Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1924-07-23


spots Of red in the girls cheeks. Then:
Escort the maid to my house. will
talk to the abbot.
Honorable eldest priest" Wells
said bluntly, "you have tricked me-"
The abbot had not liked Wells ora
ton. 1t was not seemly that his priests
be so addressed. He answered abrupt
ly, shortly. "How?"
''This maid Is white"
"You saw her before, through the
slit in the panel of her room. She is
not white. I spoke Of that before
She is Eurasian. Chinese blood flows
in her veins"
IF she Is Eurasian, why do YOU fear
the missionariesp
"They ask questions. There is a
story"
Poor scared kid, Wells was think
ing. She would be far better off in
his own household. Safe. He'd find
way to get her back-where?
what is this story, honorable alb
bot? Where did the maid come from?"
Wells waited, then: 81 have asked
abbot"
This was new Kayama. The priest
had heard many stories: of a disso-
lutte rogue, at once penurious and
spendthrift, seeker for sensations. It
would be well to conciliate this newer
personality. The temple might need
gold again.
"You will remember, Kayama- San,
that when your honorable father sent
you abroad, to the white countries.
there was much fighting. The Japa-
nese troops took from the seiyo-iin
country much land, which they them
selves had taken from China. It thus
becomes yellow again.
"a troop of our soldiers, led by
noble whose name Is Of no i'm
portance, captured a Chinese family,
who had succored fleeing Germans. In
the family was this maid. Good. The
noble had her sent to Japan, to his
house. Her white skin was distaste-
full to him. He condemned himself.
Her paleress would arouse ques-
lions, for this noble lived in a large
town, where missionaries resided. He
did not like the maid. Sell her? None
found her pleasing.
'Then, this maid ives educated, by
her Chinese father, in a seiyo-Jin mis-
sion, after the habits of white women.
Some missionary might know her.
Thus the noble feared. Feared inves-
the affair.
"He owed this temple gold We
agreed to take the maid as payment.
We did so. We would have sold her
to the highest bidder, awaiting an OPP
portunity. 1t came. You have her.
1t ia all very simple"
"She Is very beautiful" Wells said
"It is good that she has the saving
Chinese blood that she may be maid
in your house." the priest agreed.
ut saves her, that Is certain" Wells
agreed, with different meaning, as he
stepped out into the temple yard.
The peace of his room was grateful
! to him. He threw back the screens
and the scented air from the garden
flowed In.
Back in the house he could hear
whisperings and gigglings. A word
drifted to him. Laughter. The serv-
ants were arraying the Eurasian In
her f1nery. Her hair had been adjust
ed to serve as a nimbus for the fair
ness and sweetness of her face, the
whole held In place with curious orna-
mental combs, and shot through with
long fine pins OF gold and tortoise
shell WITH cunningly carved heads
studded with dull jewels.
"We must hurry" the old servant
directed. "The lord will be impatient.
He will walk from garden to house,
from house to garden, now here, now
there. He can hardly await her COM
| ing"
Wells, truly, found the waiting I'M
bearable. Unseen, as he had been
shuffling back and forth over the fiat
stones that marked the paths, the
long shadows slowly blended into one
soft darkness Within the house lam
terms were lighted, and little tables
were prepared for the marriage feast.
The servant found him in the gar
den.
"She Will not come, kayama-San
And we cannot talk to her"
st will go. 1t is not according to
custom, but I will go. l understand
some words Of the seiyo-jin language.
as you know"
He strobe down the long corridor,
head erect, and entered the single
open room.
Arrayed In her finery, Furnished
hair thrust through and through with
jeweled pins. the girl sat on silken
cushion, alone. OF what use to resist?
If only she could speak to this demon
=. explain =. the first tear, fore
runner of more to follow, splashed on
the mating, and so Wells found her.
His eyes ached. Tired The day
was long, and he approached the eli