The Decay of the Angel - Yukio Mishima

presently the averred illness became real. She drove
herself into physical pain. Travel was out of the
question.
Bringing the cenotaph with him was a post-mortem
tribute to her honesty. If Rié had seen her husband
tucking the cenotaph into his briefcase (the premise
was of course a contradiction), how derisively she
would have laughed! Today all manner of sentimental
affection was permitted to Honda. And the one who
permitted it was the new Rié.
On the night of their return to Rome, as if by way of
compensation for her services in Venice, Keiko
brought to their suite in the Hotel Excelsior a beautiful
Sicilian girl she had picked up on the Via Veneto,
near the hotel. The two enjoyed themselves the whole
night through in Honda’s presence.
Later Keiko said: “Your coughing was wonderful.
You weren’t entirely over your cold. You coughed all
night, the strangest sort of coughing. I can’t tell you
how wonderful it was listening to that funny old cough
while I had that marble body to enjoy in the next bed. It
was background music better than the best I could
have bought. I felt as if I were doing something or
other, I don’t quite know what, in a fine, luxurious
tomb.”
“You were listening to the skeleton.”