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Kimika laughed, and petted her, and made her eat, and heard her story, which was bravely told, without one tear. "My child," said Kimika, "I cannot give you a great deal of money; for I have very little. But this I can do: I can promise to support your mother.
Kimika is the teacher and mistress: she has educated two geisha, both named, or rather renamed by her, Kimiko; and this use of the same name twice is proof positive that the first Kimiko Ichi-dai-me must have been celebrated. The professional appellation borne by an unlucky or unsuccessful geisha is never given to her successor.
And she added, with not unselfish tears, that Kimiko would never come back to her: it was a case of love on both sides for the time of several existences. Nevertheless, Kimika was only half right. She was very shrewd indeed; but she had never been able to see into certain private chambers in the soul of Kimiko. If she could have seen, she would have screamed for astonishment.
Application to the authorities would have been useless: the fugitive had done no wrong, broken no law; and the vast machinery of the imperial police-system was not to be set in motion by the passionate whim of a boy. Months grew into years; but neither Kimika, nor the little sister in Kyoto, nor any one of the thousands who had known and admired the beautiful dancer, ever saw Kimiko again.
Kimika said that a fool had tried to kill himself because of Kimiko, and that Kimiko had taken pity on him, and nursed him back to foolishness. Taiko Hideyoshi had said that there were only two things in this world which he feared, a fool and a dark night. Kimika had always been afraid of a fool; and a fool had taken Kimiko away.
Thus Ai became a geisha; and Kimika renamed her Kimiko, and kept the pledge to maintain the mother and the child-sister. The mother died before Kimiko became famous; the little sister was put to school. Afterwards those things already told came to pass. The young man who had wanted to die for love of a dancing-girl was worthy of better things.
Some rich folks who offered her lands and houses on condition of owning her, body and soul, found her less merciful. One proved generous enough to purchase her freedom unconditionally, at a price which made Kimika a rich woman; and Kimiko was grateful, but she remained a geisha. She managed her rebuffs with too much tact to excite hate, and knew how to heal despairs in most cases.
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