! Are! Have not the honoured sirs made a mistake? Deign to return to
the other apartment. This is the maids' dressing room."--"And in no
better place can one be," grumbled Shiro[u]goro[u]. His eyes took in the
room with avid curiosity. Here the girls quickly slipped into winter
garb, until called to the banquet hall for service. But it was not the
glimpse of shoulders of the one so engaged at the moment, as the brazier
covered by a quilt and placed in the centre of the room. From this the
girls had emerged in confusion. Said he reprovingly--"Eh! Eh! In this
great heat to have a brazier--it is more than out of season. Surely it
is against the order of the master of the house." The girls, uneasy and
at a loss, had but for answer--"It was the idea of O'Kiku...." The
beauty, still flushed with the suddenness of her effort, came forward
smiling. The attention of all was riveted. A little taller than the
average of her sex, very fair of skin, the sparkling eyes in the pure
oval of the face framed in tresses reaching almost to her feet, the tiny
feet and long fingers appearing from the edge of the robe, the
incomparable poise of head and neck, this woman was a beauty, to be
rivalled by few in Edo town. The voice too was as musical as were her
words to the frozen men--"It is but a water _kotatsu_; so that one can
be cooled in this extreme of heat.... Within? Ice--of course. Deign to
enter." The suppressed groan of Abe was cut short. He looked fixedly at
the bright laughing face before him. The smile was pained and
stereotyped, but the sympathy was evident. He understood. "Ho! Ho!
Endo[u], Kanematsu, O[u]kubo, deign to try this delicious coolness. Ah!
Ha! This water _kotatsu_ is a splendid idea. In this great heat it
restores one to life. Truly Kiku is as clever as she is beautiful; one
apart from all the others." The men crowded together under the
_kotatsu_--"More ice! More ice! The _hibachi_ grows warm." Laughing
O'Kiku brought the necessary supply with the tongs, blew it into life
with a little bellows.

All the time Endo[u] observed her closely. To Abe--"Truly she is a
beauty.... Your name is Kiku.... And age?... Twenty years only!... So
Kiku is sempstress in the house of Aoyama Uji. So! So!" He and Abe
regarded her attentively. They praised her beauty. The crimson blush
spread over face and neck, adding to her charm. Thoroughly warmed the
men left the room. Said Endo[u]--"Oh, the liar! This Aoyama poses as a
misogynist, tak