The stern lines in Phil’s face had already begun to relax. “Will you not trust me with your secret? For I see you have one,” she coaxed.
Phil shook from him his sombre humor and a smile played about his firm mouth.
“I suppose I shall have to in the end,” he said resignedly.
How clear the sky seemed now when only a short time ago it was all clouds.
“You have read the paper?” He indicated the “Shimbunshi” among other papers on the library table. Helen nodded shortly.
“That’s all pure fabrication,” he exclaimed angrily. “There were no people hurt on either side, and it is not likely to create a diplomatic difficulty. The officers did not lead the sailors against the Japanese, and the American flag was not intentionally insulted by the Japanese.”
Phil eagerly told the excited girl the true story of the trouble in the theatre and its happy outcome.
“We had as much as we could do in getting away alive,” he exclaimed enthusiastically. “Taki’s speech spread among the crowd like a prairie fire, and the whole town wanted to carry us around on their shoulders. I saw O’Neil this morning and he said the populace manned the shafts of their rikishas and insisted upon hauling them about town crying ‘banzai America.’ Our sailors were loaded with presents, and were not allowed to even show that they had money.”
“I am so glad.” Helen’s face was dimpled in smiles. “I’ve never seen father so worried as when he read that account in the paper; he tried to allay my fear by telling me that he thought it was simply a local irritation, but I knew he thought otherwise.”
Suddenly her face clouded again.