Read White Serpent Castle for Free Online

you planning to stay on after the succession dispute is settled?”
    For an instant Zenta was gripped by a longing so intense that it was suffocating. Then their door slid open.
    A pretty maid with roguish eyes poked her head in and said, “Your bath is ready, gentlemen.”
    â€œAh, at last!” said Matsuzo. “I was afraid that we had been forgotten.”
    The two men followed the maid down some stairs. More than once she glanced back coyly at them, and her expression said plainly that she was one of the advantages they could expect if they entered Lady Tama’s service.
    They stepped out of a door and into a quiet courtyard. The stars were already out and the air was cold.
    â€œThis way, please,” directed the little maid. The bathhouse was a small wooden building consisting of a dressing room and a washing room. The floor of the washing room was of widely spaced slats, so that water could run off when the bather squatted on it to scrub and rinse. The tall square tub for soaking was made of fragrant cypress. It was brimming with hot water which gave off clouds of steam,
    a most welcome sight on this chilly night.
    â€œDo you have everything you need, gentlemen?” asked the little maid. “I shall be back soon with some clean clothes.” With a bow, she left the dressing room.
    â€œPlease be first,” said Matsuzo.
    Zenta lost no time in shrugging out of his torn clothes and stepping down into the washing room. First he splashed himself with a bucket and then, using a sponge made of gourd fiber, he began to scrub away a week’s accumulation of grime. Then he rinsed himself and, thoroughly cleansed, climbed into the steaming tub for a soak. He sat down gingerly until he was up to his neck in the scalding water, which was heated to the limit of endurance by a small fire beneath the tub. “Ah . . .” he sighed, and closed his eyes in bliss. It had been a long time since he had last enjoyed a private bath like this, a pleasant change from public baths where a dozen or more people shared a tub.
    In the dressing room Matsuzo squatted in front of a large mirror and tried to retie his topknot neatly. The little maid who had showed them to the bath was charming, and Matsuzo hoped that she would return in time to scrub his back. He thought it likely that she would serve dinner to them later. Her cheeks dimpled delightfully when she smiled, and he intended to find out if she would be free after dinner.
    The thought of dinner made Matsuzo very hungry, and he was glad when Zenta called out that he was nearly through with the soaking. Undressing promptly, Matsuzo stepped down into the washing room and prepared to scrub himself. He was just in time to see the window behind Zenta opening.
    Before Matsuzo had time to call out a warning, Zenta’s head jerked up. With a tremendous splash he bounded out of the tub and rushed out of the bathhouse.
    Drenched and bewildered, Matsuzo blinked the water from his eyes and followed his companion. Guided by the sound of crackling shrubbery, he made his way to the back of the building. He found Zenta standing at the open window which had been directly behind the bathtub.
    â€œWhat happened?” he asked.
    Zenta motioned Matsuzo to be silent. He listened intently and peered all around. There was not a sound. “When I was in the tub just now, I felt something icy go down the back of my neck,” he said slowly.
    At these words, Matsuzo could almost feel ice on his own back. His teeth began to chatter.
    Footsteps approached, and both men whirled around. They saw two shadowy figures walk up to the bathhouse. In the light from the open window, Matsuzo recognized Ume and the little maid.
    The saucy little maid was holding a pile of clothes in her arms, and at the sight of the shivering, naked men, she broke into giggles.
    Ume kept a straight face and inquired politely, “Was everything quite satisfactory in the bathhouse,