143
About ten o'clock in the morning Mr. Yokoyama accompanied by Yoshiko came to Tokio's house. Finally they had decided to leave Tokyo on the six o'clock Kobe Express that evening; they wanted only to pick up her personal effects, requesting that Tokio later ship the rest of Yoshiko's luggage to her home. Yoshiko went upstairs to her room, and at once started to pack her belongings. Tokio was still angry but he was in a better mood than yesterday. He felt on the one hand a sense of indescribable loneliness when he considered that he would not be able to see her beautiful expression as they would be separated by a distance of about 500 miles. On the other hand he felt at least relaxed when he thought that he had transferred Yoshiko from the hands of his rival to those of her father. Tokio cheerfully devoted himself by talking on various topics with Mr. Yokoyama. Mr. Yokoyama, as was the case with country gentlemen, had a hobby of collecting art objects. He favored the paintings of Sesshū, Ōkyo, Yōsai, and the calliographies of San'yō, Chikuden, Kaioku, and Sazan; he possessed many hanging scrolls by these artists. Consequently, their talk centered around art objects. Their casual talk about art brightened up the atmosphere of the room for the time being.
Tanaka arrived and asked to see Tokio. Tokio met him in the eight-mat room after closing the sliding door between the eight and six-mat rooms. The old man remained in the six-mat room. Yoshiko was upstairs in her room.
"Is he going home?"
"Yes, in any case he's going home."
"Is Yoshiko-san also going?"
