Tsuda opened the envelope without replying. The letter it contained was not overly long. It was, moreover, written in characters so large that the contents could be gleaned at a glance. Even so, the women exchanged no comments as they had about the books of humor. Instead they focused intently on the scrolled letter in front of them. Thus it was that by the time Tsuda had finished reading it, returned it to its envelope, and dropped it on the tatami next to his pillow, they were both aware of its gist. O-Hide made a point of inquiring.
“What did he write, Brother?”
Tsuda merely shrugged. O-Hide turned briefly away. Then she inquired again.
“I assume it’s just as I said?”
The contents of the letter were as she had surmised. But his sister’s complacency annoyed Tsuda. Even without the additional provocation, he was already too angry at her to provide a spontaneous reply.
[105]
O-NOBU WAS able to read her husband’s mood distinctly. In her heart she feared yet another upheaval. And she had her doubts about her husband’s real intention. His normal behavior as she observed it was testimony in all things to self-control. Beyond self-control, there was also an accompanying coldness when he was looking down on someone deep inside himself. She believed there was also something more lurking inside this special quality of his, beyond her ability to manage. This was still an unknown quantity, but she was convinced that if only she could bring it to light she would be able to handle him to her satisfaction easily enough. Characterizing him as he revealed himself on the surface was a matter of no great difficulty. He was a person not easily angered. But why would someone who didn’t, in the English phrase, lose his temper begin to crack open this way in front of his own sister? Properly speaking, why had he already cracked so unequivocally before O-Nobu had entered the room? In any event, she would have to interpose herself between them before they summoned back the wave that had begun to recede. She attempted to make herself a party to the argument.
“Did you receive a letter from Father as well?”
“From Mother.”
“I see — about this same matter?”
“Correct.”
O-Hide said nothing more. O-Nobu pressed ahead.
“I suppose they have their own expenses in Kyoto. And it’s not as though this wasn’t our fault to begin with.”
The jewel on O-Nobu’s finger had never appeared so dazzling to O-Hide as at this moment. She spoke.
“I doubt it’s about that. Old people are set in their ways; they believe in Brother. They assume he’ll figure out a way to manage a minor problem like this.”
O-Nobu smiled.
“Of course we’ll manage somehow if it comes to that. Won’t we, Yoshio!”
O-Nobu looked at Tsuda with eyes that appealed, Say right away that we’ll be fine. Tsuda saw that he was being signaled, but he couldn’t comprehend the message in O-Nobu’s eyes. He said again what he repeated constantly.
“It’s nothing we can’t manage, but I can’t help thinking that what Father says is weird. He rebuilt a fence, the rent is late — those expenses add up to nothing.”
“I don’t think we can assume that, Yoshio-san! Until we have a house of our own.”
“We damn well have a house!”
O-Nobu smiled in her singular way, this time at O-Hide.
O-Hide responded, returning unstintingly the same degree of charm.
“Brother suspects there’s a plot behind this.”
“That’s mean of you, Yoshio, to be suspicious of Father. Father has no reason to be plotting anything. Don’t you agree, O-Hide?”
“It’s not Father and Mother; he thinks there’s a plot elsewhere.”
“Elsewhere?”
O-Nobu looked surprised.
“Yes — he’s definitely thinking it’s someone else.”
O-Nobu turned back to her husband.
“Yoshio, what does that mean?”
“O-Hide said it, ask her.”
O-Nobu smiled uncomfortably. O-Hide’s turn to speak had come round again.
“Brother thinks that I secretly provoked Kyoto.”
“But why?”
O-Nobu was unable to say more. And what she had said was meaningless. O-Hide promptly stepped into the emptiness.
“That’s why he’s been in such a foul mood. Not that we don’t fight whenever we get near each other. Especially since this affair.”
“How awful,” O-Nobu exclaimed with a sigh and turned to Tsuda yet again.
“But can that be true? I can’t imagine you thinking something so unmanly.”
“I wouldn’t know, but it seems that’s how it appears to my little sister.”
“But why would Hideko-san do something like that?”
“To punish me, maybe. I don’t really know.”
“For what? What have you done that deserves punishment?”
“I couldn’t say.”
Tsuda was clearly annoyed. O-Nobu looked at O-Hide as if she had no one else to turn to. The expression that furrowed her brow above her small eyes might have been an appeal for help.
[106]
“MY BIG brother is so obstinate,” O-Hide said abruptly. Having been driven into the position of having to offer her sister-in-law an explanation, she felt in her heart even as she spoke a renewed hatred for her. She had never seen a woman so brazen and disingenuous as O-Nobu appeared to her at that moment.
“It’s true, I have a stubborn husband,” O-Nobu said, turning at once toward Tsuda. “You really are stubborn, Yoshio! It’s just as Hideko-san says. It’s a trait you really must work on.”
“What’s so stubborn about me?”
“I can’t say exactly—”
“Is it that I’ll try anything I can think of to get money out of Father?”
“That’s it, yes.”
“But I haven’t said a word about extracting money.”
“No, how could you? And even if you did, what good would it do?”
“Then how am I being stubborn?”
“It’s no good your asking because I just don’t know. But it’s there somewhere, a stubborn part.”
“Idiot!”
Notwithstanding this imprecation, O-Nobu’s smile was if anything contented. O-Hide could endure no more.
“Brother! Why won’t you accept what I brought you without protesting? Gratefully.”
“Grateful or ungrateful, stubborn or meek as a lamb hardly matters, I don’t see you offering me anything.”
“How can I offer when you won’t tell me you’ll accept?”
“From where I stand, I can’t accept anything because you’ve given me nothing to accept.”
“But if you don’t acknowledge you’re accepting something when you take it, I can’t feel good about it either.”
“Then what should I do?”
“It should be plain as day.”
All three were silent a moment.
Tsuda spoke up abruptly.
“O-Nobu, how about apologizing to O-Hide?”
O-Nobu looked at her husband as though dismayed.
“For what?”
“I think she intends to give me what she’s brought if only you’ll apologize. That’s what O-Hide is thinking.”
“I don’t mind apologizing. If you tell me to, I’ll apologize as much as you like. It’s just that—”
O-Nobu looked at O-Hide entreatingly. O-Hide interrupted.
“Brother, what are you saying? When did I say I wanted an apology from Sister? If you accuse me falsely of something like that, how will I look Sister in the eye?”
Silence descended once again. Tsuda intentionally said nothing. There was no necessity for O-Nobu to speak. O-Hide gathered herself.
“Believe it or not, Brother, I think of myself as dutiful where you two are concerned.”