Chapters 12-16 Summary

Hervé Joncour leaves Lavilledieu, France for Japan with 80,000 gold francs and the names of three men. He travels overland through Europe and northern Asia to Lake Baikal, down a river to the Pacific Ocean, and then rides on a Dutch smuggler's ship to Japan. He travels inconspicuously through Japanese villages, until he is met and blindfolded by a man who keeps his own face hidden until the exchange of gold for silkworms has been made and Joncour has gone away. As Joncour leaves the outskirts of the village, he is stopped by a man speaking only Japanese and is escorted to the home of Hara Kei, the local nobleman.

Hara Kei receives Joncour while sitting on the floor of a room with a woman lying with her head in his lap. The woman is wearing a red dress. Hara Kei speaks...