of his alarm. "Know, sir, that the people who have been coming
here, night after night, are dead! Some frightful delusion is
upon you!... Why, the simple fact that you long supposed O-Tsuyu
to be dead, and repeated the Nembutsu for her, and made offerings
before her tablet, is itself the proof!... The lips of the dead
have touched you!--the hands of the dead have caressed you!...
Even at this moment I see in your face the signs of death--and
you will not believe!... Listen to me now, sir,--I beg of you,--
if you wish to save yourself: otherwise you have less than twenty
days to live. They told you--those people--that they were
residing in the district of Shitaya, in Yanaka-no-Sasaki. Did you
ever visit them at that place? No!--of course you did not! Then
go to-day,--as soon as you can,--to Yanaka-no-Sasaki, and try to
find their home!..."

And having uttered this counsel with the most vehement
earnestness, Hakuodo Yusai abruptly took his departure.


Shinzaburo, startled though not convinced, resolved after a
moment's reflection to follow the advice of the ninsomi, and to
go to Shitaya. It was yet early in the morning when he reached
the quarter of Yanaka-no-Sasaki, and began his search for the
dwelling of O-Tsuyu. He went through every street and side-
street, read all the names inscribed at the various entrances,
and made inquiries whenever an opportunity presented itself. But
he could not find anything resembling the little house mentioned
by O-Yone; and none of the people whom he questioned knew of any
house in the quarter inhabited by two single women. Feeling at
last certain that further research would be useless, he turned