Page:Kwaidan; Stories and Studies of Strange Things - Hearn - 1904.djvu/156

 those twenty-eight characters he was able to express all the depth of his passion, and to suggest all the pain of his loss: —

Kōshi ō-son gojin wo ou; Ryokuju namida wo tarété rakin wo hitataru; Komon hitotabi irité fukaki koto umi no gotoshi; Koré yori shorō koré rojin.

On the evening of the day after this poem had been sent, Tomotada was summoned to appear before the Lord Hosokawa. The youth at once suspected that his confidence had been betrayed; and he could not hope, if his letter had been seen by the daimyō, to escape the severest penalty. &quot;Now he will order my death,&quot; thought Tomotada;—&quot; but I do not 132