salute you,--- you salute me,--I salute you again, and you return
it,--and I re-salute you again, and I express that I shall never,
never be able to return it according to your high merit,--and I bang
my forehead against the ground, and you stick your nose between the
planks of the flooring, and there they are, on all fours one before
the other; it is a polite dispute, all anxious to yield precedence as
to sitting down, or passing first, and compliments without end are
murmured in low tones, with faces against the floor.

They seat themselves at last, smiling, in a ceremonious circle; we two
remaining standing, our eyes fixed on the staircase. And at length
emerges, in due turn, the little aigrette of silver flowers, the ebony
chignon, the gray silk robe and mauve sash of Mdlle. Jasmin, my
fiancée!

Heavens! why, I know her already! Long before setting foot in Japan, I
had met with her, on every fan, on every tea-cup--with her silly air,
her puffy little visage, her tiny eyes, mere gimlet-holes above those
expanses of impossible pink and white which are her cheeks.

She is young, that is all I can say in her favor; she is even so young
that I should almost scruple to accept her. The wish to laugh quits me
suddenly, and instead, a profound chill fastens on my heart. What!
share even an hour of my life with that little doll? Never!

The next question is, how to get out of it?

She advances smiling, with an air of repressed triumph, and behind her
looms M. Kangourou, in his suit of gray tweed. Fresh salutes, and
behold her on all fours, she too, before my landlady and before my