... 'Tis useless to think of
it. Perhaps some expedient will come to mind." She brought out the arm
rest and placed it near his side. Then she sat apart watching him. From
time to time was heard the tap of her pipe as she knocked out the ashes.
At last, overcome by sleep and seeing no sign of movement on the
husband's part, she went off to bed, expecting that he would soon
follow.

She woke with a start--"Father! Father!" The voice of O'Tsuru rang
sharply in her ears. Dazed she half rose and looked around her. The
daylight streamed through the closed _amado_. She had been dreaming.
With surprise she noted her husband's absence. Had he gone forth? The
cries of a bean curd seller were heard without--"_To[u]fu!_ _To[u]fu!_
The best of _to[u]fu_!" The palatable, cheap, and nutritious food was a
standard meal in this house as in many others of Nippon. Akiyama was
most generous in indulgence of his passions for gambling, wine, and the
women of Shinjuku; and his household with equal generosity were indulged
in an economical regimen of _to[u]fu_. The wife rose to answer the call
of the street huckster. Her surprise increased as she found every means
of exit bolted and barred, as during the night. The open sliding window
in the kitchen roof caught her eye. Surely he had not departed that way!
As she opened the back door a murmur of voices, as in the roadway or
close by, struck her ear. The _to[u]fu_ seller had his head turned away
looking upward. At her call he turned quickly with apology--"Good day,
honoured lady. A strange event! Ah! The honoured household still sleeps.
All is silent.... Strange indeed! A man has hung himself on the big oak
tree in the temple ground. Deign to look." He pointed to the big tree
close by in the grounds of the Myo[u]gyo[u]ji.[35] Sure enough: forty
feet from the ground dangled the body of a man. It swayed gently to and
fro in harmony with the movement of the branches. A hand seemed to grasp
the heart of Tsuyu. The branches of the tree reached far over their
roof. The open _hikimado_! With feeble voice she said--"My husband; he
is strangely absent. Deign, somebody, to climb up and find out whether
this man is--of the ward." The startled _to[u]fu_ seller hastened to get
aid. Several men entered the garden, quickly mounted to the roof, and
thus reached the tree. Said the topmost fellow--"Ma! Ma! It is no pretty
sight. He makes a hideous spectacle. The face is black as a rice boiler.
The eyes stand ou