“Your request is rather a strange one,” said the gentleman, smiling. “Pray tell me why it is that you wish to come to me.”
The boy raised his head. “Oh, sir, yours is the chief business house in Kumano, and I would be so glad if I might learn under you.”
“You wish to become a business man, do you?” said the gentleman, with a friendly nod; upon which the boy drew himself up and exclaimed, “Yes; I mean, if I can, to become the leading merchant in Japan!”
“‘If you please, sir, are you the head of the Daikokuya?’”
The master of the Daikokuya instinctively studied the boy’s face. There was a certain nobleness and intelligence about it; he had well-cut features, a firmness about the lips, and quick-glancing eyes, and, although his clothing showed poverty, his bearing was quiet and his speech refined. These things confirmed the gentleman in the opinion that the boy was not the son of any common man; and having, as the employer of many hands, a quick eye to read character, he said:
“Very good, my boy! So you mean to become the leading merchant in Japan? A fine notion, to be sure. However, before I engage a boy, you know, I must have somebody to recommend him, and he must give me references. Have you any relatives in this place?”
“No, sir; I know no one,” answered the boy.
“Why, where have you been until now?”
“I have only just come from my country. The fact is, I heard your name, sir, some time ago, and being very anxious to enter your service, I left my country all by myself to come to Kumano. But I have not a single acquaintance here, nor anybody to whom I can turn. My only object was to come straight to you; and I was asking a man on the road if he could direct me to your house, when the man pointed to you and said, ‘Why, that gentleman just ahead of us is the master of the Daikokuya.’ And that is how it comes that I ran up to you all of a sudden in this rude way.”