The House of the Misty Star / A Romance of Youth and Hope and Love in Old Japan

es resembled a hive of bees. Unless she was carefully observed and brought to order, her allowanc

the hospital she intended to build in the

. "Goodness, Jane, you haven't enough to buy even one shingle for a hospit

e something stronger than a national bank. You see, I was just born hoping. I know some of the sweetest peop

ent that she bought with the mon

en almost sure that my invitation would meet the same fate as the English

iss Je

for I'm starving. Have lived so long on rice and raw fish I feel like an Irish stew. You'll s

ily y

Win

hat. Failing in its mission as trimming, the chiffon dropped forward in reckless folds almost covering her face; it gave her a dissipated look as she hurried a

," was the ast

I said with quite a good deal of dignity that, while I had some id

t tolu is? It's a kind of rubb

hing is impossible," I cried, pa

t it won't hurt them, any more than a peck of chocolates and, tolu or no tolu, in all the world there isn't anythin

olu this side of San Francisco." Then, brightening with sudden inspiration, she exclaimed, "But I tell you what: wait till I take this

tter now down a

annot work out in the field to-day. She has a brand-n

s nothing especially beautiful, and my companion had never mentioned that she ever found me amusing. Outside fore and aft there was a v

er view, I put down my work and led her through the carved gates into the ancient glory which was not only the garden of my house, but the garden of my soul. We passed a moss-grown shrine where a quaint old image looked out across the lake rimmed with flami

indulge in, but as we went farther she had less to say. Her eyes grew wider and darker as the beauty of

depths of the dim old garden. I told her the spot had been my play place, my haven of rest for thirty years, and how for want of company I had peopled it with lords and ladies of my fancy. Armored knights and dark-haired dames of my imagination had lived and laughed and loved in the shadows of its soft beauty. Anxious to entertain and

anaged to gasp, "Oh, bu

was such a note of comradeship in her voice that it cheered me to the point of joining in her merriment. Our laugh

my old brain for bits of any sort with which to interest her. The last turn in the

hispered to me as familiarly as if I were the same age, "F

he was bareheaded, but so infectious wa

t brown moth hovering over a bed of iris. Before I could explain that the child was a waif temporarily housed with me, shy and easily frightened, Zura whipped from somewher

r," said Zura, softly, as she

and how he had begun teaching her to paint when he had to tie her to a chair to steady her and almost before her hand was big enough to hold a brush. She referred to their close companionship. Mother wanted to rest very often and seldom joined them. Father and daughter would prepare their own lunch and go for a long day's tramping and sketching. Once

oon. Her occupations were unquestioned, but when she joined us at the evening dinner it

nd tiger cookies, and as for gingerbread Johnnies she couldn't live

have you with us. Two lone women in one house are bound to get stale.

ncerity of Jane's welcome appealed to he

r things suitable for girls. My morning had been spent in arranging my purchases. It was a very sweet moment to me when, after I had ushe

in her outdoor sleeping garments, crept into my stu

, I mean. Wouldn't it be truly splendid if dear Page Hanaford and Zura were to fall in love? It's a grand i

, Jane, do you mea

ne undisturbed. "And oh! can you thin

: "Will you tell me what on earth romance, sweet or otherwise, has to do with a young fellow strugglin

ied: "But just think what

ment and mine is the same as between a