“Sir, I am afraid when I think of the liberty that I have taken.  I will go to Kihachi’s house, and will use my best endeavours with him that I may bring the girl to you.  But for to-day, it is getting late, and night is coming on; so I will go and speak to her father to-morrow.”

Genzaburo was delighted to find Chokichi willing to serve him.

“Well,” said he, “the day after to-morrow I will await you at the tea-house at Oji, and you can bring O Koyo there.  Take this present, small as it is, and do your best for me.”

With this he pulled out three riyos from his pocket and handed them to Chokichi. who declined the money with thanks, saying that he had already received too much, and could accept no more; but Genzaburo pressed him, adding, that if the wish of his heart were accomplished he would do still more for him.  So Chokichi, in great glee at the good luck which had befallen him, began to revolve all sorts of schemes in his mind; and the two parted.

But O Koyo, who had fallen in love at first sight with Genzaburo on the Adzuma Bridge, went home and could think of nothing but him.  Sad and melancholy she sat, and her friend O Kuma tried to comfort her in various ways; but O Koyo yearned, with all her heart, for Genzaburo; and the more she thought over the matter, the better she perceived that she, as the daughter of an Eta, was no match for a noble Hatamoto.  And yet, in spite of this, she pined for him, and bewailed her own vile condition.

Now it happened that her friend O Kuma was in love with Chokichi, and only cared for thinking and speaking of him; one day, when Chokichi went to pay a visit at the house of Kihachi the Eta chief, O Kuma, seeing him come, was highly delighted, and received him very politely; and Chokichi, interrupting her, said—­

“O Kuma, I want you to answer me a question:  where has O Koyo gone to amuse herself to-day?”

“Oh, you know the gentleman who was talking with you the other day, at the Adzuma Bridge?  Well, O Koyo has fallen desperately in love with him, and she says that she is too low-spirited and out of sorts to get up yet.”

Chokichi was greatly pleased to hear this, and said to O Kuma—­

“How delightful!  Why, O Koyo has fallen in love with the very gentleman who is burning with passion for her, and who has employed me to help him in the matter.  However, as he is a noble Hatamoto, and his whole family would be ruined if the affair became known to the world, we must endeavour to keep it as secret as possible.”

“Dear me!” replied O Kuma; “when O Koyo hears this, how happy she will be, to be sure!  I must go and tell her at once.”

“Stop!” said Chokichi, detaining her; “if her father, Master Kihachi, is willing, we will tell O Koyo directly.  You had better wait here a little until I have consulted him;” and with this he went into an inner chamber to see Kihachi; and, after talking over the news of the day, told him how Genzaburo had fallen passionately in love with O Koyo, and had employed him as a go-between.  Then he described how he had received kindness at the hands of Genzaburo when he was in better circumstances, dwelt on the wonderful personal beauty of his lordship, and upon the lucky chance by which he and O Koyo had come to meet each other.