SUNNY-SAN
ONOTO WATANNA
COPYRIGHT, 1922,
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
TO
MY FRIENDS
CONSUL AND MRS. SAMUEL C. REAT
IN REMEMBRANCE OF SUNNY ALBERTA DAYS
SUNNY-SAN
SUNNY-SAN
CHAPTER I
Madame Many Smiles was dead.The famous dancer of the House of aThousand Joys had fluttered out into theLand of Shadows. No longer would poet orreveller vie with each other in doing homageto her whose popularity had known no wanewith the years, who had, indeed, become one ofthe classic objects of art of the city. In a landwhere one's ancestry is esteemed the all importantthing, Madame Many Smiles hadstood alone, with neither living relatives nor ancestorsto claim her. Who she was, or whenceshe had come, none knew, but the legend of theHouse was that on a night of festival she hadappeared at the illuminated gates, as a moth,who, beaten by the winds and storms without,seeks shelter in the light and warmth of thejoyhouse within.
Hirata had bonded her for a life term. Herremuneration was no more than the geishas'[pg 10]meagre wage, but she was allowed the prerogativeof privacy. Her professional duties over,no admiring patron of the gardens might claimher further service. She was free to return toher child, whose cherry blossom skin and fairhair proclaimed clearly the taint of her whiteblood. Hirata was lenient in his training ofthe child, for the dancer had brought with herinto the House of a Thousand Joys, Daikoku,the God of Fortune, and Hirata could affordto abide the time when the child of the dancershould step into her shoes. But the day hadcome far ahead of his preparations, and whilethe dancer was at the zenith of her fame. Theywere whispering about the gardens that themoth that had fluttered against the House ofJoy had fluttered back into the darkness fromwhich she had come. With her she had takenDaikoku.
A profound depression had settled upon theHouse of a Thousand Joys. Geishas, apprenticesand attendants moved aimlessly abouttheir tasks, their smiles mechanical and theirmotions automatic. The pulse and inspirationof the house had vanished. In the gardensthe effect of the news was even more noticeable.Guests were hurriedly departing, turningtheir cups upside down and calling for[pg 11]their clogs. Tea girls slid in and