclaimed Miss Campbell. + +"And O'Kami San," finished Mary, who remembered names for everybody. + +"Are you going to Nikko, too, O'Kami San?" asked Billie, sitting beside +the pretty little Japanese. + +O'Kami San looked much embarrassed and hung her head. + +"Make honorable journey to husband's home," she said in a low voice. + +"Have you been getting married?" demanded Billie, astonished. + +"Yesterdays passing four," answered O'Kami San. + +"You mean four days ago?" + +"Yes, honorable Mees Cam-el." + +Both Japanese women were beautifully dressed and it came out during the +conversation that the young bride was wearing no less than five elaborate +kimonos. + +"But why?" demanded Billie. + +O'Kami San explained that it was to avoid the inconveniences of luggage. +They were going to a little town in the hills and it would be difficult +to carry trunks. + +Around her head the bride wore a broad band of pink silk, almost covering +her hair, to keep the horns of jealousy from growing. + +Billie looked at her pityingly. + +"Poor little thing," she thought. "Why doesn't that good-for-nothing +brother teach her something? It doesn't seem to me that his schooling did +him any good. He's so fanatical and bigoted." + +"I hope you will be very happy, O'Kami San," said Mary. "I believe you +said there was no mother-in-law." + +"Not no mother-in-law," answered the bride, in the tone of one describing +a great blessing. "Honorable husband of age like mother-in-law." + +"You mean your husband is not young?" + +O'Kami San nodded. + +"Verily old," she said, with just the faintest quiver at the corners of +her mouth. + +Mary and Billie regarded her with compassion. How little romance there +was in a Japanese girl's life! O'Kami San, so young and pretty and +charming, too, was about to enter into years of drudgery perhaps; the +wife of a cranky old man, and here she was accepting her fate as calmly +as a novitiate about to take the vows for life and enter a convent. + +"New husband much rich," she said. "Much old. Need attentionly young +wife." + +Only once did O'Kami San glance at the two handsome young men who +belonged to the Campbell party. But Nicholas, always gallant and +thoughtful, helped Mme. Ito and her daughter to alight at the way-station +where they were to change cars, while Reggie carried their small +belongings and placed them on the platform. + +"God bless you, O'Kami San," called Billie, leaning far out of the +window. And if the little Japanese girl did not understand the meaning of +the salutation she comprehended the spirit of it. + +"Receive thanks," she said formally, her eyes glistening suspiciously. +Then she gave the Japanese farewell, "Sayonara" (since it must be), and +waved her little hands until the train was out of sight. + +Billie watched her sadly. The lines of the five kimonos, which could be +distinctly counted where they crossed at her neck, seemed to symbolize +the heavy marriage yoke the little bride had slipped so uncomplainingly +over her head, and as for that pink silk head band to keep down the horns +of jealousy, it might just as well have been an iron band with spikes in +it, for all the sentiment and romance it represented. But little O'Kami +San had gone up into the hills to her aged husband, and if she guessed +that there was anything brighter and happier than just being an +"attentionly wife" to an old man, she never murmured. No one has ever +plumbed the depths of unselfishness and self-sacrifice of the little +Japanese wife. + +During the last few miles of the journey they left the train and took to +jinrikshas. Along a magnificent avenue they rode, built through a forest +of cryptomerias towering one hundred and eighty feet high, some of them +with trunks thirty feet in diameter. They were like the columns of a +gigantic cathedral of which the sky was the dome. + +After refreshing themselves with tea at their little villa and removing +the grime of the journey, the travelers wandered off into the ancient +forest, cool and gray and very still, except for the sound of the wind +whispering through the pine trees. + +Terraced stairways of gray stone climb up the mountainside from temple to +temple and court to court. Over a busy little river hung the scarlet +bridge of beauty which no profane foot may ever touch, only the Emperor's +consecrated feet. No human hand has mended the sacred bridge for nearly +three centuries, but it is said to be in perfect repair. + +Passing along the temples and shrines that crowded one another on the +hillside, they came at last to a row of images of Buddha, innumerable +stone statues of the god, his kindly, gentle face almost obliterated by +spray from the river and a soft mantle of moss. There is a tradition +which says that no two people have ever counted these images with the +same results, and while the others wandered up the next terraced flight +of steps, Billie and Mary remained to count the Buddhas. + +The loud song of the little river rushing by them dazed their senses and +when they reached the end Billie had counted eighty and Mary only +seventy-five. + +"Let's try again," said Billie; once more they followed the interminable +line and once more there was a wide discrepancy between the results. + +For the third time they started the count, and finally came as near as +seventy-eight and seventy-nine; but the act of counting and recounting +had a curious effect on their senses. It seemed to make them very sleepy, +or perhaps it was the magic of that ancient place, the monotonous song +of the torrent and the cool gray shadows in the depths of the forest +where the sun never penetrated. + +"Do you know, Billie, I think I'll have to rest a moment before we join +the others," said Mary, leading the way up the hillside and sitting down +under a giant pine tree. "I'm almost paralyzed with sleep." + +"I feel the same way," answered Billie drowsily. "We can catch up with +them later. Suppose we take a little repose, as a French lady I knew used +to say." + +The two girls removed their hats, and making pillows of their jackets +they stretched themselves on the soft carpet of pine needles. Presently, +lulled by the monotonous water song and the murmur of the wind through +the trees, they dropped off into a sleep so profound and deep that they +did not hear the voices of their friends returning to search for them. + +The enchantment of centuries had woven its net about their feet and +stilled their senses; for Nikko is called the "City of Rest," and an +endless number of saints and holy men who once lived and prayed among its +groves now sleep there. + +The two young girls sank deeper and deeper into the peaceful sleep which +the atmosphere of Nikko breathes. Their souls seemed to have entered the +region of the most profound rest that may come to a living person. + +And while they slept the sun sank and the twilight of the forest faded +into night. But the searchers had taken the wrong path and their cries +grew fainter and fainter as they ranged the mountainside for the lost +girls. Among the trees their paper lanterns glowed like fireflies and +occasionally there was a long cry: "A-hai!" + +But Buddha himself must have placed the seal of sleep on the young girls' +eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE STORM KING. + + +While two of the Motor Maids slept in the sacred wood on the mountain two +others rested in one of the bedrooms of the villa straining their ears +for sounds of the returning search party. It was only eight o'clock, but +Miss Campbell, worn out with excitement and fatigue, had already dropped +off to sleep in the next room. + +Nancy was quietly and softly weeping, her face buried in her pillow, and +Elinor lay staring into the darkness. Mr. Campbell had assured them +that the girls could not be lost for long, and that the only mishap that +could possibly come to them in that holy place was sleeping under the +pine trees; but he could not conceal the anxiety he really felt, the +anxiety of a father for his only daughter, the being he loved best in all +the world. + +Nancy had felt the anxiety, too, and remorse had entered into her soul; +not because she had met Yoritomo in the garden and exchanged notes with +him in a romantic manner, the notes having been hidden under a stone near +the old shrine, for she was beginning dimly to realize that such things +were only silly and common. Her remorse was caused by something else more +remote in her consciousness but looming bigger all the time. The cruel +letter she had written to Billie in anger and then torn into pieces and +thrown into a brass vase in Mme. Fontaine's drawing-room! Why had she +been so angry? She could not understand it now. She only knew that the +longer she poured her troubles into Mme. Fontaine's ears the more +sympathetic the widow became until Nancy was worked into a perfect rage. +As for the widow, she had said very little indeed, only a few words now +and then, vague, suggestive remarks, but they had set Nancy thinking; had +stirred her up so violently, indeed, that she had written that foolish +letter. There had been no waste basket by the desk and Nancy, after a +wretched sleepless night, had torn up the letter and dropped it in the +nearest vase. Why had she not torn it into smaller bits? Why had she not +burned it in a charcoal brazier? Why had she ever written it at all? +Why--why--? A dozen whys flashed through her troubled mind. She would +never rest again until she knew the letter had been entirely destroyed, +reduced to ashes. Out of this long train of unhappy thought a resolution +came to Nancy to write to Mme. Fontame and ask her to find the letter and +burn it up. This she accordingly did a few days after the visit to Nikko, +and of what came of it more will be told later. + +In the meantime, while Nancy, goaded by a troubled conscience was weeping +abundantly into her pillow, Billie and little Mary Price lay sleeping +peacefully in the great cathedral forest. + +Precisely at the moment that Nancy's disturbed fancies had taken the form +of a resolution Billie and Mary opened their eyes on a world of velvety +blackness. Straight overhead through the lacework of intertwined boughs +gleamed an occasional tiny star, like the light shining through a pin +prick in a black curtain. Scarcely two hours had passed since they had +slipped into the unknown, and now sitting up and rubbing their eyes, they +wondered where in the world they were. Hearing Mary stirring beside her +in the dark, Billie put out a hand and grasped Mary's groping to meet it. +The two friends sat silently for a few minutes. At last Billie said +softly: + +"What are we going to do, Mary, dear?" + +"I am thinking of what they are going to do," answered Mary. "How +frightened they will be about us, Billie! As for me, I can't help feeling +happy out in this dark peaceful place. I should like to lie here all +night and watch the dawn come through the trees." + +All of which was extremely poetic, but Billie had become suddenly prosaic +at the thought of her father, wild with anxiety she was certain, +searching the terraced mountainside for them at the risk of falling off a +precipice or tumbling into the river. Besides, at that moment, she felt a +puff of hot wind in her face, and immediately was conscious that she was +very thirsty and that the palms of her hands were dry and burning. + +"Don't you think it's very hot, Mary?" she whispered. "I feel as if I had +been baked brown in an oven." + +"The wind has changed," answered Mary. "It was cool and sweet when we +dropped off, and now it's like a wind that's blown over a desert." + +Through the forest came a murmur like thousands of voices gathering in +strength and volume all the time. The gigantic pillars of the cathedral +began swaying and tossing their arched boughs and the whole mountain +seemed to resound with strange sounds, cries and calls, grindings and +poundings. The pin prick stars disappeared and the place was as black as +the pit. + +The two girls rose quickly and clasped hands again. + +"I think we'd better go straight down," said Billie. "We're obliged to +strike a path somewhere and perhaps we may find a temple or a tomb or a +pagoda or something. Anything to get away from that awful thing that's +coming, whatever it is." + +Fortunately the act of descending gave them a sense of direction. Many +times they fell, skinning their shins and their foreheads against trees, +but they picked themselves up again, entirely unconscious of bruises, and +ran on as fast as they could go with the hot devastating wind behind +them. Suddenly the whole mountainside was illuminated by a flash of +lightning, like a jagged stream of fire stretching from heaven to earth. +A deafening roar of thunder followed. Then all the forest seemed to be +perfectly quiet. Such a stillness settled over the place that the girls +stopped and held their breath. + +"Look," whispered Billie, pointing to a strange looking light coming +rapidly nearer, wobbling and undulating like the light on the bow of a +ship in a rough ocean. Then came another terrifying flash of lightning, +and thunder that seemed to rock the whole world. The two girls rushed +toward the friendly light with one accord, and collided with the bearer +with such force that three persons were precipitated with unintentionally +devotional attitudes at the foot of a shrine of Buddha. + +"By Jove, but this is luck," called a familiar voice. + +It was Nicholas Grimm, who calmly picked up himself and then his +oil-paper lantern attached to the end of a slender wand; next he helped +the girls to their feet. + +"Take an arm, each one of you. There's no time to lose. The thing that's +coming, whatever it is, will get here in a minute now." + +Running like mad, on the very wings of the wind, the three young people +followed the windings of the path and presently came up short on a small +temple, the tomb of some holy personage. Into this they rushed without +ceremony just as the storm burst with all its fury, and crouching in a +corner just out of reach of the rain, they listened to the howls and +shrieks of the wind. + +"It's just like some live thing," remarked Mary after a while. "I feel as +if some terrible demon lived up in a cave in the mountain, and when he is +angry he comes down and lashes the earth and shakes the mountain." + +Mary's poetic notion of storms in that region was not so far removed from +the Japanese legends. + +"You struck the nail on the head that time, Miss Price," said Nicholas. +"There is an extinct volcano over here in the northeast and in its side +is a huge cavern. People around here used to believe that all these +frightful storms issued from the cavern. Every spring and every fall +there was a perfectly corking one that tore up the whole place, and they +called the mountain 'Ni-Ko San,' or Two-Storm Mountain. Then an old party +who was a saint, I believe, and very wise, placed a curse on the storm +demon and named the place 'Nikko San,' Mountain of the Sun's Brightness." + +"The demon seems to have returned," remarked Billie. + +"Oh, he did. That was the point. The magic curse had to be repeated every +year, and the saint gave the receipt to a priest and it was handed down +from one generation to another in the priest's family for nearly nine +hundred years, but the demon still pursued, as you have probably +observed." + +They were all silent for a while. Mary was making a picture in her mind +of the aged priest in his white robes standing like a midget on the side +of the vast mountain exorcising the storm king. That personage, she +imagined, was a gigantic figure formed principally of black clouds with a +terrifying human countenance. Every breath was a whirlwind or a hailstorm +and when he struck the side of the mountain with his staff the lightning +flashed-- + +Here Mary's thoughts were interrupted by just such a flash uncomfortably +near. + +Billie leaped to her feet. + +"Oh, Nicholas," she cried, "do you think Papa could still be looking for +me? Suppose he should be out now in all this frightful wind! I hadn't +thought of it until this moment." + +"He'll be all right, Miss Billie," answered Nicholas soothingly. "Don't +you worry." + +"Don't you tell me not to worry," cried Billie, almost angrily. "Do you +think Papa would look after himself if he thought I was lost on the +mountain? Oh, heavens, why did we count those old broken statues?" + +Nicholas laughed. + +"Excuse me," he said, choking back his amusement at sight of Billie's +reproachful eyes which even the dim lantern light could not hide. "What +are you going to do?" he added, as Billie seized the lantern from his +hand. + +"I'm going to wave this at the door and yell with all my strength until I +haven't any voice left. If Papa is anywhere near he may see it and come +straight here." + +Nicholas, who, having also had much training in camps and outdoor life, +had not felt the least uneasiness about Mr. Campbell's safety, now +quietly took the lantern from Billie and began waving it to and fro at +the door, while they both shouted again and again. But their voices were +lost in the roar of the tempest. Billie stifled a sob. + +"Papa!" she whispered to herself. "Dearest, dearest Papa!" + +While she spoke a flash of lightning lit up the side of the mountain, and +in that momentary illumination Billie saw her father toiling up the path +against the wind and rain. + +"Papa, Papa!" she shrieked, seizing the lantern and waving it wildly back +and forth. + +"Halloo!" yelled Nicholas, and then there came an answering shout, a +really human cry this time, and after several breathless moments of +waiting Mr. Campbell staggered into the temple. + +Nicholas and Mary turned their faces away at sight of his emotion when he +found his daughter in his arms. He actually buried his face on her +shoulder and wept like a child. + +"I was beginning to think I was never going to see you again, +sweetheart," he said brokenly. + +It gave Mary a lonesome, remote feeling. She drew away from the others +into a corner of the temple and rested her chin on her hands. + +"I wonder how it would feel to have some one big and strong and--and +handsome to love and protect one like that," she thought contemplatively. + +Just then a figure staggered into the circle of light cast by the +lantern. It was Mr. Buxton. + +"Good evening," he said. "Delightful weather, isn't it? Suppose we shed a +little light on Carlton's path," he added calmly, holding the light to +the door. Reggie was close behind his friend, however, and with feelings +of enormous relief, the little company proceeded to sit down on the floor +and relate their experiences. + +"It all really happened," remarked Mary, after Billie had confessed the +cause of all the trouble, "because we tried to count the four hundred +statues of Buddha and never got the same answer twice, and he naturally +didn't like it, and I suppose he put us to sleep and summoned the +Storm King--" + +"No, child," interrupted Mr. Buxton, "I am sorry to disabuse your +romantic young mind, but it really happened because the pressure of the +coming storm had a stupefying effect. Buddha was a very high-minded +gentleman. He would never have taken offence over such a trivial matter." + +"Don't contradict her, Buxton," said Mr. Campbell. "You have no +imagination to comprehend the supernatural, anyhow." + +"It would be supernatural for two women to count alike," answered the +incorrigible bachelor, who would have the last word. + +Gradually the storm spent its fury, and by midnight they were able to +return to the little villa. Except for a few scratches and bruises, the +only important result of the Storm King's visit was Nancy's determination +to write a letter to Mme. Fontaine. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +A VISIT OF CEREMONY. + + +The most unhappy person in the whole of fair Japan was Miss Nancy Brown +one lovely morning in July. At least she thought she was; which is very +near to being the same thing. She had dispatched a letter to Mme. +Fontaine and received an answer that the brass vase by the writing desk +was now empty--a curious way to put it, Nancy thought, and one which did +not quiet her uneasiness in the least. In return for this bit of +information the Widow of Shanghai asked a strange favor of Nancy, one +which puzzled and troubled her considerably. But it was a simple request +and Nancy could not see any reason for declining to grant it. + +So, Mistress Nancy was the prey to indefinable anxieties and vague +forebodings. Everybody had noticed her sadness. Mr. Campbell had spoken +of it with concern and had promised to take them all on another trip to +the mountains. + +"The heat is too much for the child," he had remarked to his cousin. "I +didn't realize she was such a fragile little thing. Even Mary Price seems +more robust." + +"She never was a fragile little thing before, Duncan," answered Miss +Campbell. "I always thought that Billie and Nancy had unlimited +endurance. The other girls are much more delicate. Do you suppose Nancy +has anything on her mind?" + +Mr. Campbell shook his head. It was impossible for him to think that any +of those light-hearted creatures could have troubles. They had nothing to +think about but their own pleasures; nothing to do but enjoy the house +and the garden, the tea parties and excursions. Their happy laughter and +gay chatter, floating to him through the open window of his library did +not carry a single note of sadness; for Nancy had tried to cover her +unhappiness under a cloak of forced gaiety; but she could not hide her +tragic little face, nor the pathetic droop of her lips and the circles +under her eyes. + +"I can never look Billie in the face again," she had said to herself a +hundred times. "I almost feel as if I had murdered somebody and hidden +the body away. Nobody knows about the letter but it's just as bad as if +they did. I believe I couldn't be more miserable if I had sent it to +Billie. Thinking is just as bad as saying things out loud, and writing +them seems to make it even worse." + +Furthermore, Onoye had been acting very strangely toward Nancy lately. +Twice she had come and stood before the American girl with downcast eyes +and twice tried to say something, failed and slipped quietly away. + +On this wonderful Sunday morning, when the world seemed indescribably +fresh and fair after the recent rains, only Nancy was sad. Mary, who had +blossomed into a flower herself in the soft warm air of Japan, was fairly +dancing along the walk. + +"There is so much to do," she cried. "I haven't a moment to spare. The +red lilies are in bloom. They all live together in a place near the old +shrine. Saiki says if the weather keeps on like this the lotus flowers in +the pond will open. Over against the old south wall there is a climbing +rose bush that is a perfect marvel. You see, Saiki tells me all the +secrets of the garden. He and I are the most devoted friends." + +The girls smiled indulgently at Mary, who seemed to them to have +developed in a few weeks from a timid, shrinking little soul with a tinge +of sadness in her nature into the most joyous being. + +"Go on and tell us some more," put in Elinor. "I like to hear all this +garden gossip. You'll be hearing the secret the white rose whispered to +the red next; and how the sensitive plant shrank when she heard the news, +and the lilies shut up--" + +"And the flags waved and the grasses drew their blades, and the trees +barked and the cow slips and the bull rushes--" cried Billie. And they +all burst into absurd laughter, that is, all except Nancy, who felt +immensely remote from this foolish, pleasant talk. + +"It will never do for you to be a teacher, Mary, dearest," said Elinor. +"You'd simply fade and droop in a schoolroom. We'll just have to look up +some other occupation for you. If I had my way with Providence you should +do nothing but play in a garden all your days in a land of perpetual +summer." + +"I am afraid I should have to pass into another world to accomplish +anything so wonderful," laughed Mary. "It sounds a good deal like +Paradise to me, and I haven't learned to play my harp yet. I would never +be admitted into such a beautiful garden until I had learned to play real +music on the harp, and not discords." + +Mary often spoke in metaphors like this, which half puzzled, half amused +her friends. + +"I never heard you strike a discord, Mary, dear," Nancy observed sadly, +when Billie interrupted: + +"Canst tell me who that grand personage is riding up the avenue?" + +In a jinriksha drawn by one man, while two others ran in front to clear +the way of imaginary obstacles, since there were no real ones, sat a +magnificent person clad in full Japanese regalia. He wore a robe of dark +rich colors, but the girls could not see his face, which was hidden by a +parasol. + +"I think Nankipooh has come to call," whispered Billie, as the vehicle +drew near. + +The girls hid themselves behind a clump of shrubbery and peeped through +the branches. + +"He's bringing gifts," whispered Elinor. + +The 'riksha had drawn up at the piazza and the two runners, after the +personage in fancy dress had descended, lifted out a very aged and no +doubt extremely costly dwarfed apple tree growing in a green vase, and a +lacquered box. + +One of the ever-watchful domestics opened the door and into the hall +stalked the visitor, followed by his retainers. + +"I think he must be a messenger from the Emperor, nothing less," said +Billie. "He's so awfully grand." + +"Perhaps he's the Mikado himself," said Mary. + +The others laughed again and even Nancy forgot her troubles and joined +in. + +"I declare I feel as if I had settled down to live on a Japanese fan," +continued Billie. "Everything is like a decoration. I can't imagine +anything really serious ever happening, it's all so gay and pretty and +the people are like dolls." + +"Here comes one of your live dolls," observed Mary, pointing to Onoye, +who was hastening toward them down the path, the skirts of her flowered +kimono blowing about her ankles as she walked. + +She made straight for the group of girls and falling on her knees before +Nancy, touched her forehead to the ground. + +"What is it, Onoye?" asked Nancy, blushing and paling and blushing again +with some hidden emotion. + +"Gracious lady, warn-ings," she began slowly, as if she had just learned +the words from a book. + +"What on earth?" Nancy asked. + +"Gracious lady, warn-ings," repeated Onoye, in a monotonous voice. + +"What do you mean, Onoye?" demanded Billie. "Don't kneel. Stand up and +tell us all about it." + +"No explaining words to make understanding. Make prayer to honorable Mees +Nancee." + +"But what about?" asked Nancy, puzzled and troubled at the same time. + +"Dee-vorce," answered Onoye, and then touching her forehead to the +ground, she rose quickly and glided away. + +It was so absurd that they were obliged to laugh, and yet they felt that +the Japanese girl was entirely serious in what she was trying to tell. + +"Can't we call her back and ask her some more questions?" suggested +Elinor. + +"We might, but I doubt if she would say another word," answered Billie. +"They never will tell more than they have to, you know, and I daresay she +thinks she's told all that is necessary." + +"I think she's got hold of the wrong words," put in Mary. "Do you +remember how she called Miss Campbell 'the honorable old maid'?" + +"She has had something on her mind a long time," said Billie +thoughtfully. "She's a queer little soul. You don't think she could be a +bit daffy, do you?" + +"I never saw any signs of it," said Nancy. "But I do wish she had +explained why I was to be warned. Perhaps she's got that word wrong, +too." + +"The truth is, the Japanese use synonyms instead of the words themselves. +That's why their English is so queer," remarked Mary, better trained in +English than any of the others and with a remarkably good vocabulary when +she could be persuaded to talk. "Now a synonym of 'to warn' is 'to +summon.' Maybe Onoye wanted to tell you that some one wished to see you." + +Nancy was silent. She vaguely connected Onoye's visit with Mme. Fontaine +and the note, because her thoughts constantly dwelt on those disquieting +subjects. + +The girls lingered for some time in the garden until they saw the +Japanese gentleman in fancy dress riding away in his 'riksha, preceded by +his two runners. Once more Onoye approached them down one of the shady +garden walks. Once more she paused in front of Nancy and prostrating +herself, announced: + +"The honorable master in libraree to Mees Brown." + +Nancy turned as white as a sheet. + +"Why, Nancy, don't be frightened. I am sure it's nothing serious," said +Billie, putting her arm around her friend's waist. + +Except for that first greeting when Billie had returned after her search +for Nancy, it was the first time the two girls had stood thus since the +letter episode, and it was too much for poor, contrite Nancy, who burst +into tears. + +"She thinks it's bad news from home," said Mary, leaning a cheek +sympathetically against Nancy's shoulder, while Elinor pressed her hand +and exclaimed: + +"Dearest, dearest Nancy, I'm sure it's nothing sad. Don't cry." + +If anything could have made Nancy more wretched, it was the sympathy of +her three friends. + +"I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it!" she sobbed, and except for +Billie, they had not the remotest idea what she meant. + +And now in the midst of this highly emotional scene appeared Miss Helen +Campbell accompanied by Messrs. Campbell, Buxton, Carlton and Grimm. +There was an arch and knowing smile on Miss Campbell's face as she +tripped along the walk holding a lavender parasol over her head, and the +four men were grinning broadly. Nancy dried her tears quickly. They never +left any traces on her face nor red rims around her eyelids as with most +people, and except that she was unusually pale, no one would have guessed +that her lachrymal ducts had been overflowing only a moment before. + +"Well, well, Miss Nancy, I am afraid we shall have to put smoked glasses +over those pretty blue eyes of yours before they cause any more mischief +in Japan," exclaimed Mr. Campbell. + +"Oh, you little witch," cried Miss Campbell, pinching Nancy's cheek, +"what shall I do with you, making eyes at these Orientals who don't +understand?" + +"But what--" began Nancy. + +"I know," cried Mary, the gleam of romance in her eyes, "I know now. +She's gone and got proposed to by a Japanese gentleman!" + +"But who?" cried all the girls together, brimming over with curiosity. + +"Why, Mr. Yoritomo Ito, of course," replied Miss Campbell. "He dressed up +in his best Japanese fancy costume and brought presents and servants and +came to ask formally for the hand of Mistress Anne Starbuck Brown." + +"Why, the impudent thing," exclaimed Nancy. "Did he think--could he +imagine for a moment--" + +She broke off, too indignant to express herself. Then her eyes +encountered Billie's and she dropped them in embarrassment. They were +both thinking of the same thing; the two notes left under a stone at the +shrine and the rainy meeting in the garden. After all, perhaps Yoritomo +might have thought she liked him--but the idea was intolerable and Nancy +thrust it aside. + +"How would you like to be mother-in-lawed by Mme. Ito, Nancy?" asked +Elinor. + +"And sleep with your head on a bench and eat with chop sticks?" continued +Mary. + +"You would probably have to do all those things if you married Mr. +Yoritomo Ito," said Mr. Campbell. "It's very evident that he belongs to +the most conservative Japanese class and clings to the old notions about +wives and fancy dress costumes and such things." + +"What did you say to him, Papa?" asked Billie. + +"Oh, I was very polite, of course. I declined his offer, but that didn't +surprise him, because in Japan they never stop to consult a young lady +about her choice. They make it for her and then inform her afterward. Was +I right in my method of dismissing your suitor, Miss Nancy?" he asked, +turning to the young girl with a certain charming manner that was +peculiarly his own, half humorous and half deferential. + +"Oh, yes, Mr. Campbell," exclaimed Nancy, a flush spreading over her +face. "I am ashamed that it ever happened. I'm sure I never meant +him to think--I'm sure I can't understand his presuming--" + +"Never mind, child. Men propose the world over without any more grounds +than that. They are all alike, yellow skins and white ones, and red ones, +too," said Miss Campbell. + +"Don't be so hard on us, Madam," put in Mr. Buxton, seizing the lady's +parasol by force and holding it firmly over her head. "It's not our +fault if we fall victims to a pair of blue eyes. You notice I say +'victims.' One pair has many, I presume." + +Billie and Nicholas brought up the procession which was now moving slowly +toward the pavilion. + +"It's queer that I just learned something about Yoritomo last night," +said Nicholas, "and I was going to tell you to-day." + +"What is it?" asked Billie. + +"He's divorced. You know they get them here on the slightest +provocation--just change their minds after a few months or years and go +to court, and one morning a wife finds herself without a husband, or +children either, if he wants to take them." + +"How perfectly outrageous for him to propose to Nancy!" cried Billie. +"You don't know who his first wife was, do you, Nicholas?" + +"No, I didn't hear." + +"I think I do," said Billie, after a moment's pause. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE MAGNET AND THE SILVER CHURN. + + +"Is it your head, dear? Are you sure nothing else is involved? No +indigestion or pains at the neck or burning at the pit of the stomach?" + +"Perfectly certain, Miss Campbell," answered Nancy, with a wan smile. +"It's just one of those sick headaches like the one I had when I ate crab +salad and peach ice cream that time. You mustn't stay at home on my +account. O'Haru will look after me." + +"But you haven't eaten crab salad and peach ice cream this time, child. +You haven't eaten anything, in fact. Your appetite is getting smaller all +the time." + +"It's just the heat," said Nancy meekly. "I only want to stay in a +darkened room and keep as cool as I can. I am sure I shall be all right +by this evening and I wouldn't for anything interfere with the picnic +to-day. It would make my head much worse. Really it would." + +Each of the Motor Maids offered to stay home with Nancy, but she objected +and protested so strongly that it looked as if she would work herself +into a fever if they persisted. O'Haru was therefore left in charge of +Nancy for the day, while the others, attired for an all-day picnic, +gathered on the front piazza. + +On the driveway stood the "Comet" and behind him at a respectful +distance, like a servant behind his master, stood another car of an +undistinguished character, hired in Tokyo. Into this last climbed Miss +Campbell and Mr. Buxton, while Mr. Campbell took the front seat to run +the car. + +"Won't some little maid keep a lonely man company?" he called, and Mary +Price responded promptly to this appeal. "I am the most honored man in +the whole party," he said, gallantly jumping out and helping her in as if +she were a small queen. + +Mary smiled happily, but she felt in her heart that she was the most +honored of all. No one had ever treated her with such deference and +courtesy as this splendid big man who gazed down at her with a protecting +air and listened to her rather timid conversation with absorbed interest. + +It was a wonderful thing, Mary thought, almost too wonderful to be +believed that a distinguished engineer who had been sent for by +governments to build railroads and give advice about public improvements, +would condescend even to notice a quiet little person like her. But the +famous engineer was really a very simple man, as modest as she herself +was and quite as gentle. + +On the front seat beside Billie sat Nicholas, and Reginald was in the +back with Elinor. Every laddie had a lassie that morning, and Billie, who +was a bit skeptical over Nancy's headache, wondered vaguely if this could +have been the reason for her staying at home. But she put the thought +away from her at once as being unworthy. Billie sighed and gave herself +an impatient little shake. Her heart yearned for the old Nancy of the +early days who seemed so changed now. She was determined never to mention +the letter, but somehow it seemed always to stand between them. Both +girls thought of it constantly, Nancy with remorse and bitterness for her +own disloyalty, and Billie with a kind of puzzled sadness. After all, the +two friends had much to learn about each other's natures. + +Nancy on her bed in the darkened room was saying: + +"If I only could prove to Billie and to all of them that I am not +disloyal!" + +Billie, guiding the "Comet" along the country road, was thinking: + +"If Nancy would only be frank and tell me what's on her mind! How can we +go on like this when we are drifting farther and farther away?" + +The excursion to-day was of special interest to Mr. Campbell and his +guests. They were riding forth to see Fujiyama (or "Fuji San," as the +Japanese call it, "yama," meaning simply "mountain"), the sacred mountain +of perfect beauty and shining whiteness. + +Once Saiki, their old gardener, had conducted them to a small elevation +in the garden, and in a manner both reverential and proud, had pointed +to a vista in the trees carefully made by lopping off certain branches. +There, in the background of a long, narrow perspective loomed the great +mountain, exactly as it does in thousands of Japanese scrolls. Here, many +a time, Mary had sat and watched the white cone shining in the sunlight. +She understood why it was called the "Peak of the White Lotus," The low +green hills at its feet were the leaves of the flower and the eight sided +crater, perfect in symmetry, formed the petals. + +The beautiful Fuji San, the most precious and revered object in all +Japan, is dedicated to a goddess, "the Princess who makes the blossoms of +the trees to bear"; but pilgrims of every religious sect crowd its paths +in warm weather and on its sides dwell holy men or "mountain +worshippers," who practice great austerities. + +It seemed a little unfeeling to be so gay and light-hearted with Nancy +unhappy and ill at home, but there was gaiety in the warm dry air, and it +bubbled into happy laughter and chatter as they flew along the road. + +"Have we brought everything?" called Billie over her shoulder. "The +guitar and the tea basket and the luncheon hamper--" + +"And the mackintoshes?" finished Nicholas. + +Billie frowned and her face darkened. + +"Everything but your raincoat, Billie," said Elinor, counting packages in +the bottom of the car with the toe of her boot. "Did you forget it?" + +"No, it had a torn place in it," answered Billie, still frowning. + +An incident too trivial to mention, but too unusual to put lightly aside +had caused her some annoyance that morning. She had closed the bureau +drawer on a corner of her raincoat, hanging over her arm, and had torn +the hem off one side. + +"How stupid," she had exclaimed impatiently, tossing it into a chair. +"You'll have to lend me your blue raincoat, Nancy-Bell. I've just done +for mine completely." + +Nancy, lying on the bed with her face turned to the wall, did not reply. + +Billie tiptoed to the foot of the bed to see if she was asleep, but the +blue eyes were wide open staring at the wall paper. + +"Will you lend me your raincoat, Miss Nancy?" repeated Billie, trying to +be jocular to overcome the peculiar sensation of annoyance that had crept +into her thoughts. + +"I'm sorry, but I can't," answered Nancy, in a low voice. + +"Why not?" + +"I just can't. That's all." + +Billie felt as if a rough hand had seized her by her collar and given her +a good shaking. + +"Oh, very well, Nancy" she said, and went softly out of the room. + +"I am sure she must be really ill," she thought, trying to put a +charitable interpretation on this act of selfishness, but even illness +could hardly account for anything so entirely remote from their usual +relations. And, apparently, Nancy had no fever and was only a little +under the weather with a headache. + +Therefore, when the subject of her raincoat had come under discussion, +Billie quickly changed it. + +"Do look at that queer-looking crowd," she ejaculated, pointing to a +group of people walking in couples along the roadside. Their white +kirtles were girded high about their waists and they carried staffs. + +As the company marched along, always facing Fuji, they began singing a +weird chant. When the motors drew nearer the tourists saw that each +man wore a huge mushroom hat made of lightest pith and from his neck hung +a piece of matting suspended by a cord. + +"That must be one of the Pilgrim Clubs," announced Nicholas. "There are +hundreds of them in Japan and they are fearfully expensive to join. The +dues are from eight to fifteen cents a year. Every summer a club selects +a delegate to take a nice little walking trip to a shrine and bring back +blessings for the other members. His expenses are paid and lots of the +other members go on their own hook. All the inns make special rates and +it's come to be a jolly way to spend one's vacation, combining pleasure +and religion. You see they've got the costume down to the finest point," +he continued. "They wear umbrellas on their heads, and the matting +hanging around their necks serves as a raincoat, seat and bed. It's the +coolest, lightest and most complete walking equipment I ever saw." + +"They make me feel terribly worldly-minded and luxurious," exclaimed +Billie. "I never thought of bringing back a holy blessing to a friend." + +"We can take back a blessing for Miss Nancy, if you like," said Nicholas, +smiling. "A flask of water from a spring on the sacred mountain would do, +wouldn't it?" + +"But we haven't any flask." + +"We have the thermos bottle," put in Elinor. "That would keep it cool +enough for her to drink." + +"She shouldn't drink it. She should sprinkle herself with it, or bathe in +it," said Nicholas, amused at this ultra-modern way of carrying back a +heavenly blessing. + +But Billie recalled the suggestion later and actually did fill the +thermos bottle from a little spring that bubbled at the foot of Fuji and +trickled down a green slope where the company had stopped for luncheon. + +"I do wish Nancy had come," she found herself saying while she spread the +white cloth on the grass and opened the treasures of the luncheon hamper, +which consisted of cold chicken and sandwiches and eggs prepared in a +peculiar pickly way, as some one had described it. "It was a shame for +her to miss this lovely trip. I am sure Fuji would have cured anybody's +headache. It's so beautiful and so majestic." + +"It's cured mine," remarked Mr. Buxton, "either Fuji or something even +more potent." Here he cast a languishing and eloquent glance toward Miss +Campbell who flicked the grass with the end of her parasol and pretended +not to have heard a word. + +Nicholas and Reggie grinned openly. Mr. Campbell stifled a smile behind a +large sandwich and the girls carefully avoided each other's eyes. + +"He's got it bad, Miss Billie," whispered Nicholas. "Is this a common +occurrence with Miss Campbell?" + +"It is, indeed," answered Billie. "There is always one and sometimes +several wherever we go. Once, in Salt Lake City, it saved us no end of +trouble and brought two lovers together, because a horrid old Mormon +gentleman caught the fever. He had it so badly that we thought he would +just carry Cousin Helen off by force, but he was deathly afraid of her." + +"Remember your promise, Miss Elinor," called Mr. Campbell presently. +"Where's your guitar?" + +Some one fetched the guitar from the car and Elinor, leaning against a +tree, struck several chords and smiled mischievously. + +"Shall it be a love song?" she asked. + +"Something religious would be more appropriate in this sacred spot," +observed Miss Campbell severely. But Elinor, ignoring the suggestion, +began to sing: + +"'O, My Luve's like a red, red rose, + That's newly sprung in June. +My Luve's like the melodie + That's sweetly played in tune. + +"'As fair thou art, my bonnie lass, + So deep in luve am I, +And I will luve thee still, my dear, + Till a' the seas gang dry. + +"'Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear, + And rocks melt wi' the sun, +I will luve thee still, my dear, + While the sands of life shall run. + +"'And fare thee weel, my only Luve, + And fare thee weel a while, +And I will come again My Luve, + Tho' it were ten thousand mile.'" + +While Elinor sang this charming song Mr. Buxton regarded Miss Helen +Campbell with an expression so abjectly adoring that Mr. Campbell gave a +roar of boyish laughter and laid himself flat on the ground in the +ecstasy of his amusement. They all laughed, indeed. Even Miss Campbell +joined in, in spite of her annoyance. + +"I should think you might sing your own songs, Buxton, instead of letting +a young lady do it for you," said Mr. Campbell at last. + +"Allow me," answered the bachelor calmly. + +He seized the guitar, re-tuned it with great care, and began strumming +lightly on the strings. Suddenly he lifted up his voice in song and +nobody attempted to keep a serious countenance because he seemed entirely +oblivious to all jests at his expense. Here is the song he sang: + +"A Magnet hung in a hardware shop, +And all around was a loving crop +Of scissors and needles, nails and knives, +Offering love for all their lives; +But for iron the Magnet felt no whim; +Though he charmed iron, it charmed not him; +From needles and nails and knives he'd turn, +For he'd set his heart on a Silver Churn! + +"A Silver Churn! A Silver Churn! +His most esthetic +Very magnetic +Fancy took this turn: +If I can wheedle +A knife or a needle, +Why not a Silver Churn? + +"And Iron and Steel expressed surprise; +The needles opened their well-drilled eyes, +The penknives felt shut up, no doubt; +The scissors declared themselves cut out. +The kettles, they boiled with rage, 'tis said; +While every nail went off its head +And hither and thither began to roam, +Till a hammer came up and drove them home. + +"It drove them home! It drove them home! +While this magnetic, +Peripatetic +Lover, he lived to learn, +By no endeavor +Can a Magnet ever +Attract a Silver Churn!" + +"Well, really," cried Mr. Campbell, at the end of the song when the +laughter had somewhat died down, "really, I think Buxton, you are the +most shameless old soul I ever met in my life. Come along and start home. +A shower is coming up, and we'd better get the cars into the valley +before it catches us and wets the Silver Churn, and the scissors, and +needles, and nails, and knives." + +A shower did come up, a big one that lasted most of the way home, and +Billie's gray linen suit was wet through, but the weather was warm and +except that she looked extremely bedraggled, she was none the worse and +refused to accept the loan of Nicholas' coat. They left the three guests +in Tokyo with the hired motor car, and Mr. Campbell with Miss Helen and +Mary joined the others in the "Comet." So it was that the subject of the +raincoat came up again. Miss Campbell, seeing her young cousin's wet +suit, exclaimed: + +"Child! Where is your raincoat? How often have I told you never to leave +it behind, especially in this country where it rains more than it +shines." + +"It's torn, Cousin Helen," answered Billie meekly. + +"But why, pray, didn't you take Nancy's?" + +Billie considered a moment what she should say and ended by saying +nothing at all. + +"Why didn't you borrow Nancy's, Billie?" asked Elinor. + +"Nancy didn't seem willing to lend it," answered Billie at last, slowly. + +There was a strained silence. Then Miss Campbell remarked: + +"I believe the child must be seriously ill. It sounds like typhoid fever. +I think we'd better send for the doctor as soon as we reach home." + +However, this was not necessary. There was Nancy waiting for them on the +piazza. Her headache had gone, she said, and she looked quite well and +much more cheerful than usual. She did not notice the faintest tinge of +coldness in their greetings. Even Mr. Campbell was not so cordial as +usual. + +"You must have been caught in the worst of the rain," she said, looking +at Billie's dripping clothes. + +"We were," put in Mary quickly, trying to cover the silence of the +others. + +Somehow Billie felt just a bit savage at the moment. + +"I've brought you some sacred water from Fujiyama, Nancy," she said +presently, in order to hide her hurt feelings. + +"Oh, thanks. What am I to do with it? Drink it down?" + +"Oh, no. Anoint yourself with it. Sprinkle it over the top of your head +for luck." + +"Better put on your mackintosh first, Nancy," broke in Elinor coldly. +"You'll be wetter than Billie if you don't." + +Nancy's face flushed scarlet and she turned and walked into the house +without a word. + +"Oh, Elinor, I wish you hadn't said that," said Billie. "See how you hurt +her." + +"She needed to be hurt," replied Elinor. "She needs to be brought to her +senses." + +All the world was topsy turvy. The Motor Maids were quarreling among +themselves and there was mystery in the air. Their happy little kingdom +was being destroyed by internecine wars, and for what reason, Billie +could not understand. It was inevitable that Mary and Elinor would come +over to her side, now, that is, if Nancy persisted in this strange +behavior. + +That night, lying beside Nancy in the dark, Billie's hand crept out to +meet her unhappy friend's. But Nancy's hands were clasped in front of her +and she lay quite still, staring at the wall, the most miserable young +person in all the universe. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +FATHER AND DAUGHTER. + + +The first thing Billie saw next morning when she opened her eyes on a +beautiful but heated world, was Nancy seated by the window reading a +book, and at a second glance, she recognized it as her own prayer book. +If it had been Mary or Elinor who had risen at dawn to read the prayer +book, Billie would not have been in the least surprised, for one was +deeply religious, and the other also, though she never talked much about +it. + +Nancy, however, little frivolous butterfly, was not given to reading her +testament or prayer book either, except at very infrequent intervals, +certainly never early in the morning when other people were asleep. +Billie wondered and wondered what more could have happened to turn +Nancy's thought into this unusual channel. + +"She must be unhappy," she decided, "or she never would have got up at +this time of day," and there was a kind of sad humor in the thought +which Billie did not appreciate at the moment. + +When Nancy heard Billie stir, she closed the book hastily and crept back +to bed and Billie pretended not to be awake. She was sure Nancy would +rather not have been caught at this act of unusual devotion, and she +disliked the idea of being an eavesdropper, as it were, to Nancy's +innermost thoughts. Nevertheless, when some time later, Nancy had dressed +and gone out of the room, Billie could not resist the temptation to open +the prayer book at the purple ribbon; it had been placed at "Prayers for +Fair Weather," which begins: + +"Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech thee of thy great +goodness to restrain those immoderate rains wherewith for our sins thou +hast afflicted us." + +Billie could scarcely keep from smiling when she followed Nancy into the +dining-room. + +"It's about the queerest state of affairs that ever existed," she +thought, casting a covert glance at her unhappy friend who was munching +dry toast. + +Mr. Campbell came in late. He looked flustered and disturbed about +something. + +"What is the matter with this household?" Billie's thoughts continued. +"One would think an earthquake had shaken us out of our senses. Even Papa +is out of sorts. I don't think I ever saw him quite this way before. As +for me, I can't seem to pull out of the general depression. It's just +closing in on us and drawing us down. Papa," she exclaimed out loud, "I +believe we need a trip. When are you going to take us to the mountains? +Nancy is terribly run down, and Cousin Helen is feeling the heat, and +Elinor and Mary and I are going to be run down, too, if you don't hustle +us off somewhere." + +"Very soon now, daughter. Just one more piece of business to transact +and--er--a question to settle, and I'll pack you all off to a cool, dry +place." + +"It will be the very opposite to this one, then," announced Billie. "Hot +and damp are the words to use about Tokyo, and they do say the long rains +are coming on--" she stopped short and looked at Nancy. + +Everybody was looking at Nancy, in fact. + +Mary and Elinor were wondering why Nancy looked so conscious. Miss +Campbell was thinking how pale the girl looked, and Mr. Campbell was +thinking of something quite different, but very important, concerning +Nancy Brown. + +Billie tried to cover the uncomfortable silence by adding with a forced +cordiality: + +"Nancy-Bell needs the change more than any of us." + +"Very well, if agreeable to your Royal Highness, I will let you know +tonight when we shall break up camp and march for the hills." + +"Good," cried Billie. "The Court is prepared to move on a moment's +notice." + +Mr. Campbell beckoned to his daughter to follow him to his library after +breakfast. Billie had already had a foreboding that something was the +matter, and she was sure of it as soon as she had entered the room and +closed the door. + +Her father was standing at his desk frowning as he looked thoughtfully +into space, and Mr. Campbell never frowned unless he had something to +frown about. + +"What's the matter, Papa?" + +"Where are the others?" + +"Gone to their rooms, I suppose, or in the garden. I didn't notice." + +He drew an easy chair up by the open window and Billie took her seat on +the arm and rested her cheek against his. + +"Papa, is there any trouble brewing in this house?" she asked presently. + +Mr. Campbell blew out a long column of smoke from his morning cigar. + +"What makes you think so, sweetheart?" he asked. + +"I can feel it. It's in the air--it's all about us. It's like a sort of +plague. Nancy's got it, and now you are getting it, and I have a feeling +I shall catch it, too." + +"Has Nancy got it?" + +"She got it first and she's giving it to all the rest of us. Oh, Papa, +it's the very first time anything like this has ever happened on any of +our trips. It's making me quite wretched." + +"But what is it, little girl?" + +"I don't know, at least, not exactly." + +"Not exactly? Then you do know something?" + +Billie did not wish to tell her father about the letter Nancy had +written. She felt that her father might not take such a charitable view +of it as she had, and she had a feeling she must protect poor Nancy, +wounded as she had been by her strange behavior. + +"Then you do know something?" repeated Mr. Campbell. + +"Oh, just the littlest something, but I don't want to tell you, Papa." + +Mr. Campbell settled himself into the depths of his chair and drew his +arm around his daughter's waist. + +"That's right, little daughter. I'd rather you'd be loyal than anything +else in the world," he said, stroking her hand. "But I'm going to tell +you a little bit of something. I want to ask your advice. I don't know +what to do. You must help your old father decide." + +"Fire away, Papa." + +"Yesterday a very strange thing happened in this house while we were +away--a very serious thing, I may say, and one which gives me +considerable uneasiness. Last night I came into the library to work, just +after dinner. I opened the safe and found that some one had been +rummaging among the papers in there." + +"Oh, Papa," ejaculated Billie anxiously, knowing the value of those +documents. + +"They were all there, but they had been disturbed. There had been an +attempt made to trace off some of the drawings. The specifications and +descriptions had been tampered with, too. I never dreamed such a thing +could be managed in the daytime with the house full of servants. The two +watchmen would prevent even a possibility of it at night. Whoever did it +must have laid his plans well, or else--" + +Mr. Campbell paused and looked at his daughter very hard. + +"Nancy has been greatly troubled about something lately, hasn't she, +little daughter?" + +"Yes, Papa, she has, but it's nothing serious," said Billie stoutly. +"Just the heat and that absurd business about Yoritomo. You know she did +really make eyes at him a good deal." + +"Where was she yesterday?" + +"In her room, I suppose?" + +"Billie, I called several of the servants in last night and questioned +them about this business here," he pointed to the safe in the corner. "I +called them in separately and each one made the same statement. Nancy +spent most of the day in this room." + +Billie started. + +"I can't believe it. I won't believe it," she cried, rising to her feet +in her excitement. + +"They told a pretty straight story and they had no reason, as far as I +can see, for telling any other kind." + +"But what does Nancy know about opening a safe, Papa? It's absurd. And +besides what would she want with plans for government improvements or +whatever they are?" + +"I'm just as much in the dark as you are, Billie. I'm only telling you +what O'Haru and Onoye and Komatsu told me. She went into the library +twice during the day; once for a little while in the morning, and after +lunch when the servants were in the back of the house, Onoye saw her come +out of the garden in a pouring rain. She marched straight to this room +and locked the door behind her and here she remained until not long +before we returned." + +"Papa, I'll never go back on Nancy," cried Billie. "I'll never believe +she did it--even--well, even if she were to tell me so herself! I know +her as well as I know myself. I know all her ins and outs, you might say. +She's simply incapable of doing a dishonest thing. Besides, what earthly +use could she have with those papers?" + +"Do you think she could be doing it for some one else?" asked Mr. +Campbell. + +"No," burst out Billie, almost angrily. "Why, Papa, I'm ashamed of you," + +Mr. Campbell drew his daughter to him and kissed her. + +"You are a good friend, Billie, and I'm going to give your friend the +benefit of every doubt in her favor. I'm going to assume that she is +innocent and that there is some big mistake somewhere. But I want you to +help me because it will be necessary to get at the bottom of the business +immediately. Now, Yoritomo Ito is one great big fanatic. I discovered +that the other day when he called here in his foolish garb and demanded +the hand of Miss Nancy. He was very angry over being turned down and just +a bit threatening in his manner. Of course he resents outside people +being called in for the work I am doing. He resents my presence in his +country, in fact." + +"I don't like him, Papa," broke in Billie, "and--you didn't know that he +has been married and divorced?" + +Mr. Campbell looked surprised. + +"No, indeed, I did not know it. He has colossal nerve, I must say. But +divorce is pretty common over here. Most anybody can get one who wants +to." + +"And, Papa," went on Billie, "I believe that our little maid, Onoye, was +his wife, and when her father lost his money, Yoritomo got a divorce, and +she and her mother were so poor they had to go to work." + +Mr. Campbell was even more shocked at this disclosure. + +"And, Papa, I believe she would do most any favor for Yoritomo in order +to get to see her little boy who lives with Mme. Ito. Onoye and her +mother are mad about him, and--and--" went on Billie, slowly working out +the complication in her mind--"they were the ones who laid the blame on +Nancy, weren't they?" + +"I didn't know I had a detective for a daughter," said Mr. Campbell, +smiling. + +"I'm just putting two and two together," said Billie. "You see it works +out like a jigsaw puzzle." + +"So I see," said Mr. Campbell gravely. "There is only one bright spot in +the whole business," he added, with something very like a chuckle. "For +once in my life I've out-tricked a trickster and I've really enjoyed +doing it. Buxton informed me the very night you shot somebody here--" + +"There you are," interrupted Billie. "That was Onoye, remember." + +"Yes, there is no doubt about that. Well, Buxton informed me that they +were after my papers and the safe would be the place they would look for +them. So that very night I substituted some old drawings and put the +important ones in another place. Now a Japanese, when he's after +something, is as crafty and shrewd as a fox. That's why I'm patting +myself on my back for having outwitted one." + +"Where do you keep the real papers, Papa?" + +"Down where the pistol is under some stationery in the back of the desk +drawer, and in the big vase in the corner." + +Billie went straight to the desk and opened the drawer. She drew out the +pistol as she had done that dark night, removed several layers of +envelopes and paper, and came at last to a layer of drawings. + +"Are these the ones?" she asked, placing them on the desk and then +shoving the drawer back with her knee. Something stuck and she pulled it +all the way out in her effort to discover what the trouble was. In the +very back, caught between the drawer and the framework was a +handkerchief. It was small and sheer and in one corner was an embroidered +butterfly. + +Mr. Campbell jumped up in much excitement. + +"By Jove," he exclaimed, "did you find that among my papers?" + +Billie nodded her head sadly. "It's Nancy's, too," she said. + +Mr. Campbell began looking over the papers. + +"She may have dropped her handkerchief," he said, "but I don't think she +got down to these. They are exactly as I left them. I suppose she +rummaged around with her handkerchief in her lap and it fell in and was +shoved back when I took out my papers later." + +The papers in a leather portfolio in the vase were safe, also. + +For some time the father and daughter sat together, turning over the +events of the morning in their minds. + +"Papa," said Billie, after a while, "let's send Cousin Helen and Nancy +and Elinor to the mountains, because they need the trip more than the +rest of us, and suppose you and Mary Price and I stay here and ferret out +the whole thing. Of course the person who did it, and I know Nancy had +nothing to do with it," she added almost fiercely, "but the real person +will be coming back for the rest of the drawings, and that will be our +chance. A detective in the house would give the alarm, but Mary and I +might turn watchmen without arousing any suspicion, especially if some of +the servants are mixed in it." + +Mr. Campbell ended by taking his daughter's advice. + +The very next morning Miss Campbell and two of the Motor Maids were +packed off to Myanoshita, a summer resort in the mountains, with +Komatsu to look after them, while the other two Motor Maids remained with +Mr. Campbell. + +"We'll follow you by the end of the week," he said. "I hope you don't +begrudge a lonely man his daughter for that short time, Cousin." + +"I hope you won't keep her in this awful heat any longer than you can +help," was his cousin's reply. For Miss Campbell had grown to regard +Billie as her especial property. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE TYPHOON. + + +The three conspirators had formed no particular plan for a campaign. Mr. +Campbell was certain of only one thing: if poor Nancy Brown had foolishly +got herself involved in this business, it would be better to keep the +secret in the family, as it were. + +"We'll just give the child a good lecture and take her home," he said to +himself, biting off the end of his cigar and frowning at the disquieting +thought. "Whatever she did was through innocence, I am certain of that. +She may have been flattered or cajoled into it. Who knows? The little +thing is miserable enough without being made more unhappy. I suppose I +should have sent for her and asked for a confession, but I hadn't the +nerve and that's the truth." + +Several uneventful days passed after the departure of the others. It was +very hot and the girls kept indoors until after sunset. But it was a +dull, dispiriting time, and one morning they decided to take a spin in +the "Comet," leaving Mr. Campbell at home to look after things. They had +hardly gone when he was summoned to Tokyo by a messenger, and there was +no one but the servants left in the house. + +The girls motored into town and spent the morning shopping. From one +curio shop to another they wandered in the quest of nothing except +diversion. + +"There is no end to the beautiful things here," sighed Mary, wishing in +her heart that she could carry the most beautiful and priceless thing in +Tokyo home to her mother. + +"Yes, everything is beautiful except the weather," remarked Billie, +pointing to the black clouds which had gathered while they were in a +shop. "We are going to have one of those red-letter storms, Mary. I think +we'd better hurry home as fast as we can." + +But the "Comet," who never had any luck all the time he was in Japan, +proceeded to burst one of his tires and the explosion mingled +threateningly with a low roll of thunder in the distance. + +"We'd better take him to a garage and go back in a 'riksha," announced +Billie, much annoyed. "Poor old 'Comet,' it wasn't his fault, but the +prologues of these storms do put one in a bad temper." + +"They frighten me," said Mary. "They give me evil forebodings." + +The "Comet" was accordingly left at the garage to be repaired, and the +girls were well on their way home in a jinriksha before anything worse +had happened than rumblings and strange mutterings at what seemed a great +distance away. It sometimes takes hours for a great storm in Japan to +reach a head; which, in a way, is rather fortunate, because it gives +people a chance to prepare for the struggle. A house is usually +completely closed with storm shutters. Not even the smallest opening is +left, through which the demon wind can find its way and so carry off +the roof, or even the house itself. Every detachable object out of doors +is taken inside. The gardener is seen hurrying about protecting his most +valuable plants, and by the time the storm bursts upon the scene, filled +with demoniacal shrieks and howls like an army of barbarians pursuing the +enemy, it finds its victims prepared for the attack. + +When the 'riksha turned in at the Campbell gate, it had grown so dark +that only the dim outlines of the house were visible at the end of the +driveway. No one saw them arrive. The servants were probably at the back +putting on the storm shutters, which were all in place at the front. + +Billie invited the 'riksha man to go around to the servants' quarters and +wait until the storm had passed, but he nodded cheerfully and took his +way down the road. + +"Let's go in by the passage door," suggested Mary. "Everything is closed +up here." + +Billie followed her wearily. The heat and oppression were almost beyond +endurance. She felt she might be suffocated at any moment. It was like +trying to breathe under a feather mattress or in a total vacuum, for that +matter. + +"Shall we put on our kimonos and lie on the floor in the library?" she +suggested as they slipped into the passage. And this they accordingly +did without another word or a moment's delay. It was too hot to think or +sleep or eat or speak. All they desired was to stretch out on the rug in +a cool dark room and keep perfectly still. + +There was a deadly quiet in the house when presently two little kimonoed +forms stole through the halls and crept to the library door. Billie felt +for the knob in the darkness and turned it. The door was locked. In the +dense atmosphere it was difficult for them to realize what this meant at +first. + +"Mary, it's--it's the-what-do-you-call-'em," said Billie incoherently. + +Mary nodded silently. She might have shrieked her answer aloud, for the +storm had arrived with a great howling of wind and rain, and with flashes +of lightning followed by repeated and deafening cannonades of thunder. + +The rain rattled on the roof like iron and all the demons in bedlam +seemed to be besieging the house. Then a most sickening thing happened. +The floor appeared to be heaving under their feet. Doors all over the +house banged to with loud reports like revolvers shooting off. There was +a crash in the library, a loud cry from within, the door flew open and a +figure rushed past. Mary, kneeling on the floor at the threshold, +involuntarily reached out her hands and seized the flying skirts of the +apparition, or whatever it was, which disappeared like a shadow through +the passage door, leaving Mary still holding the substance of the shadow +which seemed to be the skirt she had grasped. + +A second shock followed almost immediately, less violent than the first +but quite as sickening. For one instant the house tossed and pitched like +a ship on a choppy sea. Then it settled down on its foundations. Most +Japanese houses are built on wooden supports, stout square pillars +rounded off at the base and resting in a round socket of stone. This +gives a certain elasticity for resisting shocks which a firmly built +house would not endure. + +The girls lay side by side on the floor of the passage, too frightened to +speak. There is a horror about an earthquake that is indescribable to +those who have never felt it; a feeling of sickening inefficiency and +helplessness. + +After a while they plucked up courage to rise and totter weakly into the +library, where Billie, her hand shaking with nervous excitement, struck +a match and lit a candle. The room was in dire confusion. Chairs were +upset, books had fallen off the shelves and lay scattered about the +floor, and the iron safe had crashed over on its face. On the desk and +the floor about it were numbers of loose sheets of paper and a narrow +roll of tracing paper, which had uncoiled itself and lay half on the +desk, half on the floor like a long white serpent. + +Mechanically they began to put things to rights. Mary gathered up the +books and set them back on the shelves and Billie stood the chairs on +their legs and collected the papers. They were not important ones, she +knew, only decoys, as her father had called them. In the mean time the +house rocked in the clutches of the storm. + +"I don't know why we bother to do this," said Billie laughing +hysterically. "We may be flying through the air any minute ourselves +along with the chairs and papers and everything else." + +"The storm at Nikko was mere child's play to this; just an infant babe in +arms," answered Mary, weeping softly while she worked. + +It seemed better to be doing something than to sit still and listen to +the terrifying fury of the tempest, as again and again it hurled itself +against the house. + +"It wouldn't have done any good even if we had caught the thief or spy or +whatever he is," observed Billie after a while. "There would have been no +one to help us." + +Suddenly Mary's perturbed mind harked back to what had happened in the +hall. + +"Billie," she cried, "it wasn't a man; it was a woman. That skirt I +caught--that--that something--where is it?" + +"What are you talking about, Mary?" + +"I tell you I caught hold of something. It came off in my hands." + +She ran into the hall and, groping about on the floor, presently found +what seemed to be a long coat. Rushing back she spread it on the desk. +Billie held the candle high and the two girls stood gazing at it for some +moments without speaking. Then Billie slowly placed the candle on the +desk and sat down. + +"I don't understand, Billie," said Mary, clasping and unclasping her +hands in her excitement and surprise, "it's Nancy's blue raincoat, +but--but I don't understand." + +Billie covered her eyes with one hand as if she would like to hide from +Mary what they might tell of her feelings and thoughts. There was +nothing to say. It _was_ Nancy's blue raincoat, but she refused to think +what the explanation might be. + +After a long time, it seemed, O'Haru came into the room. She was amazed +to find the girls in the library until they explained how they had just +escaped the storm. + +"Oh, much terrible," ejaculated the housekeeper. "Much terrible more +worse than since," from which they gathered that it was one of the worst +storms ever seen in Tokyo. O'Haru brought in lights and presently +returned at the head of a procession of maids with trays of food; though +whether it was luncheon or supper time it was impossible to tell. The +clocks had all stopped in the earthquake and it was still as black as +night. It might have been midnight or midday for all they knew. + +The girls preferred to remain in the library, which seemed to them more +protection than the other rooms, and O'Haru drew up three tables and +arranged the trays with great deftness and celerity. + +"Papa didn't come?" asked Billie, noticing the third table. + +"No, honorable lady." + +"For whom is the other tray, then?" + +"Mees Brown," answered O'Haru, rather surprised. + +"But she is in the mountains," said Billie, growing very red and uneasy. +"Oh, Nancy, Nancy," she groaned inwardly, "could it have really been you +and are you out there in the typhoon?" + +"Pardon grant," said O'Haru. "Mees Brown arriving at morning. Mees Brown +within." + +"I think not, O'Haru," said Billie. + +"Her honorable rainy coat," said Onoye, pointing to the fated blue +mackintosh. + +"Mary, what shall I say?" asked Billie in a low voice. "I don't know what +to do." + +"Ask them questions," said Mary. + +From Onoye they gathered that Miss Brown had arrived soon after Mr. +Campbell had left the house, and had gone straight to her room. She +was very tired, she said, and would lie down until lunch time. Then she +had gone to the library. Just before the storm they had tried to go in +and close the shutters, but had found the door locked. + +Billie formed a resolution to protect Nancy no matter what was to pay. + +"It wasn't the real Miss Brown," she announced firmly. "It was some one +dressed like her. The real Miss Brown is far away from here in the +mountains." + +The two Japanese women withdrew presently, and if they felt any curiosity +about Nancy's strange appearance at the villa, they were careful to hide +it. + +The storm lasted all night and many times the two girls lying side by +side on Billie's bed were prepared for the house to fall on top of them +or to be carried away on the wind like chips of wood. But toward morning +the wind died down and while the rain continued to flood the earth, they +knew the worst was over. Billie drew back the bolts of their storm +shutters and the fresh air came pouring in to revive their drooping +spirits. + +"Mary," she said, creeping back to bed, "I'll never believe it was Nancy. +No, never, never." + +At last they went to sleep, and when they waked the rain had ceased +altogether. The lawn in front of the house was a muddy lake and many +trees lay prone on the ground. It was a scene of devastation that greeted +Mr. Campbell as he hurried home at daylight in a 'riksha. He had +dispatched a messenger in the night, paying a large fee, to see if the +girls were safe at home and had spent the night in Tokyo with Mr. Buxton. + +It was not until much later in the day that Billie plucked up courage to +inform her father of what had happened. + +"Why on earth didn't you tell me about it immediately?" he exclaimed. +"The best way to settle that, is to telegraph to Cousin Helen right off." + +But with the "Comet" in town and Komatsu in the mountains this was not so +easy to manage, and it looked as if Mr. Campbell would have to walk back +to Tokyo. He had got half way down the drive, in fact, when a messenger +appeared running at full speed as fast as a horse; such is the endurance +of a Japanese runner. He had been sent with a telegram from Mr. +Campbell's office, but it had been written in Japanese and had to be +translated. + +Mr. Campbell hurried back to the house and called Onoye: + +"Read this for me if you can," he ordered. + +Onoye looked at the strange script a long time. Then she read slowly: + +"'O'Nainci San gone Tokyo. No honorable telling before for why she make +those journey--'" + +There were a few more words, but Onoye had reached the limit of her +knowledge of the English language. + +Mr. Campbell sighed. Billie was the only girl in the world who wasn't any +trouble, he thought. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +CONUNDRUMS AND ANSWERS. + + +"I tell you Nancy is on her way, now, Papa," said Billie emphatically. +"She would never have had time to get here as soon as yesterday. The +storm would have delayed her. She couldn't have reached here." + +Mr. Campbell shook his head anxiously as he paced up and down the piazza +waiting for the 'riksha the messenger was to send back from Tokyo. + +Billie's faith in her friend was wonderful. He admired it, but he was +obliged to say he felt rather skeptical himself, all things considered. + +"There comes the 'riksha," announced Mary at last. + +Mr. Campbell went into the house for his hat and cane and Billie followed +him. She looked so pale and miserable that he stooped to kiss her and +then led her into the library. + +"Come in here a moment, little daughter," he said, "and we'll talk things +over a bit." + +"How are you going to find her, Papa?" Billie asked, wiping away the +tears that would well in her eyes every few minutes and trickle down her +cheeks. + +"I'll do everything within human power. The police are excellent and so +are the detectives." + +"Why do you think she ran away?" sobbed Billie, breaking down entirely. + +"I don't know, my child. I can't make out what the reason was and we'd +never get anywhere by guessing." + +"Papa, do you think she could have gone to that widow? I never told you, +but she did once before when we had a quarrel. She was awfully sorry +after the first night and came back." + +Mr. Campbell gave a low whistle. He had forgotten the Widow of Shanghai's +very existence until that moment. + +"I hope she's there. That will make it much simpler. But you mustn't take +on so, little daughter. Nancy is like lots of headstrong girls. She +resents criticism. Probably she had a falling out with Cousin Helen and +ran away--" + +"I did run away," said a voice at the door, "but that wasn't the reason." + +"Nancy!" cried Billie and the two girls rushed into each other's arms and +embraced like sisters long separated. In the doorway stood Mary and Mr. +Buxton. Mary's face was beaming with joy and Mr. Buxton wore his old +expression of humorous tolerance. + +"Where did you find her, Buxton?" asked Mr. Campbell gravely. + +"I didn't find her. She found me this morning at an unconscionably early +hour, too, and a fine time we've had of it, I can tell you. We've chased +a widow back to Shanghai and we've placed a fanatic under bond for good +behavior." + +Nancy laughed her old natural laugh with a ripple of gaiety in it. Her +eyes were sparkling and the color flooded her cheeks. She was prettier +than ever, it seemed, and all because she was so happy! Her jaunty little +traveling hat was over one eye and her dress was crushed and wrinkled, +but her charming face was radiant. + +"The morning we left for the mountains," she began, "two letters came for +me by mail but I didn't read them until I got on the train. One of them +was from that awful woman and it frightened me terribly. It seemed +cordial enough on the surface but my eyes have been opened to her. I +don't know just what she is, but she is dangerous I am certain,--like a +cat ready to spring. She said she had taken such a fancy to me that she +must see me again and she thought it would be advisable for me to come to +her home at once. The other letter was from that horrid Yoritomo and he +simply threatened in so many words to blow up the house and everybody in +it unless I listened to him. I didn't think much about the letters until +we were settled in the hotel. Then I began to get more and more uneasy +and I thought the best thing for me to do was to come back to Tokyo and +see Mr. Campbell. I knew, of course, that Miss Helen would never let me +go alone, so I just ran away." + +"And very glad we are to see you, Miss Nancy," broke in Mr. Campbell in +the tone of one who felt enormously relieved. + +"We were all night on the train," continued Nancy. "The storm had washed +the track away in places and we had to wait many times while it was +repaired. As soon as I arrived, I took a 'riksha to Mr. Buxton's lodgings +and then we went to see Mme. Fontaine and Yoritomo--" + +"Oh, that widow woman," interrupted Mr. Buxton. "She's a sly one, I can +tell you. As we entered the front door, she departed at the back. We left +several policemen waiting for her to return but I wouldn't be surprised +if she were well on her way to Shanghai by now." + +"I don't understand," said Billie. + +"The time we quarreled, Billie, and I behaved like such a silly little +goose," Nancy explained, "you remember I went to see her. I don't know +what made me do it, except that I wanted to air my troubles. I've been so +unhappy since, that I feel years older now. I was only a child then, but +I'm quite an old person now. She talked to me a long time that night and +got me all stirred up and believing that I had been badly treated. It was +not what she really said but what she hinted. She seemed to know a good +deal about Mr. Campbell's work. She implied that what he was doing for +the Japanese government was disloyal to America. I was so fascinated with +the way she put things and the way she looked at me, too, that I didn't +seem to have any power over myself any more. It was like being +hypnotized, I suppose. It came into my head to write you a terrible +letter, Billie,--" Nancy's eyes filled with tears and her voice +choked--"I can hardly think of it now without crying. She knew I was +writing it but she didn't ask what was in it, only occasionally, while I +wrote, she would look over at me and say 'Poor darling! Poor pretty +darling!' After I got to bed, I came to my senses and began to realize +what I had done. I was terribly frightened and unhappy and in the middle +of the night I crept into the drawing-room, tore up the letter and threw +the pieces into a vase. Next morning, you remember, I came home. But the +letter was so heavy on my conscience, I couldn't be happy. I had a +feeling it had never been destroyed and would somehow get to you, Billie. +I wrote to the widow and asked her to send me back the pieces if she +could find them, so that I could burn them myself. In her reply, she +simply said the vase was empty and I gradually began to understand that +she had got the letter and intended to keep it. There was a threatening +sound to the note, and she ended by asking to borrow my blue raincoat. I +had to let her have it, but I knew she didn't want it for any good reason +and I was more and more miserable. I began to pray that it wouldn't rain. +People don't wear raincoats in good weather. I tried to argue with myself +about her reasons for wanting my raincoat and even now I don't know what +they were unless it was to involve me in something. But we've frightened +her away, anyhow, and she can have the raincoat if she'll only stay." + +"She certainly did want to get you into a peck of trouble, Miss Nancy," +said Mr. Campbell bringing the famous raincoat from the passage where it +hung on the hat rack. "Here's your coat. She left it behind as a souvenir +yesterday when she broke into the house to steal my drawings. I fooled +her, though," he added, smiling sweetly. "If she thinks she can ever make +anything out of those papers, she'll soon find she has been losing time." + +"It's the third time she's been here masquerading as you, Nancy." broke +in Billie. "She must have managed the disguise perfectly because the +servants were fooled each time." + +"She did," said Mary. "I asked Onoye exactly what she looked like. She +evidently had on a brown curly wig and a hat like Nancy's with a blue +veil around her head." + +At this juncture in the conversation, Onoye announced a visitor who +proved to be a detective. He was a quiet, self-contained young Japanese +who spoke excellent English. He had been sent out in a motor car by the +Chief of Police to find out all he could from the Americans regarding +Mme. Fontaine. + +The Widow of Shanghai, he informed them, was the child of a Russian +father and a Japanese mother. She was considered to be one of the most +accomplished and brilliant spies in the Orient and could assume almost +any disguise and speak most languages. It was a pity a woman of such +wonderful talents should stoop to work like that, and the strange part of +it was that she was sometimes treacherous to Russia and in favor of +Japan: so that it was difficult to tell for which side she worked. Just +now her sympathies were with Russia, since she was trying to get plans +for harbor defenses in Japan. The Chief of Police wished to thank Miss +Brown in behalf of the City of Tokyo for driving the so-called Mme. +Fontaine out of town. She had entered it so quietly that until that very +morning it was not known that Mme. Fontaine and the famous Russian spy +were one and the same person. + +"Of course it was she who was in here the night of your birthday party. +Papa," said Billie. "I must have shot two people instead of one." + +This was actually the case, as Onoye explained to her later. Onoye had +hidden herself behind the curtain that night to watch the couples +strolling about in the moonlight. Mme. Fontaine came very swiftly into +the room and blew out the lights. She carried a little electric dark +lantern. Onoye was too frightened to make her presence known, and had +crept along the edge of the room hoping to reach the door. Then Billie +had come in and somehow they had all drifted together in the dark and the +pistol had gone off. The bullet must have pierced Mme. Fontaine's arm and +lodged in Onoye's wrist. How she managed to hide the wound with a scarf +until she got her long wrap from one of the bedrooms was a marvel +to them all. + +"Anyhow the mystery is all cleared away now," cried Nancy joyfully. "I +suppose you must have thought strange things about me, Mr. Campbell?" + +"We had every reason to think them, Miss Nancy, but this loyal young +person here wouldn't let us. It looked like some pretty convincing +evidence for a while, but she wouldn't budge from the stand she had +taken." + +Once again the two friends embraced. They were radiantly happy. It was +just as if Nancy had died and come to life again. + +"I think I've learned a good lesson," she admitted at last. "It all +happened because I wanted to be silly and romantic and meet people in the +garden and write notes." + +"People?" asked Mary. + +Nancy laughed and dimpled in her old charming way and everybody laughed, +even the reserved young detective. Old Nedda, who had followed them into +the room, carne tottering over to where Nancy sat beside Billie. The aged +animal whined and wagged her tail, as if she, too, wished to take part in +the general thanksgiving. + +"Dearest old great-grandmama," cried Nancy, kneeling beside the aged pug +and hiding her face in the tawny coat, "are you really glad to see me, +too?" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +GOOD-BYE, SUMMER. + + +A string of glowing lanterns festooned the piazza of the Campbell villa, +while within the warm reflection of wood fires and shaded lamps made each +window a square of hospitable brightness. The house inside was a blaze of +color. Splendid bunches of scarlet maple leaves and chrysanthemums of +amazing size and beauty filled the vases and jars. + +The Motor Maids, dressed in their very best party frocks, had gathered in +the drawing-room early before the arrival of the three guests. Each maid +sat in a large chair and gazed about her from side to side. The riot of +color, the scarlets and oranges, the tawny browns, pale pinks and +delicate yellows seemed to bewilder them. + +"I suppose it wasn't truly Japanese to decorate a room with all these +masses of flowers and leaves," said Billie. "But I don't care. It's the +most gorgeous thing I've ever seen and since this is our last night here +we want to make it a festive one." + +Their last night! Was it possible that time had slipped by so fast? Here +it was already November, the season of greatest beauty in Japan, when +Nature has dipped her brush into the most brilliant colors on the palette +and touched the foliage with red and gold, the skies with deepest blue, +and the chrysanthemums, favorite flower of the Emperor, with every +gorgeous shade. + +After a good rest in the mountains broken by excursions to various +interesting places about the country, the Campbell party had returned to +Tokyo in time to marvel at the wonders of the chrysanthemum festival, +which is a national affair. + +Away off at the other side of the world a certain High School was now in +full swing. But even Mary Price had lost all scruples concerning her +education. + +"I don't care," she remarked recklessly. "I think all this beauty is just +as good for the mind as bare plastered walls and plain geometry." + +"It's better," exclaimed Nancy, "because it makes one so much happier to +look at chrysanthemums and red maples than to try and understand why the +sum of the three angles of a triangle of any old size must always equal +two right angles. What makes one happy is far more educational than what +makes one aggravated." + +Here was a Pagan theory that Elinor felt inclined to doubt. + +"We shall have to study double time all during the Christmas holidays," +she said. + +"It will be rather fun, I think," put in Billie, always the optimist of +the quartette. "We'll all just have a small private school of four and +jump in and work together. To me, working together is almost as nice as +playing together. I suppose I appreciate it more than the rest of you +because I had to work and play alone for so many years." + +"Billie, you are a perfect dear," ejaculated Nancy. "You furnish all the +amusement and fun and thank us for sharing it with you." + +Billie looked as pleased and happy as if she had never had a compliment +before in her life. The joy of having regained Nancy after that brief +eclipse into shadow was still too recent to be forgotten. The two girls +exchanged one of those telegraphic glances of intimate friends who need +no words to express their meaning. + +"We've had a wonderful time," broke in Mary. "There is something about +the land that makes one forget the realities. If poor little Kenkyo +hadn't died--" + +"Be careful! Onoye is in the next room," interrupted Billie, lifting a +warning finger. + +Onoye had indeed been the wife of Yoritomo as Billie had guessed. No +doubt it was poor old O'Haru who had thrown the stone into the summer +house that day. Billie had mercifully never inquired. And now the little +son, for whom the two women had yearned with a passion that is +extraordinarily deep in Japanese women, had been gathered to his +forefathers. Onoye was dumb and silent with misery during his brief +illness. When he died, she had disappeared for a few days and returned at +last calm and still. No one had seen her shed a tear. Yoritomo, it was +said, was stricken with the wildest grief. But sorrow had cleared his +brain and brought him to his senses. He had made a really manly apology +to Mr. Campbell and had even asked that Onoye might be restored to him. +But this was not to be. Miss Campbell had taken Onoye under her wing. + +"I want you to go back to America with me and be educated, child," said +the kind little lady, "and after a few years, you may return to Japan +and teach the women here how to be independent." + +Onoye had joyfully and gratefully consented to this arrangement, +providing she might act as Miss Campbell's maid in the meantime. + +O'Haru had made an heroic effort to be glad, also. She would continue to +be the Spears' housekeeper, she said, and wait for her daughter to return +to Japan with "muchly honorable learning." + +During the hot weeks when Miss Campbell and the Motor Maids were +sojourning in the mountains, old "great grandmama Nedda" had also passed +into another sphere. Her ending was peaceful, they said; she had slipped +quietly away one day at sunset. The faithful servants buried the gentle +creature in the garden not far from the shrine of the Compassionate God. +When the girls returned they set up a little wooden monument in her +memory on which Mary printed in India ink the following inscription: + +"NEDDA" + +Died August 27, 19-- + +Aged 21. + +"Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting; +The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star, +Hath had elsewhere its setting + And cometh from afar." + +"Here comes someone," announced Billie, peering from the window of the +drawing-room. "It's Mr. Buxton, I think, and he's heavily laden with +parcels, apparently." + +In another moment, the bachelor himself stood in the doorway regarding +the charming picture with his half-humorous, half-grave expression. + +"There were only three Graces, were there not?" he asked. "I've +forgotten. It's been so long since I met them. But there should have +been four." + +"And why not five, since you are adding to the number," asked Mary. + +"Meaning for the fifth the beauteous lady who lingers in her room?" he +demanded. + +"She out-graces us all," exclaimed Billie. "But what did you bring with +you? Do tell us. We are dying of curiosity." + +The bachelor's lips twitched with a crafty smile and he shook one finger +at them like the sly old comedian he was. + +"Walt!" he said, disappearing into the hall and reappearing in a moment +with an aged, gnarled dwarf apple tree growing in a green vase, and a +lacquered box beautifully inlaid with mother-of-pearl. + +"Do you think I have the ghost of a chance?" he asked them in a whisper. + +The girls were consumed with giggles. + +"Not the ghost," laughed Billie. "She wouldn't stay in Japan, not if you +brought her all the Emperor's chrysanthemums in a single bunch." + +"But what's in the box, Mr. Buxton?" demanded Nancy. + +"You shall see," he answered. "Wait until the Fifth Grace appears." + +"Here she is," they cried in a chorus, as Miss Campbell swept into the +room, resplendent in mauve satin covered with billows of fine lace. + +"Madame, you blind me with your magnificence," exclaimed the bachelor, +making a low bow. + +"I'm glad you like my dress," said the elegant little lady. + +"It's not the dress but the eyes," he corrected her, just as Mr. +Campbell, followed by Reggie Carlton and Nicholas Grimm, appeared. + +"We meet to meet again," cried Nicholas, joyfully. + +The two young men were sailing for America on the same ship with the +Campbells, and many a long happy day they were all to have together. + +"And I am to be the only figure left on the Japanese screen," said Mr. +Buxton sadly. "I shall have to walk across the curved bridges alone and +consume tea for two under the flowering cherry tree." + +"I am afraid you will, sir," said Miss Campbell. + +"Madam, permit me," he said solemnly, placing the apple tree at her feet. +"Is this any inducement?" + +"Not the slightest," answered Miss Helen with a laugh. + +Mr. Buxton gazed sadly from one smiling face to another. + +Then he opened the lacquered box and presented each of the Motor Maids +with a beautiful embroidered silk robe. + +"Have an empty box, then, Madam," he announced, placing the casket in her +lap, and because of the riotous and unseemly laughter, no one heard her +reply. + +So ended the last day of the Motor Maids in their pretty Japanese villa. +It was as happy and beautiful an evening as that land of flowers and +hospitality could make it. We should not be sorry ourselves to linger +with them on those lovely shores, but the winter is at land and the +season of dreams has passed. + +Komatsu and O'Haru and old Saiki, the gardener, the four little maids, +the grandmothers and the children remain picturesque figures in a +picturesque land; and behind them, glistening In the sunlight, looms +Fujiyama, sacred mountain of dazzling whiteness and perfect beauty. + +For the Motor Maids this memory will live as the type of all the +experiences and scenes of fair Japan. Above the remembrance of stormy +crises--within and without--of their sojourn there, rises the happy +consciousness of a firmer, larger friendship which they may take with +them as the choicest souvenir of the summer. + +And in their homeland, if we wish, we may join them again to find what +another year of life has revealed to them. In the meantime, let us +anticipate the pleasure in store for us with "The Motor Maids at Sunrise +Camp." + + +END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Motor Maids in Fair Japan, by Katherine Stokes + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOTOR MAIDS IN FAIR JAPAN *** + +***** This file should be named 13450.txt or 13450.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/4/5/13450/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Beginners Projects, Mary Meehan and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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