Page:Madame Butterfly; Purple eyes; A gentleman of Japan and a lady; Kito; Glory (1904).djvu/82

 the maid; to the consul, sorrowfully, "Goon night."

At the door she turned with a ceremonial sweep of her draperies, looked, and came hurrying back. All the joy had returned to her face at the sincere regret—almost pain—she saw upon his. She impulsively grasped his hands—both of them.

"Once more—different—goon night, augustness." And her voice was very soft.

"Aha, ha, ha! Me? I jus' a foo-el—yaes. You?—you the mos' bes' nize man in all the whole worl'—"

She paused—smiling up at him. He understood that she wished to repeat their pretty play upon the phrase.

"Except?"

She nodded and laughed.

"Aexcep'—Ha, ha, ha!"

She hurried after the maid, laughing back at him confessingly as she went.

And, after all, the consul was glad it had ended thus. For joy is better than sorrow—always and everywhere.

they again reached the pretty house on the hill, Cho-Cho-San looked ruefully back over the steep road they had come.