they arrived too late in the morning to see fuji-san. clouds lay over the mountain ranges and smoky haze obscured the land, only the nearest foreshore appearing, gray, formless, without detail. it might have been the california coast, any coast line, in fact. only the sampans which passed them, standing out to sea, with their characteristic square sails, high galleon-like poops, indicated the orient. they passed quarantine. a launch came up smartly to the ship's ladder. a tall man in pongee waved his big white sun-helmet up to kent.
it was erik karsten. kent had expected to see him. they had been friends, when karsten was dramatic and art critic on the herald, before he had gone to japan some years ago. they had corresponded and kent had looked after his son, young mortimer karsten, until the boy had graduated from the university and had gone to europe for further study. karsten had written him, when he had heard that he was coming to japan, that he must make his home with him, at least until he decided to make other arrangements. it made it particularly pleasant. they were warm friends.
they climbed up the ladder, police officials, steamship agents, karsten and the rest. the friends shook hands.
"by cæsar, but it is good to see you," said karsten. "i have been feeling a bit lonesome these last few years. i am glad you will stay with me, at least for a while. here, give your trunk keys to martin. he will see your stuff through the customs. it will be too late to get to tokyo for tiffin, so we will eat at the grand. then you can take a turn about yokohama, and we'll be in tokyo in time for dinner."
he went through the usual form of police examination. the steamer crept up to the wharf. yokohama was as he had expected, the foreign settlement drab and tedious as of old; the typically japanese section had receded a bit farther into the background; there were a few more red-brick official buildings. the return brought no thrill. even the rickshaw seemed commonplace after he had ridden in it a few minutes. he felt as if he had been away from japan only a score of weeks rather than a score of years.
though he had halfway expected this, he was disappointed. karsten read his thought.
"yokohama always disappoints, doesn't it? i shall never forget my shock when i first came to the fabled orient and found this nondescript changeling of a city. tokyo is becoming spoiled, too. they are covering it with electric poles, tangles of wires, atrocious buildings, all the dreariness of civilization, which they have a positive genius for making as obtrusive as possible. it seems almost that when they copy our civilization they make a point of making the worst parts thereof the most conspicuous. they can endow them with a hideousness which you don't find in any other place in the world. still, tokyo is not as bad as yokohama. you may still find large quarters which are japan. i have found such a place. i hope you will like it."
they arrived at karsten's house late in the afternoon. hugh felt his hopes rise as they left the prosy, noisy main streets and their rickshaws began a tortuous journey through narrow alleys, through a typically japanese quarter, with clean wooden houses, latticed paper windows, grilled entrances, bamboo fences, and daintily contrived roofed gates through which might be glimpsed miniature gardens, with dwarfed pines, stone lanterns, curved paths of broad gray stones.
a steep stone stairway, winding erratically up the hillside against which nestled the quarter below, brought them to karsten's house. thank god, here was a place such as he would wish to live in, which was in harmony with his dreams of the spirit of japan. japanese in every detail, set in a cool garden overlooking the cluster of houses through which they had passed. in the rear lay a great temple, set in extensive grounds, a cool, calm space shadowed by old trees conveying a feeling of vast, eternal peace.
"you see, i am almost literally between the devil and the deep sea." karsten swept his hand before him. "these houses below are a geisha quarter, as you might know by the immaculate trimness and careful detail. it is more characteristic at night, when the lights are lit. you'll see. there, behind us, in the temple grounds, you may always find peace, rest. can it be a sort of telepathic influence? i don't know; but it seems almost as if centuries of calm meditation, projection of their minds into the infinite by generations of priests, the devout prayers of hundreds of thousands of worshipers, from cradle to grave, have permeated the whole space with an atmosphere, an aura of infinite peace. i am absolutely pagan. i have no creed or religious philosophy whatever. still, sitting alone in this place, letting my thoughts go, i come nearer the idea that there is something, some one, some force, above, beyond, eternal, dominant, controlling the universe. buddha, god, call it by whatever name you like, but some vast, hidden, mysterious force. anyway, if i am troubled, agitated, here i may always find peace."
they entered the house. a tall, handsome japanese woman met them, bowed deeply, gracefully. "o hairi nasai. please enter."
the soft, deep ring of her voice, its musical modulation; the richness of her silks in spite of their somber shades; the every evidence that here was a woman of refinement, a gentlewoman, startled kent. plainly this was no servant. could it be that karsten had contracted one of these indefinite loti'esque temporary arrangements which are fairly common in japan? still, then he would have said something about it. he wondered.
but karsten gave no explanation.
"jun-san, this is kent-san. kent, jun-san has been looking forward to your coming. she is pleased that you speak japanese. she speaks no english."
she clapped her hands. a servant came, took their hats. they entered a large, cool room, upstairs, whence they had a full view of the clusters of geisha houses below. jun-san followed, brought tea. he noticed that she drank also. evidently not a servant; probably an "oku-san," after all? still, in such case it was odd that karsten had not mentioned it. well, time would tell soon enough. he liked her presence there, sitting gracefully, japanese-fashion, on a silk cushion, ever watchful, attentive to anticipate their wants. her mere being there lent an air of rich, but delicate, exotic oriental beauty to the room, as though she were some infinitely wonderful, gorgeous ornament, contrived to harmonize with, to add grace to the surroundings. he liked the soft, slow smile when she answered him in her grave contralto voice; but he noticed that when she was not speaking, when he and karsten were conversing in english, when she took no part, she was ever watching karsten, with an expression of sadness, it seemed to him, a hint of wistfulness. it oppressed him a little with its indefinite mystery. he tried to put the thought away, as he went on talking with karsten, but he could not free himself from the sense of an oppression of sadness, vaguely permeating the house as might a breath of heavy incense. he felt himself seized, unaccountably, knowing no definite reason, with a feeling of compassion, of sympathy, for jun-san.
