Page:Tayama Katai and His Novel Entitled Futon (Reece).pdf/171

 For a student at a woman's college, Yoshiko's attire was too flashy. Her slender figure was tied with a beautiful obi which was of the latest fashion, a gold ring adorned one of her fingers and her overall appearance was enough to attract people's attention when she was walking on the street. Her face could not be considered so beautiful as it was expressive. Sometimes it seemed extremely beautiful, but at other times it seemed somewhat plain. Her eyes twinkled expressively and they were constantly on the move. Women up until four or five years ago could only express their feelings when they were upset, or when they were smiling, and so forth. They were limited to three or at the most four facial expressions. Now however, the number of women who expressed their emotions had increased. Tokio thought that Yoshiko was one of these modern women.

The relationship between Tokio and Yoshiko was too familiar for simply that of a mentor and a pupil. A woman who could not mind her own business had observed Yoshiko and Tokio and said to his wife, "Tokio-san has completely changed since Yoshiko-san came to your home. Looking at the way these two people are behaving, it would seem as if their two souls are absorbed in each other. You had better be on your guard." There was no doubt, of course, that this affair would look that way seen from the outside. But were they actually so intimate?

Young women's hearts are easily carried away. One minute they seem to be gay but the next minute they are depressed. They are easily excited by trifling things, and equally readily hurt by matters of no importance. Tokio was ceaselessly perplexed over Yoshiko's gentle attitude that neither seemed to be one of love, nor yet not of love.