, who was a gambler by profession, had an
elder brother called Chobei, who kept a wine-shop in the Ajikawa
Street, at Osaka; so Tonoshin thought that he could not do better than
depute Jiuyemon to go and seek out this man Chobei, and urge him to
persuade his younger brother to give up his relations with Kashiku;
acting upon this resolution, he went to call upon Jiuyemon, and said
to him--

"Sir Jiuyemon, I have a favour to ask of you in connection with that
girl Kashiku, whom you know all about. You are aware that I paid
thirty ounces of silver to her lover Hichirobei to induce him to give
up going to her house; but, in spite of this, I cannot help suspecting
that they still meet one another. It seems that this Hichirobei has an
elder brother--one Chobei; now, if you would go to this man and tell
him to reprove his brother for his conduct, you would be doing me a
great service. You have so often stood my friend, that I venture to
pray you to oblige me in this matter, although I feel that I am
putting you to great inconvenience."

Jiuyemon, out of gratitude for the kindness which he had received at
the hands of Kajiki Tozayemon, was always willing to serve Tonoshin;
so he went at once to find out Chobei, and said to him--

"My name, sir, is Jiuyemon, at your service; and I have come to beg
your assistance in a matter of some delicacy."

"What can I do to oblige you, sir?" replied Chobei, who felt bound to
be more than usually civil, as his visitor was the chief of the
Otokodate.

"It is a small matter, sir," said Jiuyemon. "Your younger brother
Hichirobei is intimate with a woman named Kashiku, whom he meets in
secret. Now, this Kashiku is the mistress of the son of a gentleman to
whom I am under great obligation: he bought her of her parents for a
large sum of money, and, besides this, he paid your brother thirty
ounces of silver some time since, on condition of his separating
himself from the girl; in spite of this, it appears that your brother
continues to see her, and I have come to beg that you will remonstrate
with your brother on his conduct, and make him give her up."

"That I certainly will. Pray do not be uneasy; I will soon find means
to put a stop to my brother's bad behaviour."

And so they went on talking of one thing and another, until Jiuyemon,
whose eyes had been wandering about the room, spied out a very long
dirk lying on a cupboard, and all at once it occurred to him that this
was the very sw