This note she has rejected,
E’en though it is mine own.”
Until you give me a definite answer and a favourable, I will never cease to press my suit. Here am I, Moronao, in whose power it is to make the whole country rise or fall; and whether I kill Enya or let him live, it depends only upon Kaoyo’s will. Am I not right?
Recitative. Kaoyo can answer with naught but tears. At this moment Wakasanosuke chances to enter, and perceives at once that Moronao is, as is his wont, behaving outrageously.
Wakasanosuke. Lady Kaoyo, are you not yet gone? By remaining after you have been dismissed, you are disobeying His Highness. You had better go home at once.
Recitative. When she is thus urged to go home, Moronao sees that Wakasanosuke has guessed what he has been doing; still, he shows a brazen front and answers back.
Moronao. You are again presumptuous. When she may go, I will tell her so myself. Kaoyo, Enya’s wife, has besought me to see that her husband performs his duties without any mishap. That is as it should be. Even a daimyo’s wife acts thus. You, of low position as you are, to whom do you owe your pittance of a stipend? So precarious is your fortune that a word of mine could reduce you to beggary. And still do you call your-self a samurai?
Recitative. He abuses him in revenge for his interference. Bursting with anger, Wakasanosuke grasps the hilt of his sword with such fierce force as threatens to crush it; but he recollects that he is in front of the Shrine and in His Highness’s train, and he restrains himself; and yet, one word more, and he will cut him down. Attendants enter announcing His Highness’s return and clear the way. He is compelled to forgo his revenge for the moment; but he is bursting with indignation. Lucky in his evil course, Moronao escapes death; and Enya, who little dreams that he will be his enemy on the morrow, brings up the rear of the procession. Lord Tadayoshi walks with quiet dignity; and his stately bearing is like the dragon frontlet of the helmet which has been placed in the treasure-house of the Shrine.
