Page:Modern Japanese Stories.pdf/48

 by Tokuda Shūsei

She had no great expectations. All she hoped was that she would attain a degree of economic security befitting her modest station in life and, when she got married, an average amount of conjugal happiness. Unlike her younger sisters, who had all succeeded in finding jobs with good prospects, she was in the dismal position of having to get married in order to live. Worse still, the years were passing rapidly as she wavered and soon she would be too old to make a satisfactory marriage.

At the moment she was working as cashier in a cheap restaurant on the Ginza. The waitresses were all about the same age as her youngest sister and they vividly brought home to Kanako the fact that she herself had already passed the prime of her youth. It had been different in the hosiery factory where she had worked before.

She often thought about that factory. It specialized in the manufacture of tabi. Unfortunately the owner had started to run after women. As a result he had neglected his factory and business had fallen off badly. Just then he had died. His widow was a clever woman. Rising to the occasion,