to suffer. He therefore resolved to watch; and on the following night he stole on tiptoe to Shinzaburō’s dwelling, and looked through a chink in one of the sliding shutters. By the glow of a night-lantern within the sleeping-room, he was able to perceive that his master and a strange woman were talking together under the mosquito-net. At first he could not see the woman distinctly. Her back was turned to him;—he only observed that she was very slim, and that she appeared to be very young,—judging from the fashion of her dress and hair.[1] Putting his ear to the chink, he could hear the conversation plainly. The woman said:—
“And if I should be disowned by my father, would you then let me come and live with you?”
Shinzaburō answered:—
“Most assuredly I would—nay, I should be glad of the chance. But there is no reason to fear that you will ever be disowned by your father; for you are his only daughter, and he loves you very much. What I do fear is that some day we shall be cruelly separated.”
- ↑ The color and form of the dress, and the style of wearing the hair, are by Japanese custom regulated according to the age of the woman.
