ing for Genzaburo 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 Genzaburo 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 Genzaburo,
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 h