Yone Santo: A Child of Japan

VI.

LIGHT AND SHADOW.

ON one of my semi-official visits to the school, during a certain winter, I observed with gratification that Yone had outstripped all her classmates, and stood, without a rival, the leader of the sixty young girls under instruction. She was then close upon fourteen, while several of her companions were three or four years older. Speaking of her rapid advance, the teacher — a foreign lady, of excellent parts, but as shallow as most of her sex when dealing with the women of the East — remarked that the pleasure with which she watched this exceptional progress was qualified by her pupil’s obstinate indifference to personal neatness, a fault from which the child made no effort to free herself, and for which she offered no excuse or explanation.

“ Look at her hands,” said the teacher, — “ red, disfigured with grime. It is shocking, and I have told her so. repeatedly. But she has no reason to give for her carelessness, and merely says she ' will try,’ ‘ will try,’ which she never seems to do.”

“ But look at what her face tells, Mrs. Steele,” I suggested, as the child gazed at us, her intelligent features shadowed with an expression of anxiety, as if she knew she was undergoing an unfavorable inspection.

“ Oh, to be sure.” was the reply; “ but we cannot make her face an example for the others, while her hands are a discredit to the school. I wish you would speak to her, Dr. Charwell ; you have great influence with her.”

“ Come to me, Yone.”I called.

She moved forward, her countenance betraying timidity and apprehension.

“ Now tell me why it is that your hands are in this pitiful condition. Mrs. Steele is seriously displeased.”

“ I will try to keep them better,” said Yone, in a scarcely audible tone.

“ Try ! ” repeated the teacher. “ Yes, you always say so, but they are forever the same.”

“ Is anything the matter with them ? ”

I asked. “ Do they pain you ? ”

“ A little,” she answered, still in a whisper.

“ Come to my house, on your way home; I will give you some healing ointment. They certainly look very bad.”

And so they did. I need not enlighten the reader as to the cause, though I had then no suspicion of it myself. Longyears ago, it was, and yet those little hands, red, scarred, seamed with minute cracks, and torn with angry wounds in which the dirt had gathered, — they seem to rise before me now, with power to smite my heart.

“It is water and soap they most need.” said Mrs. Steele, “ not ointment.” Yone was dumb.

“ Can anything be more provoking ? ” continued the teacher. “ She stands like a statue, and never gives back a word. It is the sullen way of the race, doctor.”

I knew it was not sullenness in Yone’s case, and I had long before discovered that the tranquil, unresisting, and silent submission which aliens ascribed to a morose obduracy was often, if not always, rightly attributable to a widely different cause. To suffer uncomplainingly is a lesson which no Japanese girl grows to womanhood without learning, from sharp experience.

My protégée’s English did not yet include the word “sullen,” but she readily interpreted her teacher’s accent and look.

“My clothes are clean,”she faltered, with eyes cast down, and with fainter articulation than before.

“ What sort of a plea is that ? ” said the offended school-mistress. “ If you can keep your dress tidy, you might surely do the same with your fingers.”

“Excuse me, Mrs. Steele,” I interposed, catching a glimpse of the child’s idea, though not altogether sure of my ground. “ Excuse me ; I think she means that the care she takes of her gown ought to show us that there is a good reason, somewhere, for the bad condition of her hands.”

A quick, responsive glance told me that I had rightly understood her.

“ I don’t pretend to fathom her,” returned the teacher, coldly, and with a perceptible dissatisfaction that anybody should assume to penetrate her pupil’s mind more accurately than herself.

“ But her uncleanliness stands seriously in the way of her promotion. She speaks English quite well enough to be made an assistant tutor, but I cannot set her above the other girls as a reward for her persistent negligence.”

“ Listen to that, Yone,” said I. “ Will you not try again, and harder? ”

For a moment she stood motionless, gazing at us with grave inquiry, and then, with an effort that sent a vivid flush over her pale face, moved her lips as if in speech. But no sound came from them.

“ What is it, Yone ? ” urged the teacher, briskly.

Her mouth trembled, and, this time, an incoherent murmur escaped her.

“ What is it, Yone ? ” I repeated.

She turned to me, with an expression of pain which I had never before seen on her countenance, and, struggling with each word, said : —

“ Are the assistants — paid — a little ? ”

Sagacious Mrs. Steele looked down upon her with mingled pity and contempt. I waited for what was to follow, seeing that Yone was still battling with her shyness and reserve.

“ I think — if they are paid — a little — just very little — I think — I could then make my hands better.”

“ Dear me, dear me! ” exclaimed the teacher. “ At least, I never thought she was mercenary. There, that will do, Yone ; you may leave us.”

“And don’t forget to come for the ointment,” said I.

That same afternoon, Yone entered my office, breathless, excited, and in deep distress. She had been running, and at first spoke with difficulty ; but she gradually grew calmer, and resumed her customary placid self-control.

I looked at her hands, and asked if she really thought it would be too difficult for her to satisfy the teacher.

“ In the summer, I could,” she answered, after a pause; “ or if I could be assistant tutor — with — a little wages.”

I knew, well enough, that there was no unworthy motive behind these words ; a more unselfish creature never breathed. But in a tone which I meant to be bantering, and with the hope of giving her thoughts a merrier turn, I said : —

“ Why, Yone, do you, too, want to make yourself rich ? ”

She dropped on her knees as if struck down by a blow, and for the second time in our long acquaintance the mask of composure and restraint fell from her.

“What shall I do? What shall I say ? ” she cried, throwing aside her imperfect English, and using her own language, with which, by this time, I was fairly acquainted. “ Oh, no, no, no ! Why should I wish to be rich ? But think for me, — think what I feel, and what I must not say. The school-mistress despises me, — I can bear it. But if you despise me, I shall die. Are there not little girls in your country who would be glad to get some money, and who are good girls, and who cannot tell you why they want it ? Do you not understand ? You do understand. You must understand. You have always known what Y one thinks. I should be a wicked child if I said one word to explain it. I do not mean to be wicked; but if you would only understand. Oh, how unhappy, how unhappy ” —

Her voice died away, and once more her slight frame shook, as at her father’s house, when she first knew of her admission to the school. But she shed no tears. I would have given much if she had, but such natural relief seldom came to this overburdened little soul. Knowing that my eyes were dimmer than her own, I lifted her in my arms, and said, with such steadiness as I could command : —

“ I do understand, my child. I understand enough. Do not fear, Yone ; I have perfect confidence in your goodness, and you need never say a word to me that you do not wish to. You have every right to want the money ; and if you fail to get the position in the college, you shall let me give you all you need. That, indeed, will please me best.”

She was already soothed and mistress of herself.

“ You are always my kind friend,” she said ; “ nobody has ever been so kind as you. But because you have helped me to what I most wanted in the world, am I to go on and get more from you ? No, that would hurt me. If you can understand me, and not despise me, that is all I will ask.”

“ Be calm, my little Yone. I have a great affection for you, and I shall never despise you. And now, let me look at the hands. They are very painful, I dare say.”

“Oh, I do not care for the pain,” she replied ; “ it is the ugly look, and now I think I can change that. And I must not wait. I have been so long. I shall be so late.”

She looked anxiously at the clock. “ I must get home before five,” she added.

“ That is impossible,” I answered ;

“ it is past four, and you have nearly four miles to go.”

“ I can do it,” she insisted; “I often do. I must do it. Excuse me for hurrying. I must! ”

“ Then,” said I, “ I will drive you there. Be still; don’t say no. I am going near your house, and you can wait and have the hand dressed.”

She yielded reluctantly, and I took her home ; going in with her to explain that I was to blame for the delay, and, in a few words, endeavoring to impart to the family a share of the pride I felt in her progress and the distinction that awaited her.

“ Strange people,” I thought, as I drove away. “ One would imagine, if it were possible, that those estimable ladies, instead of being elated at the child’s success, were as indifferent as if it concerned a stranger. The stoicism of the old school, no doubt. I must talk to her father.”

In assuring Yone that I understood her, I had spoken in good faith, and in the conviction that I had really caught the clue to her feelings. But I was wrong. I thought her sole desire with respect to the money was to be able to contribute, as a child, to the scanty domestic revenues ; and that she was stung by the teacher’s imputation, which, however, she could not refute except at the risk of exposing the circumstances of her family with a freedom unbecoming to its youngest member. I was correct in so far as I judged her to be innocent of any venal thought, but all astray as to the use to which she contemplated devoting her possible income. Years of unkind treatment had at last forced upon her the painful certainty that no effort of hers could win the affection of her feminine relatives, and that she had only her father’s careless attachment to rely upon. She felt she was tolerated, not loved, by her grandmother and aunts, and lived in constant fear lest her sole consolation — the privilege of school attendance — should be withdrawn. The only happiness she knew was in her studies, and she had long been aware of the determination to compel her, if possible, to renounce this solace. At times, the pressure had been almost insupportable, and she saw approaching the period when she must of necessity yield; for she could not lay before her father a complaint against his mother, and to seek relief from her burdens in any other direction would have been to depart from all the traditions of her people.

Suddenly her hopes were revived by the possibility of earning money on her own account. It could be but a small sum, — five or six dollars a month, at the most; but with this she might pay the pittance of a man-servant, and thus relieve herself from the crushing and exhausting drudgeries which now threatened to undermine her strength, and leave her powerless to pursue the only cheering prospect of her life. There would be more than enough for this, and consequently, if her father would permit her, she might purchase a pair of mittens, and thus take a practical step toward restoring her offending members to their normal condition of neatness. Rough labor, not neglect, was the cause of their unwonted appearance. The performance of cruel tasks had bruised and lacerated her delicate skin; and the winter’s cold had so discolored and swollen the wounded hands that no one would have known them for Yone Yamada’s.

On reaching home, I made it my first business to write to Mrs. Steele that I had satisfied myself concerning her pupil’s desire to earn money, and that, though I was not free to repeat the explanation, I could guarantee that her motive was irreproachable ; furthermore, that it would be necessary to give her hands careful treatment for perhaps several weeks, at the end of which I hoped for a complete cure. All this, undoubtedly, was highly disingenuous. In strict truth, I had not a fact to stand upon ; but I had abundant faith, and not a particle of fear that my faith would lead me into difficulty, in this case. Not to disguise the matter, I bore false witness in favor of my little friend, without a blush or a twinge of conscience.

But the harsh destiny which has thus far decreed that the women of Japan shall not escape from the narrow grooves laid down for them was not to be so easily baffled. A double calamity fell upon the child. A formidable rebellion in the western provinces imposed upon the government the need of sudden retrenchment, and, by imperial edict, the foreign schools for girls were indefinitely suspended. Yone’s studies were brought to an abrupt end, for she had passed beyond the stage where the native or missionary teachers could benefit her. The civil conflict proved so severe that, in addition to the standing army and the drilled police of the large cities, the old feudal retainers were called upon to reassemble in defense of the state. Among the vassals from Owari who responded to the call was Yamada, now so reduced that he gladly welcomed even this precarious resource. But the black cloud hung over the unfortunate gentleman, wherever he turned. He fell in some ignoble skirmish, denied the soldierly fame for which many, not more truly valorous than he, willingly exchanged their lives.

Just before this last blow came, a happier outlook seemed about to open before his daughter. In his absence, an arrangement had been made for Yone’s entrance into Miss Philipson’s establishment as teacher and interpreter. In many respects, the engagement harmonized with the young girl’s best feelings and sympathies. She found herself in a position where she could do good, — obvious, palpable, unmistakable good. The longing to help to raise the less gifted or less fortunate to a higher level, which is a fine characteristic of the Japanese (though, I am sorry to say, commonly confined among the men to the uplifting of their own sex), was anxiously, almost yearningly, developed in Yone’s nature. Her simplicity and inexperience were but slight hindrances to her determination to work, with or without good opportunity, for the intellectual advancement of the little charges entrusted to her. They were there to learn, she believed, and there were many things she could teach them. Best of all, for her, she could love them. Not only them, but also those staid, prim, unsmiling ladies whom she was bound to respect as her employers, and who claimed her reverence as representatives of that wonderful Western world, where — according to the flattering conviction of her soul — learning and wisdom prevailed, where the light of civilization beamed upon all, and the birthright of whose people was justice and goodness. Stiff and austere as these forbidding sisters might appear, they could not be so cold and pitiless as the only kindred she now had left to her. She turned to them as a flower blighted by darkness turns to the faintest ray of sunshine.

Nor were they in the beginning wholly unresponsive. Few American women could be utterly insensible to such tender and beseeching, though timid and unconscious, appeals as those which this lonely and neglected child constantly put forth. They could not quite understand her, but in their ungenial fashion they approved and, as it were, sanctioned her. Necessarily, they looked down upon her. To look down upon the heathen was, in a great measure, what they had come to the East for. Equally as a matter of course, they persecuted her ; assailing her with uncouth religious battering-rams of their own clumsy contriving ; cramming her with indigestible creeds; striving to force upon her a faith which they were incompetent to inculcate, or even to explain, and which, though she might willingly have accepted the essential substance of it under wise and gentle guidance, she was too intelligent to subscribe to, without some rational comprehension of what she was doing. But they did not frown upon her. In some respects they were rather proud of her, with a queer, complacent notion that she was something of their own design and making-up, like a piece of human patchwork, destined to still further improvement under their dexterous manipulation. Poor Yone! No conception could have entered the minds of those admirable ladies that the spirit of Christianity never shone so brightly in their household as when she dwelt therein, little pagan that she was. Their properly constituted souls were in no danger of contamination from such rank impiety as that would imply.

But, from the outset, their method of dealing with her was harmful. Probably unaware of the injury they were inflicting, and doubtless encouraged by her own ardent desire to meet every expectation, they pressed too many duties upon her; and she, rejoicing in nothing so much as in the fulfillment of her daily tasks, allowed herself no respite, until overstrained nature revolted, and her slender stock of strength forsook her. The fatigues of previous years were yet to be atoned for, and it became evident that in a long cessation of active labor and study lay her sole hope of recovery. It almost broke her heart to leave the place where she had found her nearest approach to happiness, and which had more closely resembled a home than any shelter she had known. In sadness and dejection she returned to her grandmother’s dwelling. Her earnings in the mission school had reconciled her relatives to the association with foreigners, this being, since the father’s death, their sole reliance for support. But now, having nothing to bestow, she fell again into contempt and neglect.

An opportunity of partial relief was opened to the grandmother. Her own family, in Nagoya, offered her a refuge for her declining years, and expressed also a willingness to receive, if necessary, her two daughters. Believing that Yone was in the way of gaining her own livelihood, they did not extend the invitation to her, but rather intimated that she would be expected to remain in Tokio, and to contribute thence to the family resources. That this had become impossible the grandmother was well aware ; but no idea of taking the helpless child with her crossed her mind. The sole aim now was to get rid of her as speedily and with as little discredit as possible.

VII.

AN UNEXPECTED ANNOUNCEMENT.

On one of the lovely mornings which make the Japanese spring a season of unrivaled brightness and beauty, Yone came to my office, with an aspect as dainty and charming, in her youthful womanhood, as the fairness of the growing year, but with too little of the elastic vigor which I would gladly have seen. She had news to communicate, of no trivial character.

“ My grandmother wishes me to be secret,” she began, “ and I am willing, except for you. I could not promise to hide anything from my best friend. I shall very soon be married.”

“ Married ! — you, Yone ? Bless me, child, how old are you ? ”

She smiled, as Japanese girls always smile when doubts of their maturity are suggested.

“ I am sixteen by our reckoning, nearly fifteen by yours. A grown-up woman, doctor.”

“ A grown-up doll, you little witch ! How dare you talk to me of marriage ? ”

‘‘It is all true ; my grandmother has consented.”

“ Oh, your grandmother, yes; but what have you to say, my child ? ”

“ Why, nothing, doctor ; what should I say ? All is arranged. They are going to Nagoya soon, and I shall be married before they start.”

It was a scheme, then, to free themselves of an incumbrance. Well, perhaps it was better so. I had begun to take a clearer view than before of Yone’s home surroundings, and saw a possible emancipation awaiting her.

“ This is indeed news,” I said, with an assumption of the gayety which the subject appeared to demand. “ And who is the young gentleman ? Have I met him ? Come, I hope you can tell me a thousand good things about him.”

“ I do not know,” she answered; “ that is, I do not know much. But he is not young.”

“Not young? Ah, well, we do not care so much for that, do we ? So the gentleman is not young ? ”

“ He is not ” — she continued, with rising reluctance and embarrassment — “ he is not a gentleman.”

“ Not a gentleman ? I do not understand you, my dear.”

She reflected a while, and then, with much hesitation, said, —

“ My father is dead, and now my grandmother decides. I did think — I hoped — my mother had such good rank — Doctor, I cannot tell you. I have no right to feel as I do. My grandmother knows best. There is no time to lose, she says, and a husband has been chosen for me. He is not a samurai. He is a merchant, — a boatbuilder. Santo is his name.”

A merchant, and a mechanic ! I knew how hard a shock it must be to her fine and, no doubt, exaggerated sense of what was due to her lineage, but at the moment I saw no course before me but to soothe her prejudices, if possible, and help her to look cheerfully at the future.

“You say it is decided, Yone; is it really decided ? ”

“ It is decided.”

“ And Santo, — he is a good man. I do not doubt. I will make his acquaintance. I will g’o to-morrow. What, is he like, Yone ? ”

“ I have not seen him.”

“ Well, I shall see him, and — you are sure, my child, sure that it is decided ? ”

I was impelled to this last question by the increasing sorrowfulness of her countenance, hoping there might be a means of escape from a dispensation which I now saw was repugnant to her.

“ My grandmother has decided, and I obey her commands.”

“ Listen, Yone: you told me once about a school-fellow, a young girl who was to be married, and who was disinclined — who preferred ” —

“ Yes, that was Shizu Miura. Her parents were very poor, and they meant her to be married ; but her uncle adopted her, and then it was not necessary.”

“ So then the adoption saved her ? ”

“ Yes, doctor ; but do not think of such things. I see what is in your kind heart, but I have no uncles, rich or poor. I have nobody. I am alone, — all alone.”

“ Wait, wait; let me consider. Yone, tell me something. In jest, you understand, — only in jest; a mere freak of my imagination. Do you suppose — does it strike you ” —

“ What is the matter, doctor ? Are you in trouble, too ? ”

Undoubtedly I displayed some agitation, for a rather startling idea had occurred to me, of the value or the worthlessness of which I could form no estimate. Yone alone could enlighten me.

“ No, no ; I am only laughing. It is such a droll fancy. Do you imagine that any Japanese girl could take kindly to the notion of being adopted by a foreigner ? ”

“ By a foreigner ? ” “ Yes absurd, is it not ? I know what you will say, — quite impossible.”

“ Doctor, forgive me ; I cannot jest. — not to-day. I am not entirely happy.”

I see ; but without a jest, then, I should be glad to know if such an adoption would be satisfactory to a Japanese girl — or boy. Yes, an adoption by a foreigner; by an American, for example, — an old American. Suppose we say an old doctor. Come, now, what would you think ? ”

“ Doctor, dear doctor, do not laugh at me. I am a foolish child. I am not very well. It is so easy to make mistakes. I am ashamed to be so weak, hut I cannot help it. Tell me truly what is in your mind.”

She came and laid her hand upon my arm, and her soft, pleading eyes looked piteously into mine.

“Tell me first, Yone. Answer my question. Don’t you see, my little girl, that it is all earnest, very earnest, unless you wish it otherwise ? ”

But I needed no answer in speech. The expression of her face, which for a moment might have imparted beauty to even a plain countenance, was more eloquent than any words she could have uttered. All pain and anxiety had vanished, and a look of quiet content had taken their place. I sprang to my feet, exclaiming, —

“ All sunshine now, Yone ; no more clouds and storms. How simple it is. when we both understand. I see it all ; and you ” —

She, poor girl, saw nothing. A sudden change overcame her, and blindingtears streamed from her eyes. It was the strangest of coincidences, that this child, a type of Oriental self-restraint, and I, by profession and long habit the embodiment of rugged insensibility, should thus repeatedly belie our principles and training. This was the third time that the clash of unexpected circumstances had deprived her of the composure it was her duty to preserve, and rendered useless my armor of hardened worldly proof; leaving us both exposed to highly unbecoming human influences, when it was our plain business to expel nature, sympathy, sentiment, all but common sense, from our thoughts.

I sent her home, as soon as she was fit to go, to lay before her people the contemplated arrangement. Then, as the hours went by, feeling that the duty rested upon me of announcing the impending event to the circle of which I was at least nominally a member, I sauntered forth to our informal agency for the diffusion of social intelligence. It was not a “Thursday,” but I was reasonably sure of an audience any day in the week; and even if the esteemed sisters Philipson had chanced to be alone, I knew well that my trifle of news was safe to be spread over the foreign fraternity of Tokio before night, and well on its way to the contiguous colony at Yokohama.

VIII.

THE GOSPEL OF CHARITY.

On entering the Philipson drawing-room, I found it fairly filled, and would at once have proceeded to make known my purpose, had not the attention of the company been concentrated upon the head of the establishment, who appeared to be in the midst of a recital of more than common interest. She greeted me with an austere wave of the hand, and continued her remarks with scarcely a pause.

“ We had already had a foreboding of evil, friends, and our minds were ill at ease. Only a few minutes before, just as sister Kezia began to conduct the interrogation in Genesis, I observed signs of inattention on the part of one of our smaller children, and, desiring to awaken her to the seriousness of her duties, I suddenly asked her who created the world. She answered — friends, it grieves me to declare it — she answered — Tell us, Kezia, what that child said when I inquired who created the world.”

“ Adam and Eve ! ” replied the younger Miss Philipson, in a sepulchral tone.

“ Adam and Eve,” repeated the elder, with stern emphasis ; “ A-dam and Eve ! And no sooner had those words fallen from her sinful lips than four other, and I regret to say more advanced, girls broke into unseemly laughter.”

“ Only three, I think, Sophia,” interposed the junior.

“ Five girls broke into laughter,” pursued the narrator, betraying no consciousness of the correction, excepting that conveyed by her augmentation of the number of delinquents. “ Five sacrilegious giggles resounded through the schoolroom. But order was soon restored, and silence reigned. The lesson of the day was an exposition of the sin of disobedience, with a salutary review of the punishment inflicted by Omniscience upon our first parents. In the midst of the exercises we were thrown into confusion by the behavior of a scholar of whom we had thought well; in whom we had never before detected a stubborn and rebellious heart. When called upon to bear testimony to the all-wisdom of the chastisement, she hesitated, hid her face, and presently sobbed aloud; and when commanded to explain her extraordinary misconduct, she said she could not bear it, that it reminded her of the story of a cruel daimio who ruled in her province centuries ago, and who, on learning that a poor woman had stolen some fruit from his garden, not only condemned her and her husband and parents to a horrible death, but decreed that all their descendants should toil in bondage to the last generation. Judge, friends, what my feelings were as I listened to that misguided girl. I cannot hope to make you understand the shock that overcame me at that moment.”

“ For my part, my heart was in my mouth,” said Miss Kezia.

“ I will not,” resumed Miss Sophia,

“ make use of expressions which might savor of extravagance, and which are repugnant to physiological probability, but I do not hesitate to affirm that the feeblest infant could have quelled me with a feather, and that my hair literally stood on end. The more so, as the girl asserted that she supposed the object of the Scriptural chronicle was the same as that with which the Japanese tradition is kept in memory, — or, as she intimated, to teach us the wickedness of tyranny, and to enable us to sympathize with unmerited suffering. And such was the force of her vicious example that before she had concluded all the pupils in that class were weeping and wailing together. I think sister Kezia will bear me out in the statement that the whole class participated.”

“Nearly all, I should perhaps say,” was the guarded response of Kezia.

“ The entire class burst into floods of tears and hysterical outcries,” persisted the senior, with a glance which implied that she was prepared to multiply indefinitely the aggregate of evil doers, in case any further modification of her report were attempted. Indeed, as if not fully satisfied with the gleam of her sister’s eye, in which she perhaps descried a latent tendency to insubordination, she added, apparently to indicate the inexhaustible extent of her resources, “ I believe, moreover, that some of the others within hearing caught the demoralizing infection, and were likewise carried away. Finding it impossible to control them, we suspended the interrogations, and dismissed the pupils. We are now considering what course we shall pursue with the greater and lesser offenders. It is not a matter to be lightly dealt with. But we hope to be guided. My sister and I propose to wrestle strenuously, throughout this night.”

As the company proffered sympathy and condolement, in terms which showed that the tale they had listened to had deeply stirred their sensibilities, I began to doubt whether the occasion was altogether propitious for my errand, and to wish it were possible to defer the disclosure to a more fitting opportunity ; but on weighing the circumstances, I judged it expedient to declare myself without delay. I watched the countenance of the hostess from a distance, and took advantage of the first perceptible expression of complacency.

“ I have something to tell you, Miss Philipson, about Yone Yamada,” I said.

“ I hope it will please you.”

“ Dear child,” she answered; “ anything that is for her good will please us.”

“For her real good, Sophia,” added the younger sister.

It was contrary to the habit of this amiable couple to accept any statement, even from one another, without some species of qualification or protest, but the elder was accustomed to regard the right of emendation as belonging exclusively to herself, and was not slow, as has been seen, to resent invasions of her assumed prerogative. Upon the introduction of a new . topic, however, the younger lady was tempted to indulge herself once again.

“ Surely, for her real good,” conceded the senior.

Harmless as this remark would have sounded to the uninitiated, it threw a chill over me, from the unusual and ominous coincidence of opinion which it conveyed. But it was useless to pause.

“ You have heard of her father’s death,” I resumed, “but you do not know that her family — that is, her grandmother and aunts — propose returning at once to their own province, and withdrawing their protection from her.”

“How dreadful! ” said Miss Philipson the elder.

“ Dreadful indeed,” I responded; " and there seems to be no resource for her, — certainly no fitting resource, — unless she can be adopted by some suitable person. Now, unfortunately, she has not a relative in the world that we know of, excepting those who are resolved to disencumber themselves of her.”

Various murmurs of commiseration ran around the room.

“ Poor thing! ”

“ How hard! ”

“ How cruel! ”

“ Therefore ” — said I, and then abruptly checked myself. The singular readiness of the elder lady, a moment before, to acquiesce in one of her sister’s suggestions suddenly expanded, before my mind’s eye, into portentous proportions ; and although I had previously been utterly unconscious of a possible objection to my scheme, I was now seized with a vague apprehension that it might not be cordially received.

“ Yes ? ” prompted the younger Miss Philipson, inquiringly.

“Therefore I have concluded to adopt her myself.”

“ Oh! ”

The capabilities of an interjection have never, I am persuaded, been accurately estimated. Those of an “oh,” I can confidently aver, are boundless. To compare its significance to that of volumes is to confess a total ignorance of its force and scope. This particular “ oh,” breathed forth simultaneously by a chorus of half a dozen feminine voices, was equivalent to whole libraries.

“ That is my intention,” I declared.

“ But, excuse me, Dr. Charwell,” said Miss Philipson No. 1, with great precision of utterance ; “I think — you will correct me if I am wrong — I think you spoke of her adoption by some suitable person.”

“ So I did, madam,” I replied. “ Can you suggest any person more suitable than her oldest foreign friend, — the only one, so far as I know, who is prepared to take upon him such a responsibility ? ”

“ Responsibility indeed,” sighed Miss P. No. 2.

“ Oh, I know well enough it is no trivial undertaking,” I said. “ I am far from coveting it. Domestic invasions are not agreeable prospects to men of my age and confirmed habits, even when the invader is so little likely to be troublesome as in this case. If anybody more accustomed to the bringing up of children will assume the charge, I am ready to resign it on the instant.” No one spoke.

“ You see how it is, Miss Philipson. The child must be provided for. Come, I thought you would be pleased to hear of anything for her good.”

“ For her real good,” softly purred the second Miss P.

“ Precisely, madam,” I rejoined. “ I presume it will be for her real good to be fed when she is hungry, and to have a house to live in, and clothes to wear. And it appears to me that I am a very suitable person to supply her with these necessities. I can afford it, and, though I foresee inconveniences, I am willing to make the trial, at any rate.”

“ Oh, doctor, can you look at me with your inward eye, and say it is truly suitable ? ” asked the junior sister.

“ I am a physician, madam,” said I, somewhat testily, “ and thus far my researches have not made me acquainted with anything in the nature of an inward eye. Nor do I know of the existence of such organs, excepting, possibly, in the fishes of the Mammoth Cave. But, looking at you with the only eyes I am conscious of possessing, I say it is eminently and superlatively suitable.”

“ Dear doctor, such extravagance of language”—

“ Permit me, Kezia,” interrupted the elder ; “let us make allowances. Do not forget that we are in Japan.”

“ The very thing,” I urged ; “this is the one country in the world where adoption is the commonest incident of life. There is scarcely a family without an adopted member. That makes it all the more suitable.”

“ But — dear me ! the subject is so delicate. Consider the difference—the divergent — the opposite — the contrary — You understand me, of course.”

“ Indeed I do not, madam.”

“I would say, then, the lack of identity in sex.”

Yes, indeed ! ” “ Ah, truly ! ” were the whispered responses of the now excited listeners.

“ Come, Miss Philipson,” I argued, " let us be intelligible, if nothing else. You mean to insinuate that I ought not to adopt this child, because she is a young girl and I am an old man. That is your point, I take it.”

“ Oh, doctor,” how can you say ' insinuate ’ ? That is the last thing I should dream of doing. Insinuation is the — is a — What does Shakespeare say? What is it, Kezia, about insinuation, and ” —

“ Never mind Shakespeare or any other poet! ” I exclaimed, driven to downright vexation by these silly airs. “ Pray keep to lucid prose where I am concerned. If difference of sex, as you choose to put it, has any weight in your mind, be good enough to reflect upon the difference of age.”

“ Why, doctor, what possible idea can I have about a gentleman’s age ? Fancy such a thing ! ” and she tossed her antiquated head in a grotesque mummery of coquetry.

“ Fancy has nothing to do with it, madam. In plain fact, I am more than three times as old as Yone. Old enough to be her father. Three times as old ? Why, yes; nearly four times. Old enough, as marriages go in this country, to be her grandfather.”

“ Impossible, doctor ! ”

“ Oh, quite impossible ! ” echoed the unanimous body of auditors.

“ Perfectly possible,” said I, " as I will take the liberty to demonstrate. By the custom of the land, I might have been the father of her mother when I was twenty, or yet younger.”

“ Doctor, I beg of you ” —

“ At sixteen, her mother might have given birth to Yone.”

I insist, Dr. Charwell, I insist” — “And Yone is herself close upon fifteen. N ow I think of it, I might be a great-grandfather at this moment. We are in Japan, you know, Miss Philipson ! ”

The good lady fairly gasped with indignation.

“ I never thought to hear such things said — in my own house — to my own face,” she articulated.

“ Why not, madam ? I merely state that I am more than three times, and very nearly four times, as old as Yone Yamada. Does any one doubt the truth of it ? ”

My genial little friend Kracken, who had watched the proceedings with quivering but good-natured anxiety, here broke in : —

“ Now, Charwell, you will make us all feel like mummies, talking about greatgrandfathers in that free-and-easy style.”

“Nothing of the sort! ” exclaimed Miss Philipson, roused to fresh activity. “I do not see how such allusions can possibly concern anybody present.”

“ Certainly not you, Miss Philipson,” I remarked, in a tone of the deepest deference ; “ although it is altogether possible for me to be regarded as a grandfather, no one would ever dream of imputing grandchildren to you.”

“ I trust not, indeed, sir.”

“ I will go further, madam, and admit that nobody ” —

“ There, that will do,” said kindhearted Dr. Kracken, with a comical grin; " your apology is sufficient as it is. Now tell us, are they actually going to throw that poor girl off, without any provision, and leave her to utter neglect ? ” “ They decline to be burdened with her any longer.”

“ But is there no alternative?” asked Miss Philipson. “ I think, doctor, you said something about ' no fitting resource.’ Of course you will correct me it I am in error.”

“ Your memory is excellent, madam.” I answered, grimly enough. “ There is no other fitting resource.”

“ That would seem to imply that there is another resource of some description. Might I venture to inquire ” —

“ You shall know all that I know, madam,” I answered. “ Her grandmother proposes to marry her to an old man, of low birth, and in a station of life which it would be a degradation to her to enter.”

Again the exasperating monosyllable “ Oh ! ” reverberated around the room ; this time more densely impregnated with meaning than before.

“ One moment, friends,” said the mistress of the house. “ I am of opinion that we are all laboring under a mistake. It cannot be that we have heard Dr. Charwell aright. I will not believe — no, not my own senses, without further confirmation. Dr. Charwell cannot intend us to understand that he contemplates preventing this innocent young woman from contracting an honorable alliance with one of her own countrymen, with the ulterior design of introducing her into his bachelor establishment — under the — well, under the designation of an adopted daughter.”

“ Put it that way, if you like,” I replied ; “ that is just what I intend.”

“ But I cannot, really I cannot,” resumed the persistent spinster, waving her hand as an indication that the others should keep silent. “ I cannot trust these ears of mine, unless Dr. Charwell solemnly ” —

“ There, there, madam,” said I, nearly at the end of my endurance; “ I don’t know, nor care, whether your ears are entitled to confidence or not. They never came under my treatment. I have spoken, and you have had every chance to hear. The marriage they strive to force upon her is an outrage. She is a descendant of nobles, and he is of the scum.”

“ Is this our republican doctor ? ” asked one of the company.

“ She is not a republican. She is a patrician, in an empire of castes. It is abhorrent, revolting, to her. The man is an ignorant mechanic, of sixty years and more.”

“ Disparity of age is no obstacle here,” urged Miss Philipson. “We are in Japan, you must remember.”

“ So, then,” I burst forth, “ you would rather have this poor, delicate, refined child, not yet fifteen years old, shamefully sacrificed ; her youth crushed out; her chance of happiness torn from her at the beginning of her life ; bound down to the slavery of an uncongenial marriage ; doomed to a misery which will be a thousand times intensified by the culture she has had, rather than see her sheltered, cared for, protected, by me, who know her noble and rare virtues, until she is sought in a becoming way by some person of her own grade, whose education and character shall entitle him to ask for such a prize. That is your preference, is it ? ”

“ If you apply to me,” said Miss Philipson, with undisturbed coolness, “ I don’t see how the question can be raised for a moment.”

“ And I dare say,” I continued, “ that you represent your party here.”

“ Oh, undoubtedly.”

“ No room for argument.”

“ Not open to discussion.”

These and similar responses came from all parts of the room.

“ You see, Dr. Charwell,” proceeded the undaunted hostess, “ we have on one side a respectable family, who wish to settle the respectable daughter of their house by means of a respectable marriage ; and on the other, we have — Oh, going so soon ? Good-day, then. I can only say, doctor, that if this project is carried out, we shall be happy to see you as before, especially at our Thursdays; but we must beg to be excused from receiving Miss Char well.”

“ Miss Charwell! ” cried I, aghast.

“ Why, certainly,” said this embodiment of exalted propriety, with the unerring aim of a first-class Parthian sharpshooter. " The least you can do, I suppose, is to let her call herself by your name. You would hardly expose the unfortunate creature ” —

I waited for no more. I got myself away as I best could, half blind with rage, and invoking all sorts of swift retributive justice against these experienced wolves disguised as ancient lambs, as it then pleased me to denominate them.

Not for a moment did the thought of relinquishing my purpose occur to me. I had set myself to the work of guarding a life which had thus far been overshadowed by undeserved suffering, and so changing its course that a fair share of the world’s brightness should hereafter belong to it; and I was not likely to be diverted from my intention by any scarecrows which an absurd conventionalism could set up. Yone should be my daughter ; and if the malignancy of persecution should threaten her peace in the new position, we would simply turn our backs upon Japan and the whole East, and remove to lands in which the proportion of Anglo-Saxon intolerance was not so disagreeably dominant. Among circles where theoretical humanity and charity were less aggressively proclaimed, I might easily find a more practical realization of those attributes.

IX.

THE LAST OF CHILDHOOD.

But there were other hostile influences which I had not taken into calculation. Stronger opposition than all the allied tribes of Philipsons could have brought together was directed against my plan. The grandmother, in her unreasoning hatred of the child whose mere existence had at last become an offense to her distorted sight, knew no dearer wish than to thwart and baffle Yone’s hopes to the very end. This alone was sufficient to turn the old woman’s mind against my proposal. Her inherent aversion to foreigners doubtless added to the antagonistic spirit. Under Japanese law, it was impossible to dispose of the child’s future without the grandmother’s sanction. The father’s death left everything in the hands of this vindictive guardian. Unfamiliar as I was, and as most foreigners are to this day, with the rules governing the exercise of domestic authority, I was at first unwilling to believe that a young girl could thus be doomed to conjugal wretchedness by the simple word of a confessedly inimical relative ; but it needed only a brief investigation to show that the case was absolutely beyond appeal. Yone herself would not authorize or participate in resistance to a principle which all her race regard as one of the foundations of their social system. She did not believe that her father, were he alive, would condemn her to such unhappiness ; but now she was under the sway of her nearest of kin, whose rights over her were inviolable. In spite of all her distress, she bowed before the family traditions, and yielded to the obligations which morality and religious conviction imposed upon her. I could only look on, powerless to assist or to console her. The few suggestions which I offered, in the hope of stimulating her to direct rebellion, wounded her so that I had no heart to persevere in them. There was only one path of duty, she said, and those who now cared for her would soon cease to esteem her if she deserted it.

When my proposition was first laid before the Yamada household, it was received in silence, according to Japanese usage, time being always required for deliberation upon an important topic, even though nothing is likely to be brought out that can affect the ultimate decision. During the few days that passed before the judgment was pronounced, while Yone believed she would be transferred to my protection, she admitted me to her confidence with a freedom never before, and I think never afterward, accorded. Assuming that she would soon be responsible to me alone, she relieved her overcharged feelings by relating many details of her past experience, which I should not have learned but for the impending change in her circumstances, and of which, indeed, I heard only enough, from her, to cause me to institute inquiries on my own account. Had I not pursued these with considerable diligence, I should have remained unaware of more than a faint reflection of the wrongs she had suffered.

She thought there could be no great disloyalty in anticipating, by a day or two, the time when she might unfold the outlines of her history, and explain some of the reasons why her new prospects afforded her such glowing satisfaction, to one who, she knew, would listen with sympathy. But she reproached herself, later, for having too frankly spoken her mind respecting the marriage planned for her by the grandmother, and for acknowledging her eager wish to escape from that humiliation. She had never deviated from the moderation and gentleness which habitually governed her speech ; but when it became certain that no rescue was possible, and that the union was inevitable, she regretted that she had divulged a single thought which might be remembered as rebellious or as impatient of her lot.

As the time approached when she might be called upon to leave all the associations of girlhood behind her, the childlike simplicity of her nature seemed to renew itself in various ways. With many a blush, she gave me to understand that it had cost her a struggle to renounce the never forgotten and, till now, never neglected doll which had been the only intimate companion of her solitary infancy. With regard to her cat, the consolation of her more advanced youth, — now arrived at a stately and dignified maturity, — she decided to invoke my good offices. In proffering this priceless gift, she was evidently disturbed by the fear that mankind at large might not value her pet so highly as she herself did; and was not entirely free from the suspicion that what she deemed a precious prize might prove to another an unwelcome incumbrance. She was, moreover, embarrassed by the necessity of concealing her reason for parting from her four-footed friend ; which was, in fact, a vivid apprehension of possible ill-treatment for him in the new home which awaited her. To reveal this cause of anxiety was not compatible with her sense of propriety; but as it was not difficult to divine, I at once averred that the only unfulfilled desire of my heart was to possess a cat of my own, and not any haphazard selection from cats in general, but precisely the sort of animal which Yone bad rescued from aquatic perdition in Nagoya, and brought to years of discretion with prudent nurture and suitable training.

In a case of such extremity, she was not disposed to probe my sincerity too deeply, and with little delay the transfer was formally effected, — not without ceremonies and exercises which afforded me the liveliest amusement. What bond of intelligence had been established between the creature and its affectionate mistress, and to what extent the interchange of ideas had become practicable, no man could say; but it pleased Yone to assume, with a fraction of seriousness in her jest, that she could hold intelligible conversations with the neko, and that he was by no means insensible to the spell of moral suasion. It is certain that the pair would often sit face to face and hold dialogues in a fashion to impress an attentive bystander with new and enlarged ideas respecting the animal’s intellectual qualities. Yone would open the debate, and the cat would respond in accents of which I never believed one of its race capable. On this occasion, Master Tom was placed upon a chair, and informed, gently but gravely, of the altered future before him. As if regarding the announcement as a foolish fiction, unworthy of serious notice, he simply moved his lips slightly, in the direction of a mew, but without emitting a sound, — a common expedient of his when not interested in the topic under consideration. Being addressed with more earnestness, he endeavored to take possession of his mistress’s lap, purring melodiously, and sending out entreaty in measured cadences. Finding himself repulsed, and compelled to listen to a more determined statement of the situation, he appeared to assume the attitude of a cat under the influence of extreme astonishment, reversing his ears, and wailing with increased energy. From this stage he proceeded to more vehement demonstrations; uttering prolonged and piercing screams, with his mouth stretched open to its widest capacity, as Yone reminded him, in resolute terms, of the principles of docility and obedience in which he had been reared, and by which it was his duty to be guided at this critical epoch. Nothing could be more comical. Even Yone’s melancholy yielded for a moment to the mirthful provocation.

All this will be taken at its proper value, as a fanciful interpretation of the feline dialect; but an incident which followed showed that the girl had acquired, in some inscrutable manner, a curious mastery over the animal’s usually wayward will. When about to take leave, her familiar prepared to accompany her, as a matter of course, but was put in a corner, with stern rebuke. Quite regardless of this unaccustomed severity, the creature insisted on following his mistress, and when I tried forcibly to detain him, shrieked at me with such wild vociferation of abuse that I began to doubt the practicability of the transfer. As a last resource, I fastened a little dog-collar about his neck, and tied him to a chair; but this had the effect of rousing him to such fury as Japanese cats seldom exhibit, — possibly because, having no tails to distend, they lack the chief accessory to an extreme display of frenzy. Here, however, was a notable exception to the rule. He broke the cord, upset the chair, tore off the collar, and abandoned himself to the wildest exaltation of declamatory emotion, until Yone, who had been watching the experiment through a window, returned, and announced that she would employ an unfailing device.

“ You shall see,” she said. “I shall work upon his self-esteem. I shall flatter him, and puff him with vanity and pride.”

Then, replacing the collar, and again fastening the cord securely, she commenced an impressive appeal.

“ Listen, Pussinole ” (Pussinole was a name bestowed in the days of her early English, — a twisted version of Old Pussy, which designation had been applied in her hearing) : “ you must respect the good doctor’s collar. It is a beautiful collar, and no cat ever had so wonderful an ornament before. It is a great honor for you, Pussinole, and every cat in Tokio will be envious. Why, it is like a king’s necklace. You must keep it carefully, and not injure it. How beautiful he looks in it, does he not. doctor ? Come and tell him he is now the handsomest cat in the world,” — and so following, for a couple of minutes or more, at the end of which she rose, saying, “ He will be quiet now, and give yon no more trouble.”

To my amazement, the creature did not stir, and, while appearing not altogether content, pursued his mistress only with his eyes. I could not conceal my surprise.

“ How did you do it ? ” I asked, turning over in my mind the possibilities of animal magnetism and similar enchantments. “ Do you really believe the cat understands you ? ”

“ Oh, doctor, Pussinole and I cannot let you into all our secrets. No, indeed. You had better tell me what you think.”

“ I think you are a witch, of course ; I always thought so.”

“ Truly, doctor, I do not know what to say. I am not so silly as to suppose my cat knows the meaning of my words. Still, there is something not easy to explain. He is familiar with the tones of my speech, at any rate. I have always talked to him as I would to a friend. For many years I have hardly had any other person to talk to, at home ; only my little cat. He must comprehend something, for you see how he answers. And he is very glad to be praised. He will do anything, if you compliment and admire him ; I am sure of that. So there is nothing marvelous about it.”

Marvelous or not, it was true that the animal made no further effort to escape, and allowed the restraining collar to remain unmolested. In course of time, a certain intimacy grew up between us ; but his most ecstatic manifestations of affection were reserved for Yone, upon whom, whenever she visited him, he lavished every endearment of which a cat is capable; purring, chuckling, “ chortling,” closing and outstretching his claws, rubbing his head against her as if he would wear away the fur, and entering into animated conversation upon the slightest encouragement. But neither with me nor with any other human acquaintance would he ever exchange a word, on any subject. The power of engaging him in oral discourse belonged to Yone alone.

X.

THE BRIDEGROOM.

The marriage took place in the autumn of 1878, and this fair and fragile blossom of Japanese womanhood, not only gifted with the dainty grace which distinguishes the daughters of the higher Japanese gentry, but also endowed with the rare charm of an awakened and enfranchised intelligence, to which few among them have even yet attained, — this delicate body and gentle soul were delivered over to the mastery of a coarse-minded, rough-mannered, ignorant workman ; a boat-builder, whom chance had thrown in the way of the heartless relatives, and whose sole motive in agreeing to the transaction was a desire to obtain undisputed control over one of the class which in his youth and middle age had ruled the land, and kept the populace, to which he belonged, in an ignoble and degraded subjugation. Times had changed since the advent of the foreigner, and the humble laborer could now not only hold his own, but might assert, at times, a degree of ascendency over the fallen members of the once-omnipotent aristocracy. By industry and moderate skill in his craft, this boat-builder had made himself sure of a sufficient income ; and it suited his humor, in his declining years, to set up a well-born wife in his plebeian dwelling.

His character, like that of many in his station, seemed to a casual observer almost colorless. Not this nor the next generation of laboring men can lift themselves, as a body, from the posture of dependence and servility which was natural to them while feudalism lasted in Japan. This man, Santo Yorikichi by name, knew that the shackles had been taken from his limbs, and it gratified him to exercise his newly acquired liberty in vague and purposeless directions. But, at his age, he could not get his spirit out of the ancient bondage, and it was plain that he would never learn the full value of his opportunities. He was illiterate to a degree rarely encountered among his countrymen, the rudest of whom receive at least some sort of elementary instruction, and was almost grotesquely uncouth in appearance. To the world generally he was good-natured, honest, peaceable, and dull. His frolicking days were past, and he had long ceased to look upon amusement in any form as a necessity of life. In his own home, where I sought him before the marriage, and where I found him waited upon by a couple of obsequious concubines and two or three active servants, he was autocratic, selfish, wholly indifferent to the feelings of those around him, and ready to rule his minions with cold-blooded tolerance, or with an equally cold-blooded tyranny, as his convenience or the whim of the moment might dictate.

When I first visited him, and opened negotiations for a pleasure-boat of his construction, he exhibited the animation appropriate to the prospect of a bargain. I spoke of his impending marriage, at which he evinced some surprise, but presently recovered himself, and put on an expression, the rigid stolidity of which I never saw equaled. I asked him, point-blank, if he should object to his wife’s continued intercourse with her foreign friends, at which he grunted ; not wholly in disapproval, it appeared, but because the idea was one which had not before occurred to him, and he was unprepared with a reply. I then suggested — this being an ingenious conception of my own, with which I had not acquainted Yone — that his future consort had it in her power to render good service, under certain circumstances, as an interpreter; and that I hoped an arrangement might be made by which she could go forth, at intervals, and practice that vocation. My idea was to relieve her, if possible, from the wearying monotony of constant confinement at home, to which most Japanese wives of humbler grade are subjected, — not so much to insure their fidelity as from a general carelessness as to their wishes, their comfort, their health, or anything pertaining to their physical or mental welfare.

When I paused, Santo Yorikichi grunted. I intimated that the labors of a translator were justly entitled to remuneration, whereat again he emitted the sound which he was evidently accustomed to employ as an effective part of speech, but to which no significance could be assigned by a stranger. I then feebly hinted that if she could not be spared from the premises, it might be so managed that those in need of her assistance should call at Mr. Boat-Builder’s establishment, at such times as would be to him agreeable. This time the guttural response appeared to come from such a well-like depth of abstraction and vacuity that I could attempt no more, and returned to the ostensible object of my errand. Then his eye kindled again with the light of prospective traffic, and conversation became once more articulate and intelligible.

I feared that my efforts had been wasted, and that I should find myself burdened with the cost of a wherry, without the equivalent I especially wished to secure ; but I was wrong. Before my departure, — the conditions and price of the craft being satisfactorily adjusted, — Santo turned to me with a listless air, grunted thrice, and unloaded his mind. As to a wife, yes, he was about to give himself one. He had never happened to meet her, but the fact was as I had stated. Also, she had several foreign friends. That he had heard. He did not object to foreigners. He believed they called him uncomplimentary names, sometimes, but as he could not understand them, that did not matter — much. In fact, it would not matter at all, if they did not occasionally ramble, more or less tipsy, into his boatyard, mistaking it for a neighboring teagarden of hilarious repute, and order his women about. On the other hand, foreigners were good customers of his, and they always paid well. Not that his charges were ever excessive, he hastened to add ; only, so to speak — yes — and a grunt. Well, though he was not adverse to foreigners, on the whole, he had a poor opinion of the learning they had brought into the country. It was bad enough to puzzle the minds of men with it, and uproot the everlasting principles of things ; but to bedevil women in the same way, that was simply — grunt. If his wife brought any foreign learning into his house, she would have to keep it all inside her own body. The only possible use for it would be when some imperfectly educated person, with lingual faculties restricted to German, or English, or American, or such fantastic tongues, should approach him in the way of business ; then it might be desirable to have a wife who could supply the deficiency. Curiously enough, he had never thought of that before. But then he had not thought much of anything connected with his impending nuptials. As to her running about Tokio, translating for people here and there, it would be entirely impossible for him to entertain such a notion. That was to say, he could not have entertained it if I had not also referred to compensation. This consideration naturally removed some of the objections which he, as a sober-minded Japanese workingman, would otherwise be bound to take into calculation. His wife’s learning would make a mighty poor show in the boat-yard, but if it were marketable elsewhere, no doubt something might be done. But the money must be paid into his hands, not into hers, to be trifled away in books and other playthings; and as he was a person of independent means, under no necessity of adding to his income by the method proposed, the emolument must be on a large and liberal scale. He must — grunt — looking at what was due to his position as a man of substance — grunt — yes, surely, he could not afford to be content with — grunt, grunt, grunt — less than ten sen (at that time about seven cents) a day.

I was so rejoiced at this unlooked-for success in securing to Yone a fair opportunity for relaxation, and also for pursuing her studies, — which latter could easily be managed under the promised permission to interpret, — that my thrifty boat-builder at once saw he had failed to take the highest advantage of the situation. He began to grumble that he ought to have stipulated for twelve sen a day, or possibly fifteen ; and I should doubtless have acceded to any thing, in or out of reason, had I not feared worse consequences than the loss of an insignificant trifle of money. If his first demand had been twenty times what it was, I should not have refused. Indeed, it was far beyond my hope to arrive at any definite agreement in that original interview. But I composed my countenance, and insisted that hands should be clapped, and the contract ratified on the spot. Otherwise, I hinted, I might recede from my pledge with regard to the boat; for, as I remarked with severe dignity, though with questionable logic, a man who in an ordinary bargain will not stick to terms of his own making cannot possibly construct a boat that will not capsize as soon as it is launched. So, it was then and there set down in writing — not by the builder himself, who was unready with his pencil, but by his foreman — that from and after the date of her espousal, Yone, the wife of Santo Yorikichi, should be allowed to serve as an interpreter to Edward Charwell, or to others whom he might designate, during one complete and undivided day of each week, in consideration of the sum of ten sen, to be paid for each day of such service by the said Edward Charwell to the said Santo Yorikichi. To this the requisite seals were affixed, and I retired in better spirits than I had been able to muster for many a day.

It was necessary to convey a warning to Yone, lest she should betray too much satisfaction on hearing from Santo of the profitable use he had discovered for her. This was done in a letter, which carefully smoothed away the scruples she might have labored under ; for she had an uncomfortably tender conscience with respect to concealments or deceptions of even the most innocent character. I did not see her before the wedding, nor was I permitted to be present at the ceremony, — or, rather, at that which in Japan passes for a marriage ceremony. So positive were her relatives in their determination to break up her foreign associations that when a select party of the Philipson sisterhood went in state to offer their congratulations upon the auspicious occasion, and to express their content that the dear girl had safely weathered all the perils which environ Japanese girlhood in general, and the unspeakable peril of a dubious entanglement with that headstrong Dr. Charwell in particular, — so decided were the grandmother and aunts in their views that they temporarily stepped outside of the limits prescribed by conventional politeness, and astonished the good missionary ladies by a demonstration of such unmistakable malevolence that the most brazen effrontery was powerless against it. Probably the use of my name was an error, and the reference to my dark designs was misunderstood by those to whom it was addressed; for the elder Miss Philipson could not resist the temptation to reject Yone’s assistance. and to conduct the conversation in that remarkable jargon which she evolved from her internal consciousness, and denominated Japanese, — partially encouraged thereto, it may be, by the admission of philologists that it could not possibly be mistaken for any other tongue.

“ I spoke to them with the greatest distinctness,” she subsequently observed, in describing the scene, " knowing that they were natives of a distant province, where the dialect is no doubt corrupted. But one cannot be expected to be equally at ease in all the patois of this heterogeneous country, and so I failed to make them — that is to say, they failed to comprehend me. I am disposed to believe they are very proper persons, for I am sure they made every effort to understand, until I mentioned, as in duty bound, the name of Dr. Charwell. Then, in their righteous indignation at his plots and schemes, they were unable to control themselves, and they broke forth with a volubility that quite confused me. We must make allowance for the feelings of a grandmother ” —

“ And an aunt,” insinuated Miss Kezia.

“ And an aunt, sister,” assented the senior, not much liking the interruption, “ Two aunts, I believe there were,” she added, with the familiar Philipson disinclination to accept any statement without tacking an amendment or variation to it. “ If they were not leaving so soon for the region where their singular dialect prevails, I should follow up the opening. Sister Kezia had an idea that we might do well to attend the wedding, and give our countenance to the affair ; but I am not so sure that we are justified in upholding, by our presence, these unconsecrated heathen unions.”

Sister Kezia winced, as if feeling too heavy a burden thrown unfairly on her shoulders ; for, in truth, the design of " countenancing ” the ceremony had originated solely with Miss Sophia, and had been abandoned in consequence of the unpromising demeanor of the Yamada household. The younger lady drew herself up, and seemed about to deliver a protest, but was promptly repressed by the dominating spirit of the establishment.

“ No. dear Kezia, no,” she said, " I do not find it borne in upon me to go. I think, friends, that in these matters we are bound to obey the inward monitor. My sister is at liberty to follow the dictates of her own conscience, and I should not think of opposing her desires ; but for my part, it seems to me that we can hardly be too mindful that we are in Japan. That is a fact which should never be lost sight of.”

E. H. House.