The Yale expositor., 1906-05-18
Little
GSiSha
okikusan was in trouble again.
BY oNoTO wATANNA.
Copyright. by Joseph B. Bowles)

Ter by refusing to dance for the Amer
lean who threw his money so lavishly
about He had specially asked that
the girl with the red cheeks, large
eyes and white skin be asked to dance
for him..
The dancing mats were thrown, the
music started, and Kiku had thrust
forward one little foot and had cour-
tested to the four corners of the earth.
Then she twirled clear around on the
tips of the toes of one little foot, her
hand tapering out toward the Amer.
lean. She had started to dance with
out once glancing at the visitor. BY
chance her eye happened to fall on
him, and with a sudden within she
paused in her steps and subsidized to
the mats, her little feet drawn under
her.
The American was watching the girl
with amused eyes. Then he crossed to
where she sat on the ground.
why did you stop dancing?" he
asked her, in fairly good Japanese.
She answered him in broken Eng
lish:
"Tha's account nod lig' to dance
for you!" she told him, candidly.
The girl still sat on the mat, look
ing straight out before her, her face
unreliable in its cold indifference.
Hilton could not understand her. She
was so unlike any Japanese girl he
had ever met, for they generally were
so willing and eager to please. After
a time he broke the somewhat strained
silence to say, in his soft, drawing
fashion,
Would you not like something-er
to drink? Shall / fetch something
for you?"
The question was so absurd that the
girls studied indifference broke down.
"Tha's nod your place to waid on
mel" she said, loftily, rising to her
feet. Il thing thad you lig something
to dring. Yes? Thad | git paid to
worg here. l thing l bedder bring
you something to dri1g," she added,
stiff1y. Bud | nod lig to waid on you.
prefer vaery much waid on japanese
gents"
There was a sibilant softness to her
voice that was bewildering in its
charm and sweetness, and her broken
English was prettIer than anything he
had ever heard.
When she brought the hot sake
back to him her face was smiling above
the dainty tray, and as she knelt at his
feet while he drank it. he could see
that her former petulant mood was
gone, and that she was now using
every effort to please and conciliate
him.
Now you look like a Japanese sun
BEAM" he told her, softly, looking I'M
utterable things at her out of his deep
gray eyes.
"Tha's account | 'fraid Citing dis
charged" she told him, calmly, still
smiling. MIR. Takahashi tell me If
nod vaery kin to you he goin' to
send me long way from here"
"Ah, see. Then you are only pre-
tending to smile?"
She shrugged her little shoulders.
Yes" she said, indifferently. "Tha's
worg for geisha girl Whad you thing
we goin' to git paid for? Account we
frown? Or account we laugh? thing
tha's account we laugh. Thad is my
worg. What you thing?
THAT you are a philosopher" he
told her. smiling, and added: But
what a cynic, too; l didn't expect to
find il among Japanese women-cyn-
| icism.'
The girl smiled a trifle bitterly.
| "Oa!" she said, you nod fin thad
'mong Japanese-only me! | different
from aeverybody else" She set the
tray on the ground and sat down at
his feet.
How old are your" Hilton asked
her, curiously.
twenty-five" she told him.
"You look like child
1t was two weeks later. With a rest
less fascination he could not under
stand, Hilton went every day to the
little tea house on the hill. Always he
sought out Okikusan, and would spend
the entire day with her, totally obliv-
| lOuS 10 dlIlOSl ali elSc save TIC gin
beauty and charm.
And Hilton forgot his mission in
Japan, forgot that japanese women
had always been merely tie playthings
Of a moment; that he had tired of life
everything save the delightful, ire
sistible feelings that had awakened in
him. What was it? Hilton was in
love, and with Japanese woman!
Years ago he had married one in
Japanese fashion, and had left her
She had been a gentle, clinging little
woman, with whom he had passed a
dreamy, sleepy summer. What could
he do with Kiku? She was unlike any
Japanese woman he had ever known
unlike any woman he had met. She
was the one woman in the world he
had loved during all his long, check
cred career-a life spent in idle pur-
suit of his own pleasures.
Hilton's friend. who had accompan-
fed him on the voyage, was beginning
to feel anxious about him, for, in spite
of his admission of his own weakness