Light and dark

[10]

THE IMPOSING door at the entrance was closed as always. Tsuda glanced carelessly through the thick lattice bars set into the upper half of the door as though carved there. Just inside, a large granite platform waited quietly for shoes. Beyond, a cast-iron lamp shade was suspended from the center of the ceiling. Tsuda, who until now had never once set foot inside this entrance hall, circled to the side of the house and announced himself at the inner entrance immediately adjacent to the student room.*

“He hasn’t returned as yet.”

The houseboy in student hakama who kneeled in front of him answered simply. His attitude, which seemed to suggest an expectation that the visitor would now take his leave, was a little disconcerting. Finally Tsuda followed his first inquiry with a second.

“Is the lady of the house at home?”

“Yes. Mrs. Yoshikawa is here.”

To tell the truth, it was his wife more than Yoshikawa himself with whom Tsuda was on intimate terms. On the way to the house he had been largely animated by a desire for a meeting with her.

“Please let her know I’m here.”

To this new houseboy, seeing him for the first time, he addressed an amended request. The youth withdrew again into the house with what appeared to be equanimity. When he reappeared he said, in a slightly formal tone, “Mrs. Yoshikawa says she will see you if you’ll please follow me,” and led Tsuda to the Western-style drawing room. No sooner had he taken a seat, before tea and a cigarette tray had been brought in, than Yoshikawa’s wife appeared.

“You’re on your way home?”

Tsuda had taken a seat and had to stand again.

“How is your wife doing?” Settling herself into a chair, having responded to his greeting with a mere nod of her head, Madam Yoshikawa asked her second question at once.

Tsuda’s smile was strained. He didn’t know how to reply.

“Now that you’re a married man, we rarely have the pleasure of your company.”

There was no hint of reserve in her voice. She regarded steadily the younger man before her. Younger and, now as before, beneath her in social standing.

“I imagine you’re still happy.”

Tsuda held perfectly still, as though enduring the fine sand kicked up by a wind.

“Although it’s certainly been a while.”

“I suppose — half a year and a little.”

“How time flies! It seems like yesterday — and how is it going these days?”

“How’s what going?”

“How are you getting along with your bride?”

“No complaints in particular—”

“So the honeymoon is already over? I don’t believe it.”

“There never was a honeymoon.”

“Then it’s coming. If you weren’t happy in the beginning then happiness is on the way.”

“Thanks — I’ll be sure to look forward to that.”

“By the way, how old are you?”

“Am I on trial?”

“Of course not. I asked because I want to know. Please give me a straight answer.”

“As you wish — I’m actually thirty.”

“So — thirty-one next year?”

“If things go according to plan, yes.”

“And O-Nobu?”

“Twenty-three.”

“Next year?”

“Now.”

* A student room, usually adjacent to the kitchen, is a room made available to a university student in exchange for houseboy duties.