‘What happened?’

Tora explained his suspicions about Lord Sadanori and how she had been taken away in a sedan chair.

Genba brightened. ‘It’s probably nothing. If she says she’s to be a nursemaid, then that’s what she was hired for. She’ll be back later or tomorrow and tell you all about her visit. You need to go back to Otsu.’

Tora shook his head. ‘I’ve a bad feeling about this. Something’s wrong. I wish I knew where to look for her. If she’s been abducted, she’s not going to be in Uji.’

In the end, Akitada was arrested. He even had to bear the humiliation of having his hands tied with a constable’s thin chain and his feet hobbled so he could not run away. The latter would not have happened if he had not made the mistake of snatching up his sword to keep the warden from taking the boy. Raising a weapon against a duly appointed officer of the law while he was carrying out his duty was so serious an offense that Akitada’s rank did not protect him from the ensuing indignities. In any case, the sword was as useless as his arm after one of the constables had disarmed him by delivering a sharp blow with his iron rod.

During the night, which Akitada spent on the floor of one of the cells, his forearm became swollen and throbbed. He slept fitfully, in pain and sick about having been forced to abandon the child again to the vengeful fury of the Mimura family. He was also afraid that Tora would not come back.

Warden Takechi came to see him in the morning. Akitada did not bother to rise. He answered the other man’s greeting with a harsh, ‘I shall see you prosecuted by the law if anything else happens to that child. After I told you about the Mimuras, I expected you to make certain the boy was safe.’

Warden Takechi raised a hand. ‘He spent the night with my family. It was too late to make other arrangements, but my wife will look after him until the matter is settled.’

Akitada got to his feet. ‘Sorry, Warden, I did you an injustice. That was good of you and your wife. What happens next?’

‘The boy’s in the office. Would you like to see him? To make sure he’s all right?’

‘Of course.’

In the office, another surprise awaited him. The youngster who had been arrested for the theft of the matron’s silk was waiting with a short elderly woman. The woman held the boy by the hand. When the child saw Akitada, he turned his head away.

Akitada’s heart sank. He went to the boy and said, ‘I’m so glad to see you well this morning.’ The child hid his face in the woman’s skirt. It was a moment before Akitada remembered to greet the youth. ‘I’m afraid I don’t know your name,’ he said.

‘Manjiro, sir. This is my mother, Mrs Yozaemon. We heard about your troubles and came to see if we could help.’

Akitada was touched. Here he was, a prisoner in Otsu, without a friend or servant, and these two strangers had cared enough to come to him. ‘You honor me,’ he said, choking a little, and bowed to both of them. The mother bowed more deeply and began to thank him. Akitada interrupted her. ‘Thank you for coming, but I hope to settle this ugly matter quickly and return home with the boy.’ He looked at the child again, but met only a baleful stare.

The woman said, ‘Poor little tyke,’ and stroked the child’s hair.

‘At the moment he’s in the warden’s care. I’m worried that he may be returned to the people who tormented him.’

‘We could take him for a while, your honor,’ she said shyly. ‘I’m alone except for Manjiro, and the child would be company when Manjiro’s working. I don’t get about much because of my bad back.’ She paused. ‘We’re poor, but my little house is as clean as I can keep it. We eat simple food, but he would never go hungry.’

Akitada looked at the warden, who nodded. ‘I don’t see why not. Until we know what happened to the child. The parents have a claim on the boy, you know.’

‘If they are his parents,’ said Akitada. ‘And even then, I believe they have lost the right to this child. I’ll pay Mrs Yozaemon for his care, but I have only a few silver coins and coppers on me. My saddlebags are at the inn.’

Mrs Yozaemon said, ‘Oh, you don’t have to pay us. Not after what you did for Manjiro.’

‘Thank you, but I insist.’

The warden pointed to a corner of his office. ‘Your things have been brought. The innkeeper wanted the room for other guests.’

The man had been in a hurry to get rid of his notorious guest. ‘What about my horse? He is valuable, and I have no intention of losing him. And what happened to my servant, Tora? He was supposed to return to the inn last night.’

Tora was accused of a brutal attack on Mrs Mimura, and so the constables had scoured the town for him, Akitada learned. They had given up when a groom from the inn reported that he had left Otsu on horseback shortly before Akitada’s arrest. Only Akitada’s horse remained in the inn’s stable.

This blow was unexpectedly painful for Akitada. Tora had abandoned him without so much as an explanation or a farewell. Distracted, he looked at the boy again, perhaps in the hope that the child would somehow make up for it. But he turned his head away again. Why was he angry? What had Akitada done apart from trying to save him – and suffering dire consequences for a simple act of charity? He cradled his swollen arm and ground out, ‘So what is next?’

‘You’ll remain our guest,’ the warden said, ‘until the case can be heard.’

‘I want to speak to the judge now,’ Akitada countered.

Warden Takechi scratched his head, but agreed that he would see what could be done.

At least the boy seemed to like Mrs Yozaemon and Manjiro. Akitada went to his saddlebag to pay her. The warden caught a glimpse of the gold, and he had to explain that he had meant to pay the Mimuras for the child.

Warden Takechi looked shocked. ‘You’d give that much for the child?’ Akitada flushed at the implication. The warden shook his head, ‘If he finds out what he missed, Mimura will beat that stupid wife of his.’

Mrs Yozaemon and her son departed with five gold pieces and some loose silver, taking the boy with them, and Akitada bent his mind to solving his predicament. He hoped to convince the judge to release him. The warden had no such authority, but a judge could make exceptions for men of rank. One problem was the ‘fugitive’ Tora. Unless Akitada could produce his ‘partner in crime’, the judge might balk at letting him leave.

He returned to his cell to pace and brood over Tora’s desertion. Tora was no humble and obedient servant, but he had always been loyal. Akitada was angry and hurt that he had been left in a cell, with an injured arm, under the eyes of three constables, who stared at him periodically through the opening in the cell door.

Tora’s rebellion must have something to do with his newest girlfriend. Had Akitada missed some clue there? Doubts began to plague him. Perhaps he should have listened to Tora. But forgiving him was an altogether different matter. This time Tora had gone too far.

The warden returned with a soberly dressed corpulent gentleman he introduced as Judge Nakano.

Nakano looked at him and frowned. ‘Surely,’ he said to the warden, ‘this confinement is not necessary. I doubt Lord Sugawara would run off like a common criminal. Take us to a private room.’

A more hopeful Akitada was soon seated across from Nakano in a small back room where the warden stored his documents. But if he had thought that this promising beginning would lead to a rapid dismissal of the charges against him, he was disappointed.

Nakano stared at him for quite a while before he said, ‘I am afraid the charges are serious. Very serious. We have had such cases before. Apparently, there is a call for small children – boys, I should say – in some circles in the capital.’ He made a face. ‘So far the villains have been common criminals. Yours is a peculiar case.’