Page:Eminent Authors of Contemporary Japan.pdf/80

66 *Asa.—No, Sir; I have been working as a coolie for over a year.
 * Koyama.—Then your husband has been ill all that time, and you had to work to help him?
 * Asa.—He had been ill for a long time before that, Sir, but a year ago, he had to cease work, for he was too ill….
 * Koyama.—And then you took his place?
 * Asa.—Yes.
 * Koyama.—You must have been in rather straightened circumstances then, eh?
 * Asa.—Often we had nothing at all to eat for two or three days at a time. Worse than that, Sir; during that time, we lost two children.
 * Koyama.—From the same disease?
 * Asa.—Yes, they were always coughing up blood, and it was awful to see them suffer, for the blood in their throats nearly choked them. I often had to put my finger down to pull out great clots of blood so that they would not die.
 * Koyama.—And so, during that one year and a half, you lost your husband and two children?
 * Asa.—Yes.
 * Koyama.—If what you tell me is true, then you should have been more careful in bestowing greater love on your last born.
 * Asa.—Oh, yes, yes, I know you are right, Sir!
 * Koyama.—Then, why did you kill it?
 * Asa.—(Bursts loudly into tears again.)
 * Koyama.—What is the matter now, woman?