"Nevertheless," said Namishima, finally, "the august conscience within informs me that we have brought him up honorably well!"
"There is excellently no doubt of it!" agreed Kiomidzu.
They bowed to each other.
For a while there was silence and the tapping of the pipes. Then they spoke of a new and weightier matter.
Said Namishima—and here the little boy's eyes bulged:—
"If the soul of our brother continues to wander in the Meido, it will not be chargeable, now, in the heavens, to us, but to him. We have kept the lamps alight. We have taught him honor."
"We are too aged, also," agreed Kiomidzu, "to redeem him forth unto the way to the heavens by dying in his stead the great death. It is for his son!"
"In us, besides," Namishima went on, "the gods could not be augustly deceived. But the child has his name."
"Therefore, should he die the great death, the merciful gods may be deceived by the name into thinking it he who died at Jokoji. In that case he would not only be redeemed to the way to the heavens, but on this earth his name would be graciously added to honor."
So said he from Kobé. And he from Osaka:—