The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-10-14


ship and color.
1t was still wonderful thing that
he should notice her, should care to
please her, this stalwart young English
man who seemed as god.
To her their companionship had been
glimpse of paradise.
And to him2 To him it had been as
an afternoon spent with the lotus eaters
in the midst Of toilsome journey; an
hour of repose snatched from the burden
and hurry Of life; an interlude Of deli
cious, dreamy music, shining like a gem
in rough setting Of daily common
places and discords-an idyl and On il
lustration in one.
She had captivated his wayward fancy
this little bright eyed, gentle voiced
Japanese girl-and he had loitered in
Tokyo week after week for her sake. or
rather for the sake of the amusement he
found in her society.
It pleased him to watch her childlike
delight in her new surroundings, and
his sense Of beauty was satisfied by her
graceful dancing.
She had many small accomplishments,
too, with which she had been wont to
beguile his leisure.
Then one afternoon he said to her
with assumed carelessness:
"Ko-hana-san, would you like to
stay here when am gone, or would you
rather 60 to your friends again?''
She paused in her occupation Of en-
broidering little panel with silk and
beads to look at him for moment, and
then said TRANQUILITY in her own sweet
sounding language:
"I will stay here until you come
back. Where are you going?'
"But I am not coming back" he said
moro earnestly. 81 am only bird Of
passage, you know, little jewel, and I
must go home low. My holiday is over.
They are waiting for me over the wa
ter.''
She gazed very steadily at him in
deep thought, then laying her hand on
his arm:
"Paul," she said, "take me with
you. will 60"
II cannot do that, my pearl" he an
swered. ut is impossible. ="
"Why?" she demanded.
Because Observation-Disclosures
Ko-hana- san, we do not travel about
with our friends in that manner. 1t
would not do"
"But I will be your wife," she said.
"Then it will do quite WELL"
His wifel This little Japanese dane
ing grill How could he explain to her,
since she did not understand it for her
self?
"You love me-" she said very softly,
bending nearer to him.
He had given to her the caressing,
tender affection that one gives to a pret-
ty child who confldes in one and amuses
one at the same moment.
He had stopped to gather wild flow
er that had bloomed on the wayside--
but Lowell
His aspirations were for an ideal-a
blossom growing far out of his reach; 3
bird singing on the top of a distant
tree. not one flying helplessly in his
path; star shining above him in the
azure, not its reflection in the simmer
Of pool at his feet
Yet he had no thought Of unkindness.
He had not imagined that the dawn of
new soul had come into the wistful eyes
regarding him.
He took her hand very tenderly in
his
"Ko-hana.san. he said, "you would
not be contented with my people. You
must stay with your own friends in
your own country and be happy, and
you must forget me, for I am not wor.
thy Of o single tear from those bright
eyes.
But she pleaded with a passionate
fervor that was revelation to him to
be told why his people would not love
her and want her to be happy, and why
! she could not 60 with him.
At last, reluctantly yielding to her
tears and entreaties, he confessed that
in his country dancing girls were not
often sought out in marriage by those
Of his degree, nor were they considered
of much moment, and that to take a
foreign one to his mothers home would
be counted unto him disgrace.
Then Ko-hana-san dried her tears,
and, family smiling, said:
"Well, you shall 60, then, willful
one, by yourself. But when?'
And he said he would stay another
week if she wished it.
But no, she said, she did not wish it.
He should go on the morrow.
Only, first, he must come and say
goodby to her. He should leave her
now, and he could return in the cool of
the evening, and she would bid him
farewell then.
And as he went away she watched
IN with face that grew pale and sad.
h'or Ko-hana-san had tasted second
time of the tree Of knowledge and had
found no sweetness but only bitterness
therein.
Then, with sigh, she went away to
her dressing room and prepared to make
all elaborate toilet for the evening.
u 4 Il
1t was with a lightened heart that
Paul returned to the little house to see
the last of Ko-hana-san.
For he loved the ways of pleasantness
and peace, and now that it was over he
knew the thought of telling her that he
must leave her had troubled him q good
deal-and for her sake, not his own.
Already he was little weary of his
lotus eating
And he rejoiced that Providence had
made the hearts of Geishas light and
their griefs easy of assuagement
He looked into the little sitting room
and saw that, though empty Of her
presence, it was guy with pink con.
volvuli, newly set in quaint cups and
carved bamboos.
And then, going to seek her, he called
softly down tae passage, "Ko-beus-
! sanF