rmer wife had become entirely a Japanese,
a person absolutely different from himself, a visitant from another
sphere. He was English she was Japanese. They were divorced already.

The big man rose from his chair, and held out his hand to his wife.

"I'm sorry, little Asako!" he said, very gently. "You are quite right.
It was a mistake. Good-bye, and--God bless you always!"

With immense relief and gratitude she took the giant's paw in her
own tiny hand. It seemed to have lost its grip, to have become like a
Japanese hand.

He opened the door for her. Once again, as on the altar-steps of St.
George's, the tall shoulders bent over the tiny figure with a movement
of instinctive protection and tenderness. He closed the door behind
her, recrossed the room and stared into the empty fireplace.

After a time, Ito returned. The two men went together to the district
office of the Akasaka Ward. There Geoffrey signed a declaration
in Japanese and English to the effect that his marriage with Asako
Fujinami was cancelled, and that she was free to return to her
father's family.

Next morning, at daylight his ship left Yokohama.

Before he reached Liverpool, war had been declared.

CHAPTER XXII

FUJINAMI ASAKO

_Okite mitsu
Nete mitsu kaya no
Hirosa kana_.

When I rise, I look--
When I lie down, I look--
Alas, how vast is the mosquito-curtain.

Asako Barrington was restored to the name and home of the Fujinami.
Her action had been the result of hereditary instinct, of the
natural current of circumstances, and of the adroit diplomacy of her
relatives. She had been hunted and caught like a wild animal; and
she was soon to find that the walls of her enclosure, which at first
seemed so wide that she perceived them not, were closing in upon her
day by day as in a mediaeval torture chamber, forcing her step by step
towards the unfathomable pit of Japanese matrimony.

The Fujinami had not adopted their foreign cousin out of pure
altruism. Far from it. Like Japanese in general, they resented the
intrusion of a "_tanin_" (outside person) into their intimacy. They
took her for what she was worth to them.

Since Asako was now a member of the family, custom allowed Mr.
Fujinami Gentaro to control her money. But Mr. Ito warned his patron
that, legally, the money was still hers, and hers alone, and that in
case of her marrying a second time it might again slip away. It was
imperative, therefore, to the policy