A Passional Karma
81
rated with peony-flowers,[1] appeared to be a servant;—the other was a slender girl of about seventeen, wearing a long-sleeved robe embroidered with designs of autumn-blossoms. Almost at the same instant both women turned their faces toward Shinzaburō;—and to his utter astonishment, he recognized O-Tsuyu and her servant O-Yoné.
They stopped immediately; and the girl cried out,—
“Oh, how strange! … Hagiwara Sama!”
Shinzaburō simultaneously called to the maid:—
“O-Yoné! Ah, you are O-Yoné!—I remember you very well.”
“Hagiwara Sama!” exclaimed O-Yoné in a tone of supreme amazement. “Never could I have believed it possible! … Sir, we were told that you had died.”
- ↑ The sort of lantern here referred to is no longer made; and its shape can best be understood by a glance at the picture accompanying this story. It was totally unlike the modern domestic hand-lantern, painted with the owner’s crest; but it was not altogether unlike some forms of lanterns still manufactured for the Festival of the Dead, and called Bon-dōrō. The flowers ornamenting it were not painted: they were artificial flowers of crêpe-silk, and were attached to the top of the lantern.
