Page:My Japanese Wife.djvu/48

34 time. I was English. No: England was not like Japan. Everything was larger, people ate more. There were no gardens like these, except sometimes when there was some grand feast taking place. This is but a tithe of the replies I made.

“Are the women pretty, and do they all wear rich clothing?” my mousmé inquired.

And I said “Some” in answer to the former, and earned a petulant moue. And “Not often” in reply to the latter, gaining thereby a smile of evident satisfaction as my reward; adding that “an ugly climate enforces ugly clothes.” But I felt sorry almost on the instant, because she seemed not to understand.

“No paper lanterns at night! Is there then a moon?” with a look of wondering astonishment and apprehension.

“Yes!”

She seemed relieved.