Tales of Old Japan - Maybe You Like It

this tea-house. But, as people would make remarks if we left the teahouse
together, I will go out first."
And so, much against their will, they tore themselves from one another,
Genzaburô returning to his house, and O Koyo going home, her heart
filled with joy at having found the man for whom she had pined; and
from that day forth they used constantly to meet in secret at the teahouse;
and Genzaburô, in his infatuation, never thought that the matter
must surely become notorious after a while, and that he himself would
be banished, and his family ruined: he only took care for the pleasure of
the moment.
Now Chokichi, who had brought about the meeting between Genzaburô
and his love, used to go every day to the tea-house at Oji, taking
with him O Koyo; and Genzaburô neglected all his duties for the pleasure
of these secret meetings. Chokichi saw this with great regret, and
thought to himself that if Genzaburô gave himself up entirely to pleasure,
and laid aside his duties, the secret would certainly be made public,
and Genzaburô would bring ruin on himself and his family; so he began
to devise some plan by which he might separate them, and plotted as
eagerly to estrange them as he had formerly done to introduce them to
one another.
At last he hit upon a device which satisfied him. Accordingly one day
he went to O Koyo's house, and, meeting her father Kihachi, said to
him—
"I've got a sad piece of news to tell you. The family of my lord Genzaburô
have been complaining bitterly of his conduct in carrying on his relationship
with your daughter, and of the ruin which exposure would
bring upon the whole house; so they have been using their influence to
persuade him to hear reason, and give up the connection. Now his lordship
feels deeply for the damsel, and yet he cannot sacrifice his family for
her sake. For the first time, he has become alive to the folly of which he
has been guilty, and, full of remorse, he has commissioned me to devise
some stratagem to break off the affair. Of course, this has taken me by
surprise; but as there is no gainsaying the right of the case, I have had no
option but to promise obedience: this promise I have come to redeem;
and now, pray, advise your daughter to think no more of his lordship."
When Kihachi heard this he was surprised and distressed, and told O
Koyo immediately; and she, grieving over the sad news, took no thought
either of eating or drinking, but remained gloomy and desolate.
In the meanwhile, Chokichi went off to Genzaburô's house, and told
him that O Koyo had been taken suddenly ill, and could not go to meet
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