Madame Chrysantheme -- Complete

other. It seemed as if the clouds of the whole world had amassed themselves in Nagasaki Bay, and chosen this great green funnel to stream down. And so thickly did the rain fall that it bec

g away in torrents of water. The wind howled through the ravines with a deep tone. The whole surface of the bay, bespattere

ding, and how was I to find a wife thro

ves, who smiled at my obstinate determina

sampan,' bro

aves, sculled by two yellow boys stark naked in the rain. The craft approached us, I jumped into it, then through a little trap-door shaped like a ra

arted for the town, lying in this box, flat on my stomach, rocked by one wave, roughly shaken by another, at moments almost overturned; and through the half-opened door of my rattrap I saw, upside-down, the two little creature

trap-door, which I had now thrown wide open, I saw quite near to me the gray flagstones on the quays.

d us, and the tiresome

es of human hedgehog, each dragging some large black object; they came screaming around me and stopped my progress. One of them opened and held over my head an enormou

t this sudden attack, this Japanese welcome on a first visit to land (the djins or djin-richisans, are the runners who drag lit

By way of waterproofs they wore nothing less than mats of straw, with all the ends of the straws turned outward,

e cart, of which he carefully lowered the hood. He drew an oilcloth apron over my knees, pulling it up to my face, and then advancing, asked me

their being understood. We started, he running at full speed, I dragged along and jerked about in his light chariot, wrapped in oilcloth

old me about it, and I knew a great deal; the Garden of Flowers is a tea-house, an elegant rendezvous. There I should inquire for a certain Kangourou-San, who is at the same time interpreter, laundryman, and confidential agent for the intercourse of races. P

f-drowned Japan. All these houses, men, and beasts, hitherto known to me only in drawings; all these, that I had beheld painted on blue or pink background

agasaki, I cast an inquiring look outside, at the risk of receiving a drenching: we were trotting along through a mean, narrow, little back street (there are thousands like it, a labyrinth of them), the rain falling in cascades from the tops of the roofs on the gleaming flagstones below, rendering everything indistinct and vague through the misty

still it seemed never-ending. It is a flat plain, and one never would suppose f

say where I was, or in what direction we had run;

eep at anything, he is naturally always the first object in my foreground; his two naked, brown, muscular legs, scampering along, splashing all around, and hi

he rain has ceased. I had not yet seen his face; as an exception to the general rule, he is good-looking; a young man of about thirty years of age, of intelligent and strong appearance, a

mountain; probably beyond the limits of the town, in some suburban district. It apparently beca

ice the details of this tiny corner, muddy and wet, of homely Japan, now lying before our eyes. The earth was very red. The grasses and wild flowers bordering the pathway were strange to me; nevertheless, the palings were covered with convolvuli like our own, and I recognized china asters, zinnias, and other familiar flowers in the gardens. The atmosphere s

nder a tree, and together we climbed t

are we not?" I inquired, desirous to a

he djin, "it is up th

e mountain, all covered with a tangle of wet ferns; on the other appeared a large wood

knocked at a large door which opened immediately, slipping back in its groove. Then two funny little women appeared, oldish

myself. Nothing at all, it was only the ceremonious salute, to which I am as yet unaccustomed. They arose, and proceeded to take off my boo

apanese dwelling is the extreme cleanliness,

ther, can be made to disappear-and all one side of the apartment opened like a veranda, giving a view of the green country and the gray sky beyond. By way of a chair, they gave me a square cushion of black velvet; and behold me seated low, in t

le at the Pescadores Islands-by sheer dint of dictionary and grammar, without attaching the lea

nial agent. Nothing could be easier: they knew him and were willing to go at once in search of him; a

of the greatest delicacies of Japan. Better and

necessary words. But the more I look at you the more uneasy I feel as to what my fiancee of to-morrow may be like. Almost pretty, I grant you, you are-in virtue of quaintness, delicate hands, miniature feet, but ugly, after all, and absurdly smal

downstairs, I heard a murmuring chatter overhead, then a noise of panels moved quickly along their grooves, evidently to hide from me something not intended for me to

listen attentively, squatted like a Buddha on my black velve

ones. Then rises the sound of a guitar, and the song of a woman, plaintive and gentl

clearness which follows a great fall of rain; but a thick pall, still heavy with moisture, remains suspended over all, and on the foliage of the hanging woods still float great flakes of gray fluff, which remain there, motionless. In the foreground, in front of and below this almost fantastic landscape, is a miniature garden where two beautiful white cats are t

eat silence, an absolute calm. But the woman's voice, behind the paper wall, continues to si

s somewhat quicker-one might

tween the fragile divisions, through a cr

othing so much as a doll's tea-party. In the midst of this circle of dandies are three overdressed women, one might say three weird visions, robed in garments of pale and indefinable colors, embroidered with golden monsters; their great coiffures are arranged with fantastic art, stuck full of pins and flowers. Two are seated with their backs turned to me: one is holding the guitar, the other singing with that soft, pretty voice; thus seen furtively, from behind, their pose, their hair, the nape of their necks, all is exquisite, and I tremble lest a movement should

xed and motionless, upon my black velvet cushion. There are three of them now, three waiting-maids who arrive in single file, with smiles and curtseys. One offers me the spirit-lamp and the teapot; anothe

d shining as shoe-polish, and the little tea-service on the floor, the landscape seen through the veranda, the pagoda perched among the clouds; and over all the same affectation everywhere, in every detail. Even the woman's melancholy voice, still to be heard behind the paper partition, was evidently the proper way for them to sing-these musicians I had so often seen painted in am

g himself, it appears, and will be here sho

is atrocious, but above all unexpected and unimaginable. The little women make me eat, laughing much, with that perpetual, irritating laugh which is peculiar to Japan-they make me eat, according to their fashion, with dainty chop-sticks, fin

a coaxing air of childishness, which is a delightfully transparent assumption. She is slim, elegant, delicate, and smells sweet; she is drolly painted, white as plaster, with a little circle of rouge marked very precisely in the middle of each cheek, the mouth reddened, and a touch of gilding outlining the under lip.

mons! Crac! Away she goes, the little fairy, to enterta

e; I should take her for what she is: a fantastic and charming plaything. What an amusing little household

t once foolish and cunning; he has hardly any nose or eyes. He makes a real Japanese salutation: an abrupt dip, the hands placed flat on the knees, the body making a right angle to the legs,

ench, Monsieu

ieur" (ren

a string; when he is seated before me on the ground, he limits himself to a

ea, Monsieu

nds, as if to say, "I should hardly dare. It is too great a

first words what I

In a week's time, as it happens, a family from Simonoseki

e, Monsieur Kangourou! No, no, eit

ing my agitation, begins to pass in feverish revie

eak a few days sooner! So pretty! So clever at playing the guitar! It is an

der a hundred yen-[A yen is equal to four shillings.]-a month. She is very accomplished, thoroughly understands commercial writing, and has at her fingers'-ends more than two thousand characters of learned writing. In a poetical competition she gained the first pr

w about those on the other side of the screen, in those fine gold-embroidered dresses? For instance, the dancer with the

then when he gathers my meaning, he shakes

has are professional dancers and singers trained

not?" Later, no doubt, when I understand Japanese affairs better, I shall appreciate myse

the necessary overtures to the parents of this young person, who live a long way off, on the opposite hill, in the suburb of Diou-djen-dji. She is a very pretty girl of about fifteen. She can probably be engaged for about eig

ofound bows-they put on my boots again at the door. My djin, profiting by the interpreter kind fortune has placed in his way, begs to be recommended to me for future custom; his stand is on the quay; his number is 415, inscribed in French characters on the lantern of his vehicle (we have a number 415 on board, one Le Goelec, gunner, who serves the left of one of my guns; happy thought! I shall remember thi