The evening world. Newspaper, September 23, 1922, Page 13

THE CHARACTERS IN THE STORY. THE HONORABLE GEUFFKEY BARRINGION, son of Lord Brandan, a Captain in the British Army resigns his commission when he weds KO FUJINAMI heiress. daughte: of Japanese parents who are dead brought up and educated in French convent schools and introduced to , London society by i LADY EVEKINGION, a brilliant matchmaker, who did not foresee the result ‘of the bringmg together ot the two. At the feception toasts are drunk to .he closer unton‘ot Britain and japan but both British and japanese diplomats fm the distinguishea company evade the suggestion that the couple visti Japan as appears to ve chet desire Some of the reception guests frankly . Question the wisdom 2 tne wrriage and doubt the possibility of a happy lite tor the parr Lady bverington im her anaiety for the young Captain who has been her special protege interviews GQOUNT SAITO, the Japanese \mbassador, who tells ber the Fujinamis belong to the nouveaua mches of japan out gives little information of their ongin of the source of their wealth. A visit to his wife's guardians, the Muratas, @ Japanese (amily iving . Pars, and a sojourn among the cosmopolitau» Of Veauville sharpen che aesire to see Japan Aboard the ship they mee! VISCULN | KAMIMURA, -eturning home to wed a bride chosen by his tamily whom he has neve: cen A stop at Nagasaki ts the first sight of rea Japan A part of the .eveiation is the Chonkina, or Geisha dance, seen ny Barrington in company sth two. English acquaintances Barrington is shockec by the pertormance. He ts disturbed to learn trom the talk of Americans and Englishmen that marnages with Japanese women are not favorably regarded. TANAKA a nondescript japanese, attaches himself to the Barringtons, follows them everywhere and .ccempanies them to lokyo, vhere Geoutfrey meets REGGIE FOKSY IH, Attache of he tmtish Embassy musical and romantic, shaking off old attachments in Pans for a new one in Japan, the novelty being ‘i & SMIIH, daughter of a Japanese mother and an English father: Bar fhgton meets Miss omith who smokes ana languishes in Forsyth s apart- ments at the Embassy Barrington. trom a talk with LADY CYNIHIA CAIRNS, wite of the British Ambassador. learns of. Yae's Many—some fatal—love affairs and of the Embassy's disaproval of For syth’s engagement to ine ‘oung won.an ®. ITO, iawyer for the Fuyinami estate, who has made regular remittances * to Mrs. Barrington, arranges for her and her husband to meet the Fu- finamis of Tokyo The entertainments fail to impress Barrington, to whom Japanese family customs seem odd and contradictory. A family business conterence discloses the tact that the Fujanam: income ts derived from the Geisha house privileges in Tokyo and elsewhere. At the same conference Asako's marrage to Barrington is discussed, the decision being that she should be married to a japanese, the matter of divorce being easy. Under the tutelage of her -ousin, ASAKO, Barrington’s bride, begins to learn something of Japanese family cus- toms and hear about her father and mother, the one a poet, the other a delicate, clinging little woman who died when Asako was born. Barrington and Yae Smith are Forsyth’s guests at Kamakura. They leave a dance , towatch the Japanese peasants on the beach. Yae flirts with Geoffrey, who carries her back to Forsyth’s house in his arms. They have been seen by Tanaka. CHAPTER XVI—(Continued). The Great Buddha. EOFFREY had been sleeping for half an hour or so when he was awakened by a sudden jolt, as though the whole building had met Dig Jishin come. Last big jishin Gifu Jishin twenty years before. Many thousand people killed. Japanese peo- ple say that beneath the earth is one big fish. When the fish move, the earth shake, Silly fabulous myth? Tanaka say, ‘It is the will of God!’ The little man crossed himself de- youtly. : A few minutes later there was a with a violent loud banging at the door followed collision, or as bY Reggie's voice, shouting: though a gigan- “Are you coming down for a bath?" tic fist had “Earthquakes are horrible things,’’ struck it. Every- commented Reggie, on thelr way to thing in the the sea. ‘Foreigners are supposed \ SS room was in vi- always to sleep through their first bration. The one. The second they find an in- \ hanging lamp teresting experience; but the third swingiag like a pendulum, The ictures were shaking on the wails. A china ornament on the mantelpiece reeled, and feel with a crash, Geoffrey leaped out of bed to cross to where hie wife was sleeping. Even the floor was unsteady like @ ship's deck. “Geoffrey! Geoffrey!"" * @alled out. “It must be an earthquake,’’ her husband gasped. “Reggie told me to expect one." “It has made me feel so sick," sald Asako. Asako and the fourth and the rest are a series of nervous shocks in increas- ing progression, It is like feeling God —but a wicked, cruel God! No won- der the Japanese are so fatalistic and so desperate. It is a case of ‘Eat and drink, for to-morrow ye die. The morning sea was cold and bracing. The two friends did not remain in for long. When they were dried and dressed again, and when Geoffrey was for returning to break- fast, Reggie held him back. “Come and walk by the sea,"’ he said, “I have something to tell you." They turned in the direction of the fishing village, where Geoffrey and Yae had walked together only a few hours ago But the fires were quenched. Black circles of charred ashes remained: and the magic world of the moonlight had become a clus- ter of sordid hovels, where dirty wom. en were sweeping their frowsty floors, and scrofulous children were playing among stale bedding. “Did you notice anything unusual in my manner last night?” Reggie began very seriously. The disturbance was subsiding. Only the lamp was still oscillating Slightly to prove that the earthquake was not merely a nightmare. “Is any one about?" asked Asako. Geoffrey went out to the veranda. ‘The hotel having survived many aun- Greds of earthquake shocks, seemed unaware of what had happened. Far it to sea puffs of fire were dimly n like the flashes of a battleship in action, where the island volcano of Oshima was emptying its wratn against the sky. There were hidden and unfamiliar powers in this* strange country, of x “No,” laughed Geoffrey, “you Which Seottiey and Asako had not seomed rather excited. But why did yet taken account. ieerier an Beneath a tall Iamp-post on ine YOU leave so early? lawn, round whose smooth waxy . “For varlous reasons,” sald his iene s of moths were filtting, fflend. “First, I hate dancing, but stood the short stout figure of a I feel rather envious of people who panese, staring up at the hotel. lke it. Secondly, I wanted to be "It looks Mke Tanaka," thougnt alone with my own sensations. Geoffrey, ‘‘by jove, it is Tanaka!” They had definitely left their guide Thirdly, I wanted you, my best friend, to have every opportunity of obsery- fehiud in Tokyo. Had Asako yielded ing Yae and forming an opinion about at te last moment unable to dispense her.” with he faithful squire? Or had he “Rut why?" Geoffrey began. cor» of his own accord? and if #0, “Because it would now be too late wiy? These Japs were an unfathom- for me to take your advice," sald able and exasperating people. Reggle mysteriously. Sure enough next morning It was Tanaka who brourht the early ten. “Hello,” said Geoffrey, “I thought you were in Tokyo." “Mdced," grinned the guide, “I am sorry for you, Perhaps I have commit great crime so to come. But I think and I think Ladyship not so well. Heart very anxious. Go to theatre, wish to make merry, but all the time heart very sad. I think I will take last train. I will turn like bed penny. Perhaps Lordship is angry.” “No, not angry, Tanaka, just help- Jess. ‘There was an earthquake last might?” : fot wo bad fishin (earth-shaking). Wvery twenty, thirty years one very “What do you mean?” asked. “Last night I asked Yae to marry me; and I understand that she ac- cepted.” Geoffrey sat In the sunlight on the gunwale of a fishing boat. “You can't do that,"' he sald, “Oh, Gvoffrey, I was afraid you'd say it, and you have," said his friend half laughing. ‘Why not?’ “Your career, old chap.’" “My career,"’ snorted Reggie, “pro- tocol, protocol and protocol. 1 am fed up wilh Ghat, anyway, Can you im. agine me a beribboned Excellency, worked by wires from London, bab- bling platitudes over teacups to other Barrington THE EVENING WORLD, SATURDAY, SE oh n Pa PTEMBER 23, 1929. Illustrated By WiIll.B. Jonnstone. old Exoeliencies, and giving out a lot of gas for the F. O. every morning. No, tn the old days there was charm and power and splendor, when an Ambassador was really plenipoten- tlary. and peace and war turned upon ® court intrigue All that ts aa dead as Louis Quatorse. Personality has faded out of politics. Everything ts business now, concessions, vested in- terests, dividends and bondhoide: The diplomats are not real people at all. They are shadowy survivals of the grand siecle, wraiths of Talley- rand; or else just restless bagmen. | don't call that a career.” Goeffrey had listened to these tirades before It was Reggie's froth. “But what do you propose doing?" be asked “Doing? Why, my musio of course. Before I left England some music hall people offered me seventy pounds @ week to do stunts for them. Their first offer was two hundred and fifty, because they were under the Illusion that I hed @ title. My official salary at this moment ts two hundred per annum. So you see there would be no nancial toss.'* _ “Then are you giving up diplomacy because you are fed up with it? or for Yae Smith's sake? I don’t quite un derstand,’ said Geoffrey. He was still pondering over the ecene of last evening and he found considerable comfort tn ascribing Yae's behavior to excitement caused by her engagement. “Yae is the immediate reason; utter “IT 1S A GREAT PITY,’ SAID COUSIN SADAKO, ‘THAT YOU HAVE NO BABY. fed-upness {s the original cause,” re- Plied Reggie. “Do you feel much in love with her?’ friend. The young man consicd ment and then answered “No, not in love exatcly. But she represents what I have come to destre. I get so terribly lonely, Geoffrey, and I must have some one, some woman, of course; and I hate intrigue and adultery. Yae never grates upon me. I hate the twaddling activities of our modern women, their little sports, their little sciences, their little earnest- that you are very asked his ‘ed for a mo- nesses, their little philanthropies, their little imitations of men’s ways. I like the seraglio type of woman, lazy and vain, @ little more than a lovely ani- mal. I can play with her, and hear her purring. She must have no father or mother or brothers or sisters or any social scheme to entangle me tn. She must have no claim on my secret mind, she must not be jealous of my music, or explanations, Stil less explain me to others—a wife who shows one round like a monkey, what oni 3ut Reggie, old chap, does she love expect Geoffrey's ideas were stereotyped. To his mind only great love oh both sides could excuse so bizarre a mar- Reggie. “What ts Love in music. 1 ."* ried ? 1 ean feel can feel it in poetry. I can sce it ta sunshine, in the wet woods, and in the phosphorescent sea. But in ac- tual life! I think of things in too abstract a way ever to feel in love with anybody, So [ don't think any- body could really fall in love with me, It is like religious faith, I have no faith, 1 1 believe in faith I have no love love F have not seen, and yet | When Reggie was in mopd Gepdiey despaired of gelling any COPYRIGHT, sense out of him, and he felt that the Occasion was too serious for smiles. CHAPTER XVII. ‘The Rainy Season. Ne-came kana! Polsonous delicacies (last night)! | awa And 1 am et BOFFRHY BARRINGTON tried not to worry about Yee Smith; and, of course, he did not men- tion the episude of the Great Buddha either to his wife or to Reggie For-: syth. He did not exactly feel ashamed of the incident; but he realized that it was open to misinterpretution He certainly had no love for Yee; and she, since she was engaged to his friend, presumably had no love for him. [here are certain unnatural states of mind in which we are not altogether morally responsible beings Among these may be numbered the ball-room mood, which drives quite sane people to act madly The music, the wine, the giddy turning, the dis- play of women's charms and the con- fusing proximity of them produce an unwonted atmosphere, of which we have most of us been aware, so be- wildering that admiration of one woman will drive sane men to kiss another Explanation 1s of course impossible; and circumstances must have their charged with jealousy becomes like a weapon primed and cocked. [If Ito could succeed in making Asako jeal- ous, then he knew that any stray spark of misunderstanding would blast a black gulf between husband and wife, and might even blow the importunate Englishman back to his own country—alone. The lawyer explained his plan to the head of the family, who appre- ciated its classic simplicity. Sadako was given to understand the part which she was to play in altenating her cousin's affections trom the for- pigner She was to harp on the faith- lessness of men in general, and of husbands in particular, and on the importance of money values in matrt- monial considerations. She was to suggest that ‘a ftor- ign man would never choose a Jap- anese bride merely for love of her Then, when the psychological moment had ‘struck, the name of Yae Smith was to be flashed into Asako’s mind with a blinding giare. Asako had been visiting her Japan- ese cousins almost every day Her conversation lessons were progress- ing ranidly; for the first stages of the lenguage are easy. The new life appealed to Asako's love of novelty, and the strangeness of it to her child’s love of make-believe, Her favorite haunt was the little tea-house among the reeds at the edge of the lake, which seemed so hidden from everywhere. Here the two girls practiced their languages. SSMS OFTEN DIVORCED,'"" way. Scheming people, mothers with daughters to marry, study the effects of this psychical chemistry and prolit by the knowledge. Under similar in- fluences Geoffrey himself had been guilty of wilder indiscretions than the Kissing of a half-caste girl. But when he thought the matter over, he was sorry that {t had occurred; and he was profoundly thankful that nobgdy had seen him. Somebody had seen him, however The faithful Tanaka, who had been charged by Mr. Ito, the Fijinam! lawyer, not to let his master out of his sight, had followed him at a dis creet distance during the whole of that midnight stroll. He had ob served that talk and the attitudes, the silences and the holding of hands the glad exchanges of kisses, the sitting of Yae on Geoffrey's knees, and her triumphant return, carried in his arms. To the Japanese mind such conduct could only mean one thing Japanese male {s frankly anim where woman are concerned. He does not understand our fine shades vf self-deception, which gives to our love-making the thrill of surprise and the pallation of romance. Tanaka concluded that there could be only one termination to the scene which he had witnessed. He also learned that nith was Reggie Forsyth's mv that he visited her room at night, tl she was a girl of no characte Yao that she had frequently stor at t Kamakura hotel with other 1 ul of them her lovers Mr. Ito could scarcely be uch welcome tidings. The gton menage had seemed to lim ¢ ted th at he st to the wife fr restore her to her fam Now Tanaka's tru Would be childs play, 4 had his often despaired of atron that would ste were Here they tried on each other's clothes, and talked about their lives and purposes. Sadako was intel- lectually the cleverer of the two, but Asaiko had seen and heard more; so they were fairly equally matched Often the cousins shocked each other's sense of propriety. Asako had already observed that to the Ja- panese mind the-tmmediate corollary to being married 1s to produce chi!- dren as promptly and as rapidly as possible. Already she had been ques- tioned on the subject by Tanaka, by boy sans and by shop attendants. “It 18 a great pity,” said cousin Sadako, “that you have no baby, In Japan if a wife have no baby, she ts often divorced, But perhaps it is the fault of Mr. Barrington?” Asako had vaguely hoped for chil- dren in the future; but on the whole she was glad that their coming had been delayed. There was so much to do and to see first of all. It had never occurred to her that her childlessness might be the fault of either herself or her husband, But her cousin went on ruthlessly: “Many men are ike that. Because of their sickness their wives cannot have bables,"’ Asako shivered, This beautiful coun- try of hers seemed to be full of bo- weys like a child's dream, Another time Sadako asked her with much diffdence and slanting of the wish to learn about—kissing.’* “What is the Japanese for ‘kiss'?'* ko. 4 no such word," shocked at ex her we h things."’ Apanese people don't kiss?" © girl rt" asked Asako ineredu- when they are—quite alone Then when you see foreign people Japanese do not } \Is22 BY BON! AND LIVERIGHT. kissing tn public, you think ft ts very funny?” ‘ “We think tt ts dingusting,”” an- @wered her cousin “Foreign people kiss too muoh,” aid Cousin Sadako, “it tea bad thing Iv I bad a husband, 1 would always fear he kiss somebody alse.” “That is why I am eo happy with said Asako, ‘‘l know he would never love any one but me,"" “It ts not safe to be so sure.’ eald her cousin darkly, woman ts made arrayed im a Japanese kimono, and to all appearance as Japanese as her cousin, was sitting in the Fujinam! tea parlor. She had not understood much of the lesson in tes ceremony at which she had just as- sisted But the exceeding propriety and dignity of the teacher, the daugh- ter of great people fallen upon evil days, had impressed her. She longed to acquire that tranquillity of deport- ment, that slow, graceful poise of hand and arm, that low, measured speech. When the teacher had gone she began to mimic her gestures with all the seriousness of appreciative imitation, Sudako laughed. She supposed that her cousin was fovling Asako thought that she was amused by her clumsiness. “TI shall never be able to do it,"’ she sighed “But of course you wif, [ laugh because you are so like Kikuye San.’’ = IN JAPAN IF A WIFE HAVE NO BABY SHE IS Kikuye San was their teacher. “If only I could practise by my- self!" said Asako; ‘‘but at the hotel It would be impossible."* Then they both laughed together at the Incongrulty of rehearsing those dainty rites of old Japan in the over- furnished sittins room at the Jm- perial Hotel, witi Geoffrey sitting back in his armchair and puffing at his clgar, “If only I had a@ ittle house Hke this," said Asako. Why don't you hire one?” sug- gested her cousin. Why not? The idem was an in- epiration. So Asako thought; and she broached the matter to Geoffrey that very evening. “Wouldn't It be sweet to have a ducky Uttle Japanese house all our very own?" she urged “Oh, yes," her husband agreed, wearlly, ‘that would be great sport.’ Mr. Fujinam! Gentaro was delighted at the success of his daughter's dtplo- macy He saw that this plan for a Japanese house meant a further sep- aration of husband and wife, a fur- ther step toward recovery of his er- rant child Asako had alfeady decided that her home was to be on the bank of the river, where she could see the boats assing, something like the house tn which her father and mother had lived, The desired abode was found at last on river bank at Mukojima just on the fringe of the city, where the cherry trees are so bright) tn 1 see the her gar river boats the crews ' g for their regattas, te bank washing ttle spring tim broad Sumida Rive the N the ga rive the ts ! ths ¢ temple of the Goddess of Merc Just when the new home was ready for oooupation, just when Asako's en- thusiasm was at its height and the Purchases of silken bedding and dainty trays were almost complete, Geoffrey suddenly announced hia tritentfon of leaving Japan “1 can't stick It any longer,” be @aid fretfully, “1 don't know what's coming over me,” “Leave Japan eried his wife, aghast. “Well, I don’t know," grunted her husband, “it's no good stopping here and going all to seed." The rainy season was Just over, the hot season of steaming rain which the Japanese cal) nyubal, [t had played havoc with Geoffrey's nerves * It bred swarms of bloodthirsty mos- quitoes from every drop of stagnant water They found their way thraugh the musty mosquito net which sep- arated his bed from Asrko's They eluded his blow in the evening light; and he could only wreak his ven- weance in the morning, when they were heavy with his gore The color faded from the fnglish- man's cheeks. His appetite failed He was becoming, what he had never been before, cross and irritable. Reggie Forsyth wrote to him from Chuzenfi: “Yae ts here, and we go in for yachting tn a kind of winged punt, called a ‘lark.’ For flye pounds you can become a ship owner. I fancy myself as a skipper, and ‘I have al- ready won two races. But more often Wwe escape from the burble of the dip- lomats and take our sandwiches and thermata—or {s thermot the plural ?7— to the untenanted shores of the lake and picnic u deux. Then, tf the wind does not fall we are Jucky; but If it does I have to row home Yae laughs at my oarsmanship, and says that if you were here you would to it: so much better. You are a dangerous rival, but for this once I challenge you. I have a spare pen in my rab- bit-hutch. There ts just room for you and Mrs, Barrington. You must be quite melted by now. . But Asako did not want to go to’ Chuzenji, All her thoughts were! centred on the little house by the river, “Geoffrey, darling,” she said, strok- hair with her tiny waxen t Is the hot weather which 1s making you feel cross. Why don't you go up to the mountains for a week or #0, and stop with Reggie?" “Will you come?" asked her hus- band, brightening. y “I can't very well, You see they are just laying down the tatam{: and, when that !s done the house will be ready. Besldés;'T feel so well here. I like the heat."* . - “But [’'ve never been away without you!" objected Geoffrey, “I think it would be beastly." This side of the question had not struck Asako. She was so taken up with her project. Now; however, she felt a momentary thrill of relief, She would be able to give all her time to her beloved Japanese home. Geoffrey was a darling, but he was a6) unin- terested th everything. “It will only be for a few days,’ she said, “you want the change; and when you come back it wil! be like being married again. ments, or for remote mining camps way beyond the mountains. The air was full of the clamor of the torrent, the heavy. splashing of raindrops delayed among the leavés, and the distant thunder of waterfalls, What a relief to breath again, amd what a pleasure to escape from the tortuous streets and the toy houses, from the twisted prettiness of the Tokio gardens und the Mresome dell. cacy of the rice-fleld mosaic, into. wild and rugged nature, a ‘land of forests and mountains reminiscent of Switzerland and Scotland, where the occasional croak’ of @ pheasant ‘tell ke music upon Geoffrey's. ear! The.two hours’ climb ended abruptigt in a level sandy road tunning among birch trees: At a wayside tea-house @ man wag sitting on a low He wore white trousers, a coat cornflower shade’and a Panama hat— all very spick and span. It was Reg= Forsyth. & “Hello,” he cried, “my dear old Geoffrey! I'm awfully glad you've come. But you ought to: haw brought Mrs, Barrington too, You seem quite incomplete without her.” “Yes, it's @ peculiar ‘sensation, af I don’t like it,, Byt the heat, you know, at Tokio, It made me feel rot- ten. T simply had to come away. And Asako ts so busy now with, her new cousins and her Japanese house and all the rest of It," Wy For the first time Reggte thous that hé detected a tone in his friend's voice which he had been expecting hear sooner or later, « kind of “fiag= ging’ tone—he found the word after- ward in working out a musical ske' called Love's Disharmony. looked white and tired, he thought Tt was indeed high time that he cam up to the mountains. iA They were approaching the lal which already showed through the tree-trunks. A path led away to the left across a rustic’ bridge. “That's the Way td'the ‘hotel. Yee 1s there, Farther along are the Rus- sian, French and British Fimbasstes, That's about half at hour trom bere. } Regste’s Uttle villa stood ate few minutes’ distance in the opposite dJ- rection, past hotels. which looked: ike skeleton houves with the walls taken out 9f them, past sheds where furs were on sale, and picture postcards, ary biscuits. st The garden, of the yilla jutted owt over tho lake on an em emer stones. The House was Mscreetly l den by a high hedgs’ot evergreens. “Willtint "Tonl's ha pel,* plained Reggie, ‘‘a week in lovely Lucerne!"” It was a, Japanesé house, another skeleton. From the wicket gate Geoffrey could see its simple scheme open to the four winds, Its scanty furniture unblushingly displayed; downstairs; a table, ‘a” sofa, ‘some bamboo chairs and a pilane—upstaire, two beds, two washatands, and the rest. ‘The garden consisted of two strips of wiry grass on éach side of the house; and a, fight of gtens- ran down to. the water's edge, where a small sailing boat was moored. * ‘He landscape of high wooded hitt was fading into evening across. the leaden ripples of the Jake. . “What do you think of our high- land home?" asked Reggte. There was hot a sign of life over the heavy waters, not a bont, not a bird, not an island even. “Not much doing,’ commented Geoffrey, ‘but the air’s ‘good." **Not quite @ lake, is it?" ‘hin host reflected. . That was true. A lake tad always appealed to Geoffrey, both to his sense of natural beauty and to ‘his instinet for sport. There ts a soothing: influ- The voices of the mountainman ence in the imprisoned waters, the Going down to the shed! romance of the sea without its Trest- Geoffrey left early one morning in lessness and fury, The frestiness of @ very doubtful frame of mind, after wntrodden talands, the possibilities of having charged Tanaka to take the ® world beneath the waters, of halt- CHAPTER XVIII. Among the Nikko Mountains. To chtkakt Tsumagt no michh yo Kure-nuramu Nokiba mt kudaru Yama-bdito no kovel Dusk, It seems, has come To the woodoutter’s track That is near my hut; greatest care of his lady, and do exactly what she told him. Tt was not until half-way up the steep climb between Nikko and Chuzenji that his lungs suddenly seemed to break through a thick: film, and he-breathed fresh air again. Then he was glad that he had com He was afoot. Acoolie strode on before him with his sult-case strapped on his back. They” Had started in pouring rain, a long tramp through narrow gorges. Geoffrey could foe] the mountains around him; but their forms were wrapped in cloud Now the mist was lifting; and al- though tn places it still clung to the branches Jike wisps of cotton-wool, the precipitous slopes became visible; and overhead, peeping through the clouds at {mpossible elevations, pleces of the mountain seemed to be falling from the gray sky. Everything was bathed in rain The sandstone cliffs gleamed like marble, the luxuriant follage like polished leather. The torrent foamed over its wilderness of gray boulders with a splendid rush of liberty. Country people passed by, dressed in straw overceata which looked like beehives, or with thin capes of oll} paper, saffron or salmon-col- ored. The kimono shirts were girt up like fishers'—both men and women —showing gnarled and muscular Umbs. The complexions of these mountain folk were red like fruit; the Mongolian yellow was hardly visible. Some were leading long Mes of lean-shanked horses, with bells: to their bridles and high pack-saddles like cradles, painted re Rough girls rode astrid: n tight blue trunk-hose. It was with a start that Geoffrey cognized thetr sex; and he won- dered varnely whether men could fall In love with them and fondis them, They were on thetr way to fetch provision for the lake settle- percetved Venetas, the adventure of Intrusting“one's self and one's fortune to a few planks of wood, are delights which the lake-lover knows well. He knows too, the delicious sense of de- tachment from the shore—the shore of ordinary affairs and monot people—and the charm of unfamiliar lights and colors and reflections. Even on the Serpentine he can find this glamor, when the birds are flocking to roost in the trees‘ of Peter” island. But on this lake of Clhuzensi there was a sullen brooding, an absence ef life; a suggestion of tragedy “Tt isn't a lake,” explained Reggter “it's the crater of an ald voleapo which has filled up with water, ff ts one of the earth's pockmarks healed over and forgotten. But there is aome. thing lunar ebout it still, eome megn- ory of burned out passions, some! creepy in spite of the beauty. of the place. It is too dark this evening, 40 see how beautifulsit is, In places the lake is unfathomably. deep, and people have fallen into the water and. have never been seen again.'' The waters were atwnost blue now. deep dull grayish bine. 2 Suddenly, away to the left, lines of silver streaked the surface; and, with a clapping and dripping commotion & flight of white geese tose, ‘They had been dozing under the bank, and sothe one had disturbed them. “A © pale figure like a little flame was dilly discernible = “It's Yae!" erted Reggie; and he made a noise with wag supposed to be a jodel, The.white figure waved an answer. Reggie picked up a megap! which seemed to be kept there, for purpose “4 ‘Good night.” be shouted, ‘‘aagee time to-morrow !"*. e4 ogpin and dicen peared. (Continued Mondays): °