28

The days went by and there was no answer from Kaoru. One afternoon that Udoneri whom Ukon had described as so menacing came to the house. He was an old man with a rough growl, not at all refined; yet something in his manner commanded respect.

“I want to speak to one of the ladies.” Ukon came out. “The general sent for me and I went to town this morning. I've just come back. He gave me a long list of orders. He'd trusted us to keep guard all night and hadn't sent guards from town. Now he's heard that men with no business here have been seen around the place. Our fault, nobody else's, he said. We might try keeping our eyes open. If we weren't up to it, well, he'd have to think of something else, and it might not be good for us. He sent out a man with his orders and that's what he told the man to tell me. I told the man to tell him I'd been sick myself and off duty, and wouldn't know what might be going on. They had been told to keep their eyes and ears open, I said, and they'd have told me if they'd seen any prowlers. The general said he'd know what to do with us if it happened again. What was he talking about? It didn't make me feel very good, you can guess.”

An owl hooting beside her pillow could not have given Ukon a more unpleasant start. Silently, she went back into the house. “I was right. The general knows everything. That's why he's stopped writing.”

Nurse had overheard only a part of Udoneri's remarks. “Good. He needed a dressing down. They've been careless and there are robbers all over the place. He sends plowboys to keep watch. Nobody really keeps watch at all.”