tom in his house for each member of the family to
go before the house-shrine and, kneeling, bow the head to the floor
three times. Zura had refused to approach the spot and, when he
insisted, instead of bowing she had looked straight at the god and
contorted her face till it looked like an Oni (a demon). It was most
dangerous. The gods would surely avenge such disrespect.

It seemed incredible that keen intelligence and silly superstition could
be such close neighbors in the same brain, for I knew Kishimoto San to
be an honest man. He not only lived what he believed, he insisted on
others believing all that he lived.

He continued his story--the girl not only refused to come to me for
English lessons, but declined to go for her lessons in Japanese
etiquette, necessary to fit her for her destiny as a wife. She absented
herself from the house a whole day at a time. When she returned she
said, without the slightest shame, that she had been racing with the
naval cadets, or else had been for a picnic with the young officer from
the ship. Like a chattering monkey she would relate what had been done
or said.

At least, thought I, the girl makes no secret of her reckless doings.
She is open and honest about it. I said as much to my visitor.

He was quietly savage. "Honest! Open you name it! There is but one
definition for it. Immodesty! In a young girl that is deadlier than
impiety. It is the wild blood of her father," he ended sadly.

I could have added, "Dashed with a full measure of grandpa's
stubbornness." But I was truly sorry for Kishimoto San. His trouble was
genuine. It was no small thing to be compelled to shoulder a problem
begun in a foreign land, complicated by influences far removed from his
understanding, then thrust upon him for solution. He was a faithful
adherent of the old system where individuality counted for nothing and a
woman for less. To his idea the salvation of a girl depended on her
submission to the rules laid down by his ancestors for the women of his
house. He was an ardent Buddhist and under old conditions its teachings
had answered to his every need. But both law and religion failed him
when it came to dealing with this child who had come to him from a free
land across the sea and whose will had the same adamant quality as his
own.

While I was turning over in my mind how I should help either the girl
or the man, I ventured to change the subject by consulting Kishimoto San
upon important s