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diff --git a/3994.txt b/3994.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ca5b282 --- /dev/null +++ b/3994.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1646 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Madame Chrysantheme by Pierre Loti, v4 +#81 in our series The French Immortals Crowned by the French Academy +#6 in our series by Pierre Loti + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before distributing this or any other +Project Gutenberg file. + +We encourage you to keep this file, exactly as it is, on your +own disk, thereby keeping an electronic path open for future +readers. Please do not remove this. + +This header should be the first thing seen when anyone starts to +view the etext. 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A feeling of +fear gains possession of me also. I have a rapid impression of some +great unknown danger, in this isolated spot, in this strange country of +which I do not even yet comprehend the inhabitants and the mysteries. +It must be something very frightful to hold her there, rooted to the +spot, half dead with fright, she who does comprehend all these things. + +It seems to be outside; it is coming from the garden; with trembling hand +she indicates to me that it will come through the veranda, over Madame +Prune's roof. Certainly, I hear faint noises, and they do approach us. + +I suggest to her + +"Neko-San?" ("It is Messieurs the cats?") + +"No!" she replies, still terrified, and in an alarmed tone. + +"Bakemono-Sama?" ("Is it my lords the ghosts?") I have already the +Japanese habit of expressing myself with excessive politeness. + +"No! 'Dorobo'!" ("Thieves!") + +Thieves! Ah! this is better; I much prefer this to a visit such as I +have just been dreading in the sudden awakening from sleep: from ghosts +or spirits of the dead; thieves, that is to say, worthy fellows very much +alive, and having, undoubtedly, inasmuch as they are Japanese thieves, +faces of the most meritorious oddity. I am not in the least frightened, +now that I know precisely what to expect, and we will immediately set to +work to ascertain the truth, for something is certainly moving on Madame +Prune's roof; some one is walking upon it. + +I open one of our wooden panels and look out. + +I can see only a vast expanse, calm, peaceful, and exquisite under the +full brilliance of the moonlight; sleeping Japan, lulled by the sonorous +song of the grasshoppers, is charming indeed to-night, and the free, pure +air is delicious. + +Chrysantheme, half hidden behind my shoulder, listens tremblingly, +peering forward to examine the gardens and the roofs with dilated eyes +like a frightened cat. No, nothing! not a thing moves. Here and there +are a few strangely substantial shadows, which at first glance were not +easy to explain, but which turn out to be real shadows, thrown by bits of +wall, by boughs of trees, and which preserve an extremely reassuring +stillness. Everything seems absolutely tranquil, and profound silence +reigns in the dreamy vagueness which moonlight sheds over all. + +Nothing; nothing to be seen anywhere. It was Messieurs the cats after +all, or perhaps my ladies the owls; sounds increase in volume in the most +amazing manner at night, in this house of ours. + +Let us close the panel again carefully, as a measure of prudence, and +then light a lantern and go downstairs to see whether there may be any +one hidden in corners, and whether the doors are tightly shut; in short, +to reassure Chrysantheme we will go the round of the house. + +Behold us, then, on tiptoe, searching together every hole and corner of +the house, which, to judge by its foundations, must be very ancient, +notwithstanding the fragile appearance of its panels of white paper. It +contains the blackest of cavities, little vaulted cellars with worm-eaten +beams; cupboards for rice which smell of mould and decay; mysterious +hollows where lies accumulated the dust of centuries. In the middle of +the night, and during a hunt for thieves, this part of the house, as yet +unknown to me, has an ugly look. + +Noiselessly we step across the apartment of our landlord and landlady. +Chrysantheme drags me by the hand, and I allow myself to be led. There +they are, sleeping in a row under their blue gauze tent, lighted by the +night-lamps burning before the altars of their ancestors. Ha! I observe +that they are arranged in an order which might give rise to gossip. +First comes Mademoiselle Oyouki, very taking in her attitude of rest! +Then Madame Prune, who sleeps with her mouth wide open, showing her rows +of blackened teeth; from her throat arises an intermittent sound like the +grunting of a sow. Oh! poor Madame Prune! how hideous she is!! Next, +M. Sucre, a mere mummy for the time being. And finally, at his side, +last of the row, is their servant, Mademoiselle Dede! + +The gauze hanging over them throws reflections as of the sea upon them; +one might suppose them victims drowned in an aquarium. And withal the +sacred lamps, the altar crowded with strange Shintoist symbols, give a +mock religious air to this family tableau. + +'Honi soit qui mal y pense', but why is not that maidservant rather laid +by the side of her mistresses? Now, when we on the floor above offer our +hospitality to Yves, we are careful to place ourselves under our +mosquito-net in a more correct style! + +One corner, which as a last resort we inspect, inspires me with a certain +amount of apprehension. It is a low, mysterious loft, against the door +of which is stuck, as a thing no longer wanted, a very old, pious image +Kwanon with the thousand arms, and Kwanon with the horses' head, seated +among clouds and flames, both horrible to behold with their spectral +grins. + +We open the door, and Chrysantheme starts back uttering a fearful cry. I +should have thought the robbers were there, had I not seen a little gray +creature, rapid and noiseless, rush by her and disappear; a young rat +that had been eating rice on the top of a shelf, and, in its alarm, had +dashed in her face. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII + +UNUSUAL HOSPITALITY + +September 16th. + +Yves has let fall his silver whistle in the ocean, the whistle so +absolutely indispensable for the manoeuvres; and we search the town all +day long, followed by Chrysantheme and Mesdemoiselles La Neige and La +Lune, her sisters, in the endeavor to find another. + +It is, however, very difficult to find such a thing in Nagasaki; above +all, very difficult to explain in Japanese what is a sailor's whistle of +the traditional shape, curved, and with a little ball at the end to +modulate the trills and the various sounds of official orders. For three +hours we are sent from shop to shop; at each one they pretend to +understand perfectly what is wanted and trace on tissue-paper, with a +paint-brush, the addresses of the shops where we shall without fail meet +with what we require. Away we go, full of hope, only to encounter some +fresh mystification, till our breathless djins get quite bewildered. + +They understand admirably that we want a thing that will make a noise, +music, in short; thereupon they offer us instruments of every, and of the +most unexpected, shape--squeakers for Punch-and-Judy voices, dog- +whistles, trumpets. Each time it is something more and more absurd, so +that at last we are overcome with uncontrollable fits of laughter. Last +of all, an aged Japanese optician, who assumes a most knowing air, a look +of sublime wisdom, goes off to forage in his back shop, and brings to +light a steam fog-horn, a relict from some wrecked steamer. + +After dinner, the chief event of the evening is a deluge of rain, which +takes us by surprise as we leave the teahouses, on our return from our +fashionable stroll. It so happened that we were a large party, having +with us several mousme guests, and from the moment that the rain began to +fall from the skies, as if out of a watering-pot turned upside down, the +band became disorganized. The mousmes run off, with bird-like cries, and +take refuge under doorways, in the shops, under the hoods of the djins. + +Then, before long--when the shops shut up in haste, when the emptied +streets are flooded, and almost black, and the paper lanterns, piteous +objects, wet through and extinguished--I find myself, I know not how it +happens, flattened against a wall, under the projecting eaves, alone in +the company of Mademoiselle Fraise, my cousin, who is crying bitterly +because her fine robe is wet through. And in the noise of the rain, +which is still falling, and splashing everything with the spouts and +gutters, which in the darkness plaintively murmur like running streams, +the town appears to me suddenly an abode of the gloomiest sadness. + +The shower is soon over, and the mousmes come out of their holes like so +many mice; they look for one another, call one another, and their little +voices take the singular, melancholy, dragging inflections they assume +whenever they have to call from afar. + +"Hi! Mademoiselle Lu-u-u-u-une!" + +"Hi! Madame Jonqui-i-i-i-ille!" + +They shout from one to another their outlandish names, prolonging them +indefinitely in the now silent night, in the reverberations of the damp +air after the great summer rain. + +At length they are all collected and united again, these tiny personages +with narrow eyes and no brains, and we return to Diou-djen-dji all wet +through. + +For the third time, we have Yves sleeping beside us under our blue tent. + +There is a great noise shortly after midnight in the apartment beneath +us: our landlord's family have returned from a pilgrimage to a far- +distant temple of the Goddess of Grace. (Although Madame Prune is a +Shintoist, she reveres this deity, who, scandal says, watched over her +youth.) A moment after, Mademoiselle Oyouki bursts into our room like a +rocket, bringing, on a charming little tray, sweetmeats which have been +blessed and bought at the gates of the temple yonder, on purpose for us, +and which we must positively eat at once, before the virtue is gone out +of them. Hardly rousing ourselves, we absorb these little edibles +flavored with sugar and pepper, and return a great many sleepy thanks. + +Yves sleeps quietly on this occasion, without dealing any blows to the +floor or the panels with either fists or feet. He has hung his watch on +one of the hands of our gilded idol in order to be more sure of seeing +the hour at any time of the night, by the light of the sacred lamps. He +gets up betimes in the morning, asking: "Well, did I behave properly?" +and dresses in haste, preoccupied about duty and the roll-call. + +Outside, no doubt, it is daylight already: through the tiny holes which +time has pierced in our wooden panels, threads of morning light penetrate +our chamber, and in the atmosphere of our room where night still lingers, +they trace vague white rays. Soon, when the sun shall have risen, these +rays will lengthen and become beautifully golden. The cocks and the +cicalas make themselves heard, and now Madame Prune will begin her mystic +drone. + +Nevertheless, out of politeness for Yves-San, Chrysantheme lights a +lantern and escorts him to the foot of the dark staircase. I even fancy +that, on parting, I hear a kiss exchanged. In Japan this is of no +consequence, I know; it is very usual, and quite admissible; no matter +where one goes, in houses one enters for the first time, one is quite at +liberty to kiss any mousme who may be present, without any notice being +taken of it. But with regard to Chrysantheme, Yves is in a delicate +position, and he ought to understand it better. I begin to feel uneasy +about the hours they have so often spent together alone; and I make up my +mind that this very day I will not play the spy upon them, but speak +frankly to Yves, and make a clean breast of it. + +Suddenly from below, clac! clac! two dry hands are clapped together; it +is Madame Prune's warning to the Great Spirit. And immediately after her +prayer breaks forth, soars upward in a shrill nasal falsetto, like a +morning alarum when the hour for waking has come, the mechanical noise of +a spring let go and running down. + +".....The richest woman in the world! Cleansed from all my sins, +O Ama-Terace-Omi-Kami! in the river of Kamo." + +And this extraordinary bleating, hardly human, scatters and changes my +ideas, which were very nearly clear at the moment I awoke. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX + +RUMORS OF DEPARTURE + +September 15th. + +Rumor of departure is in the air. Since yesterday there has been vague +talk of our being sent to China, to the Gulf of Pekin; one of those +rumors which spread, no one knows how, from one end of the ship to the +other, two or three days before the official orders arrive, and which +usually turn out tolerably correct. What will the last act of my little +Japanese comedy be? the denouement, the separation? Will there be any +touch of sadness on the part of my mousme, or on my own, just a +tightening of the heartstrings at the moment of our final farewell? +At this moment I can imagine nothing of the sort. And then the adieus +of Yves and Chrysantheme, what will they be? This question preoccupies +me more than all. + +Nothing very definite has been learned as yet, but it is certain that, +one way or another, our stay in Japan is drawing to a close. It is this, +perhaps, which disposes me this evening to look more kindly on my +surroundings. It is about six o'clock, after a day spent on duty, when +I reach Diou-djen-dji. The evening sun, low in the sky, on the point of +setting, pours into my room, and floods it with rays of red gold, +lighting up the Buddhas and the great sheaves of quaintly arranged +flowers in the antique vases. Here are assembled five or six little +dolls, my neighbors, amusing themselves by dancing to the sound of +Chrysantheme's guitar. And this evening I experienced a real charm in +feeling that this dwelling and the woman who leads the dance are mine. +On the whole, I have perhaps been unjust to this country; it seems to me +that my eyes are at last opened to see it in its true light, that all my +senses are undergoing a strange and abrupt transition. I suddenly have a +better perception and appreciation of all the infinity of dainty trifles +among which I live; of the fragile and studied grace of their forms, the +oddity of their drawings, the refined choice of their colors. + +I stretch myself upon the white mats; Chrysantheme, always eagerly +attentive, brings me my pillow of serpent's-skin; and the smiling +mousmes, with the interrupted rhythm of a while ago still running in +their heads, move around me with measured steps. + +Their immaculate socks with the separate great toes make no noise; +nothing is heard, as they glide by, but a 'froufrou' of silken stuffs. +I find them all pleasant to look upon; their dollish air pleases me now, +and I fancy I have discovered what it is that gives it to them: it is not +only their round, inexpressive faces with eyebrows far removed from the +eyelids, but the excessive amplitude of their dress. With those huge +sleeves, it might be supposed they have neither back nor shoulders; their +delicate figures are lost in these wide robes, which float around what +might be little marionettes without bodies at all, and which would slip +to the ground of themselves were they not kept together midway, about +where a waist should be, by the wide silken sashes--a very different +comprehension of the art of dressing to ours, which endeavors as much as +possible to bring into relief the curves, real or false, of the figure. + +And then, how much I admire the flowers in our vases, arranged by +Chrysantheme, with her Japanese taste, lotus-flowers, great, sacred +flowers of a tender, veined rose color, the milky rose-tint seen on +porcelain; they resemble, when in full bloom, great water-lilies, and +when only in bud might be taken for long pale tulips. Their soft but +rather cloying scent is added to that other indefinable odor of mousmes, +of yellow race, of Japan, which is always and everywhere in the air. +The late flowers of September, at this season very rare and expensive, +grow on longer stems than the summer blooms; Chrysantheme has left them +in their large aquatic leaves of a melancholy seaweed-green, and mingled +with them tall, slight rushes. I look at them, and recall with some +irony those great round bunches in the shape of cauliflowers, which our +florists sell in France, wrapped in white lace-paper! + +Still no letters from Europe, from any one. How things change, become +effaced and forgotten! Here am I, accommodating myself to this finical +Japan and dwindling down to its affected mannerism; I feel that my +thoughts run in smaller grooves, my tastes incline to smaller things-- +things which suggest nothing greater than a smile. I am becoming used to +tiny and ingenious furniture, to doll-like desks, to miniature bowls with +which to play at dinner, to the immaculate monotony of the mats, to the +finely finished simplicity of the white woodwork. I am even losing my +Western prejudices; all my preconceived ideas are this evening +evaporating and vanishing; crossing the garden I have courteously saluted +M. Sucre, who was watering his dwarf shrubs and his deformed flowers; and +Madame Prune appears to me a highly respectable old lady, in whose past +there is nothing to criticise. + +We shall take no walk to-night; my only wish is to remain stretched out +where I am, listening to the music of my mousme's 'chamecen'. + +Till now I have always used the word guitar, to avoid exotic terms, for +the abuse of which I have been so reproached. But neither the word +guitar nor mandolin suffices to designate this slender instrument with +its long neck, the high notes of which are shriller than the voice of the +grasshopper; and henceforth, I will write 'chamecen'. + +I will also call my mousme Kikou, Kikou-San; this name suits her better +than Chrysantheme, which, though translating the sense exactly, does not +preserve the strange-sounding euphony of the original. + +I therefore say to Kikou, my wife: + +"Play, play on for me; I shall remain here all the evening and listen to +you." + +Astonished to find me in so amiable a mood, she requires pressing a +little, and with almost a bitter curve of triumph and disdain upon her +lips, she seats herself in the attitude of an idol, raises her long, +dark-colored sleeves, and begins. The first hesitating notes are +murmured faintly and mingle with the music of the insects humming +outside, in the quiet air of the warm and golden twilight. First she +plays slowly, a confused medley of fragments which she does not seem to +remember perfectly, of which one waits for the finish and waits in vain; +while the other girls giggle, inattentive, and regretful of their +interrupted dance. She herself is absent, sulky, as if she were only +performing a duty. + +Then by degrees, little by little, the music becomes more animated, and +the mousmes begin to listen. Now, tremblingly, it grows into a feverish +rapidity, and her gaze has no longer the vacant stare of a doll. Then +the music changes again; in it there is the sighing of the wind, the +hideous laughter of ghouls; tears, heartrending plaints, and her dilated +pupils seem to be directed inwardly in settled gaze on some indescribable +Japanesery within her own soul. + +I listen, lying there with eyes half shut, looking out between my +drooping eyelids, which are gradually lowering, in involuntary heaviness, +upon the enormous red sun dying away over Nagasaki. I have a somewhat +melancholy feeling that my past life and all other places in the world +are receding from my view and fading away. At this moment of nightfall +I feel almost at home in this corner of Japan, amidst the gardens of this +suburb. I never have had such an impression before. + + + + +CHAPTER L + +A DOLLS' DUET + +September 16th. + +Seven o'clock in the evening. We shall not go down into Nagasaki +tonight; but, like good Japanese citizens, remain in our lofty suburb. + +In undress uniform we shall go, Yves and I, in a neighborly way, as far +as the fencing-gallery, which is only two steps away, just above our +villa, and almost abutting on our fresh and scented garden. + +The gallery is closed already, and a little mousko, seated at the door, +explains, with many low bows, that we come too late, all the amateurs are +gone; we must come again tomorrow. + +The evening is so mild and fine that we remain out of doors, following, +without any definite purpose, the pathway which rises ever higher and +higher, and loses itself at length in the solitary regions of the +mountain among the upper peaks. + +For an hour at least we wander on--an unintended walk--and finally find +ourselves at a great height commanding an endless perspective lighted by +the last gleams of daylight; we are in a desolate and mournful spot, in +the midst of the little Buddhist cemeteries, which are scattered over the +country in every direction. + +We meet a few belated laborers, who are returning from the fields with +bundles of tea upon their shoulders. These peasants have a half-savage +air. They are half naked, too, or clothed only in long robes of blue +cotton; as they pass, they salute us with humble bows. + +No trees in this elevated region. Fields of tea alternate with tombs: +old granite statues which represent Buddha in his lotus, or else old +monumental stones on which gleam remains of inscriptions in golden +letters. Rocks, brushwood, uncultivated spaces, surround us on all +sides. + +We meet no more passers-by, and the light is failing. We will halt for a +moment, and then it will be time to turn our steps homeward. + +But, close to the spot where we stand, a box of white wood provided with +handles, a sort of sedan-chair, rests on the freshly disturbed earth, +with its lotus of silvered paper, and the little incense-sticks, burning +yet, by its side; clearly some one has been buried here this very +evening. + +I can not picture this personage to myself; the Japanese are so grotesque +in life that it is almost impossible to imagine them in the calm majesty +of death. Nevertheless, let us move farther on, we might disturb him; he +is too recently dead, his presence unnerves us. We will go and seat +ourselves on one of these other tombs, so unutterably ancient that there +can no longer be anything within it but dust. And there, seated in the +dying sunlight, while the valleys and plains of the earth below are +already lost in shadow, we will talk together. + +I wish to speak to Yves about Chrysantheme; it is indeed somewhat in view +of this that I have persuaded him to sit down; but how to set about it +without hurting his feelings, and without making myself ridiculous, +I hardly know. However, the pure air playing round me up here, and the +magnificent landscape spread beneath my feet, impart a certain serenity +to my thoughts which makes me feel a contemptuous pity, both for my +suspicions and the cause of them. + +We speak, first of all, of the order for departure, which may arrive at +any moment, for China or for France. Soon we shall have to leave this +easy and almost amusing life, this Japanese suburb where chance has +installed us, and our little house buried among flowers. Yves perhaps +will regret all this more than I. I know that well enough; for it is the +first time that any such interlude has broken the rude monotony of his +hard-worked career. Formerly, when in an inferior rank, he was hardly +more often on shore, in foreign countries, than the sea-gulls themselves; +while I, from the very beginning, have been spoiled by residence in all +sorts of charming spots, infinitely superior to this, in all sorts of +countries, and the remembrance still haunts me pleasurably. + +In order to discover how the land lies, I risk the remark: + +"You will perhaps be more sorry to leave little Chrysantheme than I." + +Silence reigns between us. + +After which I go on, and, burning my ships, I add: + +"You know, after all, if you have such a fancy for her, I haven't really +married her; one can't really consider her my wife." + +In great surprise he looks in my face. + +"Not your wife, you say? But, by Jove, though, that's just it; she is +your wife." + +There is no need of many words at any time between us two; I know exactly +now, by his tone, by his great good-humored smile, how the case stands; +I understand all that lies in the little phrase: "That's just it, she is +your wife." If she were not, well, then, he could not answer for what +might happen--notwithstanding any remorse he might have in the depths of +his heart, since he is no longer a bachelor and free as air, as in former +days. But he considers her my wife, and she is sacred. I have the +fullest faith in his word, and I experience a positive relief, a real +joy, at finding my stanch Yves of bygone days. How could I have so +succumbed to the demeaning influence of my surroundings as to suspect him +even, and to invent for myself such a mean, petty anxiety? + +We never shall even mention that doll again. + +We remain up there very late, talking of other things, gazing at the +immense depths below, at the valleys and mountains as they become, one by +one, indistinct and lost in the deepening darkness. Placed as we are at +an enormous height, in the wide, free atmosphere, we seem already to have +quitted this miniature country, already to be freed from the impression +of littleness which it has given us, and from the little links by which +it was beginning to bind--us to itself. + +Seen from such heights as these, all the countries of the globe bear a +strong resemblance to one another; they lose the imprint made upon them +by man, and by races; by all the atoms swarming on the surface. + +As of old, in the Breton marshes, in the woods of Toulven, or at sea in +the night-watches, we talk of all those things to which thoughts +naturally revert in darkness; of ghosts, of spirits, of eternity, of the +great hereafter, of chaos--and we entirely forget little Chrysantheme! + +When we arrive at Diou-djen-dji in the starry night, the music of her +'chamecen', heard from afar, recalls to us her existence; she is studying +some vocal duet with Mademoiselle Oyouki, her pupil. + +I feel myself in very good humor this evening, and, relieved from my +absurd suspicions about my poor Yves, am quite disposed to enjoy without +reserve my last days in Japan, and to derive therefrom all the amusement +possible. + +Let us then repose ourselves on the dazzling white mats, and listen to +the singular duet sung by those two mousmes: a strange musical medley, +slow and mournful, beginning with two or three high notes, and descending +at each couplet, in an almost imperceptible manner, into actual +solemnity. The song keeps its dragging slowness; but the accompaniment, +becoming more and more accentuated, is like the impetuous sound of a far- +off hurricane. At the end, when these girlish voices, usually so soft, +give out their hoarse and guttural notes, Chrysantheme's hands fly wildly +and convulsively over the quivering strings. Both of them lower their +heads, pout their underlips in the effort to bring out these +astonishingly deep notes. And at these moments their little narrow eyes +open, and seem to reveal an unexpected something, almost a soul, under +these trappings of marionettes. + +But it is a soul which more than ever appears to me of a different +species from my own; I feel my thoughts to be as far removed from theirs +as from the flitting conceptions of a bird, or the dreams of a monkey; I +feel there is between them and myself a great gulf, mysterious and awful. + +Other sounds of music, wafted to us from the distance, interrupt for a +moment those of our mousmes. From the depths below, in Nagasaki, arises +a sudden noise of gongs and guitars; we rush to the balcony of the +veranda to hear it better. + +It is a 'matsouri', a fete, a procession passing through the quarter +which is not so virtuous as our own, so our mousmes tell us, with a +disdainful toss of the head. Nevertheless, from the heights on which we +dwell, seen thus in a bird's-eye view, by the uncertain light of the +stars, this district has a singularly chaste air, and the concert going +on therein, purified in its ascent from the depths of the abyss to our +lofty altitudes, reaches us confusedly, a smothered, enchanted, +enchanting sound. + +Then it diminishes, and dies away into silence. + +The two little friends return to their seats on the mats, and once more +take up their melancholy duet. An orchestra, discreetly subdued but +innumerable, of crickets and cicalas, accompanies them in an unceasing +tremolo--the immense, far-reaching tremolo, which, gentle and eternal, +never ceases in Japan. + + + + +CHAPTER LI + +THE LAST DAY + +September 17th + +At the hour of siesta, a peremptory order arrives to start tomorrow for +China, for Tche-fou (a terrible place, in the gulf of Pekin). Yves comes +to wake me in my cabin to bring me the news. + +"I must positively get leave to go on shore this evening," he says, while +I endeavor to shake myself awake, "if it is only to help you to dismantle +and pack up." + +He gazes through my port-hole, raising his glance toward the green +summits, in the direction of Diou-djen-dji and our echoing old cottage, +hidden from us by a turn of the mountain. + +It is very nice of him to wish to help me in my packing; but I think he +counts also upon saying farewell to his little Japanese friends up there, +and I really can not find fault with that. + +He finishes his work, and does in fact obtain leave, without help from +me, to go on shore at five o'clock, after drill and manoeuvres. + +As for myself I start at once, in a hired sampan. In the vast flood of +midday sunshine, to the quivering noise of the cicalas, I mount to Diou- +djen-dji. + +The paths are solitary, the plants are drooping in the heat. Here, +however, is Madame Jonquille, taking the air in the bright, grasshoppers' +sunshine, sheltering her dainty figure and her charming face under an +enormous paper parasol, a huge circle, closely ribbed and fantastically +striped. + +She recognizes me from afar, and, laughing as usual, runs to meet me. + +I announce our departure, and a tearful pout suddenly contracts her +childish face. After all, does this news grieve her? Is she about to +shed tears over it? No! it turns to a fit of laughter, a little nervous +perhaps, but unexpected and disconcerting--dry and clear, pealing through +the silence and warmth of the narrow paths, like a cascade of little mock +pearls. + +Ah, there indeed is a marriage-tie which will be broken without much +pain! But she fills me with impatience, poor empty-headed linnet, with +her laughter, and I turn my back upon her to continue my journey. + +Above-stairs, Chrysantheme sleeps, stretched out on the floor; the house +is wide open, and the soft mountain breeze rustles gently through it. + +That same evening we had intended to give a tea-party, and by my orders +flowers had already been placed in every nook and corner of the house. +There were lotus in our vases, beautifully colored lotus, the last of the +season, I verily believe. They must have been ordered from a special +gardener, out yonder near the Great Temple, and they will cost me dear. + +With a few gentle taps of a fan I awake my surprised mousme; and, curious +to catch her first impressions, I announce my departure. She starts up, +rubs her eyelids with the backs of her little hands, looks at me, and +hangs her head: something like an expression of sadness passes in her +eyes. + +This little sinking at the heart is for Yves, no doubt! + +The news spreads through the house. + +Mademoiselle Oyouki dashes upstairs, with half a tear in each of her +babyish eyes; kisses me with her full red lips, which always leave a wet +ring on my cheek; then quickly draws from her wide sleeve a square of +tissue-paper, wipes away her stealthy tears, blows her little nose, rolls +the bit of paper in a ball, and throws it into the street on the parasol +of a passer-by. + +Then Madame Prune makes her appearance; in an agitated and discomposed +manner she successively adopts every attitude expressive of dismay. What +on earth is the matter with the old lady, and why does she keep getting +closer and closer to me, till she is almost in my way? + +It is wonderful to think of all that I still have to do this last day, +and the endless drives I have to make to the old curiosity-shops, to my +tradespeople, and to the packers. + +Nevertheless, before my rooms are dismantled, I intend making a sketch of +them, as I did formerly at Stamboul. It really seems to me as if all I +do here is a bitter parody of all I did over there. + +This time, however, it is not that I care for this dwelling; it is only +because it is pretty and uncommon, and the sketch will be an interesting +souvenir. + +I fetch, therefore, a leaf out of my album, and begin at once, seated on +the floor and leaning on my desk, ornamented with grasshoppers in relief, +while behind me, very, very close to me, the three women follow the +movements of my pencil with astonished attention. Japanese art being +entirely conventional, they have never before seen any one draw from +nature, and my style delights them. I may not perhaps possess the steady +and nimble touch of M. Sucre, as he groups his charming storks, but I am +master of a few notions of perspective which are wanting in him; and I +have been taught to draw things as I see them, without giving them an +ingeniously distorted and grimacing attitudes; and the three Japanese are +amazed at the air of reality displayed in my sketch. + +With little shrieks of admiration, they point out to one another the +different things, as little by little their shape and form are outlined +in black on my paper. Chrysantheme gazes at me with a new kind of +interest "Anata itchiban!" she says (literally "Thou first!" meaning: +"You are really quite wonderful!") + +Mademoiselle Oyouki is carried away by her admiration, and exclaims, in a +burst of enthusiasm: + +"Anata bakari!" ("Thou alone!" that is to say: "There is no one like you +in the world, all the rest are mere rubbish!") + +Madame Prune says nothing, but I can see that she does not think the +less; her languishing attitudes, her hand that at each moment gently +touches mine, confirm the suspicions that her look of dismay a few +moments ago awoke within me: evidently my physical charms speak to her +imagination, which in spite of years has remained full of romance! +I shall leave with the regret of having understood her too late! + +Although the ladies are satisfied with my sketch, I am far from being so. +I have put everything in its place most exactly, but as a whole, it has +an ordinary, indifferent, French look which does not suit. The sentiment +is not given, and I almost wonder whether I should not have done better +to falsify the perspective--Japanese style--exaggerating to the very +utmost the already abnormal outlines of what I see before me. And then +the pictured dwelling lacks the fragile look and its sonority, that +reminds one of a dry violin. In the pencilled delineation of the +woodwork, the minute delicacy with which it is wrought is wanting; +neither have I been able to give an idea of the extreme antiquity, the +perfect cleanliness, nor the vibrating song of the cicalas that seems to +have been stored away within it, in its parched-up fibres, during +hundreds of summers. It does not convey, either, the impression this +place gives of being in a far-off suburb, perched aloft among trees, +above the drollest of towns. No, all this can not be drawn, can not be +expressed, but remains undemonstrable, indefinable. + +Having sent out our invitations, we shall, in spite of everything, give +our tea-party this evening--a parting tea, therefore, in which we shall +display as much pomp as possible. It is, moreover, rather my custom to +wind up my exotic experiences with a fete; in other countries I have done +the same. + +Besides our usual set, we shall have my mother-in-law, my relatives, and +all the mousmes of the neighborhood. But, by an extra Japanese +refinement, we shall not admit a single European friend--not even the +"amazingly tall" one. Yves alone shall be admitted, and even he shall be +hidden away in a corner behind some flowers and works of art. + +In the last glimmer of twilight, by the light of the first twinkling +star, the ladies, with many charming curtseys, make their appearance. +Our house is soon full of the little crouching women, with their tiny +slit eyes vaguely smiling; their beautifully dressed hair shining like +polished ebony; their fragile bodies lost in the many folds of the +exaggerated, wide garments, that gape as if ready to drop from their +little tapering backs and reveal the exquisite napes of their little +necks. + +Chrysantheme, with somewhat a melancholy air, and my mother-in-law, +Madame Renoncule, with many affected graces busy themselves in the midst +of the different groups, where ere long the miniature pipes are lighted. +Soon there arises a murmuring sound of discreet laughter, expressing +nothing, but having a pretty exotic ring about it, and then begins a +harmony of tap! tap! tap!--sharp, rapid taps against the edges of the +finely lacquered smoking-boxes. Pickled and spiced fruits are handed +round on trays of quaint and varied shapes. Then transparent china +teacups, no larger than half an egg-shell, make their appearance, and the +ladies are offered a few drops of sugarless tea, poured out of toy +kettles, or a sip of 'saki'--(a spirit made from rice which it is the +custom to serve hot, in elegantly shaped vases, long-necked like a +heron's throat). + +Several mousmes execute, one after another, improvisations on the +'chamecen'. Others sing in sharp, high voices, hopping about +continually, like cicalas in delirium. + +Madame Prune, no longer able to make a mystery of the long-pent up +feelings that agitate her, pays me the most marked and tender attentions, +and begs my acceptance of a quantity of little souvenirs: an image, +a little vase, a little porcelain goddess of the moon in Satsuma ware, +a marvellously grotesque ivory figure;--I tremblingly follow her into +the dark corners whither she calls me to give me these presents in tete- +a-tete. + +About nine o'clock, with a silken rustling, arrive the three geishas in +vogue in Nagasaki: Mesdemoiselles Purete, Orange, and Printemps, whom I +have hired at four dollars each--an enormous price in this country. + +These three geishas are indeed the very same little creatures I heard +singing on the rainy day of my arrival, through the thin panelling of the +Garden of Flowers. But as I have now become thoroughly Japanized, today +they appear to me more diminutive, less outlandish, and in no way +mysterious. I treat them rather as dancers that I have hired, and the +idea that I ever had thought of marrying one of them now makes me shrug +my shoulders--as it formerly made M. Kangourou. + +The excessive heat caused by the respiration of the mousmes and the +burning lamps, brings out the perfume of the lotus, which fills the +heavy-laden atmosphere; and the scent of camellia-oil, which the ladies +use in profusion to make their hair glisten, is also strong in the room. + +Mademoiselle Orange, the youngest geisha, tiny and dainty, her lips +outlined with gilt paint, executes some delightful steps, donning the +most extraordinary wigs and masks of wood or cardboard. She has masks +imitating old, noble ladies which are valuable works of art, signed by +well-known artists. She has also magnificent long robes, fashioned in +the old style, with trains trimmed at the bottom with thick pads, in +order to give to the movements of the costume something rigid and +unnatural which, however, is becoming. + +Now the soft balmy breezes blow through the room, from one veranda to the +other, making the flames of the lamps flicker. They scatter the lotus +flowers faded by the artificial heat, which, falling in pieces from every +vase, sprinkle the guests with their pollen and large pink petals, +looking like bits of broken, opal-colored glass. + +The sensational piece, reserved for the end, is a trio on the 'chamecen', +long and monotonous, that the geishas perform as a rapid pizzicato on the +highest strings, very sharply struck. It sounds like the very +quintessence, the paraphrase, the exasperation, if I may so call it, +of the eternal buzz of insects, which issues from the trees, old roofs, +old walls, from everything in fact, and which is the foundation of all +Japanese sounds. + +Half-past ten! The programme has been carried out, and the reception is +over. A last general tap! tap! tap! the little pipes are stowed away in +their chased sheaths, tied up in the sashes, and the mousmes rise to +depart. + +They light, at the end of short sticks, a quantity of red, gray, or blue +lanterns, and after a series of endless bows and curtseys, the guests +disperse in the darkness of the lanes and trees. + +We also go down to the town, Yves, Chrysantheme, Oyouki and I--in order +to conduct my mother-in-law, sisters-in-law, and my youthful aunt, Madame +Nenufar, to their house. + +We wish to take one last stroll together in our old familiar pleasure- +haunts, to drink one more iced sherbet at the house of the Indescribable +Butterflies, buy one more lantern at Madame Tres-Propre's, and eat some +parting waffles at Madame L'Heure's! + +I try to be affected, moved, by this leave-taking, but without success. +In regard to Japan, as with the little men and women who inhabit it, +there is something decidedly wanting; pleasant enough as a mere pastime, +it begets no feeling of attachment. + +On our return, when I am once more with Yves and the two mousmes climbing +up the road to Diou-djen-dji, which I shall probably never see again, a +vague feeling of melancholy pervades my last stroll. + +It is, however, but the melancholy inseparable from all things that are +about to end without possibility of return. + +Moreover, this calm and splendid summer is also drawing to a close for +us--since to-morrow we shall go forth to meet the autumn, in Northern +China. I am beginning, alas! to count the youthful summers I may still +hope for; I feel more gloomy each time another fades away, and flies to +rejoin the others already disappeared in the dark and bottomless abyss, +where all past things lie buried. + +At midnight we return home, and my removal begins; while on board the +"amazingly tall friend" kindly takes my watch. + +It is a nocturnal, rapid, stealthy removal--"doyobo (thieves) fashion," +remarks Yves, who in visiting the mousmes has picked up a smattering of +the Nipponese language. + +Messieurs the packers have, at my request, sent in the evening several +charming little boxes, with compartments and false bottoms, and several +paper bags (in the untearable Japanese paper), which close of themselves +and are fastened by strings, also in paper, arranged beforehand in the +most ingenious manner--quite the cleverest and most handy thing of its +kind; for little useful trifles these people are unrivalled. + +It is a real treat to pack them, and everybody lends a helping hand-- +Yves, Chrysantheme, Madame Prune, her daughter, and M. Sucre. By the +glimmer of the reception-lamps, which are still burning, every one wraps, +rolls, and ties up expeditiously, for it is already late. + +Although Oyouki has a heavy heart, she can not prevent herself from +indulging in a few bursts of childish laughter while she works. + +Madame Prune, bathed in tears, no longer restrains her feelings; poor old +lady, I really very much regret . . . . + +Chrysantheme is absent-minded and silent. + +But what a fearful amount of luggage! Eighteen cases or parcels, +containing Buddhas, chimeras, and vases, without mentioning the last +lotus that I carry away tied up in a pink cluster. + +All this is piled up in the djins' carts, hired at sunset, which are +waiting at the door, while their runners lie asleep on the grass. + +A starlit and exquisite night. We start off with lighted lanterns, +followed by the three sorrowful ladies who accompany us, and by abrupt +slopes, dangerous in the darkness, we descend toward the sea. + +The djins, stiffening their muscular legs, hold back with all their might +the heavily loaded little cars which would run down by themselves if let +alone, and that so rapidly that they would rush into empty space with my +most valuable chattels. Chrysantheme walks by my side, and expresses, in +a soft and winning manner, her regret that the "wonderfully tall friend" +did not offer to replace me for the whole of my night-watch, as that +would have allowed me to spend this last night, even till morning, under +our roof. + +"Listen!" she says, "come back to-morrow in the daytime, before getting +under way, to bid one good-by; I shall not return to my mother until +evening; you will find me still up there." + +And I promise. + +They stop at a certain turn, whence we have a bird's-eye view of the +whole harbor. The black, stagnant waters reflect innumerable distant +fires, and the ships--tiny, immovable objects, which, seen from our point +of view, take the shape of fish, seem also to slumber,--little objects +which serve to bear us elsewhere, to go far away, and to forget. + +The three ladies are about to turn back home, for the night is already +far advanced and, farther down, the cosmopolitan quarters near the quays +are not safe at this unusual hour. + +The moment has therefore come for Yves--who will not land again--to make +his last tragic farewells to his friends the little mousmes. + +I am very curious to see the parting between Yves and Chrysantheme; +I listen with all my ears, I look with all my eyes, but it takes place in +the simplest and quietest fashion: none of that heartbreaking which will +be inevitable between Madame Prune and myself; I even notice in my mousme +an indifference, an unconcern which puzzles me; I positively am at a loss +to understand what it all means. + +And I muse as I continue to descend toward the sea. "Her appearance of +sadness was not, therefore, on Yves's account. On whose, then?" and the +phrase runs through my head: + +"Come back to-morrow before setting sail, to bid me goodby; I shall not +return to my mother until evening; you will find me still up there." + +Japan is indeed most delightful this evening, so fresh and so sweet; and +little Chrysantheme was very charming just now, as she silently walked +beside me through the darkness of the lane. + +It is about two o'clock when we reach the 'Triomphante' in a hired +sampan, where I have heaped up all my cases till there is danger of +sinking. The "very tall friend" gives over to me the watch that I must +keep till four o'clock; and the sailors on duty, but half awake, make a +chain in the darkness, to haul on board all my fragile luggage. + + + + +CHAPTER LII + +"FAREWELL!" + +September 18th. + +I intended to sleep late this morning, in order to make up for my lost +sleep of last night. + +But at eight o'clock three persons of the most extraordinary appearance, +led by M. Kangourou, present themselves with profound bows at the door of +my cabin. They are arrayed in long robes bedizened with dark patterns; +they have the flowing locks, high foreheads, and pallid countenances of +persons too exclusively devoted to the fine arts; and, perched on the top +of their coiffures, they wear sailor hats of English shape tipped +jauntily on one side. Tucked under their arms, they carry portfolios +filled with sketches; in their hands are boxes of water-colors, pencils, +and, bound together like fasces, a bundle of fine stylets with the sharp +and glittering points. + +At the first glance, even in the bewilderment of waking up, I gather from +their appearance what their errand is, and guessing with what visitors I +have to deal, I say: "Come in, Messieurs the tattooers!" + +These are the specialists most in renown in Nagasaki; I had engaged them +two days ago, not knowing that we were about to leave, and since they are +here I will not turn them away. + +My friendly and intimate relations with primitive man, in Oceania and +elsewhere, have imbued me with a deplorable taste for tattoo-work; and +I had wished to carry away on my own person, as a curiosity, an ornament, +a specimen of the work of the Japanese tattooers, who have a delicacy of +finish which is unequalled. + +From their albums spread out upon my table I make my choice. There are +some remarkably odd designs among them, appropriate to the different +parts of the human body: emblems for the arms and legs, sprays of roses +for the shoulders, great grinning faces for the middle of the back. +There are even, to suit the taste of their clients who belong to foreign +navies, trophies of arms, American and French flags entwined, a "God Save +the Queen" amid encircling stars, and figures of women taken from +Grevin's sketches in the Journal Amusant. + +My choice rests upon a singular blue and pink dragon two inches long, +which will have a fine effect upon my chest on the side opposite the +heart. + +Then follows an hour and a half of irritation and positive pain. +Stretched out on my bunk and delivered over to the tender mercies of +these personages, I stiffen myself and submit to the million +imperceptible pricks they inflict. When by chance a little blood flows, +confusing the outline by a stream of red, one of the artists hastens to +stanch it with his lips, and I make no objections, knowing that this is +the Japanese manner, the method used by their doctors for the wounds of +both man and beast. + +A piece of work, as minute and fine as that of an engraver upon stone, is +slowly executed on my person; and their lean hands harrow and worry me +with automatic precision. + +Finally it is finished, and the tattooers, falling back with an air of +satisfaction to contemplate their work, declare it to be lovely. + +I dress myself quickly to go on shore, to take advantage of my last hours +in Japan. + +The heat is fearful to-day: the powerful September sun falls with a +certain melancholy upon the yellowing leaves; it is a day of clear +burning heat after an almost chilly morning. + +As I did yesterday, I ascend to my lofty suburb, during the drowsy +noontime, by deserted pathways filled only with light and silence. + +I noiselessly open the door of my dwelling, and enter cautiously on +tiptoe, for fear of Madame Prune. + +At the foot of the staircase, upon the white mats, beside the little +sabots and tiny sandals which are always lying about in the vestibule, +a great array of luggage is ready for departure, which I recognize at a +glance--pretty, dark robes, familiar to my sight, carefully folded and +wrapped in blue towels tied at the four corners. I even fancy I feel a +little sad when I catch sight of a corner of the famous box of letters +and souvenirs peeping out of one of these bundles, in which my portrait +by Ureno now reposes among divers photographs of mousmes. A sort of +long-necked mandolin, also ready for departure, lies on the top of the +pile in its case of figured silk. It resembles the flitting of some +gipsy, or rather it reminds me of an engraving in a book of fables I +owned in my childhood: the whole thing is exactly like the slender +wardrobe and the long guitar which the cicala who had sung all the +summer, carried upon her back when she knocked at the door of her +neighbor the ant. + +Poor little gipsy! + +I mount the steps on tiptoe, and stop at the sound of singing that I hear +in my room. + +It is undoubtedly Chrysantheme's voice, and the song is quite cheerful! +This chills me and changes the current of my thoughts. I am almost sorry +I have taken the trouble to come. + +Mingled with the song is a noise I can not understand: Chink! chink! a +clear metallic ring as of coins flung vigorously on the floor. I am well +aware that this vibrating house exaggerates every sound during the +silence of night; but all the same, I am puzzled to know what my mousme +can be doing. Chink! chink! is she amusing herself with quoits, or the +'jeu du crapaud', or pitch-and-toss? + +Nothing of the kind! I fancy I have guessed, and I continue my upward +progress still more gently, on all fours, with the precautions of a red +Indian, to give myself for the last time the pleasure of surprising her. + +She has not heard me come in. In our great white room, emptied and swept +out, where the clear sunshine pours in, and the soft wind, and the +yellowed leaves of the garden, she is sitting all alone, her back turned +to the door; she is dressed for walking, ready to go to her mother's, her +rose-colored parasol beside her. + +On the floor are spread out all the fine silver dollars which, according +to our agreement, I had given her the evening before. With the competent +dexterity of an old money-changer she fingers them, turns them over, +throws them on the floor, and, armed with a little mallet ad hoc, rings +them vigorously against her ear, singing the while I know not what little +pensive bird-like song which I daresay she improvises as she goes along. + +Well, after all, it is even more completely Japanese than I could +possibly have imagined it--this last scene of my married life! I feel +inclined to laugh. How simple I have been, to allow myself to be taken +in by the few clever words she whispered yesterday, as she walked beside +me, by a tolerably pretty little phrase embellished as it was by the +silence of two o'clock in the morning, and all the wonderful enchantments +of night. + +Ah! not more for Yves than for me, not more for me than for Yves, has any +feeling passed through that little brain, that little heart. + +When I have looked at her long enough, I call: + +"Hi! Chrysantheme!" + +She turns confused, and reddening even to her ears at having been caught +at this work. + +She is quite wrong, however, to be so much troubled, for I am, on the +contrary, delighted. The fear that I might be leaving her in some +sadness had almost given me a pang, and I infinitely prefer that this +marriage should end as it had begun, in a joke. + +"That is a good idea of yours," I say; "a precaution which should always +be taken in this country of yours, where so many evil-minded people are +clever in forging money. Make haste and get through it before I start, +and if any false pieces have found their way into the number, I will +willingly replace them." + +However, she refuses to continue before me, and I expected as much; to do +so would have been contrary to all her notions of politeness, hereditary +and acquired, all her conventionality, all her Japanesery. With a +disdainful little foot, clothed as usual in exquisite socks, with a +special hood for the great toe, she pushes away the piles of white +dollars and scatters them on the mats. + +"We have hired a large, covered sampan," she says to change the +conversation, "and we are all going together--Campanule, Jonquille, +Touki, all your mousmes--to watch your vessel set sail. Pray sit down +and stay a few minutes." + +"No, I really can not stay. I have several things to do in the town, +you see, and the order was given for every one to be on board by three +o'clock in time for muster before starting. Moreover, I would prefer to +escape, as you can imagine, while Madame Prune is still enjoying her +siesta; I should be afraid of being drawn into some corner, or of +provoking some heartrending parting scene." + +Chrysantheme bows her head and says no more, but seeing that I am really +going, rises to escort me. + +Without speaking, without the slightest noise, she follows me as we +descend the staircase and cross the garden full of sunshine, where the +dwarf shrubs and the deformed flowers seem, like the rest of the +household, plunged in warm somnolence. + +At the outer gate I stop for the last adieu: the little sad pout has +reappeared, more accentuated than ever, on Chrysantheme's face; it is the +right thing, it is correct, and I should feel offended now were it +absent. + +Well, little mousme, let us part good friends; one last kiss even, if you +like. I took you to amuse me; you have not perhaps succeeded very well, +but after all you have done what you could: given me your little face, +your little curtseys, your little music; in short, you have been pleasant +enough in your Japanese way. And who knows, perchance I may yet think of +you sometimes when I recall this glorious summer, these pretty, quaint +gardens, and the ceaseless concert of the cicalas. + +She prostrates herself on the threshold of the door, her forehead against +the ground, and remains in this attitude of superlatively polite salute +as long as I am in sight, while I go down the pathway by which I am to +disappear for ever. + +As the distance between us increases, I turn once or twice to look at her +again; but it is a mere civility, and meant to return as it deserves her +grand final salutation. + + + + +CHAPTER LIII + +OFF FOR CHINA + +When I entered the town, at the turn of the principal street, I had the +good luck to meet Number 415, my poor relative. I was just at that +moment in want of a speedy djin, and I at once got into his vehicle; +besides, it was an alleviation to my feelings, in this hour of departure, +to take my last drive in company with a member of my family. + +Unaccustomed as I was to be out of doors during the hours of siesta, +I had never yet seen the streets of the town thus overwhelmed by the +sunshine, thus deserted in the silence and solitary brilliancy peculiar +to all hot countries. + +In front of all the shops hang white shades, adorned here and there with +slight designs in black, in the quaintness of which lurks I know not +what--something mysterious: dragons, emblems, symbolical figures. +The sky is too glaring; the light crude, implacable; never has this +old town of Nagasaki appeared to me so old, so worm-eaten, so bald, +notwithstanding all its veneer of new papers and gaudy paintings. +These little wooden houses, of such marvellous cleanly whiteness +inside, are black outside, timeworn, disjointed and grimacing. When one +looks closely, this grimace is to be found everywhere: in the hideous +masks laughing in the shop-fronts of the innumerable curio-shops; in the +grotesque figures, the playthings, the idols, cruel, suspicious, mad; +it is even found in the buildings: in the friezes of the religious +porticoes, in the roofs of the thousand pagodas, of which the angles and +cable-ends writhe and twist like the yet dangerous remains of ancient and +malignant beasts. + +And the disturbing intensity of expression reigning over inanimate +nature, contrasts with the almost absolute blank of the human +countenance, with the smiling foolishness of the simple little folk who +meet one's gaze, as they patiently carry on their minute trades in the +gloom of their tiny open-fronted houses. Workmen squatted on their +heels, carving with their imperceptible tools the droll or odiously +obscene ivory ornaments, marvellous cabinet curiosities which have made +Japan so famous with the European amateurs who have never seen it. +Unconscious artists tracing with steady hand on a background of lacquer +or of porcelain traditional designs learned by heart, or transmitted to +their brains by a process of heredity through thousands of years; +automatic painters, whose storks are similar to those of M. Sucre, with +the inevitable little rocks, or little butterflies eternally the same. +The least of these illuminators, with his insignificant, eyeless face, +possesses at his fingers' ends the maximum of dexterity in this art of +decoration, light and wittily incongruous, which threatens to invade us +in France, in this epoch of imitative decadence, and which has become the +great resource of our manufacturers of cheap "objects of art." + +Is it because I am about to leave this country, because I have no longer +any link to bind me to it, any resting-place on its soil, that my spirit +is ready on the wing? I know not, but it seems to me I have never as +clearly seen and comprehended it as to-day. And more even than ever do +I find it little, aged, with worn-out blood and worn-out sap; I feel more +fully its antediluvian antiquity, its centuries of mummification, which +will soon degenerate into hopeless and grotesque buffoonery, as it comes +into contact with Western novelties. + +It is getting late; little by little, the siestas are everywhere coming +to an end; the queer little streets brighten up and begin to swarm in the +sunshine with many-colored parasols. Now begins the procession of +ugliness of the most impossible description--a procession of long-robed, +grotesque figures capped with pot-hats or sailors' headgear. Business +transactions begin again, and the struggle for existence, close and +bitter here as in one of our own artisan quarters, but meaner and +smaller. + +At the moment of my departure, I find within myself only a smile of +careless mockery for the swarming crowd of this Lilliputian curtseying +people--laborious, industrious, greedy of gain, tainted with a +constitutional affectation, hereditary insignificance, and incurable +monkeyishness. + +Poor cousin Number 415! how right I was to have held him in good esteem! +He was by far the best and most disinterested of my Japanese family. +When all my commissions are finished, he puts up his little vehicle under +a tree, and, much touched by my departure, insists upon escorting me on +board the 'Triomphante', to watch over my final purchases in the sampan +which conveys me to the ship, and to see them himself safely into my +cabin. + +His, indeed, is the only hand I clasp with a really friendly feeling, +without a suppressed smile, on quitting Japan. + +No doubt in this country, as in many others, there is more honest +friendship and less ugliness among the simple beings devoted to purely +physical work. + +At five o'clock in the afternoon we set sail. + +Along the line of the shore are two or three sampans; in them the +mousmes, shut up in the narrow cabins, peep at us through the tiny +windows, half hiding their faces on account of the sailors; these are +our wives, who have wished, out of politeness, to look upon us once more. + +There are other sampans as well, in which other Japanese women are also +watching our departure. These stand upright, under great parasols +decorated with big black letters and daubed over with clouds of varied +and startling colors. + + + + +CHAPTER LIV + +A FADING PICTURE + +We move slowly out of the wide green bay. The groups of women grow +smaller in the distance. The country of round umbrellas with a thousand +ribs fades gradually from our sight. + +Now the vast ocean opens before us, immense, colorless, solitary; a +solemn repose after so much that is too ingenious and too small. + +The wooded mountains, the flowery capes disappear. And Japan remains +faithful to itself, with its picturesque rocks, its quaint islands on +which the trees tastefully arrange themselves in groups--studied, +perhaps, but charmingly pretty. + + + + +CHAPTER LV + +A WITHERED LOTUS-FLOWER + +One evening, in my cabin, in the midst of the Yellow Sea, my eyes fall +upon the lotus-blossoms brought from Diou-djen-dji; they had lasted +several days; but now they are withered, and strew my carpet pathetically +with their pale pink petals. + +I, who have carefully kept so many faded flowers, fallen, alas! into +dust, stolen here and there, at moments of parting in different parts of +the world; I, who have kept so many that the collection is now an absurd, +an indistinguishable herbarium--I try hard, but without success, +to awaken some sentiment for these lotus--and yet they are the last +living souvenirs of my summer at Nagasaki. + +I pick them up, however, with a certain amount of consideration, and I +open my port-hole. + +From the gray misty sky a strange light falls upon the waters; a dim and +gloomy twilight descends, yellowish upon this Yellow Sea. We feel that +we are moving northward, that autumn is approaching. + +I throw the poor lotus into the boundless waste of waters, making them my +best excuses for consigning them, natives of Japan, to a grave so solemn +and so vast. + + + + An Appeal to the Gods + + + Oama-Terace-Omi-Kami, wash me clean + from this little marriage of mine, + in the waters of the river of Kamo! + + + + +ETEXT EDITORS BOOKMARKS: + +Japanese habit of expressing myself with excessive politeness +Contemptuous pity, both for my suspicions and the cause of them + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Madame Chrysantheme, v4 +by Pierre Loti + |