After swallowing the whiskey in one gulp, the father continued his story.
“The bell rang intensely once more. Apparently, my servant wasn’t waking up. Reluctantly, I lit a candle and descended the stairs while holding it. Then I stood in the entranceway.
I thought of asking, ‘Who is it?’, but I was a little frightened. My lack of self-respect made me feel annoyed as well as ashamed, and I boldly turned the handle quietly. However, my heart was beating loudly, and I could not push the door forward due to my fright.
But when I opened the door resolutely and quickly at last, a white thing was standing in the shadow of the veranda. My body stiffened and was no longer able to move.
‘Who-, who, who are you? –‘
‘Father. It’s me.’
Isn’t that my daughter’s voice? Startled, I instinctively took a step back.
‘It is me, Father.’
While thinking that I must have gone mad, I began to retreat a little by little. As if I was being chased by the white thing that silently entered and came in. When I was about to chase it away, I made a strange gesture as if I was writing a letter in the air, which you saw at dinner yesterday. Thereupon, the white person said:
‘Do not be afraid. I lived. I did not die. Someone cut off my fingers to steal the rings. The blood flowed out, and I recovered consciousness because of the pain.’
I looked at the hand from which blood trickled from. Her white clothes were already covered in blood.
It took my breath away. I did not know whether it was a dream or reality. Whether it was an apparition, or whatever it was. Because it took on the shape of my daughter, I gladly took its hand in a daze. That hand was as cold as a corpse.
I embraced my daughter and took her to my own room. I made her sit in the armchair and immediately tended to her wounds. Then I gazed at my daughter’s ghastly pale face. She was not an apparition. This was certainly my daughter. I suddenly got a lump in my throat, placed my head on my daughter’s knee, and sobbed like a madman.
When my heart finally calmed down a little, I noticed that the room temperature had lowered very much, even though it was cold outside. In a hurry, I kindled a fire in the stove. I wanted to give her something warm to eat, and called out Kou by pushing the bell intensely.
Kou entered in a hurry, but he petrified upon seeing my daughter’s form. It was only reasonable that anyone would be surprised to see a person believed to be dead standing there. However, Kou’s astonishment was still not ordinary at all. While raising a terrified moan, when I thought he suddenly began to tremble, he went mad at once and rushed outside.”
While listening to the father talk, I felt some drowsiness. I nevertheless kept only my eyes open with utmost effort as I stifled a slight yawn. He continued speaking once again and said:
“Opening the gravesite was the deed of my butler Kou. He cut off my daughter’s fingers, stole the rings, and returned to the house with an innocent air. I believed in Kou, he probably underestimated that there’s no way that I would suspect him. But shall we say it was divine punishment? Kou was very much in a hurry, so he forgot to drive the nails into the cover of the coffin which he dug back up. Oh my, are you falling asleep?”
I thought I heard his voice say that from a far distance.
With that, I was no longer aware of anything.
After swallowing the whiskey in one gulp, the father continued his story.
“The bell rang intensely once more. Apparently, my servant wasn’t waking up. Reluctantly, I lit a candle and descended the stairs while holding it. Then I stood in the entranceway.
I thought of asking, ‘Who is it?’, but I was a little frightened. My lack of self-respect made me feel annoyed as well as ashamed, and I boldly turned the handle quietly. However, my heart was beating loudly, and I could not push the door forward due to my fright.
But when I opened the door resolutely and quickly at last, a white thing was standing in the shadow of the veranda. My body stiffened and was no longer able to move.
‘Who-, who, who are you? –‘
‘Father. It’s me.’
Isn’t that my daughter’s voice? Startled, I instinctively took a step back.
‘It is me, Father.’
While thinking that I must have gone mad, I began to retreat a little by little. As if I was being chased by the white thing that silently entered and came in. When I was about to chase it away, I made a strange gesture as if I was writing a letter in the air, which you saw at dinner yesterday. Thereupon, the white person said:
‘Do not be afraid. I lived. I did not die. Someone cut off my fingers to steal the rings. The blood flowed out, and I recovered consciousness because of the pain.’
I looked at the hand from which blood trickled from. Her white clothes were already covered in blood.
It took my breath away. I did not know whether it was a dream or reality. Whether it was an apparition, or whatever it was. Because it took on the shape of my daughter, I gladly took its hand in a daze. That hand was as cold as a corpse.
I embraced my daughter and took her to my own room. I made her sit in the armchair and immediately tended to her wounds. Then I gazed at my daughter’s ghastly pale face. She was not an apparition. This was certainly my daughter. I suddenly got a lump in my throat, placed my head on my daughter’s knee, and sobbed like a madman.
When my heart finally calmed down a little, I noticed that the room temperature had lowered very much, even though it was cold outside. In a hurry, I kindled a fire in the stove. I wanted to give her something warm to eat, and called out Kou by pushing the bell intensely.
Kou entered in a hurry, but he petrified upon seeing my daughter’s form. It was only reasonable that anyone would be surprised to see a person believed to be dead standing there. However, Kou’s astonishment was still not ordinary at all. While raising a terrified moan, when I thought he suddenly began to tremble, he went mad at once and rushed outside.”
While listening to the father talk, I felt some drowsiness. I nevertheless kept only my eyes open with utmost effort as I stifled a slight yawn. He continued speaking once again and said:
“Opening the gravesite was the deed of my butler Kou. He cut off my daughter’s fingers, stole the rings, and returned to the house with an innocent air. I believed in Kou, he probably underestimated that there’s no way that I would suspect him. But shall we say it was divine punishment? Kou was very much in a hurry, so he forgot to drive the nails into the cover of the coffin which he dug back up. Oh my, are you falling asleep?”
I thought I heard his voice say that from a far distance.
With that, I was no longer aware of anything.
