brothers would ask when they came home from school, and in his mind he was puzzling what to answer them.
A little before noon, the two brothers returned one after the other, in very good spirits. The first, finding Sode-ko in bed, said in surprise:
“What are you doing there? Whatever is the matter?” Sode-ko shrank back a little in her bed when she saw his jeering face. It was hard for her to keep back her tears. He knew nothing about her indisposition, and seemed to understand nothing, but continued roughly.
“How can you stay away from school only because you have a headache? You molly-coddle!”
“Don’t be so hard on her,” Ohatsu answered, trying to make him be quiet. “I advised her to remain at home. Do not blame her, but me.”
A strange silence followed, and even the father was unable to explain things in any better way. He paced to and fro along the corridor of Sode-ko’s room, and it seemed to him that the last day of his daughter’s childhood had come. The day when she was no longer his cherished doll had arrived.
“Ohatsu, I beg you to take charge of Sode-ko.” After saying this, he went back to his room.
Sode-ko spent a distressing and hateful day in bed. In the evening, she heard Mitsuko’s high voice, mingled with the voices of other little girls and boys playing outside. The evening was mild and sweet, and Sode-ko knew that young green grass would be spring-
