"Did he cancel it?"
"To be sure I to be sure! They began again, as if nothing had ever happened."
"Which does not annul what had occurred; and so the woman spoke first."
The argument threatened to wax warm; but all ended by a larger number of cups being emptied. Soon the throng thinned off, and the tavern grew quiet again.
A servant woman then noticed the old man leaning against an upright post, and still holding the young girl by the hand.
"Do you want a cup of tea or saki?" asked the woman.
"I wish to speak to the keeper of the tea-house," answered the man.
The servant looked at the old man. His head was covered with a large hat of woven reeds, like the cover of a round basket; his costume, much worn, was of brown cotton. He held in his hand a fan, on which was marked the road from Yeddo to Osaka, the distance from one village to another, the number and importance of the inns, etc. The woman then examined the young girl. She was shabbily dressed. Her robe, of faded blue, was torn and dirty; a fragment of white stuff twisted about her head partially concealed her face. She leaned on a black-and-red paper parasol, torn in various places; but she was strangely beautiful and graceful.
"Have you come to make a sale?" asked the maid of the inn.
The old man made a sign that he had.