er, 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 Genzaburo, 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 Genzaburo 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 Genzaburo
arrived, made O Koyo put on her best clothes, smartened up his house,
and got ready a feast against Genzaburo'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 Genzaburo, 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. Genzaburo gave a great start, a