"Do you wish to see her before we discuss business matters, or after?"
"Before, after, no difference. Will pay what ask, if like." Again a Gallic shrug and the stark, naked desperation.
It touched her not at all. Why should it, she was thinking. The Yang's hunger for the Yin is the essence of our world and without it our Floating World would float no more.
Strange that the Yang's obsession to join with the Yin--in and out, battering at the gate, more pain than pleasure, desperate to end, desperate to continue, if to end never enough, if not to end moaning in the night--is all so transient, the Yin never so grasping. In that women are blessed, though the gods, if there are gods, have dealt all mortals a cruel hand.
Three times I have tried to go onwards, always because my Yin craved the possessor of a particular Yang--when a Yang is always more or less the same--always useless choices that brought nothing but misery, with no future and twice my passion unrequited. How foolish! Why? No one knows.
Never mind. Now the yearning of the Yin can be quenched so easily, and for a mama-san, toyed with.
Easy to employ a Yang, or harigata, or to invite one of the Ladies to your bed. Fujiko, for example, who seems to enjoy the diversion and whose kiss can be celestial.
"Raiko know me, yes?" Andr`e was saying and she thought, Indeed I do. "I know Raiko,"
Indeed you do not. "We old friends. Old friends always help old friends." True, true, but you and I are not old friends--not in its special Asian sense--and never will be. You are gai-jin.
"Furansu-san, old friend," she said. "I will arrange a meeting, you and this Lady," she said.
He felt weak and tried to hide it. "Yes.
Thank you."
"It will be soon. Last, the medicine." She reached down beside the table. The small package was carefully tied in a square of russet silk as invitingly presented as an expensive gift.
"Listen carefully." Again her instructions were explicit. She made him repeat them until she was sure he understood.
"Raiko-san. Please, say truth, medicine dangerous, yes, no?"
"Eeee, truth? Am I not a serious person? I am Raiko of the Three Carp. Have I not already told you? Of course it could be dangerous and of course not dangerous! This is an ordinary problem that happens all the time to all girls and the cure is rarely a problem. Your princess is young and strong and so it should be easy, with no problems."
"Princess?" His features hardened. "You know who for?"
"That was easy to guess. How many women are there in the Settlement, special enough for you to help?
Never worry, old friend. The secret is secret with me."
After a pause, he said, "What problem possible?"
"Stomach pain and no result, just very sick.
Then we must try a second time, with stronger medicine. If that does not work then there is another way."
"What?"
"Time enough for that later." Confidently Raiko patted the silk. "This should be all that is necessary."
"You understand, Angelique?"
"Yes, Andr`e," she said, her eyes on the silk-wrapped package. Her salvation sat on his desk. They kept their voices down though the office door was closed against unwanted ears.
His clock chimed 10:00 P.m.
He looked back at her uneasily. "The mama-san told me it would be best if you had your maid with you."
"That's not possible, Andr`e, it's not possible to trust Ah Soh, or anyone--didn't you tell her that?"
"Yes, but that's what she said." From across the corridor they could hear the muted sounds of men laughing over the dinner table that she had just left-- Seratard, Vervene, Dmitri and a few French officers--saying she was tired and wanted an early night. Going to her suite, by prior arrangement, she had happened to see Andr`e in his office.
"We'd... we'd best check that everything's there."
He made no move to undo the silk. Instead he toyed nervously with a corner. "If Ah Soh's not there to help, who... who will dispose of... of the bottles and herbs and... you can't leave them around, and who will clean up?"
For a moment her brain became addled for, foolishly, she had not considered this problem. "I, I won't need help, there won't be... nothing except the bottles and herbs... and towels.
I can't trust Ah Soh, obviously I can't trust her, or anyone, only you. I won't need help." Her anxiety to begin the treatment and have done with this forever capped all the worries that swirled about her. "Don't worry, I'll bolt my door and... and tell her that I'll sleep late and not to disturb me. I, it should all be over in a few hours, by dawn, yes?"
"God willing, yes, that's what the mama-san told me. I still think you should risk Ah Soh."
"You're not thinking clearly, no, not at all.
You're the only one I can trust. Knock on my door early, like this." She rapped the table thrice, then once. "I'll open it only to you."
Impatiently she untied the silk. Inside were two small, corked bottles and a packet of herbs. "I drink one bottle at once and then ..."
"Mon Dieu, no," he said, wearily interrupted her, his nerves as taut as hers. "You must do everything in the correct order, Angelique. First you put the herbs to infuse in the pot of hot water you've arranged. When that's done drink one bottle, drink it quickly and don't worry if it tastes foul, use the honeyed green tea or a sweet to take away the taste."
"I've some Swiss chocolates Monsieur Erlicher gave me, will those do?"
"Yes of course." He used a handkerchief to wipe the sweat off his hands, his imagination taking him down all kinds of lurid passages. "When the infusion is tepid, say after half an hour, sip half of the brew--it won't taste good either.
Then relax and wait, go to sleep."
"Will there be a reaction, will I feel anything yet?"
"No, I already told you, no! The mama-san said that normally nothing happens until some hours later--it should be like a, a strong stomach cramp."
The more he talked about it the less he liked being involved. What if something goes wrong? Mon Dieu, I hope there's not a second time, he thought queasily and tried to push the bad away--and embarrassment--and be clinical.
"It should just be like a stomach cramp," he said, sweating even more. "That's the beginning, Angelique, a cramp. I'll start again: Drink the first bottle, then sip half the infusion, half of it, remember you must do everything in the correct sequence--relax and try to go to sleep, the more relaxed you are the easier it will be. When the, the cramps begin gulp the last bottle, take some honey or sweet, then sip the last of the infusion--sip it, don't swig it down. The cramps will increase and then, then it should begin to... the mama-san said it would be like a heavy monthly so... so be prepared with a... a towel." Again he used his handkerchief. "It's close in here tonight, isn't it?"
"It's cold and there's no need to be nervous."
She uncorked one of the bottles and smelt the contents. Her nose wrinkled. "Worse than a Parisian street toilet in August."
"You're sure you remember the sequence."