Page:Tales from old Japanese dramas (1915).djvu/305

Rh "O, no, no!" Miyuki sobbed. "I am told that Chinese vessels visit Nagasaki. Nothing can humiliate a woman so much as to have her person polluted by the embrace of Chinese sailors! Pray spare me that, whatever may befall me. Send me to service as a common drudge. Gladly will I cook rice, wash clothes, draw water, or perform like menial service."

"No more words!" said the old woman, with a sardonic smile. "It's little money I'd get by selling you for such housemaid's tasks. What a pig-headed creature you are! Do you still persist in disobeying me?" And thereupon she seized the weeping girl by the hair and dragged her about.

Upon this Chisato ("Thousand Villages"), the old crone's daughter, rushed in. She was a sympathetic, sweet-dispositioned girl, and she set Miyuki free from her raging mother, with many an apology for the outrage. But still the old woman would listen to no remonstrance. She thrust her daughter aside and with the tongs showered blow after blow upon Miyuki. The delicate girl uttered but one groan and lost consciousness. Chisato flew to her side and did all