"We have no more time," he said gently to them. "Unless we are soon at our unworthy house, all the honorable guests will be there before us."
The jinrikisha runners were told to hurry home, and they obeyed so well that Umé and Tei clung to one another and gave little shrieks of delight.
Hardly had they reached home when the guests really did begin to arrive. All the relatives and friends came by ones and twos and threes; some in jinrikishas and some on foot,--all who had sent presents and all who had waited to bring them.
Umé and Tei counted the different pairs of clogs that were left at the veranda steps, and there were over one hundred pairs.
"Such an illustrious crowd!" said Tei, drawing in her breath with excitement.
But there was little time to count and look. The two children were needed to help pass tea and cakes to the visitors. It was dark before everybody was at last gone and the baby's first party was over.
"Baby Onda is tired with so much looking and holding and praising," said Umé to her mother as they went home through the gardens. "He will never go to sleep again, or else he will sleep for a week of days."
"He is an honorable boy child," answered her mother. "A boy must learn early to bear hardships."
"It is no hardship to receive honorable praise," said little Umé.