and
his love, used to go every day to the tea-house at Oji, taking with
him O Koyo; and Genzaburo neglected all his duties for the pleasure of
these secret meetings. Chokichi saw this with great regret, and
thought to himself that if Genzaburo gave himself up entirely to
pleasure, and laid aside his duties, the secret would certainly be
made public, and Genzaburo 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
Genzaburo 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 Genzaburo'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. Genzaburo, 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 rui