IF IT MUST BE
The long journey from the Sea of Japan to the Inland Sea was over and
Nagasaki was reached at last.
"The end of our travels in Japan," sighed Nan. "Won't it be queer to
see no more tea-houses, no more rice-fields, no more odd-looking men
with mushroom hats and women tipping along on their _getas_?"
"I shall not miss those things a bit," averred Jack. "It has been
mighty interesting to see and I have enjoyed it down to the ground, but
me for the old U.S.," she added slangily.
"I shall not be sorry, myself, to get back," Mary Lee agreed with Jack.
"I had seen all that I wanted before you all started off on that
frantic trip to the western coast," Jean declared.
Nan smiled blissfully. She had yet to make her confession to the three.
"I wouldn't have missed that for anything," she said. "I shall always
remember it as the happiest time of my life."
Jean, who had not yet been given an inkling of what was in the wind,
stared at her. "You must like hard travel, then," she remarked. "Jack
has been telling me of that awful jaunt to Sakusa and how you were all
used up afterward. I don't see where there was any great bliss in that."
Nan smiled down at her. "Jean, dear, and all of you, I have something
to tell you. I would have told you, Mary Lee and Jack, before, but I
had a feeling that mother must know first. I am going to marry Neal
Harding."
"Maybe you think we are surprised," scoffed Jack. "Why, you old fraud,
the fact was written on your face on that very day of our wild trip to
Sakusa, wasn't it, Mary Lee?"
"You certainly bore all the hall-marks of an affianced maiden," Mary
Lee assured her sister.
"Never mind, Nan," Jean spoke up. "I am surprised, and I am pleased,
too. It will be lovely to have a brother."
"What's the matter with Cart?" asked Jack indignantly.
"Oh, he's all right," responded Jean, "but you have been parading Cart
before us ever since you were twelve years old; he is no novelty, and
besides it is all talk on your part anyway."
"It isn't at all," retorted Jack, who felt that she must have some of
the importance accorded Nan in her position of an engaged girl. "I
always said I was going to marry him; you know I did, and I mean it now
just as much as ever."
"Does Cart have anything to say about it?" inquired Jean teasingly.
"Of course he does. Do you suppose I would be so sure if it were not
all settled?"
"Do you really mean that it is all settled and that you never told me?"
ejaculated Jean indignantly.
"I didn't tell any one," Jack asserted. "I am going to tell mother
now; while such affairs are in the air. It won't be so hard for her
to get used to two such things together as to have them sprung on her
separately." And off she went. But she was back again in a minute.
"What did mother say to you, Nan?" she asked as she slid inside the
door closing it after her. "Was she very serious and--and--oh, you
know,--overcome and all that?"
"She was perfectly dear," said Nan, her eyes shining. "I told her first
and then Neal came and we talked it over together. I went for Aunt
Helen and then we four----"
"Had a heart to heart talk," interrupted Jack. "I don't think I could
stand that. I shall try to make short work of it, for I should collapse
under a long session. There is this much about it, mother ought not to
be much surprised for I always maintained that I meant to marry Cart,
while you vowed you would marry no one but a Virginian."
"That is all I knew about it," returned Nan. "I would marry Neal if he
were a Japanese or a Chinaman."
Jack laughed. "Won't old Jo have it in for you when you have given her
such digs about her devotion to her Dr. Paul?"
"You'd better go along and find mother so as to get it over," warned
Jean.
"I fool so feelish," returned Jack using an expression of which they
all were fond. "I am just making conversation so as to put off the evil
hour. Well, I suppose I might as well go. Remember me in your prayers,
girls," and this time she was really gone.
She hesitated before she tapped at her mother's door. To the invitation
to enter she poked her head in the door and said, "I just thought I
might as well tell you, mother, that I am going to marry Carter."
Her mother smiled. "I have been hearing that for the past six years,
Jack. It isn't really a very great surprise to hear you say so."
"But I really mean it this time," declared Jack, coming a little
further into the room. "I have been treating him like a dog and I feel
like a crawly worm about it, so I thought if I told the family I might
not be tempted to flaunt myself so outrageously hereafter."
"Don't you think it is rather hard upon a mother to have two such
announcements thrust upon her in one day?" inquired Mrs. Corner gravely.
"Oh, but just think what darling men we have chosen," replied Jack
encouragingly. "Suppose I had fallen in love with Mr. Tamura, and Nan
had picked up some crooked stick of an oily-haired musician who hadn't
two cents to rub together and would waste the one cent he might have.
Just think of that, and then look at dear old Carter and Neal Harding.
Why, if you hunted the world over, you couldn't find two nicer men."
Mrs. Corner had to laugh. Jack's arguments were always of such a
nature. "Well, dear, I quite agree with you," she said. "If I have to
lose my girls, I certainly must commend them for having chosen wisely."
"Oh, but you won't lose us," rejoined Jack. "I don't intend to marry
for years and years, and besides, you know they always say that when
a daughter marries, a mother gains a son, but when a son marries, a
mother loses him entirely. Aren't you glad we are all girls, mother?
You may have three or four sons yet."
Mrs. Corner smiled. Who but Jack would take such means of smoothing
over unpleasant facts? "Come in, dear," she said.
"I will if you will say you think Carter will make an adorable son and
that I am not a silly for thinking so much of him."
"I am ready to admit all that," Mrs. Corner replied gravely.
Jack sidled in, ran to her mother, snuggled her face for one moment
against her mother's shoulder, gave her an ardent kiss and then backed
away. "I can't stand any more just now," she said with a distinct
quaver in her voice. "I am such a bally ass, you know. I'll come back
again some other time," and she was out of the door before her mother
could reprove her for using such expressions.
When she had finished mopping her eyes and had resumed a palpably
don't-care manner, she returned to her sisters.
"Well, did you get it over?" inquired Jean.
"Oh, yes," was Jack's reply.
"Of course mother was lovely." Nan made the remark.
"Of course. She always is. It would be out of all reason to expect
anything else. There never was such a precious mother in all the world."
There was unanimous agreement to this, then Jean said gaily, "I
suppose then that Miss Jacqueline Corner is open to congratulations."
Jack warded off a precipitate advance upon her person. "Don't you
dare," she cried. "Why don't you all fall upon Nan? She is in a tighter
box than I."
"Just what do you mean by that remark?" asked Nan coming nearer
threateningly.
"I mean that not a soul outside the family is to know about Cart and
me, but you will have to tell Eleanor, at least, and Jo, of course, and
so it will go."
"I won't have to tell Eleanor, for Neal is going to do that himself,"
retorted Nan.
"I will venture to say that is she now," cried Mary Lee as a tap was
heard at the door.
She was right, for they admitted Eleanor who came in buoyantly. "Where
is that dear old Nan?" she exclaimed. "I can scarcely wait to get hold
of her. Neal has told me and I can't tell you how glad I am to have a
sister, and such a sister! You blessed old dear, if you don't like me
for a sister-in-law it will not be for lack of love on my part."
"How sweet you are to say such things," returned Nan with feeling. "I
hope the rest of the family will be as kind as you."
"Oh, they are bound to, and you know we are not so many, just the
two boys and myself after father and mother. Oh, girls, if I hadn't
promised to stay out here a year, I should be inclined to go back with
you, but Aunt Nora would think it mean of me after she has been so good
as to let me have these weeks with you all. Wouldn't it be fine if, at
the end of a year, Neal and I could go back together and that he could
then have an appointment not so far off?"
Her question was interrupted by a summons which came for Jack. Some one
wished to see her.
"It couldn't be Carter, could it?" whispered Jean to Mary Lee.
The latter shook her head. "I don't believe so," Mary Lee returned in
the same lowered tone. "He hasn't had time to get her letter yet."
Jack was gone some time and when she returned she broke into a laugh.
"Who do you think has come?" she said.
"Carter," cried the girls with one accord.
"You're way off," returned Jack. "It is Ko-yeda and her father with
Toku. Miss Gresham couldn't come and so Ko-yeda said she would, at
least Mr. Sannomiya was so good as to bring her. They know Miss Gresham
and all the missionary people of her church, you remember, so here
they are. Toku looked so cunning."
"Are you really going to take him back with you?" queried Mary Lee.
"Yes, for there are two Japanese girls going to the States and they
will take charge of him on the ship and be glad of what I can pay them
for doing it."
"But when you get back home what then?" asked Jean. "We can't take him
to college with us."
"No, I shall hand him over to Carter and let him find somebody to bring
him up in the way he should go."
"Poor Carter," said Mary Lee compassionately.
"You needn't 'poor Carter' him," retorted Jack. "He will just love to
do it when I tell him that Toku is to be reared in such a way as will
make him a good servant for us. It will give him a new interest and
besides----" She broke off but added, "Oh, well, I understand Cart
better than any of the rest of you do, and besides I would be pleased
to pieces to do that much for him."
And so it was settled that little Toku should sail the seas over with
his future planned out for him. Ko-yeda herself looked after him during
the few days that they all remained in Nagasaki, for Mr. Sannomiya was
contented to stay till these American friends should take their leave,
and made himself useful in many ways. Neal, too, took upon himself all
the difficult matters relating to their departure, and was so attentive
and considerate that Mrs. Corner confessed to Nan that it would seem a
very pleasant thing to have a son.
These last were happy days for them all. With three such intelligent
guides as Mr. Sannomiya, Neal and Mr. Montell, they were able to do
their final sightseeing with more ease and celerity than if they had
been a party of women alone. Jean and Ko-yeda had many good times
together, the tractable little Toku being left in charge of the two
Japanese girls who had agreed to see to him during the voyage. Neal
and Nan received consideration from every one, and Nan, who had always
been the one to take the heavier burdens in traveling, for once in
her life threw aside all responsibility and gave up her days to the
companionship which grew dearer and dearer as the moments flew.
"Sayonara--If it must be," the Japanese farewell, came to their lips
with more and more meaning as the hour approached when they must be
separated.
Mary Lee and Miss Helen showed their tender sympathy in a hundred ways,
for both knew to the fullest what a good-bye may contain for those who
must leave one another in the height of their devotion.
More than once Mary Lee came upon her sister watching with trembling
lips the form of her lover as he went down the street. "And soon, soon,
I shall not be watching for him to come back," she said on that last
day before they should leave.
"I understand," whispered the younger girl. "I know how hard it is,
dear old girl." Nan gave a squeeze to the hand that had sought hers and
the two went in together.
At last the morning of departure came. The big steamer was crowded
with a motley throng of people. Flags were flying, men were calling,
women and children were crying. The bright blue waters were dotted with
queer looking crafts. Placid-looking little girls with even more placid
babies were trotting up and down the wharf, their bright costumes
adding to the brilliancy of the picture.
"They are a contented folk," remarked Miss Helen to Mr. Montell who,
with Eleanor, stood by her side.
"Yes, and I hope ambition will not alter that fact," he returned. "A
love of the beautiful with a simple life go a long way toward making
content. If they lose those two things, I am afraid we shall not
observe such contentment in ten years from now."
"What is gained in one direction must mean loss in some other," said
Miss Helen looking over to where Nan and Mr. Harding were standing with
no eyes for the scene before them.
"How can I let you go?" the young man was saying. "You will not forget,
sweetheart?"
"Not a day, not an hour," was Nan's answer.
Little Toku, with his two attendants, was walking up and down, vastly
entertained yet a little afraid at all this confusion and these strange
faces, but as he looked up into the faces of those who led him by the
hands, he smiled, for these were friends and would not leave him to the
unknown.
Ko-yeda and Jean were having last words together, while Mr. Sannomiya
talked as best he could to Mrs. Corner, both appealing to Ko-yeda
whenever there was absolute need of an interpreter.
Mary Lee and Jack were leaning over the rail to see the bustle below.
"What a queer, queer summer it has been," said Jack musingly. "It
passes before me, such a jumble of strangeness and yet with some things
standing out so clearly. That dreadful day in the boiling mud when
Neal snatched me away and probably saved my life."
"You never told me about that," said Mary Lee.
"No, but I will tell you now, because it accounts partly for my
appropriating Neal when I had no business to. I felt so grateful
to him." Then she gave her sister an account of what had happened.
"Another day," she went on, "is that one when you had the letter from
Carter. I think I shall remember that to the day of my death. I think
my heart really woke up that minute. I didn't quite realize how much I
cared till you showed me. And to-day," she continued, "I am going back
to him."
A little further off, Nan was saying, "Suppose I had never come to
Japan. I cannot bear to think of what I might have missed."
"You mean?" Mr. Harding spoke.
"I mean you, dear boy."
"You would not have missed me, nor would I have missed you. Fate could
not have been so unkind. Somewhere, somehow, sooner or later we would
have met. I can't think otherwise."
Here a deep whistle sounded warning for all, who were not passengers,
to be going ashore. Then were seen low bows, frantic embraces,
shakings of hands. "Sayonara! Sayonara!" the air was filled with the
sound of the parting word. Nan clung to her lover's arm. "Come soon,
come soon," she whispered. "This is good-bye."
"Nothing shall keep me from you, nothing," he said with grave
earnestness. "God bless my darling girl." He held her hand while the
others crowded around for a last farewell.
"Good-bye, my sister Nan," whispered Eleanor. "Write as often as you
can. Yes, yes, of course I will. I will take good care of him, and I
will let you know if anything goes wrong? Why certainly, only nothing
will go wrong. It is going to be all right and the first thing you
know, you will be coming to meet us both."
"Sayonara! Sayonara! If it must be!" Another hoarse blast from the
steamer, a last hand-clasp, a scramble to get ashore by those tardily
lingering and in a few minutes the great vessel began to move out.
Nan strained her eyes to watch for the last glimpse of the beloved
figure who, standing on the dock, was waving farewell. Her eyes would
dim with tears which she wiped away from time to time quite reckless of
observers.
"Sayonara! Sayonara!" the words came very faintly now, and then only
the churning of the water, the throb of the engine, the queer junks
sailing by, the flecks of foam. "Farewell, dear Japan, I have left
my heart with you," Nan sighed. "Every moment takes me away from the
loveliest dream, the sweetest memories that ever girl had."
Jack standing where the fresh wind blew in her face watched the
vessel's prow rush through the blue. On and on and on. "Every minute
takes us that much nearer. We're coming, Cart, old boy, we're coming.
It won't be long now," so sang her heart.
"Sayonara! Sayonara!" sighed the little Japanese girls by Nan's side.
"Sayonara!" piped up Toku smiling into Nan's face.
Transcriber's notes
The book has been re-bound with a plain green cover. The title page
was used as cover.
Clear printer's errors were corrected.
Original spelling was not modified or harmonized.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Four Corners in Japan, by Amy Ella Blanchard