as this been going on, Katy?" she finally asked.

"Well, I have had two good months of it," said Katy; "that is, it
started two months ago. The past month has been workin' up and the last
ten days it seemed to me they was a Jap on the back steps oftener than
they was a stray cat, and I ain't no truck with ayther of them. They
give me jist about the same falin'. Between the two I would trust the
cat a dale further with my bird than I would the Jap."

"Have you ever unlocked the garage for them, Katy?" asked Linda.

"No," said Katy. "I only go there when I nade something about me work."

"Well, Katy," said Linda, "let me tell you this: the next time you go
there for anything take a good look for Japs before you open the door.
Get what you want and get out as quickly as possible and be sure, Katy,
desperately sure, that you lock the door securely when you leave."

Katy set her hands on her hips, flared her elbows, and lifted her chin.

"What's any of them little haythen been coin' to scare ye, missy?" she
demanded belligerently. "Don't you think I'm afraid of them! Comes any
of them around me and I'll take my mopstick over the heads of them."

"And you'll break a perfectly good mopstick and not hurt the Jap when
you do it," said Linda. "There's an undercurrent of something deep
and subtle going on in this country right now, Katy. When Japan sends
college professors to work in our kitchens and relatives of her greatest
statesmen to serve our tables, you can depend on it she is not doing
it for the money that is paid them. If California does not wake up very
shortly and very thoroughly she is going to pay an awful price for the
luxury she is experiencing while she pampers herself with the service
of the Japanese, just as the South has pampered herself for generations
with the service of the Negroes. When the Negroes learn what there is
to know, then the day of retribution will be at hand. And this is not
croaking, Katy. It is the truest gospel that was ever preached. Keep
your eyes wide open for Japs. Keep your doors locked, and if you see one
prowling around the garage and don't know what he is after, go to the
telephone and call the police."

Linda climbed the stairs to her workroom, plumped down at the table, set
her chin in her palms, and lost herself in thought. For half an hour
she sat immovable, staring at her caricature of Eileen through narrowed
lids. Then she opened the typewriter, inserted a sheet and wrote: