"I don't think there is any cause--any reason to doubt Yoshio's fidelity.
The man is devoted to Barry. His behaviour certainly sounds--curious, but
can be attributed I am convinced to over-zealousness. He is an alien in a
strange land, cut off from his own natural distractions and amusements,
and with time on his hands his devotion to his master takes a more
noticeable form than is usual with an ordinary English man-servant.
That he designs any harm I cannot believe. He has been with Barry a
long time--on the several occasions when he stayed with him at your
house in London did you notice anything in his behaviour then similar
to the attitude you have observed recently? No? Then I take it that it
is due to the same anxiety that we ourselves have felt since Barry's
return. Only in Yoshio's case it is probably based on definite knowledge,
whereas ours is pure conjecture. Barry has undoubtedly been up against
something--momentous. Between ourselves we can admit the fact frankly.
It is a different man who has come back to us--and we can only carry on
and notice nothing. He is trying to forget something. He has worked like
a nigger since he came home, slogging away down at the estate office as
if he had his bread to earn. He does the work of two men--and he hates
it. I see him sometimes, forgetful of his surroundings, staring out of
the window, and the look on his face brings a confounded lump into my
throat. Thank God he's young--perhaps in time--" he shrugged and broke
off inconclusively, conscious of the futility of platitudes. And they
were all he had to offer. There was no suggestion he could make, nothing
he could do. It was repetition of history, again he had to stand by and
watch suffering he was powerless to aid, powerless to relieve. The mother
first and now the son--it would seem almost as if he had failed both.
The sense of helplessness was bitter and his face was drawn with pain
as he stared dumbly at the window against which the storm was beating
with renewed violence. The sight of the angry elements brought almost