a pause, then two strokes and a pause, followed by so many strokes without pause that the sounds merged into one deep mellow tone reaching from temple

r sleep. The morning after Kishimoto San's visit, long before any sound disturbed the sleeping gods, from my window I watched the Great

. Formerly I had not even a passing acquaintance with thrills. Now, half a century behind-time, they were beginning to burst in upon me all at once, as would a troop of merry friends bent on giving me a surprise party, and the things they seemed to promise kept me

ot rested as usual, she put a qu

what?" I

ll, but I was counting sheep jumping over the fence, and it made me so sleepy I mixed yo

om our menu and established a kind of liquid food station

andfather's house; of her rebellion against things that were; and that she was to come to me for private study. Had I not been so excited over the elemen

nly part of the story she took in, and as she listened, passed into some kind of a spell. She cuddled down into her chair and shut her eyes like a child in the ecstasi

ure very like that. Such a picture in the Orient could only be labeled tragedy; the more quickly it w

u know that in this country a young man and woman walking and talking together cannot be permitted? Neither love no

it be sweet, though, for you and me to go about teaching these dear Japanese

and one lean, stumping the country on a campaign for young love-subjects in which we

must preach love and live it till we

inks in Miss Gray's tongue were as startl

as an artist by profession and, as nearly as I could judge, a rover by habit. Of late the family ha

n, "I know. I lived the

ght, as luminous as a shaft of light through a jar of h

continued, as eagerly as a yo

and settle upon the hour she was to come for daily lessons. Meantime Jane was to take her nap, her milk, and her tonic wit

ing very irksome but there was a cooking class, a mother's meeting, two sets of composition papers to be

to go and delayed not a min

was undisturbed by the great changes which had swept the land in the ages it had stood. The masters had changed from father to son, b

g the lodge gates until I was ushered into the gen

ny of welcoming to his house a stra

seldom had a chance to sprout. She performed her duties with the precision of a clock, with the soft al

In this ancient house simple decorations of a priceless scroll and a flowering plum

ate and apologize for my unwort

ptance as she abased herself by touching her

g the cushion, and I was glad for

y seat on the floor, and listles

w and her faith in her country and her gods. The daughter was weak and negative by reason of no particular faith and no definite gods. The system by which she had been trained did not include self-reliance nor fos

the playthings of circumstance and the

as because of ignorance or courage, she braved displeasure, and followed the strange man to a strange country. Sometimes the weakness of Japanese women is their greatest strength. This woman knew how to obey. In her way she had learned to love, but her limited capac

eauty was stamped the sign of the white plague. She greeted me in very broken English, then left the chief duty of entertaining to the mother. The

But when Mrs. Kishimoto called, "Zura, come!" a stream of sunlight, as though waiting for the proper time

dress as many shades of brown as could be found in a pile of autumn leaves. In the round eyes, deep set in a face sprinkled with freckles

m that distracted me half the night, when I was trying to plan for her soul's salvation. I could not hide my amazement at her appearance. She as closely resembled my idea of an American girl as a cartoon does a miniature; but I had

It had been years since I had shaken hands with any one. I was ill at ease, and made more so by realizing that I did not know

f a popgun: "No." Then she sat down clos

erest here. All the beauties of Japan are not on the surface. The loveline

ttle lamb," but it was all I could think to s

fusion and a half-smile

natives are like punk imitations of a vaudevil

able. As if to emphasize it, the hand she had persistently held behind her was thrust forward toward the burning coals in th

oking! I was shocke

asked, for the want of

ho to my mind is descended direct from the devil, wishes me to

not the custom in this count

y-"it doesn't matter. Had to

the girl's face stirred with

rn-shucks and dried grass I made a cigar which I tried to smoke. It gave me the most miserable penitent hour I have ever known

Think it's funny? I don't. Have one." Sh

. I told her of my desolate childhood, of the quiet village in which my uneventful girlhood was

as she exclaimed, "Heavens! Didn't you have any 'movies,'

tupid before this child who had no business to know more than I did. So I looked a little stern and said that my Sundays never seemed a

the ancient beams. The maid, just entering with hot tea, stood as if stunned. The old grandmother s

paper doors, gently chiding,

iolence. I knew she was laughing at me, but what mattered? To her I was a comical old figure in a strange museum. To me she stood for all I had lost of girlhood rights

d, public halls for dancing, and boys meeting young girls alone after dark to "treat" them! The child spoke of it all easily and as a matter of course. I knew more than I wanted o

though many of her words were in an unknown tongue, the picture she unconsciously drew of herself was as clear as transparency. It wa

and coloring. It found her hair and made of it a crown of bronze and gold. For a moment

tians and Christianity. It threatened with relentless torture any attempt to promulgate the faith, and contained an order for al

bring in its trail? Possibly some presentiment haunted him of the great danger that would come to his people through contact with a country leagues removed in customs and beliefs. Neither crucifixion nor torture had availed to keep out the new religion. Wi

as mainly of her amus

ny pleasures while you were a

ine. The days I felt like going, I crammed hard and broke the average record. I also acc

proached the object of my visit. "Well, of course you desire to further pursue your studies in English, even though your home is to be in Japan.

e mighty honorable Boss has been laying plans, has he? Well, I think it would

thing. For a moment I was torn between a desire to administer a stern reproof and leave her, and a great yearni

she, pretty and saucy as a gay

to stay I'm going to pursue the heavenly scenery around here and put it on paper. Between pictures I'm

oon enough life would administer reproof and stretch out

knowing that her defiance could only bring sorro

eyes of the inhabitants will not have another angle before I

to have any part in her life. She told of

ur mother permit you to

. "My mother is nothing but a baby. She neit

ventured. "I understand yo

ose quickly, her face aquiver with pain; she threw her hands forward as if in

fresh. I exposed the bruised place in the girl's life

had taken no part nor interest in the scene. Their faces expressed nothing. To them the girl was as incomprehensible as any jungle s

with what grace

mitting details, I told him Zura decl

nced she will not? I shall

eded time for adjustment and

like requesting me to smile sweetly when grasping the fruit of a chestnut tree which wears a p

way to my home. I was too occupied mentally to pay much attention to Jane's unnumbered questions regarding my visit. Anyhow, my

girls and poetry and beaux, which as far as I

re the night had gone, she could ha

below, still deeply thinking. Often at the end of the day's toil I sought

promise, charged with possibilities. The earth was wrapped in a robe of gray, made of mist and illusion, and its every sound was hushe

to bear troops of white-robed maidens and, as they floated past, they gaily waved their h