Page:Eminent Authors of Contemporary Japan.pdf/106

90 A week later her health was quite restored. All that flows is pure. As the young grass gathers strength to grow from the snow of spring, so did Sode-ko rapidly become stronger and more full of life. She looked about her and said to herself:

“At last, I feel well and at ease again in my heart.” But something struck her as she looked round her. It was a deep feeling of sadness at the thought of parting with her childhood. She could no longer look at the children with the same eyes as before, and when she beheld Mitsu-ko running merrily around the house, with laughing, artless face, and her little head of dark fleecy hair, she longed to be back again in her own innocent childhood.

The difference between man and woman was plain to her now. Quite unlike her free and easy-going brothers, she felt that she must stand on her guard. If she had not yet thoroughly learned about the world of grown-up people, she had at least peeped into it, and she was filled with wonder at its inexpressible mysteries.

Ohatsu, who loved children dearly, would often bring Kinnosuke to her home and play with him. The innocent boy clung to Sode-ko’s shoulders, or followed her about as usual.

“Char-chan!”

There was no change in the sweet voice of Kinnosuke. But Sode-ko felt that he could not hold him in her arms as she used to do in the days that had passed.