“Let two boxes of this height be brought,” I ordered, holding my hand at the height of a chair.
O Setsu San glided out, and returned in a few moments with a pair of lacquered cases about the size of tea chests. I signed her to set them down near the side of the room that faced the garden.
“As teacher of the _tojin_ learning and customs,” I explained, “I will begin by showing the Princess the _tojin_ etiquette practised between a gentleman and a lady. The Princess will be pleased to act as directed.”
I rose and offered her my hand. “May I have the pleasure of assisting you to rise?”
Azai glanced up at me with a startled look. I smiled. “The august lady is to take my hand, and say, ‘You are very kind.’”
“You are very kind, my lord!” she whispered, and half averting her head, she entrusted one of her tiny hands to me.
I drew her up, stepped back, and swept her a bow in Occidental style. “Permit me to conduct you to a seat.”
She looked at me in a puzzled manner, and I explained with utmost gravity: “You will bow--no, not to the floor, only a little more than I. In this fashion--so! that is better. Now place the fingers of one hand upon my arm.”
The tips of her fingers touched the silk sleeve of my proffered arm with the lightness of a perching butterfly. I escorted her to the nearest chest, bowed, and turned back for a cushion. Placing it upon the chest, I took her hand and assisted her to seat herself, facing the garden. But when I drew the other chest nearer and was about to sit, she stopped me with a quick little cry, and fluttered back to fetch me my cushion from before the _tokonoma_. As she knelt to place it on my chest I looked down at her with well-feigned severity.
“The august lady forgets that she is receiving a lesson.”
“Pardon, my lord! But could I permit my august teacher to seat himself without his cushion?”
“The august lady will remember that she is receiving a lesson in _tojin_ etiquette. Among my people the gentleman always attends upon the lady.”
So preposterous a reversal of all the rules of propriety compelled the bevy of ladies across the room from us to murmur in astonishment. But Azai meekly permitted me to assist her again to her seat. Before seating myself I assumed my austere manner and sought to forestall criticism by another explanation: “The august lady is now to converse freely, as to an equal, on music and art and flower arrangements and the amusements permitted young ladies.”