75
III
Since then one year and a half had passed until the present event occurred.
During that time Yoshiko had returned twice to her home. In the meantime she wrote five short stories, one long novel, and scores of literary essays, as well as some new-style poems [free verse]. She excelled in English at the women's college, and she bought the complete works of Turgenev, selected by Tokio, from the Maruzen Bookstore. Her first visit to her home was during the summer vacation; the second visit was on the advice of a doctor to recuperate from a nervous breakdown in the quiet mountain village of her home.
The house where Yoshiko stayed was located at Dote Sanban-Chō in Kōjimachi, close to the dyke where the Kōbu Line passed. Her study was a room of eight mats. It was the inner guest room of the house, but the neighborhood was quite noisy, as the house faced a heavily travelled street where men were passing by and children played noisily. In her room, there was a bookcase, which was smaller than Tokio's bookcase that was used for western books in his study. By her bookcase there was a desk of lacquered papier-maché, and on it was a mirror, a powder plate, a bottle of white lotion, as well as a large bottle containing potassium bromide, which, according to her, was used to cure nagging headaches that were caused by her nervousness. In her bookcase, one could find the complete works of Kōyō, the ballad dramas of Chikamatsu, and some English textbooks; particularly noticeable were the complete works of Turgenev which she had recently bought.
