there is a troublesome fellow living close by,--a ninsomi (4)
called Hakuodo Yusai, who tells peoples fortunes by looking at
their faces. He is inclined to be curious; and it is better that
he should not know."

The two women remained that night in the house of the young
samurai, and returned to their own home a little before daybreak.
And after that night they came every nighht for seven nights,--
whether the weather were foul or fair,--always at the same hour.
And Shinzaburo became more and more attached to the girl; and the
twain were fettered, each to each, by that bond of illusion which
is stronger than bands of iron.

1 Komageta in the original. The geta is a wooden sandal, or clog,
of which there are many varieties,--some decidedly elegant. The
komageta, or "pony-geta" is so-called because of the sonorous
hoof-like echo which it makes on hard ground.

2 The sort of lantern here referred to is no longer made; and its
shape can best be understood by a glance at the picture
accompanying this story. It was totally unlike the modern
domestic band-lantern, painted with the owner's crest; but it was
not altogether unlike some forms of lanterns still manufactured
for the Festival of the Dead, and called Bon-doro. The flowers
ornamenting it were not painted: they were artificial flowers of
crepe-silk, and were attached to the top of the lantern.

3 "For the time of seven existences,"--that is to say, for the
time of seven successive lives. In Japanese drama and romance it
is not uncommon to represent a father as disowning his child "for