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The commentary by Nagai Hisashi on Itō Chūta's sketch titled The Former German Emperor Attempts Suicide has two characters following the first five characters in the first column that I cannot decipher. One, as you can see, is very faint and the other is simply confusing to me. The first four characters read 四百四病 (the four hundred and four diseases), and Nagai goes on to give a biting diagnosis to the ex-emperor. If I had to take a guess at the characters after の it would be 畔 or 牀, perhaps followed by に? I enhanced the two characters in question, which hopefully, will assist. As always, thank you for your help.

I read those two characters as "絆ら" (kizuna ra),

四百四病の絆ら貴下を見放しました貴下は自ら死を求めて生ける屍の悶をせむとして而かも夫れすら得ることができないのです。
The bonds of four hundred and four ilnesses abandoned you. You sought death, attempting to experience the agony of a living corpse.
And yet even that cannot be obtained.

With regards,
I.Nagy

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