*A garment worn over the shoulders and tucked under the _hakama_. (It is worn by the envoys in the double-page illustration of this Act) HANGWAN. Yuranosuke....... RIKIYA. Has not yet come, my lord. HANGWAN. H’m. I am sorry, I deeply regret, that I cannot see him before I die. There is no help for it. I can wait no longer. [Illustration: Hangwan kneeling on raised platform with dirk. Man with sword standing behind him] RECITATIVE. He takes the dirk with the point towards him, and driving it into his left side, drags it to the right. Lady Kaoyo cannot bear to look on, but turns away, prayers on her lips and tears in her eyes. The door of the passage is suddenly pushed open, and in rushes Oboshi Yuranosuke. No sooner does he see his master’s plight than he flings himself down and bows to the floor. After him hurry in Senzaki, Yazama, and the other retainers of the house. HANGWAN. I have long been waiting for you, Yuranosuke. YURANOSUKE. To be able to look upon my lord while he is living, it is to me............ HANGWAN. It is to me, too, a pleasure, a great pleasure. You have no doubt heard it all. I am truly mortified. YURANOSUKE. I have heard it all. Now that things have come to this pass, I know not what to say to my lord. I only beg that you will die bravely. HANGWAN. Oh, little need you to say so. RECITATIVE. With both hands he draws the dirk from side to side, and panting with pain, he takes a long breath. HANGWAN. This dirk I bequeath to you, Yuranosuke; and with it you will revenge my death. RECITATIVE. With the point of the dirk, he cuts his wind-pipe, and throwing down the bloody weapon, he falls forward; and his breath is gone. While his lady and the retainers present wait with closed eyes, bated breath, and clenched teeth, Yuranosuke shuffles close to his lord, and taking up the dirk, bows to it. He gazes at the bloodstained point, and clenching his fist, he weeps with despair. The last words of Hangwan have penetrated to his heart’s core. And at this moment he forms that resolution which will hand down Oboshi’s name for faith and loyalty to the remotest posterity. Yakushiji suddenly rises to his feet. YAKUSHIJI. Now that Hangwan is dead and gone, deliver this mansion at once. ISHIDO. Nay, do not be peremptory, Yakushiji. Enya was the lord of a province and a castle. You gentlemen, when you have performed the funeral ceremony, you will quietly leave this mansion. I, who have come to carry out the sentence, will now go and report that I have seen your lord slay himself. I sympathise with you in your sorrow, Yuranosuke; and if you have anything to say to me, I will hear it, and do not scruple to tell me. RECITATIVE. He bows silently to the retainers present and calmly goes out. YAKUSHIJI. I, too, will rest in another room till this dead body is got rid of. Let my servants come. Now, throw out of the gate these retainers’ rubbish. And don’t let these new _ronin_ make off with Hangwan’s personal property.