A STUDENT PRINCE
The Imperial Hotel afforded the travelers every conceivable luxury,
perfect service, and cosmopolitan meals. Dulcie found her room a bower
of flowers. She had her personal maid, a demure, slant-eyed little
thing. Little Kamani did not seem to sense any handicap in the fact that
neither could speak the other’s language. Smiles made easy contact.
Very early the following morning, the lobby was filled with
important-looking Japanese, all in immaculate European clothes. Only in
their homes, or on very special state occasions, do the modern Japanese
wear the beautiful kimonas of the old regime. Many of the men present
were members of the Imperial household.
As Dulcie stood talking to Doctor Trigg, Wally joined them.
“Well, Dulcie, how do you like this crazy country? The people—aren’t
they a riot? And they take themselves so seriously, too.”
“Keep still, Wally!” said Dulcie, hotly. “I think you are perfectly
inexcusable, the way you air your views.”
“They don’t understand,” said Wally carelessly. “Sort of half-witted,
anyhow.”
At that moment a young Japanese who was standing directly behind Wally
turned to look at him. As he did so, he saw Doctor Trigg. A look of
amazement flickered across his placid countenance. He stepped quickly
around the group, and with an apologetic bow to Dulcie, hastened to the
doctor with outstretched hands.
“Doctor Trigg!” he exclaimed in fluent English. “Well, well, what do you
think of this? Fortune attends me!” He shook the doctor’s hands, and
almost embraced him. “Surely you remember me?”
“I most certainly do,” exclaimed Doctor Trigg. “Well, my dear boy, this
certainly is a delightful reunion. Of course I haven’t forgotten you!”
He turned to Dulcie. “Let me present to you one of my old and most
promising students.” He hesitated. “What’s your title over here, Hata?
Prince, I believe?”
The Prince bowed deeply to Dulcie.
“Mr. Cram, Prince Hata.”
Again the Prince bowed; but this time it was a haughty salutation, and
his black eyes regarded the smiling countenance before him curiously. He
turned abruptly to Doctor Trigg.
“You came in the Moonbeam, I take it, sir. How delightful! I have
already paid compliments of day to your distinguished young captain. Do
please consider yourself most particularly my guest during your stay;
and Miss Hammond, if she will be so gracious, must meet my honored
mother and my sisters. And you must see something of our Tokio; not this
make-believe Paris, but the old city. For it still exists, hidden away.
And I have a million questions to ask you, Doctor Trigg, about
Princeton.”
“Doctor Sims is in the party, too,” said the professor.
“Truly, this is the happy day of fulfilled desires!” exclaimed the
Prince.
Wally broke into the conversation. Here was a prince! He had heard that
the Japanese nobility were very exclusive. What an incident to tell back
home! Doc calling him “my dear boy,” too, and patting him on the back.
It was time he asserted himself.
“I’m a Princeton man, too,” he said, smiling ingratiatingly.
Prince Hata looked at him pleasantly. His face did not change, his voice
when he spoke was gentle and courteous.
“Indeed!” he said, but Wally felt as though a sizable pail of ice water
had been dumped over him.
“Where is the dear doctor?” Hata asked, turning to the older man. “Does
he still roar horribly? Such a bluff! And does he still collect—what is
it? Oh, yes, epitaphs. I will make him very happy. We have some
wonderful ones near the temple on my father’s estate. Shall we go and
find him?” He turned, and they started out. Wally pressed close to the
young nobleman, but at the door Hata faced him, and bowed.
“Good-bye,” he said distinctly. “It may be that we shall meet again.” He
turned and joined the others, who had gone forward.
Walter Cram gazed after the trim, dignified little figure. He felt the
hot flush of mortification in his face. The darned Jap! he had heard
every word he had said in the lobby. He wondered if the chauffeur of the
night before had also understood English. There was the big car waiting
at the curb. Wally’s curiosity drove him on. He crossed the sidewalk and
spoke to the driver.
“Are you detailed to look after our party today?” he asked.
“Yes, sir, for the duration of your stay,” came the instant answer in
perfect English.
Wally turned and went into the hotel. He found his way to the men’s
lounge, and to a big wing chair in a corner. There he sat and thought,
cursing himself for his breaks.
Prince Hata and the two old men talked of the days, only two or three
years back, when Hata had been at Princeton. It had not occurred to
either of them that they might see this former pupil, and here they
were, walking slowly up and down, arm in arm. But here the two who had
been teachers, and therefore in authority, were the guests, and Hata,
talking fast, was planning all sorts of wonderful entertainments for
them.
Prince Hata and his two old teachers started gaily off to look at
temples and jade and epitaphs. Hata had even remembered epitaphs! They
would have a grand time, and it was easy to see that Prince Hata was
hungry to hear all about Princeton.
Dulcie found her father and David in close consultation in the reading
room, while near the door half a dozen Japanese officers waited
patiently for the conversation to end. This was no place for Dulcie. She
went down to the lobby again and found Red, scarcely recognizable in
white suit and shoes, his coppery hair painstakingly flat, his eyes
bluer than ever.
“Well, I certainly am glad to see you!” Dulcie exclaimed, dragging him
toward two big chairs in a corner. “Such a time!” and she told him about
Wally and the Prince.
“Honestly, Miss Hammond, that lad makes me just sick with disgust, but
what can be done? There’s no chance to lock him up, and there’s no use
warnin’ him to keep a civil tongue in his head, because he just don’t
know when he’s insultin’. Gosh, what do you suppose he said and did at
Friedrichshafen, when no one was with him? I dunno, but I bet it was
awful. And he speaks good German, so he could make all his friendly
comments as clear as sea-water, and as bitter.”
“Well, I’m too ashamed for words,” said Dulcie. “Last night in the car I
know that chauffeur understood what he said. These people are so
perfectly and beautifully polite; so gentle, and self-effacing, and yet
so efficient. You must meet Prince Hata, Red. He simply oozes
aristocracy, yet Doctor Trigg hugged him and called him his dear boy,
and now he’s taken them off to find old jade and tombstones. And that
man last night who put us in the car. He never smiled when dear Doctor
Trigg spouted his Japanese at him. He was so proud of his Japanese and,
Red, he had looked at the wrong line in the book! He thought he said
‘Good-night, and thank you’, but he had said, ‘You have stolen the rice
of my father’!”
“God love him!” cried Red, after a shout of laughter. “He said that, did
he?”
“Yes, and the man just smiled politely and bowed.”
“Well, Wally is just the cross we’ll have to bear, Miss Hammond.”
“We won’t worry over him, at any rate,” Dulcie replied. “I’ve a grand
morning ahead of me. I’m going to take Kamani, my little maid, and an
interpreter, and lots of money, and we are going shopping. Imagine it!
Shopping in Tokio!”
“It looks just like New York to me,” said Red, “except for the people.”
“Not where we are going. We are going to explore. Here they come now.
Good-bye!”
“Good luck!” said Red. He went off to find David, and met him coming
down the grand staircase.
“How about a drive, Red?” he called as soon as he caught sight of him.
“I’m free for the rest of the morning, and we might see something of the
city.”
“Fine!” agreed Red. “I believe that the car that brought Miss Hammond
and the professors in last night is assigned to us.”
“Good!” cried David.
They located the car, and found the same young driver at the wheel.
“You speak English, of course?” David said, his candid eyes smiling.
“Yess, sir.”
“I thought so,” David said. “Well, how about a drive this morning? We
are crazy to see the city, and I bet you can tell us all about it.”
“It will be to me a great happiness,” the young Japanese answered.
“Come on then, Red; we’re off!” They hopped in and the car started
smoothly away.
A short distance from the hotel, their driver called to a youth who was
standing at the curb. They conversed in a chopped sibilant jargon, then
the driver asked permission to take on another driver, so that he
himself might be free to designate and explain points of interest.
“Of course,” said David. “And you had better come over in back so you
won’t have to shout.”
He came readily enough and sat on one of the little folding seats, with
many apologies for occupying a place in front of them.
Then began such a story of Japan and of Tokio that the past lived and
the present blossomed for them. The Japanese, he said, had never been a
roving people. They did not live by conquest. Japan’s rulers are well
beloved, guiding their industrious subjects with kindly wisdom, as they
forge ahead in agriculture and the arts on a high plane of civilization.
Centuries ago, while all the rest of the world was new and racked by
conflict, civil and foreign, the Japanese were taught to read and write.
They drove through miles of streets as modern as the newest of American
cities. Block after block of beautiful office buildings and shops with
great windows full of the most up-to-date gowns and Paris ties, socks,
and shirts. Snappy gloves laid over correct walking sticks that would
have been a credit to the most exclusive Fifth Avenue shop. There were
magnificent banks; and movie houses everywhere.
“How big is this place, anyhow?” Red demanded at length.
“They say it is a good bit bigger than Philadelphia,” said David. “And
Philly is some town, you know.”
It was strange indeed to see on all sides such perfect order and
co-operation in a land so crowded that it was impossible to spare room
for the domestic animals, the horses and cows so common to the rest of
the world.
Their guide dwelt upon the thousands of students, men and women, who had
gone abroad to be educated, and to absorb new and advanced ideas, until
Japan in her stupendous mental growth had supplied her people with
universities and technical schools of their own. He showed them
silkworms on their trays in warm rooms, endlessly eating the mulberry
leaves heaped about them. They saw skeins of queer raw silk, and were
given a strand for a souvenir.
Then they went down to the wharves; and saw the agile little fishermen
on their slow-moving boats.
“Those boats look nice and peaceful,” said Red, staring at a dark,
sullen ship.
“Their dreadnaughts, over at Yokohama, are not so peaceful. They have to
have ’em for protection,” said David. “All countries have to have
protective navies.”
“They sure looked as though they could protect, all right.”
“We will try to go to Yokohama,” said the guide, “but not today. Not
plenty enough time.”
Driving a little way beyond the city, they saw tiny farms, perhaps two
and a half acres in extent, all under the most intensive cultivation. On
the way back they entered the old part of the city, where they saw
temples lovely as dreams. They went through small shops, where men were
decorating exquisite pieces of porcelain, painting on silk, or carving
precious stones, ivory, and teak.
“Take me home,” moaned David at last, as he paid for just one more
purchase. “I mustn’t buy another thing.”
“But they are so cheap,” murmured Red, arranging a whole procession of
tiny elephants and regarding them with fascinated eyes. “I’ve a notion
our lad here keeps a critical eye on the price tags. These storekeepers
are always castin’ eyes at him.”
“Well, take your elephants, and let’s go. I know you are going to buy
them.”
“This has been simply great,” David told their guide when they arrived
at their hotel. “I never had a better time in my life. Thanks a lot. I
wish you would tell us your name.”
The young man hesitated. “It iss most hard to speak it, that name,” he
said, “but in your America, iss not Bill the often name of the
chauffeur?”
The boys laughed.
“Yeah, it’s American, all right,” said Red.
“All right, Bill,” said David as he shook the young man’s hand heartily.
“Whatever you say goes. Thanks a whole lot for the ride, and everything.
Gee, it’s been wonderful!”
In the lobby they found Mr. Hammond waiting, as the Moonbeam people
drifted in by twos and threes. The last to appear was Prince Hata,
piloting his two professors. Doctor Trigg was wreathed in smiles. Doctor
Sims, looking almost sprightly, clutched his precious notebook and a
small parcel.
“Well, well, here’s our pretty girl!” said Doctor Trigg, smiling at
Dulcie. “Thanks to Hata, here, we have had a wonderful
morning—wonderful. If we were obliged to leave Japan now, at once, I
should still feel repaid for the journey. Our old pupil has done so much
for us,” he patted the Prince fondly.
“It would be many times impossible for me or mine to do enough for you,
sir. I was such a stupid boy, and you both were so always patient.”
“Tut, tut, Hata, you always had a very retentive mind. Well, Miss
Dulcie, I saw a little trinket, which Hata secured for me, and I have
brought it to you. I want you to accept it with an old man’s affection.”
“Ha—grr-r-r-r-r, same here!” said Doctor Sims, dropping his parcel into
Dulcie’s lap.
She opened the quaint worn metal cases. In each nestled a jewel of
purest jade; a necklace from Doctor Trigg, and from Doctor Sims a
bracelet. Dulcie had never seen anything quite so lovely.
“Oh, you dears, you shouldn’t have done it,” she sighed, brooding
lovingly over the jewels.
“Mere trifles,” said Doctor Sims. “I think Hata, here, beat the
shopkeepers down.”
Prince Hata smiled. “They received their price,” he assured them. “Quite
most satisfactory.”
Dulcie looked at him suspiciously. She knew a little about jade. But the
dark face was bland and impassive. After all, whatever Hata had done, he
had done to give happiness to his two old friends. Dulcie rallied a
diplomacy equal to his own. “They are perfect,” she said. “And I love
you both for them. I shall keep them all my life, and remember how I
came by them, and what they mean.”
“We have a most old saying in Japan, Miss Hammond,” said Prince Hata.
“‘The jewel is never so lovely as the wearer.’ I mourn that I shall not
see you again today except in my capacity as official. There is a garden
party to stroll into this afternoon, and tonight enters a great dinner.
Afterwards an entertainment for the officers and crew. You might enjoy
to go. It is permissible. The Geisha girls will dance.
“Tomorrow, Miss Hammond, I do trust that you will graciously allow my
mother to receive you. She is unfortunately unable to leave her home. If
you would so benevolently come to her?”
“I would love to,” cried Dulcie.
“Thank you. Then I will so arrange, and send you word.” He made his
cordial, graceful farewells and departed.
“Well, Prince Hata’s mother must be a princess,” mused Dulcie.
“She is the Emperor’s aunt,” said Doctor Trigg, absently.
“Aunt!” cried Dulcie. “Aunt! Then Prince Hata is the Emperor’s cousin!”
“Quite likely,” said Doctor Trigg. “I say, Sims, those manuscripts Hata
showed us—”
“Oh, what have I let myself in for!” cried Dulcie, interrupting. “I
don’t know how to behave before emperors’ aunts.”
“Pshaw!” laughed Mr. Hammond. “Don’t forget that you yourself are the
heir of the ages.”
“Certainly!” said Doctor Trigg. “Besides, she is a very agreeable old
lady. A trifle ceremonious, but very agreeable. We dropped in this
morning.”
“To see the Princess?” demanded Dulcie.
“Yes,” said Doctor Trigg. “Unofficially, of course, unofficially. The
old lady does not give audiences to men as a rule, but we were her son’s
teachers, you see, and she seemed to have an idea that she wanted to
thank us personally for the attention we had given him during his course
at Princeton. Hata took us to the palace to see some manuscripts. She
heard we were there, so she sent word for us to drop in and see her.”
“Simple, like that,” murmured Dulcie. “They just dropped in!”
Mr. Hammond laughed.
“By the way, Dulcie, did you know that Mr. Hamilton has left us? He had
to get back to Paris by the quickest route. He’s flying to Baku, then to
Moscow, then straight over. He has to attend a big directors’ meeting of
their Paris house.”
“What a shame!” cried Dulcie. “Goodness, daddy, I’m glad you aren’t a
big business man. It’s no wonder they get ‘tired’, is it?” she added
wickedly.