ところが
We're talking of schooled gentlemen here, however, who are not so easily warned off. No sooner were they chased away, than they regrouped and reappeared. On reappearing, they broke back out in song. They jawed away in excited voices. Their chatter was peculiar, punctuated by phrases like "yous" and "beats me." Such expressions, they say, were in pre-Restoration times the exclusive realm of squires, palanquin bearers, and bathhouse helpers. Now however, in this twentieth century, they mark the speech of schooled young men. Much as it was with physical activity, what once was frowned on is now in vogue. On one occasion, the master flew from his study, grabbed the most ardent practitioner of this new speech, and grilled him as to what he was doing there. Flustered, the other party forgot his "yous" and "beats me" and lapsed back into the common tongue. "We took this for the school's botanical grounds," he replied. The master administered a stern warning and let him go. The term "let him go" is a little odd, as though the lad were a caught turtle, but in fact the master had been clutching his shirt sleeve the whole time. The master, as I hear it told, believed with this he'd won the day. As far back as the ages of gods and godesses, however, it's a simple truth that expectations go unmet. The master had miscalculated. Their next move was to come from the north, traverse the grounds, and pass out through the main gate. They opened the gate with a clang. Just as one thought a caller had come, laughter would echo from the stand of pawlonias. The situation had gone from bad to worse. The power of education was, at last, asserting itself. My poor master, acknowledging that he was in over his head, retreated to his study and penned a careful letter to the principal of Rakuunkan, entreating him to intervene. The principal, writing back in cordial fashion, promised to erect a fence in due time. After some days, workmen appeared, and in half a day's time a lattice bamboo fence, a meter in height, partitioned the school property from the master's grounds. The master was elated, resting assured that all was now well. The master is a fool. These young gentlemen were not about to be daunted by the presence of a mere fence.