When questioned next morning by Yusai, Shinzaburō at first attempted to
deny that any women had been visiting the house; but finding this
artless policy of no avail, and perceiving that the old man’s purpose
was altogether unselfish, he was finally persuaded to acknowledge what
had really occurred, and to give his reasons for wishing to keep the
matter a secret. As for the lady Iijima, he intended, he said, to make
her his wife as soon as possible.
“Oh, madness!” cried Yusai,—losing all patience in the intensity of his
alarm. “Know, sir, that the people who have been coming here, night
after night, are dead! Some frightful delusion is upon you!… Why, the
simple fact that you long supposed O-Tsuyu to be dead, and repeated the
_Nembutsu_ for her, and made offerings before her tablet, is itself the
proof!… The lips of the dead have touched you!—the hands of the dead
have caressed you!… Even at this moment I see in your face the signs of
death—and you will not believe!… Listen to me now, sir,—I beg of
you,—if you wish to save yourself: otherwise you have less than twenty
days to live. They told you—those people—that they were residing in the
district of Shitaya, in Yanaka-no-Sasaki. Did you ever visit them at
that place? No!—of course you did not! Then go to-day,—as soon as you
can,—to Yanaka-no-Sasaki, and try to find their home!…”
And having uttered this counsel with the most vehement earnestness,
Hakuōdō Yusai abruptly took his departure.
Shinzaburō, startled though not convinced, resolved after a moment’s
reflection to follow the advice of the _ninsomi_, and to go to Shitaya.
It was yet early in the morning when he reached the quarter of
Yanaka-no-Sasaki, and began his search for the dwelling of O-Tsuyu. He
went through every street and side-street, read all the names inscribed
at the various entrances, and made inquiries whenever an opportunity
presented itself. But he could not find anything resembling the little
house mentioned by O-Yoné; and none of the people whom he questioned
knew of any house in the quarter inhabited by two single women. Feeling
at last certain that further research would be useless, he turned
homeward by the shortest way, which happened to lead through the
grounds of the temple Shin-Banzui-In.
Suddenly his attention was attracted by two new tombs, placed side by
side, at the rear of the temple. One was a common tomb, such as might
have been erected for a person of humble rank: the other was a large
and handsome monument; and hanging before it was a beautiful
peony-lantern, which had probably been left there at the time of the
Festival of the Dead. Shinzaburō remembered that the peony-lantern
carried by O-Yoné was exactly similar; and the coincidence impressed
him as strange. He looked again at the tombs; but the tombs explained
nothing. Neither bore any personal name,—only the Buddhist _kaimyō_, or
posthumous appellation. Then he determined to seek information at the
temple. An acolyte stated, in reply to his questions, that the large
tomb had been recently erected for the daughter of Iijima Heizayémon,
the _hatamoto_ of Ushigomé; and that the small tomb next to it was that
of her servant O-Yoné, who had died of grief soon after the young
lady’s funeral.
Immediately to Shinzaburö’s memory there recurred, with another and
sinister meaning, the words of O-Yoné:—“_We went away, and found a very
small house in Yanaka-no-Sasaki. There we are now just barely able to
live—by doing a little private work_….” Here was indeed the very small
house,—and in Yanaka-no-Sasaki. But the little _private work…?_
Terror-stricken, the samurai hastened with all speed to the house of
Yusai, and begged for his counsel and assistance. But Yusai declared
himself unable to be of any aid in such a case. All that he could do
was to send Shinzaburō to the high-priest Ryōseki, of Shin-Banzui-In,
with a letter praying for immediate religious help.