Page:Eminent Authors of Contemporary Japan, volume 2.pdf/162

136 “Well …”

“But I’m told that our announcer thought that Fan had missed his aim.”

“Did he? But wasn’t it natural for your announcer to think such a thing when he was acquainted with the uhappyunhappy [sic] relationship that existed between the couples?”

“It may be so, but even though I thought at first that Fan’s deed had been intentional, after carefully considering about it again, I now fancy that my judgment may have been prejudiced by knowing too much about the private life of the couple.”

“What was Fan’s attitude at that time?”

“As the knife hit, he sprang forward with a shriek. After that I saw blood bursting from the woman’s neck. She stood still for a minute, and then bending her knees suddenly, was suspended a few moments by the knives sticking all round her. As they gradually began to fall off the board one by one, her body collapsed, face downwards. Nobody dared to move. Everyone of the audience stared as if turned stone. I can’t speak definitely about Fan’s attitude at the time, because for the moment I was too much taken aback, but I suppose that for a few moments he also must have been rather dazed. After that it dawned upon me that he had killed his wife. Then I noticed that he had turned deathly pale, and was standing stock still with his eyes closed. As the stage curtain came down, we rushed to the poor woman and raised her body, but found that she was dead. Fan at that time