"Yes, Mrs. Barrington. It's well worth seeing. We must arrange to go down there."
"Miss Smith tells me," said Asako, "that all these lovely gay creatures are Yoshiwara girls; and that you can see them there now."
"Not that identical lady of course," said Reggie, who had joined the group by the fireside, "she died a hundred years ago; but her professional great-granddaughters are still there."
"And I can see them!" Asako clapped her hands. "Ladies are allowed to go and look? It does not matter? It is not improper?"
"Oh, no," said Yaé Smith, "my brothers have taken me. Would you like to go?"
"Yes, I would," said Asako, glancing at her husband, who, however, showed no signs of approval.
CHAPTER IX
ITO SAN
Ama no hara
Fumi-todorokashi
Naru-kami mo
Omou-naka wo ba
Sakuru mono ka wa?
Can even the God of Thunder
Whose footfall resounds
In the plains of the sky
Put asunder
Those whom love joins?