“We desire to make this day a long one, since we can’t have your master with us long.”
Still grumbling, the Irish girl dressed herself, and then took the baby from the grandmother.
XIV
THE farewell breakfast was as merry a one as they could make it under the circumstances. To please the father, it was served in the ceremonious Japanese fashion peculiar to such a time. There were hot rice and freshly fried fish, fruit, persimmons and oranges, and clear, delicious tea. Everything, in fact, there was to tempt the appetite at this time, when the appetite might fail them. Even Mrs. Kurukawa, whose white face showed a night of wakefulness, ate some of the crisp, inviting fish, and drank the tea with grateful relish. Mr. Kurukawa appeared all cheerfulness. He made them gifts. Each of the family had an exchange gift for him. Smiling whimsically, he looked at the little pile.
“Do you suppose I can find room to take them to the front with me?” he asked his wife, jocularly.
“Oh yes, yes,” she said, earnestly, “for I advised them all to get you something you could use there.”
“Let me see.” He began going over the heap of presents. There were needles and thread from Plum Blossom. Iris had bought a tiny pair of scissors. Taro’s gift was a little drinking-cup which folded up, a foreign novelty. Billy gave a jack-knife, such a one as he had long saved to buy for himself. A little Bible was Marion’s gift. The grandparents gave the most sensible gift—certain clothes he would appreciate, compactly rolled in a small bundle, and consisting of Japanese underwear and sandals. He would find them grateful after long use of the uniform. Juji had been permitted to choose his own gift.