Page:Modern Japanese Stories.pdf/44

enjoying a sensation of physical well-being. Then he heard the sound of voices in the passage and the door opened. It was she.

She wore a large Anne-Marie straw-hat decorated with beads. Under her long grey coat he noticed a white embroidered batiste blouse. Her skirt was also grey. She carried a tiny umbrella with a tassel. Watanabé forced a smile to his face. Throwing his cigar in an ash-tray, he got up from the sofa.

The German woman removed her veil and glanced back at the waiter, who had followed her into the room and who was now standing by the door. Then she turned her eyes to Watanabé. They were the large, brown eyes of a brunette. They were the eyes into which he had so often gazed in the past. Yet he did not remember those mauve shadows from their days in Berlin….

“I’m sorry I kept you waiting,” she said abruptly in German.

She transferred her umbrella to her left hand and stiffly extended the gloved fingers of her right hand. No doubt all this was for the benefit of the waiter, thought Watanabé as he courteously took the fingers in his hand.

“You can let me know when dinner is ready,” he said glancing at the door. The waiter bowed and left the room.

“How delightful to see you,” he said in German.

The woman nonchalantly threw her umbrella on a chair and sat down on the sofa with a slight gasp of exhaustion. Putting her elbows on the table, she gazed silently at Watanabé. He drew up a chair next to the table and sat down.

“It’s very quiet here, isn’t it?” she said after a while.

“It’s under reconstruction,” said Watanabé. “They were making a terrible noise when I arrived.”

“Oh, that explains it. The place does give one rather an unsettled feeling. Not that I’m a particularly calm sort of person at best.”

“When did you arrive in Japan?”

“The day before yesterday. And then yesterday I happened to see you on the street.”

“And why did you come?”