"If what I have been thinking all day—since the events of last night—is correct, and also meets your approval, I will take you."
And the little Lady Hoshi, shocked and stunned and shivering at her heart, answered:—
"Yes, lord."
And again that night she wept—not an hour—many hours. For you will have observed that Shijiro Arisuga did not say that he would marry—but only take her. (There is a difference in Japan.) And he did not ask her parents.
"You see, he knows!" she sobbed to the faithful maid. "Oh, it was so sweet—so sweet—that I forgot that I must not. And when I thought he loved me I was sure he would say 'I will marry you,' even if he did not mean it. But he only said, 'I will take you.' So—he does not love me—no! Well, Isonna, he shall have me. And I will enter his very soul! And then, some day, he will regret those awful words, and when he does I will die where he can see me afterward. You shall dress my hair in the shimada fashion, with flowers."
"He does not know," said the maid. "And he does love you. It is the result of telling him that you have had twenty lovers!"
"Ah, Isonna, do not make my sorrow heavier. That would be worse. He would not dare to say that to even me—if I were not what I am."
The maid still insisted.
"Then to-morrow I will tell him. If he would say that to a lady, who he thinks has dismissed many suitors for him, he shall know that he has said it to one who is not a lady and who has had no suitor but him alone."
"And one who has parents to be consulted! Not like one who goes to Geisha street without the leave of parents or uncles," advised the maid, with great severity.