“I wish,” said she wistfully, “he would pay me something.”
“Perhaps he will,” said Fuji, nodding her head slowly; “my honorable father says he is rich—very rich.”
“And my honorable father says so, too,” said Ume.
“Oh, all foreign devils are,” declared Koto conclusively.
“Well, but Matsuda Isami says he is not,” said Azalea. “And Matsuda knows surely.”
“Matsuda is jealous,” said Koto. “He wants to be always the richest. The gods despise avarice.”
Azalea was fluttering her fan somewhat nervously. She regarded it thoughtfully, then closed it sharply.
“I am avaricious,” she said, with the point of her fan touching her pretty red underlip.
Her friends laughed at her, and she blushed.
“Yes,” she said, “I am avaricious. The gods will despise me truly. I adore money. I would like to have one hundred yen all to myself.”