persuade his younger brother to give up his relations with Kashiku;
acting upon this resolution, he went to call upon Jiuyémon, and said
to him--

"Sir Jiuyémon, 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 Chôbei; 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."

Jiuyémon, out of gratitude for the kindness which he had received at
the hands of Kajiki Tozayémon, was always willing to serve Tônoshin;
so he went at once to find out Chôbei, and said to him--

"My name, sir, is Jiuyémon, 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 Chôbei, who felt bound to
be more than usually civil, as his visitor was the chief of the
Otokodaté.

"It is a small matter, sir," said Jiuyémon. "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