if we did, what would we live on?”
“You could sell your poetry.”
He laughed, a gloomy chuckle. “Who would buy it?”
“Everybody,” Etsuko said, wanting to cheer him up, fervent in her belief in his talent. “We’ll be rich.” She turned over, hugged him. “And happy together forever!”
They embraced in desperate, doomed love. Suddenly Egen raised his head and sniffed the air. “I smell smoke.”
Now Etsuko smelled it, too. “Look-it’s coming in the windows.”
She and Egen threw back the quilt. This fire season was a dangerous one, and as much as they hated to cut short their time together, they couldn’t lie abed while a fire burned in the estate. Straightening their clothes, they hurried outside. The smoke billowed from a far corner of the garden, behind trees that raised bare, skeletal branches against the fire’s crackling orange light.
“Come on,” Egen said, running toward the fire. “We have to put it out.”
Etsuko ran after him. The smoke stung her eyes and made her cough. She and Egen halted near the fire-a bush piled with dead leaves, burning like a giant torch. Tadatoshi stood close by it. His face wore an intense, gloating expression; his eyes were huge and round and bright with the flames. Under his kimono, his hands worked at his loins.
“Tadatoshi! What are you doing?” Egen said.
The boy took no notice of Egen or Etsuko. His hands worked faster. He seemed in a trance.
Egen raced to the well. He filled a bucket, ran with it, and threw water on the bush. Etsuko filled the spare buckets for Egen, who lugged water and dowsed the fire until it was out. Egen and Etsuko stood, panting and relieved, by the smoking ruins of the bush. Tadatoshi blinked as if he’d just awakened. His hands dangled. His eyes glowed with reflections of the cold moonlight.
“Why didn’t you put it out?” Egen said.
“Why did you?” Tadatoshi sounded oddly disappointed.
Egen looked as puzzled as Etsuko felt. “How did it start?”
A sly expression came over Tadatoshi’s face. Etsuko noticed a kerosene jar and a lamp on the ground near the boy. Egen said to him, “You started it?”
As Etsuko and Egen gazed at him in shock, Tadatoshi smiled, a private, satisfied smile.
“Why would you do such a thing?” Egen said. “If we hadn’t come along, you might have burned down the estate!”
Tadatoshi shrugged. Etsuko felt a ripple of revulsion tinged with fear. He was as strange as Egen had said, but she’d thought him harmless-until now.
“I’m going to tell your father,” Egen said.
The boy kept smiling, but his gaze turned hostile. “You’d better not.”
“It’s my duty,” Egen said. “Your father will want to know. He’ll teach you not to set fires. You deserve to be punished.”
“If you tell anyone, I’ll tell everybody what you do in the tea cottage with her.” Tadatoshi pointed at Etsuko.
Etsuko gasped. Egen demanded, “Have you been spying on us?”
Tadatoshi giggled.
A guard burst upon the scene. “I smelled smoke. Is there a fire?” He looked at Etsuko, Egen, Tadatoshi, and the burned bush. “What happened?”
Etsuko held her breath. Tadatoshi’s gaze threatened Egen, who paused before he said, “There was a fire. We put it out. That’s all.”
The next day, Etsuko waylaid Egen in the corridor. “What are we going to do about Tadatoshi?” she whispered.
Egen was somber, worried. “We can’t just do nothing. He might set more fires.”
“But if we report him, and he tells everyone about us, his father will dismiss you. Lady Ateki will dismiss me. You’ll have to go back to the temple. I’ll go back to my parents, who’ll never let me out of the house until I’m married.” Panic seized Etsuko. “We’ll never see each other again!”
“I know, but we have to stop him before he hurts somebody.”
Although her relationship with Egen had been her first priority, Etsuko felt the stirrings of conscience. That strange, evil boy could kill innocent people. A sense of responsibility sprang from some hitherto unknown place inside Etsuko. With it came inspiration.
“I have an idea,” she said. “We’ll keep a watch on Tadatoshi. If he tries to start another fire, we’ll stop him. He can’t hurt anybody as long as we’re on guard.”
This was the first original, unselfish idea she’d had in her life. Etsuko was proud of herself, and Egen looked at her with new respect.
So began their spying on Tadatoshi. Daytime was easy. Egen supervised the boy during his lessons. Etsuko helped keep an eye on him during meals and recreation. The nights proved more difficult. While the rest of the household slept, Egen and Etsuko took turns sitting in the hall by Tadatoshi’s door. But after six nights with little sleep, Etsuko awakened one morning to realize that she’d missed her shift.
“Why didn’t you come?” Egen demanded later.
“I didn’t wake up,” Etsuko said. “I was so tired.”
Egen’s eyes were red, with dark circles underneath. “So was I. I fell asleep. But it’s all right-Tadatoshi was in his bed when I woke up and looked in on him.”
That afternoon, Egen brought Tadatoshi to visit his mother. While she fussed over the boy, and Etsuko and Egen stole glances at each other, one of the maids said, “I heard there was a fire in town last night.”
Tadatoshi smirked at Etsuko and Egen. Horror filled Etsuko. Not only had he escaped them; he’d set a fire.
“We can’t go on like this,” Egen said later, while he and Etsuko watched Tadatoshi practice sword fighting with his bodyguards. “We’ll slip up again.”
“You’re right,” Etsuko said. “It’s impossible for the two of us to watch him all the time. We need help.”
They gazed at Doi, demonstrating sword techniques. He was the only person they could trust. When he stopped for a drink of water, they approached him. Etsuko said, “Doi-san, may we speak with you a moment?”
“About what?”
Etsuko explained that Tadatoshi had set a fire last night.
“I don’t believe it,” Doi said in astonishment.
“It’s true,” Egen said. “We caught him once before.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone?”
“We’re telling you,” Etsuko said, then fibbed: “We were afraid no one else would believe us. We’ve been watching him, trying to keep him from setting another fire. But last night he got away from us. He set the fire in town. We can’t control him by ourselves. Will you help us?”
His expression said Doi thought they’d gone mad. Suspicion crept into his eyes. “What were you two doing outside in the middle of the night?”
“We couldn’t sleep. We went out for a walk, and we happened to meet,” Egen said quickly. “That’s when we saw the bush on fire.”
Etsuko flushed under Doi’s dubious gaze; Egen fidgeted with his rosary. Doi said, “This is nonsense,” and stalked off.
“I guess we’ll just have to carry on alone,” Egen said.
“Tonight we’ll sit watch on Tadatoshi together,” Etsuko decided. “We’ll keep each other awake.”
By the time night came, they were so exhausted that they both fell asleep by Tadatoshi’s door. They were jarred awake at dawn, by shouts. They rushed outside and saw Doi dragging Tadatoshi across the courtyard.
“Let go of me!” Tadatoshi yelled, kicking and struggling.
“Not until I’m ready.” Doi was panting with exertion, angrier than Etsuko had ever seen him.
Servants came running to see what the fuss was all about, Hana among them. Doi grabbed Tadatoshi by the front of his robe and shouted, “If you ever do that again, I’ll kill you!”
He shoved Tadatoshi. “Go to your room.” The boy ran off. Doi turned on the servants. “What are you gawking
