"Hagiwara Sama!" exclaimed O-Yone in a tone of supreme amazement.
"Never could I have believed it possible!... Sir, we were told
that you had died."

"How extraordinary!" cried Shinzaburo. "Why, I was told that both
of you were dead!"

"Ah, what a hateful story!" returned O-Yone. "Why repeat such
unlucky words?... Who told you?"

"Please to come in," said Shinzaburo;--"here we can talk better.
The garden-gate is open."

So they entered, and exchanged greeting; and when Shinzaburo had
made them comfortable, he said:--

"I trust that you will pardon my discourtesy in not having called
upon you for so long a time. But Shijo, the doctor, about a month
ago, told me that you had both died."

"So it was he who told you?" exclaimed O-Yone. "It was very
wicked of him to say such a thing. Well, it was also Shijo who
told us that you were dead. I think that he wanted to deceive
you,--which was not a difficult thing to do, because you are so
confiding and trustful. Possibly my mistress betrayed her liking
for you in some words which found their way to her father's ears;
and, in that case, O-Kuni--the new wife--might have planned to
make the doctor tell you that we were dead, so as to bring about
a separation. Anyhow, when my mistress heard that you had died,