Kotmasu seemed somewhat surprised to see me.
“Where is Madame?” he asks with a smile, as though—as no doubt he did—he half suspected she had returned to her mother already.
I must have shown that I read the[88] undercurrent of suggestion somewhat plainly. “At home,” I answered. “You wouldn’t surely expect me to bring her out at this part of the day, in all this heat, and down here, too!”
“No! no! Of course not,” he hastened to reply.
I was somewhat mollified by his evident anxiety to put matters straight again between us. He can scarcely, I thought, be expected to have the same faith in my experiment as I have. To him my marriage, until it has existed for some time, can, I realize, only appear in the light of a temporary arrangement.
“Why do you not come up as you used?” I inquire in a friendly tone.
“It is your—what you call it?—something to do with the bees and the moon. I did not care to intrude,” he replies deprecatingly.
“How ridiculous! We shall be always[89] glad to see you, my good fellow,” I reply, laughing as naturally as I can.
Kotmasu is so terribly English.
Even his attire4 this morning is that odd mixture of Anglo-Japanese garments he so much affects, consisting of a straw hat and tennis flannels5, worn in conjunction with the flowered dressing-gown-like garment of a well-to-do merchant.
He looks a strange figure as he stands talking to me, in the sun, at the corner of the little narrow alley6 leading from the water-side into one of the newer streets, the incongruities7 of his garments thrown up into strong relief by a background formed by the sail of a large trading-junk alongside the quay, which a swarm8 of Japanese coolies, all dressed alike in tight hose and dark butcher’s-blue cotton tunics9, with some bizarre device in a different colour on the back, were unloading with extraordinary rapidity.
[90]
“I must go back to the warehouse10,” he says, after considering my remark. “I will come to see you to-night.”
He shakes hands; and a coolie who has been staring at my “strange white face,” as I overheard him call it, for at least five minutes, to the neglect of his work, appears much mystified by the supposed rite11.
I am glad Kotmasu is coming, as I wish him to believe in my experiment as thoroughly12 as I do myself.
The books have come, and I return to the warehouse of my parcels-agent to see if they are unpacked13.
Mr. Karu’s office is always a source of wonder to me.
The amount of business transacted14 there, in a building of toy-like dimensions and fragile structure, was little less than marvellous. Whenever a parcel heavier than usual was dropped on the floor by a careless coolie, I expected that the room, with[91] its ink-stained, paper-panelled walls, on which were pasted or fixed15 with quaint16-headed pins the steamship17 bills and those of several of the theatre tea-houses, would collapse18 forthwith with no more warning than the crack of its slight, dry timbers.
The parcel was ready.
Mr. Karu was all smiles. He was a little, short man with extremely beady eyes, quick movements, and a yellow skin deeply pitted by small-pox.
“It is very big to-day!” he exclaimed in Japanese, referring to the package. “Very much larger; half a yen19 more, please, most honourable20 gentleman,” as I put down the usual amount.
The smiles were explained; and there was no doubt some truth, I thought, in what the little chief-clerk at the bank, who is so anxiously cultivating a beard, said, namely, “That most excellent friend, Karu, is in great much hurry to get much rich man.”
[92]
I pay what I know to be in great part an imposition, with an indulgent grin—I am in a hurry to get back to Mousmé, or might have argued the matter even in this heat—accept the offer of a coolie to carry my parcel for the equivalent of three-halfpence, and start to climb up the shady side of the rough-paved street to my home.
Mousmé was waiting for me at the little gate in the toy fence of bamboo—a fence the like of which in no country save Japan would have been deemed sufficient for the purpose intended.
She came forward to be kissed (I had had to give her a few lessons in this custom) with her chin—which in the sunlight was as if carved out of ivory, so fine is the texture21 of her skin—tilted up, and the red rosebud22 mouth wreathed in a smile. Mousmé is learning European ways rapidly. My experiment seems very promising23; and she is evidently growing very fond of me.[93] She is learning English, and even the English alphabet, so books are becoming of interest to her, especially those with pictures in them.
“What is there?” she inquires eagerly in Japanese, pointing to the parcel which the coolie carries on ahead of us up the garden-walk.
“Books.”
“Books? More books!”
My slender library, contained on shelves about five feet high and three feet six broad, appears illimitable to her.
“Yes,” I replied, smiling.
“Are there pictures in them?”
“I expect so.”
“Hi!” to the coolie staggering under the weight of the parcel. “Hayaku! Walk faster! Run!”
And then, almost before I know she has left my side, she is gone, hurrying with short steps up the moss-bordered walk[94] after the coolie, who has quickened his pace into a shambling run.
By the time I reach the house at my slower rate, and enter my room by way of the balcony, she has already got the parcel in front of her on a square of white matting in a patch of brilliant sunshine.
The only fault I am able to find with Mousmé’s face is that it is somewhat apathetic24 at times, a trifle expressionless. It is animated25 enough now, however. A look of eager curiosity suffuses26 it. She is like some gay-coloured humming-bird in her brilliant-hued dress, squatting27 there in the patch of sunlight, already at work with nimble, painstaking28 fingers upon the knots of the string around the parcel, coaxing29 loose the more stubborn ones with the point of one of her immense jade-topped hairpins30.
Lou has sent some magazines this quarter which delight Mousmé immensely—The[95] Strand31, English Illustrated32, and a copy of the Universal Review. This last is a veritable El Dorado of pictures, and provokes exclamations33 of delight when Mousmé turns the pages over. Only there is so much she cannot understand.
One particular picture in a number of the English Illustrated, a group of ladies at an evening party, mystifies her immensely.
“Why are all these women cut out in the middle?” she asks with a puzzled expression. “Are they all born like that?”
“No,” I reply.
“Then do they make themselves like that?” glancing at her own slender though by no means exaggerated figure.
“Yes; they make themselves so, I suppose. It is a custom of our nation, and other European nations,” I explain as best I can.
“Oh!” with another look at the ultra-fashionably[96] slender figure of the woman in the foreground of the picture. “How very uncomfortable!”
We both laugh; I because Mousmé makes this last remark in such a finite voice, and without any real idea of its na?ve truthfulness34, and she because to her loose-robed little body such a fashion appears highly ridiculous.
There is evidently something mysterious about this funny custom, which, as Mousmé says, “makes women look as if a dog had bitten a great piece out of them, both sides;” for she says, ere turning over the page:
“Shall I do that when I go with you to England?”
“No, certainly not.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re much prettier as you are.”
Mousmé smiles contentedly35, and pats[97] my big hand, which looks so very large beside hers, and rambles36 off to tell me of a lizard37 she found in our bed just before I came back from the town; whilst I, glancing over the pages of one of the magazines, divide my attention between her story and a critique of Robert Elsmere.
The time passes very quickly with Mousmé; she is soon tired of looking at books and papers which, at present, she only half understands; and lest she should interrupt me, she gets up, and goes with a hushed pad, pad of her shoeless feet into our bedroom, to fetch a strange little lacquer box which contains her writing materials. A flat shell, with lovely mother-of-pearl tints38 on its nacre hollow, in which she grinds her Indian ink; the fine paintbrush, which plays the part of pen; the flimsy rice-paper, in long, thin strips, and envelopes to match, are among her belongings39, and are decorated with tiny pictures[98] of trees and strangely grotesque40 animals, birds and fishes. She is going to write to her mother, to ask her to send up a sash of turquoise41-blue silk which was left behind when she was married, and which she has found out I admired.
I watch her as she writes, her head bent42 over her paper, and the lower half of her face in shadow—such a scrap43 of daintily dressed femininity.
I wonder what else she is saying—women’s inter-confidences are always so distressing44 and perplexing to a man—for she has already covered one long strip with delicately minute writing, which at a little distance looks like the ground-plan of an intricate maze45; and surely even a turquoise silk obi cannot call for such a lengthy46 description, except, perhaps, in a Parisian fashion-journal.
She has finished by the time I have cut the pages of one of the novels Lou has included[99] in the parcel; and, with a solemnity worthy47 of the best traditions of the Japanese official, she seals it up securely in an envelope of whitey-blue rice-paper—so small, that it necessitates48 the folding of the letter half a dozen times.
One of the ever-amiable Oka’s almost innumerable children, a quaint toddler of five, with a queer, shaven head, with its little ebon queue, and small, bright, black beads49 of eyes, is easily persuaded to take it down to Mousmé’s mother for a couple of sen.
Then we have tea.
Really it is a sort of dinner, a nondescript meal best conveyed to the mind by that equally nondescript English phrase, “high tea”—a strange meal indulged in by people who are too hungry to have tea, and too modest to have a second dinner.
How Mousmé can tackle plums still[100] green, though coated in sugar, without paying the penalty for her seeming indiscretion, is a mystery. But she does; and I sit and watch her in genuine though unexpressed admiration50. The shrimps51, really large prawns52, with their intricately stuffed interiors, I can venture upon; and seaweed, with sweet sauce, I take with resignation. She does not care for the latter to-night, and so she goes to a panel cupboard, where we keep our priceless English biscuits cunningly hidden from the possible depredations53 of Oka’s somewhat inquisitive54 children, and eats some of these instead, nibbling55 off first the pink-and-white sugar decorations, which are such a source of delight.
We have scarcely finished our meal, and Mousmé is still nibbling a biscuit, when we hear the sound of Kotmasu’s expected footsteps coming up the garden-path.
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1
quay
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| n.码头，靠岸处 | |
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commendable
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| adj.值得称赞的 | |
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regularity
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| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
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4
attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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5
flannels
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| 法兰绒男裤； 法兰绒( flannel的名词复数 ) | |
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alley
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| n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路 | |
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7
incongruities
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| n.不协调( incongruity的名词复数 )；不一致；不适合；不协调的东西 | |
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8
swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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9
tunics
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| n.（动植物的）膜皮( tunic的名词复数 )；束腰宽松外衣；一套制服的短上衣；（天主教主教等穿的）短祭袍 | |
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10
warehouse
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| n.仓库；vt.存入仓库 | |
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rite
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| n.典礼，惯例，习俗 | |
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12
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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13
unpacked
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| v.从（包裹等）中取出（所装的东西），打开行李取出( unpack的过去式和过去分词 )；拆包；解除…的负担；吐露（心事等） | |
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14
transacted
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| v.办理（业务等）( transact的过去式和过去分词 )；交易，谈判 | |
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15
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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16
quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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steamship
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| n.汽船，轮船 | |
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18
collapse
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| vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷 | |
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yen
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| n. 日元；热望 | |
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honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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21
texture
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| n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理 | |
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rosebud
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| n.蔷薇花蕾，妙龄少女 | |
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23
promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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24
apathetic
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| adj.冷漠的，无动于衷的 | |
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animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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suffuses
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| v.（指颜色、水气等）弥漫于，布满( suffuse的第三人称单数 ) | |
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27
squatting
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| v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的现在分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。 | |
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28
painstaking
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| adj.苦干的；艰苦的，费力的，刻苦的 | |
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29
coaxing
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| v.哄，用好话劝说( coax的现在分词 )；巧言骗取；哄劝，劝诱；“锻炼”效应 | |
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30
hairpins
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| n.发夹( hairpin的名词复数 ) | |
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31
strand
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| vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地） | |
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32
illustrated
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| adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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33
exclamations
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| n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 )；感叹；感叹语；感叹词 | |
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34
truthfulness
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| n. 符合实际 | |
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contentedly
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| adv.心满意足地 | |
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36
rambles
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| （无目的地）漫游( ramble的第三人称单数 )； （喻）漫谈； 扯淡； 长篇大论 | |
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37
lizard
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| n.蜥蜴，壁虎 | |
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38
tints
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| 色彩( tint的名词复数 )； 带白的颜色； （淡色）染发剂； 痕迹 | |
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39
belongings
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| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
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40
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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41
turquoise
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| n.绿宝石；adj.蓝绿色的 | |
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42
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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43
scrap
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| n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废 | |
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44
distressing
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| a.使人痛苦的 | |
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45
maze
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| n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑 | |
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46
lengthy
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| adj.漫长的，冗长的 | |
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47
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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48
necessitates
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| 使…成为必要，需要( necessitate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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49
beads
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| n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链 | |
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50
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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51
shrimps
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| n.虾，小虾( shrimp的名词复数 )；矮小的人 | |
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52
prawns
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| n.对虾，明虾( prawn的名词复数 ) | |
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53
depredations
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| n.劫掠，毁坏( depredation的名词复数 ) | |
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54
inquisitive
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| adj.求知欲强的，好奇的，好寻根究底的 | |
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55
nibbling
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| v.啃，一点一点地咬（吃）( nibble的现在分词 )；啃出（洞），一点一点咬出（洞）；慢慢减少；小口咬 | |
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