“Why did you come?” he exclaimed sternly. “You must go at once. Sydney,” he called, “please see that Miss Tillotson and Miss Hama get home safely.”
But Helen was not to be treated so lightly. Her big blue eyes showed a hidden fear.
“Are you much hurt?” she asked solicitously, disregarding the stern command in his eyes.
“It is all a mistake,” she added suddenly, appealing to Takishima. “Mr. Perry told me this morning how he lost the letter. He would have given it to you, and was much mortified at the thought of being considered dishonest. Make him acknowledge that he was wrong in forcing this deplorable duel,” she ended pleadingly to Hama at her side.
Very solemnly Takishima put out his hands to Phil, taking both of the midshipman’s in his and wrung them impressively.
“Perry, if I were a true Samurai, I would take my life by hara-kiri, for I have cruelly misjudged and injured a good friend.”
“You ought to both get down on your knees and thank these two young ladies,” O’Neil exclaimed, interrupting the sentimental scene. “If it hadn’t been for them you’d probably be cutting pieces out of each other yet.”
Phil laughed uneasily, and took Helen’s trembling hand impetuously.
“How did you know?” he asked her, as the party moved away toward the entrance to the park where their rikishas were waiting.
“Hama-san came and told me, but she said she feared her brother too much to interfere,” the young girl confided as the pair walked down the gravel path. “She believed that you had betrayed and insulted him, and according to their code he was bound to kill you or be killed himself; but when your sailors came and explained your innocence, which bore out what I had told her, she gladly led us to the spot.”