It Was A
Life Of Which I Knew Nothing, And The Mystery Was More Alarming
Than Attractive; My Money Was
Lying about, and nothing seemed
easier than to slide a hand through the fusuma and appropriate it.
Ito told me
That the well was badly contaminated, the odours were
fearful; illness was to be feared as well as robbery! So
unreasonably I reasoned! {7}
My bed is merely a piece of canvas nailed to two wooden bars. When
I lay down the canvas burst away from the lower row of nails with a
series of cracks, and sank gradually till I found myself lying on a
sharp-edged pole which connects the two pair of trestles, and the
helpless victim of fleas and mosquitoes. I lay for three hours,
not daring to stir lest I should bring the canvas altogether down,
becoming more and more nervous every moment, and then Ito called
outside the shoji, "It would be best, Miss Bird, that I should see
you." What horror can this be? I thought, and was not reassured
when he added, "Here's a messenger from the Legation and two
policemen want to speak to you." On arriving I had done the
correct thing in giving the house-master my passport, which,
according to law, he had copied into his book, and had sent a
duplicate copy to the police-station, and this intrusion near
midnight was as unaccountable as it was unwarrantable.
Nevertheless the appearance of the two mannikins in European
uniforms, with the familiar batons and bull's-eye lanterns, and
with manners which were respectful without being deferential, gave
me immediate relief.
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