For the first time the girl’s unnatural calmness deserted her. She ran to Aoi, throwing her arms passionately about her.
“No, no,” she cried. “You are the only mother I know. I will never have another. No!”
“What are they saying to each other?” asked Mrs. Lorrimer, watching them curiously.
“My knowledge of Japanese is limited,” said her husband, heavily.
“The whole thing’s a farce,” she said.
“Do you find it so?” he asked, smiling bitterly.
“Oh, Dick, we can’t be expected to understand a girl—like that.”
“She is my daughter,” was his quiet reply; and there was a new dignity in his voice.
“Yes, but she is different from us, so utterly alien. Just look at her. Would any one believe she was your daughter?”
He looked over at the little figure now soothing the weeping Aoi, and his wife’s words found a hollow echo within him.