ough the air. It was like the ripping apart of silk.
Shu[u]zen stepped to the curb, looked into the agonized staring eyes.
Then he gave the final thrust of his dagger into the windpipe, and cast
the weapon to Chu[u]dayu to cleanse. As if an automaton the man went
through his task: brought the heavy stone to bind into the long trailing
garment. Seeing his helplessness Shu[u]zen shrugged his shoulders with
contempt. With his dagger he severed the rope. _Dobun!_ A final splash
of water at the end.

CHAPTER XXV

CHU[U]DAYU WINS HIS SUIT

Chu[u]dayu's legs bent under him. "Ah! My lord! O'Kiku grasps my neck!"
A cold hand laid upon him he shrieked in fear. Shu[u]zen turned--"Fool!
'Tis a clod of snow from the tree above, fallen on your collar. Off with
you to bed. Truly in these days such fellows are good for nothing." Off
he strode to the _ro[u]ka_. For a moment he looked out--on the heavy
flakes coming down like cotton wadding, at the figure of Chu[u]dayu
staggering like a drunken man to his quarters. With a laugh he closed
the _amado_, seated himself before the heated wine. Yet the woman would
not get out of his thoughts. "What a fool! A matter of no import would
have given her position with others and influence with this
Shu[u]zen.... Ha! Ha! How frightened was Chu[u]dayu! It is not the
shadowy fingers of the dead which do good or ill, but the flesh clad
muscles of the living. As to your ghosts...." He snapped his fingers and
drank wine in derision. Thus he spent the early hours of the night.

"What's that!" He put the bottle down at the sound of voices in
excitement, of running feet. Soon an officer appeared. The _okugata_ was
threatened with premature delivery. A physician was to be had at once.
Shu[u]zen shrugged his shoulders with indifference. Five months--seven
months--nine months--what a matter to trouble a man with! So angry was
he that they dared not tell him more. Matters were going very badly with
her ladyship. In her delirium she raved over the past scene of the
punishment. The tortures of this present delivery were added to an
hundred fold by the disorders of the over-wrought brain. Then the child
was born. The assembled women whispered to each other. A very monster
had seen light: perfect in its main parts, but with the face of Emma
Dai-O[u] as a foetus--with the fingers lacking on the hands. They dared
not let the sick woman see it. She detected their confusion, asked to
see the child. She grew