AT THE CHINESE EMBASSY
"Shall we eat our luncheon with chopsticks to-day?" Mollie Thurston asked
Harriet Hamlin an hour before the "Automobile Girls" and their hostess
were to start for the Chinese Embassy.
Harriet laughed good-humoredly at Mollie's question. "You absurd child,
don't you know the Chinese minister is one of the most cultivated men in
Washington! When he is in America he does what the Americans do. But his
wife, Lady Tu, is delightfully Chinese. She paints her face in the
Chinese fashion and wears beautiful Chinese clothes in her own home. And
the little Chinese daughter is a darling. Really, Mollie, you will feel
as though you had been on a trip to the Orient when you meet dainty
little Wee Tu."
"Oh, I don't believe a Chinese girl can be attractive," Mollie argued,
her eyes fixed on the pile of pretty gowns which Harriet was laying out
on her bed.
"Do wear the rose-colored gown to-day, Harriet!" Mollie pleaded. "It is
such a love of a frock and so becoming to you with your white skin and
dark hair. Dear me, it must be nice to have such lovely clothes!" Mollie
paused for a minute.
Harriet turned around to find her little friend blushing.
"I do hope," Mollie went on, "that you are not going to feel ashamed of
Bab and me while we are your guests in Washington. You can see for
yourself that we are poor, and have only a few gowns. Of course it is
different with Grace and Ruth. But our father is dead, and--" Mollie
stopped. She did not know how to go on with her explanation. Somehow she
did not feel that Barbara or her mother would approve of her apologizing
to Harriet for their simple wardrobes.
"Mollie!" Harriet exclaimed reproachfully. "You know I think you and
Barbara are so pretty and clever that it does not matter what your
clothes are like. Besides, if you should ever want anything special to
wear while you are here, why, I have a host of gowns."
Mollie shook her head. Of course she could not borrow Harriet's gowns.
And, though Harriet was trying to comfort her, her tone showed very
plainly that she had noticed the slimness of the Thurston girls'
preparations in the matter of wardrobe for several weeks of gayety in
Washington.
At a little before one o'clock the "Automobile Girls" and Harriet were
ushered into the reception room of the Chinese Embassy by a grave Chinese
servant clad in immaculate white and wearing his long pig-tail curled on
top of his head.
The minister and his wife came forward. Lady Tu wore a dress of heavy
Chinese embroidery with a long skirt and a short full coat. Her hair was
inky black and built out on each side of her head. She had a band of gold
across it and golden flowers set with jewels hung above each ear. Her
face was enameled in white and a small patch of crimson was painted just
under her lip.
Bab could hardly restrain an exclamation of delight at the beauty of the
reception room. The walls were covered with Chinese silk and heavy panels
of embroidery. A Chinese banner, with a great dragon on it, hung over the
mantel-piece. The furniture was elaborately carved teakwood.
The girls at once glanced around for the Chinese minister's daughter. But
she was no where to be seen. Instead, Peter Dillon, Bab's first chance
acquaintance in Washington, was smiling a welcome. Mrs. Wilson and her
son were also present. The two or three other visitors were unknown to
the "Automobile Girls." Even when luncheon was served the little Chinese
girl did not make her appearance. The four girls were beginning to feel
rather disappointed. They had come to the Embassy chiefly to see Wee Tu,
and they were evidently not going to be granted that pleasure.
Just as they were about to go back to the reception room, Mr. Tu Fang Wu
suggested courteously to his girl guests: "If it pleases you, will you
now go up to my daughter's apartments? She does not eat her meals with us
when we entertain young men guests. It is not the custom of our country."
The Chinese minister touched a bell and another Chinese servant appeared,
his slippered feet making no noise. At the top of the stairs a Chinese
woman met the "Automobile Girls" and conducted them to the apartment of
Wee Tu, the minister's daughter.
Wee Tu bowed her head to the floor when the "Automobile Girls" entered.
But when she raised her face her little black eyes were glowing, and a
faint pink showed under her smooth, yellow skin. Think what it meant to
this little Chinese maid, with her shut-in life, to meet four American
girls like Barbara, Ruth, Grace and Mollie! Harriet had lingered behind
for a few moments.
"Your most honorable presence does my miserable self much honor," stated
Wee Tu automatically.
Bab laughed. She simply could not help it. Wee Tu's greeting seemed so
absurd to her ears, though she knew it was the Chinese manner of
speaking. But Bab's merry laugh saved the situation, as it often had done
before, for the little Chinese maid laughed in return, and the five girls
sat giggling in the most intimate fashion.
The servant passed around preserved Chinese fruits, nuts and dried
melon seed.
"Is Miss Hamlin not with you?" the Chinese minister's daughter asked
finally, in broken English.
At this moment Harriet's voice was heard in the corridor. She was talking
gayly to Peter Dillon. The Chinese girl caught the sound of the young
man's charming laugh. Bab was gazing straight at Wee Tu. Wee Tu looked
like a beautiful Chinese doll, not a bit like a human being.
At the entrance to Wee Tu's apartment Peter bowed gracefully. He waited
until Harriet entered.
"Your most honorable ladyship," he inquired. "Have I your permission to
enter your divine apartment? Your most noble father has waived ceremony
in my favor and says I may be allowed to see you in company with your
other guests. You are to pretend you are an American girl to-day."
Wee Tu again made a low bow, almost touching the soft Chinese rug with
her crown of black hair. Her mantle was of blue silk crepe embroidered in
lotus flowers, and she wore artificial lotus blossoms drooping on either
side of her head.
After Peter's entrance, Wee Tu did not speak nor smile. She sat with her
slender yellow hands clasped together, her nails so long they were tipped
with gold to prevent their breaking. Her tiny feet in their embroidered
slippers looked much too small for walking.
Peter made himself agreeable to all the girls. He chatted with Harriet,
joked with Bab and Ruth. Now and then he spoke to the Chinese girl in
some simple gentle fashion that she could understand.
"Peter Dillon is awfully attractive," Bab thought. "I wonder why I
was prejudiced against him at first because of what that newspaper
girl said."
Peter walked with Barbara back to Mr. Hamlin's house.
"Would you mind my asking you a question?" Bab demanded when they were
fairly on the way.
Peter laughed. "It's a woman's privilege, isn't it?"
"Well, how do you happen to be so intimate at the Chinese minister's?"
was Barbara's direct question. "They seemed so formal and then all of a
sudden Mr. Tu Fang Wu let you come up to see his daughter."
"I know them very well," Peter returned simply. "I often dine at the
Chinese minister's with his family. So I have met his daughter several
times before. I have made myself useful to Mr. Tu Fang Wu once or twice,
and my legation likes me to keep in touch with the people in authority."
"Oh," exclaimed Barbara. She remembered that Peter was equally intimate
at Mr. Hamlin's, and she wondered how he managed to keep up such a
variety of acquaintances.
"I wonder if you would do a fellow a favor some day?" Peter asked. "I'll
bet you have lots of nerve. Harriet is apt to get frightened at the
critical minute."
"It would all depend on what you asked me to do," Bab returned puzzled by
Peter's remark.
"Oh, I won't ask you until I have managed to do something for you first.
It is only that I think you can see a joke and I have a good one that I
mean to try some day," Peter replied.