The Open Window (2)

 She broke off with a little shudder. It was a relief to Framton when the aunt bustled into the room with a whirl of apologies for being late in making her appearance.

"I hope Vera has been amusing you?" she said.

"She has been very interesting," said Framton.

"I hope you don't mind the open window," said Mrs.Sappleton briskly; "my husband and brothers  will be home directly from shooting, and they always come in this way.They've been out for snipe in the marshes today, so they'll make fine mess over my poor carpets. So like you men-folk, isn't it?"

She rattled on cheerfully about the shooting and the scarcity of birds, and the prospects for duck in the winter. To Framton it was all purely horrible. He made a desperate but only partially successful effort to turn the talk on to a less ghastly topic; he was conscious that his hostess was giving him only a fragment of her attention, and her eyes were constantly straying past him to the open window and the lawn beyond. It was certainly an unfortunate coincidence that he should have paid his visit on this tragic anniversary.

"The doctors agree in ordering me complete rest, an absence of mental excitement, and avoidance of anything in the nature of violent physical exercise," announced Framton, who laboured under the tolerably widespread delusion that total strangers and chance acquaintances are hungry for the least details of one's ailments and infirmities, their cause and cure. "On the matter of diet they are not so much in agreement," he continued.

"No?" said Mrs.Sappleton, in a voice which only replaced a yawn at the last moment. Then she suddenly brightened into alert attention--- but not to What Framton was saying.

"Here they are at last!" she cried. "Just in time for tea, and don't they look as if they were muddy up to the eyes!"

Framton shivered slightly and turned towards the niece with a look intended to convey sympathetic comprehension. The child was staring out through the open window with dazed horror in her eyes. In a chill shock of nameless fear Framton swung in his seat and looked in the same direction.

In the deepening twilight three figures were walking across the lawn towards the window;they all carried guns under their arms, and one of them was additionally burdened with a white coat hung over his shoulders. A tired brown spaniel kept close at their heels. Noiselessly they neared the house, and then a hoarse young voice chanted out of the dusk: "I said, Bertie, why do you bound?"

Framton grabbed wildly at his stick and hat; the hall-door, the gravel-drive, and the front gate were dimly-noted stages in his headlong retreat. A cyclist coming along the road had to run into the hedge to avoid an imminent collision.

"Here we are, my dear," said the bearer of the white mackintosh, coming in through the window; "fairly muddy, but most of it's dry. Who was that who bolted out as we came up?"

"A most extraordinary man, a Mr.Nuttle," said Mrs.Sappleton; "could only talk about his illnesses, and dashed off without a word of good-bye or apology when you arrived. One would think he had seen a ghost.

"I expect it was the spaniel," said the niece calmly; "he told me he had a horror of dogs. He was once hunted into into a cemetery somewhere on the banks of the Ganges by a pack of pariah dogs, and had to spend the night in a newly dog grave with the creatures snarling and grinning and foaming just above him. Enough to make anyone lose their nerve."

Romance at short notice was her specialty.

By Saki

     

  

 

     

 

      

 

 

  

The Open Window

 "My aunt will be down presently,Mr.Nuttel," said a very self-possessed young lady of fifteen; "in the meantime you must try and put up with me."

Framton Nuttel endeavoured to say the correct something which should duly flatter the niece of the moment without unduly discounting the aunt that was to come. Privately he doubted more than ever whether these formal visits on a succession of total strangers would do much towards helping the nerve cure which he was supposed to be undergoing.

"I know how it will be," his sister had said when he was preparing to migrate to this rural retreat; "You will bury yourself down there and not speak to a living soul,and nerves will be worse than ever from moping. I shall just give you letters of introduction to all the people I know there. Some of them, as far as I can remember, here quite nice."

Framton wondered whether Mrs.Sappleton, the lady to whom he was presenting one of the letters of introduction, came into the nice division.

"Do you know many of the people round here?" asked the niece, when she judged that they had had sufficient silent communion.

"Hardly a soul," said Framton. "My sister was staying here, at the rectory, you know, some four years ago, and she gave me letters of introduction to some of the people here."

He made the last statement in a tone of distinct regret.

"Then you know practically nothing about my aunt?" pursued the self-possessed young lady.

"Only her name and address," admitted the caller. He was wondering whether Mrs.Sappleton was in the married or widowed state. An undefinable something about the room seemed to suggest masculine habitation.

"Her great tragedy happened just three years ago," said the child; "that would be since your sister's time."

"Her tragedy?" asked Framton; somehow in this restful country spot tragedies seemed out of place.

"You may wonder why we keep that window wide open on an October afternoon," said the niece, indicating a large French window that opened on to a lawn.

"It is quite warm for the time of the year," said Framton; "but has that window got anything to do with the tragedy?"

"Out through that window, three years ago to a day, her husband and her two young brothers went off for their day's shooting. They never came back. In crossing the moor to their favourite snipe-shooting ground they were all three engulfed in a treacherous piece of bog. It had been that dreadful wet summer, you know, and places that were safe in other years gave way suddenly without warming. Their bodies were never recovered. That was the dreadful part of it." Here the child's voice lost its self-possessed note and became falteringly human.

"Poor aunt always thinks that they will come back some day, they and the little brown spaniel that was lost with them, and walk in at that window just as they used to do. That is why the window is kept open every evening till it is quite dusk.Poor dear aunt, she has often told me how they went out, her husband with his white waterproof coat over his arm, and Ronnie, her youngest brother, singing 'Bettie,why do you bound?' as he always did to tease her, because she said it got on her nerves. Do you know, sometimes on still, quite evenings like this, I almost get a creepy feeling that they will all walk in through that window-----"

    

  

   

  

 

   

　

快男児・大伴古麻呂（５）

 淡々とした表記の「続日本紀」の行間を想像をふくらませて読んでいると、清河・真備グループと古麻呂とは、遣唐使の全期間を通じて対立していたと考えられる。

そもそも、出発前の遣唐使の正使・副使の任命時点から、政治的な匂いが強く感じられる。藤原氏の若手エリートではあるが、３０歳過ぎの清河の大使任命はあまりにも若い。優秀で見栄えの良いハンサムな人であったらしいが。「続日本紀」には次のようにある。

「天平勝宝２年（７５０）９月２４日　遣唐使を任命した。従四位下の藤原朝臣清河を大使に任じ、従五位下の大伴宿禰古麻呂を副使に任じた」

この頃、聖武太上天皇は健康がすぐれず、女帝・孝謙天皇の御代である。左大臣・正一位の橘諸兄が太政官の筆頭であるが、実際には孝謙天皇の側近の大納言・藤原仲麻呂が太政官を仕切っていた。のちの恵美押勝（えみのおしかつ）である。３０歳を少し超えていた清河をむりやり大使に抜擢したのは、年上の従兄にあたる実力者・仲麻呂であったと考えられる。副使に古麻呂を押したのは、おそらく橘諸兄だったと思う。

この大使・副使の任命から１年以上も経って、天平勝宝３年（７５１）の記述に「１１月７日、従四位上の吉備朝臣真備を遣唐使の副使に任命した」とある。

これはきわめて異例の人事だ。なぜこのような人事が発令されたのか、想像をめぐらせてみる。

①遣唐使は体力の要る役職であり、過去の例を見ると大使は４０代、副使は３０代・40代が多い。７０２年の粟田真人の５０代後半は異例中の異例で、しかも真人はこの時、大使・高橋笠間の上席の「遣唐執節使」として入唐している。よって、この時すでに５０半ばを超えていた真備の副使任命は、年齢的にも本人の高い位階の両方からして、異例である。

②当初の「大使・清河、副使・古麻呂」の辞令に関し、古麻呂はやる気満々だったと思う。もしかしたら、大使は俺のほうが適任だ、と思っていたかも知れない。かたや清河は、うるさ型の古麻呂を抑え切れるか、と悩んでいたのではあるまいか。

「お前は藤原氏の若手のホープだ。頑張れ」と、従兄の実力者の大納言・仲麻呂は励ましてくれるものの、年若い貴公子・清河は不安であった。仲麻呂に頼み込んで、急遽、真備を自分の補佐役として、無理やり副使に加えてもらったような気がしてならない。この慌てぶりを裏付けるような記述が「続日本紀」にある。４隻の船が出帆する直前である。

「天平勝宝４年（７５１）閏３月９日　遣唐使の副使以上を内裏に招集し、詔して節刀を与えた。よって大使で従四位上の藤原朝臣清河に正四位下を、副使で従五位上の大伴宿禰古麻呂に従四位上を授けた」とある。真備との位階のバランスをとるため、清河の位階を二階級上げ、古麻呂を四階級も特進させている。

このひと月後、４月９日の記述に、「東大寺の蘆舎那（るしゃな）大仏の像が完成して、開眼供養（かいがんくよう）した」とある。

③吉備真備と阿倍仲麻呂は７１７年の遣唐留学生として一緒に入唐した。真備は１７年後に帰国するが、仲麻呂は在唐のまますでに３５年になる。この友人を連れ帰る目的が真備にあったのではないか、と主張する研究者もいる。しかし、真備の学者タイプの冷徹な人柄を考えるに、友人を連れ帰るために危険を冒して自分からすすんで唐に行くという侠気は感じられない。清河が藤原一族の実力者・仲麻呂に真備の同行を頼み込んだと考えるのが、自然ではあるまいか。

事実、藤原清河の予感は的中した。清河と真備の二人が一致団結しても、朝賀の席順でも鑑真招聘でも、古麻呂の蛮勇に二人が押されっぱなしだったという事実が、それを物語っている。

大伴古麻呂は快男児であった。快男児ゆえに非業の死をとげた。古麻呂が刑死した時の大伴家持の悲しみと孤独感はいかほどであったか。これを思うと胸が痛む。

快男児・大伴古麻呂（４）

 さて、鑑真招聘についてである。

日本に向かう４隻の船は、広陵郡の黄̪泗浦（こうしほ）から出帆する。のちの寧波（ニンポー）である。６６歳の鑑真ら２４人は、この港から北西に徒歩だと数日の所にある揚州の寺から、揚子江経由でこの港に到着していた。

帰国の船に積み込まれた仏像や経典はぼう大な量であった。鑑真と従僧１４人は大使・清河の第一船に、１０人の同行僧は真備の第三船に乗った。これらの僧の中には中国人だけでなく、鑑真を慕う西域・インド・ベトナム人の僧もいた。前回の入唐留学僧の２人の日本人僧は古麻呂の第二船に乗船が決まった。

ところが、ここで事件が発生する。遣唐大使・藤原清河が突然、鑑真一行２４人に下船を命じたのだ。おそらくこれは、副使・吉備真備の助言と思われる。古麻呂には何の相談もなかった。こんにちになってこれを考えれば、優等生学者の真備と藤原の貴公子・清河の、唐政府や広陵郡の地方政府に対する「過剰な忖度」であったような気がする。

鑑真招聘については不明な点が多い。井上靖の「天平の甍」はこのことを書いた作品である。小説ではあるが、歴史的背景を丁寧に調べており、出港直前の鑑真をめぐる清河・真備と古麻呂の対立は、おそらくこの小説のような光景であったと思われる。

鑑真以下２４人は仏像・経典と一緒に、清河の船から降ろされてしまった。この動きを古麻呂に急報し助けを求めたのは、鑑真の弟子であり古麻呂の第二船に乗る予定の２人の日本人僧であった。

「なに。そんな馬鹿なことがあるか。それなら俺の船に乗せろ。清河や真備などの小心者の言うことなど放っておけ。責任は俺が持つ」快男児・大伴古麻呂はこう一諾した。すでに５回日本への渡航に失敗している鑑真は、古麻呂のこの決断で６度目にして日本への投稿に成功する。

古麻呂と鑑真が乗る第二船は、薩摩半島の南端に漂着する。そこから陸路で大宰府に向かった。これに遅れて真備の第三船は屋久島に漂着し、そこから海路で紀伊國に向かい、その後平城京に帰着している。一方、藤原清河と阿倍仲麻呂が乗る第一船は、ベトナムに漂着した。大部分の乗組員は亡くなり、清河・仲麻呂などの少数者は命からがら長安に戻った。

この二人が生存していることを大和朝廷が知ったのは、その５年後である。第四船の行方はまったくわからない。全員が死亡したと思われる。当時の遣唐使の航海は、「運がすべて」と言っても過言ではない。結果良ければすべて良しである。清河の第一船から降ろされ古麻呂の第二船に乗った鑑真には、運が残っていたのであろう。