"Well, that some one is yourself, and nobody else. There!" and as he
spoke, he gently tapped the dimple on her cheek with his finger; and O
Koyo's heart beat so, for very joy, that, for a little while, she
remained speechless. At last she turned her face towards Genzaburô,
and said--
"Alas! your lordship is only trifling with me, when you know that what
you have just been pleased to propose is the darling wish of my heart.
Would that I could only go into your house as a maid-servant, in any
capacity, however mean, that I might daily feast my eyes on your
handsome face!"
"Ah! I see that you think yourself very clever at hoaxing men, and so
you must needs tease me a little;" and, as he spoke, he took her hand,
and drew her close up to him, and she, blushing again, cried--
"Oh! pray wait a moment, while I shut the sliding-doors."
"Listen to me, O Koyo! I am not going to forget the promise which I
made you just now; nor need you be afraid of my harming you; but take
care that you do not deceive me."
"Indeed, sir, the fear is rather that you should set your heart on
others; but, although I am no fashionable lady, take pity on me, and
love me well and long."
"Of course! I shall never care for another woman but you."
"Pray, pray, never forget those words that you have just spoken."
"And now," replied Genzaburô, "the night is advancing, and, for
to-day, we must part; but we will arrange matters, so as to meet again
in this tea-house. But, as people would make remarks if we left the
tea-house together, I will go out first."
And so, much against their will, they tore themselves from one
another, Genzaburô returning to his house, and O Koyo going home, her
heart filled with joy at having found the man for whom she had pined;
and from that day forth they used constantly to meet in secret at the
tea-house; and Genzaburô, in his infatuation, never thought that the
matter must surely become notorious after a while, and that he himself
would be banished, and his family ruined: he only took care for the
pleasure of the moment.
Now Chokichi, who had brought about the meeting between Genzaburô and
his love, used to go every day to the tea-house at Oji, taking with
him O Koyo; and Genzaburô neglected all his duties for the pleasure of
these secret meetings. Chokichi saw this with great regret, and
thought to himself that if Genzaburô gave himself up entirely to
pleasure, and laid aside his duties, the secret would certainly be
made public, and Genzaburô would bring ruin on himself and his family;
so he began to devise some plan by which he might separate them, and
plotted as eagerly to estrange them as he had formerly done to
introduce them to one another.
At last he hit upon a device which satisfied him. Accordingly one day
he went to O Koyo's house, and, meeting her father Kihachi, said to
him--
"I've got a sad piece of news to tell you. The family of my lord
Genzaburô have been complaining bitterly of his conduct in carrying on
his relationship with your daughter, and of the ruin which exposure
would bring upon the whole house; so they have been using their
influence to persuade him to hear reason, and give up the connection.
Now his lordship feels deeply for the damsel, and yet he cannot
sacrifice his family for her sake. For the first time, he has become
alive to the folly of which he has been guilty, and, full of remorse,
he has commissioned me to devise some stratagem to break off the
affair. Of course, this has taken me by surprise; but as there is no
gainsaying the right of the case, I have had no option but to promise
obedience: this promise I have come to redeem; and now, pray, advise
your daughter to think no more of his lordship."
When Kihachi heard this he was surprised and distressed, and told O
Koyo immediately; and she, grieving over the sad news, took no thought
either of eating or drinking, but remained gloomy and desolate.
In the meanwhile, Chokichi went off to Genzaburô's house, and told him
that O Koyo had been taken suddenly ill, and could not go to meet him,
and begged him to wait patiently until she should send to tell him of
her recovery. Genzaburô, never suspecting the story to be false,
waited for thirty days, and still Chokichi brought him no tidings of O
Koyo. At last he met Chokichi, and besought him to arrange a meeting
for him with O Koyo.
"Sir," replied Chokichi, "she is not yet recovered; so it would be
difficult to bring her to see your honour. But I have been thinking
much about this affair, sir. If it becomes public, your honour's
family will be plunged in ruin. I pray you, sir, to forget all about O
Koyo."
"It's all very well for you to give me advice," answered Genzaburô,
surprised; "but, having once bound myself to O Koyo, it would be a
pitiful thing to desert her; I therefore implore you once more to
arrange that I may meet her."
However, he would not consent upon any account; so Genzaburô returned
home, and, from that time forth, daily entreated Chokichi to bring O
Koyo to him, and, receiving nothing but advice from him in return, was
very sad and lonely.
One day Genzaburô, intent on ridding himself of the grief he felt at
his separation from O Koyo, went to the Yoshiwara, and, going into a
house of entertainment, ordered a feast to be prepared, but, in the
midst of gaiety, his heart yearned all the while for his lost love,
and his merriment was but mourning in disguise. At last the night wore
on; and as he was retiring along the corridor, he saw a man of about
forty years of age, with long hair, coming towards him, who, when he
saw Genzaburô, cried out, "Dear me! why this must be my young lord
Genzaburô who has come out to enjoy himself."
Genzaburô thought this rather strange; but, looking at the man
attentively, recognized him as a retainer whom he had had in his
employ the year before, and said--
"This is a curious meeting: pray, what have you been about since you
left my service? At any rate, I may congratulate you on being well and
strong. Where are you living now?"
"Well, sir, since I parted from you I have been earning a living as a
fortune-teller at Kanda, and have changed my name to Kaji Sazen. I am
living in a poor and humble house; but if your lordship, at your
leisure, would honour me with a visit--"
"Well, it's a lucky chance that has brought us together, and I
certainly will go and see you; besides, I want you to do something for
me. Shall you be at home the day after to-morrow?"
"Certainly, sir, I shall make a point of being at home."
"Very well, then, the day after to-morrow I will go to your house."
"I shall be at your service, sir. And now, as it is getting late, I
will take my leave for to-night."
"Good night, then. We shall meet the day after to-morrow." And so the
two parted, and went their several ways to rest.
On the appointed day Genzaburô made his preparations, and went in
disguise, without any retainers, to call upon Sazen, who met him at
the porch of his house, and said, "This is a great honour! My lord
Genzaburô is indeed welcome. My house is very mean, but let me invite
your lordship to come into an inner chamber."
"Pray," replied Genzaburô, "don't make any ceremony for me. Don't put
yourself to any trouble on my account."
And so he passed in, and Sazen called to his wife to prepare wine and
condiments; and they began to feast. At last Genzaburô, looking Sazen
in the face, said, "There is a service which I want you to render
me--a very secret service; but as if you were to refuse me, I should
be put to shame, before I tell you what that service is, I must know
whether you are willing to assist me in anything that I may require of
you."
"Yes; if it is anything that is within my power, I am at your
disposal."
"Well, then," said Genzaburô, greatly pleased, and drawing ten riyos
from his bosom, "this is but a small present to make to you on my
first visit, but pray accept it."
"No, indeed! I don't know what your lordship wishes of me; but, at any
rate, I cannot receive this money. I really must beg your lordship to
take it back again."
But Genzaburô pressed it upon him by force, and at last he was obliged
to accept the money. Then Genzaburô told him the whole story of his
loves with O Koyo--how he had first met her and fallen in love with
her at the Adzuma Bridge; how Chokichi had introduced her to him at
the tea-house at Oji, and then when she fell ill, and he wanted to see
her again, instead of bringing her to him, had only given him good
advice; and so Genzaburô drew a lamentable picture of his state of
despair.
Sazen listened patiently to his story, and, after reflecting for a
while, replied, "Well, sir, it's not a difficult matter to set right:
and yet it will require some little management. However, if your
lordship will do me the honour of coming to see me again the day after
to-morrow, I will cast about me in the meanwhile, and will let you
know then the result of my deliberations."
When Genzaburô heard this he felt greatly relieved, and, recommending
Sazen to do his best in the matter, took his leave and returned home.
That very night Sazen, after thinking over all that Genzaburô had told
him, laid his plans accordingly, and went off to the house of Kihachi,
the Eta chief, and told him the commission with which he had been
entrusted.
Kihachi was of course greatly astonished, and said, "Some time ago,
sir, Chokichi came here and said that my lord Genzaburô, having been
rebuked by his family for his profligate behaviour, had determined to
break off his connection with my daughter. Of course I knew that the
daughter of an Eta was no fitting match for a nobleman; so when
Chokichi came and told me the errand upon which he had been sent, I
had no alternative but to announce to my daughter that she must give
up all thought of his lordship. Since that time she has been fretting
and pining and starving for love. But when I tell her what you have
just said, how glad and happy she will be! Let me go and talk to her
at once." And with these words, he went to O Koyo's room; and when he
looked upon her thin wasted face, and saw how sad she was, he felt
more and more pity for her, and said, "Well, O Koyo, are you in better
spirits to-day? Would you like something to eat?"
"Thank you, I have no appetite."
"Well, at any rate, I have some news for you that will make you happy.
A messenger has come from my lord Genzaburô, for whom your heart
yearns."
At this O Koyo, who had been crouching down like a drooping flower,
gave a great start, and cried out, "Is that really true? Pray tell me
all about it as quickly as possible."
"The story which Chokichi came and told us, that his lordship wished
to break off the connection, was all an invention. He has all along
been wishing to meet you, and constantly urged Chokichi to bring you a
message from him. It is Chokichi who has been throwing obstacles in
the way. At last his lordship has secretly sent a man, called Kaji
Sazen, a fortune-teller, to arrange an interview between you. So now,
my child, you may cheer up, and go to meet your lover as soon as you
please."
When O Koyo heard this, she was so happy that she thought it must all
be a dream, and doubted her own senses.
Kihachi in the meanwhile rejoined Sazen in the other room, and, after
telling him of the joy with which his daughter had heard the news, put
before him wine and other delicacies. "I think," said Sazen, "that the
best way would be for O Koyo to live secretly in my lord Genzaburô's
house; but as it will never do for all the world to know of it, it
must be managed very quietly; and further, when I get home, I must
think out some plan to lull the suspicions of that fellow Chokichi,
and let you know my idea by letter. Meanwhile O Koyo had better come
home with me to-night: although she is so terribly out of spirits now,
she shall meet Genzaburô the day after to-morrow."
Kihachi reported this to O Koyo; and as her pining for Genzaburô was
the only cause of her sickness, she recovered her spirits at once,
and, saying that she would go with Sazen immediately, joyfully made
her preparations. Then Sazen, having once more warned Kihachi to keep
the matter secret from Chokichi, and to act upon the letter which he
should send him, returned home, taking with him O Koyo; and after O
Koyo had bathed and dressed her hair, and painted herself and put on
beautiful clothes, she came out looking so lovely that no princess in
the land could vie with her; and Sazen, when he saw her, said to
himself that it was no wonder that Genzaburô had fallen in love with
her; then, as it was getting late, he advised her to go to rest, and,
after showing her to her apartments, went to his own room and wrote
his letter to Kihachi, containing the scheme which he had devised.
When Kihachi received his instructions, he was filled with admiration
at Sazen's ingenuity, and, putting on an appearance of great alarm and
agitation, went off immediately to call on Chokichi, and said to him--
"Oh, Master Chokichi, such a terrible thing has happened! Pray, let me
tell you all about it."
"Indeed! what can it be?"
"Oh! sir," answered Kihachi, pretending to wipe away his tears, "my
daughter O Koyo, mourning over her separation from my lord Genzaburô,
at first refused all sustenance, and remained nursing her sorrows
until, last night, her woman's heart failing to bear up against her
great grief, she drowned herself in the river, leaving behind her a
paper on which she had written her intention."
When Chokichi heard this, he was thunderstruck, and exclaimed, "Can
this really be true! And when I think that it was I who first
introduced her to my lord, I am ashamed to look you in the face."
"Oh, say not so: misfortunes are the punishment due for our misdeeds
in a former state of existence. I bear you no ill-will. This money
which I hold in my hand was my daughter's; and in her last
instructions she wrote to beg that it might be given, after her death,
to you, through whose intervention she became allied with a nobleman:
so please accept it as my daughter's legacy to you;" and as he spoke,
he offered him three riyos.
"You amaze me!" replied the other. "How could I, above all men, who
have so much to reproach myself with in my conduct towards you, accept
this money?"
"Nay; it was my dead daughter's wish. But since you reproach yourself
in the matter when you think of her, I will beg you to put up a prayer
and to cause masses to be said for her."
At last, Chokichi, after much persuasion, and greatly to his own
distress, was obliged to accept the money; and when Kihachi had
carried out all Sazen's instructions, he returned home, laughing in
his sleeve.
Chokichi was sorely grieved to hear of O Koyo's death, and remained
thinking over the sad news; when all of a sudden looking about him,
he saw something like a letter lying on the spot where Kihachi had
been sitting, so he picked it up and read it; and, as luck would have
it, it was the very letter which contained Sazen's instructions to
Kihachi, and in which the whole story which had just affected him so
much was made up. When he perceived the trick that had been played
upon him, he was very angry, and exclaimed, "To think that I should
have been so hoaxed by that hateful old dotard, and such a fellow as
Sazen! And Genzaburô, too!--out of gratitude for the favours which I
had received from him in old days, I faithfully gave him good advice,
and all in vain. Well, they've gulled me once; but I'll be even with
them yet, and hinder their game before it is played out!" And so he
worked himself up into a fury, and went off secretly to prowl about
Sazen's house to watch for O Koyo, determined to pay off Genzaburô and
Sazen for their conduct to him.
In the meanwhile Sazen, who did not for a moment suspect what had
happened, when the day which had been fixed upon by him and Genzaburô
arrived, made O Koyo put on her best clothes, smartened up his house,
and got ready a feast against Genzaburô's arrival. The latter came
punctually to his time, and, going in at once, said to the
fortune-teller, "Well, have you succeeded in the commission with which
I entrusted you?"
At first Sazen pretended to be vexed at the question, and said, "Well,
sir, I've done my best; but it's not a matter which can be settled in
a hurry. However, there's a young lady of high birth and wonderful
beauty upstairs, who has come here secretly to have her fortune told;
and if your lordship would like to come with me and see her, you can
do so."
But Genzaburô, when he heard that he was not to meet O Koyo, lost
heart entirely, and made up his mind to go home again. Sazen, however,
pressed him so eagerly, that at last he went upstairs to see this
vaunted beauty; and Sazen, drawing aside a screen, showed him O Koyo,
who was sitting there. Genzaburô gave a great start, and, turning to
Sazen, said, "Well, you certainly are a first-rate hand at keeping up
a hoax. However, I cannot sufficiently praise the way in which you
have carried out my instructions."
"Pray, don't mention it, sir. But as it is a long time since you have
met the young lady, you must have a great deal to say to one another;
so I will go downstairs, and, if you want anything, pray call me." And
so he went downstairs and left them.
Then Genzaburô, addressing O Koyo, said, "Ah! it is indeed a long time
since we met. How happy it makes me to see you again! Why, your face
has grown quite thin. Poor thing! have you been unhappy?" And O Koyo,
with the tears starting from her eyes for joy, hid her face; and her
heart was so full that she could not speak. But Genzaburô, passing his
hand gently over her head and back, and comforting her, said, "Come,
sweetheart, there is no need to sob so. Talk to me a little, and let
me hear your voice."
At last O Koyo raised her head and said, "Ah! when I was separated
from you by the tricks of Chokichi, and thought that I should never
meet you again, how tenderly I thought of you! I thought I should have
died, and waited for my hour to come, pining all the while for you.
And when at last, as I lay between life and death, Sazen came with a
message from you, I thought it was all a dream." And as she spoke, she
bent her head and sobbed again; and in Genzaburô's eyes she seemed
more beautiful than ever, with her pale, delicate face; and he loved
her better than before. Then she said, "If I were to tell you all I
have suffered until to-day, I should never stop."
"Yes," replied Genzaburô, "I too have suffered much;" and so they told
one another their mutual griefs, and from that day forth they
constantly met at Sazen's house.
One day, as they were feasting and enjoying themselves in an upper
storey in Sazen's house, Chokichi came to the house and said, "I beg
pardon; but does one Master Sazen live here?"
"Certainly, sir: I am Sazen, at your service. Pray where are you
from?"
"Well, sir, I have a little business to transact with you. May I make
so bold as to go in?" And with these words, he entered the house.
"But who and what are you?" said Sazen.
"Sir, I am an Eta; and my name is Chokichi. I beg to bespeak your
goodwill for myself: I hope we may be friends."
Sazen was not a little taken aback at this; however, he put on an
innocent face, as though he had never heard of Chokichi before, and
said, "I never heard of such a thing! Why, I thought you were some
respectable person; and you have the impudence to tell me that your
name is Chokichi, and that you're one of those accursed Etas. To think
of such a shameless villain coming and asking to be friends with me,
forsooth! Get you gone!--the quicker, the better: your presence
pollutes the house."
Chokichi smiled contemptuously, as he answered, "So you deem the
presence of an Eta in your house a pollution--eh? Why, I thought you
must be one of us."
"Insolent knave! Begone as fast as possible."
"Well, since you say that I defile your house, you had better get rid
of O Koyo as well. I suppose she must equally be a pollution to it."
This put Sazen rather in a dilemma; however, he made up his mind not
to show any hesitation, and said, "What are you talking about? There
is no O Koyo here; and I never saw such a person in my life."
Chokichi quietly drew out of the bosom of his dress the letter from
Sazen to Kihachi, which he had picked up a few days before, and,
showing it to Sazen, replied, "If you wish to dispute the genuineness
of this paper, I will report the whole matter to the Governor of Yedo;
and Genzaburô's family will be ruined, and the rest of you who are
parties in this affair will come in for your share of trouble. Just
wait a little."
And as he pretended to leave the house, Sazen, at his wits' end, cried
out, "Stop! stop! I want to speak to you. Pray, stop and listen
quietly. It is quite true, as you said, that O Koyo is in my house;
and really your indignation is perfectly just. Come! let us talk over
matters a little. Now you yourself were originally a respectable man;
and although you have fallen in life, there is no reason why your
disgrace should last for ever. All that you want in order to enable
you to escape out of this fraternity of Etas is a little money. Why
should you not get this from Genzaburô, who is very anxious to keep
his intrigue with O Koyo secret?"
Chokichi laughed disdainfully. "I am ready to talk with you; but I
don't want any money. All I want is to report the affair to the
authorities, in order that I may be revenged for the fraud that was
put upon me."
"Won't you accept twenty-five riyos?"
"Twenty-five riyos! No, indeed! I will not take a fraction less than a
hundred; and if I cannot get them I will report the whole matter at
once."
Sazen, after a moment's consideration, hit upon a scheme, and
answered, smiling, "Well, Master Chokichi, you're a fine fellow, and I
admire your spirit. You shall have the hundred riyos you ask for; but,
as I have not so much money by me at present, I will go to Genzaburô's
house and fetch it. It's getting dark now, but it's not very late; so
I'll trouble you to come with me, and then I can give you the money
to-night."
Chokichi consenting to this, the pair left the house together.
Now Sazen, who as a Rônin wore a long dirk in his girdle, kept looking
out for a moment when Chokichi should be off his guard, in order to
kill him; but Chokichi kept his eyes open, and did not give Sazen a
chance. At last Chokichi, as ill-luck would have it, stumbled against
a stone and fell; and Sazen, profiting by the chance, drew his dirk
and stabbed him in the side; and as Chokichi, taken by surprise, tried
to get up, he cut him severely over the head, until at last he fell
dead. Sazen then looking around him, and seeing, to his great delight,
that there was no one near, returned home. The following day,
Chokichi's body was found by the police; and when they examined it,
they found nothing upon it save a paper, which they read, and which
proved to be the very letter which Sazen had sent to Kihachi, and
which Chokichi had picked up. The matter was immediately reported to
the governor, and, Sazen having been summoned, an investigation was
held. Sazen, cunning and bold murderer as he was, lost his
self-possession when he saw what a fool he had been not to get back
from Chokichi the letter which he had written, and, when he was put to
a rigid examination under torture, confessed that he had hidden O
Koyo at Genzaburô's instigation, and then killed Chokichi, who had
found out the secret. Upon this the governor, after consulting about
Genzaburô's case, decided that, as he had disgraced his position as a
Hatamoto by contracting an alliance with the daughter of an Eta, his
property should be confiscated, his family blotted out, and himself
banished. As for Kihachi, the Eta chief, and his daughter O Koyo, they
were handed over for punishment to the chief of the Etas, and by him
they too were banished; while Sazen, against whom the murder of
Chokichi had been fully proved, was executed according to law.