The Wild Geese Read Online Free PDF Page B

all overwhelmed, her eyes taking in everything with curiosity. The vision of a chubby girl with a pretty face swept through Suezo's mind, but the woman who appeared before him was totally different. Time had changed her. She was a thin, graceful beauty. She had arranged her hair in the style of a future bride and was without the customary make-up demanded on such occasions. Suezo had prepared himself for the pleasure, but he had not expected that the woman would be as she was. His eyes probed and registered. She was beyond anything he had imagined, and, for that, all the more beautiful.
    Otama was also surprised. She had previously thought that she did not care what the merchant was like. She would sell herself to anyone, no matter what his personality. She would do anything for her father. But on seeing Suezo's dark features, his keen but engaging eyes, and his elegant yet restrained kimono, she felt momentarily relieved, like a person escaping from a hopeless situation.
    â€œPlease,” said Suezo politely to the old man, “come in.” He spoke first to the old man and pointed to the interior of the room.
    â€œPlease,” he repeated, turning to Otama.
    After the father and daughter had entered the room, Suezo called the go-between to a sheltered part of the corridor, put some money wrapped in paper into her hand, and whispered into her ear. The woman smiled, her teeth stained with traces of black dye, and bowing her head several times in appreciation and laughing contemptuously, she hurried away along the corridor.
    When Suezo returned, he found his guests huddled together at the entrance.
    â€œCome now. Sit down. Please—on these cushions.” This done, he called out: “And now for the dishes!”
    Soon saké and some light refreshments were brought in. As Suezo filled the old man's cup and exchanged a few words with him, he could tell from his manner that he had seen better days and had not simply dressed up for his first visit to a fancy restaurant.
    At the beginning, Suezo had thought of the old man as a nuisance and was annoyed at having him there, but when he began to talk confidentially, Suezo's attitude softened. He went out of his way to make himself pleasant to the old man and to show the good he had in him. Inwardly Suezo was glad that he had been offered an opportunity to win Otama's trust by treating her father in this way.
    By the time the dishes had been carried into the room, it seemed as though all three of them had dropped in to dine after a family excursion. Suezo, who was usually a tyrant in his own home and who was alternately obeyed and resisted by his wife, felt a placid and delicate delight that he had never felt before when he saw Otama take up a saké bottle and fill his cup, her face blushing and revealing a modest smile. While Suezo knew intuitively and unconsciously a happiness whose shadow floated like a vision in Otama's presence, he lacked the fine reasoning that would have made him reflect why his home life was devoid of such happiness, nor could he calculate how much was required to maintain such an unusual feeling—in fact, whether or not the requirement might be satisfied by him and his wife.
    â€œPlease!” shouted a voice against the beating of a pair of wooden clappers just outside the fence. “Your favorite actors!”
    Upstairs the music stopped, and a maid said something from the railing.
    â€œThank you,” said the man outside. And he called out the names of two Kabuki players.
    The actor-imitator began to perform at once.
    â€œWe're lucky,” said the maid, entering the room with another container of saké. “A real mimic's come tonight!”
    â€œWhat's that?” asked Suezo. “Are there false mimics along with the true ones?”
    â€œOh, yes. Lately, a university student's been going around.”
    â€œYou mean he can actually play an instrument too?” asked Suezo.
    â€œOf course, just like a