proved Pinkey of a forgiving spirit.

They were on their wedding journey, he told us after I had summoned
Zura. Greetings and congratulations were soon over. While the steamer
was coaling in a near-by port he thought he would just run over in
jinrikishas to say "Hello!" and show Mrs. Chalmers to us. Yankee Doodle
with a hat full of feathers could not have been more proud.

What there was of Mrs. Pinkey to exhibit was indeed a show. Her youthful
prettiness belonged more to the schoolroom period than wifehood; and
Heaven forbid that the clothes she wore should be typical of my country;
there was not enough material in her skirt to make me a comfortable pair
of sleeves! I marveled how, in so limited a space, she advanced one limb
before the other.

Later Zura explained the process to me: "It's a matter of politeness,
Ursula. One knee says to the other, 'You let me pass this time, and I'll
step aside when your turn comes.'"

Even this courtesy had failed to prevent a catastrophe; one seam of her
dress was ripped for a foot above the ankle. The coat of this remarkable
costume was all back and no front, and from the rear edge of her hat
floated a wonderful feather like a flag from the stern of a gunboat.

I could see by her face how funny she thought my clothes. I hoped she
did not realize how near to scandalous her outfit seemed to me. Usually
the point of view depends on which side of the ocean one is when
delivering judgment.

Pinkey was as eloquent on the subject of his wedding as if he had been
the only Adam who ever marched down a church aisle. He was most joyful
at the prospect of showing to his bride all the curiosities and
shortcomings of the East. He felt he had encompassed wide and intimate
knowledge of it in his two or three trips. I asked Mrs. Chalmers how she
liked Japan.

She took her adoring eyes off her newly-acquired husband long enough to
answer: "It is lovely. Wonderful little people--so progressive and
clean. It's too bad they are so dishonest; of course you must have lost
a lot of money."

"No, I can't say that I have. I've been in the country thirty years and
never lost a 'rin' except when my pocket was torn. Come to think of it,
if histories, travelers and police records state facts, dishonesty is
not peculiar to the Orient."

The little bride answered: "I don't know about that; but the Japanese
must be awfully tricky, for Pinkey says so and the captain of the ship,
who hates every inhabitan