Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-04-11

"aynflete Lay Back I'm His Easy
Chair.
ly fashion on the hearth, and his own per-
sonal belongings scattered here and there
as though they were settling themselves
for stay Having arrived from Europe
only that morning. he could not but hold
himself lucky to have found these rooms
taken for him by the old friend to whom
he had announced his return. and with
whom he was TO eat his Christmas dinner
that evening He had not been on shore
more than six or seven hours, and yet the
most of his odds and ends were unpackad
and already in place. as though they he
longed in this new abode. 1t was true that
he had toiled increasingly to accomplish
this; and as he stood there in his shirt
sleeves. admring the results Of his lat ors,
he was conscious also that his muscles
were fatgued and that the easy chair be-
fore the fire opened its arms te:nptingly.
He went again into the bed room and
took from one of his many trunks a long
loose garment of pale gray silk Apparent
ly this beautiful robe was intended to serve
as a dressing gown. and as such Cosmo
Waynfiete utilized it Immediately. The
ample folds fell softly about him. and the
rich silk itself seemed to he soothing to his
limbs. so delicate was its fiber and so care
fully had 1t been woven. Around the full
skirt there was embroidery of threads of
gold, and agail on the open and flowing
sleeves. With the skillful freedom of Jap
anese art the pattern of this decoration
seemed to suggest the Shrubbery about
spring. for there Were strange plants with
huge leaves broadly outlined by the golden
threads, ard in the midst of them water
was seen bubbling from the earth and lap
ping gently over the edge of the fountain.
As the returned wanderer thrust his arms
into the dressing gown with Its symbolic
embroidery on the skirt and sleeves, he re-
membered distinctly the dismal day when
he had boz ght it in little curiosity shop
In Nuremberg; and as he fastened across
his chest one by one the loops of silken
buttons down the front of the robe. he re-
called also the time and the place where
he had picked up each of these pieces of
gold and silver, one after another. The
first or them was a Persian dar.c, which he
had purchased from dealer on the Grand
canal in Venice, ard the second was a
Spanish peSo, struck under Philip II at
Potosi, which he had found in a stall On
the embankment of the Quay Voltaire in
Paris: ard the third was a York shilling
which he had bought from the man who
mad turned 1T up in blowing field that
sloped to the Hudson near Sleepy Hollow.
Having thus wrapped himself in this I'M
usual dressing gown, with its unexpected
buttons of gold and silver Cosmo Wayn-
nete went back into the front room. He
dropped into the arm chair before the fire.
1t was with smile Of physical satisfaction
that he stretched out his feet to the hickory
blaze.
The afternoon was drawing on. and in
New York The sun sets early on Christmas
day. The red rays shot into the window
almost horizontally. and they filled the
crystal globe with a curious light Cosmo
Waynfiete lay back in his easy chair. with
his Japanese robe about him. and gazed in
tently at the beautiful ball, which seemed
dixie a bubble of air and water His mind
went back to the afternoon in April two
crystal sphere in a Japanese shop within
sight of the Incompatible Fugiyama.
AS he peered into its transparent depths.
vision tH1 o
light where the rays of the setting sun
touched it into flame, he was but little sur
prised to discover that he could make out
tiny figures in the crystal For the mo-
ment this strange thing seemed to him per-
fectly natural And the movements of these
little men and women Interested him so
much that the fixity of his gaze was intens-
fled. And so it was that in few minutes
he saw with no establishment that he was
one of the group himself, he himself in the
rich and stately attire of samurai From
the instant that Cosmo Wayhnete dis
covered himself among the people whom
he saw moving before him. as his eyes were
fastened on the Illuminated dot in the trans
parent oail, he ceased to see them as little
nsures. anu ne accented them as of the full
stature OF man. This increase in their size
was no more source of wonderment to him
than IL had been to discern himself in the
midst OF them He accepted both of these
HarVelous things without question indeed
with no thought at all that they were In
any way peculiar or abnormal Not only
this bit thereafter he seemed to have trans
TERED his personality to the Cosmo Wayn
nete who was a Japanese samurai and tn
nave abandoned entirely the Cosmo VAN.
nete who was an American traveller and
VINO mad Just returned to New York that
Ihrlstmas morning. So completely die the
Japanese Identity dominate that the exist
eEce or the American identity was wholly
unknown to him. 1t was as though The
American had gone to sleep in New Yorlr
at the end of the nineteenth century and
mad walked Japanese in Nippon In the he
ginning OIL the eighteenth century.
with his sword by his side-a Murimasa
blade. likely to bring bad luck to the wearer
sooner or later-he had walked from his own
mouse IN the quarter of Kioto which ia
camed 1amashina to the quarter which is
caIied ioshiwara, place of Ill repute
Wnere dwell women of evil life and where
ToySterers and drunkards come by night
ne knew that the sacred duty of ayenTine
ms masters death had led him to cast of
MS faithful wife so that he might pretend to
Iiot IN debaucnery at the Three Sea Shores
me 1ame of his shameful doings had spread
ABROAD, and 1t must soon come to the ears
oI the man whom he wished to take un-
a"ares- NOW he was lying prone In the
sHeet, seemingly sunk in a drunken slun
Der so that men might see him and carry
me news to the treacherous assassin of his
Deioved master. As he lay there that after
noon ne revolved in his mind the devices
ne should use to make away with his enemy
Wnen the hour might be ripe at last for the