As in duty bound, I ate my skewerful of bean-curds, but I confess that I did not relish them. Then came dancing—all of it full of intention to the elect—to me the mere poetry of motion into which I, the barbarian, could not read the significance and the story. The palm was borne away by two pretty little mites of about eleven years, precocious pets into whom the Terpsichore of the Far East had breathed all her spirit, all her grace. When the dancing was over, the _geikos_ went away to doff their stage dresses, and appeared again as little _bourgeoises_, and the two tiny creatures became very inquisitive about me, and insisted upon taking off my socks (the shoes had been left _more Japonico_ at the door) and examining my feet. Had they been Europeans I should have thought that they were seeking for the cloven hoof. It was near midnight when I reached the Tosa Yashiki after seven hours of real good fun. I went back to an anxious night. Not the least interesting part of the day had been a visit to the great temple of Kiyomidzu, a lovely shrine hidden away in a sanctuary as beautiful as the graces of hill, and trees and water could make it. How cleverly the monks in all countries chose the places of their holy retreat from the world! But what filled me with wonder—a wonder hardly to be understood now—was the fact that I was gazing upon a panoramic view of the sacred city, to be found in which three short months before would have meant the shortest of shrifts. There above all was the Kinri (literally “forbidden place”), the august but severely simple dwelling of the Son of Heaven, itself a mystery, of which the nine gates were each guarded by a great Daimio. To-day all these nebulous secrets have become the common property of the guide-books and the traveller, who without a care looks down from the beautiful hills upon what now, shorn of its glamour, is but a dull, grey city—if the truth must be told, rather shabby; for the grand shrines which are the glory of its sanctity are hidden away, screened from the profane eyes in those lovely groves which were the first temples of the gods.