BOTCHAN
“No, I do not.”
“You don’t know her yet? She is the most beautiful girl about here. She is so beautiful that the teachers in the school call her Madonna. You haven’t heard that?”
“Ah, the Madonna! I thought it was the name of a geisha.”
“No, Sir. Madonna is a foreign word and means a beautiful girl, doesn’t it?”
“That may be. I’m surprised.”
“Probably the name was given by the teacher of drawing.”
“Was it the work of Clown?”
“No, it was given by Professor Yoshikawa.”
“Is that Madonna not all right?”
“That Madonna-san is a Madonna not all right.”
“What a bore! We haven’t any decent woman among those with nicknames from old days. I should suppose the Madonna is not all right.”
“Exactly. We have had awful women such
–148–
