Some one was now heard calling from below.
"Urasato Sama! Urasato Sama!" said a loud harsh voice, "come downstairs--you are wanted quickly, quickly--come!"
Then the sound of a woman's feet as she began to ascend the stairs reached the three inmates of the room.
Urasato's heart beat wildly and then seemed to stop with fright. Quick as a flash of lightning she hid Tokijiro in the _kotatsu_[7] and Midori, with her usual quick-wittedness, fetched the quilt and covered him over. Then she glided to the other side of the room. All this was the work of a moment.
"O Kaya San," said Urasato, "what is the matter? What are you making such a fuss about? What do you want with me now?"
"Oh! Urasato," answered the woman as she entered the room, "you pretend not to know why I call you. The master has sent for you--Midori is to come with you--such is his order!"
Urasato made no answer, but followed O Kaya, who had come to fetch her. Anxiety for Tokijiro hidden in the _kotatsu_, and fear concerning what the sudden summons might mean made her heart beat so that she knew not what to do. Both she and Midori felt that the woman was like a torturing devil driving them along so much against their will--they seemed to feel her fierce eyes piercing them through from behind.
O Kaya led them across the garden to another part of the house. The soft twilight had been succeeded by a dreary night. It was February and the night wind blew sharp and chill--the last snow of winter weighed down the bamboos; while, like an emblem of courage and strength in the midst of adversity, the odour of early plum blossoms hung upon the air. Overcome with anxiety, Urasato felt only the chill, and fear of the night spread through her whole being. She started and shivered when behind her Midori's clogs began to echo shrilly, like the voices of malicious wood-sprites in the trees laughing in derision at her plight. Her heart grew thin with pain and foreboding. "Karakong," "karakong," sounded the clogs, as they scraped along. "Ho, ho, ho!" mocked the echoing sprites from the bamboo wood.
They reached the veranda of the house on the other side of the quadrangle. O Kaya pushed open the _shoji_ disclosing the grizzled-headed master, Kambei, seated beside the charcoal brazier looking fierce and angry. When Urasato and Midori saw him, their heart and soul went out with fear as a light in a sudden blast.