“I am sure I don’t know,” he replied honestly; “just a regulation visit of courtesy, I suppose. Why do you ask?”
“Do you believe in the Japanese? Are they honestly our friends?” she asked another question for an answer to his.
“I believe they are,” Phil replied thoughtfully. “Our misunderstandings are caused by the great gulf between the two races. The Japanese understand us much better than we do them.”
“Do you think a war is likely?” she exclaimed impatiently, not wholly satisfied at Phil’s indirect answer.
“Not likely,” he replied quietly, “but always possible. Miss Helen, there are people here in Tokyo, men of influence, who are working to bring on war between Japan and our country.”
Helen’s blue eyes opened in alarm.
“What do you mean?” she asked in an excited whisper.
Phil told her of the conversation he had heard on the train and also of the letter for the “Shimbunshi.”
Her face now was rosy with eagerness.
“And you and Mr. Monroe are going to endeavor to discover the identity of these people,” she cried enthusiastically. “I wish I could help.”