YURANOSUKE. Why not? OKARU. Because what you say is not truth that comes out of falsehood, but falsehood that is founded on truth. YURANOSUKE. Okaru, I will redeem you. OKARU. What? YURANOSUKE. To prove that it is not a falsehood, I will buy you out this very night. OKARU. But I have a ...... YURANOSUKE. If you have a lover, I will let you marry him. OKARU. But are you in earnest? YURANOSUKE. It is the samurai’s benevolence. After I have kept you by me for three days, you may do as you please. OKARU. Ah, how glad I am! I believe when you have made me say that, you are going to laugh at me. YURANOSUKE. No, I will go and pay your master at once and settle the matter this moment. So do not be anxious, but wait here for me. OKARU. Then, I will wait for you. YURANOSUKE. While I go and pay the money, be sure you do not move from this spot. You are now my wife. OKARU. And that too, only for three days. YURANOSUKE. Yes, I know. (_Yuranosuke goes in_). OKARU. I am grateful to you. RECITATIVE. A song is heard within. “If e’er was ill-starr’d maid, That maid I am, surely; For days and days I think Of my dearest lover, With muffled cries at night Like the lonely plover.” Okaru is sunk in thought as she feels how fitly the song describes her own position. Here Heiyemon comes in and meets her. HEIYEMON. Are you not my sister? OKARU. Oh, is it you, brother? I am ashamed to be seen here. RECITATIVE. She hides her face. HEIYEMON. There is no cause for shame. When I came back from the Eastern Provinces, I saw our mother and heard it all. You bravely sold yourself for your husband and for our lord. Well done, sister. OKARU. I am glad if you think so kindly of me. But rejoice with me. To-night, though I did not expect it, I am to be redeemed. HEIYEMON. That is excellent. And by whom? OKARU. By one whom you know, Master Oboshi Yuranosuke. HEIYEMON. What, by Master Yuranosuke? You have long been intimate? OKARU. No, not at all. I have lately waited on him twice or thrice when he drank, and that was all. He says, if I have a husband, he will let me join him, and if I want to leave him, he will let me go. It is almost too good to be true. HEIYEMON. Then, does he know that you are Kanpei’s wife? OKARU. No, he does not know it. As it would be shame to my parents and husband, how could I tell him? HEIYEMON. Humph, then, he is a libertine from his heart. It is certain that he has no wish to revenge his lord. OKARU. Oh, but he has, brother. I cannot say it aloud. I will whisper it to you. RECITATIVE. She whispers to him. HEIYEMON. Humph, you really read the letter? OKARU. I read it to the end. Then we looked at each other, face to face, and he began to banter me, and at last he talked of redeeming me. HEIYEMON. After you had read the whole letter? OKARU. Yes. HEIYEMON. I see now. Sister, your life is doomed; give it to me. RECITATIVE. And he draws his sword and strikes at her; but she springs aside.