Page:Tales from old Japanese dramas (1915).djvu/183

Rh over the things they had for days been keeping in store.

Suddenly their blissful conversation was interrupted by a sound of loud wrangling and cries of a crowd, proceeding from outside the gate. They were filled with excitement and curiosity, and rushing out, they saw, in the midst of a throng of people, a samurai engaged in a fierce quarrel with a merchant. The samurai was about to draw his sword. Hisamatsu and O-Somé mingled with the crowd, and were surprised to see Kosuké there! They stole quietly away, to avoid being seen by him. While he was looking at the quarrel, Hisamatsu's pocket was picked of his mistress' purse of money. This had been carefully arranged by an artifice of Kosuké's. The samurai and the merchant were his accomplices, and their quarrel was a mere trick done to divert Hisamatsu's attention.

When he returned to the oil-shop, Hisamatsu was amazed to discover the loss of the purse, but his regrets were of no avail. All his associates suspected him of theft, and Kosuké in particular censured and abused him.