“Oh,” said the girl, and then repeated in a low, happy voice, “hasten on my marriage.”
She turned suddenly toward the maid.
“Do you find me changed?” she asked.
The woman regarded her dubiously.
“Ye-es—no. Last night I thought you more than usually impatient, Masago.”
“Ah—was I so? I did not mean it.”
“But to-day you seem more kind than even as a child, though you were the most gentle, passive, and best of little ones.”
“And so I am just now,” said Sado-ko, merrily. “I am not changed one little bit. Think of me, if you please, as a child.”
“Perhaps the fault was mine last night,” pursued the woman, glad to prolong the conversation with Masago.
“Look!” exclaimed the girl, pointing to the garden. “See, some little children!”