and laid hold upon her sleeve. "There is no need to run away, Miyuki, my dear child," she said, in a voice all broken with emotion. "But oh, what a miserable plight you are in! Well I can imagine how great your sufferings have been. At sight of you I feel as if my heart would burst with sorrow. But, my dear, be easy in your mind. Only a little way from here is the place called Sayono-Nakayama, where I have been told my father Furubé Saburobei is still living. We will go there and see him, and I feel confident that with his assistance I shall be able to find where Asojirō is, and to bring about your meeting with him. So be of good heart, my dear."
Just at this juncture, Wanuké, the procurer, chanced to pass that way. He looked hard into Miyuki's face. "Ho! Ho!" said he. "This is the girl that I bought for a hundred ryō from the old crone on Mt. Maya. It's a great pity, indeed, that you have become blind. But that is an evil that physicians, I hope, can remedy. At all events, with me you must go." But as he caught Miyuki by the hand, Asaka broke in upon him. "Women though we are," she cried, "insolence such as yours cannot be overlooked," and she
