Free press., 1908-05-16
"a LADY OF
MIKADO'S COURT
An Episode of the New York Art
Colony
BY JESSIE M. partition


lieved-as a psychological answer to
his yearning for color"
Her entrance was Characteristic
The artist, idly sketching his thou
saAdth American Girl" was startled
to perceive a small, gorgeous figure
wrapped in sinuous folds of gray and
cherry silk, bowed in mock humility
at his very feet.
Seven devils" exclaimed st. Ives,
splashing carmine all over the "Ameri
can Girls" naughty mouth.
"Jes' me, mos, high mightiness;
Etsu make YER fine model-ver' moch
need 1aoney!" explained the wadded
silk bundle before him. The shining
hack coils of hair rose from their
humble position to disclose a fresh,
girlish face. daintily red as to lips.
immobile as bronze
This, then, was no gift from the
gods, but a commercial transaction
All the artist in ST. Ives nature rose
TO the quaint, colorfuI little lady
Etsu, taking stupefaction for &C.
QTescence, lifted a bundle of costumes
from the floor and pattered toward the
dressing room.
In a second she was back. Instead
Of the cherry blossom silk she was
swathed in a heavy kimono whose
midnight luster was glorified by gold
en- storks gravely reposing on one leg
against a background of perpetually
rising suns.
"Etsu ver' fine lady Of mikado's
court she said proudly, making a
deep genuflection.
ST Ives eyes took in greedily the
1.-THE figure, the small, fower-like face
and heavy coils of scented hair He
stared till the 'ver' fine lady" became
disturbed; she dropped to the floor
in a pretty attitude and with childish
dignity and directness said: Lady
play samisen, ver honorable great ar.
tist please to paint!"
And so, from day to day, ST. Ives
reveled in color
Etsu had been posing for him for
two weeks, and the studio, with it's
litter of East Indian bric-a-brac, ugly
Chinese idols, and rare tapestries, was
permeated with the faint fragrance
that clung to her kimonos.
Today Etsu had arrived at the stu
dio early. When he inserted his own
latch key, strange, eerie .murmuring
reached his ears, and as he threw
wide the door he beheId Etsu prone
on her face before an image OF Bud
dha he had picked up in the orient
She was praying softly and rapidly.
Gone was the childlike naivete and
impenetrable calm of the little Japan.
ese model. A strange exaltation
breathed from every fold of her silken
garments, and she hurriedly tucked
| her tiny fag-the emblem of Japan
! into her sleeve as she mounted the
models throne.
"Wef1, Etsu, I see by the papers
your country is recalling it's subjects
there's to be war, it seems!"
Eyes, august highnessi" replied Et-
su; "the sacred one has spoken-hap-
by they who can obey!"
| She was strangely anxious to be
-gone-the days work was spoiled and
st. Ives released her.
Lifting a curtain that concealed an
old cabinet to get Etsu's customary
fee, he stood appalled,. The cabinet
had been forced open, papers and color
tubes lay all about, but every penny
the cabinet held had vanished
Gone, too, was Etsu, and without
the bit of silver for which she always
waited.
In an instant st. Ives was half way
| down the stairs; a second and he
| gained the street There, like an ami
mated water color, was Etsu, two
| blocks away.
Etsu melted into narrow doorway
OF Chinatown, and still he followed.
Almost at the threshold of an inner
| room she was met by a slender young
| Japanese equipped for a journey.
Did you get it?" he fairly Kissed.
Quick, quick; the son of heaven
| calls"
Here, Hojo." She pressed a hand
full of loose bills into his outstretched
hand * Kawannon guard you and
bring glorious death"
! Jostling ST Ives in the dark passage
Hojo rushed forth-from her he loved
to the great red death of Japanese
| soldier who falls in battle fighting for
| the emperor.
| But Etsu, for whom there remained
only the small white death of women
and children, drew from her sflken
| sleeve a small vial and drank deep.
| The pungent scent of peach kernels
| filed the air
And ST. Ives staggered out into the
sunlight to gaze with Mortified eyes
on the long streamers of 'Banzai''
and picturesque Japanese flags that
| fiuttered in an alien breeze.
False. .
The story is told of an actor, popu