Read Online To the Spring Equinox and Beyond by Natsume Sōseki - Free Book Online
Authors: Natsume Sōseki
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told her to hurry it in, and he finished as quickly as he could.
On the streetcar Keitaro recalled Taguchi's attitude toward him two nights ago. This time too would he be treated in the same rough off-handed manner? Or would he be given a more favorable reception, since the other party had consented to see him? He was prepared to stoop a little, even to put up with being made to feel awkward, as long as he could obtain a good position through the gentleman's kind offices. But he had been offended by the servant who had received his telephone call and who, in less than five minutes, had changed his manner of speech for the worse. He hoped the impertinent boy would not greet him at the door. His frame of mind was such that while he had been insulted by the servant's manner, he was himself unaware that he himself had spoken over the phone somewhat too arrogantly for a person of his status.
At the corner of Ogawamachi, a glimpse from the streetcar to the side street leading to Sunaga's reminded him suddenly of the woman's figure he had seen from behind, and his imagination emerged all at once from shadow to sunshine. It was far more exhilarating to tell himself that he was on his way to the place where Sunaga's pretty cousin lived than to be conscious that he was out to beg some means of livelihood from an old man who, for all the pains he was being put to, would certainly not present a smiling face to him. He had decided, quite arbitrarily, that old Taguchi and Sunaga's cousin had to be father and daughter. Yet the two were decidedly separate in his mind. The other night when he had stood face to face with Taguchi at the entrance to his house, the light had made it difficult to discern the other's features, but as far as he had judged from the contour of Taguchi's face, it was not dignified. That first impression of the older man, even if seen only at night, was indisputably registered in his mind. Yet in spite of this impression, it had never occurred to him that the man's daughter, whatever her relationship to Sunaga, was not good-looking. The idea he had of the Taguchis, therefore, was like a double-sided picture, as it were, light in front, dark in back, each side seeming to be simultaneously separate and yet united into one sheet.
Having turned the picture this way and that, Keitaro found himself standing before Taguchi's gate. The sight of an automobile parked there with a chauffeur inside gave him a slightly uneasy feeling.
He went up to the entrance and handed his card to a young houseboy in a duck-cloth hakama. The houseboy told him to wait a moment and carried his calling card inside. Finding that the voice was certainly the same as the one he had heard on the phone, Keitaro, watching the retreating figure, thought him an obnoxious kid.
The boy returned with the card still in his hand. "Sorry," he said, standing in front of Keitaro, "but we have a visitor. Some other time, please."
Vexed, Keitaro said, "I inquired just before on the phone. I was told that you had a visitor then and that I should come around one in the afternoon."
"The visitor hasn't left yet. They're busy with lunch and so forth."
If listened to with composure, the excuse might have been regarded as not altogether implausible, but to Keitaro, who had already been aggravated with the boy since their telephone conversation, these words gave further offense. "Are they really?" he said, and then added, perhaps anticipating what the boy ought to have replied, "Sorry to have caused you so much trouble," concluding with, "Return my thanks for your master's kindness!"
With these inconsistent words as a parting shot, Keitaro whisked round the automobile at the gate as if to say, "Damn that car!"
After finishing the interview, Keitaro had planned to visit a friend who had recently married and settled in a new house in Tsukiji, talking with him till evening and offering an enjoyable account of the relations with Sunaga, Sunaga's cousin, and his uncle,
On the streetcar Keitaro recalled Taguchi's attitude toward him two nights ago. This time too would he be treated in the same rough off-handed manner? Or would he be given a more favorable reception, since the other party had consented to see him? He was prepared to stoop a little, even to put up with being made to feel awkward, as long as he could obtain a good position through the gentleman's kind offices. But he had been offended by the servant who had received his telephone call and who, in less than five minutes, had changed his manner of speech for the worse. He hoped the impertinent boy would not greet him at the door. His frame of mind was such that while he had been insulted by the servant's manner, he was himself unaware that he himself had spoken over the phone somewhat too arrogantly for a person of his status.
At the corner of Ogawamachi, a glimpse from the streetcar to the side street leading to Sunaga's reminded him suddenly of the woman's figure he had seen from behind, and his imagination emerged all at once from shadow to sunshine. It was far more exhilarating to tell himself that he was on his way to the place where Sunaga's pretty cousin lived than to be conscious that he was out to beg some means of livelihood from an old man who, for all the pains he was being put to, would certainly not present a smiling face to him. He had decided, quite arbitrarily, that old Taguchi and Sunaga's cousin had to be father and daughter. Yet the two were decidedly separate in his mind. The other night when he had stood face to face with Taguchi at the entrance to his house, the light had made it difficult to discern the other's features, but as far as he had judged from the contour of Taguchi's face, it was not dignified. That first impression of the older man, even if seen only at night, was indisputably registered in his mind. Yet in spite of this impression, it had never occurred to him that the man's daughter, whatever her relationship to Sunaga, was not good-looking. The idea he had of the Taguchis, therefore, was like a double-sided picture, as it were, light in front, dark in back, each side seeming to be simultaneously separate and yet united into one sheet.
Having turned the picture this way and that, Keitaro found himself standing before Taguchi's gate. The sight of an automobile parked there with a chauffeur inside gave him a slightly uneasy feeling.
He went up to the entrance and handed his card to a young houseboy in a duck-cloth hakama. The houseboy told him to wait a moment and carried his calling card inside. Finding that the voice was certainly the same as the one he had heard on the phone, Keitaro, watching the retreating figure, thought him an obnoxious kid.
The boy returned with the card still in his hand. "Sorry," he said, standing in front of Keitaro, "but we have a visitor. Some other time, please."
Vexed, Keitaro said, "I inquired just before on the phone. I was told that you had a visitor then and that I should come around one in the afternoon."
"The visitor hasn't left yet. They're busy with lunch and so forth."
If listened to with composure, the excuse might have been regarded as not altogether implausible, but to Keitaro, who had already been aggravated with the boy since their telephone conversation, these words gave further offense. "Are they really?" he said, and then added, perhaps anticipating what the boy ought to have replied, "Sorry to have caused you so much trouble," concluding with, "Return my thanks for your master's kindness!"
With these inconsistent words as a parting shot, Keitaro whisked round the automobile at the gate as if to say, "Damn that car!"
After finishing the interview, Keitaro had planned to visit a friend who had recently married and settled in a new house in Tsukiji, talking with him till evening and offering an enjoyable account of the relations with Sunaga, Sunaga's cousin, and his uncle,
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