A Servant of Satan: Romantic Career of Prado the Assassin — page 136: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

128 A SERVANT OF SATAN. about to enter upon was a most perilous one. With no European society in the neighborhood, and dependent solely on one another for conversation and diversion, 1t was only natural that a man of Frederick’s character and tempera- ment should soon begin to weary of the sameness and dreari- ness of his existence. It is useless to expect that any man - should remain in a state of perpetual adoration for an indef- inite length of time before his lady-love, no matter how beautiful she may be. Familiarity breeds contempt, and this is especially the case when the lady is no longer young and has become sentimental and exacting. Accustomed as Nina had been at Batavia to see Frederick, and in fact all the other men by whom she was surrounded, anxious for a smile and ever ready to execute her slightest behest, it cut her to the very heart to see how, after the first few weeks of their residence in Japan, her lover’s affection toward her decreased. He betrayed traces of weariness in her society, and spent much of his time in riding about alone in the neighborhood. At abont a quarter of an hour’s distance from the house, and standing on the banks of a small river, was a pretty village, of which the chief attraction was a ‘‘ chaya,” or tea- house. It was here that Frederick’s horse might have been frequently seen walking up and down, attended by his ‘“betto” (native groom), while his master was being enter- tained by the graceful ‘“‘mousmes,” who constitute so charming a feature of every Japanese restaurant. Stretched on a mat of the most immaculate whiteness, Frederick would remain for hours, lazily sipping his tea and watching the voluptuous dances of the ‘‘ geishas” (dancing-girls). Although not beautiful, yet the Japanese women, when young, are exceedingly pretty and captivating. They have many winning and gracious little ways, and are thoroughly impressed with the notion that their sole mission in life is to provide amusement for the sterner sex. comicbooks.co