The Detroit times., 1909-01-16
T3fe Love gfl a Geisha.


hotel. secured from him with the all
OF an interpreter. her exact address.
And all this time he was telling him
self that IL was merely matter of
curiosity.
But nevertheless. he could not es-
cape the reflection that the. episode
of the afternoon was hardly commend
able, considering the fact that he was
engaged to an American girl. named
Mary James, who was only awaiting
his return from this oriental tour to
marry him. But" he concluded, Am
erica Is far away and she will never
know the difference. So what's the
odds ?"
When they met again after that, II
was MOrden's turn To become emDar-
rassed The geishas training as
professional entertainer, stood her In
good stead. II was true she Dlushed
deeply on entering the room and saw
the stranger who had followed her the
previous day. but soon regafned her
composure. Bowing smilingly she let
herself down onto the mating ana
passed her slender fingers caressing-
~ over the strings OF the samlseh that
had been placed In readiness for her.
The foreigner had sent for her. as had
so many from over the seas before
him. She would play and sing for
him and then he would go away and
she would see him no more and he
would forget her. Ii was the fate of
the geishas.
Presently in a melodious voice she
ch,an CT 70 m "A
melody. half recitation. Morden had
not the slightest idea what 1t was
about. What interested him most was
the way she sang II. swaying her grace
full body In time with the music. He
had heard samisen players before. bat
none who was such complete mas
ter OF the Japanese guitar as this beau
tiful girl She fairly made the instru-
ment speak. Lost in admiration OF
her. he forgot time and place until
she reminded him by preparations for
departure that her entertainment hal
come to an end. Then he reluctantly
dismissed her.
He sent for her the next day and the
next after that Weeks passed and
still ne Was a daily visitor 10 the tea
house he did not need 10 send for
pon ted time and il was generally un.
dcistOou that she was 20 play and
dance Tor him only ana no one else.
He paid the rapacious t'ahousc pro-
prlstors ali they asked AL blessed his
stars that his father was rich and pro
vided him with ample means. Pass
ing few hours every day In the com
pany OF his fair entertainer. they soon
uyol annnnintn1 ,,rAI1igllV
she lost her shyness and when he dis
covered that she. like many OF the
geisha, was bit OF linguist and
talked English brokenly, their CONVEX
sation was no longer restricted to
pantomime and such Japanese phrases
as he had managed TO acquire, lie
was now no longer laboring under a
delusion and frankly confessed To him
self that love directed his steps TO
the tea-house and TO Kohana-love
that brooked no barriers. love that
would break down the restraints OF
conventionality, love that was deep
enough and unselfsh enough to dis
regard race prejudices and unite the
occident with the orient.
To him Kohana was the most beau
tiful woman that ever lived, every
step she took the perfection of grace,
her form and features the replica of
a petite Venus, her smile divine AT
his request she went out boating with
him occasionally. which was no viola
ton of the etiquette OF her native
country, as long as he returned her
to the tea-house. She would never
have consented to his taking her home
And once, unbeknown to her, he
followed her and some of her girl
friends into the woods and, surrepti
tiously watched them az they romped
Deeply engrossed in some of the ma
tional games they failed to pay any
attention to their surroundings but
leaped and skipped and laughed to
their hearts contest. He was not as
tonished to find that she was the lead
er in this pastime-it seemed the most
natural thing In the world that she
should be. The position belonged,
by right, TO the most graceful. How
light OF limb she was. now darting
here, now there, evading capture or
directing the quick movements OF the
merry girls and emitting amusing lit
tie feminine shrieks OF delight. Once
the winding chain OF human beauty