quest in despair. Then, strange to say, two nights ago I saw your nurse, Asaka, in a dream, and from her I learned that you were then at the Ebisuya, an inn at Shimada. I gathered but this, for something broke my dream. But travelling day and night I made all haste to the inn, and have had the good fortune to come in time to save your life. This is a joyful moment for me! But in regard to Asaka, I believe that she donned the habit of a pilgrim and set out along the Tokaidō in search of you. Have you not come across her anywhere?"
"Yes," answered Miyuki, tearfully. "I fell in with Asaka last month at Hamamatsu, but that very night it unluckily happened that she was forced to fight a ruffian, and in that fight received her death-wound. When at the point of death she told me that her father, one Furubé Saburobei, was living at Sayono-Nakayama and adjured me to call on him for help."
Tokuyémon, when he heard these words, showed signs of great surprise.
"Is it possible," said he, "that you are the daughter of Akizuki Yuminosuké? And your nurse? Could she have been Asaka, my own daughter? I am that very Furubé Saburobei
