The Shadow of the East

on the water up to the steps of the big black landing-stage. The glamour of the eastern night and the moonlight combined to lend enchantment to a scene that by

ay was full of craft-liners, tramps, and yachts swinging slowly with the tide,

man on his right. "I guess I've had every official in Japan hunting for you these last two days, Barry. If I hadn't had your wire from Tokio this morning I should have gone to our Consul and churned up the whole Japanese Secret Service and made an international affair of it," he laughed.

lishman

rs to communicate immediately with an infuriated American who was raising Cain in Yokohama over my disappearance. As a matter of fact I was in a little

ntly. "It generally holds good. I couldn't leave J

all Street going to

money I want, and I'm only concerned with spending it

hair, but Atherton ignored it and hurried on, twirling rapidly

ife except at the other end of a dining table with a crowd of silly fools in between us. I reckoned I'd just about had enough of it. Came on me just like a flash sitting in my office down town one morning, so I buzzed home right away in the auto and told her I was

than of an enlightened American citizen. You've not seen my sister-in-law yet, Mr. Craven," he turned to the Englishman. "She's a peach! Smartest little girl in N'York. Leader of society-dollars no object-small wonder she di

eem to get any further on. At last I lost my temper completely and decided to clear out alone if Nina w

on sat up aga

mself, I should have left America for a cruise round the world in the clothes I stood up in-and Jermyn's duds would be about as useful to me as a suit of reach-me-downs off the line. Persuasion? Shucks! Jermyn thoug

d his host with amused cu

e asked a

s look with a slight

nese coffin-ship from 'Frisco would be hilarious compared with this

ts on shore, "and as soon as we put in here I couldn't stand it any longer, so I cabled to Nina that I was returning a

t bulk clear of the deck c

ead and invite in all the neighbours 'for this my prodigal husband has returned to me!'" He ducked with surpris

e to go right along with you and see you didn't do any dam foolishness. Oh, she's got me to heel right enough. Well! I guess I'll turn in and get to sleep before those fool engines start chump-chumping under my pillow. You boys will want a pow-wow to your two selves; there are times when three

ter his retreating figure

ith Leslie. Fancy him having that card up his sleeve all t

ox across the wicke

a case from his pocket. "I'll ha

me thousands of miles away. Craven watched him speculatively. Atherton the big game-hunter, Atherton the mine-owner, he knew perfectly-but

e felt a sudden curiosity to see the woman who had brought that new look into his old friend's keen blue eyes. He w

e holidays and that's the truth. But I've been yapping about my own affair all even

over a

ke

has got in

of life,

's drawl, but Craven turned his head qui

of fellow," he

n the Rockies," sai

There are grad

gar overboard and selecting a fre

ap boy who was wi

in San Francisco ten years a

you? He spun me a grea

hole in 'Frisco but he was putting up a very tidy little show on his own account. He's the toughest little beggar I've

r yonder," said Atherton with a vague

re are traditions. I am the second Barry Craven to live in Yokohama-my fat

h the Ja

h the Ja

at the glowing

r wedding trip in England last year," he said at length with

ago if it hadn't been for him. He adored my mother and has the worst possible opinion of me

e polished his eyeglass vigorously

ad been in my family for generations," he said soberly, "I sho

o that effect nearly every mail-with detailed descriptions of all the eligible debutantes whom he thinks suitab

hed with him

al to you, take a run out to the Sta

aven's eyes and he moved

. I'm not a marrying

ion of a similar remark emphatically ut

e other, developed during the years that had elapsed since their last me

arly all disappeared and only an occasi

nees, whistling softly the Consul's solo in the first act. From behind a cloud of cigar smoke Atherton watched him keenly, and as he watched he was thinking rapidly. He was used to making decisions quickly-he was accustomed to accepting risks at which others shied, but the risk he was now contemplating meant the taki

e Butterfly? he

es

another big

ver could see the attraction myself-dancing

ed away quickly and his eyeglass fell with a little tinkle against a waistcoat button. There was another long pause. F

late deck shoes and then seize

've saved has a pull on you no one else has. Anyhow I'll chance it, and if I'm a damned int

ed down into the water. A solitary sampan was passing the broad streak of moonli

ual fool," he sai

"Chuck it, Barry. Clear out right now-wit

can

nd for a moment his hand rested

ce, wiping his forehead frankly, "I'd rather face a grizzly than do that again. Leslie kee

smile

grateful-really. But

ung irresolutel

ll," he burst out, "have a drink!" and going back to the tab

inedly as he tilted th

a little bitterly, "but it'

umbler down with

way. It's been like the old days to have had a yarn with

the head of the gangway and

ndacks in the summer," he called out

d his hand, but did not answer and the

up at his approach and one hurriedly lit a great dragon-painted paper lantern while the other held out a light dustcoat. Craven tossed it into the rickshaw and silently pointing toward the north, climbed in. He leaned back and lit a cigarette. The men

line and even now an almost overpowering desire came over him to bid his men retrace their steps to the harbour. Then hard on the heels of that desire came thoughts that softened the hard line

miles the men raced along a level track cut on the side of a hill that rose steeply on the one hand and on the other fell away precipitously down to the se

cliff looked down across the harbour. The American yacht was the biggest craft of her kind in the roads and easily discernible in the moonlight. The brilliant deck illumination had been shut off and only a few lights showed. He gave a quick sigh. Atherton's coming had been like a bar drawn suddenly across the stream down which he was drifting. If Jermyn had only come last year! The envy he had felt earlier in the evening increased. He thought of the look he had seen in Ather

the yacht steam slowly down t

, fed by a little twisting stream that came tumbling and splashing down the hillside in a series of tiny waterfalls, its banks fringed with azalea bushes and slender cherry trees. Then he walked slowly along the path that le

invisible, but in his mind he followed her slipping down toward the open sea. And Atherton-what were his thoughts while pacing the broad deck or lying in his cabin listening to the screw whose every revolution was taking him

eyes; trying vainly to pick up the yacht's lights far down the bay. It was very still, a tiny breeze whispered in th

of silk. He heard the soft sibilan

enter?" the voice was very low and swee

did n

in, O Ha

girlish laught

o come in

as a porcelain figure, wholly in keeping with her exquisite setting and yet the flush on her cheeks-free from the thick disfiguring white paste used by

d into them with a little breathless

her head, stooping to kiss the tiny mouth that trembled at the touch of his

issed me, O

since you are gone," s

glad to

denly with a look of utt

Bar-ree. Oh

o hide the look of trusting devotion that suddenly hurt him. For a few moments she lay still, then slipped free of his arms and

ting honourable hospital

bed form of Japanese courtesy and salutation. Then she clasped both hands together with a little c

Hara San pouted her scarlet lips at him and laughed softly as she subsided on to a mat on the floor and clapped her hands. Craven sat down opp

. He smoked in silence watching the dainty little kneeling figure, following the quick movements of her hands as she manipulated the fragile china on the low stool before her, the restraint she imposed upon herself as she struggled wit

ppy in

es

in her lap with a faint little sigh of disappointment, her head drooping pensively. Craven knew instinctively that he had hurt her and hated himsel

irl. Hoping you very unhappy i

m vanished from his face as he stood up, his lo

away?" he asked, crossing the room t

t it into his hands, drawing near to him within the arm he slipped round her and slant

g at the edge of a cliff-wind-swept, rugged. The high precipice on which it stood

land, rearing its head proudly in its isolation; the wind seemed to rustle through its branche

hands, kissed them silently. The mute homage was more to her than words. The

" she whisper

than a fir tree-it's power, tenacity, independence. I know that a

e flush deepening in her che

murmured. "More to me than life-it m

ut on to the verandah, dropped into a big cane c

f me, O Hara San,

s he expostulated she laid her soft palm ove

said quaintly. "I

in, lying quietly content, rubbing her head caressingly from time to t

ith the peacefulness of the little garden. Tonight the contrast between Yokohama, with its pitiful western vulgarity obtruding at every turn, and the quiet beauty of his surroundings struck Craven even more sharply than usual. It seemed impossible that only two miles away was Theatre Street blazing and rioting with all its tinsel tawdriness, flaring lights and whining gramophones. Here wa

hem-the sombre bushes seemed alive with peeping faces. It was the Garden of Enchantment, peopled with a thousa

k at Craven Towers to seek the healing of the night for some childish heartache. He had crept down the long avenue and climbing the iron fence had perched on the rail and watched the deer feeding by the light of the moon until all the sorrow had been chased away and his baby heart was singing with a kind of delirious happiness that he did not understand and that gave way in its turn to a natural childish enjoyment of an adventure that was palpably forbidden. He had slid down from the fence and retraced his steps up the avenue until he came to the path that led to the rose garden and eventually to the terrace near the house. He had trotted along on his little bare feet, shivering now and then, but more from excitement than from cold, until he had come to the long flight of stone steps that led to the terrace. He had laboriously climbed them one foot at a time, his toes curling at the contact with the c

wn with his own growth from boyhood to manh

rvellous and compelling even than in colde

e little house she resolutely turned her head and hiding her face against him shut out all disagreeable sights and slept peacefully, confident in his ability to keep far from her all danger. Her love was boundless and her trust absolute. But tonight there was no thought of sleep. For three long weeks she had not seen him and during that time for her the sun had ceased to shine. She had counted each hour until his return and she could not waste the precious moments now that he

little sigh of happiness, and the fain

" he ask

lantern fell full on her face and Craven studied it with an intensity of which he was hardly awa

y ugly?" she haz

heek for a second against his, then cuddled down into his arms again with a

our news,

answer to his question. She reached up her hands and drawin

she asked a lit

ve you," he an

y mu

y mu

d and her hands r

t him, she told him-of the fulfilling of all her hope, the supreme desire of eastern women, pouring out her h

ified him. His cigarette, neglected, burnt down until it reached his fingers and he flung it away with a sharp exclamation. He did not speak and the girl lay motionless, chilled with his silence, her happiness slowly dying within her, vaguely conscious of a dim fear that terrified her. Was the link that she had craved to bind them clos

angry with me?" she

evasively. She shivered and clenched her tee

ir, seeking for words of comfort, and finding none. She had read the dismay in his face, had in vain waited for him to speak and no tardy lie would convince her now. He had wounded her cruelly and he could make no amends. He had failed her at the one moment when she had most need of

spered humbly and her humility hur

ghter of a race trained from childhood to conceal suffering and to suppress all signs of emotion. He would never understand that it was the alien blood that ran in her veins and the contact with himself that had caused her to abandon the stoicism of her people, that had made her reveal her sorrow. He had laughed at her undemonstrativeness, demanding expressions and proofs of her affection that were wholly foreign to her upbringing until her Oriental reserve had slipped from her whose only wish was to please him. She had adopted his manners, s

hastily, blinded with tears. She had troubled him-distressed him. She had "made a scene"-the phrase, read in some English book, flashed th

one, Bar-ree," she said wi

e she was making and c

ne home to bed I expect. Time you went to bed too. I'll just smoke this cigarette.

I nearly

pped the covering from a small gold case attached to a slender chain. She pressed the spring and uttered a little cry

ainst him studying the painting earnestly, appreciating the mastery of a fellow craftsman, ecstaticall

two," she mu

g as he lighted his cigar

er under the lantern to look at it. It hung from a thick twisted cable of gold, and set round with pearls it was bigger and heavier than the dainty case

tuitively before the lid flew back, for it was the second time that he had handl

olden brown moustache, the deep grey eyes-all were the same. Only the chin in the picture was different for it was hidden by a short pointed b

O Hara San stared at him in bewilderment,

ee, too. See," she added pointing with a slender

through the pine trees. The sweat stood out on Craven's forehead in great drops a

ursed his blindness. Often the unrecognised likeness had puzzled him. He dropped the miniature and ground it savagely to pow

im, dam

history, made no inquiries? A wave of sick loathing swept over him. His head reeled. He turned to O Hara San

aid hoarsely, and he did n

ck with a cry-hiding her eyes to shut o

ted it from the housetop. Without a word he turned from her and stumbled toward the verandah st

stern faces seemed curiously alike and the similarity of an uncommon name conveyed nothing to her for she did not realize that it was uncommon. She could not comprehend this terrible change in the man who had never been anything but gentle wit

love-" Her voice broke in a frightened whisper as he caught her hea

or hear the feet that tracked him. He heard and saw nothing. His brain was dulled. His only impulse was that of the wounded animal-to hide himself alone with nature and the night. He plunged on up the hillside climbing fiercely, tirelessly, wading mountain streams and forcing his way through thick brushwood. He had taken, off his coat earlier in the evening and his silk shirt was ripped to ribbons. His hair lay wet against his forehead and his cheek dripped blood where a splintered bamboo had torn it, but he did not feel it. He came at last to a tiny clear

in a kind of dull fury. His fingers gripped the ground as if they were about the throat of the man whom he hated with all the strength of his being. The mystery of his father had always lain like a shadow across his life. It was a subject that his mother had refused to discuss. He shivered now when he realized the agony his perpetual boyish questions must have caused her. His petulance because "other fellows' fathers" could be produced when necessary and were not shrouded away in unexplained obscurity. He remembered her unfailing patience with him, the consistent loyalty she had shown toward the husband who had failed her so utterly, the courage with which she had taken the absent father's place with the son whom she idolized. He understood now her intolerant hatred of Japan and the Japanese, an intolerance for which-in his ignorance-he had often teased her. One memory came to him with striking vividness-a winter evening, in the dawn of his early manhood, when they had been sitting after dinner in the library at Craven Towers-his mother lying on the sofa that had been rolled up before the fire, and himself sprawled on the hearthrug at her feet. Already tall and strong beyond his years and confident in the full flush of his adolescence he had launched into a glowing anticipation of the lif

he father who had bequeathed him such an inheritance, but as he did so he stopped suddenly for a soft clear voice sounded close to his ear. "No man need be fettered for life by an inherited weakness. Every man who is worthy of the name can rise above hereditary deficiencies." He lay tense and his heart gave a great throb and then he remembered. The voice was inward-it was only another memory, an echo of the young mother who had died, ten years before. Overwhelming shame filled him. "Mother, Mother!" he whispered chokingly, and deep tearing sobs shook his broad shoulders. The moon had passed beyond the break in the trees and it was dark now in the little clearing and to the man who la

ered to his feet and stood a moment holding his head in his hands and the thought of O Hara San persisted urgently. He shivered again as the image of the girl's distraught face and pleading eyes rose before him-in a few hours he would have to go to her and the thought of the interview sickened him. But he could not go now, his appearance would terrify her, she might be asleep and he could not wake her if nature had mercifully obliterated her sorrow for a few hours. In his mad flight he had lost all sense of distance and l