However, as Pauline said, such an experience of the inner life of the Japanese was worth a little discomfort, and in the abstract I fully agreed with her.
We were glad to be up betimes the next morning, and started off again--all in rickshaws--for a pretty, though hot, ride down to Nagano, where we took the train. The heat in the plains was intense, but fortunately, ice was obtainable at all the stations, and by putting pieces on our heads and in our mouths we managed to keep alive.
It was evening again before we reached Yokohama, travel-stained, brown and weary, but very well pleased with ourselves and our trip to the Japanese Harrogate.
Soon after our return Pauline and her father left Yokohama for Shanghai. I missed my friend terribly, and at first felt quite lost without her. We parted with many promises to write every week to each other and made numerous plans as to our future meetings in England. But, alas, how little we can foresee or direct the future! After three or four long and cheery letters from my friend, she suddenly ceased writing, and my letters to her remained unanswered. Some time afterwards we learnt that she had caught typhoid fever in Shanghai, and died after a week’s illness. I suppose her poor old father had not the heart to write and tell us the sad news, but we heard that he had left for England almost immediately after his daughter’s death.
CHAPTER V
AN IMPERIAL GARDEN-PARTY
Silk dresses and frock-coats--A disappointed Colonel--The Royal procession--The chrysanthemums--I am presented--A Japanese play--Japanese royal sport--The Mikado and his subjects.
We had been in Japan nearly three months when we were invited to attend the chrysanthemum garden-party given by the Emperor and Empress each November in honour of His Majesty’s birthday. Invitations are sent but a few days beforehand, as the date of the party depends on the state of the chrysanthemums. Only the Corps Diplomatique, Government officials, and a few globe-trotters are invited; the latter obtain their invitations through their own Legations. As it is almost the only occasion when Their Imperial Majesties are seen in public, I was delighted at the idea of going.
Our invitation-cards were very large and thick, with the Imperial crest at the top and a gold border of chrysanthemums. The writing was in Japanese characters, but enclosed in the same envelope was a slip of paper in French, saying that ladies were to appear in silk dresses and gentlemen in frock-coats and top-hats. Not possessing a suitable garment, I was puzzled at first to know what to wear, but I eventually succeeded, with the assistance of one of the little Chinese tailors, in converting a blue silk evening frock into one suitable for the garden-party.