plain speaking, held his
hand. If O[u]kubo Dono was entitled freely to express his opinion of the
Sho[u]gun Ke, Kuro[u]ji took it as no insult to endure the same himself.
He reached his home with a painful but not dangerous wound in the
shoulder, to grunt over the infliction and this latest discomfiture.

His nurse was not at all to the taste of Kosaka Jinnai. O'Yoshi was a bare
twenty-three years in age. She was a beauty and a flirt. Ogita indulged in
the greatest expansion with her; as would the man of fifty years to the
girl, a mistress young enough to be a daughter. The months and weeks
passed following the attempt on the Senhime. The effort to hunt out the
perpetrators had been given up in despair. The population of Edo as yet
was too fluid and shifting to take very exact account of its movements.
Doubtless they were _ro[u]nin_, and had promptly scattered on failure of
the attack. Then the constant attempts at incendiarism, in many cases
successful, began to attract attention. The two _machibugyo[u]_, together
with the particular office for detection of thieves and incendiaries, were
at their wits end to trace out this gang of fire bugs. One day O'Yoshi was
just leaving the bath house in Daikucho[u] called the Cho[u]senya, when
she met with an adventure. A young _samurai_ coming along the street
attracted her admiring attention. He was barely twenty years of age, of
good height and commanding presence. In black garb and wearing _hakama_,
his two swords tucked in his girdle, and his cue trimmed high, attended
by a _do[u]shin_ and several _yakunin_, the procession greatly flattered a
woman's feeling. She tripped along, towel in hand, and her eyes anywhere
but on her footing. Suddenly the strap of her clog broke. She was pitched
forward, just able to keep her balance. The _samurai_ trod sharply on the
discarded _geta_. A cry of pain followed, and O'Yoshi was all discomfiture
at sight of the blood staining the white _tabi_ of the young lord. At once
she was humble apology for her awkwardness, very badly received by the
_do[u]shin_ who scolded her most severely--"Careless wench! Such rudeness
is not to be pardoned." He would have laid rough hands on her, but Aoyama
Shu[u]zen interfered. The woman was pretty, the injury painful, and he was
young. "Don't scold her. It was by accident.... Don't be alarmed.... Ah!
It hurts!..." He looked around, as seeking a place to rest.

O'Yoshi was very solicitous over the handsome young