"Minister to Persia!" she said. "I am glad of your appointment, for it means so much to your career. And yet—and yet—"
In the temple yard behind them an acolyte, wading knee-deep in the snow, swung the cedar beam of the bell-tower and the deep-voiced boom rolled out across the cradling hush. Again and yet again it struck, the waves of sound throbbing into volume through the still air. It came to them like a firm and beautiful voice, the articulate echo of the Soul of Japan.
The whinny of restive horses stole over the hedges. Silently Daunt held out his hand to her. She bent and picked a single plum-blossom from the branch and slipped it into the yellow envelope. For a last time she looked out across the distance.
"The beautiful country!" she said.
THE END
Transcriber Notes:
Throughout the dialogues, there were words used to mimic accents of the speakers. Those words were retained as-is.
In the table of contents, "BANZAI NIPPON" was replaced with "BANZAI NIPPON!"
The illustrations have been moved so that they do not break up paragraphs and so that they are next to the text they illustrate.