"What in the world are they doing?" demanded Miss Campbell.

"One never wears shoes in the house, Cousin, don't you remember? Papa
told us so this morning," answered Billie slipping her feet into the
straw sandals provided.

"Perfect nonsense!" exclaimed Miss Campbell, shuffling into the hall in
her loose footgear. "I suppose I shall be expected to sit on the floor
and eat my meals on a door mat," she complained, "and that I positively
will not do. My old joints are far too stiff to be doubled up like a pair
of nut crackers."

The girls giggled and the four little Japanese maids giggled, too; not
that they understood a word of the language, but good humor is the
keynote of the Japanese character and strangers are treated with a
sympathetic courtesy and hospitality unequaled in any other country.

However, Miss Campbell's fears were immediately set at rest, for the
long, low-ceiled drawing-room of the villa was furnished in European
fashion with plenty of comfortable arm-chairs and sofas made of bamboo.
The floors were covered with thick soft mats and the front walls facing
the piazza were really sliding panels covered with opaque paper through
which the light cast a soft mellow luster. As a matter of fact, Dr. and
Mrs. Spears, the owners of the villa, had kept it as Japanese as possible
without interfering with their foreign ideas of comfort. The only
ornaments were several beautiful scrolls and screens and a few vases.

Instead of sitting down quietly and being served to tea, which was
evidently the next duty expected of them by these formal domestics,