week of intense interest and happiness to him, one
which, when he grows to be as old as his host was then, will still
remain in his memory with a lingering sweetness as something good to be
remembered, something purer and quite apart from the regular routine of
his past life. He was a student, a naturalist; and the purity of this
Japanese household, the seclusion and dainty decoration of his study,
the freedom of it all, and the kindly attention and sympathy that was
proffered to him by every member of the family combined to make the
quiet recluse feel, for once in his life, almost boisterously happy.
Towards the end of his visit he tried to look back and discover what it
was that had brought about this unwonted feeling of joy in him, little
realising that all this time these dear people had been scheming and
planning for no other object than to give him pleasure. It was not until
the last day of his stay, however, that it all unfolded itself clearly
before his eyes, and that he learnt the reason why he had been so happy.
On this last morning he had chanced to rise early--at daybreak, in
fact--and as he passed the room that he had been using as a general
sitting-room, he saw through the partially-opened sliding doors a sight
which caught his breath with amazement, and made tears spring to his
eyes. There was his host, the dear ancient Japanese gentleman, kneeling
before a bough of pink blossom, which he was struggling to arrange in a
fine blue china pot. The naturalist stood and watched him for nearly an
hour, as he clipped a bough here, and bent a twig there, leaning back on
his heels now and then to view his handiwork through half-closed eyes.
He must see that the blossom placed itself well from the decorative
standpoint in relation to the kakemono that hung close by; he must also
see that the curves of the bough were correct; and the care taken by
this old gentleman in the bending of the bough was a lesson to my
friend. It became clear to him that every morning his aged host must
have risen at daybreak to perform this little act of kindness. Like a
flash he remembered that each day there had been some dainty new
arrangement of flowers placed in his room for him to enjoy. He had not
given it much thought, for it looked more or less like an accident,
flowers that had formed themselves naturally into that shape; yet, all
unconsciously, this little bit of perfect placing had influenced his
work and had gone far towards ma