Whether telepathy is a fact, or merely a pet child of some philosophers,
whether or not the ether of the East holds subtler vibrations than our
own, it is certain that exactly at this moment Gwendolen awoke in her
foreign bed from hurrying dreams of Yuki, and lay awake, staring, a
sudden weight of apprehension full upon her. The excitement of war may
have sharpened American senses also. Gwendolen's mind ran back for the
hundredth time to that strange, memorable banquet. Its meaning grew now
more sharp and sinister. Something had taken place there, something
intangible, but very real, something decisive, fatal, the effect of
which would first appear in Yuki. Gwendolen had as her birthright some
of her father's intuitive judgment of character. She had read that night
the hatred of foreigners in Tetsujo's sullen face, and did not dislike
him for it. Hagané baffled her; but she had noted how deep were the eyes
fixed now on Yuki, now on Pierre. Neither of them would wish for Yuki to
become the wife of Pierre, and neither did Gwendolen wish it. The girl
smiled curiously at her feeling of distaste. It did not seem right for
Yuki to marry a foreigner, even an utterly charming and immorally
beautiful foreigner like Pierre Le Beau.
"I guess I must have been a Japanese in lots of my former incarnations,"
she said to herself. "Yuki declares it's so, and she should know. But--"
here she stopped and drew out her long, unbound yellow hair in two
diaphanous, glittering wings. "The fates certainly have put my Oriental
soul, this time, into a misleading body!" She was dressing now, and
stood before her pretty silver-laden bureau by a sunny south window of
the Legation.
* * * * *
About two hours later of the same day Minister Todd and his secretary,
sitting alone in the thrice-guarded sanctum of the former's private
office, looked up in incredulous astonishment as a dainty tapping
betrayed a feminine guest. Then Todd's thin smile widened. "Gwennie,
I'll bet!--and on the war-path! Only that little rascal would have the
cheek."
Dodge turned away to hide the glow in his brown face. Gwennie it proved
to be. She entered, dainty, perfumed, exquisite, in tan-cloth dress and
seal-skins that exactly matched her brows and lashes.
"I don't expect to be welcomed," she said aggressively, her little white
chin high in air. "But I simply had to come."
"Well?" This was from the minister.
Before stating her plea, Gwendolen threw a bewildering look of entreaty
upon the gloating Dodge. "Dad, I can't stand it! I haven't seen or heard
anything from Yuki for a week. Pierre Le Beau is driving me mad; and
last night I had the scariest dream about Yuki. I feel in my bones that
she needs me. Let me go to her, dad! Dearest, darlingest diddy-daddy,
say I can go!"
Todd put a loving arm about the supplicant, but at the same time he
shook his head. "Can't you be patient just a little longer, girlie?
Something is bound to turn up soon."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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