Natsume Soseki - To the Spring Equinox and Beyond

Near her were a few persons waiting, all of whom were watching the approaching streetcars, seeming to beckon them to arrive as quickly as possible. The woman, who now appeared much relieved by Keitaro's departure, was one of those eagerly waiting, and she kept her gaze fixed toward the corner across the street where the streetcars turned.

Keitaro went around the farther side of the police box and stepped down onto the road. Shielded by the painted booth, he fixed his gaze upon the woman's face through the gap between the box and the policeman standing in front of it. And he was again surprised, this time by the change in her expression. When he was looking at her from behind in the shadows, he had played too freely with his imagination in drawing certain conclusions from her drab, inconspicuous overcoat, her tall stature, and the large roll of her pompadour. But now that he was focusing on her without reserve while she remained unaware of it, he could not help feeling that he was seeing a completely different person, one he was meeting for the first time. In short, she looked much younger than she had before. Her eyes and lips, with their eager expectation of something, seemed full of a kind of vivid liveliness. He noticed nothing except the expression on her face. In it he discovered even the innocence of a young girl.

Presently a streetcar came from the direction in which she had been gazing and turned slowly along the curved tracks. When it slid to a halt before the woman, two men got off. One of them quickly passed the policeman and stepped up on the sidewalk carrying in his hand what looked like a cardboard box wrapped in paper; the other went straight to the place where the woman was standing and stopped before her.

For the first time Keitaro saw the woman laugh. Earlier he had noticed that one of her characteristic features was a mouth too large, considering how thin her lips were, but now her beautiful teeth and her large black eyes, richly luminous with the upper and lower lashes so close they almost touched one another, gave him an impression of her he hardly expected. More surprised than fascinated by her laughing face, he shifted his glance to her companion.

It was then that Keitaro noticed the black fedora on the man's head. He could not see whether the man's cloak was salt-and-pepper or not, but it had the same dark sheen as the hat. Furthermore, the man was tall, and thin as well, but Keitaro had a difficult time discerning how old he was. He concluded, though, that since the newcomer was obviously far more advanced in life than he himself was, he must be over forty.

As he rapidly and haphazardly took in these characteristics, he was forced to conclude that this man who had just gotten off the streetcar was the one he had exhausted himself in looking for so foolishly. He thought it fortunate that although the stated time interval had long since elapsed, he had, due to a strange whim, loitered in the same place. Indeed, he felt grateful to the young woman for happening to be there to arouse his curiosity, and he counted it a piece of good fortune that she had been twice as confident and patient as he had been in waiting to the last for this very man he himself had been searching for. He believed that not only would he be able to supply Taguchi with some information about the man x; at the same time his own curiosity about the woman y would be somewhat satisfied by this same information.

The two stood talking to each other, paying no heed to their surroundings and apparently quite unaware of Keitaro's presence. The woman continued to smile. Occasionally the man burst into laughter. Judging by their way of greeting, it was obvious that they knew one another quite well. Keitaro could find none of that courtesy between a polite man and a polite woman which seems to join them, but which in fact serves to separate them. The man had not even taken the trouble to touch the brim of his hat. Keitaro was anxious to come face to face with him to verify the mole, which had to be under the hat's brim. Had the woman not been present, he might have walked straight up to the man and asked anything that came to mind, merely to ascertain the presence of the strange mark. If this were going too far, he would have at least come near enough to stare into the man's face to satisfy himself.

It was the woman standing before the man that barred Keitaro from such a bold undertaking. Apart from the question of whether or not she was ill-disposed toward Keitaro, he had definitely perceived that she had been suspicious of him during the long period that he had been standing at the same spot alongside her. If, knowing she was, he should intrude into her sight again, it would not only be an ungentlemanly act, but would set even greater fire to those suspicions and thus mar his own objective.

With these thoughts in mind Keitaro concluded that he had better delay examining whether the man had a mole or not until an opportunity under more natural circumstances eventually offered itself. He decided, therefore, to follow the two at a distance and if possible overhear fragments of their talk. He did not deem it necessary to consult his own conscience regarding the morality of his taking note of their conversation and actions without their consent. He simply believed that Taguchi, as a man of the world, would certainly make well-intentioned use of the results of these efforts.

It looked now as if the man was inviting the woman somewhere and the woman, laughing, was refusing. They had been standing half-facing one another, but finally they began walking shoulder to shoulder toward the porcelain shop. From there they walked on eastward, so close that it was almost as if they were arm in arm. Keitaro quickened his pace for several yards, and when he came just behind them, he adjusted his step to theirs. In case she looked back, he would avoid suspicion by not setting his glance directly at them, but would walk on with his eyes deliberately turned elsewhere, as if he were a casual pedestrian who happened to be going along the same direction on a public thoroughfare.

"That was really something! Keeping a person waiting so long."

This was the first of her speech that reached Keitaro, yet he could catch nothing of her companion's reply. Then after several yards their pace suddenly lost its briskness, and their two silhouettes were so close to him that they barred his progress. If he didn't pass them soon, he was going to bump up against them from behind. Fearing they might turn back, he whisked himself off to the front of a confectionary shop that happened to be located there. He waited for the couple to move on, pretending he was looking at a glass jar filled with cookies.

The man seemed to be putting his hand inside his cloak and then, turning a little to the side, looking down at an object which he held in his right hand and which he brought toward the light of the shop. Keitaro saw that the glittering thing under the man's scrutiny was a gold watch.

"It's only six. It's not that late."

"It is late if it's six. I was just about to go home."

"I'm really sorry."

Again the two started walking. Keitaro abandoned his cookie jar and followed. They proceeded to Awajicho and then turned into a narrow side street leading to the foot of Surugadai Slope. Keitaro was turning too when he saw them enter a foreign-style restaurant at the corner of the street. He caught a glimpse of the profile of the man and woman in the strong light streaming from the entrance.

Keitaro had had no idea where the two were going when they had left the streetcar stop. But now that he had found them suddenly entering this establishment, he could not help feeling it all the more beyond his expectations that their rendezvous was turning out to be at such an ordinary place.