kiyama Cho[u]zaemon bravely
stood ward over the prostrate body of the apparition. Returning late
from Shitamachi he had entered the ward with shrinking terror. As he
skulked along, with eyes on every dark corner, the figure of a woman was
seen close by the eaves of the house of Kondo[u] Rokuro[u]bei. As he
approached she came forward laughing wildly the while. The light of his
lantern fell on the ghastly white face, the disordered hair. In a spasm
of fright he dropped the lantern and delivered his blow in drawing the
sword. The cut was almost identical with the one delivered to Myo[u]zen
the priest. The men there gathered looked into each other's faces, then
at the body of O'Kame lying in their midst. The crowd parted, and Tamiya
Yoemon appeared. Kondo[u] Rokuro[u]bei and Akiyama Cho[u]zaemon stood by
with bloody swords, their own skins without a scratch. They were
self-accused.

The upshot of the affair was ruin for all. Matters in Yotsuya were
coming to the official ears. Yoemon was forced to make charges against
Akiyama; the more willingly as therein lay a chance to recoup his own
losses through the wife he intended to divorce on the morrow. Kondo[u]
easily cleared his skirts of this offence, but was involved with the
irate temple priests. All were entangled in the heavy costs of the law
of those days. Of these three men something is to be said later.

CHAPTER XX

KIBEI DONO

Kibei was in great straits, financial and domestic. The death of Kwaiba
had brought him anything but freedom. In Nippon the headship of a House
is much more than the simple heirship of our western law. Relieved of
his obligation in office the old man's hands were wide open to shower
benefice or caprice on the most worthless. Endorsement for cash and
goods to Natsume, Imaizumi, and Kamimura; donations to the temples of
Teramachi and the Yotsuyazaka; favours in every direction except that of
Akiyama Cho[u]zaemon, in the pursuit of whom Kwaiba found much
amusement; all these items added to the very free living in his
household had pledged deeply the ample revenue of two hundred and thirty
_tawara_, and would have upheld the _samurai_ trait of not knowing the
value of money--if Kwaiba had been of that kind. Between Kwaiba and
Kibei, the wild debauchery of the last year had brought the House to the
verge of ruin. Kibei was aghast. Long since he had become deeply
involved with the Kashiku Tamagiku of the Yamadaya in Edomachi
Itcho[u]me of