razier and the fireplace; and in the middle
of the cushion--a little Japanese girl.

She was squatting on her white-gloved toes in native fashion. Her
kimono was sapphire blue, and it was fastened by a huge silver sash
with a blue and green peacock embroidered on the fold of the bow,
which looked like great wings and was almost as big as the rest of the
little person put together. Her back was turned to the guests; and
she was gazing into the flames in an attitude of reverie. She seemed
unconscious of everything, as though still listening to the echo of
the silent music. Reggie in his haste to greet his visitors had not
noticed the hurried solicitude to arrange the set of the kimono to a
nicety in order to indicate exactly the right pose.

She looked like a jeweled butterfly on a great black leaf.

"Yae--Miss Smith," said Reggie, "these are my old friends whom I was
telling you about."

The small creature rose slowly with a dreamy grace, and stepped off
her cushion as a fairy might alight from her walnut-shell carriage.

"I am very pleased to meet you," she purred.

It was the stock American phrase which has crossed the Pacific
westwards; but the citizen's brusqueness was replaced by the
condescension of a queen.

Her face was a delicate oval of the same creamy smoothness as Asako's
But the chin, which in Asako's case receded a trifle in obedience
to Japanese canons of beauty, was thrust vigorously forward; and
the curved lips in their Cupid's bow seemed moulded for kissing by
generations of European passions, whereas about Japanese mouths there
is always something sullen and pinched and colourless. The bridge of
her nose and her eyes of deep olive green, the eyes of a wildcat, gave
the lie to her mother's race.

Reggie's artistry could not help watching the two women together with
appreciative satisfaction. Yae was even smaller and finer-fingered
than the pure-bred Japanese. Ever since he had first met Yae Smith he
had compared and contrasted her in his mind with Asako Barrington. He
had used both as models for his dainty music. His harmonies, he was
wont to explain, came to him in woman's shape. To express Japan he
must see a Japanese woman. Not that he had any interest in Japanese
women, physically. They are too different from our women, he used to
think; and the difference repelled and fascinated him. It is so
wide that it can only be crossed by frank sensuality or by blind
imagination. But the artist need