was too careful a chaperone to permit one of her girls to wander
at dusk with a strange young Japanese.

Nancy quickened her pace. Nevertheless, she felt a little impatient with
all these restrictions.

"I am almost eighteen. I suppose I might be trusted to look after myself
occasionally," she thought with some irritation.

"May I not see you again to-morrow, Miss Brown?" Yoritomo was asking.

"I am afraid you'll have to ask Miss Campbell."

"It is now almost the American dinner hour," he went on thoughtfully,
looking at his watch. "If I should be strolling to-morrow at this time
down by the bridge, it would be very pleasant. We could have a few words
together."

"But--" began Nancy, and the voices of her friends interrupted her.

They had paused near a great bush of azaleas in full bloom. Almost over
their heads the silver crescent of the new moon hung poised like a fairy
scimitar. It was exquisite and unreal. Nancy felt somehow out of place in
the lovely picture, while the young Japanese, standing intense and rigid
beside her, was as much a part of the Oriental garden as the stone
lantern and the fragrant spice bush near the path. Even his blue serge
European suit seemed to have lost its values in the deepening shadows.

"If I come every day to see you, there would be great comment," he said
in a low voice. "But often I shall wait on the bridge about this time."