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other lodgers. Why else would he offer these accommodations?”
    “Ah. You think there is a story? Possibly a romance? True, the lady was quite beautiful, if my old eyes haven’t fooled me. I may be going on in years, but I do know female beauty.”
    “Yes. Perhaps they knew each other before he took the tonsure. Did he ever visit her here?
    “That I do not know. He comes here very rarely and doesn’t spend the night. As for his past, I didn’t know him then.”
    “I see. Did you get to know her after she came to live here?”
    “No. I’m past the age of paying visits to young women.” Suketada’s lip twitched. “Not sorry, you know. Women are trouble. I have my work to occupy me and, unlike you, I’m not curious about other people/s lives. We’d meet sometimes. Fetching water from the well or leaving or returning from an errand. She seemed very pleasant.”
    “I see. What about the others who live here? Might they have been closer to her?”
    “I wouldn’t be surprised. I keep my nose in my books all day and sleep at night, but I rather doubt the student studies much. At his age, he’s probably a night animal. The young are always roaming about. As for the nun, well, she’s another woman. The two of them probably had things to talk about.”
    “How long have you lived here, sir?”
    “Six years in another month. And don’t bother to ask how I came to accept charity or why it was offered, because I won’t tell you.”
    Akitada acknowledged this with a small nod. “And Lady Ogata? How long has she been here?”
    “She came a year later, I think. I couldn’t tell you exactly when. My memory’s going, and besides I wasn’t interested. One day I came across her in the garden. I asked her what she doing there, and she said she lived in the crane pavilion. Silly name. She meant the lake pavilion.”
    “Did you not wonder at her being here?”
    “Not at all. It’s none of my business.” Casting another glance at the malodorous food package, the professor added testily, “For that matter, what is your interest in her, Sugawara? I don’t believe you explained the real reason for your visit. Are you here in an official capacity?”
    Akitada thought of the Ministry of Justice. He had probably already lost his position. On an impulse, he said, “I investigate crimes.”
    The professor’s jaw dropped for a moment. Then he said in a tone of utter astonishment, “You think someone killed her?”
    “The police believe it was suicide. Were you surprised when you were told of her death?”
    After a pause, the professor said, “No.”
    “Then you must have expected it. Were you aware of something being amiss, of an event or a fact that would have driven her to take her life?”
    Professor Suketada looked away. “‘One cannot ask loneliness how and where it starts,’” he quoted, then glanced pointedly around his room. “You are a fortunate man, Sugawara. I had almost forgotten that there are people alive who do not find their lives a burden. No, I know of nothing that would have made her life harder to bear than mine.”
    The darkness settled back on Akitada. Only hours ago, he had thought his own life an unbearable burden. He had done so for every hour of the past weeks and months since the news of Tamako’s death had reached him in that far-off place. He had railed against obligations which forced him to go on living, to return to an empty home, to take on the care of two young children and a house full of dependents. Was his grief so shallow that a mere tale of an unexplained suicide should have caused him to forget? No doubt, Lady Ogata could have had her own reasons for stepping off that trunk.
    Slowly he got to his feet. “I’m sorry I troubled you, Professor. Please forgive the rude intrusion. Perhaps it is better not to ask too many questions. We may not like the answers.” He bowed. “Thank you for your candor.”
    The professor nodded. His eyes had already moved to his dumpling.
    His