* * * * *
On my way home I met Kishimoto San. Omitting details, I told him Zura
declined to come to my house for lessons.
"So! My granddaughter announced she will not? I shall give her a command
to obey."
I suggested that the girl needed time for adjustment and that he needed
much patience.
"Patience! With a girl?" he replied. "Ah. madam, you utter great demands
of my dignity! It is like requesting me to smile sweetly when grasping
the fruit of a chestnut tree which wears a prickly overcoat. But I thank
your great kindness for honoring my house and my family. _Sayonara_."
Deep thought held me fast as I passed through the cheerful, busy streets
and up the long flight of steps that led from the highway to my home. I
was too occupied mentally to pay much attention to Jane's unnumbered
questions regarding my visit. Anyhow, my association with Jane had led
me to discover she could talk for a very long while, and never get
anywhere, not even to an end.
That night she talked herself to sleep about girls and poetry and beaux,
which as far as I could see had nothing to do with the matter.
Had Jane been a mind reader, long ere the night had gone, she could have
found strange things in my brain.
Hours afterwards I sat on my balcony that overhung the soft lapping
waters below, still deeply thinking. Often at the end of the day's toil
I sought this retreat and refreshed my soul in the incomparable beauty
of the view.
In that hour the tender spirit of night folded me about. Out of the
mystery of the vast blue I heard faintly a new message, potent with
promise, charged with possibilities. The earth was wrapped in a robe of
gray, made of mist and illusion, and its every sound was hushed by the
lullaby of the night-wind. Dim, silent mountains clustered about the
silver waters, as great watchmen guarding a precious jewel.
Toward me across the moon-misted sea came a procession of ghostly
sails. Every ship seemed to bear troops of white-robed maidens and, as
they floated past, they gaily waved their hands to me, calling for
comradeship and understanding, a wide-open heart, freedom to love.