Page:Sidnay McCall--The dragon painter2.djvu/63

 exquisite human tenderness smiled out. "Show me a dragon here," repeated Kano.

Tatsu looked troubled and, for the first time, studied intently the countenance of his host. "Surely, honored sir, if you are a painter, as you say you are, its meaning must be plain. Look more closely. Do you not see on what the maiden stands?"

"Of course I see," snapped Kano. "She stands among rocks and weeds, and looks marvellously like" He broke off, thinking it better not to mention his daughter's name. "But I repeat, no dragon-thought is here."

Tatsu reached out, took the picture, and tore it into shreds. Then he rose to his feet. "Good-by," he said. "I shall now make a quick returning. You are of the blind among men. My painting was the Dragon Maid, standing on the peaks of earth. All my life I have sought her. The people of my village think me mad because of her. By reason that I cannot find, I paint. Good-by!"