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Japanese 
 
 Prince 
 
 (Being some startling excerpts from the diary of 
 
 Hilda Patience Armstrong of Meriden, 
 
 Connecticut, at present travelling 
 
 in the Far East) 
 
 By 
 
 ARCHIBALD CLAVERING GUNTER 
 
 / 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 "MR. BARNES OF NEW YORK," "MR. POTTER OF 
 TEXAS," ETC. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 THE HOME PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
Copyright, 1904 
 
 by 
 
 A. C. GUNTER 
 AU Rights Reserved 
 
My Japanese Prince 
 
A LIST OF 
 
 Archibald Clavering Gunter s 
 
 WORLD-READ WORKS 
 
 The most Successful Novels of the Age 
 
 The Conscience of a King 
 The Spy Company 
 
 The Deacon s Second Wind 
 Tangled Flags 
 
 The Princess of Copper 
 Adrienne de Portalis 
 
 The Fighting Troubadour 
 
 M. S. Bradford, Special 
 Jack Curzon 
 
 A Lost American 
 Mr. Barnes of New York 
 
 Mr. Potter of Texas 
 
 )Iiss Nobody of Nowhere 
 
 That Frenchman 
 
 Miss Dividends 
 
 Baron Montez of Panama and Paris 
 A Princess of Paris 
 
 The King s Stockbroker 
 
 The First of the English 
 
 The Ladies Juggernaut 
 Her Senator 
 
 Don Balasco of Key West 
 Bob Covington 
 
 Susan Turnbull 
 
 Ballyho Bey 
 The City of Mystery 
 
 The Surprises of An Empty Hotel 
 
 Billy Hamilton 
 
 Cloth, $1.50 Paper, 50 Cents 
 
 For Sale by All Booksellers or sent prepaid on receipt of price, by 
 
 THE HOME PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 3 East Fourteenth Street New York City 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 EPISODE THE FIRST. 
 THE WATER FETE AT TOKYO. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. The actor of the Kabukiza Theatre 7 
 
 II. The tea-house by the Sumida 41 
 
 III. Sendai s bridge . 73 
 
 EPISODE THE SECOND. 
 
 MY MANCHURIAN HOUSE-PARTY. 
 
 IV. The curious asparagus trench 100 
 
 V. Yaling, the Chinese magistrate 127 
 
 VI. The juggler at the wedding supper 146 
 
 EPISODE THE THIRD. 
 
 THE MIDNIGHT SUBSTITUTION. 
 
 VII. Sendai s sacrifice for me . .180 
 
 VIII. What more can man give?. ....... . . . .194 
 
 M130922 
 
EPISODE THE FOURTH. 
 A WIDOW S HONEYMOON. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 IX. A bride, or not a bride ? 
 
 X. "Shall Kiguro s sacrifice be naught?" 238 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 (Being some extraordinary passages in the Diary of Miss 
 Hilda Armstrong, formerly of Meriden, Connecticut, 
 but at present on a journey to the Far East.) 
 
 EPISODE THE FIRST. 
 
 THE WATER FETE AT TOKYO. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ACTOR OF THE KABUKIZA THEATRE. 
 
 THE time was yesterday. 
 
 "Come on, Angel/ cried Miss Pinkie Caldwell, 
 "the Kabukiza Theatre and a picnic on the river won t 
 do you much harm, even without a chaperone." 
 
 "Pooh, I have been at New York theatres, minus 
 that undesirable article/ I replied airily. "Father s 
 down at Yokohama and will be busy all day." Then I 
 suggested eagerly : "Who are coming with us ?" 
 
 "Baron Serge Schevitch of the Russian Legation 
 and Charlie Alston Brown." 
 
 "Oh, 3^es, the Tokyo representative of the great firm 
 of Jabez, Slocum & Walters, of New York, San Fran 
 cisco, Yokohama, Shanghai and Kiuchwang," I 
 
 7 
 
8 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 laughed. "Mr. Brown has told mo of his commercial 
 importance a dozen times since I have heen in Tokyo." 
 To this I added with American determination : "I ll 
 do it ! Only you had better say nothing to papa. He 
 believes in chaperones." 
 
 "Funny taste for a Yankee," said Miss Caldwell 
 critically. "Where did he pick that up ?" 
 
 "In Russia/ I replied, building railways. Dad 
 has lived in Russia so long working on the Trans- 
 Siberian that he is half a Muscovite." 
 
 "Well, Madame de Comoron of the French Lega 
 tion would have come with us but she happens to be 
 indisposed hot weather and a jealous husband," 
 laughed Miss Pinkie. "Perhaps, who knows, we may 
 see that Japanese officer, the one you told me about, 
 that black-eyed fellow who was on those bridge con 
 tracts for his government in Meriden, Connecticut, 
 when you were there." 
 
 "Turn, turn, dark eyes are no more interesting to 
 me. I have seen too many of them around here 
 lately," I jeered. 
 
 "Well, if you have," said Pinkie inquisitorially, 
 "why are your cheeks as red as lotus flowers now? 
 Are you in love with him ?" 
 
 "What, in love with a Japanese !" I concealed my 
 embarrassment in a giggle. 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 9 
 
 "Don t you know, the Japs are the coming people/ 
 remarked Miss Caldwell. "Anyway, this afternoon 
 you will see something of them that will give you new 
 sensations." 
 
 This conversation takes place between Miss Pinkie 
 Farnham Caldwell, who is the daughter of an attach^ 
 of the American Legation at Tokyo, and myself, 
 Hilda Patience Armstrong, of Meriden, Connecticut, 
 daughter of Peter Milliken Armstrong, head of a 
 great bridge building and railroad constructing firm 
 of the same place, an institution that has large con 
 tracts with the Russian Government for the comple 
 tion of its railways in Manchuria. It is on this busi 
 ness that my father is on his way to Port Arthur now, 
 having me in his charge ; and, en route, is spending a 
 few days in Tokyo, looking after some contracts he 
 also has with a native firm in connection with a rail 
 way in iYezo, also the furnishing of bridges for the 
 Japanese road in Korea. My father knows that the 
 Russians and Japs hate each other, but one s money is 
 as good as the other s and Dad takes contracts from 
 either of them. 
 
 The day is a superb one, and for the season, not 
 warm. We are standing in my rooms in the Imperial. 
 Hotel, Tokyo, looking over its beautiful grounds on 
 the city s sunny unsidewalked street and watching the 
 
10 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 crowd of jinrikishas carrying the throng of bare 
 headed people to the great lotus fete and water picnic 
 given during the mid-summer of 1903 in the Japanese 
 Capital. 
 
 Miss Pinkie Caldwcll is a dashing American girl of 
 about twenty-two and looks exquisitely pretty in a 
 diaphanous costume made from a French model by a 
 Tokyo milliner. I am in a New York summer gown. 
 In its exquisite gauzes and laces I am not afraid to 
 stand up beside her or anyone else. 
 
 Pinkie is the daughter of one of Uncle Sam s Lega 
 tion attaches, who has been kept in Tokyo through 
 several American administrations on account of his 
 knowledge of things Japanese. Consequently, Miss 
 Caldwell having grown up from extreme youth to 
 young ladyhood amid the cherry blossoms and plum 
 groves of the JTokiado is as nearly Japanese as an 
 American girl can be. She jabbers the language with 
 what to me seems the fluency of a native and knows 
 the customs and etiquette of Dai Nippon from a court 
 reception to a country ramble amid green rice fields 
 and Shinto temples. In addition, she can do what we 
 would call in America a little polite "slumming," be 
 ing quite at home at entertainments at tea-houses on 
 the Shimbashi or by the banks of the Sumida Eiver, 
 where she calls out "Ha, irashi!" to entering geisha 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 11 
 
 girls at these events with what seems to me a true 
 Japanese inflection. 
 
 Consequently, under her guidance, my visit to 
 Tokyo has been a very pleasant one, and now, I having 
 remained in the capital two weeks, I am beginning to 
 think myself quite at home in a kuruma drawn by a 
 running coolie, and have no doubt I could tramp 
 around in Japanese clogs if necessary. 
 
 "By the bye, you have never told me the name of 
 your Japanese officer," remarks Miss Pinkie contemp 
 latively. "I know a lot of them here"; querying 
 rather eagerly: "Is he Engineers, General Staff or 
 Guard?" 
 
 "General Staff, I believe." 
 
 "Then your young man is pretty certain to be in 
 Tokyo. But his name ?" 
 "I have forgotten it." 
 
 "Fibber! You say he saved you from a runaway 
 automobile." 
 
 "He did, with the ability of a track athlete and the 
 technical skill of a racing chauffeur," I answer, tff but 
 he didn t give me his card." 
 
 "Still, Miss Prevarication, you know his cognomen. 
 Aha, you don t answer ! Thinking about him, eh ?" 
 
 Miss Pinkie s suggestion is unfortunately true. 
 Mentally I am seeing the broad street just in front of 
 
12 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 the Meriden Arms Manufacturing Company, Con 
 necticut, on a hot, dusty summer day nearly a year 
 ago. A maiden arrayed in light muslin costume is 
 crossing the street droopingly, holding a white ribbon- 
 trimmed sunshade over her head to protect her from 
 the conquering heat. Suddenly there is a cry of hor 
 ror! I glance about wondering whether the shout 
 heralds a mad dog on a rampage or a coming explosion 
 in a neighboring cartridge factory. From under my 
 white sunshade, I see at terrifying speed coming 
 straight at me a touring automobile with no one at its 
 steering wheel, no one blowing a warning toot upon its 
 horn to give me notice to fly for safety. 
 
 Panic stricken, I stand like a statue in the path of 
 the coming juggernaut. In a moment I will be added 
 to the year s list of automobile deaths. 
 
 Like a flash an athletic figure clothed in white 
 flannels springs from the sidewalk, lands like a ball 
 of rubber in the middle of the street and takes a 
 gymnastic leap into the vehicle. Even before his feet 
 touch the automobile, he seizes the steering wheel and 
 with a sudden decisive twist directs from me the 
 whirling death, just missing me by an inch. Then by 
 deft use of brakes and gear and steering apparatus, he 
 causes the machine to take a wide circle in the broad 
 street and brings it to a dead standstill in front of a 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 13 
 
 half fainting maiden, who now the danger being over 
 emits a little frightened scream. 
 
 Then a slightly built athletic looking gentleman 
 takes off his hat with military precision and says in 
 the softest voice: "Pardon me, honored lady, I hope 
 you are not disturbed." 
 
 I only look at him, a brunette figure of that unmis 
 takable set-up that indicates a professional soldier. 
 His military bearing at first suggests to me West 
 Point, but I have since discovered it arose from his 
 being in the Japanese service. My rescuer has a long 
 drooping moustache, thin but imperious lips and con- 
 mandingly dark eyes. 
 
 "Some very careless idiot, I presume, is the owner 
 of this magnificent piece of mechanism," he continues, 
 adding : "The Americans are a reckless race." 
 
 "Yes, this auto belongs, I believe, to young Jimmy 
 Doublesex, who has been educated in Paris and has 
 become half an idiot under absinthe. His father owns 
 the big gun factory," I falter. 
 
 Here we are interrupted by a boyish voice from the 
 tonneau, gasping: "Help! Get a move on! Don t 
 you see my legs sticking up ? Grab my feet and pull 
 me up over the seat and I ll be 0. K." 
 
 With one quick powerful jerk, the military gentle 
 man yanks } T oung Doublesex out of the tonneau and 
 
14 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 deposits him in the front seat., where he sits blinking 
 at us, and looking at his broken goggles, remarks 
 apologetically, rubbing the dust out of his eyes : "Yer 
 see, I was just trying my new Panhard, warranted to 
 make sixty miles an hour. Catching the eye of a 
 peach of a factory girl, who was looking out of that 
 third-floor window, I stood up on the seat to give her 
 the wink, lost my balance and, before I knew it, dis 
 appeared heels over head in the tonneau in the rear. 
 Do you think I need repairing?" 
 
 "Yes, most honored sir, in a lunatic asylum," said 
 my rescuer grimly, and stepped out of the vehicle. 
 Then lie turned his attention to me and remarked 
 sympathetically: "You re not frightened, I hope, 
 esteemed young lady?" 
 
 "I was till I saw you," I answered naively. 
 
 "Well, be very careful of yourself," he remarked 
 pleasantly. as he assisted me to the sidewalk. "Some 
 one must value you very highly, honored young 
 lady." It seemed to me his gaze, which was tender, 
 yet piercing, emphasized his words. With another 
 military salute he left me, and I watched his quick, 
 nervously precise, military step carry him from my 
 view. 
 
 From this revery I wake up with a sudden start. 
 Dusty Connecticut Meriden fades away like a photo- 
 
MY, JAPANESE PRINCE 15 
 
 graphic negative exposed to the sun; bustling, clean- 
 swept Tokyo With the picturesque civilization of the 
 East is about me. I hear Miss Pinkie Caldwell sug 
 gesting a proposition that makes me fairly gasp. 
 
 "Great Heavens,, you don t mean it !" I exclaim. 
 
 "Indeed I do ! We can both make ourselves brun 
 ette enough. Your figure will be perfect in kimono 
 as for mine " Pinkie knows she is a sylph. 
 
 Before I can dissent to her startling plan, a cheer 
 ful "How are you, girls ?" announces the entry of un 
 ceremonious Charlie Brown. 
 
 The gentlemen have arrived. 
 
 Baron Serge Schevitch in his soft Slavic tone is 
 saying: "Young ladies, I make my bow," and his 
 Yankee companion is remarking : "I hit it lucky. I ve 
 struck a first-class box at the Kabukiza Theatre for 
 two yen a seat and a first-class boat on the river, with 
 two coolies to pole it and one to steer, a cabin for 
 shade, and twenty paper lanterns for illumination 
 purposes, likewise a big icebox all filled with refresh 
 ments, liquid and solid, for " 
 
 "Never mind the price, you commercial creature," 
 cries Miss Caldwell. "Come on!" Pinkie puts out 
 a pretty foot, perfectly booted and delicately hosed, 
 anxious to start. 
 
 "Besides, we have a carriage which is more sociable 
 
16 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 than the kurumas," suggests the Baron as he escorts 
 me down the stairs to a rather dilapidated looking 
 equipage, which is drawn by two very much under 
 sized horses. We would call them ponies in America. 
 
 Baron Serge Schevitch is a clean-featured, six foot, 
 blue pale-eyed, sunny moustachioed, blond, who, I 
 believe, at one time figured in the Chevalier-Guard in 
 St. Petersburg and is now an honorary attache of the 
 Russian Legation at the Japanese Court. Why he is 
 here I do not know. He is not the military attach^ ; 
 he is not the naval attache ; just what his mission is, 
 nobody can say. 
 
 He has a diplomatic command of his features ex 
 cept when passion dominates them which is seldom. 
 Though I have noticed that when near me, his hab 
 itual control of countenance sometimes gives way 
 to an ardor it seems difficult for him to repress. 
 
 I hope no one will think me conceited, but some 
 times in these memoirs it is necessary for me to state 
 facts that come under my observation. If a man is in 
 love with me, I shall state it, though I may blush to 
 the ears as I put it on paper. 
 
 Charlie Brown is a sandy moustached edition of 
 Brother Jonathan, presenting obtrusively in his man 
 ner and diction the least attractive and commercial 
 side of the Yankee nation. His ideas condensed are 
 
MY\ JAPANESE PRINCE 17 
 
 briefly: "Money, money, MONEY! girls, girls, GIRLS!" 
 his adoration of the almighty dollar somewhat ex 
 ceeding his love of the fair sex; though judging by 
 my own instincts, he must have been much more 
 fortunate in obtaining the former than the latter. He 
 has been very successful in Shanghai as the managing 
 man of the great American firm he now represents in 
 Tokyo, though he foolishly thinks that Chinese cus 
 toms and ideas can be transferred and will fit in 
 Tokyo, something in which I, even with my little 
 Eastern experience, imagine he will some day find he 
 is mistaken. 
 
 Baron Schevitch, the Muscovite, though a man of 
 the world, is a thorough gentleman, at least as regards 
 his bearing towards me. I have met him only a few 
 times, but I am pleased to find that I fall rather to 
 his escort than to that of my own countryman, who 
 seems to be entirely devoted to Miss Pinkie s bright 
 brown eyes that have a most attractive lustre, and her 
 rather vivacious beauty which has a tinge of Oriental 
 witchery. 
 
 These reflections are jounced about in me as we 
 rattle over the muddy unpaved Ginza, or main street, 
 pausing only when our runner, a half nude coolie who 
 prances ahead of our carriage, signals us to stop at 
 corners in order that he can clear a track for us in the 
 
18 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 crowd. For the streets are full of people bound for 
 the Sumida Gawa, upon which will take place the 
 annual picnic that during lotus time is tendered to 
 that river and it deity. 
 
 As we drive along, the polite crowd gets out of our 
 way and gazes at us with an unaffectedly frank curi 
 osity, our coachman exchanging elaborate bows with 
 passing confreres and kurumas; a carriage is by no 
 means common in the Tokyo streets. In addition, 
 Pinkie s vivacious gestures and excited native exclam 
 ations cause the onlookers to pause in their holiday 
 consumption of watermelon sliced by numerous ven 
 dors, and Icori, a kind of planed ice flavored with fruit 
 syrups, somewhat similar to what are called snowballs 
 in New York confectionery establishments. 
 
 But making our way through these, I soon forgot 
 everything out the extraordinary sensations that came 
 to me at the Kabukiza. 
 
 The performance was half over. Dramatic affairs 
 quite often commence very early in the morning in 
 Japan and last all day. Though the Tokyo theatres 
 are usually closed in mid-summer, this was an extra 
 performance, given probably on account of the number 
 of visitors that the lotus festival had attracted to the 
 Japanese capital. At all events, hot as it was, the 
 theatre was crowded. 
 
MY t JAPANESE PRINCE 19 
 
 Having our tickets secured, we were not delayed at 
 the entrance nor compelled to go to some neighboring 
 tea house for cards of admission. Fortunately also 
 we chanced to arrive between acts, as it is not in this 
 polite country customary to disturb the audience by 
 entering or going out during anything but intermis 
 sions. Mr. Brown had taken for our accommodation 
 one of those square compartments something like 
 church pews that the Japs call boxes. It is in the 
 fashionable part of the house and between the liana- 
 michi and the galleries. 
 
 With a suppressed giggle Miss Pinkie getting on 
 her knees as if a native girl, directs me to assume the 
 usual squatting position on some soft cushions. I do 
 so and gaze about. The two big balconies and the 
 whole pit are occupied by an unusually brilliant audi 
 ence drawn by a great performance; for the most 
 celebrated actor of his day, Kikiguro, the worthy suc 
 cessor to the late Ichikawa Danjuro, the Salvini of 
 Japan, is in the bill. 
 
 Of this wonderful artist s performance, which 
 moved me both to tears and to laughter, his facial ex 
 pression being so remarkable that I could follow ac 
 curately his emotions during each scene, I have little 
 to say; likewise of the curious revolving stage, grace 
 ful scenery and brilliant lighting as well as the ac- 
 
20 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 curately gorgeous costumes of Old Japan displayed in 
 the only place that they can now be viewed, the na 
 tional theatre. 
 
 These greatly interested me for a time; also the 
 processions along the two gangways called the liana- 
 michi or flower paths, because from these places the 
 successful actors received the congratulations of the 
 audience. These ran from each side of the stage to 
 the other end of the hall and from there, between acts, 
 male attendants distributed tea and cakes and other 
 refreshments to, the audience, some of the spectators 
 taking their lunch unceremoniously on the stage when 
 the curtain was down, almost every man and woman 
 smoking a small silver pipe till a haze of smoke rose 
 up to make the scene misty. 
 
 In deference to the river fireworks the performance 
 was to be a short one a four-act tragedy and a little 
 comedy two acts of the first piece were already fin 
 ished. 
 
 Then an entr acte curtain impressed me exceed 
 ingly. The whole drapery was inscribed elaborately 
 in Japanese characters. Gazing upon them, I con 
 ceived these must be inscriptions taken from the 
 dramatic poets of ancient Dai Nippon, but as I looked 
 I gave a gasp of astonishment. I plainly distin- 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 21 
 
 guished in English letters "Kirin Beer" and "Pear s 
 Soap." 
 
 "You seem impressed with the drop rag," grinned 
 Charlie Brown. 
 
 "Yes, I i can t understand," I returned, "how 
 Pear s Soap and Kirin Beer got into the ancient liter 
 ature of this topsy-turvy Eastern empire." 
 
 "Ancient literature !" giggled Pinkie. "Don t you 
 know the Japs are ahead of the world on advertising ? 
 Those inscriptions on that curtain are well paid for 
 placards recommending everything from a jinrikisha 
 to a popular tea house. Pear s Soap and Kirin Beer, 
 of course, get in their showing. At the smaller 
 theatres, I ve seen ads of Sapolio and Hunter Eye 
 Whiskey and Ripans." 
 
 "Oh, how this destroys the romance of the place," 
 I said. 
 
 "Not a bit," dissented Miss Caldwell. "Wait till 
 the curtain goes up again and you ll forget all about 
 it. They ve got a fire effect in the next act that beats 
 anything I ever saw in the United States." 
 
 This I find is true. No such extraordinarily vivid 
 scenic representation of conflagration ever impressed 
 me in a theatre before. 
 
 So the performance went on. But of a sudden 
 everything was obliterated from my mind and I had 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 eyes only for one being on the stage. It was the fourth 
 and last act of the tragedy. An actor who played a 
 somewhat minor role, that of the ghost of a noble 
 Daimio family, was coming on the stage. 
 
 To appropriately herald the supernatural, the per 
 former on the bass drum was beating a solo that would 
 have made Wagner think himself in a mixture of 
 Walhalla and Mount Vesuvius. The audience was 
 looking sadly and sympathetically upon this spirit- 
 relic of the past, strutting about in the curious trailing 
 antique trousers that gave the ghost the appearance 
 of walking on his knees, but I with eyes starting al 
 most out of my head saw before me the thin, ex 
 pressive, dominant lips, the firmly chiseled almost 
 Grecian nose, the strong, dark, romantic eyes, the very 
 being that had rescued me from automobile death in 
 Meriden, Connecticut. 
 
 Then his voice smote my ear. But, oh, that was 
 not the same. It was at times a squeaking, creaking, 
 high falsetto, then a portentious basso, but always in 
 that horrible, peculiar rasping monotone of a Japa 
 nese actor when he thinks he has a great opportunity. 
 It made me squirm upon my cushions, but still my 
 eyes followed this bombastic footlight relic of the 
 past, and once when he dropped into a colloquial tone 
 for comedy effectghosts are comedians as well as 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 23 
 
 tragedians on the Japanese stage it was the same 
 voice that had said in far away Connecticut: "Some 
 one must value you very highly, honored young 
 
 lady." 
 
 "Who is it?" I whispered under my breath. 
 "Oh, that s a second rate actor called Kamu Ki- 
 guro," remarked Mr. Brown, consulting what they call 
 a playbill in Japan. 
 
 "Why," I falter, "he looks like 
 "Not like himself, you can bet," whispers Charlie. 
 "That s a wonderful make-up. He is representing 
 some old daimio swell for this ghost business. In the 
 next comedy he is down for a woman, and you can 
 bet he will be a Japanese geisha to the life. Off the 
 stage Kamu Kiguro is as happy a faced little fellow 
 as plays a bad game of American poker in Japan. His 
 face probably now represents one of the Sendai family. 
 He never gets tired of telling how his ancestors were 
 samurai retainers of that great daimio house in the 
 days of the Shogunate." 
 
 The name strikes me with an electric shock. It is 
 the name I know, that of the gentleman who rescued 
 me, Captain Okashi Sendai. 
 
 "Why, you seem interested in the ghost," whispers 
 Hiss Caldwell in her lowest voice. 
 
 "Sendai I know one or two of the Sendai," ob- 
 
24 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 serves Baron Schevitch. "Tell you about them after 
 the performance, if you like." 
 
 With this information I am compelled to be content 
 until after we leave the theatre. For chatter in a 
 Tokyo auditorium is frowned clown upon much more 
 strongly than in a Xew York opera house ; though the 
 ghost looks so much like my Connecticut savior that 
 when he is on the stage, I devour him with my eyes, 
 and, thinking of him, after the curtain has fallen on 
 the tragedy, pay little attention to some pretty danc 
 ing Japanese girls. 
 
 We do not wait for the comedy as we are anxious 
 to go to the river, Mr. Brown suggesting it will be 
 about time for the fireworks to begin. 
 
 "Fireworks in the daytime? - I ejaculate, as we 
 emerge from the theatre. "It is not yet dusk I" 
 
 "That is the time this topsy-turvy nation gets in 
 some of its greatest pyrotechnic effects," laughs the 
 Russian Baron as he assists me into the carriage. 
 ":N T ow the Sendai family," I say eagerly. 
 "Tell you about them, Miss Armstrong, when we 
 reach the quiet of the river," remarks my escort; for 
 even Japanese crowds, at times, become noisy and 
 some display towards the Sumida Gawa has excited 
 their outcries. 
 Quite shortly, by the aid of our runner who acted as 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 25 
 
 guide, we succeeded in reaching the boat Mr. Brown 
 had engaged for us, which was lying in a moat or 
 canal awaiting us. This bark,, in appearance not so 
 unlike a sawed-off and very clumsy Venetian gondola, 
 was exceedingly clean from stem to stern, and had a 
 very comfortable house or cabin upon it that would 
 keep us from the last of the sun s rays. It was 
 manned by two half nude coolies to pole it in the river 
 and steered by another boatman who managed a big 
 oar at the stern. 
 
 "We have everything here not only for comfort and 
 convenience, but also a regular water picnic," re 
 marked Mr. Brown, jumping Miss Pinkie over its 
 gunwale and waving his hand towards an attendant 
 who was setting out quite a sumptuous repast in the 
 cabin for us. 
 
 "Besides, my maid, Nana San, is here/ laughed 
 Miss Caldwell, "with everything we want." There 
 was a suggestive strain in Pinkie s voice that recalled 
 her proposition to me and made me giggle nervously 
 as the maid gave salutation to her mistress. 
 
 But neither Pinkie nor I cared to eat just at the 
 moment. We preferred to look. We were being poled 
 down a rather narrow canal which had formerly been 
 one of the old moats of the city; in places its sluggish 
 waters were full of pink lotus flowers. Passing rather 
 
26 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 commonplace warehouses and some rickety looking 
 Venetian stairways that led up through high walls 
 from the water to the streets, which were connected 
 by bridges, we approached the river. Here the 
 loungers became more numerous and more excited and 
 the scene more that of festivity. 
 
 Five minutes after, we enter the river itself. Upon 
 its waters are a jam of boats, at times so crowded to 
 gether that an active man can pass from one bank of 
 the Sumida, here some three hundred yards wide, to 
 the other dry shod, jumping from barge to barge. 
 
 These boats, some of them large, some with even 
 two story cabins, are all crowded by the Japanese in 
 families, in groups, in masses one carrying half a 
 dozen officers in full uniform is close beside us. 
 
 Through this mass we gradually are poled towards 
 the place of fireworks daytime fireworks. I am 
 about to ask the Baron as to the Sendai; but suddenly 
 Pinkie gives a scream of admiration. A rocket goes 
 up, and as it explodes in the clear blue air a flock of 
 pigeons seem to spring from it and wing their way 
 through the sunlight. The next displays a dragon 
 in aerial flight, swishing his tail and smoke coming 
 from his eyes. Then up goes another rocket and a 
 great bird released by the explosion flaps its wings 
 and flies off into the clear blue ether. After 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 27 
 
 this come smoke clouds and other wondrous effects. 
 
 Then we all grow hungry and indulge in a picnic 
 repast washed down by iced champagne. As we 
 finish, and the gentlemen light their cigars, night de 
 scends, the river becomes a swaying sea of lanterns, 
 not only upon its own liquid surface, but both its 
 banks, some of the tea-houses perched high for view 
 and breeze being literally covered with gorgeous hued 
 things whose many bright colors seem to make this 
 soft summer night a kind of Venetian fete. 
 
 Upon a big barge next to us is a band playing, not 
 only Japanese music, but every ragtime tune invented 
 in the United States. 
 
 Then high up over the lanterns are more bursting 
 rockets, some of them exceedingly fine, breaking into 
 great bunches of various colored flaming ribbons that 
 seem to float about in the air, and weeping willows of 
 \nolten gold with red flowers. 
 
 The pyrotechnic display growing less vivid and 
 Miss Caldwell and Mr. Brown being engaged in a 
 tete-a-tete conversation near the bow of the boat, I say 
 eagerly to the Baron who is smoking a cigar and 
 lounging not far from me at the stern: "Now tell 
 me about the Sendai." 
 
 "Oh, the Sendai family is quite a celebrated one in 
 Dai Nippon. In former times it was connected with 
 
28 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 that of the Shogiin. Its members even now are 
 among the highest nobles in Japan, what you Ameri 
 cans would call ^howling swells. I know one or two 
 of them here." 
 
 "Any of them officers in the army ?" I ask, eagerly. 
 
 "Yes, I have found them very pleasant fellows 
 to meet, though, of course, I am socially handicapped 
 here, being one of the nation that the Japanese like 
 least." 
 
 "Do you know one on the General Staff?" I query, 
 striving to keep undue interest out of my tone. 
 
 Schevitch is about to reply to me when he is inter 
 rupted by shouts, laughter and screams from neigh 
 boring lantern-lighted boats. This commotion com 
 mences at the river bank and gradually rolls towards 
 us spreading from barge to barge, which in this por 
 tion of the waterway are crowded quite closely to 
 gether, most of them being only a few feet apart. 
 
 "Good heavens, is it an accident, or a thug escaping 
 from a policeman?" I exclaim, as the commotion ap 
 proaches us rapidly. 
 
 "No, I think not," says the Baron. "You notice 
 it is excited laughter rather than dismay." 
 
 "Well, whatever it is," I answer, "it is coming this 
 way." 
 
 For the yelling has now reached the barge next to 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 29 
 
 us and upon its deck has alighted what seems to me 
 in the imperfect illumination a bounding orang 
 outang. The marvelous agility of the creature is 
 monkey-like. Tripping over the steersman s oar on 
 the neighboring boat, the flying figure would fall up- 
 <on his face, did he not with wondrous activity and 
 address seize one of the long poles used to propel the 
 barge, and driving it into the water to the bottom of 
 the river, use it as a vaulting instrument and take a 
 flying leap onto the deck of our boat right in front 
 of me. 
 
 Here, to my half-frightened scream the new visitor 
 takes off his hat politely and bowing to the deck, says 
 in very good English: "August pardon deign, es 
 teemed lady. Don t disturb your honorable tran 
 quillity. 1 am not a fugitive criminal, I am merely 
 winning a wager that I made with a fellow actor that 
 I would cross the river dry shod by leaping from boat 
 to boat. It is not a difficult feat for a man whose 
 profession forces him at times to be acrobatic as well 
 as dramatic. 
 
 "Soyanara" he continues pompously, with a deck 
 touching bow, "I shall be on the other bank in three 
 minutes." 
 
 This grandiloquent address is rendered by an ath 
 letic, swallow-tail-coated Japanese with a high stove 
 
30 1/p; JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 pipe hat, much ruffled and brushed the wrong way. 
 He is about to spring from our boat into the barge 
 beyond when Charlie Brown, who has started up 
 from Miss Pinkie s side, suddenly cries: "Wait a 
 second ! Ain t you Kamu Kiguro, the actor ?" 
 
 "I am known as such in Tokyo/ is the reply, "and 
 this is Mr. Brown, the American trader." 
 
 "Then here s a young lady with whom you made a 
 mash to-day at the theatre as the ghost," laughs 
 Charlie, "she wants to see you." 
 
 Mr. Brown s easy suggestion brings a rather 
 haughty blush upon my face as I gaze upon the Thes 
 pian, who remarks: "I am always pleased to make a 
 hit with my audience and do the wishes of the ladies, 
 "but my wager!" continuing apologetically: "You 
 will excuse me; five yen are awaiting- me on the other 
 side." 
 
 "I will pay the five yen/ cries Charlie Brown. "In 
 fact, I will give you ten yen if you stay and entertain 
 us." 
 
 "I beg your honored pardon," our visitor draws 
 himself up stiff as a bronze statue, " I am an actor of 
 the theatre, not a travelling mountebank." 
 
 "Of course, I understand that thoroughly," re 
 marks Brown. "These young ladies also appreciate 
 it." 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE t 31 
 
 Kiguro bows to both Pinkie and myself, drawing in 
 his breath with that peculiar respiration that indi 
 cates in Dai Nippon the highest reverence. 
 
 Then Pinkie addresses him in Japanese and the 
 sound of his own tongue from an American young 
 lady pleases the pride of the native professional 
 gentleman. 
 
 "The greatest actors in the United States some 
 times condescend to amuse and entertain people out 
 side of the walls of their playhouses/ explains Miss 
 Caldwell. 
 
 "Yes, I have read of that. Irving, the great Eng 
 lish mimic, appeared before the King at Windsor 
 Castle." Kiguro s tone is mollified. "You say the 
 young lady became interested in my performance of 
 the ghost, one of my minor roles. I lose the wager. 
 I don t accept your pay, Mr. Brown, but to the Ameri 
 can young lady I make the sliintaniro." 
 
 Words cannot express the haughty dignity with 
 which Ivamu Kiguro makes obeisance to me; then 
 squats at my feet, and gazes up in my face. 
 
 In the lantern light, Mr. Kiguro is a very different 
 looking person to the aristocratic ghost he had por 
 trayed at the theatre. His face is not now very much 
 like that of my Connecticut savior, though his height 
 
32 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 is about the same and his figure is perhaps something 
 similar. 
 
 "You wish to hear of the theatre in Japan, its rise 
 from the dunghill to the acme of the Mikado s favor ?" 
 he remarks, bowing to the deck as he mentions the 
 Imperial name. 
 
 "Yes, I am told/ I say, "that since His Majesty 
 has witnessed the performance of the late great Dan- 
 juro, your profession has become " 
 
 "More than reputable," interjects the comedian, 
 "exalted ! Only thirty years ago, actors in the cen 
 sus were classed and numbered as the beasts of the 
 field ; now we have become not only as other men, but 
 above most of them. ..Otherwise I of the samurai 
 class would never have trod the boards. You see I use 
 American stage terms for the esteemed young lady s 
 benefit. I picked them up from an honored Yankee 
 dramatic agent who wished a few years ago to engage 
 the great Danjuro for an American tour." 
 
 "Yes, and you use perfect English," I say. 
 
 "English? I am familiar with French, likewise 
 German and Chinese," rejoins Kiguro, with that 
 modesty which is as much a part of his profession in 
 Japan as in the United States. "Besides, I sing. In 
 addition, I dance. Likewise, I do acrobatic feats at 
 times, fence with two swords after the ancient method 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 33 
 
 and play women s roles as well. They say I am 
 beautiful as a cherry tree in women s parts." Then 
 turning his eyes on me, he asks : "But why did I in 
 terest you so intensely when I played the ghost? I 
 have not much opportunity in it. A ghost cannot 
 die, and death scenes are my strong point. I have 
 taken half an hour to die by poison upon the stage. 
 It is most unfortunate to play the ghost." 
 
 "But in that role your face was made up to repre 
 sent a living man ?" I ask eagerly. 
 
 "One of the grand Sendai," returns Kamu Kiguro, 
 "the great Daimio family to which my fathers 
 were samurai and I still hold allegiance, the ancient 
 house that I love. When I am to be an aristocratic 
 ghost, I become the most aristocratic spirit possible. 
 I transform myself to an image of the highest nobil 
 ity, and I can make myself a likeness of anything 
 dragons, dwarfs, genii, gnomes, kami, spirits, geisha 
 gi r l s anything! I am an actor." 
 
 As I listen to him, I know he is an actor. I have 
 met one or two Thespians in the United States and am 
 satisfied Mr. Kiguro is cf the profession. "Yes, I 
 have heard something of the Sendai family," I re 
 mark. "I am interested somewhat in them. Can you 
 tell me something of them?" 
 
 "Something of them ? I know their annals for two 
 
34 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 thousand years. You have seen the great canal run 
 ning through a portion of the city that was dug by 
 Prince Sendai in old times," says Kiguro proudly. 
 
 "What, with his own hands I" I scream, thinking of 
 the extraordinary labor necessary for such a gigantic 
 public work. "That must have been in the mythical 
 days." 
 
 "Oh, no; it is a reality. But not with his own 
 hands. The great Sendai touched the sword, not the 
 spade. I will tell you about the grand Prince Sendai. 
 It is like a Lotus romance in these grovelling days 
 when men love money more than they do pleasure. 
 In the old days when the Shogun was the power, be 
 fore modern reforms had destroyed the race of the 
 two swords, Prince Sendai had the honor of being the 
 most glorious spendthrift the world has ever seen, 
 His steady order at a tea-house was The best in the 
 world and all there is of it P " 
 
 "Saint Vladimir, that s a glorious command!" 
 cries the Russian Baron. "Let me remember it; it 
 will make a hit in the cafes of St. Petersburg. The 
 best in the world and all there is of it P " 
 
 "By Jove !" laughs Brown, "when I get back to 
 New York that shall be my cry at the Waldorf-As 
 toria; that will make me famous." 
 
 "Or bankrupt!" observes Miss Pinkie severely. 
 
JAPANESE PRINCE 35 
 
 "Do his descendants give such orders now?" I 
 ask, rather horrified at the immensity of such ex 
 travagance. 
 
 "No; there is no man in the world but one, about 
 whom I have heard Americans talk, who dare give 
 such an order to-day, and that s the celebrated coal- 
 oil baron, Eockyman. You see I know a good deal 
 about your country," observes Kiguro complaisantly 
 to me. 
 
 "Yes, and Eockyman won t do it," giggles Pinkie. 
 "Mush and milk is his limit, I am told." 
 
 "Though they say he would pay high for a stom 
 ach," jeers Mr. Brown. 
 
 "Well, in those ancient days the Japanese nobles 
 were rich," continues Kiguro earnestly. "A great 
 Daimio had an income of sometimes two hundred 
 thousand koku. Now if he has twenty thousand he 
 is lucky." 
 
 "But about the canal ?" I ask. 
 
 "Oh yes, Sendai s canal. The Prince Sendai got 
 to what you Americans call burning his money. 
 One evening he hired the Yoshiwara, locked up the 
 whole district, because Sendai wished to love. What 
 are you blinking at me for, Mr. Brown ? You know 
 the Yoshiwara; I ve seen you there." 
 
 "Oh nothing, only we don t talk about these things 
 
36 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 in the presence of ladies in America/ 7 mutters 
 Charlie, biting his cigar savagely. 
 
 "Well, this and some other extravagances such as 
 having five hundred geisha perform the No dance 
 every time he drank sake caused the government to 
 turn its eyes upon Sendai, 77 says the Thespian. "So 
 the Shogun said if Sendai wishes to hurn up his 
 money he had better burn it to some advantage to 
 the government. Therefore he ordered the prince 
 to dig a moat around the highest hill in Yeddo, upon 
 which stood the Shogun s palace. It took several 
 thousand men several years to dig this ditch and is 
 appropriately known as Sendai s Sorrow/ It cost 
 so much money, they say Sendai filled it with his 
 tears/ 7 
 
 "But is that all Sendai was celebrated for? 7 I ask. 
 
 "Oh no, if he was a spendthrift, he was also a war 
 rior. Sendai could take off an enemy 7 s head with a 
 single sword stroke like I do on the stage. Come 
 when the regular season opens and see me fight at the 
 Kabukiza. Fifty sword wounds shall not kill me 
 till I perform my sword feat. My fighting is not my 
 least accomplishment. 77 The modest actor bows before 
 me. 
 
 "But the present members of the family? 77 I ask, 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 37 
 
 the modern Sendai being more in my mind than the 
 ancient spendthrift. 
 
 "Ah yes; the prince the old prince is retired to 
 his estates and now lives near Kioto ; but his son, the 
 captain" 
 
 "Ah yes, the captain/ I whisper. 
 
 "Captain Okashi Sendai of the General Staff, the 
 expert engineer, the great bridge builder, the pro 
 found mathematician, he who is even in modern de 
 mocracy the most aristocratic representative of one of 
 the great houses of Japan, the man to whom I bow 
 and say : Trince and master, here is thy samurai for 
 life or for death as it pleases thee to order. : Love 
 and reverence have flown into the comedian s eyes 
 and have changed him into a jeune premier. He 
 would make his hit as a lover on the American stage. 
 Such adoration, such devotion, such romantic emotion 
 I have never seen in the human face before. 
 
 Kiguro s expressive countenance becomes noble in 
 its generous fealty; his dark eyes glow with the ardor 
 of self-sacrifice, if necessary, for this being whom he 
 seems to adore with that kind of tribal worship that 
 existed in the mediaeval days of Scotland, when the 
 humblest gillie in the clan thought the best use to 
 which he could put his life was to give it up gallantly 
 and unasked for his beloved chief. 
 
38 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 "You love Captain Sendai?" I ask. 
 
 "Love him! The blood of my ancestors has adored 
 the blood of his ancestors for a thousand years; and 
 His Highness has condescended to say to Kiguro: 
 Tight as well on the field of battle as you do upon the 
 stage of the theatre, and you will be as good as your 
 ancestor, the sword maker of Ozaka. Some day per 
 haps I will show the young Prince " 
 
 "The Prince !" I ejaculate. 
 
 "Certainly, though he drops his titles for his mili 
 tary rank. My lord and master is a peculiar gentle 
 man. He says captain is his rank in the army and 
 captain he will be until he becomes a major." 
 
 "He was once in America?" I interrupt eagerly. 
 
 "Captain Okashi Sendai has been half a dozen 
 times across the ocean/ remarks Kiguro proudly. 
 "He was educated partly at Harvard, also in the Ox 
 ford and the Heidelberg. Once I had the honor of 
 accompanying His Highness to America. There to 
 study the foreign playhouse, I took a juggling engage 
 ment at Koster and BiaFs." 
 
 Noting a look of amazement on my face, Mr. Kiguro 
 contemplatively picks up half a dozen oranges that 
 are lying on the table of the cabin and abstractedly 
 does such "stunts" with them that I gaze at him open 
 mouthed ; finishing his performance by catching four 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 39 
 
 in his left hand, one in his mouth, and, suddenly be 
 coming erect, permits the last flying orange to lodge 
 upon the top of his head. "In addition I" He picks 
 up the very thin, straight rattan cane of the Russian 
 Baron and suddenly swallows nearly thirty inches of 
 it. "Shall I change this into a snake ?" he says after 
 he disgorges it. 
 
 "Oh, don t !" I scream. 
 "I couldn t/ he laughs merrily. 
 "Besides!" He throws the six oranges again inio 
 the air and flings after them five table forks, trans 
 fixing them in mid-career ; then with another fork in 
 his mouth, after an extraordinary contortion, catches 
 the last descending orange spitted upon it. 
 
 "Bravo!" cries Brown, who with Miss Pinkie, 
 greets this peculiar exhibition with a salvo of Ameri 
 can hand claps. 
 
 "Such acrobatics should make you thirsty," laughs 
 Schevitch. 
 
 "It does, honored Baron, but I will only take a cup 
 of sake. Nothing more. No refreshments, especially 
 no American whiskey, Mr. Brown. That always 
 makes me light headed." Drinking a cup of the na 
 tional beverage, Kiguro remarks: "Honored ladies, 
 once more sayonara. I will yet win my wager, though 
 the boats are getting further apart," 
 
40 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 After a low bow to everyone of us, he plunges the 
 pole he had brought on board with him into the 
 river and bounds like a flying fish from one barge to 
 another, the screams and excitement of his sudden 
 nautical appearances and disappearances on the vari 
 ous boats dying away towards the other bank of the 
 Sumida. 
 
 "Well, what do you think of him ?" laughs Charlie 
 Brown. 
 
 "Ah, Mademoiselle Armstrong is not thinking of 
 the comedian," remarks Baron Schevitch acutely. 
 "She is thinking of the Prince." 
 
 "Cracky, I believe you ve struck it! She s blush 
 ing!" guffaws Brown. 
 
 While Pinkie, clapping her hands, whispers rogu 
 ishly in my red ear: "Was it Prince Sendai who 
 saved you from the automobile ?" 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE TEA-HOUSE BY THE SUMIBA. 
 
 I 
 
 My curiosity as to the Sendai family seems to have 
 a curious effect upOE the Baron. Don t think that 
 I am a vain girl, but I cannot help noting events. 
 The Baron grows moody. Mr. Brown and Miss Cald- 
 well have wandered nearer the bow of the boat again. 
 Some few words that young lady is saying seem to 
 make Charlie exceedingly mirthful. Good heavens, 
 is she suggesting to him her automobile suspicions ? 
 
 Whether she is or not, the Baron begins to ques 
 tion me in a rather anxious manner. "Why do you, 
 Miss Armstrong, take such an interest in this Japan 
 ese family?" he affects to laugh. 
 
 "Because I am going to write a book on Japan," I 
 answer, flippantly. 
 
 "Ah, your interest is only a literary one," he ob 
 serves. "Then why were you so eager to discover if 
 Captain Okashi Sendai had ever been in the United 
 States?" 
 
 "Because if he has, he has probably heard of my 
 father as a great bridge builder and Dad can perhaps 
 
 41 
 
42 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 get a contract for some of the railway structures here. 
 Captain Sendai apparently from the comedian s re 
 marks, is connected with that branch of semi-military, 
 semi-civil construction in Japan. You see, I am a 
 Yankee, therefore business to the finger tips," I re 
 join glibly. 
 
 With this answer Serge Schevitch, stroking his 
 long blond moustache reflectively, is compelled to be 
 satisfied. 
 
 "You know Captain Prince Sendai?" I inquire. 
 
 "Yes, I know him as I know other officers here, 
 though not so well as some of them," answers the 
 Baron. To this he adds, surlily: "Captain Okashi 
 Sendai won t interest a girl like you. He is a student 
 as well as a soldier." 
 
 "I am told," I remark, maliciously, "that to be a 
 true soldier now it is necessary to be a student, some 
 thing you Russian officers, I imagine, at times for 
 get in the delights of social life." 
 
 "Oh, if you mean that we will ever suffer should it 
 come to an armed dispute between us and the Japs," 
 sneers the Baron, "you will find that six feet men can 
 whip five feet monkeys. But by Saint Vladimir, this 
 nation of fireworks, geisha girls and jugglers will 
 never be mad enough to dare confront the Colossus 
 not only of Asia but of Europe." 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 43 
 
 "Pretty good fireworks/ I jeer, pointing to a beau 
 tiful exploding rocket. "Very charming geisha girls/ 
 I laugh, and direct my gaze to a large nearby barge 
 upon whose deck a number of dark eyed brunettes 
 are dancing to music of their samisens whose strings 
 are twanging merrily. "Not bad jugglers/ I look at 
 the spitted oranges left lying upon our deck by Ki- 
 guro. 
 
 To this the Baron says generously : "You re right ! 
 What the Japs do, they do well. Did you ever see a 
 more beautiful fete?" and seats himself quite close 
 beside me. 
 
 The scene is even more attractive at night than by 
 day. I agree with my escort that it is a very lovely 
 eight. 
 
 The fireworks having subsided, supper appears 
 everywhere. Our own boatmen are taking their sake 
 and cooked beans at the extreme bow of the boat. 
 Pleasant meals are in progress on nearly all the 
 barges, some quite elaborate, some served European 
 style, others in the Japanese manner. Music is om 
 nipresent, from the big brass band to the sharp voiced 
 samisens and kotos, the Japanese banjo and harp; 
 even in a small row-boat a bronze figure is beating a 
 drum. Since darkness has come upon us, the whole 
 river, banks and waterway, seems a glow of light from 
 
44 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 myriads of lanterns, some of the overhanging tea 
 houses being covered with thousands of paper moons. 
 
 The scene is romantic; apparently the Baron be 
 comes romantic too. After the manner of European 
 suitors, he commences to whisper soft, flowery and 
 exceedingly exaggerated compliments into my blush 
 ing ear. These after the manner of the chippy 
 American girl, I adroitly turn to nothings. 
 
 Then, with some remarks on the dazzling rings that 
 adorn my fingers, he tries to take my hand. This 
 means a good deal more from a Russian than from an 
 American ; so I deftly keep my fingers from his grasp. 
 
 From near the bow of our barge I think I hear 
 Miss Caldwell whisper: "Charlie, behave yourself!" 
 
 Something must be done or the Baron will make 
 love to me, which I don t want him to do. A one 
 sided romance always destroys friendship, and the 
 Baron isn t a bad fellow. I am about to raise my 
 voice and cry to Pinkie that we had better be going to 
 the hotel, when Pinkie calls to me : "Mr. Brown has 
 just seen in that tea-house/ she points to one near 
 which we are drifting, "some Yokohama friends." 
 Then she springs up and exclaims: "There s Billy 
 Benson, now, of the Oriental Bank. See, he s beckon 
 ing to you, Charlie !" 
 
 In proof of this, Benson s voice, a full, round, Eng- 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 45 
 
 lish one, rings out from the Rising Sun tea-house bal 
 cony : "I say, Brown, just run up here a minute. Fve 
 got a message for you from a girl in Yokohama." 
 
 "Let it wait!" shouts Brown in embarrassed an 
 swer. 
 
 "But the girl in Yokohama can t wait/ laughs 
 Pinkie. "Besides, there s young Astrakan, one of 
 your Legation confreres, Baron Schevitch. Monsieur 
 Astrakan!" she calls vivaciously, "Monsieur Sche 
 vitch has a message for you from me. Baron, please 
 run up and give him my communication ; I can t call 
 it out for everybody to hear." She whispers a few 
 sentences into Serge s ear. 
 
 "Oh certainly, Miss Caldwell!" answers Schevitch 
 with the external politeness well bred foreigners all 
 have. 
 
 "Now both of you gentlemen get on shore," urges 
 Pinkie. At her signal, our boat has been poled close 
 to the steps that lead up to the tea-house. "You can 
 stay and have a drink of champagne with your friends 
 before you return to us," Miss Caldwell suggests. 
 
 "Hi, come up the steps, lazy Brown!" cries Ben 
 son. "We ve got a bottle waiting on ice for you." 
 
 Thus compelled, the two gentlemen say they won t 
 be more than a few minutes, step on shore and run 
 up the stairs. 
 
46 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 Then suddenly Pinkie turns to me and whispers 
 to my astounded ears : "Now s our time ; now we do 
 the lightning change act into geisha girls." 
 
 "You don t mean to say you intend seriously to at 
 tempt that wild, crazy freak you shocked me by sug 
 gesting at the hotel this afternoon/ I remark in se 
 vere tone, 
 
 "Don t I ! And you ve got to do it, too !" 
 
 "What!" I ejaculate, "become a geisha for this 
 evening ? How dare you !" 
 
 "Why, you needn t look at me as if I were making 
 some very horrible proposition," laughs Pinkie. 
 "Aren t you Japanese enough to be aware that a 
 Tokyo geisha is quite often a very respectable member 
 of society. I know some foreigners have the absurd 
 idea that they are of the demi-monde. That is not so. 
 In Treaty-Ports geisha girls are quite often associated 
 with yoshiwara joros, sometimes probably correctly 
 when they play the infamous game of f Chon Kino 
 for the benefit of drunken, sailors. But here, she is 
 simply a girl who can dance, sing, play on musical in 
 struments and tell the latest stories and jokes as she 
 passes sake and refreshments about and makes herself 
 generally agreeable at entertainments given by Japan 
 ese. A good many of them live with their own fami 
 lies, though some are indentured to the people who 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 47 
 
 educate them for their profession ; that is, teach them 
 to play the Jcoto and samisen, to sing, dance and relate 
 the brightest jokes, the most interesting tales and 
 wittiest and most up-to-date Ion, mots current in 
 Japan. Of course, rumor has it that for certain sums 
 of money, the indenture papers of the most charm 
 ing geishas have at times passed from their direct 
 employers to the hands of gentlemen of the nobility, 
 who are willing to pay great prices for fascinating 
 beauty, though many of the geishas marry, and marry 
 well and respectably. In a word, a geisha may be 
 virtuous as a Diana, though perhaps some of them 
 are not quite so straight-laced. However, I think that 
 the attendance of a Japanese fashionable tea-house, 
 geishas thrown in, would average much better in 
 morality than many a first class New York oyster 
 house. You yourself have been in Hector s or Shan- 
 ley s I believe that s what you call them haven t 
 you?" She looks at me searchingly. 
 
 "Yes, once, in company with a large theatre party," 
 I mutter apologetically. 
 
 "Well, this geisha trick will be the very acme of 
 fun, if you dare to do it. I have everything pre 
 pared. Nana San!" Pinkie calls and claps her 
 hands. 
 
48 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 "Hai, Mistress !" answers tlie maid and stands be 
 fore her. 
 
 "If I know Benson, our cavaliers won t get away 
 from his hospitality and champagne for some con 
 siderable time. Now we ll slip into our kimonos" 
 Miss Caldwell says hurriedly. "My maid has two first 
 class geisha costumes and the necessary paints and 
 cosmetics to make us look with our hair drawn back 
 and our eye-brows well blackened and straightened 
 quite Japanese in appearance ! So into the cabin with 
 you!" Pinkie gigglingly pushes me into the illumi 
 nated deck house and draws its paper screens. 
 
 Half laughing, half protesting, I let Miss Caldwell 
 and her maid have their way with me. Five minutes 
 after I give a slightly affrighted shudder as I gaze 
 upon myself in a little mirror, transformed into a 
 maiden of Dai Nippon. My hair, which is ordinarily 
 brown, has been drawn back from my forehead till 
 my eyes seem to start out of my head; my coiffure, 
 usually Pompadour, having been plastered down by a 
 black cosmetic and skewered up Japanese way. My 
 eye-brows have been straightened and darkened, my 
 cheeks brillantly rouged and my form is displayed in 
 a clinging kimono of exquisite silk, which is girded at 
 the waist by a broad sash and tied behind my back 
 in an immense square yet bulging knot. 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 49 
 
 "Mercy, don t your white arms look enticing as 
 they glide out of the big sleeves ; never you wear corset 
 again, Hilda!" whispers Pinkie in exaggerated com 
 pliment into my ear. "You re too fetching in kimono. 
 Probably you will have some trouble with those flat 
 slippers that you cannot keep on your pretty feet. 
 Now turn your toes in and give yourself the shufflng 
 gait of the Japanese article/ she laughs as I essay a 
 pigeontoed walk. 
 
 Then as Miss Pinkie begins her own transforma 
 tion, I again dissent : "Murder ! What a row Dad will 
 kick up when he hears of this wild prank/ 
 
 "Don t let Dad hear ! I m not going to tell him." 
 "Besides, it s nonsense. How am I going to speak 
 Japanese?" I falter. 
 
 "Why, Silly, you don t suppose I mean for us to 
 leave this boat. Of course, to be geishas to a Japan 
 ese crowd would mean instant discovery. But on our 
 own barge here for Baron Serge Schevitch and Mr. 
 Charlie Brown, it will be what in American slang 
 you call a lead pipe cinch. Jabber any choctaw to 
 Charlie Brown and he will think it Xihonese, though 
 he pretends to know something about the East. As 
 for the Baron, he has such a haughty contempt for 
 this country of the Rising Sun which he thinks as 
 pires to be the rival of All the Eussias that I don t 
 
50 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 believe he lias taken the trouble to learn a single 
 native phrase. In addition, a good many geishas talk 
 a little English now. Such phrases as Goodie bye/ 
 Thanka you and I lobe you/ with a Japanese in 
 flexion will sound very fetching and not at all sus 
 picious from your red lips. Just let me give them a 
 touch of vermilion." 
 
 "Oh, I could never say the last/ I mutter diffi 
 dently. 
 
 "Pish, geishas are not too bashful !" laughs Pinkie. 
 "Play your part up to the handle." 
 
 By this time Miss Caldwell has become Japanese. 
 Apparently she has done this trick before in her life; 
 from under her maid s hands she steps out to my eyes 
 a veritable geisha maiden and looking pretty as a 
 plum blossom. 
 
 "Permit me to return your words/ I say. "You 
 should never wear anything but a kimono. You have 
 the loveliest white arms, the plumpest rounded neck ; 
 you have 
 
 "Stop your compliments/ laughs Pinkie. " Tell 
 me if I ve Japanese eye-brows." 
 
 "You have/ I say, "also cherry lips/ and am about 
 to kiss her, but she stops me, saying: "Geisha girls 
 never kiss; they never hold hands either. You are to 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 51 
 
 be called One Thousand Joys/ and I shall answer to 
 OHaru/ the Jap for Spring Time." 
 
 "Here s my card, with Gone home you stayed in 
 the tea-house too long. P. Caldwell/ " For the mys 
 tification of our escorts Pinkie places the missive on 
 the cabin table. 
 
 "Oh, it will be such fun I" She claps her hands. 
 Then a rather curious blushing look comes into her 
 Japanese face as she laughs : "I wonder how our cav 
 aliers will treat us when they suppose us geisha?" 
 
 "Yes, I wonder how they will," I say suspiciously. 
 "Mr. Brown has lived in Treaty Ports and probably 
 regards the geisha from a Treaty Port standpoint." 
 
 "Nevertheless, if you are in for an original adven 
 ture, here it is at your hand," urges Miss Pinkie. 
 "Besides, by it we will probably find out what those 
 gentlemen really think of us. I imagine Charlie 
 Brown believes me very too-too, and as for the Baron, 
 I have seen him look at you " 
 
 "Never mind how you have seen him look at me," 
 I say savagely, "I don t care how he looks." 
 
 "Oh yes, I forgot," jeers Miss C aldwell, "You are 
 interested in a Japanese automobile expert." 
 
 "No, I am not !" I answer. 
 
 "But if we are to be geisha we must get to business 
 before the gentlemen return." Pinkie draws the 
 
52 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 paper screens from about the cabin, and her maid 
 producing a koto, a flat Japanese harp-like instru 
 ment, places it on the cabin roof. 
 
 "Hurry, Hilda, climb up after it, now!" com 
 mands my companion, taking from Nana s hand a 
 samisen. 
 
 "Oh mercy," I exclaim as we clamber onto the 
 cabin roof, "I ve lost a slipper !" 
 
 "Shucks, clinch your toes in it, as I do," suggests 
 Pinkie, as she shoves the heelless sandal again upon 
 my foot. "Now let s get to work !" 
 
 "But I don t know how to play this," I mutter, gaz 
 ing at the l-oio. 
 
 "Well, of course, you can t play it, but you can play 
 at it ! Accompany me, strike these chords, see ! You 
 know enough about general music to understand." 
 
 I have had a few lessons on this curious instrument 
 and can do as she directs. 
 
 "Xow I ll attend to the rest," whispers Miss Cald- 
 well. "Jupiter, won t Charlie Brown and the Baron 
 be astonished when they hear native music, look out 
 of the windows of the tea-house and see geisha girls 
 upon the cabin of their boat. What do you think of 
 this for a Jap melody ?" Pinkie bursts into a native 
 stanza, the chorus of which, carelessly translated, 
 being : 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 53 
 
 "The dream of a sinner 
 "Waiting for dinner, 
 "Is sake! sake! sake! 
 
 Singing the Japanese words in the sweet plaintive 
 manner that is common to the country and emphasiz 
 ing the accompaniment on her samisen with some 
 of those curious glissandos peculiar to native music, 
 Pinkie seems quite Japanese. 
 
 In this I aid her as best I can upon the koto; 
 though there is no response from the neighboring 
 tea-house except the popping of some champagne 
 corks that floats over the noise from its open windows. 
 
 We keep our music up until Pinkie impatiently 
 whispers to me : "The wretches in there think more 
 of champagne than they do of us." 
 
 "They are thinking of jackpots, too/ I remark, 
 viciously. "I heard Benson s voice calling, Go you 
 ten better/ " 
 
 "Then they are good for some time," mutters 
 Pinkie. "Benson is the most inveterate poker-player 
 in Yokohama." 
 
 During this time our coolies have crawled to the 
 bow and gone contently to sleep. Most of the boats 
 have drifted from us as the band on the big barge 
 some little distance down the stream has struck up a 
 
54 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 Sousa march,, and the concourse of loiterers upon the 
 bank have sauntered nearer to it, but those between us 
 and the tea-house, though they have grown less nu 
 merous, are more boisterous. Even mild sake seems 
 to have made some little progress upon Japanese 
 heads. 
 
 "Will those wanderers never come !" whispers 
 Pinkie. 
 
 At her suggestion, we both commence to jabber, I, 
 a weird lingo of my own, Miss Caldwell in her best 
 Japanese. She tells me that she is crying : "Honored, 
 honored gentlemen, look about you if you would see 
 pretty girls who can amuse you." 
 
 A moment after there are sounds of real drunken 
 ness along the river bank from foreigners, judging by 
 the German and English exclamations and oaths that 
 gradually draw near. 
 
 "Xothing to worry about," remarks my companion 
 unconcernedly to me. "This is an orderly nation. 
 The only disorder in it comes from drunken foreign 
 ers, and here is an intoxicated jack-tar crowd from 
 Yokohama at the head of the stairs gazing at us." 
 
 "Try and make our escorts hear and come back in a 
 hurry !" I suggest nervously. 
 
 Actuated by this idea, my companion bursts into an 
 other Japanese song with great emphasis. 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 55 
 
 Pinkie s voice is too attractive, for a moment after 
 Miss Caldwell screams: "Oh good lordy!" as three 
 men, apparently sailors, stagger down the steps to the 
 landing and jump aboard our barge. 
 
 "They must be drunk or they d never dare to do 
 that!" whispers Pinkie dismayed, gazing about for 
 help, for the river is partly deserted now and there 
 are no boats very near us. 
 
 The actions and voices of our captors proclaim the 
 accuracy of Miss CaldwelPs divination. "Blow my 
 eyes/ stammers one, mixing his speech with drunken 
 gutterals, "if these two black-eyed lassies ain t better 
 lookers than the Yokohama and Shanghai fairies, I ll 
 never drink rum ag in, Dutch Sam !" 
 
 "Verdamt, der one mit der banjo is mein liebsclie!" 
 answers the German sailor man. 
 
 "Here, stop! stop! get ashore!" I cry to them 
 savagely, thinking to impress them with my English. 
 
 But this only seems to add to my attractions. 
 "Bully !" cries the other man, staggering towards the 
 cabin. "Here s a Jap girl whose lingo I can get onto. 
 She chirps as dandy English as Portsmouth Sal, 
 Hong Kong way. Come down into the cabin, Pretty, 
 and we ll play CTion Kino/ " 
 
 "Wretch, don t you dare!" whispers Pinkie shud- 
 deringly; then gives a little smothered, plaintive 
 
56 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 scream as she is unceremoniously grabbed by her ankle 
 and yanked from the top of the cabin to the deck. 
 
 Before I can utter a cry, someone has seized me 
 and pulled me into the cabin also. Three foetid 
 breaths, suffused with rum, turn me almost sick as 
 a jack-tar they call Bed-Headed Bill dressed in store 
 clothes for this Tokyo spree, glares into my face in 
 ferocious jocularity and says, laughingly : "No non 
 sense ! no airs! Here s your samisen!" clapping the 
 square-drum banjo into the dismayed Pinkie s hand. 
 Then he holds up a brawny, hairy arm, tatooed with 
 anchors from wrist to elbow, and commands in savage 
 good humor : "Now you sing while we do the Treaty- 
 Port Chon Kino forfeit game. Everyone that loses, 
 gal or lad, takes off sail at each forfeit, and when I 
 cry Game s up ! the one that s got the least rigging 
 on and shows the most skin wins five Chinese dol 
 lars \" 
 
 "You miserable drunken wretch !" cries Miss Cald- 
 well, and viciously smashes the samisen over the fel 
 low s head, while I raise up my voice and shriek: 
 "Help ! aid !" 
 
 "Du list Japanese Jcatze spitting!" cries Dutch 
 Sam, pursuing Pinkie as she springs from the cabin, 
 flies along the deck, jumps on to the landing place 
 and dashes wildly up the steps towards the tea-house. 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 57 
 
 Frantically I dart after her, Red-Headed Bill stag 
 gering drunkenly in my wake, snarling: "Bloomin 
 geishas, putting on airs when I want to shove money 
 into yer pockets !" 
 
 His tatooed arms would close about me, but just at 
 this moment Miss Caldwell s Japanese maid, who has 
 been aroused by the commotion, screams from the 
 bow of our boat: (( Junsa! junsa!" 
 
 Then, as our persecutors reach the bank, three or 
 four athletic little policemen dart upon them and 
 subdue and bind them helpless in jiu jitsu fashion, 
 murmuring politely: " Okino doku sama!" which, I 
 believe means "Sorry to do you up, august gentle 
 men." In a moment Dutch Sam and Red-Headed 
 Bill are as inert as bales of goods. 
 
 Noting this from the security of the tea-house en 
 trance, in which I have taken refuge, I would return 
 to our boat, but Miss CaldwelFs hand is upon my arm. 
 Panting from fright and exertion, she is whispering : 
 "Not yet ! There would be police inquiry ; our names 
 would get into the papers, and then 
 
 I answer this by a sickly shudder. I know my Dad 
 would make an awful row if this escapade ever came 
 to his ears. 
 
 "We must get to our escorts now," whispers Pinkie, 
 for quite a crowd has gathered about our barge and 
 
58 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 the landing steps. With this she leads me into the 
 doors of the Rising Sun Tea-House, one of the biggest 
 and most fashionable in Tokyo; from its open win 
 dows floats the hum of many merry parties. 
 
 Just at this moment a matronly looking Japanese 
 woman, coming from the interior of the house, author 
 itatively taps Pinkie on the shoulder with her fan 
 and says something in Japanese. To this Miss Cald- 
 well makes humble salaam, and I follow her lead with 
 a native bending of the back. 
 
 Then my companion says what she afterward ex 
 plains to me is the Japanese for "American Poker 
 Party," and the woman apparently understanding, 
 leads us up the lacquered stairway and along a pass 
 age on the great second floor. 
 
 The babble of girls voices in soft Yedo dialect is 
 about us, for no male waiters ever do duty in a Japa 
 nese tea-house. The paper lanterns shed a subdued 
 light on lacquered floors and unsubstantial, decorated, 
 screen-like walls. The thumbing of kotos and sami- 
 scns and the strains of singing geishas tell of festival 
 where the yellow sake flows, though champagne and 
 other wines are for European customers as well. 
 
 All the time I am angry enough to box Pinkie s 
 ears for getting me into such a scrape. 
 
 The noise of the merry-making parties about us, 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 59 
 
 screened off in their various rooms by paper parti 
 tions, is monotonously impressive, but gives us a 
 curious retirement. Where everybody can hear, no 
 body apparently wants to listen; though I think I 
 distinguish Charlie Brown s voice, muffled by many 
 paper screens, saying: "Just another hot before we 
 go !" But the sound is so confused by other voices I 
 can t tell exactly where it comes from. Leading us 
 into a small ante-room connected with a larger apart 
 ment, the Japanese woman points with her fan to a 
 soft bamboo mat ; and Pinkie squatting upon it on her 
 knees, I do likewise. Then the woman says some 
 words that make Miss CaldwelPs eyes roll under her 
 elongated eyebrows, and retires, drawing the sliding 
 door. 
 
 "I fear the fool woman has made a mistake/ Pinkie 
 whispers hurriedly ; "but she said we were expected." 
 "Certainly, but how could we be expected ?" I ask 
 anxiously. 
 
 "Oh, easy enough. There are half a hundred thou 
 sand geishas in Tokyo, and your struggles to keep 
 your feet in your slippers made you turn in your toes 
 quite like a native." 
 
 Pinkie goes to the sliding door which has been 
 drawn upon us, tries to shove it open, and whispers : 
 "Mercy, this is curious. Locks are scarce in this 
 
GO MY JAPANESE PRIXCE 
 
 country but the woman seems to have slipped the 
 wooden bar outside upon us." Then listening to 
 some Japanese exclamations in men s voices from the 
 next room, she emits a shuddering giggle and mut 
 ters : "We are in for it !" 
 
 "What do you mean ? 
 
 "Why the Japanese that I hear from that room 
 tells me that those Daimios and nobles in there are 
 playing poker and we are being gambled for/ 
 
 "Horror !" I gasp. "Let us get out !" 
 
 "No, no, stop ! Have some sense !" whispers my 
 mentor desperately. "A commotion now will surely 
 make us the gossip of Tokyo. Japanese are always 
 gentlemen. When they discover their mistake, they 
 will be exceedingly polite; not like those drunken 
 brutes of sailors out there. Besides, we must keep 
 this out of the newspapers. Tokyo as well as Ameri 
 can journals print racy articles." 
 
 "Oh, if father hears !" I shiver ; the tears coming 
 quite close to my eyes as I think of the particular 
 Cain the Honorable Peter Milliken Armstrong of the 
 Meriden Bridge-Building Company, member of the 
 New Haven Legislature, will raise, if he knows his 
 daughter is in any such horrible escapade as this in a 
 Japanese tea-house ! Then I whisper with lips that 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 61 
 
 would be pale but for the vermilion on them : "What 
 are they saying ?" 
 
 "Wait," says my companion, and sinks down in 
 abject attitude upon the mat. "Do the same; be a 
 geisha for a minute/ she entreats. "The woman s 
 got us to the wrong room." 
 
 I prostrate myself beside her. 
 
 Then Pinkie opens the sliding door a little and 
 we peep cautiously into the room next to us. 
 
 Four Japanese swells are seated having a game of 
 American poker. This is easily apparent without 
 their words by the piles of chips in front of them 
 and the manner in which their hands are discarded 
 and drawn to. They are refreshing themselves oc 
 casionally by warm sake presented by attendant 
 maidens. 
 
 Two of them are dressed in elaborate European 
 swallow-tail suits. Another is arrayed in a gaudy 
 old-fashioned Daimio costume such as I saw it at the 
 theatre, minus the two swords. The last, whose face 
 I cannot see as his back is towards me, is in the 
 uniform of the Japanese Army. 
 
 As I gaze, the woman who has brought us into the 
 tea-house, enters the room and, with elaborate bending 
 of the body, says to the Daimio some low words and 
 then retires. 
 
C2 J/r JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 As the cards pass about, one of the swallow-tail 
 coated gentlemen and the Daimio smoke silver pipes, 
 Japanese style. The other in European dress con 
 sumes at least a cigarette a minute, while the officer 
 puffs coolly and leisurely a big Havana cigar. 
 
 The play is apparently high. 
 
 Pinkie whispers to me excitedly: "The officer has 
 raised the ante five hundred yen and the other, the 
 Daimio fellow, has said : I m cleaned out, but I go 
 the identuro papers of the girls kneeling upon that 
 mat in there, those upon whom you have put your 
 eyes with longing, honored Captain. " 
 
 "Merciful heavens, they are gambling for us ! This 
 is worse than Canfield s!" I shudder, growing red 
 with shame and cold with embarrassed dismay, my 
 feet shaking until they nearly throw off my loose 
 slippers. 
 
 Of a sudden Pinkie s eyes grow lurid under the 
 lantern light. She clinches her fists as three of the 
 gamesters burst into a merry laugh. 
 
 "What new horror is it ?" I gasp. 
 
 "Only that that swallow-tailed wretch opposite to 
 us has proposed as it is table stakes, we be placed upon 
 the table among the other chips. Don t be a fool and 
 try to kick out that door !" Miss Caldwell seizes my 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 63 
 
 hand as the cool, incisive voice of the Japanese officer 
 rings throughout the apartment. 
 
 "What is he saying ?" I whisper. 
 
 "Oh, the Japanese military man is remarking that 
 it is humiliation enough for the girls to be wagered 
 without being exposed; that the winner only should 
 look upon them." 
 
 Pinkie pulls me onto the mat on my knees beside 
 her, and we gaze upon the show-down, which produces 
 great excitement. 
 
 Miss Caldwell whispers : "The Daimio with an oath 
 is saying he has got a busted flush ; the dress-coated 
 man with threes has thrown his cards on the table ; 
 the other is confidently exhibiting a full house, and 
 the fourth, the officer, is saying: Trince Satuncza, 
 you don t play poker mathematically. A busted flush 
 is filled only once in two hundred and eighty odd 
 times, and I drew but one card. I had these pretty 
 typewriters pat/ he adds with a laugh as he calmly 
 lays down four queens. Then they are all demanding 
 to play another round, but the Japanese military man 
 declines. He says he s won us girls; that s what he 
 wanted I" mutters Pinkie, clenching her fists in rage. 
 
 "The miserable voluptuary !" I whisper, gazing at 
 the successful gamester who, despite his uniform, 
 
64 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 seems almost effeminately vicious as in careless atti 
 tude he puffs at his big cigar. 
 
 A moment later even the stout-hearted Pinkie be 
 gins to tremble as she explains: "The Daimio fellow 
 is saying: My stakes are in the ante-chamber await 
 ing you, honored Captain ; and the Captain is sug 
 gesting with many courteous words : Leave me, hon 
 ored gentlemen, with my winnings. r 
 
 "Xow we will confront the monster !" mutters Miss 
 Caldwell desperately. "Tie dare not do anything or 
 say anything very disagreeable. Probably the real 
 geishas will arrive in a minute." 
 
 The three losing gamblers have departed. The 
 Captain whispers something to the woman, who rapid 
 ly withdraws. Suddenly my eyes bulge in my head, 
 for as the Japanese officer claps his hands, to him 
 enters Kamu Kiguro, the actor, and bending down 
 draws in his breath with such humble yet hissing 
 respirations that they make me start. In his flashing 
 eyes are reverence, fealty and love beyond description. 
 He would put his head upon the lacquered floor, but 
 the officer stops him and savs as Miss Caldwell in 
 terprets: "Xo, Kiguro, not that feudal salutation of 
 old Nippon ; though I know you in your heart have it 
 for me, my samurai." 
 
 The other breaks forth in flowing Japanese, and 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 65 
 
 Pinkie says : "Good heavens, he is thanking him for 
 having won you for him, and the officer is saying: 
 Prince Satuneza wouldn t give up the indentures of 
 the girl you wish to marry, but I played him to the 
 last yen he had in his pocket, and then he was willing 
 to wager hoth his geishas. So the girl is yours to 
 marry, Kiguro, and the other one also, if you want 
 her/ " 
 
 "lye, lye, my honored master, I only love The 
 Thousand Joys. She s the wittiest girl in all Japan/ 
 
 "The Thousand Joys ! How has he got my name ?" 
 I falter to Pinkie. 
 
 "Oh, that s easily accounted for/ answers my 
 mentor. "Half a hundred geishas in this town are 
 called The Thousand Joys." 
 
 Then the actor breaks forth, so Miss Caldwell ex 
 plains : "For this, Master and Prince, when you wish 
 it, my life s blood." Looking out I can see Kiguro s 
 head touches the lacquered floor. 
 
 "Better live for me than die for me, my worthy 
 retainer," remarks the officer. 
 
 To this Kiguro makes some grand sounding speech, 
 which Pinkie doesn t translate. 
 
 "What is he saying ?" I ask eagerly. 
 
 "Oh," mutters my interpreter, "the Japs are such 
 a free speaking people. Kiguro is promising that there 
 
G6 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 shall be no race suicide in his family ; that The Thou 
 sand Joys shall bear ten boys to fight the Kussians. 
 And the other has answered him : It is you and I 
 must fight the Russians, not our descendants/ : 
 
 As Pinkie delivers the last of this and I blush 
 under my rouge, the Japanese officer claps his hands 
 sharply together and turns towards the sliding doors 
 behind which we kneel. 
 
 " Hai tadaima!" calls Pinkie desperately, attempt 
 ing the soft musical voice of Japan. Whispering: 
 "One Thousand Joys, you re wanted/ she shoves me 
 into the room, stepping briskly behind me and giving 
 the low salutation of the geisha. 
 
 Some roguish deviltry coming into me, I do the 
 same bending act, then pause, covered with an 
 astounded confusion. 
 
 For, lifting my eyes, I for the first time see the face 
 of the Japanese captain, and behold not only the 
 countenance of the ghost of the Kabukiza Theatre 
 but the features of the gentleman who a year before 
 had saved me from automobile accident in far away 
 Connecticut. Mentally, I falter: "I ought to have 
 guessed this before !" and embarrassment makes my 
 knees tremble as I wonder: "What will Captain 
 Okashi Sendai think of me in a Japanese tea-house 
 
JAPANESE PRINCE 67 
 
 presenting myself as a geisha girl carelessly won by 
 him at poker ?" 
 
 But Kiguro interrupts reflection by crying savage 
 ly; what Pinkie afterwards tells me is: "The in 
 famous Prince has paid his bets in. false coin. This 
 is not The Thousand Joys I love, but some miserable 
 imitation of her. See, she is ashamed to look me in 
 the face! For this, were it in the short-sword days, 
 either Satuneza or I should commit lion kin!" 
 
 But getting some inkling of the actor s meeting, I 
 spring forward and exclaim almost tearfully in Eng 
 lish: "This is a miserable mistake! Probably the 
 geisha girls you won are awaiting you below. Oh, 
 sir, believe me, we are American young ladies." 
 
 At my embarrassed address, the officer favors me 
 with an astounded yet searching look; then says 
 pleasantly in perfect English : "Those diamond rings 
 that would ransom half the geishas in Japan glisten 
 ing on your ringers, prove you are indeed an Ameri 
 can young lady." 
 
 "We only dressed as geishas in our boat to play a 
 joke upon our escorts. Then some drunken sailors 
 coming on board, we were compelled to fly from them 
 to this tea-house," interrupts Pinkie ; after a few sen 
 tences of rapid explanation, adding : "Here an awful 
 
68 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 mistake occurred, and we were shown into that room, 
 and- 
 
 "Won by me/ smiles Captain Sendai. Then bow 
 ing to the floor before both Miss Caldwell and myself, 
 he says gallantly : "Such exquisite winnings I would 
 never relinquish even to my faithful retainer. I 
 presume under the circumstances you wish to preserve 
 your incognitos, though I think beneath that geisha 
 make-up I perceive the features of a young lady who 
 has been pointed out to me on the Tokyo streets as 
 Miss Caldwell, the daughter of one of the American 
 Legation/ Gazing at me till my blushes overpower 
 my rouge, he suddenly starts and continues : "Have I 
 not met you before ? Don t be afraid, honored young 
 lady. Be you maid, wife or widow, your misadven 
 ture will be a Masonic secret to Captain Okashi 
 Sendai." 
 
 Here Kiguro striding up abashes me with these 
 awful words: "By the Sun Goddess! the American 
 maiden who became enamored of my ghost which was 
 made up in your image, my master, at the Kabukiza 
 Theatre ! It was she who must question me on her 
 barge in eager tones if there was an officer in Tokyo 
 whose face was like to my ghost s visage." Then to 
 me he remarks: "By Izanagi, Kamu Kiguro knows 
 thy secret, maiden. Ah, I understand thy red, blush- 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 69 
 
 ing cheeks; you wish to acknowledge my prince as 
 thy master and do him honor. Bow with me before 
 him and say that you are his as I am his/ Xext 
 addressing the officer he makes me blush rosier than 
 my vermilion by observing: "She is very beautiful 
 under her paint, and will please thee, honored 
 Daimio" 
 
 Here,, knowing truth is my only resource, I say: 
 "Captain Sendai, I did make inquiry as to where I 
 could find you, for I am Miss Hilda Armstrong, the 
 daughter of Peter Milliken Armstrong, of the bridge- 
 building firm of Meriden, whose life } ou saved from 
 a runaway automobile in Connecticut a year ago, and 
 strode away before I had time to thank you/ 
 
 At my words, the languid, polite insouciance seems 
 abruptly to leave the Japanese officer. He says sud 
 denly with a start of extreme interest: "Armstrong, 
 the great American contractor for bridges on the 
 Russian railways in Manchuria ?" 
 
 "Yes," I answer modestly. "He s constructed half 
 the viaducts from Harbin to Port Arthur and a good 
 many in Siberia." 
 
 "He is now in Japan?" Captain Sendai s eyes are 
 gazing on me with most complimentary earnestness. 
 I have to confess this, though I am by no means a 
 vain girl. 
 
70 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 "Certainly." 
 
 "Then, honored young lady," the Captain thinks 
 deeply for a moment, and adds modestly, "permit 
 me to come to visit you and pay my respects to your 
 father ? Can I not have that honor ?" 
 
 "Oh, yes," 1 answer blushingly. "My father will 
 be delighted to see you and thank you also for my 
 life." 
 
 "Oh, this is romantic !" giggles Pinkie. Then with 
 American assurance she says: "Captain Prince Sen- 
 dai, you can visit me also. I, too, live at the Hotel 
 Imperial." 
 
 "But my One Thousand Joys ?" interrupts Kiguro. 
 "Satuneza couldn t wager the idcntures of these ladies 
 who are of another country." 
 
 "Your girl is, I think, even now in the next room. 
 The woman of the tea-house has doubtless by this 
 time discovered her mistake," replies the Prince to his 
 samurai. "Forget the appearance of these young 
 ladies in this room this evening, as One Thousand 
 Joys whitens her face and drinks three cups of sake 
 to you and becomes your bride !" 
 
 "Thanks, Prince and Master !" says the actor, and 
 with eyes of love and many grandiloquent, pompous 
 native speeches and much bowing and hissing, he 
 takes his leave. The lofty fealty in his expressive 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 71 
 
 face tells me torture will not open his lips to what his 
 Daimio says is secret. 
 
 "Now, young ladies, just a glass of champagne with 
 me to show you have been my honored guests, and 
 then I will escort you to your barge and turn you over 
 to your cavaliers, who are doubtless concerned as to 
 your disappearance," observes Captain Sendai. 
 
 The Prince s manner is courtesy and punctilio it 
 self as he offers us his hospitality, and shortly after 
 leads us down through the softly lighted tea-house to 
 the river bank. Here with elaborate bows to Miss 
 Caldwcll and to me, he places us on board our barge. 
 
 "Horrors, that wretched Brown and the high play 
 ing Russian Baron are still at their poker game !" ex 
 claims Miss Pinkie, standing on tiptoe and gazing 
 at the windows of the tea-house. 
 
 "Yes, the delights of jackpots are usually engross 
 ing to Americans; and the Muscovites are generally 
 very high rollers in games of chance," replies Sendai. 
 Lifting his military cap American style, he observes : 
 "I ll step up and tell your escorts that you request 
 their presence." Then turning to me, he remarks: 
 "When I meet you, honored young lady, I hope you 
 will have washed your face and I will again see the 
 charming features I once beheld in Connecticut. You 
 will excuse my not returning to you this evening as 
 
72 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 I have a number of specifications and calculations 
 that compel my immediate attention. I am one of 
 the General Staff and an officer in the Engineer Corps 
 of the Japanese Army. Only military duty would 
 keep me from giving myself the honor and pleasure of 
 further attendance on you both this evening, esteemed 
 young ladies." 
 
 As he runs up the steps with military yet precise 
 activity and enters the tea-house, I remark to Pinkie 
 in modest diffidence: "Did you see how the Prince s 
 eyes lighted up when he recognized me as the girl he 
 had rescued in Connecticut?" 
 
 "Pish \" exclaims Miss Caldwell in jealous depreca 
 tion. "Sendai is only a Japanese prince and you are 
 the vainest girl I ever saw !" 
 
 Pinkie is sometimes malicious. 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 SENDAl s BRIDGE. 
 
 "Is Prince Sendai a Japanese dude?" I ask my 
 parental a few weeks later. This is after I have 
 noted the languid nonchalance with which the young 
 aristocrat lounges about my parlor in the most im 
 maculate of white linen suits and seems too lazy to do 
 more than puff delicate cigarettes and surprise me 
 with the curious smoke effects he can produce with 
 their vapor in the breezelcss summer atmosphere. 
 
 "Child, get such fool notions out of your head!" 
 answers the Honorable Peter Armstrong of Meriden, 
 Connecticut. "Sendai is the most up-to-date engi 
 neer I ever struck, and I ve encountered everything 
 in that line from American designers of East Kiver 
 bridges and Rocky Mountain railways to Von Kep 
 ler, the German scientist, who ran the levels across 
 the Ural Mountains and through Siberia." 
 
 Whereupon Dad departs to figure upon some of his 
 numerous business ventures and I sit in my parlor at 
 the Imperial Hotel looking out at its beautiful 
 grounds from under an awning and try to believe 
 
 73 
 
74 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 Prince Sendai doesn t love me. I am not the vain 
 girl Miss Caldwell has suggested, but the Prince s 
 delicate attentions and constant visits force me to 
 reflection. In fact, Captain Okashi Sendai has giv 
 en me a good deal to think about since my geisha es 
 capade. To me he seems a mass of contradictions. 
 Languidly lazy in ladies company, he wears his uni 
 forms as smartly as any dandy of the Royal Horse 
 Guards Blue at St. James Palace, London. Though 
 a well traveled man of the world, he is in my com 
 pany very retiring. In fact, I sometimes think he 
 doesn t know how to make love at all, he seems so 
 bashful with me. 
 
 But with Papa he is a different being, of decided 
 manner, accurate speech and apparently tremen 
 dous capacity for work. He has contrived to get 
 time from his military duties to assist my father s 
 desire for obtaining Japanese railroad business, which 
 has made Dad dote upon him. 
 
 Calling the next day after my geisha night, Cap 
 tain Okashi Sendai has made Tokyo seem a fairy 
 land to me, arranging little parties for excursions 
 under the cherry trees in Uyeno Park, and the in 
 spection of the curious Asakusa temple with its Coney 
 Island attachments, just outside its walls. Through 
 his benign influences, I have entered the social life 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 75 
 
 of the Court Circle. He obtained for me and Dad 
 invitations to the beautiful afternoon fete given by 
 Prince Mito in his marvelous garden. Under its 
 flower trees are in miniature scenes of the Heroic age 
 of Japanese art and literature. 
 
 Though always accompanied by a party, I have 
 made many excursions with him. 
 
 In fact, his devotion has become quite the gossip 
 in both European and Japanese circles, for Captain 
 Prince Sendai is a very noted nobleman. 
 
 Schevitch and Miss Pinkie Caldwell are often of 
 these parties, the Baron and the Prince seeming to be 
 pleasantly friendly, notwithstanding national animo 
 sity. Only once has Russian steel brought fire from 
 Japanese flint. 
 
 We had returned from a jaunt to the big parade 
 ground where we had seen a portion of the Japanese 
 Guard drilling. Miss Caldwell, Count de Sansey of 
 the French legation and Tommy Peters of the Stand 
 ard Oil business were in the party. As we sat in my 
 parlor, I had spoken enthusiastically of the superb 
 smartness of the Guard maneuvers. 
 
 "Oh, they re good enough," replied Sendai, who 
 like most of the higher class Japanese pretends to be 
 modest in regard to his own country, "but you should 
 
76 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 see our artillery. We are a mathematical nation and 
 science to-day produces accurate gun-fire." 
 
 "Mon Dieu, but the Russian cavalry!" observes 
 De Sansey, who being French is a Muscovite adorer. 
 
 "Yes, by Saint Constantino, you should see the 
 charge of the Cossacks of the Imperial Guard at the 
 St. Petersburg reviews, Captain Senclai !" remarks 
 Schevitch enthusiastically. "They re not like your 
 little Japanese troopers, mounted on ponies." 
 
 "I expect to !" observes Senclai, languidly knocking 
 the ashes from his cigar; he having courteously asked 
 my permission, though everybody smokes everywhere 
 in Japan. 
 
 "When ?" asks the Russian laughingly. 
 
 "When the Japanese artillery opens upon them !" 
 replies the Captain, a curious flash lighting up his 
 dark eyes. 
 
 "Ah, that is the talk of excitement," replies Sche 
 vitch. "Japan will never venture to oppose us with 
 arms in the East." 
 
 "That s what we wish you Russians to think. A 
 rat-catching cat hides its claws," observed Sendai, 
 quite seriously. Then apparently controlling him 
 self, he half laughs : "I presume you re right, Baron. 
 The reports I have heard of the Russian Imperial 
 Guard at St. Petersburg indicate that their display 
 
MY. JAPANESE PRINCE 77 
 
 must be tremendous and impressive. But to-day 
 mediaeval spectacular military pageants do not pro 
 duce success on the field of battle. Victory comes 
 from modern mathematical strategy and scientific 
 slaughter." 
 
 "Ah, if it is mathematics against chivalry and 
 elan/ cries Schevitch ardently, looking at me, "I 
 know on which side the ladies will bestow their guer 
 dons." 
 
 "To the victors probably/ laughs the Japanese. 
 "The fair sex likes the winning side now as well as it 
 did in the days of Ivanhoe. You have read Sir Wal 
 ter Scott, haven t you, Miss Armstrong ?" 
 
 His dark eyes as they gaze into mine seem to plead 
 for my favor. So I indulge Sendai with a return 
 glance or two that cause the Eussian Baron s mous 
 tache to twitch uneasily, and remark airily: "The 
 American fair sex adores the fellow who gets there." 
 
 Fortunately about this time Papa comes into my 
 parlor with a bundle of business correspondence and 
 after greeting the rest of the company, says : "Sendai, 
 I want to see you about those bridge contracts on the 
 Hokodate branch line. Taking your advice, I have 
 been estimating for them. Come into my room with 
 me. Light another cigar and we ll go over them to 
 gether, my boy." 
 
73 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 I shall not forget the sickly look the Baron gave me 
 at this familiarity of father s to the Captain. I pre 
 sume in his foreign fashion Schevitch thinks it in 
 dicates coming nuptials and that there will be soon an 
 American-Japanese Princess. 
 
 Miss Pinkie also emits a suggestive giggle, noting 
 Papa s familiarity to the dandy engineer officer, who, 
 I am pretty sure, is cultivating my father on my ac 
 count. 
 
 After the others have taken their leave and gone 
 away, Papa brings the Captain back with him, and 
 the Prince "honors himself " as he expresses it, by 
 dining with us European style and making my even 
 ing a very pleasant one. He has traveled the world 
 over; and learning I having been to Paris he tells 
 me some curious anecdotes of his Parisian experience 
 when he was examining French automobiles to see if 
 they could be made of practical use in the Japanese 
 Army. 
 
 Though we re en tete-a-tete, he doesn t make love 
 to me American fashion; but sits at a little distance 
 and devours me with his dark eyes. Japs never kiss, 
 but perhaps Sendai s bashful lack of propinquity is 
 because Dad will wander in upon us every now and 
 then from his room, to ask some technical questions 
 regarding Japanese railroads. 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 79 
 
 To aid his explanations to my father, the Prince, 
 with Papa s permission, inspects a portfolio of the 
 specifications and drawings of the bridges the Meri- 
 den company has erected in Manchuria for the Kus- 
 sian government. It is quite a habit of his during 
 his technical conversations with Papa. 
 
 During this I note that his cuff is drawn up, dis 
 playing a small tattooed compass in red ink just above 
 his wrist. In answer to the inquiry of my glance, 
 Okashi says casually : "A souvenir of boyish foolish 
 ness when I, a lad of thirteen, spent a year on an 
 English training ship, thinking I might bear up as 
 you call it, for the Japanese Navy." 
 
 After he has taken his leave with many bows and 
 polite speeches, Dad, looking after him, remarks to 
 me : "That dapper little engineer officer, who is trot 
 ting about after you, Hilda, has been a perfect god 
 send of a business find to me !" 
 
 "He has been a godsend of a social find to me," I 
 laugh. "Through his influence, here s an invitation 
 to the Marquis Oyama s ball." 
 
 "Has he? Well, he has been so powerful useful 
 to me that I don t think it will be necessary for us 
 to stay here more than a week or two longer." 
 
 "You you are going to take me away away from 
 Tokyo?" I ejaculate in disconcerted tone. 
 
80 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 "Why certainly. The Russian government is push 
 ing me on our Manchurian railroad work and I ve 
 got to hustle that up. Besides, Captain Sendai has 
 fixed it so I have secured a lot of contracts up in Yezo, 
 kindly making some of the calculations on their speci 
 fications for me himself. That Japanese heau of 
 yours is the very finest mechanical mathematician I 
 ever ran across. He did the calculations for the 
 bridge trusses in about half the time Colvil Jenkins, 
 C. E., who was Senior Wrangler at Cambridge, took 
 for the same proposition a year ago in Niuchwang. 
 And it is a tough one, mathematical say. Sendai 
 is a hummer at calculus and equations, haven t you 
 discovered that ?" 
 
 "Indeed, Papa," I laugh, "Captain Sendai and I 
 don t discuss mathematics or engineering." 
 
 "No, reckon there are other subjects," mutters Dad, 
 and looks rather searchingly at me. 
 
 He doesn t bring a blush to my face. I like the 
 admiration of Captain Sendai, because it makes the 
 Baron very gloomy and drives Pinkie Caldwell into 
 fits of rage. Besides, Sendai is a Prince. Not that 
 I depend upon Prince Sendai altogether for amuse 
 ment in Tokyo. I find little Count de Sansey of the 
 French Embassy, Billy Magoun, the English banker, 
 and Tommy Peters, who represents Standard Oil in 
 
MY, JAPANESE PRINCE 81 
 
 the Eastern world, are all anxious to bow down to 
 me and do my Lidding. 
 
 Miss Caldwell lias hinted somewhat maliciously 
 that it is because they have discovered that Peter 
 Milliken Armstrong has accumulated several mil 
 lions of Yankee dollars in his Connecticut bridge- 
 building business. But Pinkie has become morbid 
 ever since Charlie Brown has left her side and got to 
 running after me. 
 
 When Charlie came down from the tea-house on the 
 night of the river fete and saw me in geisha costume, 
 I think that settled Mr. Brown. I wonder why I 
 look so skittish in a kimono. My Chinese maid, San 
 Shoo, says its my But that s telling ! 
 
 Anyway, from that night Captain Sendai has been 
 quite a steady visitor at the Hotel Imperial. He has 
 not only devoted himself to me, but has ingratiated 
 himself with my father, always laughing at Dad s 
 stories with consummate politeness, though he must 
 have, by this time, heard the whole bunch a couple of 
 dozen encores. 
 
 In addition, he has kindly figured for Dad on con 
 tracts for half a dozen new iron bridges that the Rus 
 sians are erecting on the Manchurian roads. To as 
 sist him in this work he has carefully inspected the 
 drawings father has of those already erected during 
 
82 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 the last few years. He seems never tired of looking 
 at profiles and specifications of the big structure over 
 the Sungari or the smaller one Dad erected on the 
 railroad fifty odd miles north of Port Arthur. 
 Though it is only an ordinary underfoot iron truss 
 over two stone piers and the usual masonry abut 
 ments something in the construction seems to please 
 his engineer s eyes and he gazes as lovingly at this 
 last bridge as if it has been his own design, though 
 Blowitz, the German engineer, erected it over three 
 years ago. Sometimes I laughingly call it Sendai s 
 Bridge. 
 
 Looking over his shoulder one day as he gazes at 
 the pretty drawing of the bridge, I laugh: "I know 
 that structure from start to finish." 
 
 "Yes?" Prince Sendai turns to me with consid 
 erable interest. 
 
 "Why certainly. Three years ago when they were 
 putting up the iron work of that bridge Dad and I 
 occupied a pretty little cottage right on the banks 
 of the river. We lived there two months; and 
 may go back and occupy it now when Dad rushes me 
 to Manchuria to hurry up the railroad structures 
 there. You see it is much pleasanter than the ter 
 rible Hotel de France at Port Arthur, or even Dalny. 
 It has a lot of pretty trees about it, a flower and vege- 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 83 
 
 table garden, and the cool breezes from the Yellow 
 Sea go over it in summer, though the place is quite 
 sheltered from winter storms. Our garden isn t a 
 hundred, feet from one of the abutments of this bridge 
 and I used to play tag with my Chinese maid on the 
 girders, till Dad stopped me and said Fd kill myself. 
 I was only seventeen then." 
 
 Sendai seems quite interested in my babble. 
 
 "By the bye, those specifications of the bridge," I 
 say to prove my assertion, "are not quite 0. K." 
 
 "No?" 
 
 "No; they changed the caisson foundations of the 
 piers to pile ones. The Russians were in such a hurry 
 to get the structure completed and the road opened to 
 Port Arthur." 
 
 "The river, I believe," remarks Sendai, "is quite 
 a deep and rapid one." 
 
 "Oh yes," I reply, "that s the reason we are going 
 to do some more work upon the bridge. The trusses 
 are to be additionally strengthened." 
 
 "If a winter flood swept it away, it could not be 
 replaced for a number of months, I imagine," ob 
 serves the Captain almost contemplatively. 
 
 "You ve guessed it," I say. "Port Arthur and 
 Dalny would be in a pretty bad fix without it. They d 
 have to depend for all supplies by sea." 
 
84 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 "Ah yes," remarks Sendai, "but I am afraid tech 
 nical conversation rather wearies you/ Then he sud 
 denly turns from me, for Baron Schevitch and Miss 
 Pinkie Caldwell have come in, and says: "I hope 
 you enjoyed Prince Hito s garden fete, honored Miss 
 Caldwell. Esteemed Miss Armstrong thinks it is 
 the prettiest entertainment she has seen in Tokyo, 
 not even omitting the water fete during which I 
 encountered two such extraordinarily pretty geishas. 
 By the Moon Goddess, I shall never forget them! 
 By the bye, I have just been inviting our benign 
 hostess to form a party for a real geisha fete, one I 
 shall give for her at some tea-house. For the in 
 struction of you young ladies," the wretch grins, 
 "shall be performed the Fan/ the Mapleleaf and 
 the f No 9 dances, by real geishas in true Dai Nippon 
 style, after a dinner of tiny smoked trout, young 
 sardines and white bait, which I assure you are 
 just as fine as those you may have tasted at The Star 
 and Garter/ Richmond, by the banks of the Thames." 
 With this, the Prince runs off into a list of social 
 gaieties that he proposes to tender to me, for curiously, 
 when Schevitch and other people are in our rooms, 
 Sendai forgets science for passion and devotes him 
 self entirely to my behests and pleasure. Sometimes 
 I fear he is jealous of Serge Schevitch, and the rea- 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 85 
 
 son for his peculiar conduct is that he doesn t want 
 the blond Russian to get a word with me. 
 
 And all this time I am being gradually impressed 
 with the grandeur of the Sendai family. What girl 
 could help it ? The other day, as we strolled in com 
 pany with Madame de Comoron, along the Sakaurada 
 Avenue, and the Prince showed me the old palace of 
 his house, that is now occupied as one of the build 
 ings of the War Department, how everybody, as they 
 passed, all bowed down and hissed their reverence at 
 him, Japanese style. The people do not forget how 
 these great Daimio families have surrendered for the 
 national weal, the power of life, death and dominion 
 over whole principalities, and even their Tokyo pal 
 aces, so that Japan, from being a feudal hermit 
 nation, could become a great power of the modern 
 world. 
 
 During these weeks I see Kamu Kiguro quite fre 
 quently. There is apparently no Japanese honey 
 moon, certainly there has been no wedding tour. 
 
 Chancing to be at the Kabukiza the other day with 
 a theatre party, between the acts Captain Sendai 
 said to one of the refreshment boys: "Skip behind 
 the curtain and tell the ghost I want him I" 
 
 And Kiguro coming out before us made up to rep 
 resent the Prince, I see the wondrous likeness into 
 
86 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 which the actor had transformed himself. He is a 
 living image of his lord, as in his old time robes he 
 bows and says : "A thousand blessings on my Daimio 
 for having made his retainer happy in the love of One 
 Thousand Joys/ 
 
 "You found her without much trouble that night 
 at the tea-house ?" I ask laughingly. 
 
 "Yes, Satuneza had paid his wager straight enough. 
 One Thousand Joys has now settled down to house 
 work and has made me wonder how I so long deferred 
 the pleasures of having my cooking done for me/ 
 replies the actor. "One Thousand Joys is delighted 
 that she has no mother-in-law to rule her and all goes 
 well in the little house in the Shiba Ku. I have a 
 fire insurance on it. Some day we may be blessed 
 with a fire. Then I shall give a banquet.* But with 
 your permission, honored lord, may I make my hum 
 ble bow? I now go to become The Cherry Blossom 
 in the little comedy." 
 
 Soon after I discover that Kiguro has struck up an 
 acquaintance with Ah Tow, Dad s Chinese valet, a fel 
 low Papa picked up in Manchuria four years ago and 
 who is now as devoted to him as his wife, my Chinese 
 
 * The houses are so easily erected that a well insured 
 fire is considered a fortunate matter in Tokyo. The owner 
 of the conflagration quite often gives an entertainment to 
 celebrate the happy event. EDITOR. 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 87 
 
 maid, San Shoo, is to me. She came into my service 
 about the same time. I, being motherless, have spent 
 the last four years by Papa s side and have therefore 
 been a good deal in Manchuria. 
 
 Ah Tow informs me that the actor can play fan- 
 tan like a Chinese expert, chatter Mongolian dialect 
 like a native; also that Iviguro s "boss," Captain 
 Sendai, addresses him in very fair Manchurian, giv 
 ing him many little presents, which I presume are 
 to make the Chinese servitor his friend. The Prince 
 seems to have endeared himself to all our following 
 by his polite ways and more than liberal hand, which 
 is unusual to the Japanese, who, Papa says, are some 
 what in money matters like New Englanders, pinch 
 ing a contract to the last yen and determined to get 
 the value of their money. "There will be no working 
 in uninspected girders on the Japanese railroads as 
 we have sometimes done on the Russians/ Dad re 
 marks gloomily. 
 
 So the time runs along and our departure from 
 Tokyo is hastened by letters Papa receives from 
 2sTiuchwang and Mukden, which make his brows con 
 tract. "I think we will have to be getting a move 
 on, Hilda," he says. "I must hustle to Manchuria 
 and fix up my business with the Czar right smart." 
 
 "Why?" I ask, 
 
88 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 "Oh, so as to have everything shipshape if there 
 comes an armed clash between our friends here and 
 the Russians." 
 
 "Shucks !" I remark flippantly. "The Baron says 
 the Japs will never dare. Though, of course, I know 
 every time I see Schevitch in the streets, that tli3 
 natives of this polite nation politely hate the Musco 
 vites. The common people look two swords at him, 
 and even the better classes give him the evil eye. But 
 officially everything is very pleasant, and I am told 
 the Mikado bows more affably to the representative 
 of the Czar than he does to any other foreign am- 
 bassador." 
 
 "Humph !" grunts my father, "then the fracas may 
 be closer than I expected. So you had better get to 
 packing your duds and gripsacks, daughter." 
 
 And now it is the very day before our leaving Tokyo 
 and the Prince has not yet spoken, though his dark 
 eyes, almost Grecian nose and mathematical lips 
 at times seem sentimentally inclined. I hope he 
 won t speak. I don t want to make him unhappy. 
 
 Still my last day in Tokyo is made memorable by 
 two peculiar interviews. 
 
 Early in the morning before the time of perfor 
 mance in the theatre, San Shoo, my maid, comes into 
 my bedroom and says that Kiguro, the great actor, 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 89 
 
 humbly begs the moon-eyed daughter of the West for 
 an audience. Kiguro has just made a dramatic hit. 
 
 "Tell Kiguro, the great actor, that this moon-eyed 
 daughter of the West grants him his humble petition 
 and ask him to take off his clogs and come up into 
 my parlor/ I reply affably. Though I am only in my 
 kimono, I step rapidly into my parlor. 
 
 Two minutes later the Japanese Thespian stands 
 before me and bows humbly to the floor with much 
 polite hissing of the breath. My kimono costume 
 seems to please his national vanity. To me he says 
 gloomily in his grandiloquent stage voice: "Maiden 
 of the white arms, I have noticed that my lord, the 
 Daimio, is growing mood} . He drinks his sake too 
 slowly to please me. The best brand of cigars tastes 
 badly to him he seems to have some weighty matter 
 upon his august mind. Is it because of the evil-eyed 
 Russian who follows thee like a Yezo bear seeking 
 honey? If it is, I will perform a sword feat upon 
 him that shall make his bowels cumber the rice-field." 
 
 "Merciful heavens !" I whisper aghast. "Would 
 you, at the height of your grand triumph, commit a 
 deed for which they would execute you ?" 
 
 "My forefathers have died before for the Sendai. 
 I am a samurai and my lord s enemy is my enemy. 
 
90 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 Besides, from my rank, I have the right to hari Iciri 
 should I wish." 
 
 To this I exclaim in horrified tone: "No, no; for 
 Heaven s sake, don t think the Russian has anything 
 to do with your lord s having a bitter taste in his 
 mouth when he smokes." 
 
 "Ah, then the Russian is nothing in your eyes?" 
 
 "Nothing," I cry eagerly. "Baron Schevitch is no 
 more to me than the beasts of the field." 
 
 Here Kiguro makes me blush to the roots of my 
 hair by saying complaisantly : "Of course not. Now 
 that you are my lord s, you can be no other man s." 
 
 It s lucky Dad doesn t hear the actor or he would 
 kick Kiguro out, though perhaps he couldn t, as the 
 Japanese Thespian has the agility of a tiger. 
 
 Before I can recover myself he continues earnestly : 
 "Then since it is not the Muscovite, is it thy de 
 parture from the Land of the Rising Sun that makes 
 my master think his tea bitter ? You, of course, go 
 with Prince Sendai s august permission ?" 
 
 "He s he s not objected to my going!"! answer 
 with a nervous giggle. 
 
 "Ah, then all is well," asserts the Japanese actor. 
 "No woman could fail to give consideration to my 
 noble master s passion." Oh, the reverent adoration 
 in Kiguro s speaking eyes ! "Remember that the god- 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 91 
 
 dess of love decreed thy fate when the august Sendai 
 won you as you knelt upon the mat that evening. It 
 is your fate to be his. Be worthy to be submissive to 
 him and look for his coming step as you do for the 
 joys of the sunrise. Make him always thy Izanagi 
 thy Gods of Gods! We are both slaves to our lord. 
 Sayonara" The look of mediseval submission and 
 admiration for his Daimio in the actor s face half 
 frightens me. Good Heavens, what wild thing might 
 he not do to me if he thought Prince Sendai s heart 
 were broken by me ! 
 
 I am so much overcome with this view of the mat 
 ter that I greet Kiguro s parting salaams with a hy 
 sterical laugh, and going to my room become almost 
 frightened at the terrific passion I must have aroused 
 in Prince Sendai. 
 
 This makes me so embarrassed in my greeting of 
 the Prince that from it he perhaps draws hope when 
 he calls to bid me adieu on the evening of my de 
 parture. At all events, I know that his passion has 
 become so fervid that he is unable to control it. Per 
 haps it is because the summer heat permits me to 
 wear a most ethereal Parisian evening gown, that San 
 Shoo, my maid, says is more "catchy-catchy" than 
 "J&p-kimoiw!" 
 
 Dad is in his room, aided by Ah Tow, packing his 
 
92 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 papers and trunks. San Shoo is doing the same for 
 me in my chamber. The Prince and I are en tete-a- 
 tete in my parlor at the Hotel Imperial. The even 
 ing is moonlight; the hour is romantic; Captain 
 Sendars dark eyes seem very sad as they look upon 
 me. "To-morrow you will he far away from here, 
 honored Miss Armstrong/" he says as he bows before 
 me. 
 
 "Yes," I whisper, "far away." I had intended to 
 say "from you," but I pity the poor fellow s unhappy 
 love for me and only suggest that by a sentimental 
 glance. Then to relieve the strain of the situation, 
 I run on in laughing pertness : "And I hope you will 
 be a good boy when I am away." 
 
 "I shall be very busy," he observes, as at my per 
 mission he lights a cigar and sits down. "It is only 
 the idle who can spare much time for wickedness." 
 
 He always will sit at such a respectful distance 
 from me that it is difficult to carry on a very con 
 fidential conversation. 
 
 "Yes, but you must be busy about the right things, 
 Okashi," I remark, moving somewhat nearer to him. 
 I have grown into the habit of calling the Prince by 
 his first name, though he has always addressed me in 
 his Japanese way as ^honored young lady" or "es- 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 93 
 
 teemed Miss Armstrong" or "beneficent goddess/ I 
 like the last best. It is most romantic. 
 
 "I have heard you were the wildest kind of an 
 undergraduate at Harvard/ I resume, assuming a 
 sisterly tone. 
 
 "Honored Miss Armstrong, youth will be young, 
 and to be a man it is necessary to have experience in 
 everything," he answers, deprecatingly I think. 
 
 "Oh, yes, but you must promise me that you will 
 not play too high poker while I m away," I observe, 
 continuing the sisterly method of displaying interest 
 in him. 
 
 "Oh, my stakes shall never be higher than when I 
 won " the prince looks at me and laughs lightly, but 
 with a suspicion of sentiment in his tone, "the trem 
 bling young ladies kneeling on the mat." 
 
 "Oh yes, but that includes Pinkie," T giggle. "And 
 two don t go in Yankeeland !" Then thinking of 
 what I have suggested, I grow red in the face as he 
 looks at me in a contemplative yet startled way, and 
 replies : "Believe me, I know enough of American cus 
 toms not to attempt to build a bridge in the clouds !" 
 
 "But you must promise me," I ejaculate, trying to 
 cover embarrassment by flippancy, "not to gamble for 
 any other geishas, or I shall have a lecture to read to 
 you when I return from Manchuria." 
 
94 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 "Oh," he laughs, "quarrels only come with the ab 
 sence of the red petticoat." The color of my counte 
 nance is now crimson. "The red petticoat" in Japan 
 is doffed before marriage. 
 
 But Sendai, probably noticing my blushes, remarks 
 lightly : "If I promise to be a good boy in Tokyo, you 
 must promise to write me long gossipy letters from 
 Manchuria." 
 
 "Indeed I will," I answer, "I know everyone in 
 Port Arthur from Alexeieff, the Eussian Viceroy, 
 and Admiral Stark, the commander of the fleet, to the 
 landlord of the dirty Hotel de France." 
 
 "Thank you, I shall always be interested in what 
 you are doing," he says gratefully and earnestly; add 
 ing : "Esteemed young lady, were I you, I would not 
 permit too marked attentions from Baron Schevitch." 
 
 "Why, the Baron will not be in Manchuria." 
 
 "Oh, I think he will," observes the Prince, con 
 templatively knocking the ashes from his cigar, "quite 
 shortly after you arrive there. It is not often that I 
 make remarks about men behind their backs, but the 
 Baron s profession is not as aristocratic as at present 
 you think it, honored Miss Armstrong." 
 
 "What do you mean ?" I ask, opening my eyes. 
 
 "Oh, well, to be very candid with you, I mean the 
 Baron is an agent of the Czar to discover things which 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 95 
 
 his embassy would consider beneath diplomatic atten 
 tion. He is simply a paid spy of the Russian govern 
 ment/ 
 
 "Good heavens !" I falter as into my mind flies : 
 "Oh, how jealous Sendai must be to say such things 
 of his rival!" 
 
 "I can repeat this to my father?" I remark rather 
 haughtily. 
 
 "Why certainly; in fact, you had better give your 
 father a hint; that is, if Papa wishes to get ex 
 tremely good prices from the Russian government on 
 any more bridge contracts/ laughs the engineer of 
 ficer. Then he abruptly changes the subject and 
 says: "An important order from the Chief of Staff 
 will not permit my going to-morrow morning to Yoko 
 hama to see you on board the Nagasaki Maru, but you 
 will find, honored young lady, that I am represented 
 by a token." 
 
 Just then, Dad in his careless, interrupting way 
 comes in and cries: "What is that I hear, my boy 
 that you won t be able to see us off at Yokohama ?" 
 
 "Xo, honored Mr. Armstrong. Some news that has 
 arrived this evening has given me immediate and im 
 perative duties to perform, and consequently I am 
 compelled to say sayonara this evening both to you 
 and your fair daughter." Sendai bows to the floor 
 
96 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 before me. Then looking into my eyes, a strange 
 light enters his as he says: "May we meet 
 
 o* 
 
 again ?" 
 
 "We will meet again !" I reply. "Papa early in the 
 spring is bringing me back to Tokyo on our way to 
 the United States. Besides" 
 
 "I may come to Manchuria ; who knows ?" remarks 
 the Prince contemplatively. 
 
 "Oh, you think you will visit us in Manchuria?" 
 I reply effusively. 
 
 "Perhaps. Even a fortune teller cannot foretell 
 his own fate/ observes the Captain. 
 
 Then Papa shakes hands with him in American 
 fashion and says : "Thank you for everything you 
 have done for me in a business way and in a social way 
 for my daughter/ and walks out. 
 
 Sendai looking at me, remarks sentimentally: 
 "Please don t forget my words in regard to the Baron, 
 esteemed Miss Armstrong." 
 
 "I will remember/ I whisper. 
 
 "There, good-bye now !" He uses the English form 
 of address. Apparently passion makes him ignore 
 Japanese etiquette; he takes my hand, kisses it in 
 the European way and whispers : "Don t forget your 
 letters! Tell me everything that is going on about 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 9? 
 
 you write me the details of life in Port Arthur I" 
 Bowing once more, he passes from my sight. 
 
 There are tears in my eyes as I watch the poor fel 
 low depart a woman is always tender to a hopeless 
 passion. Suddenly I wonder if Sendai thinks my 
 promise to write to him means a Japanese engage 
 ment. 
 
 The next morning we glide down to Yokohama 
 on the train and go on board the Nagasaki Maru 
 bound for Chemulpo and Niuchwang. From the 
 latter port we will take train to Port Arthur and 
 Dalny. 
 
 Schevitch, Pinkie Caldwell and Charlie Brown have 
 come on board to bid us good-bye, and the Baron 
 whispers to me : "It is only au revoir, Mademoiselle 
 Armstrong, I shall be in Manchuria within the 
 month. " 
 
 As I step into my cabin, I give an exclamation of 
 delight; it has been made a floral bower by Prince 
 Sendai. On its table is a case. I open it and find 
 a wondrous piece of that magnificent cloisonne work 
 that, made by the old artificers of Japan, is now al 
 most priceless. With it is a note. 
 
 "Esteemed Young Lady : 
 
 This bauble has been in the Sendai family for 
 
 many hundred years. Keep it as a slight sou- 
 
98 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 venir of some happy Tokyo days. Pardon the ex 
 treme effrontery of my venturing to address you. 
 Rejoicing that your honored health is not sub 
 ject to sea-sickness, 
 
 I remain your most humble, 
 
 SENDAI." 
 
 As I return to the deck, impressed by the magni 
 ficence of the Prince s gift, I remember the Prince s 
 warning. "Oh, he must consider my promised 
 letters to him a Japanese engagement !" I think. 
 "Yes, his warning of Baron Schevitch indicated that 
 he thought he had the right to advise me." 
 
 Papa is waiting for me on the deck, a big cigar 
 in his mouth. "These Havanas Sendai sent me are 
 as bang up as his mathematics," says Dad. "I 
 suppose they are in return for the diamond ring I 
 gave him. It was a sparkler!" 
 
 As the vessel leaves the harbor and turns its prow 
 southeast towards the Inland Sea, I, pacing the deck 
 with my father, remember that Sendai predicted the 
 Baron would come to Manchuria. Is Schevitch fol 
 lowing me? 
 
 But my reflections are broken in upon by Papa 
 remarking in very serious tones and in rather low 
 whisper so that we cannot be overheard : "My daugh- 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 99 
 
 ter, Fin almighty glad you didn t fall in love with the 
 Jap Prince." 
 
 "Why so, Papa?" 
 
 "Because American women had better marry their 
 own countrymen, and he s the kind of a chap who is 
 very likely to be killed in the coming war. That 
 engineer officer w r ould put his head into an exploding 
 Russian cannon if he thought it would do the Mi 
 kado any good; though he d be cool enough to cal 
 culate range equations under fire." 
 
 "Coming war ? You think it is imminent ?" 
 
 "I think it is certain that the Japs will call the 
 Muscovite bluff," whispers Dad. "That s the reason 
 I m getting to Manchuria in such a hurry so as to 
 have my business shipshape when the storm bursts !" 
 
 "Why, the Japanese will never dare to confront 
 the mighty power of Russia !" 
 
 "Haven t you ever seen a bull terrier fly at a bull ?" 
 whispers Papa. "Besides, I think the Japs have a 
 pretty fair chance of winning." 
 
 "Why so?" I whisper. 
 
 "Well, they ve got the Jews on their side, and the 
 Jews are a power in this world. You just go into 
 business and see. The Mikado ll get loans slick as 
 grease when he wants them from the Hebrew bankers 
 of the whole world." 
 
EPISODE THE SECOND. 
 MY MASTCHUBIAN HOUSE-PARTY. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE CURIOUS ASPARAGUS TRENCH. 
 
 "Dad,, I am going to have a house-party up at 
 Polandien !" 
 
 "Well, I m darned !" ejaculates Father, leaning 
 down to me to catch my words over the roar of shells 
 falling into the fortifications and docks of Port Ar 
 thur. Then gazing at the throng of refugees that are 
 crowding into the train, he adds grimly: "Your in 
 vites will be accepted. Just at present, any spot on 
 God s earth is preferable to this one!" 
 
 For the blow has come ! The little David, Japan, 
 has struck the big Goliath, Russia, right in the eye 
 with his slingshot I mean his torpedoes. 
 
 This torpedo business happened only a few evenings 
 ago when I was at Madame Stark s fete in celebra 
 tion of her husband s saint s day. Stark commands 
 the Russian fleet at Port Arthur ; consequently, many 
 
 100 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 101 
 
 naval officers were on shore that evening drinking 
 the health of their hospitable hostess. 
 
 We heard the explosions during the revelry and 
 thought it was torpedo practice by the Eussian boats. 
 It was an hour after that we learned three big war ves 
 sels had been torpedoed and put out of combat by the 
 sudden assault of the Japanese flotilla. 
 
 Next morning I went up one of the big hills that 
 overlooks The Tiger s Tail and saw the Rctvizan 
 beached, the Palladia on shore and the Tzarevitch dis 
 abled in the inner harbor. 
 
 Words could not describe the savage rage and yet 
 extreme astonishment of the Eussian officers at this 
 audacious and unexpected onslaught of what they 
 think their pigmy foe. Most of them never expected 
 Japan would dare. Though Papa has been looking 
 forward to something of the kind for months, I am 
 certain, by his rapid and energetic business prepara 
 tions and the manner in which he has hurried the 
 work of the Meriden Company on the bridges he was 
 under contract in Manchuria and collected as much as 
 he could get out of the Eussian Vice-regal exchequer. 
 
 Then came the bombardment, and Dad immediately 
 announced to me that he would take me up to our 
 little godown, near Polandien. "There you will be 
 safe, Hilda," he said, "and can get your duds together, 
 
102 MY, JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 remaining comfortably there while I close up my 
 business in Manchuria as quickly as possible. This 
 country will soon be over-run by contesting armies." 
 
 Therefore on this bright February day, we, at 
 tended by Ah Tow and San Shoo, carrying our port 
 able luggage, are getting hastily on board the train 
 which is standing in the little station on the water 
 front of the town. Our passports have been carefully 
 examined and vised by the Kussian officials and I 
 watch with some interest the great care that is now 
 taken in examining these documents that our fellow- 
 travelers are compelled to present before going on the 
 train. Especially do the Czar s policemen look with 
 wary eye upon the papers of the Chinese coolies and 
 house servants, who are as anxious as we are to es 
 cape from the Japanese bombardment. Even the de 
 scription on Ah Tow s passport, though he has been 
 well known in the place as father s valet for several 
 years and Dad is quite persona grata with the Kus 
 sian officials is so carefully compared with Tow s 
 personal appearance by two Tartar officials, that our 
 Chinese servitor grows rather pallid under the inspec 
 tion and examination. 
 
 As they pronounce him all right, Ah Tow says more 
 confidently to father: "Kussian man tink Chinee 
 man may be Japanee man. No can tell diffelence, 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 103 
 
 sabe! Japanee man put on tail and talkee Chinee 
 lingo, then all samee Chinee man." 
 
 And San Shoo whispers to me: "Missie, Russian 
 man belly scared of Japanee man now slince they blow 
 
 em up." 
 
 "Stop your Chinese jabber !" commands Papa sav 
 agely to our attendants, "and hustle those things 
 aboard the train." 
 
 This is very shortly done and we follow our im 
 pedimenta quite hurriedly, for a big shell from some 
 Japanese war vessel has burst in the Eastern basin 
 not half a mile from us. 
 
 We have hardly squeezed on board the crowded car 
 before the engineer, who seems to be in a hurry, gives 
 two sharp whistles from one of the American loco 
 motives that Papa has furnished to the Manchurian 
 railway, and our train, following the little river, 
 climbs the steep gradient that leads us from the land 
 locked port up to the higher hilly plateau of the pen 
 insula. Here we turn to the north and dart off upon 
 the long line of rails that lead to Niuchwang or to 
 more distant Harbin and the Trans-Siberian railway 
 that would take one to Eussia itself. 
 
 As the noise of the bombardment diminishes gradu 
 ally in the distance, the conversation in the first-class 
 car in which we are seated commences to be more 
 
104 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 audible. This is a polyglot of half a dozen different 
 languages, from German, French, English, Russian 
 and Tartar merchants, with a little Mandarin Chinese 
 thrown in from a Taotai of some North Manchurian 
 town addressed to his accompanying secretaries, whose 
 excited jabber shows that they are very anxious to 
 leave the vicinity of shot and shell. 
 
 An hour after we are at Dalny Junction. Here 
 our already overcrowded train receives more pas 
 sengers from the seaport that Russia intends to make 
 the terminal of its Asiatic railroads. 
 
 During this Dad, who has been apparently turning 
 over my house-party announcement in his mind, says 
 to me: "That s not a bad idea of yours, Hilda, to 
 have company up at our godown, for I ve got to go 
 almost immediately up to Harbin to collect what 
 money I can from the Vice-regal treasury before our 
 exodus. Whom have you invited ? Are any of them 
 on the train with us ?" 
 
 "No," I reply. "My idea came to me in a hurry. 
 I only had time to ask Madame Sophie Klinkofstrom. 
 I took pity on her. You know how she dreads the 
 shells, and her brother, the Russian inspector of the 
 port, cannot leave. With her will come Olga Pe- 
 trofsky, the pretty sister of the Russian Captain who 
 commands at Polandien, and Johnny Bristow, the 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 105 
 
 agent of the big Rhode Island cotton mills, who says 
 he has to go back to Dalny again on Monday to clear 
 up two or three transactions and deals before he 
 lights out to Niuchwang." 
 
 "Anyone else?" 
 
 "No," I reply. "That s all we can entertain com 
 fortably." 
 
 "Humph, I m glad you didn t ask that Baron Sche- 
 vitch, w T ho has been running after you so much." 
 
 Half an hour after the train has left the Dalny 
 Junction I look out towards the north. The railway 
 runs generally along a high escarpment. On my left 
 is Kin Chow bay ; between us and the water is the line 
 of telegraph poles; an occasional culvert of masonry 
 or short bridge across some little stream are the only 
 variations in the road bed. Upon my right the barren 
 hills have but little timber upon them, only occasional 
 evidences of cultivation and considerable snow. 
 
 Crossing a narrow neck of land we reach Kin-chow, 
 and passing further inland, the peninsula broadens 
 and we lose our view of the water. Two hours after 
 leaving Dalny we reach the little valley where our 
 godown is nestled on the hillside beside the swiftly 
 running river, which is swollen with snow water. 
 It is the largest stream crossing the railroad between 
 Haicheng and Port Arthur. 
 
106 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 We rattle over the bridge, stop at the little railroad 
 station and five minutes after, to the astonishment of 
 the two Chinese servants we have left in charge, we 
 make our unexpected appearance at the godown 
 which is wooden, of one story, rambling but home 
 like. It consists of parlor and dining room, separated 
 by a wide hall; beyond this is a big wing, in which 
 are situated my bedroom and Dad s ; another ell at the 
 other end of the house contains more bedrooms, while 
 a rambling attachment to the dining room is com 
 posed of a butler s pantry, kitchens, offices and ser 
 vants rooms. We had spent the autumn months here 
 and soon feel quite at home in our old resting-place. 
 Superintended by Ah Tow, the Chinese boys rush 
 about and we have an early and pleasant dinner. 
 
 "By the bye," Dad says as he smokes his cigar after 
 the meal, "what are you going to give your house- 
 party to eat ?" 
 
 "Canned goods !" I answer sententiously. "We 
 have plenty of them here canned chicken and canned 
 turkey, patc-dc-foiegras and French peas, American 
 canned corn and asparagus, canned salmon from 
 Oregon and plenty of champagne ! Besides, our 
 Chinese gardeners are so expert with their hotbeds 
 that, who knows, I may be able to put before my 
 guests some early cucumbers and salad lettuce." 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 107 
 
 "Not for a month or two," laughs Dad, "and -we 
 will have skipped in less than a week, daughter." Tak 
 ing a contemplative whiff of his cigar, he continues : 
 "The more I think of it, the better pleased I am at 
 your house-party, Hilda, because to-morrow I am 
 compelled to leave you for Harbin. When I return 
 from there you must be packed and ready, for off we 
 go to Niuchwang and Yankeeland." 
 
 "Yes, but are you not compelled to stop on your 
 way to San Francisco at Tokyo, on account of your 
 Japanese contracts?" I suggest. 
 
 Papa looks at me a moment rather searchingly; 
 then whispers cautiously, for even our Chinese ser 
 vants have ears: "Any letter from your Japanese 
 friend ?" 
 
 "Not for a month," I reply, "though I wrote to the 
 Prince three weeks ago." 
 
 "Well, don t write any more," remarks Dad in my 
 ear. "You letters would probably be inspected by the 
 postal authorities now." 
 
 "I think they have been before, Papa," I say. 
 
 "The dickens !" 
 
 "Yes, a curious remark from Baron Schevitch as 
 we danced at Madame Stark s entertainment made 
 me think that he had seen my handwriting in an 
 envelope addressed to " 
 
108 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 Papa stops my outspoken words by putting his 
 fingers on my lips. 
 
 Taking his hint, my voice is very low as I con 
 tinue: "I had suspected something of this kind be 
 fore, so my last few letters were enclosed in your busi 
 ness correspondence to your agent in Shanghai and 
 forwarded from that palace to Tokyo." 
 
 "All right," remarks father. "I ve two or three 
 letters now to get ready for the foreign mail. By the 
 way, Yaling can probably obtain something fresh 
 in the way of meat or vegetables for your house- 
 party." He claps his hands and, Ah Tow entering, 
 commands: "Yaling! Sabe! Heap quick!" 
 
 "Yaling? Heap quick? Me sabe!" replies his 
 factotum and shuffles off in his noiseless, felt-padded 
 Chinese shoes. 
 
 As he does so, Dad observes: "Beckon Yalin^ 
 
 o 
 
 will fix you as to meat," 
 
 "Indeed, I know he will if any human being can," 
 I answer confidently. Yaling is the Chinese magis 
 trate and acts as militia officer, judge, chief of intelli 
 gence, head of the commissary department and gen 
 eral Pooh-Bah of the village. For the last three years 
 if I wanted anything in the place from a horse to a 
 watermelon, I went to Yaling and the necessary ar 
 ticle was forthcoming. 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 109 
 
 Then father leaves me to go to his bedroom and 
 devote himself to his business correspondence, which 
 he generally writes with his own hand; consequently 
 I sit down in my pleasantly but unpretentiously fur 
 nished parlor and, having nothing better to do, gaze 
 out at the winter prospect. 
 
 There is only a trace of snow upon the ground; 
 the thermometer is just at freezing at night, the sun 
 in the daytime being quite pleasantly warm, the winds 
 from the Liao-tung Gulf being generally mild. The 
 hills above us appear barren, though scattered 
 among their undulations are fields that in the spring 
 will become green with the long-stalked gow-Uang, 
 the Chinese giant millet, also some plantations of 
 evergreen Manchurian larches and Siberian pines. A 
 little thicket of these is also in the corner of our gar 
 den, which runs down to the river bank. Its fruit- 
 trees are bare of leaves now, but the larches and ever 
 green pines screen the grounds from the eyes of pas 
 sengers on the trains. In these under the sheltered 
 bank of the river are the hotbeds of our Chinese gar 
 deners, from which we have been regaled in former 
 times by early cucumbers, celery, radishes and let 
 tuce. 
 
 About these hotbeds, as I look dreamily out of the 
 window, I can see a coolie working. Beyond them 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 rushes the little river. I note as I gaze upon it that 
 it is quite a deep and rapid stream now, there having 
 been melting snows in the hills above us. 
 
 From the southern bank of the river runs the rail 
 way to Dalny and Port Arthur, the assaulted citadel 
 of the Russians; from its northern bank, the lines 
 of rails and telegraph wires to Mukden, Harbin, Ir 
 kutsk and St. Petersburg, five thousand miles away. 
 
 Connecting these two sections of railway is the 
 bridge that crosses the little river with its iron gird 
 ers, stone piers and masonry abutments. A big iron 
 tank for watering locomotives is standing near its 
 southern abutment, perched -on a strong timber fram 
 ing. 
 
 Over this structure, Dad has told me, must now 
 come all the supplies, munitions of war and men to 
 the Russian beleaguered citadel, because already Port 
 Arthur is blockaded by the Japanese fleet. 
 
 Apparently the Russians value this bridge quite 
 highly and are determined to protect it from any un 
 expected raid of the Hun-hu-tzes, or Chinese bandits, 
 who, coincident with the Japanese attack, have be 
 come bolder and more restless and aggressive. De 
 tails from the two companies of infantry in the near 
 by village are stationed at each end of the bridge; be- 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 111 
 
 sides, the usual Cossack and military police patrols 
 have been doubled. 
 
 As I gaze out, I hear the whistle of a train which 
 comes into sight from the north and crosses the 
 bridge laden down with a Russian regiment to rein 
 force the garrison at Port Arthur, and wonder with a 
 little laugh how the Japanese engineer officer would 
 like the use it is being put to now. I remember how 
 I used to call it "Sendai s Bridge/ and my thoughts 
 wander to my Tokyo suitor and the letters he had 
 written me. 
 
 Our correspondence had proceeded quite pleasantly, 
 averaging perhaps a letter every three weeks, during 
 these four months, for it is now well into February. 
 In order to avoid sentiment, for I fear the poor Prince 
 thinks my letters mean engagement, I have tried to 
 devote myself to the gossip of the place about me. I 
 have written him of the various entertainments given 
 by the Russian officials and the reviews inspected by 
 Alexeieff, Viceroy of all the Russian East. In addi 
 tion, I have not omitted one or two little entertain 
 ments given by myself, and have permitted him to 
 know that the Americansky young lady, whoso father 
 gets so many paper roubles from the Russian govern 
 ment, is quite run after by the young officers of the 
 Army and Navy in Port Arthur. 
 
112 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 But my accounts of Russian followers have not pre 
 vented a tinge of sentiment, carefully hidden perhaps, 
 being in Sendai s letters to me. They have invariably 
 commenced: "Hoping that your esteemed health 
 is good notwithstanding the winter weather/ How 
 continually anxious the Prince is about my well be 
 ing ! And his epistles have always ended : "Thanking 
 you for the kind consideration of your lines that have 
 made the winter sun a summer sun to Sendai." 
 
 Dad has told me this is the Japanese method of 
 polite address in letters, but I discern the hidden pas 
 sion of the man. I remember Sendai s look when I 
 left him and his strong moustache brushed my wrist. 
 Besides, the present he gave me, I now discover, is 
 one worthy of a princess. Such a magnificent piece 
 of Japanese art can hardly be met with out of their 
 national museums or Prince Mito s marvelous collec 
 tion. They say it is more valuable than a big ruby. 
 
 But as I reflect upon my last letter of nearly four 
 weeks ago to Sendai, I give a sudden start I remem 
 ber I had described the forthcoming fete of Madame 
 Stark, the wife of the Admiral of the fleet; told him 
 of the magnificent costume just arrived for me from 
 Paris, and how I thought most of the naval officers 
 would be on shore that evening to drink their officer s 
 health, even giving him the date of the festivity. Can 
 
MY, JAPANESE PRINCE 113 
 
 my communication have had anything to do with the 
 time selected for the Japanese attack that night with 
 torpedo boats? I hope not. I want to be neutral 
 in this awful war. The Russians have been very 
 kind to me here and I have a great many friends 
 among them. 
 
 By this time, Dad having finished his letters, re 
 turns to me, and a minute or two after Ah Tow ushers 
 in with many salaams, Yaling, the head Chinese of 
 ficial of the village. 
 
 Yaling is a dark, lithe, skinny, athletic man, 
 like most of the Manchurian Chinese. From his 
 close-shaven crown hangs a long black queue. Be 
 neath his broad yellow forehead, sharp little Tartar 
 eyes twinkle and roll about with the peculiar restless 
 motion of a rat-catching cat. 
 
 As he bows low to me and my father, though the 
 lamplight is not very bright in the room, these blink 
 as if the illumination were too strong for him, and as 
 he speaks there is a restless, nervous tone in his pidgin 
 English that is unusual to Yaling, who generally has 
 a placid, easy-going appearance. 
 
 "Well, old friend," says Dad pleasantly, "what can 
 you do for us in the matter of fresh meat and vege 
 tables?" 
 
 "Why you clum slo quick, Missie Almstlong? ISTo 
 
114 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 had notification I" the Chinaman answers, a discon^ 
 certed annoyance in his tone. Apparently our sud 
 den arrival has embarrassed the village official, who 
 has always looked very carefully after the creature 
 comforts of the great American contractor. From his 
 intercourse with the Yankee mechanics who have 
 erected the bridges along the line, Yaling sometimes 
 introduces three-syllable words that seem out of place 
 in the usual pidgin English in which he addresses us. 
 
 "Yes," I say eagerly, "Yaling, you must get us 
 something nice. I have friends coming." 
 
 He blinks his eyes at me again as he half stammers : 
 "You hab fiends clum too?" 
 
 "Yes, three or four from Port Arthur," answers 
 Dad. 
 
 "No likee Japanese cannon ball," mutters Yaling, 
 an uncanny yet cautious merriment dancing in his 
 Mongolian eyes. 
 
 "But the fresh meat!" ejaculates Dad, keeping to 
 his subject. 
 
 "How can tell? Bullock all eatee by Eussian of 
 ficer. Hun-hu-tzes you sabe bad men up in hills ? 
 kill too many clows." 
 
 "But the meat !" remarks father urgently. 
 
 "You sabe sheep-meat?" mutters the Mongolian. 
 
 "Yes, get some !" 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 115 
 
 "All lightee; little sheep meat!" 
 
 "What ? Lamb !" That will be delightful !" I ejac 
 ulate. 
 
 "To-morrow morning,, little sheep meat; you sabe, 
 him clum!" and apparently not overanxious to pro 
 long the interview, fearing perhaps that more may be 
 demanded of him, Yaling with a low bow moves to 
 wards the door. 
 
 But I, by this success made eager for more good 
 things for my guests, cry out to him: "Fresh vege 
 tables ! You sabe, fresh vegetables !" 
 
 Yaling looks at me helplessly, then goes to the win 
 dow and points out at the snow upon the hills, shrugs 
 his shoulders and mutters : "No can get \" 
 
 "But something/ I plead; "something for salad. 
 You sabe salad?" 
 
 "Yes ; sweet and sour ; no good." 
 
 I have followed Yaling to the window. Papa comes 
 after us. Looking out on the scene on which twi 
 light is rapidly descending, father remarks: "Don t 
 you think you can get something from our Chinese 
 gardener there with the hotbeds in the bottom of the 
 garden ?" adding : "He seems to be doing a good deal 
 of work down there. Judging by the amount of dirt 
 dug up, he s more ambitious this season that I ve ever 
 seen him before." 
 
116 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 At this, Yaling s eyes contract like a cat s at night, 
 then almost close. Suddenly they open very wide 
 as he exclaims: "You sabe sparaglass?" 
 
 "Certainly," I cry in rapture, "asparagus !" 
 
 "Sparaglass, two months ! Him dig deep big spara- 
 glass-trench ; belly deep, plenty of manure, spara 
 glass bed good, tlee years." 
 
 "Three years ! Much good that will do me," I re 
 mark dejectedly; then plead: "You must get me 
 something radishes." 
 
 Yaling gives a gesture of impotence ; then abruptly 
 answers: "Watercless, sabe! Him up liver; water- 
 cless!" 
 
 "Oh, watercress for salad. Thank you," I return 
 gratefully, as Yaling, seeming to wish to close the 
 interview, bows his way nervously to the door. 
 
 "By the bye," remarks Dad, "the new gardener 
 you ve got for me, Yaling, seems to be a hustler. As 
 I wrote my letters, I chanced to glance out there and 
 I never saw a coolie work so spry before." 
 
 "Yes, workem hard! Do eblyting for Melican 
 fiends," grins Yaling, whose eyes seem to twinkle 
 anxiously, probably because he thinks I will demand 
 some other impossibility from him. 
 
 As he goes away, Dad chuckles: "No wonder he 
 was scared. I guess Yaling feared you would be de- 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 117 
 
 manding water and musk melons from him in Feb 
 ruary. But you ll have the little sheep meat, you can 
 bet your bottom dollar. Yaling never broke his word 
 to me yet." 
 
 Then this domestic complication being arranged, 
 I try to forget the Japanese war by looking through 
 a recent novel Dad had had forwarded from Mu- 
 chwang, and that being finished, have nothing to do 
 but to go to bed. I pass a very comfortable night, my 
 slumbers only being interrupted by the noise of three 
 or four trains rushing past our grounds on the rail 
 way bound south for Port Arthur. 
 
 The next morning Papa arouses me bright and early 
 so that I may run down with him after breakfast to 
 the little station in the village and bid him adieu 
 when he takes the train for Harbin. 
 
 As we descend the narrow path that leads from 
 our grounds, he tells me that he leaves Ah Tow, his 
 valet, to take care of me. 
 
 "Oh, Papa," I reply to this, "don t have any fear 
 of me. The Chinese servants about the place have 
 been in our employ for several years and there are two 
 companies of Eussian soldiers in the village to look 
 after the Hun-hu-tzes should they come down from 
 the hills." 
 
 "That s all right/ answers Dad. "If you want 
 
118 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 anything out of the ordinary, call upon Yaling and 
 he ll do everything for you. Besides/ he adds, 
 "you won t be lonely very long. The house-party will 
 be up in the afternoon. No doubt they ll get out of 
 Port Arthur quick enough." 
 
 "Oh, Madame Klinkofstrom and Olga spent last 
 night at Dalny," I answer. "Sophie said she d die if 
 she stayed another day under the Japanese guns !" 
 
 "Yes, she s a weak little woman," remarks Papa, 
 "not like my strong-souled daughter," and pats me 
 reassuringly on the shoulder; for I am tearful at the 
 thought of his leaving me. 
 
 By this time we are among the Cossack guards 
 along the railway, and three minutes after are at the 
 little station. Here young Captain Petrofsky in the 
 uniform of his Siberian regiment comes up to us, 
 and I tell him his sister is expected in the afternoon. 
 
 "It s very kind in you, Miss Armstrong, to ask my 
 sister to visit you," he remarks. "I can probably get 
 time to-morrow afternoon to run up and see you and 
 her for a little while. I have been anxious about Olga, 
 fearing that some accursed Japanese shell might in 
 jure her." 
 
 Then Petrofsky tells Papa in his affable way: 
 "Monsieur Armstrong, I and my Russian soldiers will 
 see no harm comes to Mademoiselle, Besides, Colonel 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 119 
 
 Genke, the head of all our railway police, will be 
 here to-morrow. Have no fear for your daughter. 
 She shall be the care of Petrofsky." 
 
 This makes Dad look very comfortable as he shakes 
 hands with the young Eussian officer, takes my good 
 bye kiss and forces his way onto the train that, having 
 just come up from Port Arthur and Dalny, is already 
 crowded with non-combatant refugees. 
 
 As Papa does so, an official steps up and, though he 
 knows my father very well, asks him for his passport 
 and examines it. 
 
 Gazing upon the scene, I note how carefully the 
 Eussian officials are of their inspection of all outgoing 
 travelers, especially the Chinese. 
 
 In answer to my rather inquiring glance, Petrofsky 
 says shortly : "We fear Japanese spies, that is all. It 
 is rumored that Japanese officers are now among the 
 peasantry and the bandits all up the Liao-tung Eiver 
 inciting them to attack and destroy the railroad/ 
 
 Then the young officer, after a few words of warn 
 ing to the lieutenant who is with him, gallantly es 
 corts me across the bridge and by its sentries; 
 then up the path to the gate of our compound. Here 
 he bids me adieu, thanking me again for inviting 
 his sister to a place of refuge. 
 
 Then I am left alone with only my music, piano 
 
120 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 and two or three of the latest novels for company; 
 but I have too much to do in preparing for my com 
 ing guests to think of them for the present. 
 
 Attended by Ah Tow, I examine the larder. Bless 
 ings on him! Yaling has kept his Chinese word. 
 Little sheep meat is here in the form of two spring 
 lambs. American fashion, Dad has an ice-house. 
 This is already filled so that the lambs will keep as 
 long as we want them. Besides, Yaling has sent me 
 for my parlor and dining table a lot of those bulb 
 daisies and tulips that the Chinese raise winter or 
 summer. The watercresses are also at my hand. 
 
 Preparing for my house-party, I am busy all of the 
 forenoon and some of the afternoon. During my 
 peregrinations about the house, Ah Tow, who has be 
 come my shadow, startles me by some additional war 
 news. 
 
 Coming closely to me, he rubs his hands together 
 and a benign smile lights up his Mongolian counte 
 nance, though there is a malicious sparkle in his al 
 mond eyes as he whispers : "Jappies give ? em to Rus- 
 gi es i n l e neck woncie more ! Two times I" 
 
 "What I" I gasp, and stare at him astonished as he 
 in his Chinese lingo tells me under his breath the 
 first news of the destruction of the Variag and an- 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 121 
 
 other Russian gunboat at Chemulpo,, over three hun 
 dred miles away. 
 
 How Ah Tow has heard it I cannot guess, but in 
 some mysterious manner news appears to pass about 
 among the Chinese population with tremendous ra 
 pidity all over Manchuria, and at every blow Japan 
 strikes, the eyes of the Mongolian population seem to 
 grow brighter and their smiles more placidly benign. 
 Gracious, how they all hate the Russians ! Is it be 
 cause, three years ago, Muscovite soldiers, under the 
 Boxer plea, butchered and massacred them like sheep 
 all up and down the Liao River valley, or is it be 
 cause of AlexeiefFs proclamation, just issued, that de 
 crees that whenever a Russian party is attacked by 
 bandits, the nearest village shall be destroyed unless 
 its inhabitants attack and deliver over to them the 
 Hun-hu-tzes that are now scrambling all over this 
 country ? 
 
 Though Dad has told me there is some reason in the 
 edict, as a flying bandit will plunge into a field of the 
 long-stalked millet and throwing away his arms, 
 come out on the other side as innocent a Chinese coolie 
 as ever wore a pigtail. 
 
 Anyway, the native population of Manchuria hate 
 the Russians and will do anything to aid the Japanese. 
 
 My preparations for my guests being completed, 
 
122 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 after a solitary lunch, during which I sigh for mascu 
 line company, I dawdle away the rest of the day by 
 singing a little, playing a little and reading a few 
 chapters of a new novel, though the noises coming 
 into my windows tell me how busy the war has made 
 the railroad. Where there had been four trains, a 
 dozen now rattle across the bridge and roll towards the 
 south laden with soldiers, war materials and provi 
 sions. Those returning northward are empty of 
 goods, but are full of people escaping from the horrors 
 of the Port Arthur bombardment. 
 
 Finally, the sun beginning to sink in the west, I 
 look at my watch and discover that the train bearing 
 my expected guests will, in all probability, soon arrive 
 at the little station. It occurs to me I will go to meet 
 them. 
 
 To do this, I have to pass through our garden, 
 which in the summertime was made pretty by flowers, 
 blossoms of fruit trees and the green of its vegetable 
 patches, but is now bare and leafless except the clump 
 of evergreens near the river. 
 
 I am soon at the little gate that leads out upon the 
 railway track by the side of the huge water-tank that 
 adjoins the big masonry abutment of the bridge; near 
 this is stationed a squad of infantry. As the ser 
 geant in charge respectfully salutes me, I chance to 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 123 
 
 glance down towards the bank of the river where, 
 sheltered by the evergreens from railroad observa 
 tion, my Chinese gardener is at work upon the hot 
 beds and asparagus trench. 
 
 "Mercy!" I mentally exclaim, "what a pile of 
 manure he has accumulated ! He is going to make 
 a very big asparagus bed. Does he think we ll start 
 a cannery?" 
 
 Then not caring to loiter about the station, with 
 its dirty coolies, prying military police and Cossack 
 patrols, I think I will kill time until I hear the whistle 
 of the train by a look at my hotbeds. 
 
 As I reach the spot, screened by the evergreens from 
 the railroad track, and stand beside my hotbeds, I see 
 to my rage, that no early vegetables have been planted 
 under their glass frames. Apparently, the asparagus 
 trench has received our gardener s entire attention. 
 This is indicated by the enormous pile of manure he 
 has collected to fill it, though the trench itself doesn t 
 seem so extraordinarily long or remarkably deep. 
 
 Waiting for the train, I seat myself on a drift log 
 by the bank of the cool flowing river and quite close 
 to the manure pile. After I have carelessly thrown a 
 pebble or two into the swift running water, I listlessly 
 prod with my parasol the big dungheap and am as 
 tonished to discover it is only a large mound of freshly 
 
124: MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 excavated mould carefully protected from frost by a 
 covering of warm fertilizer. What wondrous care 
 these Chinese gardeners take to keep the earth moist 
 and prevent its freezing before they replace it in the 
 trench. 
 
 I am about to turn away, trip up the little path and 
 depart for the station to meet my friends, for I now 
 hear the distant whistle of the train. But at this 
 moment I chance to catch sight of our gardener work 
 ing quietly, but rapidly, with a pick at the extreme 
 end of the trench nearest the railway. As the left 
 arm of the Chinese coolie covered with dirt comes 
 into the rays of the setting sun, I see upon it near the 
 wrist a pocket compass tattooed in red ink. Tattoo 
 marks on coolie skins are not at all uncommon, though 
 they are generally representations of dragons, birds 
 and other Chinese fetiches. But this compass seems 
 to remind me of something I have seen before, though 
 for the moment I cannot remember it. 
 
 Stepping to the end of the trench, which, screened 
 by the thick foliage of the larches and evergreen 
 pines, is quite close to the railway bridge abutment, 
 I demand in English : "You, man with the red com 
 pass, haven t I seen you before ?" 
 
 For a moment the stooping figure appears to rise 
 to answer me. Then it doggedly continues its work. 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 125 
 
 "Hi, down there!" I call, "you coolie!" and the 
 working figure paying no attention to me, I cry im 
 periously : "You, I mean !" for I am accustomed to 
 be obeyed by my Chinese servants, "here, jump out of 
 that ditch and tell me why you ve not planted my hot 
 beds! I am sure you sabe English!" And he 
 not answering me, I reach down indignant at the in 
 solence of the Chinaman, for these coolies are usually 
 obsequious, and grabbing the creature by his pigtail, 
 yank it with all my might to compel his attention. 
 
 I stagger back with a short, astonished cry, for the 
 long Chinese queue under my vigorous pluck has 
 come off in my hand. Then the coolie s face is up 
 turned to mine and looks me straight in the eyes. His 
 glance, at first agonized and appealing, suddenly be 
 comes appalling in imperious command. 
 
 Gazing at him, I nearly faint. For minus its dis 
 guising pigtail, though begrimed with dirt and cov 
 ered with the sweat of toil, I recognize the face of 
 Prince Okashi Sendai! 
 
 Then he places warning finger to his lips, and un 
 heeding the questioning of my eyes, becomes once 
 more the Chinese coolie slaving in the asparagus 
 trench. 
 
 Fortunately in my astonishment I have dropped 
 the queue back into the ditch, for before I can address 
 
126 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 him and ask the meaning of his astounding presence 
 in Manchuria, I hear the gate of the garden open 
 and see my house-party headed by Sophie Klinkof- 
 strom coming into the compound. By her side, to my 
 astonishment and dismay, strolls Baron Serge Sche- 
 vitch. Fortunately he stops to brush the mud off his 
 boots before he approaches me. 
 
 During these short moments, the awful truth 
 flashes in my brain; "Prince Sendai has journeyed 
 to Manchuria for love of me. There can be no other 
 reason. In order to meet me, he has naturally come 
 to our bungalow. And now, cut off by the sudden 
 outbreak of the war, the poor fellow for his own 
 safety has been compelled to assume the disguise of 
 a Chinese coolie. 
 
 "What will men not do for love I" 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 YALING, THE CHINESE MAGISTRATE. 
 
 As this darts through my* mind, I run hastily up 
 the garden path to prevent my guests coming down to 
 the asparagus trench. I remember the words of 
 Sendai to me in Tokyo in regard to the Baron s occu 
 pation and a little tremor runs through my limbs as 
 I internally shudder: "If the Russians catch Sendai 
 here, they will execute him as a spy. My God ! Fancy 
 a prince condemned to ignoble death simply because 
 he loves me too well to remain from my side !" 
 
 With quick steps, I contrive to meet my party close 
 to the gate; and greeting them with considerable 
 savoir faire, listen to Sophie Ivlinkofstrom s tale of 
 woe about the Japanese bombardment, and pretty 
 Olga Petrofsky s anxious inquiries as to her brother, 
 the Captain. 
 
 As we walk up to the house, Johnny Bristow tells 
 
 me a story of an exploding Japanese shell in the big 
 
 pile of vodka cases stored on the Port Arthur quay. 
 
 "One of the Jap s shells busted in the pile and set it 
 
 127 
 
128 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 on fire," he remarks. "You never saw men work 
 harder than the deckhands did to put it out and save 
 their tipple!" 
 
 "Why, I thought vodka was liquid fire without ex 
 ploding Japanese shells," I giggle, attempting to con 
 ceal agitation by merriment. 
 
 As we reach the front door of our house, Baron 
 Schevitch bows to me and says, a tinge of apology in 
 his tone: "Here I must take my leave. Madame 
 Klinkofstrom was so frightened at the thought of 
 Chinese bandits on the railroad that I offered her my 
 escort. I presume I shall be able to find some kind 
 of accommodation in the village." 
 
 "My brother s duties as collector of the port, of 
 course, prevented his coming. I didn t dare to jour 
 ney alone, and the Baron at my entreaty volunteered." 
 Sophie looks at me, a sentimental appeal in her blue 
 eyes. She is a widow, fair, svelte and twenty-six, 
 and very much smitten with her escort s blond 
 beauty. 
 
 Thus compelled, I proffer a reluctant hospitality, 
 and say: "Baron Schevitch, I think I can give 
 you a bed here if Mr. Bristow does not mind occupy 
 ing the same room with you." 
 
 "Oh, I couldn t condemn any man to the fleas and 
 discomfort he ll get down in that hole there," says 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 129 
 
 Johnny, affably nodding his head towards the village. 
 
 "Then, by my patron saint, I am saved from the 
 vermin of a Cossack s tent or a Mogul hut I" remarks 
 the Baron enthusiastically. 
 
 All this time I shiver as I think of the danger that 
 Schevitch s presence may bring to poor Prince Sendai 
 slaving in the garden, though I fear to close my 
 doors to a man I imagine is the private agent of 
 the Eussian government, dreading he may think I 
 have some reason for not wishing his presence. 
 
 Actuated by this emotion, I throw an extreme and 
 effusive cordiality into my voice and manner as I 
 say : "I am delighted that you came. Had I thought 
 that you could leave Port Arthur, I would have in 
 vited you myself and brought you with me yester 
 day, my dear Baron." 
 
 "Ah, then we could have had a pleasant day to 
 gether," remarks Serge. "Mr. Armstrong went to 
 Harbin this morning, did he not, Mademoiselle 
 Hilda ?" Schevitch seems to know a good deal of our 
 family affairs. 
 
 "Yes, we could have had a pleasant day alone to 
 gether," I reply, throwing considerable intention in 
 to my voice, and coquetry into my eyes. 
 
 This causes Madame Klinkofstrom to glance at me 
 suspiciously and not over affably. The fair Sophie 
 
130 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 has at times suspected that Serge s affections would 
 run my way if I would but permit him ; despite her 
 Scandinavian origin and yellow hair and blue eyes, 
 she can be intensely jealous. God save me from 
 the jealousy of a blonde! A brunette s passion may 
 be more fervid, but for quiet suspicion, continuous 
 intriguing and amorous plotting, the soft, blue-eyed, 
 languishing blonde will take the prize from dashing 
 Miss Blackeyes every time. 
 
 In contrast to Madame Klinkofstrom, my other 
 guest, Olga Petrofsky, is brown-haired and peach- 
 cheeked, with a slightly retrousse nose, laughing 
 manner and a heart as open as her big soft eyes. 
 These she has placed, I think, upon the broad should 
 ered American, Johnny Bristow, who has walked by 
 her side from the train. Bristow has been on the 
 Manchurian Peninsula and in Niuchwang for nearly 
 a year selling the cotton goods of the Rhode Island 
 mills. The time he has stolen from business has 
 been very pleasantly occupied in a flirtation with 
 Mademoiselle Petrofsky which has grown from polite 
 amatory skirmish to a love affair that I think will re 
 sult in marriage. Russian young ladies in the Far 
 East under the exigencies of a frontier-life have a 
 great deal more liberty than would be granted them 
 in St. Petersburg or Moscow, and though her brother 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 131 
 
 the Captain has sometimes looked dubiously upon the 
 American business man s attentions to his sister, he 
 has wisely reflected: "When you are in Manchuria, 
 do as Manchurians do." 
 
 Then I give a sigh of relief as my gentlemen guests 
 are shown to their room by Ah Tow, and the ladies 
 made comfortable in two pretty chambers by San 
 Shoe s attentions and I am left alone with the 
 thoughts that have been rushing through my brain 
 ever since poor Sendai s eyes have looked into mine 
 from the asparagus trench by the river. 
 
 I am horrified when I contemplate the terrible posi 
 tion in which the sudden outbreak of the war has put 
 my devoted admirer. I think of the carefully ex 
 amined passports on each departing train ; I look out 
 at the Cossack patrols along the railway alert and 
 vigilant, and make up my mind that I must aid him. 
 Not that I love him, but when a man risks his life 
 just to see a girl s bright eyes, she must do something 
 to keep him from the ignoble death of a military out 
 law. 
 
 A few quick, shuddering reflections, and American 
 common sense tells me the best thing I can do for 
 Sendai just at present is to be as gay, debonair and 
 light hearted as possible to my guests so that they will 
 
132 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 not guess I have any tremendous adventure on my 
 mind. 
 
 Consequently I run to my room and make my 
 self as pretty as I can for dinner. Returning from 
 this, I find my party are gathered togather in 
 the parlor preparatory to going into the dining-room. 
 To us enters Captain Petrof sky, who takes his sister in 
 his arms and, looking her over to see that she is safe 
 from shot and shell, gives her the usual Russian kiss 
 upon both cheeks. Bowing to me, he says effusively : 
 "I am delighted that Colonel Genke s arrival this 
 evening has made it possible for me to accept your in 
 vitation to join you at dinner, kind Mademoiselle 
 Armstrong/ 
 
 A moment later we stroll across the hall into the 
 dining-room, I giving the Captain my arm and per 
 mitting the Baron to escort Madame Klinkof strom so 
 the widow will not be too jealous of me, Johnny Bris- 
 tow, of course, taking in pretty Mademoiselle Petrof- 
 sky. 
 
 So we sit down to a very pleasant meal. 
 
 True, most of our repast is canned, but the aspara 
 gus tips for our entre have come from the Sacramento 
 River valley and are superb. 
 
 Looking upon these I cannot help thinking of the 
 poor Prince slaving in the asparagus bed to conceal 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 133 
 
 his rank and nationality from surrounding Bussians, 
 and my appetite seems to leave me. 
 
 But my languor with knife and fork does not affect 
 my guests. As Yaling^s little sheep meat flanked 
 by canned green peas is placed before us, Olga 
 cries out enthusiastically : "Fresh lamb ! Oh, what a 
 luxury!" 
 
 "Fresh lamb !" remarks the Baron. "Where under 
 Heaven did you get it from ?" 
 
 "From the man who furnishes all good things in 
 this village Yaling! Our Chinese official and head 
 magistrate," I say, anxious to put in a good word for 
 our commissary-general. 
 
 "Yaling?" observes Schevitch. "Humph, the fel 
 low who commands the Chinese militia here and ia 
 judge of the little district?" 
 
 "Yes, and who holds every other office," reply I 
 proudly. 
 
 "Too many offices," grins the Baron and devotes 
 himself with very good appetite to the lamb and the 
 dinner, which runs along very pleasantly, the water 
 cress salad making another hit and a pair of big 
 chickens that I have had slaughtered producing great 
 enthusiasm. 
 
 "My dear Hilda, you live better than the Viceroy, 
 and I have dined at his table several times lately/ 
 
134: MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 remarks Sophie, taking her blue eyes for a moment 
 from their languishing contemplation of the hlond 
 Schevitch beside her. 
 
 Then the dessert being brought on, the California 
 canned fruits seem to please everyone ; the scourge of 
 war is forgotten, for champagne is flowing merrily 
 and the conversation has become as sparkling as the 
 wine. Despite this, I soon after take the ladies with 
 me into the parlor, where we will have coffee Russian 
 fashion, leaving the gentlemen under Ah Tow s care 
 to enjoy their cigars. 
 
 But we have not been by ourselves very long before 
 Johnny Bristow, preferring the bright eyes of Miss 
 Petrof sky to the pleasure of his cigar, comes in to us, 
 though the young Russian Captain and the Baron 
 still remain in the dining-room wooing nicotine. 
 
 A little later, implored by Sophie s glance, I, act 
 ing as hostess, trip across the passage to the dining- 
 room, which is screened only from the hall by a very 
 light drapery, to request Schevitch and Petrofsky to 
 throw away ceremony, bring their cigars along and 
 join us in the parlor. 
 
 My fingers are already on the curtains to draw 
 them aside when I pause, some words in French, a 
 language that I know pretty well, reaching my ears 
 from the lips of Baron Schevitch. As their import 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 135 
 
 dawns on me, I am confident he is speaking in French 
 for fear some of the Chinese servants may understand 
 him if he uses Russian, with which tongue many 
 of the Manchurian Chinese are now quite familiar. 
 
 He is asking in cautious tone: "You know this 
 Yaling, Captain Petrofsky?" 
 
 "Of course I do/ 7 answers the Captain. "I have 
 commanded the troops in the village here for over a 
 month. He s the local native magistrate." 
 
 "Well, he is the Chinaman I have been requested 
 to investigate." 
 
 "Investigate! For what?" asks Petrofsky. "He 
 has given us some very good beef at times." 
 
 "Yes," answers Bchevitch, "but it has been hinted 
 to the powers that be that, though Yaling commands 
 the militia here, he also commands the local Hun-hu- 
 tzes; that after these pestilent bandits have marauded 
 and attacked Eussian guards at night, in the morn 
 ing he takes off his bandit arms, puts on his militia 
 uniform and heads the same band, who are now trans 
 formed into local constabulary, to chase themselves 
 all over the country. Of course, they never catch 
 themselves." 
 
 At this Petrofsky bursts out laughing, then jeers 
 savagely : "Well, if I catch his band with my Siberian 
 soldiers, they ll know they re caught, when we exter- 
 
136 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 minate them." A moment later he asks dubiously: 
 "But why has this dinner put Yaling in your head? 
 The Chinese official seems a very good fellow and has 
 always been most obligingly obsequious to me." 
 
 "This spring lamb/ replies the Baron. "It is re 
 markably suspicious." 
 
 "Spring lamb ! You think it poisoned ?" mutters 
 the Captain with an astounded start. 
 
 "Not a bit. I enjoyed it thoroughly," answers 
 Schevitch with a light laugh. "But have you ever 
 seen any sheep about this village or along the whole 
 line of the railway?" 
 
 "No," answers Petrofsky. "Sheep wouldn t live 
 long with my hungry boys in their vicinity." 
 
 "Very well; the only sheep in the country are far 
 away in the recesses of those hills, and no Chinese 
 official, unless he were one of the Hun-hu-tzes, or at 
 least known to be favorable to them, would dare to 
 go up there to get them," remarks the Baron in con 
 templative voice; adding: "In addition, none of his 
 followers would dare venture there unless they were 
 equally friendly to the local bandits." 
 
 Into the conversation, forgetting prudence, I in 
 trude. I step into the room and say indignantly: 
 "Baron Schevitch, this is monstrous ! Because Yal 
 ing, who has for the last three years got me everything 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 137 
 
 I wanted in this village, from a codfish to an early 
 muskmelon, does me the favor to exert himself to give 
 my guests, at my petition, a good dinner, you put a 
 suspicion upon the poor man that in the present ex 
 cited state of the country might doom him to death 
 by hasty court-martial." 
 
 Here a new phase in Baron Schevitch s character 
 greets me. He bites his lip in annoyance but rising, 
 observes : "Honored Mademoiselle Armstrong, though 
 I don t wish to dictate to my hostess, who has 
 been so kindly hospitable to me this evening, still I 
 must request you to give no hint of my suspicions to 
 the Chinese official." 
 
 "Pish I" I remark angrily. "I shall, of course, say 
 what I deem best for poor Yaling s interests." 
 
 "Then since you force it from me" Schevitch s 
 voice becomes bureaucratic "I must demand this of 
 ficially." 
 
 "And as what official?" I answer pertly. "You 
 don t wear a Russian uniform." 
 
 The Baron bites his lip again ; then says to me un 
 der his breath: "As the private agent of the Rus 
 sian Viceroy." 
 
 "Ah, at last I know your profession !" I sneer, and 
 there flashes through me the wondrous judgment of 
 
138 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 the Japanese engineer officer and his words to me in 
 Tokyo. 
 
 "I am sorry you forced me to tell you my exact 
 relationship to General Alexeieff," continues Sche- 
 vitch suavely, "but Captain Petrofsky, as head of 
 the garrison of this village, can substantiate my 
 words." 
 
 "I can/ answers the Captain shortly. "I am 
 directed to bow to Baron Schevitch in all affairs that 
 are not strictly military." 
 
 "JS T ow," remarks the Baron caustically, yet suavely, 
 "I am sure my charming hostess will give me her 
 word not to communicate my suspicions to the Chinese 
 magistrate." 
 
 "Under these circumstances, of course, I am com 
 pelled to accord my promise," I say. "I know what 
 a state of war means, and I presume if I did not you 
 would send me at once to " 
 
 "Only as far as Muchwang," remarks Schevitch 
 pleasantly ; "but I know Miss Armstrong having giv 
 en her word, will keep it. Now supposing we join 
 the other ladies and forget everything but the smiles 
 of the fair sex. Also I believe somebody suggested 
 after dinner a game of American poker." 
 
 As the Captain precedes us into the parlor, the 
 bureaucrat whispers in my ear : "You mustn t look so 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 139 
 
 indignantly at me. You know an unkind glance 
 would break the heart of Schevitch." 
 
 "Yes, from the widow in there/ I say flirtatiously. 
 
 "Oh, poor Sophie." 
 
 His tone is such that I am glad "poor Sophie" 
 doesn t hear it, and say modestly, but coquettishly : 
 "She is much prettier than I." 
 
 "Prettier than you? By Saint Vladimir, no one is 
 more beautiful at this moment ! Whose eyes are so 
 bright, whose cheeks are so flushed with roses, whose 
 little hand is so alluringly trembling as she places 
 it on my arm?" In his emotional foreign way, 
 Serge audaciously kisses the tips of my fingers. 
 There is a greater confidence and command in his 
 bearing to me. Good Heaven! does the handsome 
 blond fellow think he ll win Hilda Armstrong ? 
 
 This speech I do not answer scornfully as I would 
 like to, because I fear to gain the disfavor of the 
 secret agent of the Russian government. In some 
 way it may bring additional peril on the unfortunate 
 Sendai. That also is the reason I gave Schevitch my 
 promise not to warn poor Yaling. I feel that entire 
 liberty of action and freedom from all suspicion is 
 necessary for me to help the hapless Japanese Prince, 
 whose love for me may condemn him to a cruel death. 
 
 These emotions run through me in spasms. This 
 
140 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 evening as we play a little game of poker, which 
 the Russians like as well as the Americans, 
 whose eyes so bright as mine, whose cheeks 
 so blushing, whose fingers as they deal the cards 
 so vivaciously trembling as Hilda Armstrong s as she 
 displays four hearts and one diamond and hysteri 
 cally announces she has a flush? For the game re 
 minds me of the dashing Sendai as he played poker 
 -in the tea-house of the Rising Sun to win a shiver 
 ing geisha girl kneeling on a mat the night of the 
 water fete in Tokyo. Thinking of him now in the 
 garden outside hiding from Russian troops, I become 
 so agitated I frenziedly open a jackpot on a bobtail 
 straight and fortunately win it by drawing the neces 
 sary card. 
 
 As I frantically show my hand and rake in the 
 stakes, a kind of astounded silence falls on the play 
 ers. But the ladies cry out as I follow this up by a 
 few minutes later opening another jackpot on a pair 
 of deuces and win it by drawing three cards that con 
 tain a couple of four-spots. 
 
 The foreign gentlemen are too polite to criticise 
 my poker enormities, though I fear Captain Petrof- 
 sky thinks I am a deliberate cheat, Johnny Bristow, 
 in his brusque American way, however, remarks as I 
 pocket my roubles: "You play quite a new style of 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 141 
 
 jackpots, Miss Armstrong; very effective, too!" 
 After the game is finished I overhear him whispering 
 to Schevitch : "In Arizona they kill men for that kind 
 of poker !" 
 
 As for the Baron, he simply smiles on me in his 
 suave way and I foolishly let my desire to gain his 
 favor become apparent to Sophie Klinkofstrom. Be 
 fore the evening is over that young widow s blue eyes 
 from sapphires have grown into fire opals as they 
 inspect me with the baneful light of that uncanny 
 gem. Perhaps she thinks my devotion to Schevitch 
 is to punish her for having had the handsome Baron 
 by her side on the railway excursion. 
 
 Then Captain Petrofsky bids us good evening, I 
 asking him if possible to join us at breakfast. The 
 gentlemen would stroll down with him to his quarters 
 in the village, but he stops them by saying : "On your 
 return without me, across the bridge, you d probably 
 be shot by my sentries." 
 
 A few minutes after we hear him hoarsely chal 
 lenged by the patrol as he reaches the bridge. 
 
 Turning from this, my guests, being tired from the 
 railroad journey in a train crowded to suffocation, we 
 all go to our rooms. At the door of my chamber O lga 
 whispers to me : "You have tortured poor Sophie this 
 evening by making a slave of her special escort that 
 
142 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 she brought all the way from Port Arthur for a quiet 
 little tete-a-tete love in the hills." 
 
 At her remark I laugh in attempted carelessness; 
 but as I pace my bedroom floor I get to thinking 
 thinking of my poor coolie gardener, planning how to 
 save the life of the Prince who loves me so devotedly. 
 I am not vain, but what girl can help feeling some 
 compassion for a man who risks his life for one 
 glance of her eyes, and then by cruel circumstances 
 is not permitted even to speak to her, surrounded by 
 his enemies. As I glance in my mirror I don t won 
 der at Sendai s being wild to see me. I have certainly 
 the prettiest figure. But being modest in regard to 
 my charms, I turn my attention away from them and 
 devote my mind to projects for the salvation of my 
 unfortunate adorer, a wild idea having entered my 
 mind that, at a pinch, he might be concealed in one 
 of my two big clothes-closets that open from the end 
 of my chamber. Either of them is as large as a 
 small room, and one has a special door from the hall. 
 But that would be too desperate a method I conclude, 
 with so many Chinese servants about. 
 
 Schevitch this evening has displayed his love lor 
 me. Perhaps I can use the Baron s passion to save 
 the Japanese Prince. If so I shall not hesitate to 
 give the secret agent of Russia a slight encourage- 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 143 
 
 merit. All is fair in love or war, and this is love, and 
 war too, with a vengeance ! 
 
 Shuddering about Sendai reminds me of the peril 
 of poor Yaling, whose lamb for my guests has 
 brought suspicion on him. I cannot under my 
 promise give him a hint of his danger; but I 
 will speak if I think it is necessary for Yal- 
 ing s security. I m too American to be bossed by 
 any man, and extorted promises, I have been told, 
 are not legally binding. Oh, if Father were here 
 to ask his advice about the matter! I know he 
 thinks a good deal of Sendai. But Dad would tell 
 me to mind my own business. That would be his 
 American, unromantic horse sense, in a land where 
 martial law is proclaimed and barbarous war is being 
 waged. The Russians shoot the Chinese on suspi 
 cion; from the Muscovites, inflamed by rage at the 
 sudden onslaught of the Mikado s forces, a Japanese, 
 thought to be a spy, would have no chance of mercy. 
 Neither would the woman who aided him. 
 
 About this time there suddenly flashes through my 
 brain this astounding and horrifying thought: "If 
 Sehevitch s suspicion is correct, and Yaling is the 
 head of the local Hun-hu-tzes, and is seized upon and 
 tried by court-martial, it will greatly increase Sendai s 
 danger." 
 
144 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 With this comes another excited trembling inspira 
 tion. "Who engaged the gardener and permitted him 
 to work in our garden? Yaling! If Yaling is an 
 enemy of the Russian government he probably knows 
 that Prince Sendai is a Japanese officer; and to give 
 him a slight chance of safety has made him my gar 
 dener and set him to digging that asparagus trcnh." 
 
 I had half determined to keep away from Sendai, 
 believing that to be his best chance of safety. But 
 now I must warn him that the suspicions of the Rus 
 sian official are directed to Yaling, his Chinese pro 
 tector. 
 
 As I think this I have turned hastily to my door 
 to go down to the garden. But the clock striking 
 twelve makes me pause and mutter to myself : "Idiot ! 
 Sendai would not be toiling at the asparagus trench 
 at midnight. Even coolies are supposed to sleep ! 
 Besides," I reflect, a moment later, "near the railroad 
 track and bridge the Russian sentries are so alert that 
 if I did not answer their challenge in the darkness, I 
 should probably be shot down. That asparagus 
 trench is not twenty-five yards from the north abut 
 ment of that bridge they guard so jealously. 5 
 
 Therefore I slip off my clothes and tumble into bed, 
 where I toss about till nearly morning. 
 
 Sendai ! Sendai ! 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 145 
 
 I can think of nothing hut Sendai and his peril. 
 
 Finally sleep comes upon me, hut I have an awful 
 dream. I see Sendai hung up as a spy in my ice 
 house like I had seen the lambs Yaling had sent me 
 in the morning. Schevitch is telling me he will have 
 Japanese mutton for breakfast; and that I am to be 
 executed for cheating at poker. 
 
 I awake with a little scream of horror and spring 
 out of bed. 
 
 The sun is rising. The rumble of a train crossing 
 the bridge recalls to me the awful incidents of the 
 previous day. My bedroom windows face the rail 
 way. I glance out ; despite myself, my eyes will turn 
 towards the asparagus trench at the bottom of my 
 garden. 
 
 I rub my sleepy eyes and start with astonishment. 
 For some reason the unfortunate Sendai must have 
 slaved all night. An additional pile of mould covered 
 with manure is evidence of it, though the asparagus 
 trench seems to my distant view of it no larger than 
 it was the day before. 
 
 This is very curious. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 / 
 
 THE JUGGLER AT THE WEDDING SUPPER. 
 
 /- 
 
 After washing my face to be sure the cobwebs are 
 out of my eyes, I glance from my window again. 
 
 As I look I see old Yaling coming from my kitchen, 
 which is situated at the extreme right of my rambling 
 cottage. The smoke from its chimney indicates that 
 my cooks are already at work. Probably the kind- 
 hearted Chinaman has brought some additional lux 
 ury for my guests. 
 
 Holding a package in his hand, he is jabbering with 
 Ah Tow, who has come out from the kitchen with 
 him. A moment later Papa s valet returns to 
 his household duties and the Chinese magistrate, 
 trudging over the frosty earth, makes his way towards 
 the bottom of my garden, and reaching the little 
 house for garden tools that is next to my hotbeds 
 leaves his package in it. Then he placidly takes his 
 way back through the garden and returns to the vil 
 lage, not approaching the railroad tracks, which are 
 patroled by the Russian sentries. 
 146 
 
MY. JAPANESE PRINCE 147 
 
 A few minutes after I see my coolie gardener com 
 ing out of the asparagus trench and wandering, shovel 
 in hand, to the tool house. Quite shortly after he 
 reappears, the package in his hand. Carelessly 
 lounging upon one of my hotbeds, he opens the 
 matting that holds it together and begins to make his 
 breakfast of its contents, eating with hands and teeth, 
 like coolies of the lowest class. Then comes the in 
 variable tobacco. He is smoking a cigarette and gaz 
 ing coolly at a hand car that, propelled by some 
 section laborers guarded by four soldiers, passes along 
 the railway. 
 
 By this time I have summoned San Shoo and 
 made my morning toilette. No sounds of awakening 
 reach my ears from the other rooms. The chamber 
 occupied by Schevitch and Johnny Bristow is at the 
 other end of the house and doesn t look out upon this 
 portion of the garden. I think I will venture a walk 
 through my grounds, for I am now quite positive that 
 Yaling knows more than that Sendai is merely a 
 coolie gardener; if so, the Prince must be warned of 
 the additional danger that will come upon him should 
 the Chinese magistrate be seized. 
 
 It is not over six hundred feet from my cottage to 
 the river bank of my garden, and it doesn t take me 
 more than two minutes to stroll down carelessly to my 
 
148 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 hotbeds. But when I reach there Sendai has disap 
 peared. The remnants of his meal shock me; the 
 Japanese aristocrat, accustomed to every luxury, has 
 been devouring the hard, black bean-cake of the coun 
 try and has been drinking Tcvass, the nauseous native 
 beer. The smoke that lingers about the place indi 
 cates he has been using the vilest coolie cigarettes. 
 
 Then as I reflect on the dainty breakfast I am 
 about to give my guests I think how much I should 
 like to send Sendai a few of the luxuries that will 
 grace my table if I but dared. Anyway, I must 
 speak to him and tell him of the additional menace 
 to his life arising from the Eussian s suspicions of 
 Yaling. 
 
 Sendai is probably working in the asparagus trench. 
 I stroll up to it and gaze down into its depths. There 
 is no evidence of Sendai. Notwithstanding the addi 
 tional pile of earth covered by manure, which indi 
 cates a tremendous amount of labor, the asparagus 
 trench is apparently no larger or deeper than it had 
 been the night before. 
 
 Sendai cannot have gone very far. He must be 
 within hearing of my voice. I must speak to him and 
 venture to call in a low tone: "Coolie! John Coolie! 
 You sabe, come here! Missie wants you!" The 
 only answer I receive is the quiet rush of the icy 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 149 
 
 current of the river by which I stand and the tramp 
 of the Eussian patrol on the abutment by the water 
 tank, though the soldiers are screened from me by 
 the clump of evergreen trees. 
 
 Once more I speak peremptorily : "John Chinaman, 
 why you hide from your missie ? You no have planted 
 hotbeds. Yaling, you sabe, tell me you no good. You 
 come right here, quick, or you catchee it!" 
 
 This will give a hint to Sendai s quick mind that in 
 some way I know Yaling is connected with him ; that 
 for his own safety he must come and hear my words. 
 
 Receiving no answer, through my mind flashes the 
 noble intrepidity of the Japanese fugitive, who, de 
 spite his desperate strait, will permit himself no com 
 munication with me, fearing to put peril upon the 
 American girl he has journeyed so far to see. 
 
 Desperately I am about to speak again, when the 
 voice of Olga Petrofsky gives me a sudden start. The 
 bright Russian girl from a little distance laughs: 
 "Chinese gardener no good, eh? Heap lazy; no 
 plantee hotbeds, eh? No spring vegetables for Miss 
 Americansky." 
 
 "Well, I hardly think Miss Americansky will stay 
 here long enough for spring vegetables," remarks 
 Johnny Bristow, who stands beside the Russian young 
 lady. 
 
150 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 Apparently they had seen mo rummaging about my 
 hotbeds and strolled down to me from the cottage. 
 Both look very happily excited, but at the suggestion 
 of American exodus from Manchuria, Olga turns her 
 brown eyes piteously towards the stalwart young 
 Yankee who stands beside her. 
 
 "Aha, you have been having an early morning flir 
 tation !" I laugh, to cover my embarrassment. 
 
 At this both of their faces grow red, then won- 
 drously happy. "Yes, we have a little secret for 
 you," answers Johnny promptly. "When I leave Man 
 churia I hope to take Olga with me, and that will be 
 within a few days." 
 
 "Oh, I m so glad," I whisper, and seizing upon 
 Olga, who has turned bashfully away, give her a kiss 
 of congratulation. "You have won the best fellow in 
 Manchuria." 
 
 "Not even excepting Baron Schevitch?" murmurs 
 Miss Petrofsky, playfully. As she returns my kiss 
 I note upon her sweet lips the faint odor of tobacco. 
 Johnny Bristow is smoking. Bristow s moustache 
 must have been where my lips now are. 
 
 Ah Tow is yelling from the front door : "Blekef ast ! 
 Blckefast! Comee quick, catchee him hot!" and 
 Baron Schevitch and Sophie Klinkofstrom are wav- 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 151 
 
 ing their hands to us from the front door, suggest 
 ing morning appetite and hurry. 
 
 There is nothing for me to do at present but to 
 leave poor Sendai to his coolie labor, coolie privations 
 and princely magnanimity in his desperate peril. 
 
 As we come up the little path the Baron runs down 
 to meet us. Johnny and Olga walking ahead, the 
 Russian falls in at my side and remarks, affably: 
 "My sweet hostess is an early riser." 
 
 "Yes, when you can t sleep, just as well get up !" I 
 answer flippantly. 
 
 "Aha, disturbed slumbers !" Schevitch glances at 
 me searchingly; then mutters: "By Saint Constan- 
 tine, you look it!" 
 
 "Do I?" I giggle nervously. "I had an awful 
 nightmare. I dreamed you had Yaling hung up like 
 his spring lamb." Then, impressed by the peril of the 
 unfortunate Chinese official, I whisper, pleadingly: 
 "Don t accuse the poor fellow without better evidence 
 than his desire to do my behests and feed you well." 
 
 "Well, I suppose I could hardly convict him before 
 a court-martial on nothing stronger than spring 
 lamb," remarks the Baron, laughingly ; adding, rather 
 eagerly: "There is some more of it for breakfast, I 
 hope?" 
 
 "I think there is," I return; then give a start 
 
152 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 as my escort says: "Allow me," and kneels at my 
 feet. In my agitation I had failed to tie securely the 
 lace of one of my rather fetching high-heeled bottines, 
 
 Lingering over the knot, Schevitch s touch seems 
 authoritative. I feel as if I would like to kick him, 
 but restraining myself, say gratefully: "Thank you, 
 very much." 
 
 This little passage between us is noted by Sophie 
 from my front door, and I do not think it increases 
 her love for me. She is a very jealous woman. She 
 knows I was considered to have the prettiest ankle in 
 Port Arthur. As I raise my skirts slightly and run 
 up to join her at the portal, she remarks: "Is your 
 maid always so careless about your footgear that you 
 require the assistance of gentlemen, Hilda?" 
 
 "No," I reply nonchalantly, "Baron Schevitch is 
 seldom in attendance to officiate before breakfast." 
 
 At my foolish speech, Sophie s eyes glow like fire 
 opals; but she contrives to laugh: "You romp about 
 so, you mad girl, I wonder you keep anything on your 
 extremities." 
 
 "Yes, Dad says my shoe bills are enormous." 
 
 "What, for such little feet!" Sophie giggles and 
 kisses me. Beware of the blonde woman who kisses 
 another woman ! 
 
 We are about to step into the dining-room when 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 153 
 
 Petrofsky comes in to us quite excitedly and says: 
 "Fortunately, Colonel Genke gave me leave for break 
 fast and the company of my sister;" then laughs as 
 he salutes her : "Olga, your cheeks are very red." 
 
 Soon after we all sit down to a meal of which I 
 am proud, for there are plenty of lamb chops, lots of 
 American buckwheat cakes, real maple syrup and 
 some fresh fish also. 
 
 "I suppose," I whisper rather jeeringly to Baron 
 Schevitch, who sits next to me, "these trout are addi 
 tional evidence? Yaling brought them this morn 
 ing; also these fresh flowers." 
 
 I am sorry I made the remark, because soon after 
 I hear Schevitch say earnestly to Petrofsky: "Have 
 you discovered yet where that lamb came from?" 
 
 "No," answers the Captain, "but I know where 
 that lamb s going to!" and he proceeds to demolish 
 four or five additional chops. Russian soldiers have 
 active appetites during active service. 
 
 Yet as the Captain eats he seems to be gloomy; and 
 some questions from his sister make him say : "There 
 is an ugly report telegraphed this morning from 
 Mukden that the European journals have an account 
 of a dastardly attack upon the Variag and the 
 Korietz at Chemulpo. A whole Japanese fleet over 
 powered and destroyed them in a neutral Korean port 
 
154 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 despite the protests of the commanders of the French, 
 German and English war vessels; though they state 
 the Captain of an American gunboat made no at 
 tempt to interpose in the unjust attack." 
 
 As I reflect that the Russians have only just re 
 ceived news that my Chinaman whispered to me yes 
 terday, the Captain continues: "The despatches also 
 say that Americans generally sympathize with Japan 
 in its war upon us." Petrofsky looks so indignantly 
 at the stalwart Jack Bristow that tears fly into Olga s 
 eyes. 
 
 The American, however, meets this very promptly ; 
 he says shortly : "Of course, I do not know the feel 
 ings of my countrymen, not having been in the 
 United States for over a year, but I have no doubt 
 the American nation in this unfortunate affair will 
 strictly mind its own business and make all the 
 money it decently can impartially out of both com 
 batants. This reminds me that I shall be compelled 
 by this coming war, which has absolutely destroyed 
 all business, to leave Manchuria in a few days. In 
 this regard, Petrofsky, as breakfast is finished, may 
 I request a few words with you ? I need hardly state 
 that you have my highest esteem; I hope I shall al 
 ways have your friendship, and after you have heard 
 me your brotherhood." 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 155 
 
 "Certainly/ 7 replies the Captain. He casts a curi 
 ous glance at his sister, who has turned to the window 
 to conceal a face that is alternately very pale and fu 
 riously red. 
 
 The two gentlemen light their cigars and stroll 
 out together, leaving Schevitch and Madame Klink- 
 ofstrom gazing inquiringly at me; then they de 
 vote their attention to Olga, whose blushes and em 
 barrassed nervousness give them a hint of what is in 
 the air. The young Russian girl is agitatedly watch 
 ing her brother and her suitor as they pace the gar 
 den path together conversing earnestly. I glide to 
 her side. 
 
 To me she pleads : "Hilda, you are an American. 
 You know all about Monsieur Bristow in America. 
 Your words would aid Jack with my brother." 
 
 "It s all right, my dear girl," I answer; "they re 
 coming in, arm in arm." 
 
 All this time I am thinking how this will affect 
 the unfortunate Prince toiling in my garden. 
 
 A minute after I step into my parlor, where the 
 gentlemen have gone for consultation, and remark: 
 "Permit me to take the liberty of a hostess and give 
 you, Captain Petrofsky, some facts in regard to Mr. 
 Bristow, whom I have known long and well in Amer- 
 
156 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 "Thank you, my dear Miss Armstrong," replies 
 Jack gratefully. 
 
 "Then, Captain, I can tell you," I say with Ameri 
 can butt-in-ishness, "that Johnny Bristow is as good 
 a fellow as you can find in Rhode Island. Besides, I 
 am pretty sure he owns a good deal of stock in the 
 big Fall River mills and has what we in Yankeeland 
 call rocks/ " 
 
 "That is not necessary," replies Petrofsky. "Mon 
 sieur Bristow has already given me ample assurance 
 of his financial ability to take good care of a wife. I 
 am not disposed to ask any extraordinary provision 
 for Olga, because she can only have a small settlement 
 from me. My father, the old general, was too hon 
 est to become very rich, though he commanded a 
 Trans-Caspian district for several years before his 
 death. Our mother having long passed away, I am 
 my sister s only guardian, and for the past few days 
 have been distracted, not knowing where to send her 
 in case of Japanese invasion of Manchuria. If Olga 
 has given her heart to you, my American brother, I 
 thank God that my dear sister will have a home far 
 away from the clash of arms." He wrings Jack s 
 hand. 
 
 "Now, as Jack is going away very soon and the 
 marriage must take place very shortly," I say, pertly, 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 157 
 
 "you had better step into the dining-room, where you 
 will find your sister, Captain Petrofsky, and give her 
 a kiss and your blessing/ 
 
 "Ah, my sister loves Monsieur Bristow?" queries 
 Petrofsky, earnestly. 
 
 "Rather I 9 I answer, so confidently that Jack emits 
 a merry laugh. 
 
 I am delighted also. The approaching wedding 
 will occupy my guests thoughts. I have been won 
 dering how to keep them sufficiently busy in this 
 cooped-up place to prevent their patrolling my 
 grounds and paying much attention to the lower end 
 of the garden. Coming nuptials will make everybody 
 busy and diminish Sendai s danger. 
 
 A moment after, Captain Petrofsky returns and 
 asks me excitedly: "Can we use your parlor for the 
 ceremony ?" 
 
 "What? Olga is to be married here?" 
 
 "Yes, with your permission, esteemed Miss Arm 
 strong ?" 
 - "When?" 
 
 "This evening." 
 
 I excitedly clap my hands. Jack Bristow s nup 
 tials will be a factor in Prince Sendai s safety. Even 
 the suave Schevitch, who, they tell me, is to be the 
 
158 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 best man, will have enough to do to keep his thoughts 
 from official investigation of Yaling. 
 
 In a feverish, excited way I do everything in my 
 power to make the ceremony a success. All three gen 
 tlemen hastily leave us to go down to the village to 
 make the necessary arrangements, Petrofsky to get 
 leave for the evening from Colonel Genke, Schevitch 
 to go on to Polandien, the district headquarters, 
 where the padre or Russian priest of Petrofsky s reg 
 iment is sure to be found. "I will bring him back 
 with me/ says the energetic Baron to the excited 
 and blushing Olga; "likewise, if I can get leave for 
 them, enough of the regimental band to play your 
 wedding march." 
 
 We three ladies being alone together, as hostess, I 
 start Ah Tow to making my household ready for the 
 hymeneal festival, telling him to demand from Yaling 
 a lot of evergreens for parlor decoration; also two 
 more Chinese boys to wait upon my guests. 
 
 Though I am very anxious to communicate with 
 Sendai, I am compelled to devote myself with Sophie 
 to the bride s costume. Olga has brought little with 
 her. In fact, there had been no room for baggage 
 upon the train. I have several trunks full of dresses 
 at my country bungalow, and between Sophie, myself 
 and San Shoo we arrange a very simple but pretty 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 159 
 
 nuptial robe of pure white, Eussian fashion, for 
 the bride. "Though we will only be able to give you 
 artificial orange blossoms," I whisper to the blushing 
 girl. 
 
 But Olga is so happy I think she d marry Jack 
 Bristow in rags, pajamas or any old thing if neces 
 sary. 
 
 Yet all the time my brain seems to be on fire. How 
 shall I speak with Sendai? Twice I have ventured 
 down the garden alone, but Olga or Sophie has called 
 me back to ask about some article of dress, or Ah 
 Tow has yelled after me: "Lookie here, Missie, how 
 about champlagne glasses for all Eussie officers ?" 
 
 Petrofsky has told me that some of his comrades 
 in the regiment, if they can obtain leave, will surely 
 attend the ceremony. 
 
 Besides, every now and then there is a train going 
 down towards Port Arthur laden with soldiers, and 
 I am compelled to stay with the rest of the ladies and 
 wave flags to them, which the_ sunny-haired Eussian 
 boys answer with cries and bravos and cheers, as they 
 journey perhaps to death on the field of battle. 
 
 So the day has hurried on without my having a sin 
 gle opportunity of safely getting word to the Prince. 
 I know he is working down there. Another mound 
 covered by manure is making its appearance. Why is 
 
160 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 it necessary for Sendai to be always slaving to make 
 the Russians believe he is a coolie ? Some coolies are 
 very lazy. There is one lying down at the upper end 
 of my compound who has done nothing but smoke 
 cigarettes for an hour though I believe he brought 
 a bundle of green branches from Yaling early in the 
 day. 
 
 By this time the gentlemen have come back again, 
 and that puts additional impediment to my communi 
 cation with the unfortunate Japanese Prince. 
 
 Jack has returned from the village and says he has 
 made all his business arrangements by telegraph ; and 
 that Colonel Genke had been very kind in permitting 
 him the use of the lines for a few minutes. Conse 
 quently it will not be necessary for him to go back to 
 Dalny; he can take his bride immediately on to iSTiu- 
 chwang. 
 
 "Wait a couple of days and Dad will be back and 
 we ll join you there/ I suggest. 
 
 Just here Schevitch returns to make me more 
 anxious than ever about Sendai. He hears my speech 
 and looks mournfully at me as he states that the 
 padre has journeyed with him on the train from 
 Polandicn and is already in the village ; that he has 
 brought half a dozen regimental musicians with him 
 for the wedding march and two or three officers of 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 161 
 
 the regiment who have succeeded in getting leave for 
 the evening. "Though at Polandien it was almost 
 more than we could do to get aboard the return train, 
 which had been commandeered for a regiment that 
 has been forwarded hurriedly from Harbin. If the 
 Japs dare to land on this peninsula they ll get 
 death/ he remarks. Then chancing to note Sendai s 
 magnificent present that has been brought out for the 
 adornment of my parlor for the wedding festivity, 
 he remarks: "Why, haven t I seen that in Sendai s 
 quarters in Tokyo ?" 
 
 "Yes," I reply; "it was a present from the Prince 
 on my leaving the Japanese Capital." 
 
 Schevitch strolls up to it, glances over its magnifi 
 cent embellishments, and observes : "I didn t suppose 
 the Sendais would permit that unrivaled piece of an 
 cient cloisonne to leave their family. The old Daimio 
 houses hoard these things as if they were much more 
 precious than family diamonds." 
 
 Anxiety making me foolish, I. laugh, sugges 
 tively: "Perhaps Sendai doesn t think it will leave 
 his family," and am horrified at the miserable jeal 
 ousy that for a moment makes Schevitch s cheeks 
 exceedingly pale. Why do so many men love me? 
 It s an awful bother. 
 
 "Diable!" he remarks, mockingly; "then I presume 
 
162 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 we heave one of our Japanese enemies in the room?" 
 "Pshaw, do you suppose Olga s an American be 
 cause she s going to marry Jack Bristow ?" I cry, im 
 pulsively. 
 
 I could bite off my tongue for this crazy insinua 
 tion. Schevitch s eyes instead of being mournful 
 become moodily vindictive. I know now he 
 thinks I am promised to Sendai and hates him not 
 merely with a race hatred, but with a personal malig 
 nity. If ever he gets the chance, God help my Japan 
 ese adorer in the garden ! Dad says I m a fool for my 
 impulsive speeches, but I m not an idiot, only I speak 
 first and reflect afterward. 
 
 I have demanded from Yaling flowers, if possible 
 if not, evergreens for the decoration of the prem 
 ises. That Chinese official is in the house jabbering 
 with my servants as he delivers to them a lot of Si 
 berian mistletoe and Manchurian holly. In his kindly 
 Mongolian way, in company with the lazy coolie, who 
 I now learn is to aid my servants in the dining-room, 
 he is arranging the green boughs about the house. 
 
 To the secret agent of Russia I whisper, jeeringly : 
 "Don t those evergreens Yaling has brought from the 
 hills add to your Hun-hu-tze suspicions of my Chi 
 nese coadjutor?" 
 
 Whereupon Schevitch returns in low voice: "At 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 163 
 
 your peril, don t forget your promise! No word to 
 that suspect. Military law is here, Miss Armstrong, 
 and you must be aware, though American, you are 
 subject to it." 
 
 "Thank you for reminding me," I reply. Then I 
 affect a playful dread and plead riantly : "You don t 
 suppose they ll shoot me for fresh lamb, do you ?" A 
 moment after the laugh leaves my face and I shiver. 
 I am perfectly aware that for aiding a Japanese spy 
 the Russians, in their present temper, might even ex 
 ecute me, Hilda Armstrong, a sovereign American 
 girl. The sensational tragedy would permit blood- 
 red headlines in the New York evening papers, but I 
 wonder if the United States would make war upon 
 Russia for it. I don t suppose they would, because 
 I am going to do things that, under military law, 
 American common sense tells me I should not do. 
 
 I look at poor Yaling and conclude that I will give 
 him a hint of his danger. If he is innocent he will 
 not perceive it; should he be guilty he will probably 
 take my tip. 
 
 We are all bustling about putting up the sweet- 
 smelling leaves in the parlor, hall and dining-room. 
 I know that a broken bough among certain of the 
 Turkoman and Mongolian tribes of Asia is considered 
 a warning signal. During our decoration labors, at 
 
164 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 my first opportunity when Schevitch s eyes are not 
 upon me, I break, apparently accidentally, a small 
 evergreen branch and drop it at the foot of the Chi 
 nese official, who is directing the coolies near me. 
 
 The first of these Yaling does not appear to no 
 tice, but a minute or two after when I obtain another 
 chance and break another bough, as it slips from my 
 trembling fingers and falls at his feet, his sharp little 
 Tartar eyes are turned upon me inquiringly. Then 
 he goes on with his w r ork. 
 
 Two minutes later we are hanging up the green 
 stuff in the hall. Schevitch has stepped out onto the 
 little front portico, where the winter sun rests quite 
 warmly, and has lighted a cigarette. I have another 
 opportunity. I break another bough and as it falls 
 from my quaking hand to the floor immediately 
 in front of the Chinese magistrate a sudden change 
 seems to come over him. 
 
 For a moment his feet in their big blue felt-soled 
 Chinese shoes quiver slightly; his almond optics have 
 a startled appearance. He looks at me anxiously. 
 
 I break deliberately a bough of Siberian holly and 
 drop it in front of him. 
 
 As he perceives I do this with intention, Yaling s 
 yellow face becomes of an ashy, deathly gray hue, but 
 his Tartar eyes flash with a quick, cunning, cat-like 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 165 
 
 resolution. He calmly directs his coolie boys till the 
 decoration is finished, then whispers a few hurried 
 words in a Mongol dialect to the lazy coolie. As I 
 stroll out to Schevitch and say: "I will enjoy the 
 smoke of your cigarette second hand, my dear Baron/ 
 I note Yaling departing from my compound and tak 
 ing his way towards the village with steps that seem 
 to grow quicker and more athletic the greater the 
 distance he puts between himself and my cottage. 
 
 Shortly after we have an early dinner and the bride 
 disappears to be arrayed for the ceremony. I go to 
 my room and put on an evening gown. Then, as the 
 sun descends in the west, my front gate opens and 
 there comes up the path leading from the railroad 
 the Russian regimental padre in his priest s cap and 
 robes of office preceded by a boy bearing an image of 
 Olga s patron saint, followed respectfully by Captain 
 Petrofsky and four other Russian officers, headed by 
 the little band of music ; also a squad of Russian in 
 fantry to see that their officers are safe during festiv 
 ity. Behind them marches stern and erect a military- 
 looking man in the full uniform of a Russian colonel. 
 It is Genke, who has stolen a little time from his du 
 ties as commandant of the troops guarding the rail 
 road to give his blessing to the sister of his favorite 
 captain, The precise, resolute face of this man who 
 
166 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 had been a hero in the Russo-Turkish war and 
 fought under SkobeleS at Geok Tepe is kindly as he 
 thanks me for my hospitality to a Russian girl in a 
 land upon which war has now descended. But as I 
 look into the Colonel s clear, steel-gray eyes, I know 
 I am gazing on an officer who would have little mercy 
 for a captured spy, beyond the pale of military sym 
 pathy and outside military law. 
 
 Some words that he says to one of his captains 
 strike my ear and make me desperate. "Captain 
 Gorgy, did you issue the orders for the arrest before 
 you left my quarters?" he remarks in military tone. 
 
 "Yes, Colonel," answers the Captain, saluting; "a 
 lieutenant and a platoon of men are seeking for the 
 old Chinaman. I am sorry I had the orders; he gave 
 us some very good beef." 
 
 I know to whom they refer Yaling! It is dark 
 now. At my first opportunity I must warn Sendai. 
 His life depends upon it. 
 
 Then the wedding music sounds sweetly and softly 
 as if there were naught but happiness upon this earth, 
 and the bride enters my parlor looking very pretty 
 very trembling very blushing yet extremely happy 
 as she gazes at the big American bridegroom standing 
 beside her. 
 
 Sophie in a soft green gauze looks extremely Ian- 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 167 
 
 guishing as she stations herself with Schevitch just 
 behind Jack Bristow and his bride. 
 
 The wedding ceremony is over. As the groom is 
 pot a member of the Eussian Church the canopy and 
 candles have been omitted. The padre has blessed 
 them. The ring has passed, Eussian fashion. Colonel 
 Genke has placed his silvery moustache upon Olga s 
 forehead and presented her with a picture of her 
 patron saint. 
 
 Every one is soon in my dining-room drinking the 
 bride s health. Champagne is flowing. Even the 
 martinet Genke, unbending under its influence, is say 
 ing that he hopes that the bond between a Eussian 
 young lady and an American gentleman will be a har 
 binger of friendship between the two great countries. 
 
 As I listen to him I can see that the Eussians want 
 sympathy now that Japan is hitting them in the eye. 
 
 The whole wedding party are busy over the good 
 things that I have had prepared for them, for I have 
 contrived a very appetizing supper, and the frontier 
 officers are eating a meal that they would hardly get 
 at AlexeiefPs vice-regal palace. I want to keep them 
 occupied sufficiently to forget their hostess for a few 
 minutes that is all ! 
 
 Now is my opportunity. I will pass into the pan 
 try, apparently to give orders to my servants, and 
 
168 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 from there into the darkness. For this reason I ex 
 cuse myself in rather a loud voice to Colonel Genke, 
 who would keep his young hostess by his side and 
 drink another glass of wine with her. To me the 
 veteran whispers gallantly that I look even more 
 charming than the bride. 
 
 Perhaps I do. There is a fever in my veins. 
 
 To him I return archly : "You shall tell me more 
 of that when I come back, my dear Colonel. At pres 
 ent you must excuse your hostess, for I have to ar 
 range with my own hands a piece de patisserie for 
 you. A few minutes and you will see." 
 
 I break away from him, and with a little laugh run 
 off into my pantry. Here, dodging Ah Tow, who is 
 busy with the other Chinese servants, I pass out by 
 the back way into the darkness. 
 -My feet tremble so I can scarcely walk. 
 
 Pausing a moment I kilt my long lace skirts to 
 avoid outlying brambles, and knowing the garden 
 path very well, trip cautiously along it. The night is 
 not extremely dark, but the switch lights by the 
 water-tank seem warningly bright to me. As I near 
 these my steps are very silent; the railway bridge is 
 so close that the Russian sentries may challenge me. 
 I cannot remain from my guests more than a few 
 minutes. I grope hastily about my little garden house 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 169 
 
 no one is there. I glide to the asparagus trench 
 and look in; I can distinguish no one. A touch of 
 sanity in my mind tells me I am taking great 
 risk for Sendai, but I do not regret it, A man who 
 ventures his life for love of me shall at least have 
 some return, though I cannot wed him. 
 
 I again peer into the asparagus trench. No one is 
 there. Desperately I whisper : "Johnny Coolie ! Must 
 see you quick, Johnny Coolie !" 
 
 No answer but the rushing swish of the river as it 
 flows past me and the tramp of the sentries on the 
 bridge ; though as I listen I think I hear a movement 
 in the garden not very far from me. I blink about 
 but can distinguish nothing suspicious. 
 
 Sendai will not come to me because he know r s the 
 peril word with him might bring upon me. I can 
 not linger, Colonel Genke will be demanding his 
 hostess soon. 
 
 There comes floating down to me the faint music 
 of the Eussian band from my cottage on the hillside. 
 It is a ragtime tune one of those I heard the Japan 
 ese band play at the Tokyo water fete as Sendai won 
 the geisha girl at poker. 
 
 Of a sudden a bright but cruel expedient enters my 
 head. Not daring to use the name of the Mikado, 
 which all Russians know, I employ the title by which 
 
170 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 the Japanese Emperor is commonly spoken of in 
 Tokyo streets, and whisper into the trench: "Awful 
 news ! The Tcnslii has been assassinated !" 
 
 At my words, from the end of he trench near the 
 railway, arises a kind of sighing moan. As well as 
 I can seen in the darkness, an earth-colored mat is 
 pushed aside from the lower part of the excavation 
 and something crawling on hands and knees comes 
 near me and a pair of eyes blazing with agony look 
 into mine, as to me is shuddered: "By Izanagi, tell 
 me that is not true! 
 
 "It is not ! It is a cruel lie !" I whisper. "But I 
 was compelled to have word with you." 
 
 Then comes the answer that I expect: "No com 
 munication! For your own life, esteemed young 
 lady, leave me !" 
 
 "But I cannot go," I say eagerly, "until I have 
 done something for the safety of the man who has 
 risked his life for a glance of my eyes. Oh, could 
 you not foresee coming war ? Why were you so rash in 
 your devotion to me to put yourself in this horrible 
 jeopardy, where you dare not even conceal yourself 
 in Tartar hut, and are compelled to dig a hole in the 
 earth to keep you from your foes, and all this for love 
 of me " 
 
 My Japanese adorer must be the bravest man in the 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 171 
 
 world. With the quick, sharp death of a spy hanging 
 over him he absolutely laughs slightly at my terrors 
 for him. Then he says shortly : "Not another sylla 
 ble ! Should I be seized, for your own safety before 
 Eussian court-martial, you must be able to swear no 
 word of warning has been given me by you/ 
 
 "But I iv ill warn you !" I whisper defiantly. "Yal- 
 ing, who engaged you as gardener here, is being 
 sought for by Russian troops." 
 
 My words "apparently put desperation into Sendai. 
 They have scarce left my lips than he has disap 
 peared into the trench as if some motive had forced 
 him to immediate and rapid action. 
 
 I dare not call to him again. I have told him 
 everything I can. He now knows Yaling is suspected. 
 To remain longer were but to add to his peril. I rap 
 idly but tremblingly make my way up the garden path 
 to the back door of my cottage. 
 
 Before I venture into the house I hurriedly, with 
 quaking hands, unkilt my skirts and drop the long 
 lace petticoats about my feet so that the half-frozen 
 river mud that must now soil my delicate boots and 
 silken stockings shall not be noticeable. 
 
 As I enter the pantry Yaling s lazy coolie, who has 
 been handing refreshments about in the dining-room 
 and is now about to assist Ah Tow in bringing in the 
 
172 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 piece de patisserie of the wedding supper, glances at 
 me rather earnestly. 
 
 I look at the coolie and am sure I have never seen 
 his cute Mongolian face before. 
 
 Then I step into my dining-room, followed by Ah 
 Tow and the other boy, bearing two big pyramids, 
 one of ice-cream made with condensed milk and the 
 other a water ice of oranges, of which we have plenty 
 in the house, a dozen of the yellow fruit decorating 
 the dish. 
 
 As I enter the band is playing merrily and the 
 champagne is flowing rapidly. Even the guard of 
 troops outside the front door seem to be merry, for I 
 had requested Colonel Genke to permit his men to 
 drink the bride s health, and am pretty sure that they 
 have done it quite thoroughly ; the lazy coolie having 
 carelessly given them more vodka than I had ordered. 
 
 Xo one has missed their hostess s presence; even 
 Schevitch seems to be devoted to Sophie Ivlinkof- 
 strom, who is seated by him eagerly whispering into 
 his ear. 
 
 A little applause greets the two cool pyramids; 
 Russians like sweets and the ices arc unexpected. 
 The Colonel with a smile beckons me to his side. 
 
 "I cannot vouch for the cream/ 7 I say, modestly, 
 "but it is probably as good as you d get at Niuchwang 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 173 
 
 or Port Arthur. But the water ice fresh oranges 
 I can recommend it." 
 
 "Yes, if you have sweetened it with your fingers," 
 remarks Genke, with Continental military gallantry. 
 
 "I have," I laugh, "I squeezed the oranges." 
 
 "Ah, then it must be delicious." 
 
 "But everything seems appetizing tonight !" cries 
 one of the young Russian officers, and the com 
 pany fall upon the cool pyramids and wash, them 
 down with champagne. 
 
 About this time I chance to glance at the blonde 
 widow, and note with some astonishment several 
 patches of mud upon the green gauzes of her elab 
 orately trimmed sweeping skirt. Has she been in the 
 garden also perhaps taking a lovers stroll with 
 Schevitch ? But his boots seem immaculate. 
 
 Sophie whispers a word or two into the Baron s 
 ear. He glances at the lower part of my robe. My 
 eyes follow his. Great goodness ! I had not kilted 
 my skirts sufficiently high as I knelt down whispering 
 into the trench some of the river mud has soiled 
 the white laces of my trailing evening gown. The 
 tell-tale evidence is on my jupes now. 
 
 I grow perturbed and cry nervously to the Colonel : 
 "I have not forgotten your invitation ; now for a glass 
 of champagne with me !" 
 
174 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 The gallant military martinet is about to pour out 
 the wine when the Baron, rising, says abruptly: 
 "Colonel Genke, can I have a word or two with you 
 in the parlor for one moment?" 
 
 Something in Schevitch s manner makes Genke re 
 ply: "Instantly!" 
 
 But as he leaves the room he whispers pleasantly: 
 "Fill my glass, honored Miss Armstrong; I will be 
 back with you in a moment." 
 
 I am about to do so, but Petrofsky stepping beside 
 me suggests, courteously: "Let me help my esteemed 
 hostess." To me he whispers: "You are quite pale 
 and your hand is trembling." 
 
 As he pours out the sparkling liquid, I gaze at him 
 dazed by a sudden suspicious fear. Why has Sophie 
 mud upon her skirts why after her whisper did 
 Schevitch glance at my soiled train and immediately 
 demand word with the Colonel ? 
 
 A moment later Genke commands from the hall: 
 "Captain Petrofsky, quick, please!" 
 
 The Captain steps out to him, and I tremble as I 
 hear Genke order: "Place a guard about the house! 
 Let no one leave it ! Then take a detail with torches 
 and examine carefully and thoroughly the garden by 
 the bank of the river !" 
 
 I hear Petrofsky order his men to step lively ; and a 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 175 
 
 score of twinkling torches are gliding down the river 
 path. 
 
 Eternal Heaven ! has my visit of warning brought 
 suspicion upon Prince Sendai ? 
 
 One or two of the other Eussian officers would step 
 out, but the Colonel says : "Xo need of your services 
 yet, gentlemen; continue the festivities. Now, hon 
 ored Miss Armstrong, I will drink with you." 
 
 I dare give no sign; I do not venture to even gaze 
 out of the window, but try to laugh gaily and say pert, 
 coquettish little speeches as I clink my glass with that 
 of the Eussian commander. 
 
 So the wedding fete goes on, my heart colder than 
 the ice-cream I force myself to eat, which doesn t ap 
 pear to agree with me, for I feel desperately sick as 
 I listen with sinking spirit for Petrofsky s return. 
 And all the time Schevitclrs gray eyes are asking me 
 questions and Sophie s blue orbs have a horrible 
 mocking in them. Once I think she is about to open 
 her lips to the Colonel, but the Baron s hand tightens 
 on her round white arm restrainingly. 
 
 A few minutes later there are cries and commotion 
 down by the bridge and Petrofsky comes hurriedly 
 back with an additional detail of men and requests 
 his commander to step out to him. By the Captain s 
 face I know something momentous has happened. 
 
176 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 After one minute s quick conversation, Colonel 
 Genke s words ring out: "All officers and men 
 follow Petrofsky! Captain Gorgy, take all the rail 
 road guards and examine the south abutment and 
 mid-river piers of the bridge, quick !" Then, for 
 Olga and Sophie have uttered little screams, he tries 
 to calm us women by saying: "There is no need, 
 ladies, to be alarmed. Though, by the blessing of God, 
 we have caught a spy red-handed. Keep the music 
 going." 
 
 But his words, despite the Colonel s assurance, put 
 a stop to festivity. Jack Bristow, implored by his 
 bride, asks hurriedly of Schevitch: "What the deuce 
 is up ?" 
 
 "Oh, nothing; but our troops have caught a Japan 
 ese spy attempting to blow up the bridge at the bot 
 tom of the grounds, that s all," answers the Baron 
 with a curious look at me and slips into the parlor to 
 get a view of the garden, that is now alive with men 
 and sparkling with torches. 
 
 The dining-room has no view of the river; so every 
 one is in the parlor, looking out of its windows. But 
 I dare not gaze. I slink miserably back into the din 
 ing-room and shudder and shiver and pray to God 
 for poor Sendai, as my perturbed eyes rest upon the 
 remnants of my feast. 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 177 
 
 As I do so astonishment makes the blood rush 
 through my veins and brings back warmth to my cold 
 heart. The lazy coolie, who had been loafing and 
 smoking about the grounds during the afternoon and 
 waiting carelessly on my guests during the evening 
 and recklessly giving vodka to the soldiers outside, 
 now picks up three or four oranges from the decora 
 tion of the water ice, tosses them in the air, and, as 
 they reach the apex of their flight, transfixes each by 
 a flying fork. Then putting another fork in his mouth, 
 after a peculiar, athletic contortion, he catches the 
 last descending yellow sphere impaled upon it and 
 steps quietly into the butler s pantry. 
 
 God of Heaven, I ve seen that marvelous juggling 
 before! On the barge at the Tokyo water fete! 
 Though the face in its wondrous make-up is entirely 
 that of a Chinese boy, I know the "lazy-coolie" that 
 has been brought here by Yaling is Kamu Iviguro, 
 the actor of the Kabukiza Theatre, and devoted to 
 Prince Sendai for life or for death, after the manner 
 of the Japanese Samurai. 
 
 But Kiguro can do nothing to save his daimio 
 now ! The tramp of armed men tells me that. Genke 
 returns to the house and says : "Ladies and gentle 
 men, I must ask you to vacate the parlor. My dear 
 Miss Armstrong, I beg you to pardon me, but I am 
 
178 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 compelled to use your house for military purposes for 
 an hour. The sight of a Japanese prisoner up in the 
 village would create such excitement among the na 
 tive population, I might be compelled to shoot a few of 
 them. Captain Petrofsky and Captain Gorgy will 
 act with me three make a drumhead. Schevitch, we 
 may want your evidence, though from my own eyes 
 the prisoner s labors are evidence enough to hang a 
 dozen men!" 
 
 My knees knock together as I think of poor Sendai. 
 I look at the flashing torches that are coming up the 
 garden. They are bringing in the prisoner, his hands 
 bound behind his back with cruel cords, and 
 heavily guarded by men who handle their guns ready 
 to shoot him down if he dares to fly. As he en 
 ters the hall the lights flash on Sendai s face. In 
 some way I know that my visit to him has brought 
 destruction upon him. 
 
 I turn my face away and see back of the crowd the 
 coolie juggler and oh, Kiguro s eyes, as they bring 
 his beloved master in to death ! 
 
 The bride, half swooning, has been supported to 
 her own room by her husband. Schevitch and Sophie 
 sit in the dining-room whispering earnestly together. 
 I pace the rear portion of my hall, the/ part furthest 
 from the parlor, from which the low rumble of men s 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 179 
 
 voices seems to drive me crazy. Three doors open 
 from this part of the hall, one to my own bedroom,, 
 another to Dad s, which is now occupied by Olga; a 
 third to the clothes-closet, which leads by another 
 dooj into my chamber. This hall continues back to 
 the servants rooms and kitchen. 
 
 Soon I see Genke open the parlor door, an uncom 
 promising harshness on his face, and hear him com 
 mand: "This way, Baron Schevitch; we ll hear your 
 evidence, though it s practically unnecessary. Lieu 
 tenant Poloff has just discovered the mine with its 
 fuse which the prisoner was about to explode under 
 the abutment." 
 
 Schevitch passes into the parlor with the Colonel. 
 To myself I jeer : "Accused of attempting to blow up 
 the bridge ? What idiotic nonsense ! When the un 
 fortunate Japanese Prince came here for love of me !" 
 
 With this a little hope for Sendai enters my heart. 
 They ll not be cruel enough to kill a man because he 
 could not keep away from my bright eyes. At all 
 events, notwithstanding the frightfully embarrass 
 ing nature of my explanation, whether it brings dan 
 ger to me or not, the court-martial must hear the 
 truth from my lips about the unfortunate Japanese 
 Prince. 
 
EPISODE THE THIRD. 
 
 THE MIDNIGHT SUBSTITUTION. 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SENDAI S SACRIFICE FOR ME. 
 
 I rap rapidly on Olga s door. Jack Bristow steps 
 out to me and looks astonished as I say: "Please let 
 Colonel Genke know that I must give my evidence 
 before that court." 
 
 "Indeed, you mustn t !" the American answers. "If 
 you had anything to do with the matter you must 
 keep quiet for your own safety, Miss Armstrong. Be 
 sides, the sight of a Japanese spy about to be executed 
 is too cruel a spectacle for a woman s eyes." 
 
 "I were a miserable coward if I let them execute 
 that man/ I whisper hoarsely, "and did not tell them 
 what might save his life!" 
 
 "Save the life of a Jap spy ? At this moment noth 
 ing could do that," mutters Jack, unbelievingly. 
 
 Here Olga, stepping out to us, would nervously call 
 her bridegroom to her, but he replies to the sweet girl 
 180 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 181 
 
 very tenderly: "Remain in your room,, please, dear 
 one. I am all right, though Miss Armstrong is, I 
 fear, in trouble !" 
 
 All the time the tramp of the sentries about the 
 house and the low hum of conversation from the room 
 in which the drumhead court-martial is held seem to 
 compel my evidence. I say, frantically: "You must 
 get me an interview with Genke." 
 
 Seeing I am resolved, Jack leads Olga in her room, 
 gives her a reassuring kiss, comes to my side, and re 
 marks gloomily but resolutely: "Now, Miss Arm 
 strong, I will step in with you to the court-martial 
 and keep you out of trouble if I can." 
 
 I imagine Bristow thinks I am demented. 
 
 Together we walk along the hall to the parlor door. 
 In front of it stand two sentries, who cross their 
 rifles to bar my entrance. But I call out: "Colonel 
 Genke, please tell your men to let me in. I have 
 some evidence to give you evidence that is important 
 for the prisoner." 
 
 An orderly opens the door and the Colonel, whose 
 face is now frigid with determination, and whose 
 bearing is that of the judicial military autocrat, says, 
 curtly: "No court-martial can be deaf to such a de 
 mand !" and motions me into the parlor ; Jack, though 
 uninvited, resolutely stepping after me. I can see 
 
182 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 by Bristow s bearing that he means to stand by an 
 American girl no matter what it may cost him. His 
 hand is cold as he gives mine a reassuring squeeze and 
 we look upon the cruel scene. 
 
 My parlor, still bright with the green decorations 
 for the wedding, has become a place of awful retalia 
 tion that they call military justice. The center- 
 table holding Sendai s princely gift to me has been 
 shoved aside and replaced by an upturned drum. 
 Around this Colonel Genke and his two captains are 
 seated. Upon it Captain Gorgy, writing hurriedly, is 
 recording the evidence The lamps in the room are 
 turned up. In their full light, standing securely 
 bound before his judges, his disguising pigtail having 
 been pulled from his head, I see Prince Sendai. A 
 bitter disappointment makes his dark eyes sad, but no 
 trace of fear is upon his delicate but determined fea 
 tures, that are as aristocratically debonair as when 
 he held up four queens and won a trembling geisha 
 girl in Tokyo. 
 
 Schevitch, who has apparently finished his evi 
 dence, gives me a quick, veiled glance of awful warn 
 ing; but unheeding this, I confront the dread con 
 clave. The three officers rise to meet me and headed 
 by Genke bow punctiliously. 
 
 "Gentlemen," I say, hurriedly, desperately, for I 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 183 
 
 am perfectly aware I am putting peril upon myself. 
 "I demand to be permitted to give my evidence in 
 favor of this gentleman here who " 
 
 But Genke, cutting short my words, interrupts me 
 sharply: "Baron Schevitch has already identified the 
 prisoner as Prince Sendai, an officer of the Japanese 
 General Staff and Captain in their Engineer Corps. 
 Your evidence is entirely unnecessary., honored Miss 
 Armstrong/ 
 
 I can see the Colonel intends to prevent my saying 
 anything that may compromise me. 
 
 "In addition/ he goes on, "the proof against the 
 prisoner is absolutely complete. He was seized in 
 the very act of placing a mine under the abutment of 
 that bridge. For this purpose he had already with 
 wondrous engineering skill, without timber supports, 
 excavated a tunnel nearly thirty yards in length ; and 
 so small he must have crawled through it on his hands 
 and knees. Had he not been seized, in less than an 
 hour our railway communication with Port Arthur 
 would have been destroyed." 
 
 "That is nonsense !" I ejaculate, hurriedly. 
 
 Here the prisoner interrupts me the first impo 
 lite act of his life to me. "Colonel Genke," he says, 
 "to prevent the American young lady saying a word 
 in this trial, I announce myself as the Japanese officer 
 
184 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 identified by Baron Schevitch. I assert that if I had 
 had but another hour, I would have blown up that 
 bridge. In fact, had the earth not caved upon me last 
 night,, for I dared not use timber,, I would have sent 
 that abutment into the air while your music up here 
 was playing the wedding march. It would have been 
 as good as a victorious battle to my Mikado !" 
 
 There is no bravado in his concise words; he is sim 
 ply making a military statement. 
 
 Then comes a scene of old-time chivalry in this 
 modern world. The Colonel salutes his prisoner def 
 erentially, and remarks: "I thank you, Captain 
 Prince Sendai, for not permitting this devoted young 
 lady s evidence, which might have been cruelly unfor 
 tunate for her. As an officer of the Japanese General 
 Staff you know the laws of war as well as I. I have 
 got to hang you, but I shall take off my hat to you as 
 a brave man." Petrofsky and Gorgy also salute rev 
 erently the chivalric spirit they are going to send to 
 another world. A half-dozen sharp words with his 
 officers, and Genke condemns the man, whose real 
 crime is loving me, to be hung from the girders of the 
 bridge. "This will prove to the Chinese malcontents 
 about us that it is death to meddle with our railway," 
 he remarks, curtly. 
 
 As he speaks, I break in almost hysterically: "I 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 185 
 
 will be heard! This mine business is all nonsense! 
 It is but to save me from danger that Sendai acknowl 
 edges what makes it impossible for you to spare him." 
 
 Bound as he is, the Prince tries to interrupt me by 
 a gesture, but I continue almost deliriously: "In 
 Tokyo he believed himself my affianced. You cannot 
 deny it, Sendai. Look, his princely present shows 
 that!" I point to the magnificent cloisonne orna 
 ment as it stands upon my table. 
 
 The grandeur of the Prince s gift impresses the 
 Russian officers. As they gaze upon it, Sendai s face 
 seems astonished, almost appalled. 
 
 He is about to speak, but I break out deliriously 
 again : "That man came to this country simply to see 
 m v f ace his sweetheart s ! Though there was suffi 
 cient feeling between his country and yours to prevent 
 his getting a passport, it was before the war broke out. 
 The sudden attack of the Japanese, which was as un 
 expected to him as to you Eussian officers, cut him off 
 from return to his country. He was compelled to 
 seek safety in the disguise of a coolie laborer. That 
 is his whole crime loving me his affianced !" 
 
 Then I pause shamefacedly. I turn away my head ; 
 my countenance, which had been pallid, grows red 
 with blushes under Sendai s piercing glance. Oh, the 
 gratitude in his dark eyes ! 
 
186 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 "How do you know this ?" asks Gorgy suddenly and 
 suspiciously. 
 
 But Genke imperiously signals for me not to an 
 swer his officer. 
 
 "She knows nothing," interjects the Japanese 
 Prince. "Do you suppose I would make a woman 
 an accomplice in a desperate military attempt? Xo, 
 no, gentlemen; esteemed Miss Armstrong," his eyes 
 again rest gratefully upon me, "was no more cogniz 
 ant of my attempt to blow up the bridge than any 
 other lady in this house." 
 
 "I thoroughly believe you, Prince Sendai," remarks 
 Gcnke sententiously. "What you have said, honored 
 Mademoiselle, is unofficial to me, the court-martial 
 having been closed. In addition, the fact that the 
 prisoner was arranging the explosives to blow up the 
 abutment of the bridge even as he was seized is proof 
 that your words were simply the ravings of an unfor 
 tunate girl who is mad for love of a very brave gentle 
 man, who, when he dies, shall be saluted by the troops 
 who execute him. No, no, I ll not listen to you ! Mr. 
 Bristow, I beg you to remove your unfortunate coun 
 try-woman. Don t let her say another word. His 
 fiancee My God it is too horrible !" 
 
 The Russian commander turns from me to the 
 prisoner and remarks : "Before you die, is there any- 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 187 
 
 thing my military duty will permit me to do for you, 
 Prince ?" 
 
 Apparently Sendai thinks deeply for a moment 
 I believe on Genke s last remark about me then an 
 swers quickly. "Yes, I would like to write to my 
 family, a few minutes interview with this young 
 lady, and also a good cigar. I have smoked coolie to 
 bacco until another whiff of the accursed stuff would, 
 I think, kill me/ 7 smiles the man who is about to die. 
 
 Then how courteous they are to him who has no 
 hope. The three officers who have condemned him 
 each offers his cigar case, and Petrof sky says : "Mine 
 are the best, I believe/ and places one within the 
 bound man s lips, and the Prince being helpless, 
 lights it with his own hands. 
 
 From this, desperately angry with every one, I am 
 almost dragged by Jack Bristow. They have accused 
 me of loving the Prince when it is only the Prince 
 loves me. 
 
 "Hang it, if you d been a man, Miss Highfalutin, 
 the Russians would have you up before a drumhead 
 now. They must guess that you had interview with 
 your Japanese lover and protected him. By Heaven, 
 if you were not an American girl and they don t 
 want to make a breach between the two countries 
 God knows what military law would compel them to 
 
188 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 do to you!" mutters Jack, as he almost forces me 
 along the passage. "Xow, for your father s sake, not 
 another word to Gcnke; you ve strained his military 
 duty to the very limit." 
 
 Olga is anxiously waiting for her young husband 
 ?.t the door of her chamber. As he steps in with her, 
 I hear him whisper : "That fool Armstrong girl, who 
 thinks every man is in love with her, has nearly put 
 a noose about her own neck!" 
 
 " Thinks every man in love with her ! " I jeer 
 mentally, "I know Sendai is in love with me ! What 
 greater passion could man show for woman than dy 
 ing for her?" 
 
 Here Petrof sky comes along the hall to me and 
 says: "I must take the liberty of putting the con 
 demned man in your chamber, esteemed Miss Arm 
 strong, where he can write his letter. After that is 
 over, Genke directs me to give you a few moments to 
 bid your fiance good-bye. We all appreciate how 
 madly you love him." 
 
 "How madly I love him ? How about Sendai ?" I 
 whisper to myself savagely; for these idiot Russian 
 officers hurt my pride they think Sendai only came 
 here to destroy the bridge and not because life was 
 not worth living unless he saw my face ! 
 
 Sweet Olga glides from her room, and putting her 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 189 
 
 soft arms about me whispers, sadly: "Darling, I am 
 so sorry that you love him." But I shake her off with 
 a cry that she thinks is of horror, but it is of rage, 
 and the bride, gazing at me sympathetically, returns 
 to her husband. 
 
 They all believe I love the condemned Prince. Even 
 Sophie Klinkofstrom, though she does not approach 
 me, looks sneakingly at me from a distance as if she 
 were sorry for me, yet didn t dare to voice it. 
 
 In some way, I think she must have had to do with 
 Sendai s seizure, and now regrets it. Great powers ! 
 does she believe that I am enamored of the dying 
 Japanese, and is therefore no longer jealous of me 
 and Schevitch? 
 
 Meantime Petrofsky has gone back to the Colonel, 
 who I hear in my parlor directing sternly : "Captain, 
 the execution is under your direction. Eemember 
 you answer for the prisoner with your own life." 
 
 "I understand that!" replies the young officer 
 stoutly. "There is no possible chance of his escape; 
 a treble cordon of guards surround this house ; double 
 sentries will also be outside of the windows of the 
 room, and two at the door. Besides, the prisoner is 
 securely bound. No Japanese spy escapes me. But to 
 make sure I" 
 
 With these words Petrofsky steps into my bedroom, 
 
190 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 and examines it thoroughly, returning to the hall by 
 the door that leads from its big clothes-closet. Then 
 I hear him report : "There is no exit from that room 
 to the outside of the house but the windows, before 
 each of which I have placed two special sentries. " 
 
 A moment later Petrofsky returns along the hall 
 from the room of the court-martial, followed by the 
 "lazy-coolie" bearing pens, ink and writing paper. 
 These under the Captain s orders he arranges on the 
 table in my bedroom. 
 
 From this Petrofsky steps out and returns to his 
 commanding officer, but somehow I think, as I stand 
 at the far end of the hall looking on in a dazed way, 
 the "lazy-coolie" has not followed him. This may not 
 be true, however ; my senses are too benumbed for very 
 accurate observation. 
 
 The tramp of the additional sentries outside my 
 window comes to me in the stillness of the night, for 
 everyone in the house is very quiet now. I give a 
 little sigh there is no hope in this world for Sendai. 
 
 They have brought the prisoner along the passage 
 way and put him in my bedroom. The patrol out 
 side, as well as rifles, carry torches that illuminate 
 the grounds all about the house. Two sentries, their 
 guns ready for immediate action, are standing in 
 front of the door of my bedroom. Then I hear some 
 
MY JAPANESE PEINCE 191 
 
 hoarse commands about the provost-marshal prepar 
 ing the noose down at the bridge and tremble so I 
 can scarcely stand. 
 
 "You are thinking that your life is in danger/ 
 whispers Schevitch, noting my agitation and taking 
 this opportunity to get close to me. 
 
 "No, I am thinking about Sendai s, whom they are 
 going to murder down there because he loves me," I 
 shudder. 
 
 "To save your life is now the important thing/* 
 says the Baron under his breath. He has drawn ma 
 to the extreme end of the passageway so that no one 
 can overhear us. "Sophie saw you leave the house 
 and followed you/ 7 he whispers. "She overheard 
 your interview with the spy as he dug in his tunnel." 
 
 There is an intention in his tone which makes me 
 turn my thoughts to myself. 
 
 "Fortunately, Madame Klinkofstrom came to me 
 first with her story," observes Schevitch cautiously, 
 "and though I am too good a Russian not to have 
 sacrificed even your life to prevent the destruction of 
 that bridge, I was able to invent a sufficiently plaus 
 ible story, without implicating you too much, to place 
 Genke on the alert and insure the immediate search 
 of the gardens and the instant seizure and arrest of 
 anyone attempting to mine the abutment. You noticed 
 
192 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 the chivalric Colonel,, fearing you might put danger 
 upon yourself by your evidence, stopped your mouth,, 
 and by closing the court-martial prevented any official 
 record of your ravings. But if by any unfortunate 
 accident, Sophie s evidence of your words of warning 
 to Sendai, especially those in regard to Yaling, be 
 given to Genke, notwithstanding you are an American, 
 I fear for your life. Those mudstains on your pretty 
 boots would be quite compromising/ 
 
 The implied threat in his suave voice is so impres 
 sive that I gaze upon him startled. Perhaps my 
 agitation adds to my beauty. 
 
 Schevitch looks at me as if he would devour me 
 and his voice is low with passion as he continues, 
 hoarsely: "You know how I have longed for your 
 loveliness, how I have waited to be sure of winning 
 it. Now, sweet Miss Armstrong, I will take a 
 great risk every risk to save the woman who is 
 to be my wife, but for no one else! Sophie s relations 
 to me, I will simply tell you, are such that she dare 
 not open her mouth, except with my permission." 
 
 There is an implied possession in his tone that 
 makes me furious. "Oh, you think I will marry you 
 to save my life !" I whisper indignantly. "But your 
 ignoble threat makes me know I had better die, Baron 
 Schevitch, than be your wife." 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 193 
 
 "Be careful !" he commands. 
 
 "Be careful yourself I" I answer acutely. "Neither 
 you nor Madame Klinkofstrom dare now say a word 
 about me. You concealed the truth from Genke as 
 well as I did. As Russians, your doom will be much 
 more summary and severe than mine I" My voice has 
 grown high with indignation. 
 
 "Hush, not so loud!" shudders Schevitch; "Pe- 
 trofsky s coining." 
 
 I know by the Baron s perturbed manner that I ve 
 hit him in a vital spot. "Good-bye forever, Monsieur," 
 I remark, with a haughty bow. My eyes blaze like a 
 conqueror s as he turns away with a longing look at 
 Hilda Armstrong, who will never be his. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 WHAT MORE CAN MAN GIVE? 
 
 The next moment I droop with sorrowful sympathy 
 as the Captain in charge of the execution stands he- 
 fore me and says : "The prisoner has finished his letter 
 and has requested a few moments interview with you, 
 honored young lady. I need hardly say that it must 
 be brief." 
 
 Of course, I cannot refuse to see Sendai. 
 
 So Petrofsky leads me into my own chamber where 
 the Prince, who has ended his writing and has been 
 bound again, is seated. On the table before him is 
 a letter addressed to his father. 
 
 My room has not been disturbed, even a pair of 
 dressing slippers I had carelessly kicked aside, as I 
 made my evening toilet, are lying on the floor. 
 
 At Petrofsky s order, the two Russian soldiers take 
 their station outside the door of the room, though 
 the Captain bows and says : "I hope you will pardon 
 me, but I must remain," but strolls to the other side 
 of the apartment, directing his glance from us. 
 
 194 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 195 
 
 Then, blushingly and covered with a supreme em 
 barrassment, I turn agonized eyes on the face of the 
 man who is dying because he loves me, and Sendai 
 startles me by these astounding words: "Honored 
 Miss Armstrong, your self-sacrificing revelations to 
 the court-martial have placed a duty upon me. To 
 prevent your name being unpleasantly commented 
 upon from your evidence, so nobly offered to save me 
 from death, I think it wise that you accept my name 
 to protect you." 
 
 I give a startled cry. 
 
 "Oh, you need not tremble so !" he half laughs. "I 
 shall be dead in fifteen minutes. But wedded to me, 
 no slur can come upon your fair fame. In my coun 
 try it would not matter, but in Connecticut !" He 
 shrugs his bound shoulders. "If you will honor me 
 by becoming my wife, I shall die the happier be 
 cause I will know that no scandalous gossip, such as 
 is current in your country, can arise when your gener 
 ous attempt to aid me is mentioned in American so 
 ciety." 
 
 A thousand conflicting emotions are in my soul; 
 the noble forethought of the dying man touches me 
 deeply. I gaze upon him gratefully. Deified by ap 
 proaching death, the features of Prince Sendai are 
 sublime in self restraint. Something that has never 
 
196 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 come into my heart in regard to this man who thinks 
 of me, even in dissolution, seems to develop there now. 
 Besides, his marrying me will prove that he came 
 here at risk of death for love of me; that my words 
 were not mad ravings ! Johnny Bristow will know 
 "that fool Armstrong girl," who thinks every man 
 is in love with her, was right in regard to one man. 
 
 Pinkie Caldwell, in Tokyo, will at last believe in 
 Sendai s devotion to me. In addition, marriage will 
 stop Dad s mouth when he hears about this deplor 
 able affair. He couldn t say unkind things to a 
 uidow. Besides, a Japanese Princess! I see in 
 imagination in the papers: "The widowed Princess 
 Sendai returns to America Oh, God forgive me 
 for such an ignoble idea when he is going to die in 
 fifteen minutes ! But by Heaven, if it will make his 
 last few moments happier to know that I bear his 
 name, I ll marry him ! 
 
 "Okashi, your wishes shall be regarded/ I say 
 falteringly, then I force myself to step to Captain Pe- 
 trof sky, and stammer : "Prince Sendai and I wish to 
 be mar married." 
 
 The Kussian officer gazes at me startled. But my 
 red face tells him he has heard correctly. 
 
 "For that I must have my commander s consent," 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 197 
 
 he replies courteously; and not leaving the room, 
 sends a soldier to beg his Colonel s presence. 
 
 Genke comes briskly in and looks at us both quite 
 sadly as Okashi says, in his soft, melodious, measured 
 voice: "One last favor, Captain, to a dying man. 
 Permit this lady to become my wife. I have fair es 
 tates in Japan that should be those of a woman who 
 has risked so much for me. Besides, she wishes it." 
 
 "Do you?" the veteran asks curtly as he turns to 
 me. 
 
 Something in my throat prevents my speaking, but 
 I nod my head. 
 
 "Humph, you want to become his widow," growls 
 Genke ; then queries dubiously : "But the ceremony ?" 
 
 "Oh, let the Eussian priest who came to offer me 
 the consolations of his Church say a few words over 
 us. He s in the house now," responds Sendai. "The 
 marriage laws of Dai Nippon are liberal. Any wed 
 ding legal in a foreign country is legal there. Be 
 sides, in Japan we practically have no ceremony. 
 The bride simply drinks three flagons of wine with her 
 husband and goes to live in his house. Apropos of 
 that, I must say a word to you in private, Colonel." 
 
 Oenke bends down over the bound man and the 
 Japanese officer whispers a sentence or two in his 
 ear. 
 
198 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 "Oh, yes, of course/ Genke bursts into a hoarse 
 laugh. "As I understand you, it is necessary that you 
 should spend ten minutes entirely alone with the bride 
 to give the ceremony complete effect." 
 
 "Yes," answers Sendai shortly. My face is red as 
 vermilion as I hear the words. "It is only a form," 
 whispers the Prince to me. "I shall be bound and 
 helpless in the presence of my bride." 
 
 My head buzzes so I can scarcely see. If Sendai 
 were not going to die I would not marry him. But 
 now what does it matter ? 
 
 Then the Russian priest is brought in and says 
 the words of marriage over us. I do not understand 
 them, but I know I have become the wife of a dying 
 man that is all. 
 
 With a courteous bow the Russian officers, who have 
 stood throughout the ceremony, turn to leave husband 
 and wife together, though Genke looks at his watch 
 and says significantly: "Only ten minutes, Sendai. 
 I shall hang you at midnight." 
 
 "I understand," whispers my husband. 
 
 "Of course, I have your parole, Prince, if we ac 
 cord you the ten minutes tete-a-tete with your bride," 
 demands the military martinet. 
 
 "Certainly!" answers the dying man. "You have 
 my word, rescue or no rescue, till twelve o clock. I 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 199 
 
 suppose that will be sufficient/ he half laughs. Oh, 
 how can this man jest when he is going to lose me in 
 ten brief minutes ! 
 
 "Diable, that will be long enough!" mutters the 
 Colonel grimly, as he and Petrofsky leave the room, 
 closing the door behind them. We are alone together ! 
 
 But I hear Petrofsky order the sentries to keep 
 their eyes wide open, and though the blinds are 
 drawn, the measured tread of the patrol on the porti 
 co outside tells of alert and watchful guards. 
 
 I gaze piteously upon the dying man, whose mili 
 tary pledge now binds him to death. Seated before 
 me bound and helpless, the Prince says breezily, a 
 little smile rippling his pale face : "Hilda, just put 
 that cigar between my lips and light it for me, little 
 woman." 
 
 His careless husband s words, American fashion, 
 bring the tears into my eyes as with trembling hands 
 I do his bidding. 
 
 Seeing that I am agitated to the verge of hysteria, 
 the Prince s manner loses its formality. Apparently 
 anxious to give me courage, he continues easily : "Now, 
 wife, cheer up and sit beside me. Let my last words 
 be to thank you for the nobility of your attempted 
 sacrifice to me. I perfectly understand American 
 customs and knew that you did not consider corres- 
 
200 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 pondence with me an engagement." Sendai s voice 
 is as calm as if he were in a Tokyo tea-house. "The 
 only request I have to make you,, is that yqu will de 
 liver this letter," he nods towards the one on the 
 table, "to my father and mother in Japan. In it 
 I bid them to accord all honor and consideration to 
 my widow. They will treat you as if you were a 
 daughter of our house, for their son s sake." 
 
 I sink down half sobbing by his side. Then his 
 lips hardly move as they breathe into my ear, scarce 
 audible words : "As you love your life, never whisper 
 as long as you are in Eussian territory of the letter 
 you sent me to Japan giving the date of Admiral 
 Stark s saintVday fete," and listening to him I know 
 that my epistle brought disaster upon the Eussian 
 fleet. 
 
 But I forget my own peril in thinking of Sendai s 
 coming death. I can scarce restrain my screams. It is 
 weird, uncanny, monstrous to see a man in the full 
 vigor of life, yet to know that in ten short minutes 
 those bright eyes will shine no more and those red 
 lips that speak in such distinct soft phrases will be 
 forever silent. 
 
 As I look on Sendai, the majesty of the dead seems 
 to ennoble and enshrine him my dying husband. I 
 remember how his grand love for me has brought 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 201 
 
 him to ignoble death. Something that has never been 
 there before comes into my heart and I put my lips 
 upon his broad pale forehead begrimed by coolie dirt 
 and shudder : "If I could but save you !" 
 
 As if in answer to my words, from the large clothes- 
 closet that also connects with the hall glides into us a 
 second Prince Sendai. 
 
 I start up and would shriek in astonishment, but 
 my tongue seems paralyzed. 
 
 Bowing before the bound Prince with the stilted 
 grace of the samurai is the actor of the Kabukiza 
 Theatre, looking like the ghost when I first saw him 
 on the day of the Tokyo water fete, save that he is 
 in begrimed coolie garments and has his pigtail torn 
 from his head as the true Sendai s had been when 
 seized by the Russians. 
 The two are counterparts! 
 
 The prisoner s eyes almost start from his head. 
 "Kiguro!" he ejaculates; then mutters, struggling 
 with his bonds: "No, no, I know what sacrifice you 
 mean ! I forbid you !" 
 
 But the other whispers : "Your life is more valu 
 able to Dai Nippon than mine. Besides, this is what 
 I swore by all the gods to do when I left Japan with 
 you, should Ema make it necessary, Prince and 
 Daimio I"* 
 * Ema is the Japanese deity of Misfortune. EDITOR, 
 
202 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 "By Izanagi, I ll not take your sacrifice I" snarls 
 the Prince. "I command you not!" His muscles 
 writhe as he struggles to free his corded wrists. 
 
 But the false Sendai, holding his helpless master s 
 face tight between his hands, forces between the lips 
 of the real Sendai some high-smelling aromatic drug 
 and compels him to swallow it. The prisoner strug 
 gles till the muscles of his athletic neck stand out like 
 whipcords but down it goes! 
 
 Then Kiguro bowing before his master, says apolo 
 getically: "Forgive me, Daimio, it was my only 
 chance to make you accept my sacrifice. There is no 
 egress from the house. One of us must pass to the 
 shades and it is I, your samurai/ 
 
 The measured tramp of the patrol and sentries out 
 side proclaims the truth of the devoted fellow s words. 
 
 "You have given me what will take my senses from 
 me ?" whispers the Prince, a kind of horror rippling 
 his sad features. 
 
 "Yes, in a minute or two, most honored Daimio, 
 you will be in dreamland. From it you will awake 
 with chance of safety from your foes, but I will be 
 where the Jcami place me. Your glorious talents are 
 more valuable to Dai Nippon in her need than those 
 of a poor actor who loves you who dies for you." 
 
 Oh, the heroic devotion of that samurai face ! 
 
MY. JAPANESE PRINCE 203 
 
 Appalled, I, looking upon them, say nothing, though 
 I am sighing, shivering and trembling. The drug 
 must be some weird preparation of opium; it acts 
 so quickly. Already the Prince feels it. 
 
 "By Ema, my parole !" gasps the real Sendai, and 
 strains at the cords that bind him till the muscles of 
 his arms knot themselves and twist like writhing 
 snakes. 
 
 But the false Sendai pressing the helpless Prince s 
 lips, whispers: "If you summon your enemies, it 
 means both your death and mine, honored Master!" 
 
 "By the God of Truth, I have given my word ! My 
 military honor !" falters the Prince, his breath grow 
 ing more labored. "Besides, you expect me to die!" 
 The pupils of his contracting eyes turn towards me, 
 though I can scarce catch his whispered orders : "Save 
 your husband from dishonor. Wife, call the guard ! 
 Obey me V His low moan has in it the command of 
 an Eastern husband. 
 
 And yet I am letting him live, perchance to domi 
 nate my life. I have but to cry out to the sentries 
 and I am free from Sendai a widowed princess rich 
 in my own right! Should he live I am a Japanese 
 wife. 
 
 But I hold my lips. To summon the Russians 
 would be to kill two brave men instead of one. 
 
204 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 Suddenly the real Sendai looks into the false Sen- 
 dai s eyes and mutters with such feeble breath I can 
 scarce hear him : You are going to die for me, my 
 Ronin. Sayonam, bravest of the brave," and the 
 daimio, with two long drawn out sighs, as if strug 
 gling with the drug, goes to sleep upon his samurai s 
 shoulder. 
 
 As the true Sendai s head droops ah, the feudal 
 devotion that is in Kiguro s blazing eyes! just for 
 one moment the actor of the Kabukiza Theatre fondles 
 the Prince s inert form as a dying dog licks his mas 
 ter s hand, and murmurs: "Good-bye, my Daimio!" 
 then becomes a creature of vivid, energetic action. 
 He unbinds the real Sendai and quickly but reverent 
 ly carries him to my big closet and closes the door 
 upon him. Standing before me, he says: "Quick, 
 assist me to bind myself for death !" 
 
 But seeing that my agitation makes my fingers 
 nearly inert, he with wondrous agility puts his hands 
 behind his back and contrives to twist the cords about 
 his wrists; then commands: "Tie them; tie them, 
 honored Princess! Tie these knots if you would be 
 my master s bride, otherwise it will be death to all of 
 us!" 
 
 So I contrive, with trembling fingers, to make the 
 knots that secure the martyr s hands. Then he sinks 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 205 
 
 back on the chair and says in easy tone: "Put that 
 cigar between my teeth and I am Prince Sendai, hon 
 ored Princess. Don t fear, I shall die bravely enough 
 not to dishonor my fearless master." 
 
 I do his asking. As he sits smoking calmly into 
 my face, such is his wondrous disguise, that, did I 
 not know the true Sendai were in yonder closet, I 
 would be sure my husband were sitting with corded 
 arms before me. 
 
 Suddenly he whispers : "When Yaling comes, show 
 him," and nods reverently towards the closet door be 
 hind which lies the swooning form of his master and 
 my husband. I shudder and bow my head. 
 
 "A good make-up?" whispers Kiguro, the actor s 
 vanity rising in him even as he chants in the weird 
 tones of the theatre his samurai death song. 
 
 "Yes," I falter; then suddenly suggest: "But you 
 have no red compass on your arm." 
 
 "Pull up my sleeve and look ! See, I am perfect in 
 my role, that of the ghost of the Sendai!" he whis 
 pers, and chuckles : "At last the ghost can play a death 
 scene." My blood runs cold at his awful jest, 
 
 "And now," for there is a movement in the guard 
 and Petrofsky has given a warning knock upon the 
 door, "now, show the affection of a wife for a dying 
 
206 MY, JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 mate," he whispers. "It is all you can do for Sendai s 
 safety." 
 
 Petrofsky has entered, a detail of men at his back. 
 The Russian officer says hoarsely to conceal his emo 
 tion : "Your time has come, Prince Sendai." 
 
 The smile of the comedian ripples the features of 
 the false Sendai, as they lift him to his feet to take 
 him to his death. 
 
 Then I try to do my wife s part and place my burn 
 ing lips upon the cold forehead of the bravest man 
 upon this earth. The dying eyes look into mine, the 
 dying tongue whispers in my ear: "Tell him I love 
 him." 
 
 Then walking as haughtily as ever he stepped on 
 the flower paths of the Kabukiza Theatre, with ap 
 plauding audience about him, the actor, in face, de 
 portment and bearing the image of Prince Sendai, 
 strides between his guards to death. 
 
 In the hall an additional detail of men await the 
 prisoner. At the door stands Schevitch. He has 
 heard of my nuptials and gazes at his supposed rival, 
 his face flushed with rage. "You didn t have your 
 bride very long!" he laughs maliciously to the dy 
 ing man. Then some innate suspicion I know not 
 what seems to flit through the Russian s acute mind. 
 The lamps in the hall are burning brightly. He 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 207 
 
 glances at the prisoner s corded wrist and seeing the 
 red tattooed compass smiles complacently. 
 
 At the entrance of the house, the full provost-guard 
 gather about the condemned, torches in their hands. 
 I hear Genke give a hoarse command,, and down the 
 path they go, the torches gleaming, followed by all 
 the troops about the house. They ve got their victim. 
 There s no prisoner within my walls to guard now ! 
 
 "Madame la Princesse" I start at the title "I re 
 turn your house to you once more." Genke is speak 
 ing to me. "I pray God never, in my career, to en 
 counter such a cruel duty again. I bid you adieu. 
 I presume you will never wish to see me more a 
 woman, by the inflexible laws of war, I have 
 widowed!" The gallant Eussian officer bows to the 
 ground before me. 
 
 Widowed? I have but to point to the insensible 
 form behind that closet door and I am widowed ! But 
 if I let Sendai live, I am his Eastern wife to do his 
 bidding. I know Dad will tell me to sleep in the 
 bed I have made." But I only answer the Colonel by 
 a hysterical laugh. 
 
 Then Genke departs from me, and I see his erect 
 military figure moving down the path following his 
 troops, whose torches are already clustering about the 
 bridge. 
 
208 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 All my Chinese servants have run out into the 
 grounds to look upon the execution. Schevitch and 
 Sophie have gone partly down the garden, conversing 
 earnestly together in frightened tones. In a far away 
 chamber, Jack s bride is half swooning in his arms 
 at the awful military catastrophe that has saddened 
 their wedding eve. I am alone in my house, half 
 crazy, half swooning. 
 
 As the clock strikes twelve, there is a pistol shot 
 down by the bridge. I start, tremble and cry. It is 
 the signal, and I know that as brave a soul as ever 
 breathed has given up his life in that strange feudal 
 samurai devotion. 
 
 Shall his sacrifice be for naught ? No ! 
 
 From the back of the house nearest the hills there 
 glides through my vacant rooms Yaling, followed by 
 six or seven brawny, well-armed Mongolians that I 
 guess are the wild Hun-hu-tzes who war upon the 
 Russians. 
 
 "Have no fear, Missie Melican," whispers the old 
 Chinese magistrate. Then he asks me sharply: 
 "Where you put him ? One thousand taels, get him 
 away." 
 
 I point to the closet! 
 
 As they pick up the swooning form of Sendai, I 
 say hurriedly : "Yaling, when he gets his senses, don t 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 209 
 
 fail to tell him that he was not removed from this 
 chamber till his parole had expired after twelve 
 o clock. You sabe after twelve o clock!" For I 
 have some wild fears that my husband may think 
 himself bound by his word to his Russian captors. 
 
 As the athletic Chinese carry Sendai s form out 
 into the darkness of the night and take a pathway 
 leading to the hills, I gaze after them and jeer my 
 self : "My husband V 9 
 
 Then to me comes Schevitch, who apparently won t 
 take no for an answer. He observes, almost brutally : 
 "Now, Madame, there is nothing to prevent your 
 listening to my suit." 
 
 "What, I, a Japanese Princess, wed a humble Rus 
 sian Baron ?" I sneer hysterically, but haughtily. 
 
 "There is naught to prevent it now that you are 
 widowed P he suggests in his usual suave tones. 
 
 Widowed! Am I widowed? Will Sendai es 
 cape? I give a wild, half crazy cry. Jack Bristow 
 and Olga are bending over me, the American shudder 
 ing: "This has been too much for the poor girl! 
 Wedded and widowed within a quarter of an hour !" 
 
 "My God, how she loved him !" sobs dear Olga, as 
 she tries to soothe me. 
 
 "My God, how he loved me!" I scream. "A Jap- 
 
210 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 anese bride! And he promised to die in fifteen 
 minutes !" 
 
 They all gaze at me as if I were demented ! 
 
 Then something seems to break in my head and 
 that s the last I know. 
 
EPISODE THE FOURTH. 
 
 A -WIDOW S HONEYMOON. 
 
 CHAPTER. IX. 
 
 A BRIDE, OR NOT A BRIDE? 
 
 They have put me in black ! 
 
 But I hardly appreciated my widow s weeds till I 
 reached Niuchwang, where Dad took me as soon as I 
 was able to travel. 
 
 Papa s awfully incensed at me. He had a frightful 
 time with the Russian authorities on my account. 
 In some way they discovered that I had held com 
 munication with Sendai as he worked in the trench 
 to mine the railroad bridge. Over this, the Musco 
 vites made a terrible hubbub. 
 
 Schevitch is in disgrace also, for not telling Genke 
 everything, even if it did get me strung up. But 
 the Baron will soon be reinstated in the Viceroy s 
 favor. He is too astute and cunning to remain in a 
 hole very long, and is, I imagine, very useful to Alex- 
 211 
 
212 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 eieff in smaller private matters. Trust the Baron to 
 turn up smiling! 
 
 But, wheugh! Poor Sophie was the unfortunate 
 one ! Women generally catch it in the East ; men in 
 the West. I imagine, however,, that the Baron was 
 her undoing. He had become tired of Madame 
 Klinkofstrom s jealousy and engineered her little 
 journey to Siberia. However, nowadays pretty wo 
 men are always considerately treated, even in Siberian 
 dungeons. Dad says a number of years ago he saw 
 the governor of Saghalien driving about Vladivostok 
 with his prettiest female prisoner. Technically, she 
 was in close confinement, but she had the best rooms 
 in the Vladivostok Hotel, wore good-sized diamonds, 
 presumably the gift of her jailor, and couldn t have 
 been driven from her dungeon by a file of soldiers. 
 
 The dungeon suggests my affair. There was some 
 talk, in Eussian official circles of imprisoning me. 
 The Russians had become so enraged at their victori 
 ous enemies that they were not disposed to be as con 
 siderate to a Japanese widow as they had been to an 
 Americansky girl. However, Dad bluffed them out, 
 threatening them with Secretary Hay and all kinds 
 of horrible things ! So they finally forced upon him 
 rny passports and told him to get me out of the coun- 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 213 
 
 try as soon as he possibly could which he is now do 
 ing. 
 
 I have not dared to tell Papa that I don t know 
 whether I am wife or widow. He has the letter that 
 poor Sendai wrote to the aged Prince and Princess. 
 He has in his pocketbook a signed statement from the 
 Russian officers who witnessed the ceremony, and the 
 certificate of my marriage from the Russian priest 
 who performed it. I know from Father s business 
 like manner that he is going to make a big claim on 
 the Sendai estates in behalf of Sendai s young widow. 
 These proofs that I am Sendai s widow impress me 
 with the fact that I am Sendai s wife, if lie is alive. 
 
 I wonder if he did escape with Yaling and his Hun- 
 hu-tzes. No man when he recovered his senses would 
 be better equipped to slide out of the country as a 
 plain, honest Chinese coolie than my lord and master. 
 
 Lord and master! I tremble at these words. If 
 the Prince is living I am a Japanese wife. His last 
 words before insensibility struck him were commands 
 that I did not obey, and I know, if Sendai turns up, 
 Dad will hand me over with his compliments to my 
 husband and say: "Take care of her now. The re 
 sponsibility is too great for yours truly." 
 
 From the sprightly nature of my reflections I con 
 clude that I am regaining my spirits. Anyway, I am 
 
214 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 determined to dress in bright colors as soon as we 
 leave Russian territory, unless black is more becom 
 ing. San Shoo says my widow s weeds "Suitee Meli- 
 can missie down to the glound." Besides, men are so 
 much more attentive to young rich widows than they 
 are even to opulent buds. Papas sometimes hold close 
 purse-strings. 
 
 At Kiuchwang we overtake Johnny Bristow and 
 his bride. They have been trying to make a honey 
 moon here, but the town is so much excited by ru 
 mors of attack from the Japanese and the movements 
 of Russian troops that Jack says he needs a quieter 
 place for conjugal retirement. 
 
 However, Olga declares she would be happy with 
 him anywhere. Her successful marriage makes the 
 dear girl very sympathetic with my widowhood. 
 "Poor thing," she whispers to me, "how you must 
 suffer when you think that you will never see 
 your husband again, the one you loved so devotedly." 
 "The one who loved me so devotedly!" I reply 
 rather testily. I get angry with people thinking that 
 the love is on my side, not on Sendai s. They all talk 
 of his heroic disregard of his life, coming into the 
 midst of his enemies to destroy that bridge. If he 
 did, it was but a secondary consideration in his mind. 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 215 
 
 Even Papa growls : "Sendai had no business coming 
 near our bungalow to put such, peril on you." 
 
 But I say: "As we were not at our country place, 
 the Prince concluded he could put no danger on us. 
 But arriving at our bungalow and not finding me 
 there, in his desperation to kill time he went to work 
 on the Eussian bridge that s all ! His only thought 
 after he was seized was marrying me and giving me 
 his name. In the shadow of death it was my safety 
 not his. My husband is the noblest man alive." 
 
 "Alive!" cries Father. "You re crazy! I saw his 
 body hanging up to the railway bridge as we left ; not 
 a pleasant sight, either." 
 
 I shudder and the tears fly into my eyes as I think 
 of the noble martyr who took my husband s place. 
 
 Noting this, Dad mutters contritely : "Forgive me, 
 my poor child; I see you re grieving for Sendai now. 
 The Prince was a hummer as a mathematician any 
 way, and the ramjammest engineer that ever designed 
 a structure." 
 
 Father always looks at the practical side of every 
 thing. He is very savage because the Russians used 
 their hold upon him through me to shave the pay 
 ments on some of their railroad contracts. However, 
 he ll see Secretary Hay about that. 
 
 But all that agitates my buzzing brain is what my 
 
216 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 fate will be if Senclai is living a Japanese wife, shut 
 up in semi-regal state in a Daimio castle, perhaps. 
 When I think of this I wonder why I did not hold my 
 husband to his promise to die in fifteen minutes and 
 open my mouth and let his Russian guards know 
 they were hanging the wrong man. Anyway, there s 
 no chance of meeting Prince Sendai in Niuchwang, 
 with the Russian troops all about me. 
 
 But Papa has promised the Czar s officials to get 
 me out of the country as quickly as possible. So we 
 
 that is, Jack Bristow, his wife, Dad and I are all 
 
 going to take the railroad round by Kin-chow and 
 Chin-wang-tao to Tien-Tsin. These Chinese names 
 give me a headache. From there we shall journey by 
 steamer to Japan, where Dad will make the claim 
 of the widowed Princess in proper form. He tells 
 me that he has already obtained the address of the 
 best legal Jap firm in Tokyo. 
 
 This immediate business treatment of a matter 
 that lies heavy on my heart angers me. To him I 
 say, indignantly: "This letter, Papa, that you carry 
 will bring me everything that is my due. The dying 
 man thought of me in his last moments." The "dy 
 ing man" chokes me ; I emit a miserable giggle. 
 
 Dad looks at me curiously, and asks savagely: 
 "What are you snickering about? You were high- 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 217 
 
 falutin enough before this fracas, but since you ve 
 been a wife for fifteen minutes, hang me if you ain t 
 daffy, girl I" 
 
 Sometimes I cannot repress a smile when they 
 talk of Sendai s being deadif he is alive, it seems 
 such a huge joke on me. 
 
 I don t think I will put off mourning, certainly 
 not till I see Sendai ; Russian sables are very effective 
 with black. Therefore, I keep my secret to myself 
 as we run along the railroad and get into China 
 proper. Away from Russian rule I take the padlock 
 off my tongue; it is such a pleasure not to have to 
 think before you speak on politics. 
 
 "Oh, ain t I glad," I whisper to our party in the 
 railroad car, "that I can now utter my views of those 
 tyrants, without you, Dad, shaking your head at me, 
 and putting your finger on my lips. Wait till our 
 army gets to Manchuria !" 
 
 "Why, the Russians treated you very well," re 
 marks my father, "perhaps better than you deserved." 
 
 "What ! because they didn t hang me on account of 
 the adoration of my Japanese Prince ? Why should I 
 keep my tongue still? Haven t I a right to speak 
 when I m the wife of a Japanese officer ?" 
 
 At my suggestion of wifehood Papa clashes a tear 
 from his eye and looks sorrowfully out of the window. 
 
218 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 and Jack gazing at Olga taps his forehead suggestive 
 of wheels in my brain ; while his bride gives me a pa 
 thetic kiss. I d like to tell them, but I d better not 
 till I m sure Sendai has escaped. 
 
 Finally, we reach a little warmer weather at Tien- 
 Tsin. There we take an English steamboat to Che- 
 foo. Here possibly Sendai may have arrived. Under 
 the British flag he is perfectly safe. 
 
 But though I keep my eyes open about the Foreign 
 quarter and hotels, I see him not. 
 
 About this time I commence to thoroughly ap 
 preciate what a very great lady I have become. The 
 Princess Sendai why, it s almost next to royalty! 
 There are less than a dozen princes in all Japan, and 
 he s one of the very biggest of them, connected with 
 the old Slioguns, the former military dictators of 
 the empire. 
 
 "The Princess Sendai!" I hear the English mer 
 chants say, as I pass; "Yes, the one dressed in deep 
 mourning, the widowed Princess of Sendai." 
 
 Before I had only been called "That Armstrong 
 girl." 
 
 Then my romantically cruel story being buzzed 
 about, my heart beats triumphantly as at last the 
 world believes that Sendai loved me, for the report is 
 that in his last moments all he asked of his Russian. 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 219 
 
 captors was a quarter of an hour to wed the woman 
 he adored. 
 
 "By Jove,, she was worth it!" I catch in the bluff 
 voice of Billy Cranston of the Shanghai Bank. "She ll 
 be the handsomest widow in Japan." I giggle as I 
 hear Papa say in muffled accents to his commercial 
 friends : "My poor son-in-law, the late Prince Sen- 
 dai." 
 
 Then a new complication comes in my mind. If I 
 discard Sendai, they ll perhaps think he didn t love 
 me ! No, no, if the Prince is alive, I m in for it. 
 Besides, I don t mind much. No more aristocratic 
 features or soul-stirring eyes ever looked upon a bride 
 than those of my dying husband as they dazed upon 
 me, and no braver man, save, perhaps, he who took his 
 place, ever made love to a woman. Did he make love 
 to me ? Japanese never caress in our American way. 
 Of course, he never kissed me. How do the Japanese 
 make love ? If Sendai is alive, I presume I shall dis 
 cover some day. 
 
 We have taken a British steamer for Nagasaki, but 
 our skipper, whose big deck cabins Papa and I have 
 engaged for the voyage, knowing the Russians are 
 bottled up in Port Arthur, says en route he is going 
 to drop into Chemulpo, now practically a Japanese 
 port, 
 
220 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 Leaving Che-foo early in the day, we plough across 
 the Yellow Sea. That evening as Papa and I pace 
 the steamer s deck, I try to tell him that I am possibly 
 not a widow, but remembering his remarks about 
 American women marrying American men, I don t 
 have the courage to suggest to him he may have a 
 living Jap for a son-in-law. 
 
 The next morning bright and early we are in Che 
 mulpo. Dressed in deepest mourning, with my hand 
 some Russian sables all about me, I gaze from the 
 deck and see the hull of the destroyed Variag, its 
 guns pointing in the air and a wrecking crew on 
 board of it. 
 
 The harbor is full of Japanese transports, landing, 
 by means of sampans towed by steam launches, some 
 regiments of dogged, wiry Osaka infantry. They have 
 already built temporary wharves, and by means of big 
 lighters are transporting to the shore some field bat 
 teries and heavy artillery. The Eising Sun flag is 
 flying over a town busy as a beehive in methodical, 
 Japanese, energetic way. Three or four of Uriu s 
 cruisers are in the harbor, and one or two dispatch 
 and torpedo boats are patrolling the ofling. 
 
 Standing behind me is Ah Tow, who whispers : 
 "Missie, tell you bout Russian Variag vessel being 
 sunk; you sabe, up Polandien way?" 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 221 
 
 "Yes," I answer with a shudder, as I remember 
 the events of the awful evening at my cottage by the 
 bridge. 
 
 My agitation is such that even the Chinaman sym 
 pathizes with me. Looking at my mourning, he mut 
 ters: "Poor little widdie woman, bleak em heart;" 
 but adds, reassuringly : " Melican husband klum by 
 an bye I" 
 
 "Shut your infernal Chinese mouth!" says Dad, 
 savagely, to his factotum, for " Melican husband" 
 has put a very wild look into my eyes. 
 
 A lot of sampans, shore boats, steam launches and 
 all that kind of thing cluster beside us as we drop an 
 chor and put over our side ladder. 
 
 Upon this scene I gaze, an eager flush upon my 
 face. Here I should have tidings of Sendai if he 
 has escaped. But no approaching barque carries the 
 form for which I strain my eyes. 
 
 Throughout the day I gaze over the harbor; no 
 Sendai makes his appearance. 
 
 I inspect all shore boats connected with the Japan 
 ese Army with such alert anxiety that Dad, mistaking 
 my vivacity, whispers to me rather severely: "One 
 would think, daughter, that your recent experience 
 would make you at least decently solemn when con 
 fronted with Japanese uniforms. True, you didn t 
 
222 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 love the gentleman who gave to you his name and 
 title to prevent any scandal that might have been 
 caused by his extraordinary visit to your bungalow." 
 Then I hear Papa sigh over the Prince s memory, not 
 on account of his title, I think, but on account of his 
 engineering ability. "Sendai was a remarkable 
 man/ he mutters, "and the finest mathematical cuss 
 I ever encountered. Besides, as his widow you will 
 doubtless get some very pretty estates in Japan." 
 
 "I am not thinking of those, Father," I say, "and 
 I m serious enough about the whole business, though 
 I am nervous and excited." 
 
 I don t care to tell Papa of my reasons for investi 
 gating every off-coming boat from Chemulpo. If 
 Sendai does put in an appearance, it will be time 
 enough. Besides, I doubt whether Father would be 
 lieve on my mere word the extraordinary story of the 
 actor s wondrous make-up to represent the man 
 about to die and his devoted substitution for his 
 Daimio. As I related the tale, I expect Papa would 
 gasp that I was crazy, especially as he believes that 
 he saw Sendai s dead body hanging from that miser 
 able Russian bridge he lost his life trying to blow up. 
 
 Once or twice, however, I reflect that nothing has 
 been heard of my husband and fear the great self- 
 sacrifice of the devoted Kiguro has been for naught 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 223 
 
 and the gallant Prince may be dead betrayed perhaps 
 by the Chinese to save their own miserable bodies,, 
 if in danger of capture by the Eussian patrol parties, 
 or mounted Cossacks who scour all Manchuria. 
 
 I would go on shore to inquire for news of Sendai, 
 but Dad does not think it wise for me to visit this 
 town full of an army in process of movement on the 
 enemy. I would even send a telegram to Seoul, but 
 that would compel embarrassing explanations; so I 
 keep my vigil by the ship s rail, fibbing to Papa and 
 saying that the activity in the harbor makes it so 
 picturesquely exciting that I prefer the water-view to 
 tiffin. 
 
 Soon after, Dad, hearing that the Japanese intend 
 to push their Korean railroad, jumps into a steam 
 launch and goes on shore to see the military authori 
 ties as to bridge contracts. Therefore I recline in a 
 steamer chair, surrounded by a group of gentlemen 
 passengers, not far from the gangway, and accept 
 some sandwiches that the faithful San Shoo brings 
 her "missie," though in truth I have but little ap 
 petite. Even Sammy Debrow one of the managers 
 of the American Trading Company at Yokohama, 
 who is returning to that place from a business visit 
 to Chefoo and who seems to have taken a particular 
 fancy to my widow s weeds cannot raise my spirits, 
 
224 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 notwithstanding he insists upon having a bottle of 
 champagne opened to "brisk me up a little," as he 
 remarks. But though Sammy would be very sociable 
 perhaps more than sociable if I would permit him 
 and is a remarkably handsome fellow and doesn t 
 like Colonel Ponsomby, the blondly grizzled British 
 attache at the Pekin Legation who is on board, going 
 over to Tokyo on some diplomatic affair and who 
 has made himself an attendant upon Madame la Prin- 
 cesse, I languidly refuse Sammy s champagne and 
 gaze eagerly over the water with my marine glass; 
 for a shore boat is coming up to our side ladder. 
 
 On its arrival, it produces nothing but Colonel 
 Ponsomby, who has been in Chemulpo and strides 
 eagerly to me to give me the news of the town. 
 
 Ponsomby, in answer to my earnest though veiled 
 inquiries as to news, says in his British manner: 
 "There is nothing, my dear Princess, except that the 
 Japs are in full possession of Seoul, the Korean capi 
 tal, and apparently by the number of regiments 
 they are putting on shore, intend to hold it despite 
 the Kussians." 
 
 "No other small details ?" I ask anxiously. 
 
 "Why no, nothing particular, though, by the bye, 
 I suppose, Princess, you are always interested in the 
 exploits of Japanese heroes." Glancing at my weeds, 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 the Colonel assumes a sympathetic tone. "There is 
 a report that another Japanese bridge destroyer, some 
 gallant fellow in the Engineers, has escaped from 
 Manchuria and arrived after untold hardships within 
 the Japanese lines. But but pardon me," he stam 
 mers, "Madame la Princesse, I I had forgotten 
 
 For a sudden inspiration tells me it is Sendai, my 
 husband alive ! I have been standing by my steamer 
 chair. As I reflect : "What does this mean for me V 9 
 into it I nearly collapse. 
 
 Then I discover what a grande dame I have become. 
 Even the Captain springs from the bridge to my as 
 sistance ; half of the male passengers rush to my aid, 
 and a contingent of the ship s stewards fly from the 
 cabin with ice water, brandy, fans and other restora 
 tives. At the best moments of my former life "that 
 Armstrong girl" could have fainted half a dozen 
 times without producing a moiety of the commotion 
 that Madame la Princesse Sendai s nervous attack 
 calls forth. 
 
 As I recline in the steamer chair in a dazed way, I 
 hear the skipper remonstrating with the English 
 Colonel: "Ponsomby, have you forgotten that Her 
 Highness has lately lost a gallant husband under 
 similar circumstances, and the sweet young lady has 
 not yet recovered from the atrocious blow?" 
 
226 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 "Her Highness" sounds very nicely to my ears, as 
 they fan me. 
 
 Suddenly, to the astonishment of them all, as they 
 proffer me ice water and brandy and the Colonel offers 
 his arm to assist me to my stateroom, I become almost 
 my old vivacious self. An extraordinary excitement 
 thrills my nerve centers; a strange hope elates me. 
 Why is the blood, running through my veins ? Why 
 is my heart beating so wildly that my face is covered 
 with wave after wave of blushes? In my maiden state 
 I had never loved Sendai. Is it because that Sendai s 
 wife No, no, that cannot be ! And yet, good Heavens, 
 if he is alive ! 
 
 The thought that I have a living husband makes 
 my manner quite distant to my English escort, who 
 is assisting me to my cabin and whispering words of 
 exceedingly tender sympathy. To the Colonel s eager 
 inquiries as to how I feel, I astonish him by remark 
 ing: "So much better I can walk even without the 
 support of your arm. Though, thank you very much 
 for your kindness. After a little I shall be entirely 
 recovered and will venture upon deck again." 
 
 Noting something curious in my eyes, Ponsomby 
 thinks it is for him, and, standing at the door of my 
 big deck stateroom, says, taking off his hat : "I shall 
 await your return, Princess, with the greatest eager- 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 227 
 
 ness. The lights of the awh harbor will be very 
 beautiful this evening as we leave it, and I believe 
 there will be also enough moonlight for awh prac 
 tical purposes." 
 
 As I close the door of my cabin, I know the Colonel 
 has an idea that I shall enjoy the moonlight with him ! 
 
 As soon as I am alone the contemplation of my 
 situation nearly makes me faint again. Sendai per 
 haps alive! I grow so nervous over the matter that 
 I have to lie down upon the sofa. San Shoo comes 
 in to me and applies restoratives. After a time I con 
 quer my nerves and become a being of action. I must 
 immediately discover who the escaped officer is. 
 Dad has gone on shore. He will return, perhaps, with 
 further news of the occurrence. 
 
 But my nervous collapse in my stateroom has stolen 
 a couple of precious hours from me. When I return to 
 the deck I find Papa awaiting me, but darkness is 
 coming on and the vessel under way. 
 
 To my very guarded questions, in which I seek to 
 extract any shore news he may have picked up, my 
 father merely remarks: "I think I have nailed the 
 Japanese commander-in-chief at Seoul by telegraph 
 for a contract. They are going to build a railway 
 right up to the Yalu Kiver." 
 ^. "JN"o other things?" I question. "Nothing about 
 
228 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 any engineer officers escaping from Russian lines ?" 
 
 "Why, yes, I heard in the quartermaster s office 
 ashore that there was a fellow disguised as a coolie, 
 I believe, who came from Elliott Island in a junk, hut 
 heroism is so common in the Japanese Army that I 
 only picked up a passing remark about it. The reck 
 less chap was not successful, I believe, in blowing up 
 the bridge he had selected, and only escaped by the 
 very hair of his head, aided by Chinese sympathizers." 
 
 This tallies with the story that would come with 
 Sendai, and puts wild excitement within me. 
 
 "Didn t any Japanese officers take passage from 
 Chemulpo?" I ask, eagerly. 
 
 "N"one that I saw, though there was a boat at the 
 side ladder a minute or two before we came up. 
 Perhaps it contained some of our returning passen 
 gers; a whole bunch of em went on shore in Che 
 mulpo. But my daughter looks in better spirits than 
 when I left," Papa says cheerfully. "That s the talk, 
 my girl, forget the past. Put it behind you. Think 
 only of the future. That s the common-sense way 
 for even young widows. The whole affair didn t 
 amount to anything, anyway, except to give you a 
 name and a title. For God s sake, forget all about 
 it, Hilda !" he commands, for tears have risen to my 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 229 
 
 eyes. Why I cry I don t know. As a girl I had very 
 good nerves. 
 
 "You are quite right, Dad," I falter; "I m glad the 
 vessel is passing out of the harbor I ll think no more 
 about it." Father lights a cigar and goes into his 
 cabin, probably to .figure on railroad material for 
 Korea. 
 
 Two minutes after I have got hold of the fourth 
 officer, who was in charge of the gangway most of the 
 time we were at anchor, and am asking him: "Did 
 any. Japanese officers come on board in Chemulpo ?" 
 "Why, yes, two or three, Your Your Highness," 
 stammers the young sea-dog. He isn t accustomed to 
 addressing princesses. "A couple of artillery chaps 
 and a companion dressed in mufti. He must be a 
 civilian. Jap officers always wear their uniforms." 
 
 "Yes, but he mightn t have had any uniform to 
 wear/ I suggest; then astound the British sea-dog 
 by asking: "Did they make any inquiries about 
 about me?" 
 
 "Why, no," he says. "All they were concerned about 
 was that they couldn t get any berths in the cabin and 
 were compelled to take the best accommodation they 
 could procure forward. You know we are crowded 
 to the gunwale. They ll eat in the cabin, I presume. 
 They didn t make much of a kick ; those fellows are 
 
230 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 contented with a hard plank if it ll help em beat the 
 Russies." 
 
 Dinner has been off the table half an hour. There 
 will be little chance of seeing these Japanese in the 
 cabin. They may be enjoying a cigar forward. The 
 night is fine. The fourth officer is off duty. As the 
 vessel is in motion and pitching slightly as she meets 
 the waves of the Yellow Sea, I ask for the assistance 
 of his arm during a turn on deck. That stalwart 
 young Briton accords it to me. 
 
 When we have gone as far forward as cabin passen 
 gers usually go, I. suggest that I am tired and would 
 like to sit down. The mate brings deferentially a 
 steamer chair, makes me comfortable, and goes off 
 to other duties. 
 
 I have had my seat deftly placed between two ven 
 tilating funnels and am protected from ordinary ob 
 servation by an extra big wind-sail that is employed 
 to carry air into the lower berths of the steerage. 
 Here perchance I may see the Japanese officers pacing 
 the forward deck and enjoying their cigars. If I 
 do, I shall contrive to question them about their es 
 caping comrade, and learn if they know his name. 
 The evening is quite dark, though the moon will be 
 up soon. After a few minutes I note dimly among 
 the crowd on deck two figures in the military uniform 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 231 
 
 of Japan smoking cheroots and chatting pleasantly 
 together. 
 
 As they approach me I rack my mind for some pre 
 text to call their attention to me so that I may ques 
 tion them. Suddenly my heart gives a great bound 
 and then almost ceases to beat. A footfall that seems 
 familiar is behind the wind-sail; another voice is 
 speaking to them in English. The voice I recognize. 
 It is that of my husband, thank God I am so happy 
 that I can say it thank God, alive! 
 
 I am about to spring up and run to him and pro 
 claim myself when his words stay me and rivet me 
 to the spot. "Speak English, esteemed Kanecko," 
 he remarks, "so that none of this coolie crowd can un 
 derstand. Have you quietly ascertained if the report 
 is true that my wife is on board?" 
 
 "She is, honored Prince/ answers the addressed 
 Japanese officer in very good English. 
 
 And the third rather laughs : "A lucky coincidence 
 for you, most worthy Okashi. Instead of a hammock 
 in the steerage, you will now have a state cabin. The 
 Princess Sendai has the finest on the ship. You are 
 in luxury, Your Highness, after living on nothing but 
 bean-cake for a month. Besides, what a joyful sur 
 prise it will be to the lady, who, I am told, thinks 
 herself your widow. 
 
232 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 "Yes, she she has a right to believe herself my 
 \vidow !" answers Sendai, in so sad a voice it 
 shocks me. "My wife being on board is an unex 
 pected embarrassment to me. I I don t contemplate 
 meeting the Princess Sendai, and am glad that as a 
 steerage passenger the ship s purser didn t take the 
 trouble to register my name. During this voyage I 
 shall remain incognito." 
 
 "Incognito?" ejaculates one of the Japanese offi 
 cers ; and the other remarks : "Excuse me suggesting 
 that your wife should know you are alive." 
 
 "Ah, that is my dilemma !" mutters Sendai. "That s 
 the reason I ask that you keep my secret and that of a 
 most esteemed and honored lady who risked her repu 
 tation in an absurd yet most generous attempt to save 
 my life." 
 
 As the Prince speaks so enthusiastically about me 
 my heart gives a big throb. But the other Japanese 
 officer rejoins : "Oh, we ve heard that story ! It s all 
 over Chemulpo as well as Seoul, and I presume is now 
 the chat of Tokyo." 
 
 "Then since you have heard it, you know my deli 
 cate position to my my wife," remarks the Prince. 
 "I do not wish her to think that my presence on 
 board is an attempt to foist myself upon her. I shall 
 eat in the steerage. A few clays of hard-tack and salt 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 233 
 
 junk will be luxury to one who has lived for a month 
 among the vermin of a Manchurian hut. Believe me, 
 I only ask the silence of your tongues in order that I 
 may keep a very sacred obligation." 
 
 "Then you are not going near the very beautiful 
 lady who thinks herself your widow? You, her bride 
 groom, acknowledging she is your wife, and yet let 
 ting her believe you dead, you cold-blooded mathema 
 tician!" This is in the voice of the officer called 
 Kanecko. 
 
 "Deadthat s what she has a right to think me," 
 observes the Prince. "So, gentlemen, I expect you to 
 respect my incognito." Sendai s voice is so com 
 manding in its sadness that it compels his compan 
 ions almost immediate assent. 
 
 After a little the two officers leave my husband, 
 and I think I hear a sigh from the other side of the 
 wind-sail, mingled with a muttered, "Ema!" Which 
 I know is the Japanese name for the god of bad luck. 
 Had I heard another plaint I should have probably 
 stepped out to this gentleman who ignores me, his 
 wife. But quite shortly to me floats the fumes of a 
 cigar and I know my recreant husband is wooing the 
 weed men think the panacea for masculine woes. 
 
 So we sit, only the big wind-sail between us, my 
 husband apparently getting what comfort he can out 
 
234: MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 of a very good Havana, and his wife growing very 
 angry at him. I try to contemplate the affair philo 
 sophically. The more I think of the icy coldness of 
 a man who will permit a declaration that he is to die 
 in fifteen minutes after the ceremony to debar him 
 from even saying : "How are you, my esteemed Prin 
 cess ?" and seeing how widow s weeds become me, be 
 fore he performs his bond and passes out of my life, 
 the more furious it makes me. 
 
 A few minutes after, the sound of Sendai s foot 
 steps tells me he has departed. Oh, what a bitter 
 blow to my pride ! A bridegroom who will permit any 
 promise whatever to keep him from my side ! Had I 
 loved him I should be in despair; as it is, I shall 
 bring this loiterer in matrimony to my feet to hu 
 miliate him. How to do it? Inspiration flies 
 through me. Sendai is mathematically cold, but has 
 the hauteur of his Daimio race. He will never per 
 mit the name of his august family to become the gos 
 sip of the ship. An admirer ? That is what I want, 
 instantly ! My recreant bridegroom will hardly look 
 with complacency upon a moonlight flirtation by his 
 wife, the Princess Sendai, on this very deck. His 
 pride will make him declare himself my husband. 
 An admirer an ardent admirer ! 
 
 Colonel Ponsomby, sauntering the deck and looking 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 235 
 
 for me, is the man for my purpose. Two minutes after 
 I am hanging on his arm in a way that makes the 
 British gallant think he has made what in American 
 slang is called "a mash." 
 
 The moon is rising over the waves of the Yellow 
 Sea. It will give light enough to Sendai to observe 
 his bride looking into the stalwart English Colonel s 
 eyes with a widow s coy glances. 
 
 Not that I permit the flirtation to go very far, 
 though I make it appear to be much more desperate 
 than it really is. 
 
 Hanging lackadaisically upon my gallant s arm, I 
 keep the Colonel walking up and down the forward 
 part of the deck, away from most of the cabin passen 
 gers, but in full view of any gentlemen smoking on 
 the steerage. My voice is low and caressing; I look 
 languishingly at Ponsomby till he strokes his blond 
 moustache that has been grizzled by years of Eastern 
 service and thinks his fifty-year-old beauty has played 
 havoc with my adolescent heart. To the military 
 beau I bashfully murmur : "I could never marry now 
 aught but an army man of distinction/ 
 
 His eyes begin to sparkle in the moonlight with 
 rapture. "My deah young Princess/ he whispers, 
 "your words show your sense and make me forget 
 
236 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 everything but that you are by my side and that I am 
 boyishly romantic about you. Never has " 
 
 But Ponsomby s ardent expressions are now inter 
 rupted by the suave voice of my recreant bridegroom. 
 Standing before us in full Japanese uniform, which 
 he has apparently donned for his greeting to me,, Sen- 
 dai remarks nonchalantly: "Esteemed madame, I am 
 sorry to interrupt your moonlight tete-a-tete. You 
 will excuse my not presenting myself immediately to 
 you upon my arrival on board. The truth is, I was 
 so infamously dirty and unkempt after my Manchu- 
 rian dodging of Cossacks that I was not presentable 
 to to my bride." 
 
 I give a gasp of apparently tremendous surprise 
 and agitation, and falter: "Sendai, my husband, re 
 turned! Alive! Here! Escaped from the Russians!" 
 
 At my words the British Colonel staggers back and 
 stammers : "Your husband ? By Jove !" in astounded 
 tones. Then, for Ponsomby has a great good will for 
 the Japanese and the usual Anglo-Saxon admiration 
 for heroism, he succeeds in remarking : "I m very glad 
 to see you alive, sir. Your escape must have been a 
 very curious one. I have heard of your heroic action 
 among the Russians, and with your permission will 
 leave you to to your wife." The last is a regretful 
 sigh. I presume the moonlight is becoming to me; 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 237 
 
 my eyes are sparkling with a peculiar yet audacious 
 triumph as they gaze upon Sendai. 
 
 I have forced his hand. T have won what? 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 "SHALL KIGURO S SACRIFICE BE NAUGHT?" 
 
 Then the Colonel hurries away to the main salon 
 to tell unbelieving ears that the dead is alive and my 
 husband in some marvelous manner has escaped Rus 
 sian execution, while Sendai and I stand confronting 
 each other upon the deck, which is now quite deserted, 
 though it is still early in the evening, for the night 
 has grown somewhat colder. 
 
 My husband s attitude is so uncompromising I am 
 almost sorry that I forced him to reveal himself. His 
 black orbs glow with critical austerity from a gaunt 
 face which exhibits in every line the terrific hardships 
 he has encountered. He doesn t even take my hand. 
 Then a flash suddenly comes into the darkness of his 
 eyes and I can see them grow luminous in the moon 
 light, Is it because I look so well in black ? 
 
 Despite this, he remarks, a caustic severity in his 
 tone that frightens me : "You will pardon me present 
 ing myself to you, honored lady. When I stepped on 
 board this vessel I had no knowledge that you were 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 239 
 
 one of its passengers. Otherwise, though I am under 
 immediate orders for Tokyo, I should have in some 
 way saved you the embarrassment of a journey on the 
 same vessel. But being here and noting that, appar 
 ently convinced of my death, you have already as 
 sumed a widow s privilege of coquetry, I deemed it 
 necessary for my honor and for yours to inform you 
 that you have yet a living husband though one who 
 remembers his promise to you." The last of his 
 speech is in a saddened tone. 
 
 "You you think I will hold you to your statement 
 that you would very shortly die after I gave you my 
 hand in marriage ?" I whisper, indignation struggling 
 with misery in my voice. 
 
 "I believe that you have a right to demand that I 
 keep my contract/ he remarks, solemnly, "but that 
 afterward ! As it is now known that I, your husband, 
 am on board this boat with you, it is my duty as well 
 as my pleasure to shield you from the embarrassment 
 which would come to you with it. For this purpose 
 I assume sole authority over a lady bearing my name 
 until I can say to her: Go thy way ! When next you 
 hear of me I shall be but a memory." 
 
 A buzz from the cabins tells me that the escape of 
 my husband from the Eussians is known about the 
 boat. Ponsomby s tongue has done quick duty in the 
 
240 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 main salon, from which a number of gentlemen are 
 hurrying to the deck, headed by the skipper, to wel 
 come an officer whose gallant feat has made him the 
 talk of the Far East. 
 
 The Prince looks at me for a moment ; then says : 
 "Under the circumstances, you will admit I have 
 no option, esteemed Princess. You will announce to 
 your father" there is command in his tone "that I 
 wish to greet him as 
 
 "As what?" I falter. 
 
 "As your husband I" 
 
 "Y-e-s 3 " I stammer, meekly, and would turn away. 
 But for the first time during this interview he takes 
 my hand and draws me to him I think to caress me 
 but he merely whispers in my ear a solemn warn 
 ing: "Until I pass from your life, no glance at any 
 other man but me." His eyes seem to me big as Blue 
 beard s. 
 
 "Of of course," I shiver, more docilely than I had 
 ever anwered in my life before. Then I plead: 
 "Please wait a second, Sendai, till I have explained to 
 Papa. Your resurrection will be a shock to him, 
 for he thought he saw your body hanging on that 
 Manchurian bridge." 
 
 "From that Manchurian bridge by Diakoku, you 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 241 
 
 mean oh, I know whom you mean! Kiguro, who 
 gave his noble life for me. Yes, yes, tell your father !" 
 
 Sendai steps to the bulwark ; his face is turned over 
 the Yellow Sea towards Manchuria ; his thoughts have 
 placed him beside the dead body making atonement 
 for him to Eussian execution. Tears, the first I 
 have ever seen in Sendai s eyes, dim them as they gaze 
 over the moonlit water. The softer emotion in him 
 gives me hope he will be merciful to me. And yet I 
 am not sorry his austere warning frightened me and 
 made me tremble. That would indicate that he was 
 the being intended for me by Nature and the Bible. 
 
 Half staggering to Papa s cabin, I give a warning 
 rap and enter. He is seated, writing on some con 
 tracts or estimates, I suppose. To him I tell my won 
 drous story of Kiguro s enormous sacrifice and my 
 husband s marvelous escape from Eussian death. 
 
 As he listens, Dad shudders : "Nonsense ! You ve 
 gone crazy thinking on the subject, unhappy girl I" 
 
 "Nonsense?" I answer; "Sendai is outside that 
 door waiting on the deck there." 
 
 Evidence of this is now coming in to us. We hear 
 some Japanese officers who had cabin passage cry: 
 "Banzai Sendai !" We hear the skipper saying he is 
 honored by having the Prince on board his ship. 
 
 The English contingent, headed by Ponsomby, are 
 
242 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 crying : "Bravo, Senclai !" and Sammy Debrow s voice 
 is saying, generously : "You Japanese hero, your bride 
 is in there waiting for you." 
 
 There is a rap upon the door. 
 
 I bow my head. Something comes into my heart 
 that make my eyes swim. 
 
 "By the Eternal!" screams Dad, springing from 
 his desk and knocking his business papers right and 
 left. "Good God ! you here alive ?" 
 
 For Sendai, in as natty a Japanese uniform as ever 
 graced dandy of the Guard, and looking as dashing, 
 despite his privations, as. any officer in the Mikado s 
 service, stands before us. 
 
 As the lamplight permits him for the first time 
 full view of his blushing widow, an eagerness springs 
 into his dark eyes that gives my heart a terrible 
 thumping, automobile action. My limbs scarce sup- 
 port me. 
 
 Noting this, the Prince places me most politely in 
 a chair. 
 
 Without waiting for my husband to speak, my 
 father breaks out upon him : "My God, Sendai, how 
 could you put such desperate peril upon my daughter 
 by visiting her at our bungalow by the railroad bridge 
 you were going to mine !" 
 
 Here a sad voice makes my heart beat indignantly, 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 243 
 
 as the Prince answers : "I had no idea of meeting you 
 or your daughter there, honored Mr. Armstrong. I 
 presumed you at Port Arthur. My objective was, of 
 course, that Russian bridge, whose construction I had 
 learned well from its drawings I saw when I visited 
 you in Tokyo/ 
 
 He didn t come to Manchuria because he must see 
 my face ! I am so chagrined I kick my feet about, as 
 the cold-blooded creature continues, impressively: 
 "Your unexpected and sudden arrival with your 
 daughter appalled me, esteemed American. Then my 
 great hope was that you would not discover me in 
 your coolie gardener engaged by Yaling, who hates 
 the Russians because they killed his father and all 
 his brothers during Boxer time up in the Liao River 
 Valley. When you took the railroad the next morn 
 ing to go north, that was a relief to me. But, unfor 
 tunately, you left your daughter at your house, and 
 she, to my dismay and horror, discovered my identity. 
 I tried to keep her from any communication with me, 
 but despite her own risk she came to me in the dead 
 of night to warn me of the additional danger upon 
 me from the Russian suspicion of Yaling. Then, at 
 my request, to keep her from scandal, she married a 
 dying man. She risked so much for my poor life, I 
 
244 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 thought she might endure being my wife for fifteen 
 short minutes." 
 
 Good Heavens ! Even Sendai thinks I love him. I 
 am so incensed I wriggle nervously on my chair. 
 
 "Well, since you re not dead," says Father, quite 
 cheerfully, "and are married to my daughter, I reckon 
 the best thing you can do is to go into business with 
 me. You re the corkingest engineer I ever saw. They 
 are going to build three or four big cantilever bridges 
 across the East Eiver, and with your engineering 
 ability I think we can get the contracts and make a 
 raft of money." 
 
 "There is something better for a Japanese soldier 
 than building bridges just at present," remarks Sen 
 dai, gravely. "I am about to apply for permission to 
 leave the General Staff for active duty in the front. 
 
 "Why, there s no work for engineers in the front of 
 battle!" I break in, for my husband s manner 
 frightens me. 
 
 "Pardon me, honored lady," returns the Prince. 
 "JsTow that modern war has been made scientific, 
 the highest duty of an engineer is in the very front 
 of battle. We have to assault fortified places. Who 
 must make the reconnoisances, drawing the Russian 
 fire to determine the calibre of the guns, and how best 
 to silence their artillery the engineers ! Who must 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 245 
 
 discover, if possible, and cut in the midst of engage 
 ment the wires leading to the Muscovite mines that 
 will be placed to blow up our charging regiments ?" 
 
 "My God, that s the point of greatest danger, Sen- 
 dai !" I falter for his sadly determined face frightens 
 me, and I note that he no more calls me wife, but hon 
 ored lady. 
 
 "The place of greatest danger is where I wish to 
 be I" he answers, sententiously. 
 
 But Papa breaks in : "You ve got to think of your 
 wife now, young man, even if your country is at war/ 
 
 "Perhaps this discussion had better go on entirely 
 between your father and myself, honored Princess," 
 remarks Sendai, looking at my perturbed face and 
 trembling form. "You had best retire to your own 
 cabin, esteemed lady. There I will consult with you 
 quite shortly." 
 
 The coldness of his tone shocks me, but I rise f alter- 
 ingly without a word. The Prince ceremoniously es 
 corts me to the door, and bowing to me whispers point 
 edly : "I shall have a few questions to ask you as hus 
 band to wife." Somehow I know he s going to be 
 awfully strict with me. 
 
 As I turn from the cabin entrance Father 
 chuckles: "Thunder! Already she obeys you better 
 than she ever did me !" Then I hear Papa whisper : 
 
24G NY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 "I m going to dower your bride nobly to support her 
 rank, Prince a couple of million dollars !" and I un 
 derstand by dear old Dad s pleading tones that he is 
 trying to induce Scndai to accord me more considera 
 tion than Oriental husband usually gives Eastern 
 wife. 
 
 To this my bridegroom says: "My honored Mr. 
 Armstrong, money is your daughter s slightest charm 
 in my eyes." 
 
 Aha! That puts an idea in my head! "Slightest 
 charm !" At least Sendai thinks I am beautiful. 
 
 I trip over the deck quickly to my cabin, tear off 
 my widow s weeds, toss them across the stateroom, 
 open my trunks and command San Shoo to make me 
 bridelike ! 
 
 Soon in dazzling, gleaming satin, white from petite 
 slippers to soft lace neckgear, I sit, uneasily, awaiting 
 coming husband. 
 
 A few minutes after, the Prince marches into my 
 cabin. I arise flutteringly to meet him. At his gesture 
 San Shoo leaves the big deck cabin, and I stand glanc 
 ing at him bashfully. We had been alone together be 
 fore ; but then my husband had been bound and help 
 less dying ! Now he is free and my master ! 
 
 To me he says in his formal Japanese way : "Hon 
 ored Princess, esteemed lady," and bows to the deck. 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 247 
 
 And I, imitating Japanese fashion, bend before 
 nim, and rubbing my hands upon my knees, imitate 
 that peculiar hissing which indicates the reverent 
 salute of wife to husband. 
 
 At this for a moment he smiles, and says: "You 
 don t do it as well as when you were a geisha, child. 
 You are too frightened frightened of me." Ah, the 
 pathos in his precise, soft voice as he continues : "You 
 hoped you were my widow, not my wife !" 
 
 "I I did not know that you would escape," I fal 
 ter. 
 
 "Yes, the black mourning of your robe told me you 
 believed I had kept my contract to die after I married 
 you," he answers, simply. "Yaling s words to me, 
 that you directed him to tell me that I had not broken 
 my parole to the Russian officers and could escape with 
 honor, produced an audacious hope that you might 
 wish a living huband; not a dead one. But upon that 
 deck I saw a widow s coquetry ; it told me you believed 
 I had kept my bond. Do not despair, honored 
 lady, my contract is only postponed for a little time. 
 No woman shall say I broke my word to her, and, 
 least of all, my wife. Don t scream !" I had emitted 
 a shivering plaint "I shall not commit seppuku 
 in the usual way, but I shall see you no more, and 
 you will. read of my death where I can do my country 
 
248 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 the greatest good by dying. There are better ways of 
 committing liari kiri now for Japan than by the short- 
 sword method. Sayonara!" He turns to leave the 
 cabin. 
 
 These words from the mouths of some men I would 
 believe bravado, but from Scndai s cool, clean-cut, 
 aristocratic lips they mean his death. Falteringly, I 
 shudder : "Shall that sacrifice of the noble Kiguro be 
 in vain? No, no!" 
 
 For a moment a kind of rapture lights his 
 face; then, misunderstanding me, he simply bows 
 again, and says: "I thank you for permitting me 
 to live. Allow me to ask a question and I shall leave 
 you. Do you know who betrayed my presence by the 
 bridge to the Russian officers? When I was seized I 
 immediately suspected that Yaling, under bribery or 
 torture, had betrayed me to my enemies, but since 
 then, his active aid for my safety and his own flight 
 from the enemies of Japan have convinced me of his 
 innocence." 
 
 I look nervously at my husband. His cool, piercing 
 eyes tell me that he half guesses. For the second time 
 in my life I am frightened of this man. I, Hilda 
 Armstrong no, Hilda Sendai commence to tremble 
 before my judge-like husband. To him I stammer : 
 "It was I, unwittingly believe me, Sendai who be- 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 249 
 
 trayed you. My visit to give you warning was what 
 brought death so close to you." 
 
 "By Ema, you told Schevitch!" he shudders, and 
 his mien grows terrifying. 
 
 "No, no ; not that ! I would have died sooner than 
 betray you. I took the risk of my own life to save 
 you you remember that you must know that." 
 
 "Yes, but but the Kussian was at your country 
 house and and made love to you!" he mutters, fever 
 ishly, and his eyes glow with fiery misery. 
 
 Aha ! At last I know the full meaning of Sendai s 
 perturbed manner, of Sendai s questions. He is jeal 
 ous jealous of Schevitch ! Despite his self-restraint 
 I can see his lips twitch beneath his moustache. 
 
 I could clap my hands in triumph as I answer, 
 proudly : "No, the Baron did not make love to me ; I 
 wouldn t permit it." Then tears come very near my 
 eyes as I whimper : "No man not even my own hus 
 band has made love to me." 
 
 "By your husband you mean me?" Sendai s face, 
 from that of judge, becomes that of an adorer. 
 
 "Of course, I do," I flutter. "Who ever married 
 me before? Isn t this a bride s dress?" 
 
 Either the beauty of my costume or the latent insin 
 uation of my manner seems to make my husband more 
 of a Turk than a Japanese. 
 
250 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 "And no man will marry you again. You are my 
 own! 77 he replies, in Oriental passion. "I shall es 
 cort you, honored spouse, to my father s, the Prince s, 
 estates. There you will remain as Japanese Princess 
 should, awaiting a daimio when he goes to battle. 77 
 
 But this suggestion of princely seclusion frightens 
 me. I plead: "No, no; please not, my honored hus 
 band. Think what it will mean to me, who do not 
 speak the language, alone in the retirement of a Jap 
 anese wife. 7 
 
 "Ah, yes, but what I saw upon the deck this night, 7 
 dissents Sendai; "that clinging to the stalwart Eng 
 lish Colonel 7 s arm; those coy, alluring glances in his 
 wooing face." 
 
 "Pish !" I answer, flippantly. "Ponsomby is fifty." 
 
 "Old snakes are deadly, 77 replies the Prince, senten- 
 tiously. Then he asks a short, sharp question : "Did 
 you know I was living when you gave tete-a-tete to the 
 English officer?" 
 
 Beneath his searching glance I dare not lie. "Yes !" 
 I answer, almost defiantly. 
 
 "Izanagi!" Sendai 7 s face says liari /art. 
 
 "But it was to bring you to my side !" I cry, almost 
 imploringly. "Do you suppose I would permit such in 
 sult as a voyage incognito on the same ship by my 
 bridegroom for any reason on this earth except I told 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 251 
 
 him, Get ye gone ! Have I uttered those words, my 
 husband ?" I am so angry at him that I forget maid 
 enly pride and half sob : "You need have no fear of 
 me, your wife no fear of Russian barons or anything 
 else but your own jealousy/ I have thrown away all 
 hauteur. My timid manner, my abashed face, my 
 teary eyes, tell him he is monarch of all he surveys. 
 
 Gazing upon me, my husband commences to smile 
 again, and after a minute s consideration, says : "N"o, 
 I believe retirement would not suit you, my dashing 
 Hilda." He seats himself as if he were at home, and 
 his manner becomes American. "Perhaps when I go 
 to the front, you had better live by yourself after I 
 have presented you to my father and mother, 
 the old Prince and Princess. Though the Yashiki 
 of our family was given thirty years ago to the general 
 government, I have a very pretty palace near the 
 Kasuyima Street in Tokyo. There you can receive 
 your foreign and American friends as a modern prin 
 cess of Japan. How do you like that ?" 
 
 "Oh, that will be very nice, Okashi," I whisper. 
 Then I venture to place my hand confidingly but tim 
 idly on his shoulder and whisper : "You are going to 
 treat me as if I were a modern American wife, eh?" 
 
 As I speak I reflect with horror that I shall never 
 be kissed in my whole life. The Japanese never kiss. 
 
252 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 Sendai will never kiss me, and I know he will never 
 permit any other gentleman to salute me by oscula 
 tion. Xo to be kissed in my whole life ! And here is 
 a husband who, I believe, is beginning to adore me 
 in his awful, formal Japanese way. 
 
 My grasp upon my husband s arm has become a 
 clinging one. He is seated ; I sink on my knees before 
 him and hide my head in his lap. My mental teleg 
 raphy appears to reach his acute senses; a smile rip 
 ples his features, he half laughs : "By the bye, if I per 
 mit you to live as a modern American wife, perhaps 
 my exquisite bride would like me to treat her as if I 
 were an ordinary American husband?" 
 
 My face glows like a lotus flower. I glance up archly 
 at him, and murmur : "Yes, Sendai." 
 
 Oh, mercy! His arm glides round my slender 
 waist; his athletic embrace nearly makes me squeal. 
 He draws my blushing face to him and kisses me as if 
 his very soul w r ere on his lips. 
 
 Then the wretch laughs : "How is that for high, lit 
 tle woman?" 
 
 Where did the villain learn to kiss so potently? 
 It must have been when he was a Harvard freshman 
 studying American customs ; the Japanese are such a 
 thorough race. 
 
 Oh, Heaven, how happy I am ! Sendai is whisper- 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 253 
 
 ing to me: "I knew yon loved me when you risked 
 your life to try and save me" Even my husband 
 thinks I love him ! 
 
 "Now," he observes, "a little tour of the salon to 
 gether, just to prove you are no widow." 
 
 Jack Bristow says I m spoons on Sendai, as I 
 come out of the cabin hanging on the Prince s arm, 
 " Melican fashion." 
 
 About this time Dad is going about the ship s deck 
 and talking to the skipper of "my son-in-law, Prince 
 Sendai, the greatest engineer officer I ve ever seen, 
 and I ve tackled all of em." At first opportunity he 
 whispers to Sendai : "Can t you give me a day or two 
 in Tokyo, Prince, from your military duty, just to go 
 over the plans of the new East River bridge that have 
 been forwarded to me from America ?" 
 
 And the Prince says : "No, all the time I have to 
 spare, esteemed Mr. Armstrong, shall be given to 
 my wife before I go to the front." 
 ; Before he goes to the front ! Oh, that s what makes 
 my bride s heart so heavy ! I know the Russians will 
 kill him. They missed him once, but now he ll no 
 more have his devoted Samurai to give his life for 
 him. 
 
 But Sendai s ardor makes me forget future fears in 
 
254 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 present love. Never was bride so happy all this honey- 
 moon voyage. 
 
 \Ve reach Tokyo,, and oh, the to-do that the Japan 
 ese capital makes over my heroic husband. The Mi 
 kado accords him a private audience, and Pinkie Cald- 
 well at last believes that Sendai loves me ! 
 
 Soon in the beautiful cemetery, by the grave of the 
 forty-seven Eonins, who died for their Daimio two 
 hundred years ago, the Prince erects a Shinto shrine 
 to the actor of the Kabukiza Theatre, who gave his 
 life, like they, for his feudal chief. Japanese throngs 
 come to worship it. They know the touching story, 
 and though no more the crowds applaud Kiguro on 
 the flowery paths of the Kabukiza Theatre, they have 
 a grand performance in his memory and for his 
 widow s benefit. But that is not necessarv. The 
 Thousand Joys can have all the Prince and I possess 
 to make her life a happy one. The heroic spirit of her 
 husband she can only meet beyond the shades. 
 
 Then my husband leaves me to fight the Eussians - f 
 and the days of awful waiting come. The social world, 
 Japanese and foreign, is at my feet, but I think no 
 more of it; I only think of his danger. 
 
 Then we hear the news of the carrying of Kin-chow 
 and that awful Nanshan Hill, bristling with cannon 
 and mined at its base. But who found the wires to 
 
MY JAPANESE PRINCE 255 
 
 the Russian mines and in the front of that dread as 
 sault cut them and saved the charging Japanese regi 
 ments from annihilation? My husband was one of 
 that band of heroic engineers. 
 
 Then something strikes my heart ! 
 
 I scream as I hear them say I may be a real widow. 
 
 Then a wire comes that tells me he perhaps will live, 
 and I go down by steamboat to Chemulpo. There I 
 find him in the hospital and nurse him, and the sur 
 geons say my devotion saved my darling boy s life. 
 
 We have returned to Tokyo. 
 
 Now he can walk with a cane. But, thank God, he 
 won t be able to fight again for a year or two ! By 
 that time the war will probably be over. 
 
 The Mikado has appointed him military attache of 
 the Japanese Embassy to the Court of St. James the 
 English Court! Look out for your prestige, Mes- 
 dames Marlborough and Roxburghe. What are your 
 puny titles, scarce two hundred years old, to that of a 
 daimio prince, whose house for two thousand years 
 has record in the history of Japan ? 
 
 The Japs are the coming race, I can tell you ! Way 
 for the Princess Sendai ! Banzai, Princess Sendai! 
 
 Jingo, if my modest husband saw what I am writ 
 ing! 
 
 I hear his halting step upon the lacquered palace 
 
256 MY JAPANESE PRINCE 
 
 floor; I run out, put my arm beneath his wounded 
 shoulder and make myself his crutch. 
 
 As I support him he kisses me as fervidly as if he 
 were a West Point man. My husband, the dandiest 
 officer in one of the bravest armies in the world, the 
 fellow who doesn t fear even his own wife! 
 
 Finis. 
 
3SS 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY