Page:Tayama Katai and His Novel Entitled Futon (Reece).pdf/203

 Tokio again prostrated his lanky body on a nearby public bench as if oppressed by the unbearable power of nature. When Tokio looked up he saw that a big dimly-lit moon of red-copperish color had risen over the pine trees by the moat of the shrine. Its color, its shape seemed very lonely. When Tokio thought its isolation was well matched with his own present loneliness, once again unbearable grief filled his mind.

He was now sober. The evening dew had begun to form.

He arrived in front of his sister-in-law's house at Sanban-Chō in Dote.

He peeped in but he could not see any light in Yoshiko's room. It seemed that she had not yet come home. Tokio's brain was again on fire. On this night, this dark night with her sweetheart, just the two of them! Who could tell what they were doing? What did she mean by daring to act like this, their action lacked common sense, yet she insisted that their love was untainted. What rights did they have to defend their unblemished behavior?

He thought of entering the house without wasting any time, but believing that it was useless since Yoshiko had not returned home, he passed on by the house. Each time he passed a woman, he carefully scanned her face to see if it was Yoshiko. He prowled around the dike, through the pine trees, and the corners of the main street so much that he aroused the suspicions of passers-by. It was nearly nine o'clock. No, close to ten. Say what one would about it being a summer night, there was no reason for her to be walking around so late. Thinking it was about time she should have been home, Tokio turned