“No wonder, I thought you looked a city man.”
“Aha, he, he, he, it is all up with a fellow, Danna, when he comes down to this.”
“What made you to drift into a place like this?”
“You are right, Danna, it is drifted that I have done. I had gone down so low that I could not go lower, and had to say good-bye to Tokyo.”
“You ran a barber-shop from the beginning?”
“No, not ran, Danna, I am only a journeyman barber. There is a block named Matsunagacho, a dingy small place ... a gentleman like you don’t know it, of course. But Ryukan-bashi ... you don’t know that either, eh? It is a pretty well known bridge....”
“I say, give me little more soap, won’t you? It hurts.”
“It hurts? I am very particular about shaving, Danna. I never consider my work done, until I have gone over along and then gone over contrariwise, cutting each individual hair at the very root. No, what the latter-day barbers do is not shaving but letting the razor slide over the face. Bear it a bit more and you will be done.”
“Bear I have done, quite a while now. There is a good fellow, put some warm water, if not soap.”
“You can stand no longer? My shaving never hurts. The fact is, you have allowed your beard to grow too long without shaving.”