servitude, but at any rate I will contrive so that you shall be
tormented no more. Love me, therefore, and put your trust in me." When
she heard him speak so kindly she was comforted, and wept no more, but
poured out her whole heart to him, and forgot her past sorrows in the
great joy of meeting him again.

When it became time for them to separate, he embraced her tenderly and
returned to Chôbei's house; but he could not banish Komurasaki from
his mind, and all day long he thought of her alone; and so it came
about that he went daily to the Yoshiwara to see her, and if any
accident detained him, she, missing the accustomed visit, would become
anxious and write to him to inquire the cause of his absence. At last,
pursuing this course of life, his stock of money ran short, and as,
being a _rônin_ and without any fixed employment, he had no means of
renewing his supplies, he was ashamed of showing himself penniless at
"The Three Sea-coasts." Then it was that a wicked spirit arose within
him, and he went out and murdered a man, and having robbed him of his
money carried it to the Yoshiwara.

From bad to worse is an easy step, and the tiger that has once tasted
blood is dangerous. Blinded and infatuated by his excessive love,
Gompachi kept on slaying and robbing, so that, while his outer man was
fair to look upon, the heart within him was that of a hideous devil.
At last his friend Chôbei could no longer endure the sight of him, and
turned him out of his house; and as, sooner or later, virtue and vice
meet with their reward, it came to pass that Gompachi's crimes became
notorious, and the Government having set spies upon his track, he was
caught red-handed and arrested; and his evil deeds having been fully
proved against him, he was carried off to the execution ground at
Suzugamori, the "Bell Grove," and beheaded as a common male-factor.