“You came in the Moonbeam, I take it, sir. How delightful! I have already paid compliments of day to your distinguished young captain. Do please consider yourself most particularly my guest during your stay; and Miss Hammond, if she will be so gracious, must meet my honored mother and my sisters. And you must see something of our Tokio; not this make-believe Paris, but the old city. For it still exists, hidden away. And I have a million questions to ask you, Doctor Trigg, about Princeton.”
“Doctor Sims is in the party, too,” said the professor.
“Truly, this is the happy day of fulfilled desires!” exclaimed the Prince.
Wally broke into the conversation. Here was a prince! He had heard that the Japanese nobility were very exclusive. What an incident to tell back home! Doc calling him “my dear boy,” too, and patting him on the back. It was time he asserted himself.
“I’m a Princeton man, too,” he said, smiling ingratiatingly.
Prince Hata looked at him pleasantly. His face did not change, his voice when he spoke was gentle and courteous.
“Indeed!” he said, but Wally felt as though a sizable pail of ice water had been dumped over him.
“Where is the dear doctor?” Hata asked, turning to the older man. “Does he still roar horribly? Such a bluff! And does he still collect—what is it? Oh, yes, epitaphs. I will make him very happy. We have some wonderful ones near the temple on my father’s estate. Shall we go and find him?” He turned, and they started out. Wally pressed close to the young nobleman, but at the door Hata faced him, and bowed.
“Good-bye,” he said distinctly. “It may be that we shall meet again.” He turned and joined the others, who had gone forward.
Walter Cram gazed after the trim, dignified little figure. He felt the hot flush of mortification in his face. The darned Jap! he had heard every word he had said in the lobby. He wondered if the chauffeur of the night before had also understood English. There was the big car waiting at the curb. Wally’s curiosity drove him on. He crossed the sidewalk and spoke to the driver.