Page:Tales from old Japanese dramas (1915).djvu/184

 II

foster-father Kyūsaku was an honest old man. His family consisted of three members besides Hisamatsu: his wife, his stepdaughter, who was named O-Mitsu, and himself. The wife had been ailing a long time, and consequently O-Mitsu was so busy nursing her mother, cooking for the family, and with other matters, that she had little or no time for her own toilet, though she was now at the attractive age of sixteen. O-Mitsu was the daughter of Kyūsaku's wife by her former husband, but being of a sweet disposition, she regarded Kyūsaku with as much affection as was due to a real father. The old man in return loved her with a more than parental affection. He and his wife had early made up their minds to marry her to Hisamatsu. They had several times hinted as much to her evident joy.

Kyūsaku, therefore, was surprised and grieved to hear that Hisamatsu was paying attention to his mistress' daughter. The old man's sorrow and anxiety were intensified when he heard that 130