* * * * *

He guesses at the first words what I require from him.

"Of course," he replies, "we will see about it at once; in a week's
time, as it happens, a family from Simonosaki, in which there are two
charming daughters, will be here."

"What! in a week! You don't know me, M. Kangourou! No, no, either now,
to-morrow, or not at all."

Again a hissing bow, and Kangourou-San catching my agitation, begins
to pass in feverish review, all the young persons at his disposal in
Nagasaki.

"Let us see--there was Mdlle. Œillet. What a pity that I had not
spoken a few days sooner! So pretty! So clever at playing the guitar.
It is an irreparable misfortune; she was engaged only yesterday by a
Russian officer."

"Ah! Mdlle. Abricot!--Would she suit me, Mdlle. Abricot? She is the
daughter of a wealthy China merchant in the Decima Bazaar, a person of
the highest merit; but she would be very dear: her parents, who think
a great deal of her, will not let her go under a hundred yen[A] a
month. She is very accomplished, thoroughly understands commercial
writings, and has at her finger ends more than two thousand characters
of learned writing. In a poetical competition she gained the first
prize with a sonnet composed in praise of _'the blossoms of the
black-thorn hedges seen in the dew of early morning.'_ Only, she is