The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1917-03-03

= i
The girl was SO wrought up over this
outburst of such fire and pathos that
she lost her wonted color, and appear
ed all transformed. Wendes gazed on
her, and she seemed in that moment
dream of loneliness.
20 Fana,' he said after short
pause, Il will speak to Kiwaci, and
will ask him to send you back to your
mother"
ooh! a thousand and ten thousand
thanks! If you obtain this boon for
me, your countenance, o sir, will hon
ored forever be to me as the divine
countenance of the god of happiness. -
Il promise you this, o Fana; this
very day l will speak to Kiwaci, and
you will put aside the sorrow that now
mars your beauty, and the tears that
disfigure your countenance"
A sudden flash of joy oerspread the
face of 0 Fana, and she burst forth
again into the most profuse express
sions of gratitude. She then took up
the koto and played with such skill
and sang with so much feeling and
sentiment, that for the first time in his
life Wendes tasted to the full the
sweetness of the Japanese songs
The image and the thought of o Fana
chung tightly around the heart of the
young German, as the ivy around the
living oak.
Kiwaci listened favoraD1y to the re,
quest of Wendes, without showing the
least sign of displeasure or surprise.
Stranger" he said, after removing
a small pipe which he had been putting
at, ''you understand very little about
the customs and maxims of our land
In Japan a woman is not free and in.
dependent as she is among your
Europeans; she must serve our pleas
ures, and must not pretend in any
way to have will of her own. o
Fana is a fiighty girl, and by her reck-
less ways causes uneasiness to the
Kami of Kumanura in the realm OF
the Blue Dragon. I'll soon take this
nonsense out of her head"
BE not hasty," exclaimed the
youth, Il have promised your niece
that | would endeavor to satisfy her
in this her just and lawful desire, and
with me a promise is something sac
red. You must not punish o Fana
Grant my request"
ut is impossible!" answered the
Japanese. ''At home she has no
means of subsistence, and 1 promised
Kumanura on his death bed that !
would ever watch over her. If failed
in my sacred trust, the shade of
Kumanura would come to fill my
establishment with all the horror of
nocturnal terrors."
rs there then no way to render
your niece happy?" asked Wendes
after a brief silence.
well, since you seem so interested
in the welfare of o Fana, take her
yourself, and marry her. The dowry
that you will pay me will be sufficient
to maintain her mother. o Fana is
the brightest pearl that ever lay in
the azure depths of the waters of
Nagasaki. | paid her mother one hun
dred ROSS of gold for her; give me
three hundred, and o Fana is yours.
Two hundred rios of gold will suffice
for the maintenance Of the wife of
Kumanura until her girl orders her
to depart from this world"
AT this sudden and blunt demand
Wendes remained speechless A new
torrent of affection rushed to his
heart, and the hot blood mantled his
cheek. What! he marry a Japanese
girl! He bind himself forever to a
woman of the yellow race, of that
race which he considered half bar
barous, and infinitely below the refine
ment, culture and civilization of the
glorious land of the Kaisers! What
would his parents, his relatives, his