The Flower Mat

by Shugoro Yamamoto

  "I wanted to see her—even if only once."

  "I'm sure she wanted to see you. . . . It's a pity that she couldn't."

  "You at least did what you could for her, but I . . ."

  "My dear, my dear!"

  "I couldn't even hold her in my arms."

  Ichi wept on her husband's knees, pressing her cheeks against his hands. She did not think that she was behaving indecently or disgracefully ; she felt she should cry as much as she could, as a kind of ceremony for the dead . . . for Nobu.

  "Nobu, come back here. Come back here, between your father and mother. Here, this is your father's knee."

  Epilogue

  A FEW MINOR things should be added to complete the story : the punishment of chief vassal Kokuro Otaka, the resolution of the Okumura problem, Kyunosuke's return home, the succession of the adopted heir after Lord Toda's death, and the installation of a new government.

  But all of these things can be left to the reader's imagination. Our purpose was merely to tell about Ichi.