Arthur Golden - Memoirs of a Geisha

“Mameha-san sent me in her place. I’m so pleased to have the honor of seeing the Chairman.”

“Yes, and I’m pleased to see you too; you can give me your opinion about something. Come have a look at the present I’ve brought for the Baron. I’m tempted to leave without giving it to him.”

I followed him into a tatami room, feeling like a kite pulled by a string. Here I was in Hakone so far from anything I’d ever known, spending a few moments with the man I’d thought about more constantly than anyone, and it amazed me to think of it. While he walked ahead of me I had to admire how he moved so easily within his tailored wool suit. I could make out the swell of his calves, and even the hollow of his back like a cleft where the roots of a tree divide. He took something from the table and held it out for me to see. At first I thought it was an ornamented block of gold, but it turned out to be an antique cosmetics box for the Baron. This one, as the Chairman told me, was by an Edo period artist named Arata Gonroku. It was a pillow-shaped box in gold lacquer, with soft black images of flying cranes and leaping rabbits. When he put it into my hands, it was so dazzling I had to hold my breath as I looked at it.

“Do you think the Baron will be pleased?” he said. “I found it last week and thought of him at once, but-”

“Chairman, how can you even imagine that the Baron might not feel pleased?”

“Oh, that man has collections of everything. He’ll probably see this as third-rate.”

I assured the Chairman that no one could ever think such a thing; and when I gave him back the box, he tied it up in a silk cloth again and nodded toward the door for me to follow. In the entryway I helped him with his shoes. While I guided his foot with my fingertips, I found myself imagining that we’d spent the afternoon together and that a long evening lay ahead of us. This thought transported me into such a state, I don’t know how much time passed before I became aware of myself again. The Chairman showed no signs of impatience, but I felt terribly self-conscious as I tried to slip my feet into my okobo and ended up taking much longer than I should have.

He led me down a path toward the lake, where we found the Baron sitting on a mat beneath a cherry tree with three Tokyo geisha. They all rose to their feet, though the Baron had a bit of trouble. His face had red splotches all over it from drink, so that it looked as if someone had swatted him again and again with a stick.

“Chairman!” the Baron said. “I’m so happy you came to my party. I always enjoy having you here, do you know that? That corporation of yours just won’t stop growing, will it? Did Sayuri tell you Nobu came to my party in Kyoto last week?”

“I heard all about it from Nobu, who I’m sure was his usual self.”

“He certainly was,” said the Baron. “A peculiar little man, isn’t he?”

I don’t know what the Baron was thinking, for he himself was littler than Nobu. The Chairman didn’t seem to like this comment, and narrowed his eyes.

“I mean to say,” the Baron began, but the Chairman cut him off.

“I have come to thank you and say good-bye, but first I have something to give you.” And here he handed over the cosmetics box. The Baron was too drunk to untie the silk cloth around it, but he gave it to one of the geisha, who did it for him.

“What a beautiful thing!” the Baron said. “Doesn’t everybody think so? Look at it. Why, it might be even lovelier than the exquisite creature standing beside you, Chairman. Do you know Sayuri? If not, let me introduce you.”

“Oh, we’re well acquainted, Sayuri and I,” the Chairman said.

“How well acquainted, Chairman? Enough for me to envy you?” The Baron laughed at his own joke, but no one else did. “Anyway, this generous gift reminds me that I have something for you, Sayuri. But I can’t give it to you until these other geisha have departed, because they’ll start wanting one themselves. So you’ll have to stay around until everyone has gone home.”

“The Baron is too kind,” I said, “but really, I don’t wish to make a nuisance of myself.”

“I see you’ve learned a good deal from Mameha about how to say no to everything. Just meet me in the front entrance hall after my guests have left. You’ll persuade her for me, Chairman, while she walks you to your car.”

If the Baron hadn’t been so drunk, I’m sure it would have occurred to him to walk the Chairman out himself. But the two men said good-bye, and I followed the Chairman back to the house. While his driver held the door for him, I bowed and thanked him for all his kindness. He was about to get into the car, but he stopped.

“Sayuri,” he began, and then seemed uncertain how to proceed. “What has Mameha told you about the Baron?”

“Not very much, sir. Or at least… well, I’m not sure what the Chairman means.”

“Is Mameha a good older sister to you? Does she tell you the things you need to know?”

“Oh, yes, Chairman. Mameha has helped me more than I can say.”

“Well,” he said, “I’d watch out, if I were you, when a man like the Baron decides he has something to give you.”

I couldn’t think of how to respond to this, so I said something about the Baron being kind to have thought of me at all.

“Yes, very kind, I’m sure. Just take care of yourself,” he said, looking at me intently for a moment, and then getting into his car.

I spent the next hour strolling among the few remaining guests, remembering again and again all the things the Chairman had said to me during our encounter. Rather than feeling concerned about the warning he had given me, I felt elated that he had spoken with me for so long. In fact, I had no space in my mind at all to think about my meeting with the Baron, until at last I found myself standing alone in the entrance hall in the fading afternoon light. I took the liberty of going to kneel in a nearby tatami room, where I gazed out at the grounds through a plate-glass window.

Ten or fifteen minutes passed; finally the Baron came striding into the entrance hall. I felt myself go sick with worry the moment I saw him, for he wore nothing but a cotton dressing robe. He had a towel in one hand, which he rubbed against the long black hairs on his face that were supposed to be a beard. Clearly he’d just stepped out of the bath. I stood and bowed to him.

“Sayuri, do you know what a fool I am!” he said to me. “I’ve had too much to drink.” That part was certainly true. “I forgot you were waiting for me! I hope you’ll forgive me when you see what I’ve put aside for you.”

The Baron walked down the hallway toward the interior of the house, expecting me to follow him. But I remained where I was, thinking of what Mameha had said to me, that an apprentice on the point of having her mizuage was like a meal served on the table.

The Baron stopped. “Come along!” he said to me.

“Oh, Baron. I really mustn’t. Please permit me to wait here.”

“I have something I’d like to give you. Just come back into my quarters and sit down, and don’t be a silly girl.”

“Why, Baron,” I said, “I can’t help but be a silly girl; for that’s what I am!”

“Tomorrow you’ll be back under the watchful eyes of Mameha, eh? But there’s no one watching you here.”

If I’d had the least common sense at that moment, I would have thanked the Baron for inviting me to his lovely party and told him how much I regretted having to impose on him for the use of his motorcar to take me back to the inn. But everything had such a dreamlike quality… I suppose I’d gone into a state of shock. All I knew for certain was how afraid I felt.

“Come back with me while I dress,” said the Baron. “Did you drink much sake this afternoon?”