CHAPTER IV


For two halcyon months Yuki San lived in a dream. The ample
compensation Merrit insisted upon making for the hospitality extended
to him more than met the modest needs of the little household, and
once again, as in the earlier days, they went on jolly excursions,
visited ancient temples, and picnicked under the shadow of the
_torii_. The father and mother always trotted close behind, and Yuki
San, vastly pleased with her ability, gaily translated the speeches
from one to another. She talked incessantly, laughing over her own
mistakes, and growing prettier and more winsome every day.

Merrit was glad to fill his leisure time in such pleasant
companionship. Yuki San was the same little bundle of charm he
remembered of old, with her innocence untouched, and a heart whose
depths had never yet been stirred.

He teased her, and taught her, and played with her, as he would have
played with a merry child. Naturally gentle and affectionate, he
unconsciously swept Yuki San to the borderland of that golden world
where to awaken alone is agony.

One morning, when the heavy mists of the valley lay in masses of pink
against the deeper purple of the mountain, and his Highness, the sun,
his face flushed from his long climb, was sending his first glances