the most dreaded moment of a japanese girl’s life is when she enters the house of the mother-in-law. her future happiness, she knows, is in the hands of this autocratic and all-powerful lady. meekly the wise bride enters, with propitiating smiles and gifts, robed in her most inconspicuous gown, her aim being not to enhance whatever beauty she may possess, but, if possible, to hide it.
far more necessary is it for her to have the goodwill of the mother-in-law than that of the husband. it is even possible for the mother-in-law, for certain causes, to divorce the young wife. in point of fact, the bride goes on trial not to her husband, but to her husband’s parents. it depends entirely upon their verdict whether she shall be “returned” or not. in most cases, however, where the marriage is arranged between the families, there is the desire to please the family of the bride; and it is more often the case than not that the parents of the husband receive the little, fearful bride with open arms and hearts.
the geisha is not educated for marriage. from her earliest years, indeed, she is taught that her office in life is merely to entertain.
in the case of the spider, she had even less opportunity for knowing the rules that prevailed in such matters. she had been educated by the witless wife of the geisha-keeper. all her short life had been spent in aiding nature to make her more beautiful, more charming. the most important thing in life, the thing that brought rare smiles of admiration to even the sternest lips, was to be beautiful, witty, and charming.
so the spider set out for the saito house with a light and fearless heart, confident in the power of her beauty and witchery to win even the most frosty-hearted of mothers-in-law. arrayed in the most gorgeous robe the geisha-house afforded, with huge flowers in her hair, her little scarlet fan fluttering at her breast, attended by her no less gaudily dressed maiden and apprentice, omi, and followed almost to the gates of the estate by a procession of well-meaning friends and former comrades, the geisha entered the ancestral home of the illustrious family. for just a moment, ere she entered, she paused upon the threshold, a premonitory thrill of fear seizing her. she clung to the supporting hand of the garrulous omi, whose shrill and acid little tongue already grew mute in the silent halls of the shiro (mansion).
presently they were ushered into the ozashiki, and the spider became conscious of the stiff and ceremonious figures standing back coldly by the screens, their gowns seeming in the subdued light of the room of a similar dull color to the satin fusuma of the walls, their shining topknots undecorated with flower or ornament, their thin, unmoving lips and eyes almost closed in cold, unsmiling scrutiny of the intruder, who seemed, like some brilliant butterfly, to have dropped in their midst from another world.
the women of the household—and these comprised the mother, two austere maternal aunts, and takedo ohano-san (she who was to have been the bride of lord gonji)—surveyed the spider with narrow, keen eyes that took in every detail of her flaming gown, her dazzling coiffure, flower-laden, and, beneath, the exquisite little face, with wide and starlit eyes that looked at them now in friendly appeal.
there was no word spoken. nothing but the sighing, hissing sound of indrawn breaths, as with precise formality they made their obeisances to the bride.
in vain did the wandering eyes of the geisha scan the farthermost corner of the great room in search of her lover, or even his seemingly friendly father. there were only the women there to receive her.
dimly, now, she recalled hearing or reading somewhere that this was a fashion followed by many families—the reception of the bride at first alone by the women of the house, who were later to present her to the assembled relatives. but why this disconcerting silence? why the cold, unfriendly, lofty gaze of these unmoving women? they stood like grave automata, regarding sternly the bride of the lord saito gonji.
the smile upon the geisha’s lips flickered away tremulously; her little head drooped like a flower; she closed her eyes lest the threatening tears might fall.
a voice, cold, harsh, and with that note of command of one in authority addressing a servant, at last broke the silence.
“it is my wish,” said the lady saito ichigo, “that you retire to your chamber, and there remove the garments of your trade.”
so strange and unexpected were the words that at first the spider did not realize that they could possibly be addressed to her. she looked up, bewildered, and encountered the steely gaze of the mother-in-law. moonlight never forgot that first glance. in the unrelenting gaze bent upon her she read what brought havoc and pain to her heart, for all the stored-up resentment and hatred that burned within the lady saito ichigo showed now in her face. her voice droned on with mechanical, incisive calmness, but always with the cruel and harsh tone of contemptuous command:
“it is my wish that your maiden of the geisha-house be returned at once to her proper home.”
she clapped her hands precisely twice, and a serving-woman answered the summons and knelt respectfully to take the order of her mistress.
“you will conduct the wife of the lord saito gonji to her chamber.”
the servant crossed to the still kneeling moonlight, and while the latter, mystified, looked dumbly at the exalted but, to her, horrible lady, she assisted the spider to arise. mechanically and fearfully, pausing not even at the wrathful, sobbing outcry that had broken loose from omi, she followed in the wake of the serving-maid.
presently she found herself in an empty chamber, unlike any she had known in the geisha-house, with its golden matting shining like glass, and its lacquer latticed walls of water-paper, and the sliding screens, rare and exquisite works of art. here the maid fell to work upon the geisha, removing every vestige of her attire and substituting the plain but elegant flowing robes of a lady of rank.
from the geisha’s hair she removed the ornaments and the poppies. she swept it down, like a cloud of lacquer, upon the shoulders of the girl, then drew it up into the stiff and formal mode proper for one of her class. from the girl’s face she wiped the last trace of rouge and powder, revealing the rosy, shining skin beneath, clear and clean as a baby’s.
when she emerged from the hands of the maid, moonlight looked at herself curiously in the small mirror tendered her, and for a moment she stared, dumbfounded at the face that looked back at her. it seemed so strangely young, despite its wide and wounded eyes. though she was in reality more charming than ever, seeming like one who had come from a fresh and invigorating bath, the geisha felt that the last vestige of her beauty had fled. within her heart arose a panic-stricken fear of the effect of the metamorphosis upon her lord. she wished ardently she were back in the noisy geisha-house, with the maidens clamoring about her and the apprentices vying with one another in imitating her. she put the mirror behind her. her lips trembled so she could hardly compress them, and to avoid the scrutiny of the maid she moved blindly to the shoji. there she stared out unseeingly at the landscape before her, heroically trying to choke back the tears that would force their way and dripped down her dimpled cheeks like rain.
some one whispered her name, very softly, adoringly. she turned and looked at him—her young bridegroom, with his pale face alight with happiness. she tried to answer him, but even his name eluded her. it was the first time they had been alone together, the first time they had seen each other since that night in the gardens of the saito.
“why, how beautiful thou art!” he stammered. “more so even than i had dreamed!”
he was very close to her now, and almost unconsciously she leaned against him. his arms enfolded her rapturously, and she felt his young cheek warm against her own.
