He wanted to place his daunted spirit in Tomo’s protective arms. The emotion he felt now was one that he could not possibly divulge to Suga or Yumi, whom he petted as one would care for a goldfish or a caged bird. The wound could only be soothed, the blood only staunched, by a woman stronger and more resilient of will than himself. And yet he was merely imposing a maternal image on one in whom the love once sensitive enough to have detected in him such a subtle injury of the soul had long since turned utterly to ashes. The sight of Shirakawa’s ill-tempered face merely made Tomo fold her arms defensively and avoid anything that would aggravate his mood, much as she would have avoided touching an angry boil. The advent of a new concubine in addition to Suga merely made her apprehensive as to how Yumi’s nature would develop in their household, and failed entirely to kindle any keen fires of jealousy.

So it was that when Tomo that night broached the subject of the letter from Yumi’s home her voice was quiet, with a hesitant tone as though it were she who was making an unreasonable demand, as though she were on her guard lest by giving her husband offense she should complicate things still further.

‘Since her family are former samurai, I’m afraid things are likely to be rather awkward.’

‘I doubt it. According to Sonoda, the girl called Mitsu who came with her was secretly worrying in case she became a concubine. It seems Yumi’s mother worked as a maid on the private quarters of Lord Toda, so she should be well up in these things. I expect it all comes down to a question of the family’s honor, and ultimately of money.’

He spoke as though the affair had no direct connection with himself, resting a sharp gaze on Tomo as he spoke. He was irritated not so much by the affair of Yumi in itself as by the fact that Tomo seemed less perturbed than when she had first brought Suga home.

‘How much?’ asked Tomo, looking him in the eye. She too felt a sense of distaste at her own moral indifference, at the absence of offended sensibilities with which she had learned of the loss of Yumi’s virginity.

‘The same as in Suga’s case, I imagine. If anything,’ he said coldly, with an air of finality, ‘it should be cheaper this time.’ The sneering implication was that Yumi was a less substantial, shallower kind of girl than Suga. For he had loved Suga besides Tomo, and Yumi besides Suga, and what difference had it made to the world in which he lived? He folded his arms with a sense of desolation, fighting against the loneliness that swept through him like a chill, dark wind.

II

The Moon of the Twenty-sixth Night

‘The carriages are coming … The bride! The bride!’