Son visage, qui aurait dû être plus serein en ce jour de fête, parut s’assombrir. Je lui dis que j’étais à sa disposition et il me demanda l’autorisation de me téléphoner. Mais son langage énigmatique et son trouble visible ne laissaient pas de m’inquiéter. J’essayais de devenir la raison qui avait pu pousser le docteur à s’adresser à moi. Étions-nous si intimes qu’il allât jusqu’à me consulter au sujet de sa fille ?
À la maison, ma femme voulut connaître en détail ce qui s’était passé.
Madame Miyamura, me dit-elle, a enfin accompli la lourde tâche qu’elle avait assumée il y a vingt ans. Puis elle poussa un soupir comme si elle en éprouvait elle-même quelque soulagement. Alors seulement je me rappelai que Mademoiselle Mariko avait, très jeune, perdu sa mère et qu’elle avait été élevée par une belle-mère.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TedcZbV7qWRFwosuxhxO5o2NV8mncQul/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rW1UMC6RsJwLrz3GQCghrQmFldYYpMln/view?usp=sharing
His face, which should have been more serene on this feast day, seemed to darken. I told him I was at his disposal and he asked for permission to call me. But his enigmatic language and his visible confusion did not fail to worry me. I was trying to become the reason that might have prompted the doctor to talk to me. Were we so intimate that he went so far as to consult me about his daughter?
At home, my wife wanted to know in detail what had happened.
Mrs. Miyamura, she told me, has finally accomplished the heavy task she had taken on twenty years ago. Then she heaved a sigh as if feeling some relief herself. Only then did I remember that Mademoiselle Mariko had lost her mother at a very young age and had been brought up by a mother-in-law.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HKm2KzU8My6trTnH5Jh-A2ZGJSYSASNm/view?usp=sharing
