Free The Japanese Lantern by Isobel Chace Page B

th e Imperial” he said. “They serve Danish food, which suits me better than these other peculiar dishes. I think you ’ll like it.”
    She couldn’t help being a little disappointed that they were not going to a genuine Japanese restaurant, but she had to admit that the Imperial Hotel was an experience in itself.
    It was on e of the few buildings that were still standing after the tragic earthquake that demolished Tokyo before the war. It had been designed by a famous American architect, who had floated the foundations in mud. The idea must have worked, for while the rest of Tokyo was being laboriously rebuilt, the Imperial had stood, proud and defiant, exactly where it had always been .
    “Tell me all about this job of yours,” Edward suggested as they waited for their smorgasbord to be brought to them.
    “I have really very little to do,” Jonquil began. “The Tates are being very kind to me—Mrs. Tate is a cripple, you know, which is rather sad. I think it was because of her that they decided to have me. She gets rather lonely when she is on her own a great deal.”
    Edward looked thoughtful.
    “Mrs. Tate? Is she Mrs. Buckmaster’s aunt?” Jonquil nodded. She was no longer very surprised by the amount Edward knew about her employers. The Tates were obviously a well-known f ami ly in Japan. But it gave her an uncomfortable feeling all the same. Bother Mrs. Tate! She thought. She didn’t want to have to worry about Jason.
    “You make me curious,” Edward said laughingly. ‘I had no idea she was crippled.”
    “There’s not much to tell. She has a rather malicious sense of humour, but one can’t help liking her.”
    Edward smiled.
    “Is that so? I hear she takes a great interest in Tate’s firm. Put a lot of money into it and that sort of thing. With reason too, I should say. Rumour has it that he’s found a new alloy that doesn’t ice up so easily.”
    “Is that a very important discovery?” Jonquil asked. It sounded somewhat disappointing to her.
    “Oh, very! It’ll save the aeroplane companies quite a bit, make it easier for them to take off in cold weather and so on.”
    “Then your firm would be interested too?” she asked him cautiously.
    Edward shrugged his shoulders casually.
    “I shouldn’t think so. I’m interested as a man, but my firm goes in for much smaller stuff than that. It leaves us much freer, not having to have such heavy equipment.”
    Jonquil wasn’t quite sure whether she believed him or not He certainly didn’t look the part of an unscrupulous trickster, trying to break up Jason’s firm and his career, but she knew very well that the two men didn’t like each other and so she couldn’t help wondering why Edward should go to such lengths to pretend an interest in some alloy or other, just as a man.
    “It all sounds very dull to me,” she said deliberately.
    He smiled at that.
    “I expect it does,” he admitted. “But if you should get to know anything at all about it, I should like to know. Think of all the air crashes it might save.”
    Jonquil thought he couldn’t possibly he a very big-time operator if he expected Jason to tell her anything about his discovery.
    Rather to her relief they talked about other things after that, until they had finished their excellent meal; then he summoned the waiter with a careless hand and rose to help her into the light coat she had brought with her.
    “It seems a pity to cover up that dress,” he said softly.
    Jonquil coloured a little.
    “Don’t you like the coat?” she asked.
    He smiled.
    “I’ll tell you later, when we’ve got to know each other better,” he said.
    Seated again in the car, Jonquil began to grow curious as to where he was taking her.
    “You promised me a slice of Japanese life,” she reminded him.
    “So I did. I thought we might go and take a look at a temple. The Himmonji temple, to be more exact.”
    He looked so exactly like a small boy with a treasured secret that Jonquil almost laughed.