Page:Anthology of Japanese Literature.pdf/397

Rh couldn’t cause more commotion. My mind has been in a turmoil; my finances are in complete chaos. That is why I went to Kyoto and couldn’t get in touch with you. By some miracle my life has been prolonged, but in such a way that if they put it on the stage the audiences would weep.

His words run out, and he can only sigh.

Are you joking? Why have you kept so trivial a thing from me? You must have had some more serious reason for hiding. Why don’t you tell me?

She clings to his knees and bitter tears
 * Soak her dainty handkerchief.

Stop your weeping. It wasn’t that I was hiding anything. Even if I had told you, it wouldn’t have served any useful purpose. At any rate, my worries have now largely been settled, and I can tell you about them.

My master has always treated me with particular kindness because I’m his nephew, and for my part I’ve served him with absolute honesty. There’s never been a penny’s discrepancy in the accounts. It’s true that recently when I bought on credit a couple of yards of silk, I used his name, but that’s the one and only time I’ve done so, and even if I have to return the money at once, I can sell the clothes back without a loss. My master, noticing how honest I am, proposed that I marry his wife’s niece. He said he would give me a dowry of two kamme of silver, which would permit me to set up in business for myself. But how could I shift my affections to somebody else when I have you? While things were still undecided, my mother—she’s really my stepmother—talked things over with my uncle without my knowing about it, and then went back to the country with the money in her clutches. Innocent fool that I am, I hadn’t the slightest suspicion of this.

The trouble began last month when they tried to force me to marry. I got angry and said, “Master, I don’t understand you. In spite of my unwillingness to get married, you’ve bribed my old mother into giving her consent. You’ve gone too far. Master. I can’t understand the mistress’s attitude either. Just imagine if I were to accept this young lady, whom I’ve always treated with the utmost