“Listen to me, O Koyo!  I am not going to forget the promise which I made you just now; nor need you be afraid of my harming you; but take care that you do not deceive me.”

“Indeed, sir, the fear is rather that you should set your heart on others; but, although I am no fashionable lady, take pity on me, and love me well and long.”

“Of course!  I shall never care for another woman but you.”

“Pray, pray, never forget those words that you have just spoken.”

“And now,” replied Genzaburo, “the night is advancing, and, for to-day, we must part; but we will arrange matters, so as to meet again in this tea-house.  But, as people would make remarks if we left the tea-house together, I will go out first.”

And so, much against their will, they tore themselves from one another, Genzaburo returning to his house, and O Koyo going home, her heart filled with joy at having found the man for whom she had pined; and from that day forth they used constantly to meet in secret at the tea-house; and Genzaburo, in his infatuation, never thought that the matter must surely become notorious after a while, and that he himself would be banished, and his family ruined:  he only took care for the pleasure of the moment.

Now Chokichi, who had brought about the meeting between Genzaburo 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.