to rise;
but it was stuck fast to the matting by the resinous flow of purple
blood. Sometimes it seemed to speak:

"Mistletoe! Mistletoe! Kiss me, Asa San!"

Gusts of cold wind came in from the open windows, touching the dead
man curiously, turning over his kimono sleeves. Outside, the bamboo
grove was rattling like bones; and the caked snow fell from the roof
in heavy thuds.

* * * * *

O Hana returned with a doctor and a policeman. The doctor loosened
Ito's kimono, and at once shook his head.

The policeman wore a blue uniform and cape; and a sword dragged at his
side. He had produced a notebook and a pencil from a breast pocket.

"What is your name?" he asked Asako; "what is your age? your father's
and mother's name? What is your address? Are you married? Where is
your husband? How long have you known this man? Were you on familiar
terms? Did you kill him? How did you kill him? Why did you kill him?"

The questions buzzed round Asako's head like a swarm of hornets. It
had never occurred to the unfortunate girl that any suspicion could
fall upon her. Three more policemen had arrived.

"Every one in this house is arrested," announced the first policeman.

"Put out your hands," he ordered Asako. Rusty handcuffs were slipped
over her delicate wrists. One of the policemen had produced a coil
of rope, which he proceeded to tie round her waist and then round the
waist of O Hana.

"But what have I done?" asked Asako plaintively.

The policeman took no notice. She could hear two of them upstairs
in her bedroom, talking and laughing, knocking open her boxes and
throwing things about.

Asako and her maid were led out of the house like two performing
animals. It was bitterly cold, and Asako had no cloak. The road was
already full of loafers. They stared angrily at Asako. Some laughed.
Some pulled at her kimono as she passed. She heard one say:

"It is a _geisha_; she has murdered her sweetheart."

At the police station, Asako had to undergo the same confusing
interrogatory before the chief inspector.

"What is your name? What is your age? Where do you live? What are your
father's and mother's names?"

"Lies are no good," said the inspector, a burly unshaven man; "confess
that you have killed this man."

"But I did not kill him," protested Asako.

"Who killed him then? You must know that," said the inspector
triumphantly.

"It was Tanaka," said Asako.

"Who is this Tanaka?