“Are you quite sure that Mr. Impey is sincere?” Phil asked. The case in his mind was quite clear against Impey. His desire now was to convince Helen and put her on the guard against him. “Has he any reason to dislike Americans?”
“How should I know?” the girl answered. “I have always believed him sincere and very friendly to us, but you upset all my beliefs.”
“I am truly sorry, Miss Helen,” Phil returned. “I suppose I should be just and not condemn him unheard. If you believe in him I hope I have been mistaken in my estimate of him.”
As much as Phil desired the companionship of Helen, whom he had come to admire greatly, he nevertheless welcomed the interruption of Sydney’s coming for his dance. He was beginning to fear he had said too much. Takishima and Sydney entered the pagoda together. After a few moments Phil found himself alone with his Japanese classmate.
“Taki, it certainly seems good to see you so unchanged,” Phil exclaimed, turning enthusiastically upon him after the two were seated. “You must come on board the ‘Alaska,’ and Syd and I will show you how you would have been existing if you’d been born an American.”
Takishima showed his white teeth in a smile, through the not too abundant black moustache.
“Perry,” Takishima’s face was again grave and there was marked hesitancy in his speech, “you and I are old friends and classmates. By birth we are of widely different races. Your ancestors have been living in what is termed civilization for some hundreds of years. Mine, by your standards, have been living in the dark ages, under a feudal system similar to that of the days of King Arthur and his Round Table. It therefore is not odd that my countrymen and yours hold widely different views on many subjects. There is no reason, however, why you and I should not look into each other’s hearts and talk as brother to brother.”
Phil’s face had gone serious. The playful banter on his tongue was nipped in the bud. He laid an affectionate hand on the young lieutenant’s shoulder, as they sat on the bench of the summer-house.
“What is it, Taki? What has happened?”
“Perry, where is the much boasted generosity of your country? Are all the Lincolns and the Washingtons dead? Did your people awaken us from our peaceful, childlike sleep of mediævalism, showing us the path to greatness and civilization, only to make us sorry that your great namesake, Commodore Perry, forced us to embrace the new civilization?”