When they were leaving, the silence as they walked lasted for a hit or two. Then suddenly the teacher spoke up.

'I did a bad thing. I left in anger and my wife must be very worried. I feel sorry for women when I think about it. My wife, for example, has nothing else to rely on but me."

　The teacher's words trailed off there for a bit, but he didn't seem to be expecting a response from me, and moved straight on to the rest of the story.

'When you say it like that, it's a little funny how stout-hearted my husband seems. 'You, how do I look in your eyes? Do I look strong or weak?"

'It looks medium,' I replied. This answer seemed a little surprising to the teacher. The teacher closed her mouth again and walked away in silence.

　The route back to the teacher's house was by my lodgings. I felt sorry for him that we had come that far and had to part at a corner. I asked him if he would like me to accompany him to his house. Sensei suddenly interrupted me with his hand.

'It's late, go home early. I'm going home early too, for you, my wife.'

　The doctor's final addition, 'for my wife's sake', strangely warmed my heart at the time. Because of those words, I was able to sleep peacefully after I returned home. I did not forget the words 'for my wife' for a long time afterwards.

　I could see that the upheaval between the doctor and his wife was not a big deal. I could almost guess that it was not a phenomenon that happened very often, as I have been in and out of the house constantly since then. On the contrary, he even expressed this impression to me one day.

'I know only one woman in the world, and that is my wife. Other than my wife, few women appeal to me as women. Even my wife thinks of me as the only man in the world. In that sense, we should be the happiest pair of born human beings."

　I can't say for sure why the teacher made me make this confession, because I have forgotten where I went back and forth. However, I still remember the seriousness of his attitude and the somber tone of his voice. The only thing that struck a strange chord in my ears at that time was the last phrase: "We should be a pair of the happiest of people". Why did the teacher refuse to say that they were happy people, but rather that they should be? That was the only thing that was suspicious to me. I was especially suspicious of the way he put a kind of emphasis on it. I wondered if he was in fact happy, or if he should be happy but was not so happy. I couldn't help but doubt in my heart. But that doubt was buried for the time being.

　I eventually had the opportunity to visit him in his absence and talk to him and his wife face to face. He was away that day on a steamer sailing from YOKOHAMAto take a friend abroad to SHINBASHI. It was customary at that time for people travelling by boat from Yokohama to leave Shimbashi on the 8.30am train. I needed to talk to him about a book, so I visited him at the appointed time of nine o'clock, as he had agreed in advance. His going to SHINBASHIhappened suddenly that day as a courtesy to a friend who had taken the trouble to come to the farewell the day before. He told me that he would be back soon and asked me to wait for him even if he wasn't home. So I went up to the tatami room and had a chat with his wife while I waited for him.

Previous (9).

Continued (11)