not to involve himself in the drama of other people's lives. At this time, Chao P loses his emerald ring at the Peers School. Kri insists that it has been stolen, but the prefect forces the pair to search through 200 square yards of grass in the rain. This incident prompts them to leave the school. The Marquis Matsugae, fearing that they will leave Japan with unpleasant memories, asks them not to return to Siam immediately but to join his family at their holiday villa at Kamakura for the summer. It is there that the subject of reincarnation is brought up for the first time, in conversations between Kri, Chao P, Honda and Kiyoaki. The liaison between Kiyoaki and Satoko is maintained by Honda, who arranges for a Ford Model T to transport Satoko between Tokyo and Kamakura in secret. Kiyoaki has a third major prophetic dream. The Thai princes receive a letter informing them of the death of Ying Chan by illness. Devastated, they return to Siam a week later. Discovery Tadeshina learns from the Matsugaes' steward that Kiyoaki does not possess Satoko's last letter, but continues to cover for them. In October, she realises that Satoko is pregnant, a fact they both hide from Kiyoaki. At the restaurant of the Mitsukoshi department store, they inform him that there can be no further contact. Kiyoaki and Honda, while discussing this, stumble across another bad omen: a dead mole on the path in front of them. Kiyoaki picks it up and throws it in a pond. After a long period of no news, Kiyoaki is summoned to the billiard-room by his father. Tadeshina has attempted suicide, leaving a confidential note to the Marquis revealing the affair to him. At first, the Marquis talks calmly, but when Kiyoaki is unapologetic he beats his son with his billiard-cue. Kiyoaki is rescued by his grandmother; the household immediately starts to focus on limiting the damage. Count Ayakura is strongly tempted to punish Tadeshina, but she knows too much about his secret resentment of the upstart Matsugaes, and he cannot afford to give her any encouragement to reveal it—in particular, the instruction he gave her (in 1905) that Satoko should lose her virginity before any bridegroom chosen by the Marquis should touch her. The Marquis Matsugae meets Count Ayakura and they arrange an abortion for Satoko in Osaka. On the way back to Tokyo,