百五十四

　目的の温泉場へ立つ前の津田（結婚してまもない若い会社員）は、既定されたプログラムの順序として、まず小林に会わなければならなかった。約束の日が来た時、お延（津田の妻）から入用の金を受け取った彼は笑いながら細君を見た。

「何だか惜しいな、あいつにこれだけ取られるのは」

「じゃよした方がいいわ」

「おれもよしたいよ」

「よしたいのになぜよせないの。あたしが代わりに行って断って来て上げましょうか」

「うん、頼んでもいいね」

「どこであの人にお逢いになるの。場所さえおっしゃれば、あたし行って上げるわ」

　お延が本気かどうかは津田にもわからなかった。けれどもこういう場合に、大丈夫だと思ってつい笑談に押すと、押したこっちがかえっててこずらせられるくらいのことは、彼に困難な想像ではなかった。お延はいざとなると口で行った通りをまともに断行する女であった。たとい違約であろうとあるまいと、津田を代表して、小林を撃退する役割なら進んで引き受けないとも限らなかった。彼は危険区域へ踏み込まない用心をして、わざと話を不まじめな方角へ流してしまった。　/省略/

 

154

 As the first item of business in his schedule before setting out for the hot spring area he planned to go, Tsuda had to meet Kobayashi. When the appointed day came, upon receiving from O-Nobu the necessary money, he turned back to her and said laughingly:

 ‘It seems a shame, doesn’t it? To have this much money taken by such a fellow.’

 ‘Well then, why are you giving it to him?’

 ‘I’d certainly prefer not to.’

 ‘ If you’d prefer not to, why do it? Do you want me to go in your place and say no for you?’

 ‘Hm, I might ask you.’

 ‘Where are you meeting him? If you just tell me the place, I’ll go for you.’

 He did not know whether she was serious or nor. But if in such a situation he took everything lightly and concluded that it was merely a joke on her part, it was not at all difficult for him to imagine that by having done so he might find himself at his wit’s end. For she was a woman who might, when the occasion demanded it, actually carry out precisely what she was saying. Whether he broke his promise to Kobayashi or not, it was not at all impossible that she might willingly undertake to represent him if it was a matter of repelling Kobayashi thereby. Taking care not to enter a dangerous area, he purposely turned the conversation in another direction by making a rather flippant remark:  /ellipsis/