them company in the room, winked at Jirōzayémon in a significant manner, and the cautious samurai, taking the hint, refrained from touching the tea. The poisoner lost patience. To set at rest any fear of danger, that Jirōzayémon might entertain, he said, "Let me test the tea, gentlemen," and swallowed a cupful at a draught without any show of fear. An antidote, that he carried ready in his bosom, was his reason for acting in this confident manner. But in no long time the "laughing-medicine" began to take effect and he began to laugh, "Ha! Ha!" until every word, every syllable he tried to utter, turned into a peal of laughter. Try as he might, he could not check the spasms of laughing that shook him. So violent they became that his inward parts were troubled and he was forced to excuse himself and leave the room. Takita, sorely disappointed at the failure of his poisoning scheme, also went out on the pretext of going to the bath.
Jirōzayémon likewise left the guest-room, and withdrew to his own apartment which an andon was filling with a dim light. As he sat there alone, lost in reverie, his eye chanced to follow the outline of the characters traced on the tsuitaté or
