Page:Madame Butterfly; Purple eyes; A gentleman of Japan and a lady; Kito; Glory (1904).djvu/234

 the effulgent intelligence of the West in his face.

"Ah, God of the Light! What I done with you to put such a loog in your face? Speak it to me! Ji-Saburo, speak! "

His voice, as he answered her, was soft with Eastern gentleness:

"Permit me to go without speaking—that is best. I was mistaken in thinking I am Japanese. I am not—I am nothing. Born here; bred there."

"Ah, Ji-Saburo, thing how long I have waited! An' will you not tell me why you go'n' be so crule with me? See, I beg on my both knees."

She laid her head at his feet.

"You will never forgive me if I do."

"Me? I forgive you bifore! Now—tell me. By all the gods, tell me!"

"To be 'married' and 'divorced' so easily is held an evil custom by all the rest of the world."

The girl's head drooped. The merciful explanation was entirely insufficient to her. She could not even guess her shame. But it was sufficiently pictured in his face.

"An'—tha' 's what—the purple-eye one—thing—'bout me?—that—I do—evil?"