The Decay of the Angel - Yukio Mishima

From long years of avoiding relatives who might be
after his money, Honda had no allies prepared to
sympathize with him. Those who had opposed the
adoption were pleased. Everything had turned out as
expected. They set no stock whatsoever by Honda’s
complaints. He was only trying to arouse sympathy.
Their sympathies were rather with Tōru. Such
beautiful eyes, such impeccable deportment, such a
devoted sense of filial duty—they could only conclude
that a suspicious old man was maligning him. And
indeed Tōru’s manners were above reproach.
“There seem to be troublemakers around. Who can
have told you such a silly story? Mrs. Hisamatsu, I’m
sure. She’s a nice person, but she believes everything
Father tells her. I’m afraid he’s pretty far gone. He has
delusions. I imagine that’s what happens when you
spend so many years worrying about money; but he
treats even me, right here under the same roof, like a
thief. After all, I am young, and when I talk back he
starts telling people I’m not good to him. The time he
fell in the garden and hit his head against the root of
the plum tree—remember?—he told Mrs. Hisamatsu
I’d hit him with a poker. She actually believed it, every
last word of it, and that doesn’t give me much room to
fight back.”
He had that summer brought the mad Kinué from