The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1910-11-23
t it was brazen," he finished


lamely. 81 promise never to do it
again"
A dulled, weird sound from the
street reached their ears---the monot-
onous hand-tapping of small, shallow
drum.
'Some Buddhist devotee, he said,
making pious round of holy places.
He is stalking along in a dingy, white
cotton robe with red characters stamp
ed all over it-one from each shrine
he has visited-and here and there in
a doorway he will stop to chant a
prayer in return for a handful OF
rice"
"How strange! 1t doesn't seem to
belong, somehow, with the telegraph
wires and the trolley cars. Japan is
full of such contrasts, isn't 1t? 1t seems
to be packed with mystery and secrets.
Lsten!" The deep, resonant boom OF
great bell at distance had throb-
bed across the nearer strumming.
"That must be in some old temple.
Perhaps the man with the drum is go
ing there to worship. Does any one
live in the temples? The priests do,
l suppose"
EYES," he answered. Sometimes
other people do, too. know OF
foreigner who lives in one"
what is he? European"
"No one knows. He has lived there
fifteen years. He calls himself Alloy
sius Thorn. I used to think he must
be an American, for in the Chancery
safe there is an envelope bearing his
name and the direction that it be open
ed after his death. 1t has been there a
long time, for the paper is yellow with
age. No doubt 1t was put there by some
former Chief-of-Mission at his request.
He has nothing to do with other for
eigners; as rule he won't even speak
to them. He is something of curl
osity. He knows some lost secret
about gold lacquer, they say"
us he young?"
mo"
Married."
ooh, no! He lives quite alone. He
has one of the loveliest private gar
lens in the city. Sometimes one does |
not see him for months, but he is here
now"
She was silent, while he looked
again at the white toe of the slipper
peeping from gauzy hem. The silence
seemed to him an added bond between
them.
ut can't always be so beautiful in
Japan!" she said at length.
mo, indeed" he agreed cheerful
!y. "There are times, when, as my
number one boy says, honorable
weather are disgust In June the
nubai, the rainy season, is due. 1t
will pour buckets for three weeks with
out a stop and frogs will sing dulcet
songs in the Streets
"Yet now" she said softly, "it
seems too lovely to be real. | shall
wake presently to find myself in my
berth on the Tenyo Mary with Japan
two or three days off"
He fell into her mood. "We are
both asleep. That was why the dog
vanished so queerly. Dream-dogs al
ways do. And I don't wonder at my
singing, either. People do exactly
what they shouldn't when they are
asleep. But no! | really don't like the
dream version at all. | want this to
be true
"Why?"
Her tone was low, but it made him
tingle. A sudden melee of daring, de-
licious impulses swept over him. BE
cause l have dreamed too much" he
said, in as low voice. Here in the
east the habit grows on one; we dream
of what all the beauty somehow miss
es-for us. But tonight, at least, is
real. shall have it to remember
when you have gone, as II suppose
you will be soon."
She leaned out and picked a slender
maple leaf from a branch that came
in through the open side of the pa
CODA, and, holding it in her fingers,
turned toward him. Her lips were part
ed, as if to speak. But suddenly she
tossed it from her, rose and shook
out her skirts with laugh. Carriage
wheels were rolling up the drive from
the lower gate.
THANK you'll" she cried gaily. But
no hint shall move me. warn you that
l intend to- stay long time!"
In the lighted doorway, as Patricia
and her mother stepped from the car
rage, she swept him a courtesy.
"Honorably deign to accep- my
thanks" she said, "for augustly saw
ing my insignificant life! And now,
perhaps, we can be properly intro
duced!"