125
X ZURA GOES TO THE FESTIVAL 138
XI A BROKEN SHRINE 147
XII A DREAM COMES TRUE 158
XIII A THANKSGIVING DINNER 174
XIV WHAT THE SETTING SUN REVEALED 190
XV PINKEY CHALMERS CALLS AGAIN 203
XVI ENTER KOBU, THE DETECTIVE 218
XVII A VISIT TO THE KENCHO 235
XVIII A VISITOR FROM AMERICA 243
XIX "THE END OF THE PERFECT DAY" 260

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

She quickly walked across the burning coal _Frontispiece_

PAGE
Through the sinister shadows of Flying Sparrow Street 13

Zura Wingate advanced to my lowly seat on the floor, and
listlessly put out one hand to greet me 39

The bowing, bending, and indrawing of breath 75

Page started forward. A sound stopped him 113

"God in Heaven. How can I tell her!" 187

"Oh, God! A thief! It's over!" 245

Oh! boy, boy, I thought I'd lost you 263

The House
of the Misty Star

[Illustration]

The House
of the Misty Star

I

ENTER JANE GRAY

It must have been the name that made me take that little house on the
hilltop. It was mostly view, but the title--supplemented by the very low
rent--suggested the first line of a beautiful poem.

Nobody knows who began the custom or when, but for unknown years a
night-light had been kept burning in a battered old bronze lantern swung
just over my front door. Through the early morning mists the low white
building itself seemed made of dreams; but the tiny flame, slipping
beyond the low curving eaves, shone far at sea and by its light the
Japanese sailors, coming around the rocky Tongue of Dragons point in
their old junks, steered for home and rest. To them it was a welcome
beacon. They called the place "The House of the Misty Star."

In it for thirty years I have toiled and taught and dreamed. From it I
have watched the ships of mighty nations pass--some on errands of peace;
some to change the map of the world. Through