Jane was not a bit of help to me.  Refusing to discuss anything except the sentimental side of the affair, she repeated verse till I was almost persuaded this poetical streak was a disease rather than a habit.  Between stanzas she proffered food and drink to Page, in quantities sufficient to end quickly both man and mystery, had he accepted.  Her attitude to Zura was one of perfect understanding and entire sympathy.  Every time she looked at the girl, she sighed and went off into more poetry.

Troubled thoughts stormed my brain as hailstones pelt a tin roof.  I prayed for wisdom as I had never prayed for happiness.

The announcement one day that Mr. Tom Chalmers had called caused no sudden rise in my spirits, but a second card, bearing the name of Mrs. Tom, somewhat relieved my mind.  Their coming offered a diversion and proved Pinkey of a forgiving spirit.

They were on their wedding journey, he told us after I had summoned Zura.  Greetings and congratulations were soon over.  While the steamer was coaling in a near-by port he thought he would just run over in jinrikishas to say “Hello!” and show Mrs. Chalmers to us.  Yankee Doodle with a hat full of feathers could not have been more proud.

What there was of Mrs. Pinkey to exhibit was indeed a show.  Her youthful prettiness belonged more to the schoolroom period than wifehood; and Heaven forbid that the clothes she wore should be typical of my country; there was not enough material in her skirt to make me a comfortable pair of sleeves!  I marveled how, in so limited a space, she advanced one limb before the other.

Later Zura explained the process to me:  “It’s a matter of politeness, Ursula.  One knee says to the other, ’You let me pass this time, and I’ll step aside when your turn comes.’”

Even this courtesy had failed to prevent a catastrophe; one seam of her dress was ripped for a foot above the ankle.  The coat of this remarkable costume was all back and no front, and from the rear edge of her hat floated a wonderful feather like a flag from the stern of a gunboat.

I could see by her face how funny she thought my clothes.  I hoped she did not realize how near to scandalous her outfit seemed to me.  Usually the point of view depends on which side of the ocean one is when delivering judgment.

Pinkey was as eloquent on the subject of his wedding as if he had been the only Adam who ever marched down a church aisle.  He was most joyful at the prospect of showing to his bride all the curiosities and shortcomings of the East.  He felt he had encompassed wide and intimate knowledge of it in his two or three trips.  I asked Mrs. Chalmers how she liked Japan.

She took her adoring eyes off her newly-acquired husband long enough to answer:  “It is lovely.  Wonderful little people—­so progressive and clean.  It’s too bad they are so dishonest; of course you must have lost a lot of money.”

“No, I can’t say that I have.  I’ve been in the country thirty years and never lost a ‘rin’ except when my pocket was torn.  Come to think of it, if histories, travelers and police records state facts, dishonesty is not peculiar to the Orient.”