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shirasu, an area of floor directly before the dais, covered with white sand, symbol of truth. Police, witnesses, and the defendant's family knelt in rows in the audience section; sentries guarded the doors.

Reiko knelt to watch the proceedings, as she'd done countless times before. Trials fascinated her. They showed a side of life that she could not experience firsthand. Magistrate Ueda had indulged her interest, letting her use this room. Reiko's tongue touched her chipped tooth as she smiled in fond memory.

"What have you to say in your own defense, Moneylender Igarashi?" Magistrate Ueda asked the prisoner.

"Honorable Magistrate, I swear I did not kill my partner," the defendant said with earnest sincerity."We fought over the favors of the courtesan Hyacinth because we were drunk, but we settled our differences." Tears ran down the defendant's face."I loved my partner like a brother. I don't know who stabbed him."

During discussions of cases, Reiko had impressed Magistrate Ueda with her insight; he'd come to value her judgment. Now she whispered through the lattice, "The moneylender is lying, Father. He's still jealous of his partner. And now their whole fortune is his. Push him hard-he'll break and confess."

She'd often given her advice during trials this way, and Magistrate Ueda had often followed it, with good results, but now his shoulders stiffened; his head turned slightly. Instead of interrogating the defendant, Magistrate Ueda said, "This session will adjourn for a moment." Rising, he left the courtroom.

Then the door to Reiko's chamber opened. There in the corridor stood her father, regarding her with consternation. "Daughter." Taking Reiko's arm, he led her down the hall, into his private office. "Your first visit home shouldn't take place until tomorrow, and your husband must accompany you. You know the custom. What are you doing here, alone, now? Is something wrong?"

"Father, I-"

Suddenly Reiko's brave defiance crumbled. Sobbing, she poured out her misgivings about marriage; the dreams she could not forsake. Magistrate Ueda listened sympathetically, but when she'd finished and calmed down, he shook his head and said, "I should not have raised you to expect more from life than is possible for a woman. It was an act of foolish love and poor judgment on my part, which I deeply regret. But what's done is done. We cannot go back, but only forward. You must not watch any more trials, or assist with my work as I've mistakenly allowed you to do in the past. Your place is with your husband."

Even as Reiko saw the door to her youth close forever, a gleam of hope brightened the dark horizon of her future. Magistrate Ueda's last sentence recalled her fantasy of sharing Sosakan Sano's adventures. In ancient times, samurai women had ridden into battle beside their men. Reiko remembered the incident that had ended the wedding festivities.

Earlier, preoccupied with her own problems, she'd given hardly a thought to Sano's new case; now, her interest stirred.

"Maybe I could help investigate Lady Harume's death," she said thoughtfully.

Concern shadowed Magistrate Ueda's face. "Reiko-chan." His voice was kind, but stern. "You're smarter than many men, but you are young, na‹ve, and far too confident of your own limited abilities. Any affair involving the shogun's court is fraught with danger. Sosakan Sano will not welcome your interference. And what could you, a woman, do anyway?"

Rising, the magistrate led Reiko out of the mansion to the gate, where her entourage waited. "Go home, daughter. Be thankful you needn't work to earn your rice, like other, less fortunate women. Obey your husband; he is a good man." Then, echoing O-sugi's advice, he said, "Accept your fate, or it will only grow harder to bear."

Reluctantly Reiko climbed into the palanquin. Tasting the bitterness of the dye on her teeth, she shook her head in sad acknowledgment of her father's wisdom.

Yet she possessed the same intelligence, drive, and