It was interesting. "Tell me about more of them," said Kent. "I have an absolutely insatiable curiosity."
"I'll do what I can, when I get the chance, but, as I told you----" He caught by the arm a young chap who was passing. "Here, Dick, I want you to look after my friend, Kent. He wants to know some of the girls. Show him about." He turned to Kent. "Dick here can do the honors better than I can. He knows nearly all of them. Duty calls, I am off. Be good."
Dick grinned pleasantly. Kent had noticed him often, a slim, vivacious man of about thirty, always laughing behind his small mustache, radiating effervescent vitality, infectiously bubbling over with joy of life.
"First of all you must know Madame Hirano," he said. "She's the boss. It pays to be on the good side of her. She rules with a hand of iron in a velvet glove, not so much velvet, either, if she should catch you here with a girl too much on the off side. Then she'd give you the quick bounce. She's done it often enough. But she's a good fellow really. Come along over and I'll introduce you."
They went over to a corner where the tyrant had a place of vantage, whence she might survey the entire hall. She was an elderly woman, handsomely dressed. As she sat there, surrounded by a small court of girls from the neighborhood, attached in an indefinite way to the establishment, with her sharp, black eyes constantly roving among the dancers, it was easy to see that here was one of these rather exceptional Japanese women with will power and executive ability; that she was, as Dick had said, the "boss."
She acknowledged the introduction graciously, with the slightest hint of condescension, consciousness of her power. It was evidently in Kent's favor that he was a newspaperman. She told him, annoyedly, of the inimical attitude towards foreign dancing of the Japanese press. They were so stupid, she complained, so old-fashioned. He began to ask her questions about the dancers. She looked at him sharply, as if a bit suspicious. He explained his motive--curiosity--how all these types which were familiar to her were strange to him. He wanted to become acquainted with the new woman of Japan. For instance, he should like to meet some of the motion-picture actresses, a type which seemed so characteristic of the most modern tendencies of the country.