RYOCHIKU. No, it is not excellent. When I was in my province, I received a stipend from Master Ono Kudayu and was fairly to do; but now I cannot even keep a servant. There must be some reason for your sending your wife who is not particularly ill to me for her health. But be that as it may, if the young woman should misconduct herself, you will be dishonoured and I shall have to cut this shrivelled belly of mine. And so I have a proposal to make. Suppose you pretend to the world that you have separated from her and send me a letter of divorce; why, when you want her, you can at any time take her back. Just write me the letter, please. RECITATIVE. Though he speaks lightly, Gihei sees that he has some plan in his heart; but if he refuses, she will be immediately sent back, and if she comes back, he will be breaking his word to those who entrusted him with the great task. He hesitates in his perplexity. RYOCHIKU. Do you refuse? If you will not consent, I cannot keep her a moment longer. If she returns, I shall squeeze myself in, too, and stick to you and be a burden upon you together with her. Answer me if you consent or refuse. RECITATIVE. Taken at a disadvantage, Gihei feels with mortification that he is caught in a trap; but he cannot run the risk of the great undertaking being detected. He takes down the ink-slab and quickly writes the letter. GIHEI. Since I give you this, Master Ryochiku, we are no longer father and son. [Illustration: Gihei grabbing Ryochiku with one hand and holding the letter with the other hand] Never again darken my doors. I am chagrined to think that I am knowingly falling into your trap in giving you this letter. Now, take it and go. RECITATIVE. He throws him the letter, and Ryochiku takes it hastily and puts it in his bosom. RYOCHIKU. Yes, you have guessed right. I heard that _ronin_ came here in secret, and I questioned Sono, but she says she knows nothing. It made me very uneasy to leave my daughter with a son-in-law who, for aught I know, may do something dreadful. Happily I have had a proposal of marriage from a great family, and we have agreed that she should marry as soon as we get your letter of divorce. And so you are entrapped, and that is excellent. GIHEI. Oh, even without my giving the letter of divorce, if she has the heart to desert a husband by whom she has a child and marry elsewhere, I have no longing for such a woman. Let her do as she pleases. RYOCHIKU. To do as I please is the parent’s right. I shall marry her this evening. GIHEI. Now, don’t go on chattering, but leave this house at once. RECITATIVE. He takes him by the shoulder and kicks him out of the door and shuts it upon him. Ryochiku gets up. RYOCHIKU. Here, Gihei. You may seize me and throw me out; but I have received money for preparation from the family she is going to marry into. As you have kicked me when I am flush, you have apparently cured my rheumatism.