n at court, my "honourable" manners would be so much
improved. There is nothing brusque or rough or rude about these people,
you couldn't imagine them scrambling or pushing to get in front of
others even at a big show.

A voice behind us says timidly, "Will the honourable sirs be pleased to
employ this humble servant as interpreter?"

We stop and look at him. It is not a bad idea. We have felt already this
morning, even in coming straight from our very Western hotel here, how
helpless we are in this land where the chair-men do not speak a word of
English, and where even the street names are in Chinese characters. This
little man is quite unassuming, he would certainly be no trouble and
might be very useful. When we stop he deprecatingly opens his flat book
and shows us drawings in freehand of scrolls and animals that he has
made. He explains that he tries to get a living by offering such designs
to the shops, but that he would like better to be interpreter to us, as
he wishes to perfect his English. The terms he asks are absurdly
moderate. Yes, we will have him.

We engage him then and there, and he enters our service at once; there
is no need for delay, for he is apparently not encumbered with anything
beyond his drawing-book. He brightens up wonderfully when we say "yes."
Poor little chap, I expect he is half starved. In most countries it
would be rash indeed to engage a man at sight without any sort of
written "character," but there is a simplicity and honesty about this
one which gives us confidence in him. I am sure he would never cheat us
deliberately, anyway, I am quite ready to risk it.

[Illustration: RICKSHAW.]

We tell him that what we want is to see something of Tokyo to-day, and
then to go off into the country and try to get a glimpse of the real
Japanese life, un-Europeanised, in some small village where we could
stay at a little country inn for a day or two. He enters into the scheme
at once and says that he will have the plans all ready to suggest to us
this evening. Meantime he takes command, and after seeing us into our
waiting rickshaws, calls up another for himself, gives the three men
directions, and off we go.

As we run back to the town we notice the houses standing by themselves
in the suburbs, quite good, large houses, some of them, surrounded by
their own gardens, shut in by high walls so that only the sloping
red-tiled roofs, curved up at the end, are visible. Some of these are
two stor