trouble your mind about a man who seems to be so cruel?... Well,
let us see if there be no way to enter at the back of the house:
come with me!"

And taking O-Tsuyu by the hand, she led her away toward the rear
of the dwelling; and there the two disappeared as suddenly as the
light disappears when the flame of a lamp is blown out.

1 According to the old Japanese way of counting time, this
yatsudoki or eighth hour was the same as our two o'clock in the
morning. Each Japanese hour was equal to two European hours, so
that there were only six hours instead of our twelve; and these
six hours were counted backwards in the order,--9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4.
Thus the ninth hour corresponded to our midday, or midnight;
half-past nine to our one o'clock; eight to our two o'clock. Two
o'clock in the morning, also called "the Hour of the Ox," was the
Japanese hour of ghosts and goblins.

2 En-netsu or Sho-netsu (Sanscrit "Tapana") is the sixth of the
Eight Hot Hells of Japanese Buddhism. One day of life in this
hell is equal in duration to thousands (some say millions) of
human years.


IX

Night after night the shadows came at the Hour of the Ox; and
nightly Shinzaburo heard the weeping of O-Tsuyu. Yet he believed
himself saved,--little imagining that his doom had already been
decided by the character of his dependents.