Speaker 1: A dead secret by Leafkatio Herne. A long time ago,
in the province of Tamba, there lived a rich merchant
named Inamuriya Gensuke. He had a daughter called Osuno. As
she was very clever and pretty, he thought it would
be a pity to let her grow up with only
such teaching as the country teachers could give her, so
he sent her in care of some trusty attendants to Kiyoto,
that she might be trained in the polite accomplishments taught
to the ladies of the capital. After she had thus
been educated, she was married to a friend of her
father's family, a merchant named Nagaraya, and she lived happily
with him for nearly four years. They had one child,
a boy, but Osno fell ill and died in the
fourth year after her marriage. On the night after the
funeral of O Sono, her little son said that his
mamma had come back and was in the room upstairs.
She had smiled him, but would not talk to him,
so he became afraid and ran away. Then some of
the family went upstairs to the room which had been
O Sono's, and they were startled to see by the
light of a small lamp which had been kindled before
a shrine. In that room the figure of the dead mother.
She appeared as if standing in front of a tansu
or chest of drawers that still contained her ornaments and
her wearing apparel. Her head and shoulders could very distinctly
be seen, but from the waist downwards the figure thinned
into invisibility. It was like an imperfect reflection of her,
and transparent as a shadow on water. Then the folk
were afraid and left the room below. They consulted together,
and the mother of o Sono's husband said, a woman
is fond of her small things, and o Sono was
much attached to her belongings. Perhaps she has come back
to look at them. Many dead persons will do that
unless the things be given to the parish temple. If
we present Osno's robes and girdles to the temple, her
spirit will probably find rest. It was agreed that this
should be done as soon as possible, so on the
following morning, the drawers were emptied and all of Osuna's
ornaments and dresses were taken to the temple. But she
came back the next night and looked at the tansu
as before, and she came back also on the night following,
and the night after that, and every night, and the
house became a house of fear. The mother of Osuno's
husband then went to the parish temple and told the
chief priest all that had happened, and asked for ghostly counsel.
The temple was a zen temple and the head priest
was a learned old man known as daigen oshoal he said,
there must be something about which she is anxious in
or near that tansu, but we emptied all the drawers,
replied the woman, there is nothing in the tansu. Well,
said daigen Osho. To night, I shall go to your
house and keep watch in that room and see what
can be done. You must give orders that no person
shall enter the room while I am watching unless I
call after sundown. Dagon Osho went to the house and
found the room made ready for him. He remained there
alone reading the sutras, and nothing happened until after the
hour of the rat. Then the figure of O Sono
suddenly outlined itself in front of the tansu. Her face
had a wistful look, and she kept her eyes fixed
upon the tansu. The priest uttered the holy formula prescribed
in such cases, and then, addressing the figure by the
kind yo of O Sono, said, I have come here
in order to help you. Perhaps in that tansu there
is something about which you have reason to feel anxious.
Shall I try to find it for you? The shadow
appeared to give consent by a slight mane of the head,
and the priest rising opened the top drawer. It was empty.
Successively he opened the second, the third, and the fourth drawer.
He searched carefully behind them, and beneath them, he carefully
examined the interior of the chest. He found nothing, but
the figure remained gazing as wistfully as before. What can
she want? Thought the priest. Suddenly it occurred to him
that there might be something hidden under the paper with
which the drawers were lined. He removed the lining of
the first drawer. Nothing. He removed the lining of the
second and third drawers, still nothing. But unto the lining
of the lowermost drawer he found a letter. Is this
the thing about which you have been troubled? He asked?
The shadow of the woman turned toward him, her faint
gaze fixed upon the letter. Shall I burn it? For you,
he asked. She bowed before him. It shall be burned
in the temple this very morning, he promised, and no
one shall read it except myself. The figure smiled and vanished.
Dawn was breaking as the priest descended the stairs to
find the family waiting anxiously below. Do not be anxious,
he said to them. She will not appear again, and
she never did. The letter was burned. It was a
love letter written to O Sono in the time of
her studies at Kuiyoto. But the priest alone knew what
was in it, and the secret died with him. And
of a dead secret,