Part 40 (2/2)

”For the first parting it was too long,” said t.i.tine judicially.

”Every night madame cry; and then she write to monsieur and say, 'Come back.'” Monsieur write and say, 'Not yet.' Then madame break her heart and say, 'It is because of some woman that he stay away so long time!'

She say so to Tanaka; and Tanaka say, 'I go and detect, and come again and tell madame;' and madame say, 'Yes, Tanaka can go: I wish to know the truth!' And still more she cry and cry. This morning very early Tanaka came back with Mademoiselle Smith and mademoiselle _la cousine_. They all talk a long time with madame in bedroom. But they send me away. Then madame call me. She cry and cry. 't.i.tine,' she say, 'I go away. Monsieur do not love me now. I go to the j.a.panese house.

Pack all my things, t.i.tine.' I say, 'No, madame, never. I never go to that house of devils. How can madame tell the good confessor? How can madame go to the Holy Ma.s.s? Will madame leave her husband and go to these people who pray to stone beasts? Wait for monsieur!' I say, 'What Tanaka say, it is lies, all the time lies. What Mademoiselle Smith say all lies.' But madame say, 'No come with me, t.i.tine!' But I say again, 'Never!' And madame go away, crying all the time: and sixteen rickshaw all full of baggage. ”Oh, _monsieur le capitaine_, what shall I do?”

”I'm sure, I don't know,” said the helpless Geoffrey.

”Send me back to France, monsieur. This country is full of devils, devils and lies.”

He left her sobbing in the hall of the hotel with a cl.u.s.ter of _boy sans_ watching her.

Geoffrey took a taxi to the Fujinami house. No one answered his ringing; but he thought that he could hear voices inside the building.

So he strode in, unannounced, and with his boots on his feet, an unspeakable offence against j.a.panese etiquette.

He found Asako in a room which overlooked the garden where he had been received on former occasions. Her cousin Sadako was with her and Ito, the lawyer. To his surprise and disgust, his wife was dressed in the j.a.panese kimono and _obi_ which had once been so pleasing to his eyes.

Her change of nationality seemed to be already complete.

This was an Asako whom he had never known before. Her eyes were ringed with weeping, and her face was thin and haggard. But her expression had a new look of resolution. She was no longer a child, a doll. In the s.p.a.ce of a few hours she had grown to be a woman.

They were all standing. Sadako and the lawyer had formed up behind the runaway as though to give her moral support.

”Asako,” said Geoffrey sternly, ”what does this mean?”

The presence of the two j.a.panese exasperated him. His manner was tactless and unfortunate. His tall stature in the dainty room looked coa.r.s.e and brutal. Sadako and Ito were staring at his offending boots with an expression of utter horror. Geoffrey suddenly remembered that he ought to have taken them off.

”Oh, d.a.m.n,” he thought.

”Geoffrey,” said his wife, ”I can't come back. I am sorry. I have decided to stay here.”

”Why?” asked Geoffrey brusquely.

”Because I know that you do not love me. I think you never loved anything except my money.”

The hideous irony of this statement made poor Geoffrey gasp. He gripped the wooden framework of the room so as to steady himself.

”Good G.o.d!” he shouted. ”Your money! Do you know where it comes from?”

Asako stared at him, more and more bewildered.

”Send these people out of the room, and I'll tell you,” said Geoffrey.

”I would rather they stayed,” his wife answered.

It had been arranged beforehand that, if, Geoffrey called, Asako was not to be left alone with him. She had been made to believe that she was in danger of physical violence. She was terribly frightened.

”Very well,” Geoffrey blundered on, ”every penny you have is made out of prost.i.tution, out of the sale of women to men. You saw the Yos.h.i.+wara, you saw the poor women imprisoned there, you know that any drunken beast can come and pay his money down and say, 'I want that girl,' and she has to give herself up to be kissed and pulled about by him, even if she hates him and loathes him. Well, all this filthy Yos.h.i.+wara and all those poor girls and all that dirty money belongs to these Fujinami and to you. That is why they are so rich, and that is why we have been so rich. If we were in England, we could be flogged for this, and imprisoned, and serve us right too. And all this money is bad; and, if we keep it, we are worse than criminals; and neither of us can ever be happy, or look any one in the face again.”

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