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of the piano. I found him sitting on the piano stool, one side of his head resting on the piano lid. His features, squashed against the dark wood, bore a disgruntled look. "I"m sorry about this, Ichiro," I said. "But don't be disappointed. We'll go the day after." Ichiro gave no reaction, so I said: "Now, Ichiro, this is nothing to be so disappointed about." I walked over to the window. It had become quite dark outside, and all I could see was my reflection and that of the room behind me. From the other room, I could hear the women talking in lowered voices. "Cheer up, Ichiro," I said. "This is nothing to get upset about. We'll go the day after, I promise you." When I turned again to Ichiro, his head was resting on the piano lid as before; but now, he was walking his fingers along the lid, as though playing the keys. I gave a light laugh. "Well, Ichiro, we'll just go the day after. We can't have the women ruling over us, can we?" I gave another laugh. "I expect they thought it would be too scary. Eh, Ichiro?" My grandson still gave no response, though he continued his finger movements on the piano lid. I decided it would be best to leave him alone for a few moments, and giving another laugh, went back through into the dining room. I found my daughters sitting in silence, reading their magazines. As I sat down, I gave a heavy sigh, but neither of them responded to this. I had replaced my reading glasses on my face and was about to start on my newspaper, when Noriko said in a quiet voice: "Father, shall we make some tea?" "That's kind of you, Noriko. But not for me just now." "What about you, Setsuko?" "Thank you, Noriko. But I don't think I will either." We continued to read in silence for a few more moments. Then Setsuko said: "Will Father be coming with us tomorrow? We could still have our family outing then." "I"d like to. But I"m afraid there"re a few things I have to be getting on with tomorrow." "What do you mean?" Noriko broke in. "What things are those?" Then turning to Setsuko, she said: "Don't listen to Father. He's got nothing to do these days. He'll just mope about the house like he always does now." "It would be very pleasant if Father would accompany us," Setsuko said to me. "It's regrettable," I said, looking down at my newspaper again. "But I have one or two things to attend to." "So you"re going to stay at home all on your own?" Noriko asked. "If you"re all going away, it seems I'll have to." Setsuko gave a polite cough. Then she said: "Perhaps then I'll remain at home also. Father and I have had little chance to exchange news." Noriko stared across the table at her sister. "There's no need for you to miss out. You"ve come all this way, you don't want to spend all your time indoors." "But I would very much enjoy staying and keeping Father company. I expect we have a lot more news to exchange." "Father, look what you"ve done," Noriko said. Then to her sister, she said: "So it's only me and Ichiro now." "Ichiro will enjoy spending the day with you, Noriko," Setsuko said with a smile. "You"re very much his favourite at the moment." I was glad about Setsuko's decision to remain at home, for indeed, we had had little opportunity to talk without interruption; and there are, of course, many things a father wishes to know about a married daughter's life which he cannot ask outright. But what never occurred to me that evening was that Setsuko would have her own reasons for wishing to remain in the house with me.
    It is perhaps a sign of my advancing years that I have taken to wandering into rooms for no purpose. When Setsuko slid open the door of the reception room that afternoon on the second day of her visit--I must have been standing there lost in thought for some considerable time. "I"m sorry," she said. "I'll come back later." I turned, a little startled, to find my daughter kneeling at the threshold, holding a vase filled with flowers and cuttings. "No, please come in," I said to her. "I was doing nothing in