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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Curse of Koshiu, by Lewis Wingfield
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Curse of Koshiu
+ A Chronicle of Old Japan
+
+Author: Lewis Wingfield
+
+Release Date: February 13, 2012 [EBook #38853]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CURSE OF KOSHIU ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+ 1. Page scan source:
+ http://books.google.com/books?id=UCQXAAAAYAAJ
+
+ 2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe]; "y" with a circumflex
+ above by [^y]; "o" with a macron above by [=o].
+
+
+
+
+ THE CURSE OF KOSHIU.
+
+
+ _A CHRONICLE OF OLD JAPAN_.
+
+
+
+
+ BY
+
+ The Honble. LEWIS WINGFIELD,
+
+ AUTHOR OF
+ "LADY ORIZEL," "IN HER MAJESTY'S KEEPING," "ABIGEL ROWE,"
+ "BARBARA PHILPOT," ETC.
+
+
+
+
+
+ LONDON:
+ WARD & DOWNEY,
+ 12 YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
+ * * *
+ 1888.
+
+ [_All Rights reserved_.]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ EDINBURGH
+ COLSTON AND COMPANY
+ PRINTERS
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ CONTENTS.
+
+
+ CHAPTER I.
+
+ Boy and Girl.
+
+
+ CHAPTER II.
+
+ The Last Hojo.
+
+
+ CHAPTER III.
+
+ Married Life.
+
+
+ CHAPTER IV.
+
+ The Abbess gives Advice.
+
+
+ CHAPTER V.
+
+ The Farmer girds His Loins.
+
+
+ CHAPTER VI.
+
+ The Young Mikado.
+
+
+ CHAPTER VII.
+
+ The Farmer's Sentence.
+
+
+ CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ Destiny is Busy.
+
+
+ CHAPTER IX.
+
+ The Execution.
+
+
+ CHAPTER X.
+
+ Forebodings.
+
+
+ CHAPTER XI.
+
+ The Curse begins to Work.
+
+
+ CHAPTER XII.
+
+ The Daimio of Nara Begins to Work.
+
+
+ CHAPTER XIII.
+
+ The Despot obeys Orders.
+
+
+ CHAPTER XIV.
+
+ The Mikado does Business.
+
+
+ CHAPTER XV.
+
+ Will Buddha Speak?
+
+
+ CHAPTER XVI.
+
+ Masago takes the Reins.
+
+
+ CHAPTER XVII.
+
+ Under the Moon.
+
+
+ CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+ Face to Face.
+
+
+ CHAPTER XIX.
+
+ The Web Is Woven.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ THE CURSE OF KOSHIU.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER I.
+
+ BOY AND GIRL.
+
+
+It was towards the end of the fourteenth century that the grandeur of
+the Hojo family rose to its acme, then fell with awful crash. The
+feudal story of the Land of the Rising Sun is a long dark chronicle of
+blood and tears, of crime and rapine, of vengeance and vendetta, out
+of which there glints at intervals a gleam of glorious heroism, of
+holy devotion, of pure love and unsullied faith.
+
+In the stately roll of the great names of old Japan, there is none so
+terrible as Hojo. From time to time the patient people were ruled by
+one race or another of despots, cruel and selfish; the most cruel of
+all, the Hojos. Even now, after five hundred years of war and havoc,
+of vain aspirations, power misused, and wrecked ambitions, mothers
+still hush their babes to silence by breathing the dreaded name. The
+most destructive insect that ravages the fairest island in the
+world--the most voracious and omnivorous--is yet known as the Hojo
+beetle. When the first of the line erected a strong fortress--the
+Castle of Tsu, which will serve as background to many scenes in this
+our chronicle--he gave to it a bloody baptism, by burying beneath the
+foundations two hundred living men. Although their baleful course was
+marked by an ensanguined streak like a gory finger drawn across a map,
+they were not all black, these gruesome daimios, or even Buddha, whom
+we know to be deaf, and prone to somnolence, would earlier in the day
+have bestirred himself to punish them. Maybe Buddha drinks too much
+saké, for though we piously crack our finger-joints, and beat our
+palms, each morn at sunrise, and bang the gongs and pull the
+bell-strings each evening in the temple, he recks little of mere
+mundane worries, letting things go from bad to worse in grievous
+fashion. And yet, once roused to wakefulness, his vengeance is swift
+as the typhoon, as destructive and as sweeping.
+
+No. The lurid Hojo cloud that for a hundred years brooded over
+long-suffering Japan, had silver breaks in it. The Mikados, as nominal
+rulers, dwelt at Ki[^y]oto; while the Shoguns, as military viceroys,
+reigned at Kamakura; but the dominating family, as wire-pullers,
+directed their movements from behind. The father of Hojo No-Kami, last
+of the race, had his good points. None of his supercilious ancestors
+was more superbly overbearing, more sublimely indifferent to human
+pain; and yet his worst enemies were compelled to admit that, if
+stern, his rule was sagacious. The Mikado, and his court of _kugés_ or
+lords-in-waiting, shivered before him, for his dirk was loose in the
+scabbard, and the order promptly to depart into another world by
+uncompromising _harakiri_ was ever trembling on his lips. During his
+career three emperors had been summoned to shave their heads and
+retire into monkish solitude, each puppet bowled over in its turn for
+daring to dispute his will; and yet the very fact of his disdaining to
+mask the iron hand under the glove of silk, even in dealing with the
+highest, compelled the unwilling admiration of his turbulent and
+light-hearted countrymen.
+
+The upper class--Samurai, two-sword men, hatamotos, soldiers--could
+appreciate his martial bearing, as, in gallant bravery of scarlet
+armour and gold-studded helm, he rode forth to battle, with his
+martial wife beside him. For the beautiful Tomoyé was a fit mother for
+lion whelps. Of great personal strength as well as graceful carriage,
+sheathed in armour like her lord, astride on a swift horse, she was
+ever in the van of conflict. With her own hand she cut off the head of
+a rival daimio who crossed swords with her; and when her lord died,
+pierced through the heart by an arrow she fought till she fell beside
+him. The lower class of the unarmed--mechanics, mere farmers,
+paltry merchants--could also from their inferior standpoint admire
+their ruler, whilst grieving at his rough treatment of the Holy
+Mikado--mystic head of all--for he protected the workers of the hive
+from the depredations of other tyrants. The burthen of taxes was
+nicely weighed to suit the backs of the bearers. The ken of the Hojo
+was as piercing, and minutely attentive to details, as it was
+farsighted. A petition from the elders of the meanest village was sure
+of immediate attention. No petty feudal master, however recklessly
+bold or savagely contemptuous, dared to overstep his rights.
+
+The result of the adamantine rule of the last Hojo but one was peace.
+The land that was given over usually to turmoil and bloodshed, with
+intervals of complete anarchy, enjoyed rest for fifteen years, during
+which the despot set himself to consolidate his power, and fix yet
+more firmly the family yoke on the necks of lords and people.
+
+He had two sons, the elder of whom--by Japanese paradox--was treated
+as if he had been the younger. Sampei, three years older than No-Kami,
+was the offspring of a second wife or concubine. The latter,
+heir-apparent, was the whelp of the war-queen Tomoyé. Now in Japan
+concubinage is a recognised institution, and the son of the handmaid
+is no bastard. And yet the child of the bondwoman is not co-heir with
+the child of the free. The latter, in the case of a great family, is
+undisputed head of the clan, and to him the former owes allegiance,
+however much older in years, in the same degree as lesser clansmen.
+The institution is so firmly welded into the constitution of the land
+as, save in a few cases, to preclude jealousy.
+
+Of course, as in all Eastern countries, ambitious men have striven to
+supplant their brothers--have hacked off their heads and reigned in
+their stead--but this does not affect the principle. The two sons of
+Hojo grew up side by side in perfect amity. Together they learned to
+ride and wield the sword and spear under the approving gaze of their
+martial parents. They were both soldiers--with a difference. Even
+Tomoyé was forced to admit that of the twain Sampei, son of the
+concubine, was the most promising. His nature was clear and bright
+as running water, simple and unsmirched, unlike that of the
+heir-apparent. None more brave than he, more quick and skilful with
+his weapons, more ready to smite hard and heavily; and yet on occasion
+he could be soft and tender as a woman. A polished politeness and
+chivalrous demeanour were so innate in him as to win the admiration of
+the ladies. For seductive luxury he had nothing but contempt. No-Kami,
+on the other hand, if brave and skilled in arms, was fierce and
+selfish and debauched; overfond of the harem and perfumed bath and
+saké cup; sullen, too, as an ill-conditioned animal; brutal to women,
+ruthlessly tossing them aside like shattered toys when sated with
+their charms. People nodded their pates and whispered of him the
+timeworn proverb which says that there is no seed to a great man. In
+sooth it has ever been a common thing in this otherwise favoured land
+to see a great house crumble into speedy ruin through the supineness
+and debauchery of its sons.
+
+There was no need for anxiety as to the future of Sampei. A soldier
+and a gentleman to the tips of his trim finger-nails, his career, in
+the most war-ridden of countries, was carved clear before him. It came
+to pass that Corea, conquered long since by the Amazon Empress Jingo,
+threw off allegiance.. Who more fitted than doughty young Sampei to
+reduce the rebel to obedience? Accordingly, five years before this
+story opens, the gay young general, full of life and hope, and
+rippling with high spirits, bade a respectful farewell to the father
+he was never to see again, a more tender one of his fond mother,
+Masago, who, like many another discarded concubine, was now the Abbess
+of a convent, and sailed with a fleet and army for Corea, whence news
+arrived from time to time, praising his deeds of valour.
+
+As for the future of No-Kami, it was more difficult to prophesy, and
+his parents were no little anxious. His prospects were splendid; but
+although his father had endeavoured to foresee contingencies, and
+build barriers against accidents, the path of the next tyrant must
+needs be beset with thorns. His _rôle_ in the future would be arduous,
+thick strewn with snares and difficulties. To keep the _entourage_ of
+the Mikado in subjection--to hold the daimios--powerful and wealthy
+princes as sturdy as the barons of the English John--in the requisite
+condition of meekness, would require more statecraft, diplomacy, and
+force of iron will, than could be expected of a model youth. And
+No-Kami, as we have seen, was by no means a model youth. None knew
+better than his astute and experienced parent how difficult to a young
+man this task would prove; none was more distinctly aware of the frail
+tenure of a despot's life. At any moment he, the father, might be
+taken, and what then would happen to his boy?
+
+Treachery stalks through the history of Japan. At any instant the
+dominant Hojo might be murdered under his son's eyes. Would the
+self-indulgent No-Kami be prepared with vigorous promptitude to avenge
+the slain, and, seizing the dropped reins, pursue his policy? Both
+father and mother sadly shook their heads. Even their partial vision
+could not but perceive that the hope of the house was a leper,
+abnormally sinful, inclined to become a sybarite. Was this young man
+to be left to steer the bark without a pilot? Certainly not. In case
+of anything unexpected arising, a staff must be prepared for him to
+lean upon. A man must be placed by his side, old in years and in
+experience, whose position and wisdom would command respect, whose
+interest it would be to bestow sound advice and timely sage reproof.
+
+What better guide than a prudent father-in-law? What surer loadstone
+to lure an embryo debauchee from the muddy byways of low company than
+a beautiful patrician bride? one of the pure and slender, refined and
+high-bred maidens of noble lineage--fair and sweet as the fragrant
+mountain-lily--who now, as five hundred years ago, are the brightest
+glory of Japan.
+
+A crafty combination this on the part of the warrior-statesman, which
+would doubtless have been crowned with success, if he had not chanced
+to live in a world where mischievous spirits delight in frustrating
+plans the most cleverly matured. Tomoyé heard, and listened dubiously.
+Even among the most elevated Japanese, as well as in the highest
+European circles, papas and mammas will differ as to the ideal bride.
+What was the precise article that would suit No-Kami? Unfortunately
+there was not time to have one specially ordered. Since perfection is
+chary of repetition, it was not to be expected that another Tomoyé--a
+stern yet loving lioness--could be found for the precious youth.
+Indeed, so recreant a scion was he of the stock, that he might have
+objected possibly to a muscular and fiery wife whose pastime was the
+chopping of heads. And yet not so. A true lion-whelp was he in blood
+enjoyment. Even the low-born _Geisha_ singing girls who stocked his
+harem, had often cried under his buffets, and shouted shame, with
+tears, at his barbarous treatment of his servants.
+
+Alas! how sad it is that even the most sapient in mundane experience
+will be guilty of errors sometimes that are patent to the lesser fry.
+Is it over-anxiety that blinds them? The problem was to put the finger
+on a great noble--daimio among daimios--who could compare in descent
+and grandeur _almost_ with the line of Hojo; who, of weight in
+counsel, and rather cool than hot, would stem precipitate rashness. He
+must have no son, and but one daughter, and devoid therefore of the
+ambition which accompanies male issue, must adopt his daughter's
+husband as his son; and by thus uniting the two families in closest
+bonds, make their interests identical. The child of the magnate (given
+that the two were found) must be mentally perfect, and a vision of
+corporeal loveliness.
+
+"My dear!" quoth the broad-shouldered but practical Tomoyé, as with
+one eye critically closed she assayed the temper of a brand new sword.
+The lady was apt to get vexed when her lord grew warm and garrulous.
+"My dear," she observed, "we have many rounds of mortal life to climb
+ere, reaching the summit, we attain Nirvana. Though you are good
+enough to be blind to my blemishes, even I am not quite perfect.
+Perfection, in our present low cycle, is so very scarce, you know."
+With this she beamed upon her lord, whilst artlessly belying her words
+by approvingly fingering her muscles. She was inwardly aware, with
+pardonable pride, that no other daimio's daughter could boast such an
+arm as hers.
+
+My lord was provoked, and rubbed his nose. When you are erecting airy
+towers, practical people are exasperating. It was evident she had
+gained a point, so she proceeded to follow it up.
+
+"Where in broad Japan do you propose to seek these paragons? This pink
+of perfect daimios, and his yet more model child?"
+
+There was a tendency to irreverence in this tone, which required
+nipping in the bud. The eye of the Mikado's master shot forth a gleam,
+before which even the lioness cowered. When his mind was made up, the
+Hojo brooked no argument.
+
+"Be it as you will!" Tomoyé dutifully murmured. "My lord is all-wise,
+all-powerful; his wife his willing slave. Go forth and seek the
+paragons, and let us hope you will find them soon."
+
+To please him whom she loved best on earth, Tomoyé made believe to be
+convinced; and yet her woman's tact whispered down in the deep
+recesses of her manly bosom, that my lord, for all his wiliness, was
+wrong; that he was building a fool's paradise far up in [OE]ther, out
+of which her dear boy might tumble.
+
+Curious to relate, the paragons concerning whom she was tempted to be
+disrespectful were not far to seek. With but little hocus-pocus father
+and daughter were conjured on the scene, as absolutely the "very
+thing," to all appearance, as the cunning Hojo had conceived them. He
+declared as much at least, and dutiful Tomoyé acquiesced, slightly
+pinching her lips in silent protest. Instead of the "very thing" which
+was to bring about complete success before its time in our weary
+pilgrimage of cycles, the mother's instinct beheld with prophetic
+vision, in the proposed alliance, the worst elements of discord and
+defeat,--of so dire and dread a tragedy as should shake Japan to its
+centre, and annihilate the dominating house. Yet who was she, the
+warrior wife reflected in her humility, to set up puny instincts
+against the ripened statecraft of my lord? Her muscles were better
+than her brains. Should she presume to know more than he who held in
+his hand Mikado, nobles, people?--whose nod was law in the land
+beloved of Buddha? who had preserved it from contamination from
+without? Her place was to bend before the will of the dictator, and
+offer prayers for her husband and her son.
+
+
+ * * * * *
+
+
+The most perfectly poetic spot in all poetic Japan, whose ensanguined
+history is made beauteous to the eye of a fastidious posterity by the
+flora of chivalry and valour, is Nara.
+
+Lovely and secluded, sweet-smelling and umbrageous Nara! The Nara of
+to-day--how much more the Nara of five hundred years ago--suggests to
+the incursive foreigner a bit of Eden's garden.
+
+In very early times the central mart of Japanese opulence (which ebbed
+by-and-by to Ki[^y]oto), it came after a while to be recognised as the
+special home of holiness. Accepting the better part, it exchanged the
+shimmering sham glory of mundane ambition for the sheen reflected from
+above. Some twenty miles from Ki[^y]oto--time-honoured residence of
+Mikados, and therefore a sacred city--the small town of Nara stands on
+a plain surrounded by rugged hills. Passing through low grey streets,
+leaving on the left a huge and ornate pagoda, you enter a tangle of
+wild greenery--an ideal wood of immense cryptomerias darkling skyward
+after light. A jungle of variegated foliage, so sweet and fresh, masks
+half their altitude, while the undulating ground beneath is broken
+into verdant waves chequered with blossoms of all hues. This forest is
+vast and silent, save where a white-robed group of pilgrims saunters
+along its glades--undefended by barriers, save those of religious
+custom. And what more tough than they? If sprightly and given to
+skull-cracking, the Japanese live in terror of their deities, who
+without exception are vindictive. Buddha and the lesser lights
+are awful and threatening and ever-present, and the favourite
+hunting-grounds of Buddha are the hallowed groves of Nara.
+
+The thickets teem with game. All kinds of coy animals which usually
+flee at sight of man, here hold undisputed sway. The intruder is on
+their territory, and they let him know it. The timorous doe stands
+with soft unstartled eyes across the path, sniffing with moist
+nostrils the expected cake. And if the white-clad pilgrim should have
+striven to combine economy with cure of soul by investing in cheap
+offerings, the scornful stag and his following will shake their ears,
+and bound away to relate to the gods the insult. With head on one
+side, birds look critically down from boughs, nor think of flight;
+hares, taught by impunity, instead of making off, white scut in air,
+groom nose with paw, undaunted.
+
+Hidden away, centre of an intricate labyrinth--enclosed in many
+courts, each hung with myriad lamps in bronze-like fringes round the
+eaves--stands the Holy of Holies, Buddha's hunting-box, wherein a band
+of virgins perform weird shinto rites for the behoof of awe-struck
+pilgrims. At stated seasons this bevy of priestesses, emerging from
+strict retirement, performs the _kagura_, a slow swanlike measure,
+with many and intricate figures and waving of fans and bells and
+kerchiefs, accompanied by priestly flutes--which (doubtless good for
+the soul, since its weary length is interminable) is soothing also to
+ear and eye, for the ladies are graceful and slender in their loose
+red trousers and gossamer robes, their long locks flowing as they
+float to and fro, with a background of gold screens, and beyond the
+antique forest. How peaceful a life, free from sordid cares, must
+these holy damsels lead! Far from the fretful striving of the churlish
+world--its hate and jealousy and bitterness and disillusion--no call
+to arms or shock of war invades this calm retreat. They share
+ungrudgingly their Eden with the beasts and butterflies, guileless and
+content as they, strumming the three-stringed samisen, sailing through
+maze of solemn _kagura_, doing tender service in the temple.
+
+Among the troop of maidens was one who wore no religious habit.
+Although she had taken no vows, priests and virgins loved her as much
+as if one of themselves. Brought up among them with the hares and
+birds for comrades, as stately and as gentle as the deer, she shared
+from childhood, being motherless, their pure and contemplative life.
+Strangers often said that the fairest thing in lovely Nara was the
+tall and pale O'Tei. Some compared her to the unblown white lotos as
+it sways dreamily in the breeze. Others dubbed her pearl; but later
+all agreed that young Sanjo the armourer was delivered of the neatest
+simile when he fashioned a white fawn of purest silver and gave it to
+the maiden for a hairpin. As a child she had always been still and
+given to day-dreams, peering into the flowers as if she could read
+secrets there, or gazing into the opal sky in search of angels, or
+watching the pallid stars as they glimmered forth out of the deepening
+blue. Yet was she as gay as the chirping cicadas in the trees, as
+light and fleet as her four-footed friends, as, pattering on dainty
+clogs in wayward mood, she would leave the forest for the town, and
+peeping in at Sanjo's, shake an arch finger at the brawny armourers,
+while they wiped their swart brows, and laughed.
+
+It was by a whimsical coincidence that the celebrated family of Sanjo,
+from time immemorial armourers in chief to the Mikados, as the
+Miochins were to the Shoguns, should have set up the forge, emblem of
+war, hard by the sacred wood, the type of peace. But so it was.
+Indeed, as I write, the existing Sanjos occupy the ancestral dwelling.
+They are poor now. Their occupation is gone, for civilisation and
+European ways have stepped in and ruined them. At the period which
+occupies us, the blowing of the forge-bellows and the welding of iron
+on the anvil were in curious contrast to the surrounding calm. Many
+lords who came hither in pilgrim guise to improve their soul's estate,
+looked in at Sanjo's ere they went away, to buy new blades and armour.
+The holy forest was an oasis of peace in a world of uproar; for was
+not the castle of the powerful lord of Nara but a mile beyond the
+town; and did not close by (happily concealed by a hill from his proud
+gaze) the fortress of the Daimio of Osaka rear its majestic front,
+home of his hereditary foe? Of course it was enough for two great
+feudal lords to dwell cheek by jowl for them to hate one another
+cordially. These two were as jealous as two rival beauties. The outer
+moat at Nara was wider than that of my lord of Osaka, but then the
+interior of Osaka's stronghold was the more splendid, and its armoury
+more richly furnished. Hence frowns and jibes and backbitings from
+generation to generation, varied now and then by siege or battle,
+accompanied by fire and massacre.
+
+Among the many who were firm friends of the Sanjos, was, naturally
+enough, Sampei. Of course, so gallant a young gentleman could wear no
+armour but Sanjo's, could wield no sword but one that bore his mark.
+One morning, standing beside the anvil, and laying down the law to an
+obsequious audience, on military subjects, he beheld, framed in the
+doorway, such a delightful vision, that his heart gave a great thump,
+and he dropped the precious blade, whose temper he was critically
+testing by the bisecting of a coin. It was only for a second. Startled
+by the apparition of a distinguished stranger, and grown unaccountably
+bashful of a sudden, the blushing and beautiful O'Tei cried Oh! and,
+turning on her clogs, scampered back into the wood, whither the
+inflammable Sampei would swiftly have followed, had he not been
+restrained by the armourer.
+
+"Beware!" the latter whispered, grasping him tightly by the skirt.
+"That maid is not for thee! The heiress of the Daimio of Nara will
+look higher than a soldier of fortune!"
+
+Sampei laughed, to conceal his annoyance. It is exasperating and
+humiliating too, to a handsome young soldier, who as such adores the
+sex, to be bluntly informed that the loveliest girl whom he has ever
+looked upon is hopelessly out of reach. And yet he could not deny that
+his friend was right. The White Fawn of Nara might never be his, for
+one so noble and so fair could command the most splendid of _partis_.
+But was that any reason why he should not look at her? He was
+heartwhole. No doubt of that. His soul was devoted to his sword; but,
+as dashing young warriors have done time out of mind, he liked to
+dally with maidens, and the prettier they were the better. Instead of
+purchasing a blade and departing straightway, he all at once became
+fastidious. This one was too light; that one ill-balanced.
+
+Japan is the land of blades. From the tail of the Dragon was born the
+sword which the Sun-goddess bestowed on the first Emperor. By the
+sword of the clustering clouds, Yamato-Daké subdued the East. It was
+quite fitting that our young general should be particular. Sanjo
+produced in vain his rarest achievements. There was "Knee-cutter" and
+"Beard-divider," unrivalled masterpieces, which Sanjo himself so loved
+that he had always declined to part with them. But there was no
+satisfying this capricious and arrogant youth. Sanjo would be good
+enough to set himself to work and create an inspiration; and Sampei,
+to whom time had all at once become no object, would remain at Nara
+and superintend the progress of the miracle. And so it came about that
+the blade, taking long to make, O'Tei (curious, after the fashion of
+maidens) came pattering along the street, just to see if the young
+warrior was gone. Oddly enough, he was still there; with face towards
+the door too. This was well, if strange; for he was comely; extremely
+civil, to boot; courteous, and vastly respectful; could troll rich
+snatches of merry song, and tell diverting tales with dancing eye and
+glittering teeth; while as for his smile, it did one good to bask
+under it--so bright it was, so warm and genial, exuberant with
+bubbling youth.
+
+The brawny workers at the anvil vowed with grins and nudges that 'twas
+charming to watch these two--she, the type of the patrician beauty of
+her country--complexion of palest olive, nose aquiline, cheek bones a
+trifle high, perfectly moulded chin and throat, eyes and hair a deep
+black, the former raised the least little bit in the world at the
+outer corners--as she lounged in a steely _kimono_ of finest crape
+drawn up over one of scarlet. And he was in his way as bonny a
+spectacle. Exceeding dark of skin; of low stature, as are most of the
+Japanese, but admirably proportioned and muscular; his luxuriant sable
+locks (shaven away in the centre, lest the eyes should be obscured in
+battle), fastened in two tresses at the back, while a becoming blue
+fillet bound his temples, knotted at the side in a bow.
+
+I am afraid I must admit at once that Sampei, to whom I am very
+partial, was a sad flirt. He invented appalling tales of death and
+slaughter, for the pleasure of seeing the cheek of O'Tei grow whiter,
+then set himself to woo the delicate sea-shell colour back with
+well-timed jest; and was flattered and pleased to find that he could
+learn to play upon her as on some fragile instrument. To the girl his
+radiant advent was a strange and wondrous break in the sweet monotony
+of years,--a revelation like the raising of some veil that masks the
+infinite; and she marvelled vaguely whether the perfumed wood would
+hold so rich a charm when _he_ was no longer there to rouse the echoes
+with his laughter. Hand in hand they wandered--artless children--while
+the soft-eyed deer peeped out at them approvingly. They visited her
+favourite haunts; the open glade where the glorious lilies grew in
+clusters--lemon-yellow, or white, brown centred; where the great
+jewelled butterflies tumbled low along like junks under heavy sail;
+where beds of scarlet blossoms like geraniums nestled in sheets on the
+bank of a crystal stream--home of flights of glittering dragon-flies,
+black and iron-blue, like the cohorts of the warlike Osaka. And then
+the sharp _twee twee_ of the cicadas, answering or calling one another
+out of the deep stillness of the canopy above, the boom of the hoarse
+bees, the buzzing of gossamer wings, the click of the cricket, the hum
+of the myriad tiny voices up in the dense green, which joining in
+harmonious chorus form a silence--a haven of solitude and rest.
+
+It was not possible to linger in the shadowed aisles whose pillars
+were the giant cryptomerias, without feeling subdued and softened; and
+a suspicion flitted more than once across the mind of the young
+soldier that perchance the career of hurly-burly and the clash of
+steel were a mistake, the contemplative life a better. What happier
+method of getting through the cycle than to muse away the years, till
+called to go, with gentle O'Tei, and the forest, and the animals? And
+then, the sylvan influence and flash of the clear eyes removed, Sampei
+would wake and shake himself in distress, and know that the ground was
+dangerous. The contemplative life was good for girls and shaven
+priests, and men who had succumbed in the battle. Youths with lives
+spread out before like a trail of moonlight on the sea, must gird up
+their loins and elbow their way through the medley. Too long already
+had the young General dallied, wasting time. And yet, not wasting, for
+he and she were to be friends for life--that was quite settled--dear
+brother and loving sister, trusting each other without question,
+certain, in moments of emergency, of the completest helpfulness and
+sympathy. It was delicious to possess such a sister, a soft warm
+sunspot on his harsh career; more she might never be, and he
+recognised that this was well.
+
+Her gentleness unnerved his arm, he was wont jestingly to say, for her
+nature was woven of such frail glass threads that just as the rush of
+the herd snapped the slender lily-stems, a rude puff of wind might
+shatter it. Some day she would find a suitable husband, and her
+adopted brother would love him for her sake; and then they would
+recline in the long grass and fall a-talking of what the lucky mortal
+would be like. To match with the perfection of O'Tei he must be a
+perfect creature. Not a bluff soldier like Sampei. No, that would
+never do, for like a tender plant must the dear maid be cherished. To
+the end must the White Fawn be screened from din of war and rude
+surroundings. Poor hearts! They were both so young and ignorant and
+hopeful. They knew not how futile a pastime is the building of
+air-palaces. They were unaware that Fate is a sad marplot, and that if
+we plan a matter in a certain way, it will surely come out quite
+otherwise.
+
+The Shinto virgins were somewhat scandalised by the romantic
+proceedings of the fair O'Tei and the too good-looking General. They
+were disinclined to approve of him, for they knew he had said that,
+with faces painted a dead white, eyebrows at top of foreheads, and
+long flat hair well-oiled, they looked like the dolls of Asakusa. A
+ribald military person was not expected to have taste, or to know
+wherein lies true beauty, but he might show more respect for youthful
+gorgons. O'Tei did little credit, they averred, with tart displeasure,
+to her education. If she pined for male society, was not the temple
+full of holy bonzes? The heiress of Nara showed lamentable signs of
+incipient depravity. What business had she with Sanjo, the common
+armourer? She who, wayward always and inconsistent, when taught like
+every prospective chatelaine to wield a pike, had been wont to toss
+down the silver-mounted weapon, with a pout, vowing that she hated
+fighting.
+
+Things could not go on as they were, for the situation was a false
+one. Sanjo grew nervous. If the Daimio of Nara, who as Kugé or court
+noble lived usually at Ki[^y]oto in attendance on the Emperor, were to
+hear that his only child, instead of innocently floating through mazes
+of _kagura_, was using his (Sanjo's) forge for flirting purposes with
+an ineligible man who was the son of a concubine, there would be
+trouble; and Sanjo was not unaware of the parable concerning iron pots
+and earthen pipkins. All were relieved, therefore, except O'Tei, who
+was hazy as to her own sentiments, when the news arrived that the
+rebellion in Corea was to be quelled, and that Sampei was to command
+the expedition.
+
+When brother and sister parted, O'Tei clung round the neck of the
+youth, and, weeping bitterly, shivered she knew not why. Lovingly he
+kissed her brow, and disengaged himself from her embrace, and was more
+than ever certain as he rode away that, perfect in a congenial sphere,
+as wife of some grandee who would appreciate her gentle excellence,
+his sweet and sensitive sister would make the worst of consoles for
+one whose trade was war.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER II.
+
+ THE LAST HOJO.
+
+
+Being a cunning and artful reader, you have long since guessed that
+the pattern maid whose benign influence was destined to reform the
+brutish No-Kami, was no other than O'Tei, while the paragon Daimio was
+Nara.
+
+The Shinto virgins, as unjust and purblind as young gorgons may be
+expected to prove, were quite wrong as to O'Tei, who was no flirt. She
+did all credit to her rearing, for, when summoned to leave the
+conventual seclusion of the forest and assume the garb and
+responsibilities of her rank, she dutifully murmured, "Let my father's
+will be done," and accepted the husband of his choice. She had never
+been told--for the holy bonzes knew little about the subject--that in
+many marriages there are but two cheerful days--the first and the
+last--and marched straight upon her fate without a tremor.
+
+The elder Hojo, though a crafty and long-headed statesman, made a sad
+mistake while arranging the affairs of his son. The air palace he
+built was complete and imposing, beautiful to the eye, but, as the
+muscular and practical Tomoyé had foreseen, its foundations were of
+the weakest. He forgot that old Nara, as lord in waiting, was likely
+to be deeply attached to the person as well as to the position of the
+Mikado; that he, like the rest of the Kugés, would probably treasure
+up the insults which were freely showered on his master, with a view
+to future vengeance.
+
+Thanks to the uncompromising tactics of the despot, the reigning
+Mikado (there were three in exile) was a boy, a _roi fainéant_, a
+puppet; but he was hedged about with the intangible and mystic
+attributes of the Mikadoate, and the buffets he received reverberated
+along the line of Kugés into the hearts of the lower class. To possess
+the person of the Emperor was doubtless pleasing to the possessor--a
+trump card--but those who did not possess him felt his thraldom
+bitterly. That his daughter should wed the heir of the all-powerful
+Hojo was satisfactory and flattering to Nara. So long as the tyrant
+lived against whom it was hopeless to struggle, he would mask his
+game; but after his death, what then? He was expected to assume the
+functions of chief adviser, and keep the successor straight--was, in
+fact, to tighten the bonds about his master's limbs, for the behoof of
+the execrated family.
+
+This was whimsical--illogically planned--and Hojo a fool for his
+pains, When he contemplated the folly of the man he hated in his
+heart, the grim visage of the cautious Nara was puckered into
+unaccustomed smiles. The advice he would give in the future--so the
+wily lord decided--must depend on the attitude of his son-in-law, and
+be guided by the course of events for the benefit of the imperial
+prisoner. In his mind's eye (if Hojo could only have guessed it!) he
+beheld with secret exultation the brutish No-Kami sinking lower and
+lower by sure degrees into debauchery, until the moment should arrive
+when the ruler would become the ruled. And then--and then! Well, time
+must show what then. Sufficient for the day is its labour.
+
+Just as a Nimrod of the chase may fly safely over tremendous obstacles
+and be undone by a ditch at last, so was it with old Hojo. He sallied
+forth one day to put down an insignificant riot in never tranquil
+Satsuma, and received there his quietus. As already related, the
+faithful Tomoyé died with him, and No-Kami--juvenile, inexperienced,
+and cruel--was called to reign in his stead. And now, no longer
+restrained in the smallest degree by respect for a severe mother or
+fear of a fiery father, the new despot, surrounded by parasites, gave
+free rein to all his vices.
+
+The unaccustomed period of peace came to an abrupt conclusion. The
+young Mikado having been goaded one day to remonstrate with his new
+jailor, the latter raised his fan and slapped the august cheek. The
+Kugés flew to arms to avenge their outraged lord, but No-Kami, with
+the aureole of his father's prestige still about him, was too much for
+them. The nobles who dwelt in the palace bore but little of the stamp
+of warriors. The astute Nara, whilst hating the young man, saw that
+now, while the aureole remained unfaded, it was not yet the time to
+strike. He assumed therefore, with much parade of zeal, the _rôle_ of
+mediator between his master and his son-in-law. At first in vain.
+
+An unorganised band of patriots took the field, who were speedily
+routed and slain; and No-Kami, like the tyrant that he was,
+ungenerously pursued his advantage. Thanks to Nara's intervention, he
+refrained from deposing the Mikado; but he made up for this act of
+clemency by committing outrageous deeds. Banishment and confiscation
+were the order of the day. The estates of those who had dared to
+unsheath the _katana_ were distributed among the minions of the
+despot. All over Japan, those who loved their country heard with
+groans of the annihilation of the loyalists, and the pitiful condition
+of the Emperors. There was a puppet Mikado at Ki[^y]oto, and a nominal
+Shogun at Kamakura, but they were both under the tutelage of Hojo.
+
+No-Kami, as Nara hoped and expected, flushed with easy victory, and
+drunk with blood, resigned himself for a while to luxury, and
+neglected public business. A horde of rapacious bravos and licensed
+bandits sucked the lifeblood and paralysed the energies of the people.
+The weight of taxes, that ever crushes the spirit of the Asiatic
+peasant, grew heavier, day by day, until existence became intolerable.
+How was an end to be put to this nightmare? That was the question
+which all were fearfully whispering, and to which there seemed no
+solution.
+
+No-Kami, if self-indulgent and ruthless, was no zany. He knew that his
+position was to be maintained by fear and a strong hand, and that
+enervation meant destruction. Bundles of bamboo, when bound together,
+will dam a stream, though each separate stem is but a feeble wand. The
+insurrection of effeminate Kugés had been precipitate and foolish. If
+the whole country were to rise like one man, he would, as he was
+aware, be swept like rice chaff into the sea. In the mutual jealousy
+of the Daimios lay his chief safeguard. While plunging each in
+separate discomfort, union at all costs must be prevented. Attempts at
+conspiracy among the nobles, or at combinations among the lower
+classes, must be frustrated, and to that end he gave strict orders to
+officials and tax-collectors to allow of no public meetings. The
+people were to pay what was demanded of them, humbly and dutifully, as
+best they could, but on no account were to be permitted to hold
+gatherings. Even the great festivals of the year were for a while to
+be discontinued.
+
+Over and above these precautions, the tyrant surrounded his person
+with a picked body-guard of Samurai, or two-sword men; hedged his
+fortress with bristling defences; and recalled his brother, the
+brilliant Sampei, from his career of victory abroad.
+
+Urged possibly by a spirit of contrariness, a contempt for the society
+of his prisoner and the Kugés--perhaps by a sense of freedom from
+personal danger there--the favourite abode of No-Kami was his castle
+of Tsu, four days' journey from the capital, over precipitous hills.
+Here he loved to dwell, surrounded by his brawling warriors;
+sojourning from time to time, when business called him to Ki[^y]oto,
+at a small but superb villa, called the Golden House, which stood
+secluded in a park on the outskirts of the sacred city.
+
+The castle of Tsu was one of the strongest in Japan (the outline of
+its foundations still remains to attest to its vast area), and
+covered, within the square space of the outer moat, sufficient ground
+to accommodate an army. This outer moat, upon which many a shallop
+floated, was wide and deep and sluggish on three sides, masked by a
+luxuriant crop of lotos; while the fourth wall was washed by a
+rapidly-running river, the Iwatagawa, which a couple of miles away
+brawled into the sea. Out of the water rose a platform of great
+stones, with a fringe of gnarled and rusty pines, through which were
+visible battlements of earth crowned by a low parapet. At each corner
+was a huge four-storied building, fitted with four wide roofs of
+sculptured copper; the walls of whitewashed plaster within frameworks
+of unpainted wood. Inside this outer defence was a recreation and
+drill-ground of sufficient extent to allow of room for jousts and
+spectators, as well as trees and vegetable gardens, and a village of
+wooden huts for soldiery and camp followers. Dwellings of a better
+class were clustered like seashells about the second or inner moat,
+which enclosed a second wall.
+
+Within the inner square was a space of considerable size, in the
+centre of which uprose the castle, a four-sided tower three hundred
+feet in height, tapering towards the top. By reason of its many roofs
+or verandahs of burnished and sculptured bronze, it seemed more like a
+cluster of many towers, the centre one the loftiest; and a picturesque
+object it was, for owing to the prevalence of earthquakes, all the
+walls above the foundation platform were of whitened mud and plaster,
+enclosed like the corner buildings within frames of timber; while the
+middle roof reared its head with overhanging eaves to a sharp point,
+crowned on the apex by a great fish, fashioned of pure gold.
+
+This fortress was, barring miracle or treachery, justly reputed
+impregnable. Both moats were crossed by drawbridges, as an extra
+caution against surprise. The outer entrance was approached round a
+corner, so that the gate with its side postern was doubly commanded
+from above. Even if the outer wall were stormed, the inner one frowned
+on the intruder with manifold engines, while the ground about it could
+be rendered untenable by missiles from the summit of the tower.
+
+A bowshot from the outer moat, westward from the river bank, the town
+of Tsu, with straggling suburbs, meandered, low and grey, like a long
+serpent. All Japanese towns are of one colour, walls and roofs alike,
+of wood unpainted and weatherworn, rendered a shade more silvery by
+clusters of pale lichen; but Tsu was more monotonously gloomy in
+aspect than most, by reason of damp and misery. The country close
+around, with the exception of two low hills, was flat and sedgy,
+broken by marshes and shallow rivulets. Away, hazy, melting into blue,
+could be discerned the encircling peaks of the range, beyond which is
+Ki[^y]oto. Grand mountains these, rugged and austere, with many a
+beetling crag. Mikuni Yama; Outake San; and away to the south-east
+Asama Yama, the majestic chief volcano of Japan.
+
+The town of Tsu differed from others in that it displayed none of the
+spick-and-span cleanliness for which the land of the Rising Sun is as
+conspicuous as European Holland. The outlying cottages bore the stamp
+of squalor and ague, standing in oozy sludge. So did the people bear
+the brand of sorrow, as, listless and inert, they dragged their heavy
+feet. As a poor show of enterprise, a few unripe persimmons, which no
+one desired to buy, were exposed for sale in the mire; while here and
+there a tray of sorrel-like leaves were placed to dry (?)--a plant
+used for dying blue the cotton which is the common garment of the
+peasant. There was none of the briskness and gaiety to be seen that
+make rural Japan so cheery. None of the incessant chatter and laughter
+and pattering of clogs, the rush-and-tumble of naked brown babies, the
+whirr of the silk-looms, the busy hammer of the carpenters.
+
+The houses, wide open to the street, displayed the usual raised
+platform of wood, smoothly planed, covered with matting, with
+_hibachi_ or firebox in the middle; but there was no brilliant glimpse
+beyond of the wonderful toy gardens, with rocks and dwarfed trees and
+straying tortoises and gaudy flowers and crickets in tiny cages, which
+distinguish a prosperous village. The paper windows or screens being
+always pushed back in their grooves during the day, a rustic Japanese
+household of the lower class may be said to live in public; for, till
+the screens are replaced, which they usually are at dusk, there may be
+said to be no privacy. You have a free view of goodman or matron in
+the bath, or at the toilet, or eating, or sleeping, or at work, and
+unabashed--with innocence sometimes for only garment--they nod to you
+pleasantly with a cheerful "Ohayo!" as you pass. Tsu was too degraded,
+steeped to the lips in grinding poverty, to have energy for work or
+washing, much less for the homely ornament of a single lily in a
+pot. Almost entirely nude the men, unkempt and frowsy, lolled and
+slept--such a marvellous variety of attitudes of sleep a sculptor
+might find there--while the housewife, thin and sallow, naked to the
+waist, fumbled feebly over the weaving of cheap hats, or grass sandals
+for man and horse.
+
+Of course the town could boast of a superior quarter, where, in front
+of houses of a better kind, were flapping blue cotton awnings, each
+one adorned with the dominant daimio's cognisance. Into one of these,
+apparently the cleanest and the best, we will enter (first removing
+our clogs and swords), for what is proceeding within should interest
+us somewhat.
+
+It is evening. The house-platform is raised on stilts as usual, two
+feet above ground, and the first room or ante-chamber is open to the
+street. When we rap with fan on the paper screen beyond, some one
+cries "Enter," and sliding it aside we find ourselves in a large low
+room, whose ceiling of unpolished cryptomeria is supported by pillars
+of cherry. Above the dais or recess of honour at the end, a single
+picture hangs, representing the thirty-three Kwannon; under it is a
+gilt image of Buddha; while the monotony of the one wooden wall (the
+others are formed by paper screens running in grooves) is broken by a
+wandering spray of maple foliage, painted in autumn tints.
+
+Everything is scrupulously clean and severely simple. You only become
+aware that this is a superior dwelling, by remarking the fineness of
+the mats. In the centre, round a large _hibachi_ of bronze, filled
+with charcoal, a group are huddled close, for the all-pervading damp
+is chilling to the bones. Two well-known elders of the town are
+there--Zembei, and Rokubei his friend--the former talking volubly;
+while a man of middle age, the master of the house, is listening with
+dubious frown. His wife, Kennui, sits by, his hand in hers; while
+apart in a corner, with eyes as bright as a squirrel's, and flushed
+cheek, stands their eldest daughter Miné. Her mind--some call her a
+forward damsel--is disturbed, for, impatient and annoyed, she pushes
+aside a screen, and clatters off into the back garden, to tease with a
+finger the darting gold-fish that with mosquitoes reign in a pond.
+
+The frowning man is Koshiu, the most important farmer in these parts,
+broad-shouldered, grave, and grizzled, whose opinions are of weight in
+the province.
+
+Zembei--aged, with face like a walnut--has brought unpleasant news;
+indeed he has often dropped in of late, and each time his tidings are
+less agreeable. It is the old story, gruesome and too familiar. The
+rapacious Hojo needs more money--is always demanding more. But it is
+quite too bad to worry the men of Tsu, his own home, the poorest
+district in the Empire. Already the starving population have abandoned
+hope. In a former life they must have been very wicked, to suffer so
+much in this.
+
+After a long pause of dejection, "Maybe my lord knows not of our
+wretchedness," suggests the farmer's wife, by way of pouring oil upon
+the waters.
+
+"Peace, Kennui!" sighs her spouse. "As well throw stones at the sun,
+or try to scatter a fog with a fan, as look for humanity from a Hojo!
+They were ever merciless."
+
+"Too true!" groans Rokubei, the elder. "Thus the matter stands; though
+you have shown so little interest of late, that perchance I am wasting
+breath."
+
+"Ay, that hath he!" chimes in Zembei. "Why is it? You, Koshiu, whose
+words were ever of moment, and treated with respect, although from
+your stubborn pride you were never popular, instead of helping us,
+have been hanging back, content with grumbling complaint. We must act
+now, I tell you, and rend the air no more with idle moaning, or else
+we perish all! Gird up your loins, man. Awake! For unless this torrent
+of greed be stemmed, although less poor than most, you will soon be a
+beggar like the rest."
+
+"My husband," interrupted Kennui, "is misjudged. He loves the people,
+and grieves for them, but perceives that resistance is useless--idle
+remonstrance will but make their plight more pitiful."
+
+"The beetle in combat with the bear!" laughed the farmer drearily.
+"Act, forsooth! All this is idle prate, believe me. What can we do but
+die?"
+
+"No idle prate," retorted Zembei. "Listen. By deputation--of which you
+would not form one--we humbly prayed and entreated the local
+counsellors of my lord:--the leeches--to be more lenient; but they
+replied that they were only tools, exactly performing his bidding.
+Then, after anxious thought and discussion, gathering together in
+secret the chiefs of a hundred villages, at peril of our heads, we
+resolved to draw up and send a solemn petition, signed by all, to my
+lord's golden dwelling at Ki[^y]oto, imploring justice. Twelve of the
+most respected elders, chosen from the assembly by lot, undertook the
+dangerous task. Clad in their grass rain-coats, they sallied forth,
+and arrived in time at Ki[^y]oto."
+
+"Idiots!" scoffed Koshiu. "Did they pay a long farewell to wives and
+little ones?"
+
+"Arrived at the Golden House, they were received at the gate with
+blows and contumely."
+
+"What else did they expect?" inquired the farmer--"to be feasted in
+the room of honour? Other lords perhaps, dreading public exposure of
+their misdeeds, might, if pushed, hasten to repair a wrong--the Hojos
+never; for the Hojos have no shame."
+
+Miné pouted, and rapped the pavement with impatient clog.
+
+"To be sweeping is always to be unjust!" she cried shrilly, from the
+border of the pond. "There are good as well as bad in every family."
+
+"Hush, child, hush! Be dutiful!" reproved her mother. "Thou wast
+bewitched by soft empty speeches and a bold bearing. It was a bad day
+for thee when the lord Sampei came among us!"
+
+"He is good and brave and generous," returned the girl, with burning
+face, "my lord Sampei!"
+
+Miné cooed out the name that was on every one's lips, with such an
+exceeding abandonment of tenderness as startled her father into
+attention.
+
+"More words less sense!" he remarked testily. "My lord Sampei! what
+hast thou to do with him or his? My lord Sampei forsooth! Wouldst be a
+Hojo's concubine? Never! I'd see thee dead first."
+
+"The maid speaks not untruly," nodded Rokubei. "Sampei is in all
+things, save his name, unlike his brother. Through his mother Masago,
+the holy Abbess, he has peasant blood in his veins."
+
+"And she," chimed in the girl, "the late lord's concubine, although of
+peasant stock, is worthy to be noble. As good as her son is the Abbess
+Masago. Cold and severe, no doubt, but just and lovable."
+
+"How the child prates!" cried Madam Koshiu. "The lord Sampei has been
+absent these five years, skull-cracking, and is but just returned.
+What canst thou know of him? When he sailed, thou wert a little maid,
+and even than now more foolish."
+
+"From his mother I have heard of him," admitted the blushing girl.
+
+"So this was thy religious fervour, praying so often at the temple!"
+exclaimed the angry farmer. "Take heed, thou silly wench, or I will
+punish thee, and grievously. What! A cur can bark loudly before its
+own gate, and I can defend my own. Once for all, no more of the lord
+Sampei, or it will go ill with thee. Banish from thy feather-pate idle
+worship of thy betters."
+
+The mien of Koshiu was so stern and threatening, that though words of
+indignant protest rose to her lips, the girl was silent.
+
+"What if he were prevailed upon to intercede for us?" mused Rokubei.
+"He is as generous as brave--no doubt of that. My lord, after his
+brother's career of victory, could scarce refuse him a favour."
+
+"Five years bring about great changes," growled the farmer. "Five
+years ago Hojo No-Kami was no worse than others of his rank. You will
+never persuade me that aught of good is to be found in a Hojo,
+legitimate or otherwise. Enough of him. Go on with your story of the
+elders."
+
+"They were received, as I told you, at the outer gate with blows and
+curses. Had they not fled, murder would have been done, for a posse of
+samurai rushed out of the guardhouse, like devils, brandishing pikes.
+Disconcerted, grieved, and bruised, they returned to their inn to
+consult. Was the journey to go for nothing? Were they to return like
+beaten dogs, without even seeing my lord? Peradventure face to face
+with him something might yet be done, and his hard heart softened by
+their dismal catalogue of woe. They plumed their ruffled feathers,
+therefore, and lay in wait, and when he rode forth citywards, emerged
+from a clump of trees, and kneeling humbly in the dust, presented
+their petition. He took it, and, grinding his teeth with eyes aflame,
+turned savagely to his attendants.
+
+"'Remove these wretches!' he thundered, 'who by persistent insolence
+have deserved more than death. By-and-by will I pass judgment on them.
+Torment shall reward their temerity.'"
+
+A silence of dismay followed the elder's narrative. Koshiu was surely
+right--his deep hate justified. It seemed that the existing Hojo was
+worse than any of his ancestors--and so young too! What a gloomy
+future for unhappy fatherland! What a sunless roll of years!
+
+"The land is ripe for revolt, if we could find a leader we could
+trust," observed Zembei, who had been nursing his knees in silence.
+"The other lords are weary of the Hojo, but unfortunately jealous of
+each other. If they would bury for a time their private feuds, things
+might yet come right. He who ventures not within the den, will never
+take the cub."
+
+"There is no trusty leader, except the victorious General, himself a
+Hojo!" added the other elder. "Buddha has forgotten us. The case is
+beyond mortal settling. There is left for us nothing but to die."
+
+Here was a dismal and unsatisfactory conclusion to the debate, and it
+seemed that there was no other, for each with dolorous visage eyed his
+neighbour, with nothing more to say.
+
+Miné, tossing off her _geta_ on the garden stones, and springing up
+with pretty pink feet upon the matted floor, came forward.
+
+"I am but a girl," she said timidly, "and, my father tells me,
+foolish. Yet from mouths of fools sometimes come words of wisdom. You
+can die, you say. Is not death the last resource, when all else has
+failed, for escaping from earthly woe? Masago, the dear Abbess, is
+worshipped for miles around. Prejudiced though you are, you have
+nought to say but praise of her goodness and her piety. Sampei is her
+son--nay, I will speak--and who should know a son better than his
+mother? In your grief you are prone to believe evil, and speak harsh
+and unjust words of him you know not. Seek him out, and implore his
+intercession with his brother. Seek out the lady O'Tei--an angel come
+to earth. She, the chatelaine, is now at the castle yonder. Entreat
+her help as well, and sure betwixt the two that stony heart shall
+melt."
+
+Miné blushed like a tea-rose at finding herself thus boldly haranguing
+a trio of grizzled pates, and flinging herself down by her mother's
+side in sudden bashfulness, buried her hot face in her bosom.
+
+"Buddha is not asleep," observed Madame Koshiu, with conviction, as
+she stroked her daughter's head. "Verily the child speaks wisely words
+that are put into her mouth."
+
+"We will follow her counsel," assented the marvelling Zembei, "for the
+gods--whose names be praised--are with us. Urged by his brother and
+his wife, my lord will surely give us the lives of the devoted elders.
+We--Rokubei and Zembei--will journey ourselves to Ki[^y]oto, and make
+another effort. Learn, O stubborn Koshiu, a lesson from thy child, who
+has given us the counsel that we needed."
+
+The farmer shook his head.
+
+"Cursed be the tree of Hojo, root and branch!" he cried. "Its fruit is
+crime, its blossom, wickedness. My lord Sampei and my lord No-Kami are
+scourges both! Go your ways, and do as you think fit. I tell you your
+errand will be vain."
+
+Was there ever any one so obstinate as this sturdy Koshiu?--a man who
+could only rail instead of bestowing help. The two elders were about
+to upbraid him for his mulishness, for they, like others, had naught
+but admiration for Sampei, when, raising his hand, he said,--
+
+"Listen, wife and friends. You deem me supine,--my judgment warped by
+bias. In this you wrong me. I am ready to lay down my life, if need
+be, for the common good, but not to fling it uselessly away. Try your
+plan first: go to Ki[^y]oto, and fail; then it shall be my turn. The
+arrogance of my lord reached its highest point when, some brief while
+ago, he smote with his fan the face of the revered one. For that sin,
+vengeance, if tardy, will be complete some day. The horror that flowed
+over the land warned him of the danger of his folly, of which,
+for safety's sake, he will never again be guilty. The Hojos are
+merciless--you will gain nothing from them but stripes. Here is my
+plan. I will gird my loins, and journey alone to the capital, and,
+biding my time in secret, will, with Heaven's help, thrust a copy of
+the petition into the hand of the Mikado himself, as in a litter he
+takes the air. Then will he, grieving for us, demand a public
+explanation from my lord as to why the poorest portion of the country
+should be ground down with such heavy burthens. So will my lord, weary
+with much admonishing, be stirred to lighten our backs."
+
+The farmer's wife, hearkening to his decision, groaned and wept, for
+she felt that the tyrant, even if he gave way under strong pressure,
+would seek a victim for his wrath--that one the weakest. The elders
+saw the situation in the same light. They did not strive, however, to
+combat his resolve, for though their friend would probably be
+sacrificed, themselves would be gainers by his deed. If he chose to
+immolate himself, why not? They expressed approval, therefore, nodding
+topknots in unison, and, rising, departed to their homes, gossiping in
+whispers by the way.
+
+What a relief to know that they had been deceived in Koshiu. 'Twas a
+boldly-devised scheme that, whereby a peasant was to dare in person to
+address the Holy One. Peradventure he would be cut down by the guards
+ere he could present the paper. Well, well, time would show; and if,
+in the people's cause, he perished, his name would go down with
+blessings to posterity.
+
+His decision was a relief, in other ways, as the two friends agreed,
+pattering side by side in the quiet of the night. It was vastly heroic
+on their part, considering what had already been undergone by the
+other elders, to declare that they would cast themselves in the
+breach. If my lord Sampei could be induced to interest himself, they
+would be the bearers of his missive to his brother, and so gain credit
+in the town for wondrous' devotion to the people's cause. Not that for
+them there would be real danger (they had made up their minds of
+that), for No-Kami, however ferocious, would surely refrain from
+maltreating his brother's messengers. And yet now as they walked
+along, it seemed wise to give up the risk. Caution becomes old men.
+The independent Koshiu was resolved to make a journey on his own
+account: clearly there was nothing to be gained by everybody going.
+They would let him go, for obstinate men will have their way. All
+things considered, themselves having gained credit by proposing to go,
+would stop at home and do honour, by-and-by, to the escaped elders,
+when released.
+
+This much satisfactorily settled, they gabbled of other things. Only
+to think of that little Miné being so clear-headed. Verily love works
+wonders. A comely maid, if unduly ambitious, and warm, to boot, of
+temper. How her blood mantled at her father's railing. How undaunted
+was her defence of the young General. She must love him much to be
+stung into bearding, for his sake, her sturdy parent. He must have won
+her heart before he sailed, and had long since, no doubt, forgotten
+her.
+
+A silly wench to look so high. A great General might stoop to pluck a
+flower as he passed, but, loosely caught, it would speedily fall from
+his breast, and he unwitting of the loss. She certainly was pretty;
+would develop some day, obstinate and headstrong like her father, into
+a shrew. Yes, she was young and fair to look upon at present, and,
+perhaps, were she so brazen as to cast herself at the young man's
+feet, he might deign to raise her for a moment.
+
+Chattering thus, the cronies parted, each trudging his own way by the
+glimmer of his paper lantern. Could they have delved into the mind of
+the farmer's daughter, and have seen what was passing there, they
+would have had genuine cause for wonder.
+
+Miné, as with frowning brow and dejected step she moved among the
+stones in the garden, struck her palms impatiently together.
+
+"I cannot bear it, and I will not!" she muttered. "Hard and unjust and
+narrow is my father! Of these taunts there shall be an end. I gave my
+heart to _him_ to trample on, and do not regret the gift. His I am or
+no one's until death. Each day and hour to hear him and his reviled
+and vilified, is constant torture. I will leave a home that is not to
+be endured, and take refuge for the present with the Abbess."
+
+Miné was a true daughter of Koshiu. Once her mind made up, there was
+no further indecision. Wrapping a mantle around her, she moved on
+tiptoe to where her three brothers slept, and then stealing forth into
+the night, closed the shutters behind her.
+
+"Adieu, my darlings, perchance for ever!" she murmured tenderly; "for
+better or for worse the die is cast. He will soon visit the temple to
+see the mother whom he loves. If he will have me, I am his, to do with
+according to his pleasure; if not, I will remain to pray for him
+within the temple, in the garb of Buddha's handmaid."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER III.
+
+ MARRIED LIFE.
+
+
+The meek obedience of O'Tei to her father's wishes was but ill
+requited. The gulf between past and present was so wide that for a
+while she was dazed and stunned. It seemed to her that she must have
+passed in sleep through the gates of Death, and have been born again
+into a new dark world--desolate and drear--which was all evil. How
+calm and happy by contrast appeared that other life, as she recalled
+to mind the company of prim priestesses slowly floating in the dance;
+the lazy, sweet-tempered bonzes tinkling on bells, droning amiably
+through noses--their weightiest duty, adoration of the sun with
+foreheads in the dust; their loving labour, the cleaning of temple
+precincts; their pastime, the gentle craft of gardening. Now she found
+herself surrounded by a roistering crew of fierce, rough, ignorant
+retainers--scowling, swearing, swaggering samurai--swash-bucklers who
+were eternally cleaning and polishing their two swords and dirk, or
+practising some horribly nimble feat of arms, or with set teeth in
+sudden rage like red-eyed rats flying at one another's throats.
+
+Nuptial pomp and ceremony over, bride and groom retired to their
+castle, where, with the laudable intent of making other magnates
+jealous, a series of sham fights and sumptuous jousts were
+inaugurated, whose unaccustomed din confused the brain of the
+chatelaine. For a space No-Kami appeared in his best light, for he was
+subjugated by the beauty of his young wife, and unconsciously a little
+afraid of her quiet high-bred demeanour. Bravely she strove to
+interest herself in his pursuits; with unflagging patience watched the
+retainers wrestling or riding at the ring; compelled herself to bestow
+applause on bouts at quarter-staff which wearied her. And yet,
+discipline herself as she would, the constant thud of stick on skull,
+or blade on helm--the guttural shrieks and execrations--chilled her to
+the marrow. There could be no sympathy 'twixt the sensitive and poetic
+nature reared in the sacred groves, and these grim and savage
+warriors. And, sharp to read faces, if ignorant of letters, they knew
+it as well as she, for her virtues were strange riddles beyond their
+comprehension. What they could be sure of was that their lady was
+regrettably white and slender,--too soft and delicate for a hard world
+of struggle, where the weak were deservedly mangled. Sorrowfully they
+compared her with the late chatelaine, unhappily deceased, the lioness
+Tomoyé, much (as is the usual practice) to the disadvantage of the
+living one. There is nothing that such men hold in more withering
+contempt than weakness. The chivalry of mediæval Europe was mostly
+theory. Discontented, they did their liege lady a pathetic and
+grudging service, ashamed of her as unsuited to her station.
+
+One day as she sat listless, wondering at the emptiness of life,
+No-Kami strode into her bower to claim admiration for a new and
+wondrous sword, fresh from Sanjo's anvil. In his nervous grasp it
+whizzed through the air with diabolic whistling sound, as he showed
+exultantly how he meant to slash off the head with it of the Daimio of
+Bizen, and other abominable rivals.
+
+Now although O'Tei, in careless girlish fashion, had been rather fond
+of watching the armourers at work (the more perhaps because of the
+disapproval of sniffing gorgons), she had never clearly associated the
+results of their skill with their true purpose. She had always been
+bidden to observe the spring of the glittering blade, the clouded
+lines so deftly worked into the steel; the patterned _kogai_ or
+stilettoes fitted in the scabbard; the elaborately ornate _tsuba_ or
+hilt-guard; and saw as she admired details beautiful works of art fit
+to adorn a dwelling. But now when she beheld her husband making fierce
+passes, with a blood-curdling expression of ferocity upon his face,
+she became aware, for the first time, of his animal greed for blood,
+and shuddered as she looked, turning a shade more pale. To this wild
+beast she had been tied for life. What sort of existence could she
+hope for in the future? Would it be possible to go on to the end
+pretending to sympathise with that which in her heart she loathed?
+Power, unless kept in leash by thongs and bridles, degenerates into a
+tyranny that, feeding on itself, grows every day more infamous. She
+had learnt by report that her lord was a tyrant, and disliked by many,
+though as yet she knew no details.
+
+She had been taught vaguely by the learned bonzes that the human
+animal is by nature a beast of prey, blood-raw till cooked by
+education. The man before her was as ignorant, and more lawless than
+his own retainers. Was it her task to show him the right path?--to
+wean him to better things by gentle influence? A noble mission, for
+one who was strong of purpose, firm of will. The girl resolved that
+she would try, but felt, with a sinking of the heart, that the task
+was beyond her strength. No-Kami discerned upon her features a look of
+pained bewilderment out of tune with the occasion, and bluntly growled
+his discontent. He was surprised and angry. When a chatelaine is
+called on to sympathise and exult with her lord, why does she show
+disgust? It came suddenly upon him that there was a barrier between
+them which, though intangible, neither might ever pass. A pretty
+helpmeet for a Hojo was this degenerate child of Nara's! Strolling
+through the well-appointed armoury, displeased and concerned, he
+selected the light silver-mounted lance which his grandam had used to
+splendid purpose when, in the absence of her spouse, she defended this
+very castle. More doughty even than the much-regretted Tomoyé had been
+this grandam, and no wonder, for, of noblest lineage, was she not the
+direct descendant of that famous Empress Jingo, who, leaving her
+new-born babe in the charge of her ministers, sallied forth armed
+_cap-à-pié_ to conquer Corea?
+
+"Did O'Tei know even how to hold a lance?" sneered No-Kami.
+
+Of course she did, she replied, with a forced smile. Was not every
+noble damsel taught how to defend her home?
+
+At the outset she had made a mistake by showing her thoughts upon her
+features, an error that might be yet retrieved. To smooth the
+disappointed furrows from his wrinkled brow, she took the lance from
+him, and straightway went through the exercise. For a moment it
+pleased his vanity to watch the graceful movements of her tall lithe
+form as, gathering in one hand the ample folds of her long robe, she
+ran forward, thrust, and recovered. And then, happening to glance at
+the tell-tale countenance, he cursed and ground his teeth, for her
+martial exercise was a sham.
+
+Her thoughts were far away. Like a patient automaton wound up with a
+spring, she half consciously did what was required, but clearly found
+no pleasure in the act. With a great oath he roughly wrenched the
+weapon from her, and bade her go mind her distaff.
+
+She sighed, and, obeying with aggravating meekness, retired to her
+chamber; and from this moment there grew up between the wedded
+pair a thicket which waxed stronger each day and thicker. The
+parasites--braggart samurai, turbulent officers and soldiers, and
+truculent hangers-on--were quick to perceive a change with which they
+sympathised, and prompt to act upon it. Boisterous, rude, ill-mannered
+at the best, they saw that, like themselves, their lord was ashamed
+of his handsome and cold but fragile wife, and by insensible
+gradations--he unwitting of it--their perfunctory respect dropped from
+them. No-Kami was heard one day, in unguarded whirl of wrath, due to
+baulked hope and disappointment, to dub her "Puling baby-face," and
+loud was the laughter at the _sobriquet_, for one and all they
+unconsciously chafed under a refinement of which they had no
+experience, and came to hate her for her gentleness.
+
+And so it came about that, abandoning as hopeless at the initial stage
+the mission for which (by the late statesman's cunning) she had been
+destined, O'Tei withdrew from serious attempts at influencing the
+despot, and made the first fatal downward step on her dark and stony
+road.
+
+Entrenching herself behind a screen of pride, she withdrew herself
+from contact with the samurai, by whom she was treated with a surly
+carelessness that was insult but half concealed. When etiquette
+required it, she appeared in public beside No-Kami, whose attitude was
+sulky and displeased; at other times she abode in her own bower
+overlooking the swift river, a retreat where she could not hear the
+yells and sword-thuds, embroidering among her maidens, or reading
+poetry, or playing on the three-stringed samisen. Though secluded, it
+was by her own choice, and she in no sense a prisoner. No-Kami, when
+in amiable mood--which, as time went on, became a more and more
+unusual circumstance--displayed for his wife an uncouth, sulky,
+snarling respect, like that of a wolf under a whip; for instinct
+whispered that he was totally unworthy,--that as she came to read
+him better she would despise him more,--that already she saw with
+those calm clear eyes his many faults and mental smallness, though too
+well-mannered and too haughty to admit it. A rude and proud as well as
+licentious and undisciplined man finds contempt from her who should be
+his congenial helpmeet a constantly galling spur.
+
+If O'Tei, descending from that lofty pedestal, would only have abused
+him roundly,--have bandied sharp words,--have stooped to scold him, he
+would have breathed more freely. The air would have been cleared of
+its oppressiveness, for he would have known himself nearer to her
+level. How exasperating was it to the self-indulgent and unscrupulous
+tyrant to have this pale and silent and superior woman always at his
+elbow dispassionately contemplating his peccadilloes with disapproval
+peeping from her eyes. The worst of it was that he knew her to be
+right in her estimate of him, and secretly admired his chill and
+independent wife. Yet at the same time her presence was irksome, and
+goaded her spouse to flashes of rage which drove him, as it were in
+protest, to deeds of violence. It was the old story, which is ever
+new, of the 'little rift;' of two young lives starting side by side
+from standpoints far as the poles, with mutual misunderstanding and
+distrust, that increase like a rolling snowball till they grow into
+active detestation.
+
+The Hojo neglected and avoided his consort, but was not wilfully
+cruel. If he chanced to have it by him, he would, when asked, give her
+money for charities; for, like many another misunderstood lady, she
+sought a salve for lacerated feelings in good works. It would have
+been most impolitic to have been patently unkind to her, because it
+was not well to make a foe of Nara by openly ill-using his heiress. He
+wist not of the conduct of the samurai, who took their cue from him;
+but he certainly saw as little as he conveniently could of his
+beautiful better half, spending considerable time at Ki[^y]oto
+quarrelling with other daimios, browbeating his imperial lord.
+
+For her part, reared in retirement, and a stranger to town gaieties,
+she preferred the castle--when No-Kami was absent with his scowling
+retinue. Then, her own mistress, she would order her kago,--a heavy
+gorgeous litter, gold lacquered and emblazoned, adorned with rich
+curtains, and cushions, and tassels, borne on the shoulders of twelve
+staggering men--and penetrating, when the fancy seized her, along the
+centipede street of Tsu, make for a garden beyond, to which she had
+taken a liking. Reaching the favoured spot was the difficulty, for it
+was necessary to pass along two miles and more of straggling street
+and suburb, where poverty, if speechless, was rampant. To her pale
+face, though, it always showed its less hideous side, for the poor of
+Tsu (how many there were of them!) soon learned to adore their
+chatelaine.
+
+She could not with her feeble force even attempt to stem the tide of
+suffering due to my lord's oppression; but the crushed creatures knew
+right well that behind the marble mask was a deep fund of pity--that
+their lady would sometimes go dinnerless herself for the sake of
+starving children. When she passed by, the toilworn women would look
+up, and show their blackened teeth in a wan smile; and the brown
+naked children, with their comical shaved pates and elf-locks--their
+bat-ears, wide mouths and eyes _à fleur de tête_ like slits--would
+come trooping and crowing about her. She was always interested in the
+details of their poor homes,--ready with soothing words, and such
+money as she happened to possess; would converse with the old men as
+they wove sandals, the two straw loops caught on their great toes;
+criticise the painting of the ph[oe]nixes on the umbrellas of oil
+paper, an industry in vogue in these parts; exhort the languishing men
+to renewed courage and hope; and all the while her revolted soul died
+within her at contemplation of the wretched huts of mud and bamboo,
+some of them mere mats stretched on sticks, and stiffened with wire,
+with rotten crumbling roofs of decayed rice thatch, and mud floors
+that were never dry. Her heart bled for the patient, suffering people,
+and she was glad to get away to her garden, where the sun shone forth
+with halcyon brightness, and nature at least was happy. For Tsu, I
+would have you know, is not all ugliness. Passing out of the low-lying
+oozy suburb, you reach a wooden bridge over one of the numberless
+streams that intersect the marsh, and a little further on come to
+rising ground, well wooded with the luxuriant vegetation which in
+Japan is the lavish gift of the rain-god. At the top of the hill,
+under the lee of a group of ancient pines, much tossed and
+wind-beaten, is a summer-house. From the road it is not visible, so
+deeply is it embowered in cherry and maple, each so glorious and
+lovely in its season, the which are closely tangled and entwined with
+such cataracts of purple wisteria as no western mind can realise. This
+hill or hillock, and another one hard by, stand alone on a wide plain,
+and from them may be gained a singularly varied view of flat marsh,
+and sedge, and vivid green rice fields, and scattered villages, and
+far-off hazy mountains. In front--and this was the view that brought
+back peace into the empty breast of the young chatelaine, the ground
+shelved gradually, thick strewn with flowers, until--a semicircle of
+yellow sand--it was washed by the softly-rippling waves of a blue bay,
+land-locked. Here nature, casting her golden glamour over all, masked
+the prevailing squalor. No typhoon ever vexed these enchanted waters,
+that washed to and fro in slow cadence the clumps of bamboo with which
+their edge was feathered. The tiny toy villages on the opposite brink
+were mirrored in long shadow. The festooned sails of the little
+fishing-boats, and trim white junks, were pictured in quivering double
+four times their height. The mountains beyond, of a deep reddish
+purple, without detail in the haze, were topped with strange
+silhouettes of single pines, clear against opal ether, or sharp cut
+against the blue with chasm and precipice. Many rocky islets were
+dotted here and there--volcanic, peaked, flat-topped--each with its
+long reflection, fringed with feathery foliage, hanging apparently to
+nothing--around, a flight of boats, like sea-birds floating. Sitting
+for hours gazing down on the fairy scene, her stalwart naked
+kago-bearers asleep like statues of warm bronze away in the shade,
+O'Tei could forget her disillusions; but then with setting sun the
+shadow darkened, for the time was arrived when she must go home again,
+and with a return to the panoply of war, and swagger of the sentinels,
+peace and light faded out, and her heart was as sick as ever.
+Sometimes, more sad than usual, she would make to the sister hill a
+pilgrimage.
+
+The gateway or torii at the bottom (one heavy beam curled at the
+corners, resting on two others) and the long straight flight of stone
+steps leading to a building with huge top-heavy roof, nestling in a
+grove of cryptomerias, showed that this was a holy hill surmounted by
+a temple. A very important temple too, with an immense gilt Buddha
+looming out of twilight on a bronze lotus, in an attitude of perpetual
+repose; gardens; fish-ponds, crowded with lotus plants; and a long low
+building glinting through the trees, wherein dwelt an abbess and her
+nuns.
+
+What would happen to the Japanese if the lotus were banished from
+their midst? In winter, a mere yellow whisp languishing in mud; in
+early summer there rises a fairy thing from out the ooze--a concave
+shield of vivid green, with a blue down as of a grape, and dewdrops
+glistening like diamonds. Then a round ball appears, which slowly
+opens, trembling upon the water, and gradually reveals the loveliest
+flower that blows. To the Japanese child who strives to pluck its
+white or roseate blossom, it is a picture of unearthly loveliness; to
+the adult it is the symbol of religious truth, the emblem of the
+eternal calm which is the highest ultimate reward. Taught from
+earliest childhood to love its beauty, the mature Buddhist sees in its
+petals creative power and world growth, and knows that when his mortal
+body approaches the cremation house, his weary cycle done, a stone
+carved to represent a lotus flower will support his bier and receive
+the last ashes of his fleshly prison-house.
+
+During her three years of married life, O'Tei had made, under shadow
+of these groves, a firm and steady friend, without whose support she
+thought sometimes that she must lie down and die--the cold but kindly
+Abbess Masago.
+
+As has been told, the second wife or concubine of the late Hojo, so
+soon as her fickle lord grew weary of her, shaved off her hair and
+donned the Buddhist habit. Monastic life in Japan is a strange
+anomaly. Many an abbess or abbot, supposed to have retired from the
+world, bestows from the seclusion of the grove mundane advice and
+counsel. Some, indeed, gain weight and influence of an important
+political kind with the loss of their shaven hair; and so it was with
+Masago. As Abbess of Tsu, many of the weary or unstable of lofty
+lineage came to crave counsel of her--lords and dames who would have
+scoffed at the concubine of Hojo. The religious establishments of
+Japan become asylums for the afflicted or the persecuted. In
+them the defeated soldier or refugee from the vendetta finds
+inviolate sanctuary. Many a man hopelessly crossed in love, or a
+grief-stricken father, or fallen minister, has--mundane illusions
+vanished--devoted himself to a priestly life. To the nunneries,
+widowhood furnishes the greater number of fervent nuns; but a
+necessity of evading an uncongenial match, or the brutal lusts of rude
+men in unsettled times, gave many an inmate to the convents.
+
+Often enough, after communing with Masago under the solemn
+cryptomerias, O'Tei had gone home comforted. There was something
+consoling and supporting in the low-toned strong voice of the Abbess,
+in the touch of her firm white hand. Her face was more set and stern
+than Sampei's, but his kindly eyes looked out from under the shaven
+brows, and O'Tei could feel almost as if her dear adopted brother was
+walking hand-in-hand with her as in the good old days. Ah, me, how far
+away they seemed, those days of five years ago! The gleeful white fawn
+was a hundred years older, at least, than then, stricken and
+grievously wounded. Her breast was empty; nobody cared whether she was
+alive or dead; she loved none, had none to love, and yet there was a
+longing within that was positive physical pain, to twine her
+affectionate tendrils around something, and exhale to it the treasures
+of her sweetness.
+
+Alack, what a cycle is this; what a hard and rugged stage in the long
+journey! What are we to think, when injustice rules paramount?--when
+we see in this life how many are punished for their virtues, as a
+set-off to the peculiar manner in which others are rewarded for their
+vices?
+
+On a certain morning, which must now occupy us, our stately lily was
+lying disconsolate. Acutely suffering, and much perturbed in mind,
+power of judging and weighing all agog, O'Tei crouched on the mat of
+her favourite summer-house, watching the swaying waves, yet seeing
+nothing; on her finely-chiselled features a grey pallor.
+
+As a rule, the misery through which her bearers carried her was chary
+of complaint, for the poor folk had room in their sorrowing hearts for
+pity for their solitary lady; but on this morning she had come on such
+a scene of anguish that she stopped her kago and alighted. The
+housewife was tearing her dishevelled hair, and wringing hands, and
+writhing her tortured body, while a young family stood grouped around
+in varied attitudes of woe. What could this mean? The house was of the
+better kind; there was rice in the brazen pot; unless she was
+mistaken, it was the dwelling of one of the elders.
+
+Yes. It was the dwelling of an elder--was--who never would dwell there
+more--was dead now, probably. He had dared to go to Ki[^y]oto, and
+make one of a set of insolent varlets who had presumed to waylay their
+lord, despite of warnings, and, with brow in dust, present a written
+prayer. His lord had resented the impertinence, had incarcerated him
+and his audacious fellows, with a view to making an example of such
+wretches by an end of exquisite torment. For him it was not so bad,
+for he would shuffle out of yet another life--one more of that dreary
+series so many of which have yet to be endured before we reach
+Nirvana. But what of his wife and family without the breadwinner? Like
+a faithful spouse, she had borne many children; how now was she to
+fill their mouths? Would the dear and noble lady vouchsafe to lend a
+hand, and implore her husband's clemency?
+
+O'Tei turned deathly pale, and, catching her breath painfully, leant
+against the screen. She would indeed have fallen, if one of the
+kago-bearers had not presumed to catch and hold her in his arms. Her
+lord! How long was it ago that she had disdainfully given up all hope
+of influencing him? She was weak and wrong. It was a crime--she saw it
+now--but too late--too late! That separating thicket had grown so
+dense, that there was no hewing a passage through it. If the harrowed
+wife of the victim was suffering, how much more the sensitive young
+chatelaine, whose nerves were so highly strung! The man, if he
+perished, was a martyr in the cause of right. Each new delinquency of
+the Hojo was a fresh hammer-stroke on his wife's heart.
+
+Out of his sight, O'Tei strove to forget his wickedness, the full
+measure of which she had learned to guess by this time. On her
+frequent visits to the temple she prayed with sweat of agony for his
+reformation, for the repentance of him who, alas! was bone of her bone
+for life. She was his--part and parcel of himself--and yet she saw,
+with a sickening horror and sense of self-upbraiding, that he grew
+worse and worse--more cruel and more reckless,--while she, with folded
+hands, looked on. In a vague, terror-stricken way she wondered what
+grisly phantom lurked behind the veil, what vengeance would fall from
+heaven. And might not this moral descent be in some sort her own
+doing, in that, while interference might have been of service, she had
+been too hurt and proud to attempt to stay his course? If he had no
+conscience, she had enough for both. Oh, for a dose of Tomoyé's
+spirit,--of the unbending pluck of the militant grandam concerning
+whom the samurai were always trolling ditties.
+
+But no!--the warriors were right--she unfitted for her station. Her
+burthen--the sooner the better--might crush and kill her. She quailed
+at the thought of ever seeing again the tyrant in whom there were no
+bowels of compassion, and who seemed to take delight in augmenting the
+calamities of his fellows.
+
+Herself as grey as a corpse, she bent down and kissed the writhing
+woman, and without a word (how could she console her?), with parched
+lips and catching breath, swung away to her garden on the mountain.
+What was she to do? What could she do? If, by giving over her own
+tender body to the pincers of the torturers, she could assuage the
+growing trouble of the people, how gladly would she bare her breast.
+But no--she was condemned to sit and watch, with idle hands and dread
+forebodings, a horror-stricken spectator of her husband's deepening
+sin, and the lingering anguish of his victims.
+
+What was she to do? What could she do? If madness might be wooed, it
+would bring oblivion and relief. Who would have thought that a
+delicate and tender girl, so little used to suffering, could bear such
+pain and live? As she lay upon the mat, she revolved that unanswerable
+question which worries a good many of us. What could she have done in
+a previous phase of existence to make the present one so exceedingly
+painful? To lie thus in dumb pain was intolerable: action of some kind
+was imperative. She would go to the temple and pray, and ask the
+advice of Masago.
+
+Turning towards the other hill, she was astonished to see on the
+top of the long flight of steps a man--by his dress apparently a
+noble--who slowly descended, and mounting a horse, trotted in the
+direction of the summer-house. Her heart gave a great bound, then
+seemed to stand still. Could it be? Yes! it was Sampei--returned home
+at last--and he was coming here!
+
+Yes, it was the victorious Sampei, who, having duly visited his
+mother, was coming to see his sister. For she was really his sister
+now; and he had heard from the Abbess an account of the condition of
+things, which, though guarded, pleased him little. When far away, he
+had received the news of the marriage, he had been amazed, and
+laughed; annoyed somewhat, he scarcely knew why. To think that the
+destined husband should be his own brother! And then he had felt grave
+doubts as to the success of the union; and then, light and
+_débonnaire_, and occupied with much cheerful splitting of skulls, he
+had put the subject from him. He was no marrying man--not he. His
+sword was his true love; to others he had not the smallest intention
+of being true. To cull the most fragrant flowers while the sun was
+shining--as many and as various as possible--and get others when they
+were faded, was his soldierly but scarcely moral code of ethics. And
+yet, while gaily slaughtering the Coreans, he had time now and then to
+hope that all was right at home, and that his white fawn was happy;
+and it was gruesome now on his return to discover that she was
+wretched instead of happy,--his half-suspected previsions justified.
+
+He flung his bridle to his betto, and striding with the firm and
+springy step of buoyant youth through the plantation of cherries and
+maples, stood still to take in the scene. And a pretty picture it was
+that his vision lighted on. An awning of fine blue linen, broidered
+with deer, in memory of beloved Nara, cast a shadow upon the mats of
+the summer-house, which were further shaded by a natural cascade of
+wisteria. Around the raised platform were tall camellias in full blow,
+scarlet and white; and within, the carved but unvarnished woodwork
+showed its grain like the pattern on watered silk. A low gilt screen,
+painted with chrysanthemums, divided the floor in two, in the front
+part of which was a firebox in finest bronze, representing a dragon
+coiled round a blossom of the lotus. A long flat _koto_, with thirteen
+strings, encrusted with gold and ebony, stood close by; and on the
+yellow matting, half raised expectantly, reclined the young mistress
+of the hermitage. The eyes of Sampei moistened with unaccustomed
+tears, and a knot rose in his throat as he contemplated his old ally.
+She was matured--fairer than of yore, paler and thinner, and more
+delicately beautiful; but there was that about her that seemed too
+ethereal, stamped with predestined misfortune. He seemed to be aware
+of a something, reflected in light from the glow of another world. The
+roundness of youth was gone. The arch wayward tricks of irresponsible
+maidenhood had given place to a reserved and haughty dignity that was
+unnaturally still. The eyes were unduly large, and, surrounded with
+bistre circles, glistened with feverish lustre. Sampei's affectionate
+gaze could mark all this, though the winsome face was brightened now
+with the radiance of a glad surprise.
+
+Sampei, bluff and careless though he generally was, could not but
+trace with sinking of the heart the line of precocious sorrow ploughed
+large and deep upon it. The coils of massive hair appeared heavier and
+more sombre by contrast with the ivory whiteness of the skin, slightly
+relieved as they were by a bunch of fresh red blossoms, which the
+loving hand of a tirewoman had tucked under the comb.
+
+In accordance with the exigencies of her rank, she wore four
+under-robes of silk, the edges of which, in stripes of varied colour,
+showed at throat and open sleeves, while the ample folds of the heavy
+and voluminous outer robe, broidered in a design of fans, were held
+together by a magnificent obi--pale brown, bedizened with black
+butterflies.
+
+Never had Sampei, whom a wide experience had made an expert in such
+matters, looked on a more complete embodiment of patrician womanhood.
+Strange! He, so well versed in female charms, so used to the spectacle
+of beauty in all ranks and phases, felt his heart throb in quite
+unaccustomed fashion, and yearn unaccountably towards his sister.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER IV.
+
+ THE ABBESS GIVES ADVICE.
+
+
+With a great sob O'Tei sprang up, and, clinging closely to Sampei,
+burst into tears, while he, embarrassed and somewhat shy, stood
+waiting. Why this display of trouble so deep that it racked her frame?
+Had his mother concealed aught? She had not led him to suppose that it
+was as bad as this. Could No-Kami, careless of the treasure he
+possessed, have done her some grievous wrong? At the thought, the
+young General's dark face grew darker, and as a flood of wrath surged
+over him, he looked a genuine Hojo. And with it came a sense of
+something new and astonishing, which was to himself a riddle. Careless
+and light of heart, accustomed to look at things from their best
+point, and to delve no lower than was needful, he never dreamed of his
+old playfellow in her new sphere as wan and wasted and miserable, and
+with the feeling of indignation against his brother there was mixed a
+whimsical regretful longing. Had he not been wrong, when he might have
+taken the maid himself, to leave her for another?
+
+Worldly-wise Sanjo had warned him that so dainty a dish was not for a
+soldier of fortune, and he had seen the prudence of the warning. But
+cold prudence is a mistake sometimes, as who should know better than a
+soldier? He felt sure that if, when playfully talking in the sylvan
+glades, he had led her to a pool, and, showing her the two faces
+reflected there, had pictured himself as the future lucky one, his
+playfellow would have returned his hand-clasp, and submitted to a
+lover's embrace. And when a maiden and a youth are of one mind, and
+the latter is energetic and determined, nine chances are in his
+favour, despite opposition of parents. It was diffidence that had
+undone him, and her. Although a rough soldier, he would, at home, have
+softened his roughness for her sweet sake, and if careful striving
+could have done it, have made her life a pleasant one. And now, fool
+that he had been, it was too late! Some such surprising thoughts as
+these--dark regretful visions of possibilities vanished--flitted
+across the mind of the young man as, her breast against his in
+perilous proximity, he kissed her perfumed hair. Scales seem to fall
+from his eyes as he questioned his own heart. In his brief career he
+had adored many a damsel, and had sworn to each to worship none but
+her; but with O'Tei it was quite different. With thought of her was
+mingled a respect he had never felt for other women. Once his very
+own, he could and would have been true to her,--have made it the joy
+of life to give her every pleasure, to watch and guard and shelter her
+from the blustering winds of the world--and it was too late! She was
+the wife of his own brother,--of him to whom, independent of natural
+affection, he owed allegiance as head of his clan. To her also then he
+in some sort owed faithful service. Yes, and he would be true and
+loyal. He swore it now, silently but fervently, as she lay upon his
+bosom. She had never known that he loved her otherwise than as a
+brother should. He would be her own true knight, with the privilege of
+bestowing all succour and comfort and counsel. Of the three, alas! she
+now stood in bitter need.
+
+On his return from his arduous campaign of five years, he had been
+received with acclamation by the people, to whom glorious feats of
+arms were as the odour of the lily in the nostrils. They had knocked
+their foreheads in the dust, had pursued him with shouts in the
+streets, nearly tearing his garments from off his back; in their
+enthusiasm had well nigh forgotten that he came of the blood of Hojo;
+but the sweets of well-earned popularity were no little embittered by
+the proceedings of the head of his house. The tales he heard on his
+arrival filled him with shame and horror, and his honest soul was sore
+perplexed, torn as it was between the traditional blind obedience to
+the head of the clan, and indignant disapproval of his acts. He could
+not turn against his brother. Death would be better that disloyalty,
+and yet it was very terrible by silence to seem to acquiesce in his
+misdeeds. When fitting opportunity offered, he would remonstrate
+with No-Kami,--point out to him that his course must end in civil
+war,--that in his next life he would of a surety be a bear or pig, as
+a just and dire retribution for recklessly plunging his country in
+blood. It was his duty to remonstrate, and he would do so gently but
+firmly, come what might. Not that much good would come of it. He knew
+No-Kami to be as headstrong as he was fierce. There would be high
+words, and possible estrangement. Estrangement! no, for the sake of
+this girl, that must be avoided at all hazards. He must cultivate
+diplomacy--he, the simple Sampei. If it was only the pounding of an
+enemy, something bluff and straightforward, he would be in his
+element. But to smile when inclined to curse, to be compelled to bite
+your lip and swallow down the burning words of just anger, to Sampei
+would be very difficult. He must try though. His poor sweet sister.
+Her sobs were due on this occasion, happily, to joy and relief at his
+return, in that she, the lonely and forlorn, had a trusty champion by
+her side. Instinct told him this.
+
+For her sake, then, he must not break with his brother, for, forbidden
+access to his sister-in-law, he would be of no service in extremity.
+In extremity! What prophetic foreboding was it that whispered to him
+of something terrible behind, wherein she would need all the help that
+his strong arm could give her? Ah! if he had spoken when he might, how
+different it would all have been. Too late--that chapter was closed.
+He was to be her knight--vigilant and true. With a deep sigh, he
+raised her tear-stained face, and kissed her lips, then put her
+gently from him.
+
+Side by side, and hand in hand, as in the old days, they reclined
+upon the mat, and the frown deepened on his brow as she told her
+story,--the uncomely story of selfishness, and greed, and cruelty, and
+wrong, waxing with impunity daily worse, till even sleepy Buddha must
+needs wake soon, and be impelled to hurl his thunderbolts. She told of
+the starving multitudes, to whom the son of the horse-leech cried
+"Give"; of the petition, and his brutal treatment of the elders. "If
+only I could serve as sacrifice," she said, in conclusion, with a
+fresh burst of tears, "how gladly would I lay down my life. But my
+lord and I are strangers. I dwell here, and he at Ki[^y]oto. Does not
+that tell its tale? The wind might as well preach to him as I. At
+first he liked me a little, but that soon passed. Of late his
+presence--knowing of what he is capable--has filled me with a nameless
+terror, for I seem to detect something in his eye that suggests a
+brain distracted. He is blood-drunk; his very laugh conceals a sword.
+And yet 'tis an awful thing for me, his wife, to sit by, attempting
+nothing."
+
+No doubt the chatelaine ought to do something--what? Like Philippa, at
+Calais, she should wring, by pleading, from her lord, the lives of the
+condemned. Yet if the pair were so estranged, would she not be laying
+herself open uselessly to some insult, some rebuff? She admitted that
+she was growing afraid of her husband. That was bad. The situation was
+too many-sided for the soldier's unpolished wits. He pondered, and
+held his peace, and looked up with a sense of relief when, a shadow
+darkening the light, he beheld his mother, Masago.
+
+The ascetic Abbess gazed proudly and fondly on her son, but with a
+tinge of concern. She had followed him from the temple, seeing that he
+turned his horse towards the summer-house; for she loved O'Tei, and
+was aware of the early passages which had passed between girl and boy.
+Sampei had such a free way of making love to every woman, that she,
+elderly and sensible, saw keenly the danger to both, if the neglected
+wife and pitying brother-in-law were thrown too much together. Side by
+side, hand clasped in hand, exchanging confidences. An ominous
+beginning. It was well that she had come, for these young people must
+be protected against themselves.
+
+While O'Tei, with a ghostly revival of coquetry, was arranging her
+tumbled hair by aid of a silver mirror, the Abbess drew her son aside,
+pleading urgent and important business.
+
+"My boy," she said, as, out of earshot, the two paced slowly in the
+shade, "you are as brave and true as even I could desire, and
+gratefully I thank the gods for it; but you are guileless; your arm is
+stronger than your head, and your blood is overwarm."
+
+Perceiving a ludicrous expression of bewilderment on the honest face
+of her son at this mysterious preamble, she gently smiled, and shook
+her head at him.
+
+"The best friend a man has," she observed, "is his mother; for a
+mother's love, undervalued often, is tinged with no selfish taint.
+Child, child," she sighed, placing a fond hand on his broad shoulder,
+"take warning while there's time. Do not think me blind, or foolishly
+importunate. You love O'Tei, and, for sake of both, had better keep
+apart. Think what tragedy might follow if your brother had cause for
+jealousy."
+
+Love O'Tei! Was it so patent, then?--he the last to know it? The
+General in silence walked up and down, while his mother gazed upon him
+wistfully. There was a deep sadness on his face that pained her.
+Perhaps in speaking out so plainly, she had been precipitate. Yet no;
+she had never been one to beat about a bush. Her stern creed admitted
+no half measures. Presently Sampei spoke.
+
+"For once, most dear and wise of mothers, you are wrong," he said. "I
+love her; yes, I will not deny it--how much I did not know until ten
+minutes since. My love is so true and pure, that to save her a
+momentary grief I would fling myself off yonder rock. Be not afraid;
+no harm shall come to her through me."
+
+"Noble and chivalrous in intent, just like my boy," nodded the sapient
+Abbess. "Maybe you are strong enough to carry out your resolve
+unflinchingly; but what of her? What if she, less prudent and more
+weak, were to bestow her heart on you? It would lead to general
+wretchedness, if not to her undoing."
+
+Sampei had not considered it from that point, and ruefully rubbed his
+nose. It would no doubt be very awkward if O'Tei were to become
+enamoured of him. In that case, heroic leaps off rocks would be of
+little service. Then he burst into a loud shout of laughter.
+
+"How like a mother!" he crowed. "Her own offspring being, of course,
+perfect--a full-plumaged ph[oe]nix--all must needs fall down and
+worship. Believe me, she is as pure as the dawn; her affection that of
+a sister."
+
+"Now, perhaps, and I sincerely hope so," replied the Abbess quietly;
+"but you have no right to place her in temptation. So you deem me a
+silly old woman, too partial to her featherpated son? Well, then, I am
+forced to tell you, as a warning, that which I intended to conceal, to
+show that you are over-modest. I trow there are maids galore who wear
+the willow in secret for the most brilliant soldier in Japan. There is
+one luckless girl I wot of, who has flung her foolish heart at
+you--who weeps and languishes for love of you--swears she will have no
+other lord. Fie! She is a good and honest girl, who would never have
+thus bestowed herself without encouragement."
+
+"Bestowed herself on _me?_" exclaimed Sampei, round-eyed, and feeling
+guilty.
+
+"Her name is Miné."
+
+"Miné!" ejaculated the careless scapegrace. "Tush! I know no Miné."
+
+"For shame! Oh, light and fickle, it is as I guessed," returned the
+Abbess, with a head-shake that would have been solemn but for a sly
+flash of merriment in the usually stern eyes. "I have no excuse for
+the maid, since 'tis vastly reprehensible to throw your heart at one
+who does not want it; and yet, when her only child is so extremely
+fascinating, a mother must be indulgent." Sampei appearing quite
+mystified, Masago pursued more gravely,--"You used to single the poor
+thing out, bad boy, she says, at the rustic festivals here five years
+ago, and give her fans and hairpins. Unfortunate Miné! You turned her
+head, and have forgotten even her name. Do you remember Koshiu, the
+farmer?"
+
+Miné, Koshiu's daughter. Dear me! a pretty little thing, with a temper
+that it was such sport to play upon. Of course Sampei remembered now,
+for indeed the too independent Koshiu, dreading some such misfortune
+as had come to pass, had testily turned upon the dallying swain, which
+had mightily offended his lordship.
+
+And for hopeless love of him this silly soul had been sighing all
+these years, with nothing to feed on but a few idle compliments.
+Sampei felt a twinge of conscience, was angry with himself, for
+perhaps he had been too ardent. Then he felt annoyed with the
+too-confiding maiden too easily won. A few common-place attentions,
+that was all, out of mere idleness. A pretty pass if all the young
+women whom one ogles were to insist on claiming one for life. What a
+pother about nothing. It is extremely immodest and indecent of maidens
+to give themselves away unasked.
+
+And then his thoughts reverted to that other lady, sitting yonder
+before the mirror, and a pang of distress swept over his features as
+he dreamed again of what might have been; the which perceiving the
+Abbess whispered,--"Be of good cheer, my son. By divine grace it will
+be for the best. My prayers added to hers, the maiden's mind will
+recover calm, and through the black passage of this hopeless love be
+led from earth to heaven. As a daughter of the people who has bestowed
+herself on you, I will cherish her. Already she has sought refuge
+under our roof, and ere long will become one of us for life."
+
+He then, the light and jovial, was to be responsible for making of the
+poor maid a nun.
+
+Sobered and saddened, and made uncomfortable internally by all he had
+seen and heard since his return, Sampei led his mother back towards
+the summer-house, where the young chatelaine was beginning to marvel
+at the length of their private colloquy. In this retreat, where she
+expected no visitors, O'Tei dispensed with the service of her ladies,
+for it was a relief to think out her dreary thoughts with none to read
+them on her countenance. Now, with a new sprightliness to which she
+had been long a stranger, she busied herself with hospitable cares.
+Placing on the firebox a daintily-wrought kettle of fine bronze, she
+produced from a gold-lacquered cabinet three fairy cups of the
+eggshell white porcelain of Hirado, placed a pinch of tea in each, and
+waiting for the water to boil, made ready to play the hostess.
+
+It was with a tightening about the heart that Sampei watched her long
+fingers arranging sweetmeats on a tray, pouring water on the leaves,
+which straightway expanded, and turned the liquid of a pale straw
+colour. Had he not been so diffident and addlepated while there was
+time, she would not now have been so thin and wan; those teacups might
+have been his teacups, and--well, well. He was till death her own true
+knight, demanding nothing in exchange for his unselfish devotion. To
+his heart he would repeat this o'er and o'er again till it was used to
+it. What might have been was not to be. There was nothing now to be
+gained by brooding or railing against his own stupidity.
+
+Over their refection the trio returned to the all-engrossing
+topic,--what was to be done for the poor suffering people?--how was
+the despot to be softened, and the imprisoned elders saved? Sampei
+related that the news of his coming must have preceded him, for no
+sooner had he clattered over the long wooden bridge which gives access
+to the main street of Tsu, than two ancient men had stopped him, and
+craved an immediate audience. Unlike my lord No-Kami, he had drawn
+rein at once, and listened; and the ancient men, with profuse
+grovellings, had implored my lord Sampei to use his personal influence
+for the rescue of the incarcerated headmen. It was indeed a heinous
+deed of insolence, they admitted with groans, to have sinned to the
+extent of imploring to be lightened of their burthens, but death of
+any kind was preferable to such a life as they endured at present.
+They reverently allowed that torments were deserved, but humbly
+implored mercy and consideration, for the sake of wives and children
+Sampei had been much shocked, for, to his generous nature, grovelling
+humility was offensive; and did not know what to do. He, as well as
+O'Tei, was resolved that something must be done for the sake of
+humanity, as well as to rescue from execration the unpopular name of
+Hojo. Perhaps the Abbess, the wise counsellor, would be good enough to
+settle what.
+
+Now if Masago had a weakness (I am not prepared to say she had not),
+it was an appreciation of her position as chief adviser to every one.
+She therefore drank another cup of tea, then clearing her throat,
+began,--
+
+"My counsel is this. My lord Hojo No-Kami must be brought to yield.
+Probably he will not be sorry of an excuse to do so, considering that
+after such an act of clemency as the remitting of torment, the elders,
+cowed and abashed, will be too frightened to say more about the taxes;
+whereas, if the men suffer, there will be further outcry, and the tax
+question will come yet more prominently forward, producing lamentable
+results. Hence my lord will probably, as I say, be glad of an excuse
+to send the people back, if they promise to be more amenable in
+future. It would be well if he owed his way out of the difficulty to
+his wife, for it would soften his animosity against her, and would
+cause the people to venerate her even more than they do already. My
+son, Sampei, could not be more popular than he is--praise be to the
+gods--but it would be pleasing to his mother if he were joined in the
+work of mercy. I therefore propose that the Lady O'Tei forthwith do
+indite upon a roll a personal request to her husband, craving as a
+boon the lives of the condemned, and tying it in a box of
+tortoiseshell, do consign it to her brother-in-law, that he may ride
+with all speed to Ki[^y]oto, and, delivering the box, do add his own
+entreaties to his sister's--so may we be sure to gain our end, and
+avert a serious danger."
+
+So succinct an oration, brief, and to the point, and patly delivered,
+deserved another cup of tea, and while she sipped it leisurely, Masago
+improved the occasion.
+
+"My dear," she said, "I saw you shudder. This will never do. It is the
+greatest of mistakes to let such a man as Mylord No-Kami know that you
+are afraid of him. I noted in his childhood how he always treated more
+scurvily the hirelings who cringed."
+
+"I never cringed!" exclaimed O'Tei proudly.
+
+"No; but if I mistake not, you have let him perceive fear, under a
+veil of contempt. Should he realise this, he will follow up the
+advantage, and all will indeed be lost. You should have coped with him
+at first, my lily. It would have been better for both, believe me."
+
+O'Tei twined her fingers together in distress. Had not the small voice
+within her whispered this long since. She did fear him, and dislike
+him, and despise him. Cope with him forsooth! How could she do it now?
+How could she ever have summoned sufficient moral courage? No; having
+retired into her shell of pride, she would stop there to the end, but
+in this matter of the elders she might bestir herself. Drawing forth a
+roll of paper, O'Tei and Sampei, with heads closer together than
+Masago approved, proceeded to concoct a warily-worded epistle.
+
+Masago was truly an extremely clever old dame, for with her one stone
+she slew a variety of birds. O'Tei would be the happier in that she
+had been induced to intercede. She would gain points in the affections
+of the people, and so would the beloved Sampei. The latter, as bearer
+of the missive, would be removed forthwith from perilous association
+with his sister-in-law; he would also be removed from the temptation
+to reconnoitre Miné, who, the Abbess firmly resolved, was to shave her
+head immediately. This, being obstinate like her father, she would,
+doubtless, decline to do if the too warm-blooded warrior were to see
+and fancy her afresh.
+
+The combination was artful from all points of view, and did credit to
+the adviser of every one. The elders would return unharmed, and, after
+a severe lesson, would be more dutiful. The storm would blow over, and
+all might repose in peace.
+
+Alack! Masago knew nothing of the resolve of Koshiu. Had she known
+that he proposed to call, if necessary, for the individual
+intervention of the sublime Mikado himself, her eyes would have
+goggled in her head at his audacity, and her counsel might have been
+of a different order.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER V.
+
+ THE FARMER GIRDS HIS LOINS.
+
+
+The journey from Tsu to Ki[^y]oto may be made by one in haste, mounted
+on a strong horse, in two days, but in a land where trade is carried
+on in perfunctory fashion, time is and ever was a cheap commodity. In
+a shop the traders squat smoking on the mat, grin, prostrate
+themselves with head-knockings on your entrance, offer a cup of tea
+and a pipe, and consider that all has been done that may in fairness
+be required of them. In need of goods, you must search yourself, pull
+things from shelves, till you do or do not find the object you
+require. As with trade so is it to this day with travel. An
+energetic foreigner, by a liberal showering of yens, may induce his
+kuruma-runners to cover thirty miles per diem; but the Japanese of all
+ranks prefer to journey quietly, jogging along in kagos, at the
+favourite and decorous pace of the familiar snail. Indeed the higher
+the social status of the traveller, the slower will be his progress,
+for impedimenta are symbols of dignity.
+
+Our magnificent young General, although on horseback, was surrounded
+and followed by a rabble, who for the most part were on foot. There
+was the inevitable bodyguard of swaggering samurai, who, with hair
+shorn from temples, and swords in red lacquer scabbards ostentatiously
+displayed, cultivated a scowling expression of perpetual defiance,
+incarnation of haughtiness, fanatical patriotism, and contempt of
+everybody but themselves. Then there were cotton-coated and
+straw-sandalled baggage-men by scores in charge of strings of
+packhorses; a group of sutlers; and, swaying in rear of the
+procession, an unwieldy but gaily-bedizened kago, for my lord to
+recline in when fatigued.
+
+There being no professional fun toward, neither master nor men were in
+a hurry. To come upon a roadside tea-house, with its bevy of laughing
+waitresses, meant the performance of a variety of operations:
+tea-sipping, smoking, drowsy lounging, jesting, active dallying, and
+then unlimited sleep.
+
+At first the method of progression was of the slowest, for the marshy
+plain was cut by various rivers, which had to be crossed in barges;
+then came a stretch of paddy, or rice fields; a green sea of slush
+bisected by a narrow gangway of stones, along which two men were
+unable to trudge abreast. Then, the foot of the hills being reached,
+there was a long and weariful ascent of rock and sliding stones--a
+climb over precipice and crag by a way that could scarce be called a
+path--and a descent on the other side as difficult. This feat
+accomplished, it was, of course, necessary to bathe, and worship in an
+adjoining temple, and rest and sleep again, and so it took more than a
+week for the cavalcade to reach the capital.
+
+At approach of the noisy procession the mountaineer cottagers peeped
+out of their secluded dwellings, but perceiving the company of
+samurai, speedily put up their paper shutters, and made believe to be
+not at home. For the two-sword man was apt to ape the vices of his
+betters, and leave behind a trail of ruin such as marks the passage of
+the locust.
+
+Sampei was too busy with his own thoughts--which were gloomy enough,
+in sooth--to take heed of those he passed; and even if he had done so,
+would probably have failed to recognise an elderly pedestrian, who
+glared with hate from under beetle-brows, at the young noble riding
+by. Having forgotten even the name of the luckless Miné, it was not
+likely that he would quickly recognise her father, clad now in dusty
+pilgrim garb of white, and wide mushroom hat of rice straw. For
+Koshiu, true to his resolve, was also going to Ki[^y]oto to watch
+events, and fulfil, if need were, his self-imposed and dangerous
+mission. Like all fervent worshippers of Buddha, the sturdy farmer had
+no fear of death; like other natives of Japan, he was eminently
+superstitious. Among the Asiatic poor, where ceaseless drudgery,
+and hunger never fully satisfied, are the common lot; where the
+tax-gatherer and the avaricious noble are the representatives of
+government; where earthquake and typhoon cause the forces of nature to
+be feared as malignant influences; life is not so pleasant as to cause
+the earthly wayfarer to long for its continuance.
+
+The announcement of the Christian dogma that "the gift of God is
+eternal life," would rather pain than delight a Japanese, for to him
+life in any form is to be dreaded--not because death is at the end of
+it, but because another birth and death must follow (possibly more
+painful still)--then other births and deaths--links in a long and
+weary chain, before attaining the ultimate haven. The moral pang that
+may possibly attend decease, consists in the parting from those whom
+he holds dear, and will, save under miraculous circumstances, never
+see again; for the Christian hope of meeting in a better world finds
+place but rarely in the Buddhist's mind. The chief deity, if slow and
+somniferous was just, and would (Koshiu argued) surely protect the
+family of him who was sacrificed for the common weal. There is a
+temple even now at Ki[^y]oto, standing on a dizzy height, whose
+terrace is protected by a strong pallisade, for, unless prevented, it
+is the practice of the faithful to crave a boon of the god, then fling
+themselves over the precipice, in the firm belief that--if the boon is
+to be granted--the deity will hold them scathless. It is strange that
+the number of bodies shattered on the stones below should not have
+shaken their faith either in the goodness or the power of the god.
+Having made up his mind that, if need were, he, the humble peasant,
+would invoke the sacred and mysterious Mikado's aid, Koshiu passed a
+night in prayer, then washed and dressed himself in the attire common
+to high and low who are engaged on a holy mission, and took a tender
+farewell of his family. There was his dear wife, Kennui; his three
+boys, Gennosuké, Sôkei, and Kibachi, ranging in years from thirteen to
+seven. Miné was unaccountably absent, but she was always a froward and
+unruly maid, wild and disobedient. On this solemn occasion, however,
+her father left for her a tender message of farewell, and amid the
+tears and outcries of those who feared that they never again might
+look on him, tore himself away.
+
+This was on the day before Sampei's arrival,--on the morning which
+followed the consultation in the farmer's dwelling. The elders, filled
+with admiration for the single-minded heroism of the man whom they had
+deemed slow and selfish, went with him, marshalled by Rokubei and
+Zembei, to the entrance of the town, and with many blessings and
+prayers, wished the traveller success.
+
+Urged on to speed by an engrossing object, he caught up, and, strong
+and stout of limb, passed the straggling array of Sampei, arriving in
+the capital two days before him. The imprisoned envoys were still in
+durance, he learned from one of those who had escaped, and lurked in
+hiding. My lord No-Kami--orders having in heat been issued for seizure
+and incarceration--had apparently forgotten their existence. The
+threatened vengeance of torment had not been wreaked, and yet their
+position was no pleasing one, for my lord's soldiers--the peasants
+and the military class were never friendly--amused themselves with
+the poor wretches, as cats play with mice--haling them out for
+diversion--depriving them of drink--pretending to offer saké, and when
+they held out eager hands for it, playfully pricking them with dirks.
+At the relation, the blood of Koshiu boiled within him.
+
+These men--honoured and revered at home--who had done naught save
+humbly to implore redress of grievances, were being murdered
+piecemeal. It mattered not that my lord had never ordered it. His
+lawless myrmidons took from him their cue, satisfied that they would
+not be punished. If the poor things must die, the more speedily the
+better; but Koshiu swore, with oaths that terrified his listeners,
+that their deaths should be avenged. Alack! Koshiu must be mad. He
+prated as if himself a daimio, or a least a samurai or hatamoto! A
+mosquito on a wall might as well shake a paw, and vow to avenge the
+slaughter of his fellows! And then at the boldness of his speech they
+shivered, considering whether it would not be more prudent to withdraw
+from the society of so rash a person, and sneak back to their
+crumbling homes. Of a certainty it would, for with even the Mikado
+himself, the revered and mystical, the insect presumed to find fault.
+Next he would be falling foul of Buddha, who, putting out a finger,
+would crush him--and them along with him--the blasphemer; and what
+then would be their fate in the next cycle? In horror and dread they
+wrung their hands, and banged their apologetic foreheads on the floor,
+and, drawing forth beads, told them with feverish rapidity.
+
+These were the words that entered their astounded ears. "For
+generations stretching back into the shadow of time," the over-bold
+farmer said, "has our master dwelt behind a screen, looked on by no
+eyes but those of the kugés and his attendants. Nothing outside the
+screen penetrates to him save through the mouths of these. Being a
+mortal, if a highly-privileged one, he cannot see all, like Buddha,
+himself unseen. We are his, and we revere him, but he knows naught of
+us, and can know naught, secluded and fenced about, and thereby
+neglects his duty--for even he has duties; and if, which is unhappily
+true, the latter-day Mikados have been evilly entreated and dethroned
+and sent into banishment, 'tis by reason of this sin, and the vile
+Hojos have been but instruments of retribution in the hand of an
+offended deity."
+
+What subversive doctrines were these uttered by a presuming pigmy? The
+horror-stricken elders glanced furtively one at the other with the
+same thought. Instead of a possible saviour, this man was a firebrand
+who would involve others in his well-merited ruin. Perchance it would
+be well to betray him at once to my lord No-Kami, and thereby earn
+their pardon? Koshiu read their thoughts, and sighed, wishing them no
+evil. The views of the sturdy farmer were beyond them. As well talk to
+the trees--better, for the leaves would not shake with terror, and
+consider the expediency of treachery. He resolved to shut up his
+opinions therefore within his own bosom, and calmly discussed, without
+further blasphemy, what the next move should be.
+
+As there was no possibility of, for the present at least, making any
+move at all, they were still idly chattering when, a few days later,
+they were startled by the appearance of the very envoys whose rescue
+was under discussion. They were thin, and gnarled, and haggard, and
+wrinkled--but then a Japanese peasant over the age of twenty is never
+a pretty object--yet in health seemed well enough. The tale of the
+saké and dirks must have been the invention of the foe. And yet to
+Koshiu these village elders looked suspiciously meek and lowly, more
+so than the humblest peasant should; indeed their bearing was not
+unlike that of a mongrel dog, that still smarts under severe
+correction. At first it was impossible to get anything out of them but
+fawning praise of the Hojo, uttered in trembling accents, in which
+fear battled with incoherence. Hojo was excellent and merciful. Had he
+not deigned to forgive their unpardonable sin, and set them free
+unhurt? Let them live under their own hats and be content, he had
+declared. If there were any noble individuals more admirable than the
+gracious lord No-Kami--and that was scarcely possible--those two were
+their liege lady and the General Sampei; for 'twas through the
+intervention of these that my lord had condescended to remember the
+existence of his humblest tenants, who might otherwise have been still
+in duress.
+
+With lowering brow Koshiu looked upon his fellows, for these cringing,
+spirit-broken villagers belonged to the same class as he. Were they
+worth saving, at the risk of his own life? And then a vision of the
+misery at Tsu, the growing suffering of all down-trodden Japan, rose
+upon his vision. No-Kami, thanks to the pleading of his wife and
+brother, had been pleased, after outrage and ignominy, to release the
+men who had committed no crime. But what of their petition? The
+petition? Let it go hang! The well-whipped hounds preferred that the
+subject should be dropped. How ill-timed was any mention of the
+petition. It had brought nothing but trouble--the less said about it
+the better. All they desired was to depart with speed. The sportive
+samurai might swoop again. Baring their arms, the envoys showed their
+wounds. The story of the saké was true, then. Little wonder if the
+starved wretches had had enough of the facetious horseplay of the
+soldiers.
+
+Koshiu paced the mat with folded arms. Yes, they were right, and had
+better go and save their wizened carcases. Here they were of no
+service, only butts for scoffers. My lady O'Tei all knew to be an
+angel; but that the newly-arrived General should interest himself in
+peasants, was curious; and then the thought flashed suddenly on the
+indignant father that the absence of Miné from her home had coincided
+with the arrival of Sampei. Her tender pronunciation of his name, and
+constant championship, recurred to his memory, and he shrank as from
+strokes of the bamboo. As profligate as all the Hojos, he had, of
+course, signalled his return by the seduction of an innocent and
+too-trusting maiden, who, by-and-by, he would fling away. Perhaps from
+out that curtained kago on the road his erring daughter may have
+peeped at him. If it were so, never, never would he forgive his child.
+Had he not warned her of his undying hatred of Hojos, of all connected
+with bloodthirsty brutal tyrants? With difficulty controlling his
+emotions, while his comrades more than ever deemed him dangerously
+insane, he told them they were right. Since they could serve no
+further purpose, they had better go back to Tsu, and speedily. For his
+own part, he would remain, and bide his time, and, when opportunity
+offered, present the petition to the Emperor.
+
+And so, after a sad and parting feast, the band of elders returned to
+their place, and Koshiu dwelt alone, brooding over his wrongs, over
+the oppression of his class, and the ruin of his daughter, while his
+family bewailed at home. His impression was that the Mikado's
+supineness rose not from weakness but from indifference, out of which
+he might be roused. One day arrived a pedlar with news from Tsu, and a
+melancholy message from his wife, the faithful Kennui, which
+completely satisfied his mind that his suspicions were but too well
+founded. Miné had never again sought the legitimate shelter of her
+parents' roof, but was dwelling, if report spoke truly, with the
+mother of Sampei. Even she, then, the peasant-born, suffered under the
+taint which enveloped that hated race. The Abbess, who pretended to be
+pious, could stoop to shield his daughter's infamy, and give shelter
+to the mistress of her son. Poor soul, had she not been herself a
+concubine, and debased by pernicious surroundings? Ah, but the
+position of second wife--acknowledged concubine--was different from
+that of his own degraded daughter. No fixed position was hers, of
+course, or ever would be, since she had been so misguided as to throw
+herself into her lover's arms. And when he was weary of her? It would
+not bear thinking of, for Koshiu in his way was proud as any noble.
+Sampei and his mother were as bad as the rest, worthy to wear the
+cognisance of Hojo. The longer the farmer brooded, the harder grew his
+heart, the more bitter his resentment, and he hailed with fierce joy
+the news, at last, that the Mikado was to visit Nara.
+
+It was a solemn ceremony the pilgrimage of the Emperor to the Sacred
+Groves of Nara, one which, although the distance was short, he was
+expected to perform but once or twice during his career. Unlike lesser
+magnates, who were content with kagos--litters, more or less
+sumptuous, borne on men's shoulders--the Mikado travelled in a
+ponderous carriage on huge cumbrous wheels, its roof thatched with the
+long grey straws of a peculiar grass, its wood-work elaborately
+lacquered with the imperial crest, its windows closely curtained with
+the finest matting, which flapped with many tassels. The progress of
+so unwieldy a machine over a primitive road was slow. In front went a
+bodyguard on foot, followed by soldiers on horseback; then came the
+weighty kagos of the kugés in attendance, brave with banners and
+devices; then the Mikado's swaying uneasy carriage, drawn by eight
+horses in broidered housings; then more heavy litters and more
+soldiers, and a long straggling tail like that of a kite, composed of
+servants and rabble. It took many hours to penetrate through the
+tortuous and squalid suburbs of the capital, consisting for the most
+part of the shops of pawnbrokers and vendors of cheap toys and idols,
+jutting at will into the road, the procession stopped from time to
+time by hosts of the faithful on their faces.
+
+Once free of buildings, the imperial _cortége_ advanced by a wide way
+straight as an arrow across a plain devoted to the cultivation of tea,
+and by nightfall reached Uji. Here there was a villa overhanging with
+wide, wooden balconies a rushing stream--the Uji-Kawa, which rises in
+lake Biwa--spanned by a semicircular bridge formed of an intricate
+network of heavy timbers, for in winter this river swells into a
+torrent, sweeping all that is weak before it. This villa was for the
+special use of the sovereign, as might be guessed, from its lack of
+adornment. So high is the Mikado, that, in a general way, he is above
+the employment of ornament. His villas and summer-houses (unlike those
+of his brother of China) are as conspicuous for simplicity as his
+dress. Everything is of the very best that skill can produce, the
+woodwork of the very finest which the hand of man can command, the
+mats trimmed with a red and white braid forbidden to other men. His
+eyes look upon no pictures or porcelains or bronzes, for to one who
+communes at will with deities or spirits, and may peep even sometimes
+into Nirvana, such trivialities are, of course, superfluous. In the
+Imperial Palace of Ki[^y]oto it is different, for there he deigns to
+associate in a degree with mere common nobles and wives, to whom
+austere simplicity would be depressing if not soul-withering. In this
+villa, the Emperor, by time-honoured custom, was to pass the night,
+his _cortége_ camping around for the protection of the sacred person.
+
+Now Koshiu, whose object in life was the presenting of a memorial
+which should lead to the abrogation of imposts, and the holding up of
+the Hojos to deserved obloquy, knew right well that there was no
+reaching the imperial ear, either in Ki[^y]oto or on the road to Uji,
+by reason of a throng of guards. During the next day's route over the
+mountains, on the other side of which was Nara, the cumbrous carriage
+would be prevented from toppling over by myriad hands pressed on
+either wheel, but the brilliant idea had occurred to the farmer that
+in crossing the timber bridge, whose width was just sufficient for the
+passage of the vehicle, there would be none to defend either of the
+curtained windows, the guards of necessity passing on in front or
+dropping behind until the stream was crossed, and that here lay his
+only chance. In the night therefore, after prayers and ablutions, he
+took advantage of the darkness to swim into mid-stream unnoticed, and
+being washed against one of the pillars, to make good his footing, and
+climbing on the bridge, to secrete himself under a convenient shadow.
+Then with his knife he pruned a long bamboo, split it at the top, and
+inserting the memorial therein, awaited day.
+
+The journey was yet long to Nara, and over the mountains fraught with
+possible disaster, so all were early astir. With wildly-beating heart
+and throbbing temples Koshiu heard the clatter of horses overhead, the
+rhythmed step of infantry, and then the thunder of the great wheels
+grinding under their heavy load. Now or never. Calculating his time to
+a nicety, the farmer nimbly climbed upon the parapet, and before the
+astonished guards could stop him, lifted a corner of the mat, and
+inserting his bamboo, cried in a loud voice,--
+
+"Take, O great Mikado! Fountain of Honour, this the petition of your
+humblest slave. Have pity on your people, O sovereign lord, ground
+down by the wicked Hojo!"
+
+The driver of the horses, aghast, stopped open-mouthed; the cavalcade
+stood still; the guards, with a yell, dashed clambering forward, to
+fling into the stream this audacious one, riddled with sword-thrusts;
+but the old Daimio of Nara, who, disdaining a kago, rode close behind,
+spurred quickly through the men, and, raising both hands, bade them
+refrain. He had caught the words "wicked Hojo," saw that what might
+have been a spear was already withdrawn, and was no more than a cleft
+stick, and guessed the purport of the attempt.
+
+"'Tis a petition," Nara cried. "Our imperial lord already holds the
+man's paper in his sacred hand. It is for him, and not for us, to
+decide upon his fate."
+
+Clutched by a dozen fists, Koshiu remained poised and stifled on the
+parapet, and presently a low voice issued from the shadow.
+
+"I will read the petition on my return from the sacred groves. Keep
+the man close and safe. See that no harm comes to him."
+
+The Daimio of Nara, with a cunning smile lurking about his lips, gave
+orders that the pilgrim should be safely conducted to his own private
+apartment in the palace, and then the ponderous procession moved on
+again, and crawled up the mountain.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER VI.
+
+ THE YOUNG MIKADO.
+
+
+Tomoyé, the brawny but practical, proved herself more clear-sighted
+than the statesman-warrior her husband. Hojo, the elder, certainly
+made the most serious blunder of his life when he arranged that
+marriage for his heir. A gulf 'twixt a husband and a wife cannot but
+widen daily, and the part of the latter, right or wrong, is sure to be
+espoused by her father. The admirable combinations that were to result
+from an alliance of the houses of Hojo and Nara were conspicuous by
+absence. As time went on, the haughty No-Kami, averse at all times to
+advice, showed to his wife's parent his most aggressive side, lest he
+should presume to lecture.
+
+Although the Daimio of Nara had seen but little of his child, he had
+received from time to time such affectionate reports concerning the
+maiden, from the priests and priestesses who had supervised her
+education, that he was fully conscious of her worth. Between the two
+lords there was a show of courtesy, which masked on the one side
+jealousy of interference, on the other, hate. The father of O'Tei,
+although he pretended to perceive nothing, resented bitterly the
+scornful neglect with which she was treated by her spouse. During the
+rare visits of the young chatelaine to the capital, he could see how
+sad she was, and worn and listless, instead of vivacious and gay, as
+became her years; and in his heart, antipathy for the despot,
+implanted by cruelty to the Mikado, increased a hundredfold. He was
+too wary to quarrel yet with Hojo, but whenever he vouchsafed advice
+(as he did now and then, for the sake, as he said, of the departed),
+it was of a kind which rendered No-Kami more execrated still, more
+unpopular with the people he oppressed. The return of Sampei, and the
+demeanour of that warrior, produced fresh combinations in the subtle
+brain of Nara. It was plain that he was shocked by the excesses of his
+brother. He came of ambitious stock, and the long bloody tale of the
+history of Japan is full of the rivalry of brothers. What if he could
+be cajoled or goaded to take arms against him? The unruly army which
+he had brought back from Corea, accustomed to plunder and lawless
+licence, would have to be employed somehow, for idleness begets
+mischief. So long as Mikado and Daimios remained quiescent, the
+swash-bucklers could not be used against them, and, unemployed they
+would soon be a source of trouble. What if, by waiting, the enemies of
+the Hojo could succeed in turning against him the very troops he had
+summoned for his defence; and what if, by crafty man[oe]uvring, the
+disgust of Sampei could be raised to such a pitch as to induce him to
+resume their command?
+
+As the general who had led them from victory to victory, his soldiers
+adored Sampei. In time, they might probably be made useful as a
+scourge for Hojo, without their commander, by prospect of pillaging
+castles, but if he whom they idolised were to summon them forth in the
+direction of their inclinations, there was no doubt they would follow
+in a mass. While his master was telling his beads before the great
+bronze idol in the Nara temple, the thoughts of the lord of the soil
+were engaged elsewhere, and he resolved on the first opportunity to
+sound Sampei, and to arrange his plans accordingly.
+
+It was a fortnight after the incident on the bridge of Uji that the
+imperial _cortége_ wound down the mountain, and returned to the palace
+in the capital. What a dreary spot this same palace, more like a
+prison than a free residence, well suited to the ghastly life of blank
+monotony led by its miserable occupant.
+
+The chief abode of the Mikado occupies a vast space of ground in
+the centre of the city of Ki[^y]oto, surrounded by a high white
+wall, devoid of windows. Passing through a postern in a huge and
+highly-decorated gate, crowned by an immense tiled roof, you find
+yourself in a labyrinth, where you would speedily be lost without a
+guide, for long low buildings meander in and out, and meet at angles,
+one exactly like another, forming a series of little courtyards,
+adorned with prim grey bushes. The walls of these are of one pattern,
+formed of white plaster in timber settings, with heavy roofs and
+eaves. None of the buildings boast of more than a single storey, which
+is elevated on posts, a yard above the ground; this by reason of
+earthquakes, and unclean insects, which have no respect for Emperors.
+The long outer passages are protected from the weather by verandahs,
+because persons below a certain rank may not venture to breathe under
+the same roof as the Fountain of Honour, but must squat humbly in the
+air without. All the inner wood-work is of pine, smoothly planed, and
+left unpolished, set at points of junction with sumptuously sculptured
+nails; while mats are of the finest kind, trimmed white and red with
+the imperial braid. Within, the sliding screens which at will divide
+most of the space into small or large chambers, are of drab silk,
+spotted with gold dots, in form of clouds. There is no furniture,
+except a few low red lacquer tables.
+
+The private suite of the Mikado saddens the soul, so small, and
+dismal, and uncomfortable are the rooms, or rather hutches, with no
+prospect or view outside, but three bare walls, a flag-pavement, and
+half-a-dozen bushes; and the mind turns involuntarily to the thought
+of Spanish Queens, whose drear existences must have been hilariously
+gay when compared with those of the Mikados. Sure many of these must
+have gone melancholy mad, or have sought relief from despondency by
+drowning care in the saké-cup. For the better protection of the
+Fountain of Honour, the two closets he inhabits are buried away in the
+centre of the labyrinth. There is nothing for him to hear but low,
+respectful sibillation, and the tramp of guards; nothing to see but
+nobles sprawling on their faces, with a glum background of whitewash,
+and a few tortoises wandering over the stones.
+
+At the period which now concerns us, the Mikado usually sat upon a
+chair, while the kuges, in court trousers (Uye no Bakama) many yards
+under their feet, wearing high black crape hats, and brocaded
+trains--narrow and stiff, and of exceeding length--(kiy[=o]) reclined
+around him on the mat. When the potentate felt more bored than usual,
+he retired into a square tent (of the size of an old-fashioned
+European bed) in the middle of the room; which tent was composed of
+snowy silk, embroidered with bamboo and storks, and garnished with
+long streamers, red and black, decorated with butterflies. Inside the
+tent was placed a chair, and two low stools.
+
+A few yards off is a dark place surrounded by gilt folding screens, in
+which is another tent. This was for the Fountain of Honour when
+boredom reached a climax, and he felt compelled to flee mankind. On
+state occasions he moved into a spacious hall at the back, whose
+sliding screens are painted with portraits, full length, of Chinese
+sages, and whose look-out is a shade more cheerful; for beyond there
+is a garden, with a lake full of speckled fish, some groups of pines,
+and quaint stone bridges. In the centre of the hall is yet another
+tent, precisely similar to the others--for the purpose of special
+audience, for the room is so large, that neither the elect, who knelt
+around, or the unelect, who crouched in the verandah, could overhear
+what passed within the curtains.
+
+Into this hall, on the day after the return, trooped all who possessed
+the privilege, while the yards and passages were full of hatamotos and
+retainers; for the Fountain of Honour, refreshed by prayer and change
+of scene, declared he would attend to business.
+
+In the first place, audience must be vouchsafed to the victorious
+General, that he might relate his deeds of valour, and receive thanks
+for faithful service; and then a consultation must be held, with
+closed doors, on the subject of the peasant and his petition. At
+mention of the audacious peasant, Nara smiled quietly, for he thought
+he saw his way to make a weapon of him wherewith to vex the enemy.
+
+Owing to the ruin and banishment of three Emperors, the present
+reigning one was a cowed youth, a pale and depressed boy, with a look
+of constant apprehension lurking in his eyes. So well drilled was he
+that the sound of his tyrant's footfall caused him to tremble; so
+acutely did he feel his equivocal position, that many a time, after a
+period of reverie, he would start and wince, as if expecting the
+descent of the blade that was suspended over his head. Poor Koshiu!
+Could he have looked on the liege lord--so timorous and helpless--who
+was awful, because invisible, he would probably have thought twice
+before making that rash attempt.
+
+When Sampei, after prostration and the orthodox nine head-knockings of
+humility, was invited to occupy a stool within the tent, Nara was
+bidden, by a wave of the august fan, to take the other, and thus
+withdrawn from inquisitive eyes and ears, the Daimio of Nara deemed
+this to be a propitious moment for peering into the future. He drew
+out the modest General, and, as mouthpiece of his master, made pretty
+speeches, while the Mikado was anxiously scanning his face, seeking
+his brother's features.
+
+Presently the Emperor gave a sigh of relief. It was a good-natured
+open visage, considerably tanned, ornamented (from a military point of
+view) by a deep scar across the brow, scored by a Corean spear.
+Although a Hojo, it was possible to feel comfortable in his presence,
+and the heart of the sad recluse quite warmed to him when Nara, with
+insidious flattery, related an episode of his career. He told of how
+young Sampei, in camp one day, investing the Taira forces, beheld a
+warrior whose crimson armour and golden cognisance marked him for a
+Taira noble. "Come hither and fight!" he cried, and both charged
+fiercely one at the other with gleaming blades. After a few passes,
+the Taira dropped his sword, and Sampei, chivalrous always, flung his
+away and rushed to clasp his foe. Close-locked they fell from their
+saddles on the sand, the Hojo uppermost. Tearing off the bedizened
+helm, with intent to strike, he was amazed to see not a hardy old
+campaigner but a delicate and lovely boy! Rising, and handing to the
+vanquished his headgear. "So young," he said, "thy mother yet lives,
+doubtless. To her I give thee--go!"
+
+Sampei looked down and blushed, not ill-pleased that his lord should
+learn to like him; while the Mikado muttered behind his fan, "Can this
+be the brother of No-Kami?"
+
+After this jocund opening symphony, Nara changed his tune, and as he
+spoke of the suffering people, the General's face grew dark and
+sorrowful.
+
+"And all this is due," Nara concluded, with emphasis, "to the head of
+the house of Hojo, whom the gods have made pre-eminent. The greater
+the gift, the greater will be the punishment for opportunities
+misused. Dare you deny that it is so?"
+
+Sampei shuffled on his seat, with lowered head.
+
+"My brother is unduly harsh," he stammered,--"perchance is ignorant--"
+
+"What of the elders, then, and their petition?" demanded Nara.
+
+"He has sent them home unhurt!" quickly responded Sampei.
+
+"Ay, but with wrongs unredressed."
+
+The young General was silent.
+
+"You are the senior in years," observed the Daimio, pursuing his
+advantage, "and should claim some authority; further, even, if need
+be--"
+
+Sampei drew himself up with dignity.
+
+"You, the Daimio of Nara," he said proudly, "should know what is due
+from a vassal to his feudal chief. I am older in years, but not pure
+in blood. On my mother's side I am a peasant. I may grieve over my
+brother's follies, even chide with respectful gentleness, further than
+that I may not venture, as none should know better than yourself."
+
+Nara felt angry and disappointed, for this was not what he expected.
+Could this brilliant fellow be destitute of personal ambition?
+Perhaps, more cunning than he seemed, he was waiting for something
+more explicit.
+
+"You, then, an honest man," sneered the Daimio, "are prepared to stand
+by and see your flesh and blood perform the work of fiends? Perhaps I
+have made of your character a wrong estimate. Can it be that you enjoy
+the grievous plight of those to whose class, as you say, you partially
+belong? In crime an appreciative partner--perhaps even my lord Hojo's
+willing executioner?"
+
+The Daimio laughed hoarsely, while the Mikado listened with pursed
+lips. Apparently the young soldier was not to be roused by taunts, for
+with a sigh he replied sadly,--
+
+"You wrong me. If I cannot aid, I can perish with them, and so escape
+dishonour."
+
+"By hara-kiri?" retorted Nara, with impatience, "a vastly useful way
+of helping the afflicted! When all is lost, death by the dirk is the
+only appropriate end to a high-born gentleman; but an honest man and a
+brave may not declare that things are hopelessly wrong until he has
+tried to right them. That they are wrong at present you will admit,
+after perusing this memorial, humbly presented to our common lord by
+one of Hojo's vassals."
+
+Sampei took the paper, and, as he read, grew hot and cold with pity
+and indignation. And it was his own flesh and blood, as Nara said, who
+could act thus! The indictment was terrible in its straightforward
+simplicity. No wonder that the gentle wife of the tyrant, knowing
+what she must know, was fading slowly. And there was more trouble
+brewing--even simple Sampei could foresee that. If No-Kami had been so
+incensed at the elders daring to present a petition to himself, what
+would his feeling be when he knew that another had been handed to the
+Emperor? The Mikado having publicly received, would be bound to take
+some notice of it,--to make some attempt to check the excesses of the
+despot. And, knowing his brother as he now learned to know him, Sampei
+looked forward in dismay, for the wheel set rolling down a hill may
+not be stopped, and it was but too probable that, goaded by passion
+uncontrolled, crime heaped upon crime would, as O'Tei had suggested,
+induce some dire catastrophe.
+
+A furtive glance at the dull weak face of the Emperor was not
+comforting. There was vacillation in every line of it. A gleam from
+No-Kami's wrathful eyes and he would shrivel up. Was it indeed the
+duty of his elder brother to stand forward and attempt to stay his
+junior's downward course? 'Tis a terrible thing when two of the same
+kin hold swords at one another's throats. And languishing O'Tei, what
+of her, whom he had secretly sworn to guard and cherish? Perhaps, by
+slaying her husband, he would be doing her a service as well as
+freeing the oppressed; but that husband his brother! To slay his
+brother! As the picture appeared upon his mental retina, Sampei
+shuddered; and then the thought flashed on him with vivid clearness
+that the stroke which slew his brother would delve for aye an
+impassable chasm 'twixt himself and her he loved. The young man heaved
+a sigh of relief, and raised his head. He was rescued from temptation
+for the time being, O'Tei the saving talisman. And then, his eye
+falling on the petition, he grew sorely perplexed. Was the old man
+right? Was it his bounden duty to interfere between the tyrant and his
+victims? What good would come of interference? Had he not intervened
+already for the behoof of the unlucky elders? It was not likely that
+the head of his house would brook incessant meddling. Slow-witted at
+the best, Sampei, the more he pondered, grew more wretched and
+uncertain. Nara marked with approving eye the extent of his
+uncertainty, and cast a keen glance of intelligence at his master. The
+poison instilled would slowly work, or Nara had mistaken his man. The
+seed was sown--must be left to swell and burst. Enough was done for
+the present.
+
+Obedient to the signal of his most trusted counsellor, the Mikado
+graciously dismissed his General, with hope revived in the future. But
+the hope was short-lived. Scarcely had he emerged with lightened heart
+from out the tent, and, summoning the kuges together, had commanded
+the shutters to be closed, that the petition might be privately
+considered, than the sound of the awful footstep was heard on the
+creaking boards, and the soul of the hapless Emperor died within him.
+He writhed and turned scarlet under the insult, when, pushing back the
+shutter with a crash, No-Kami unannounced strode in.
+
+"What is this?" he cried, in a harsh voice, omitting the customary
+obeisance. "I should not believe it, if I did not see you shivering
+there, red with conscious guilt. Leniency to the scum is worse than a
+crime--it is a fault. It was to please your daughter, Nara--that she
+should condescend to plead for such insolent vermin, says little for
+her rearing--that I forgave those villagers. And no sooner have I
+committed that insensate act, than I am most justly punished for it.
+Where is he--he who presumed to present to you a paper? He shall never
+present another."
+
+The trembling Mikado looked piteously at Nara, who, stolid, and
+apparently both deaf and blind, moved no muscle.
+
+"My lord No-Kami--" began the Emperor, but was quickly silenced.
+
+"I ask no explanation," remarked the tyrant sternly, waving away
+argument. "I demand the paper and the man. He is my vassal and my
+chattel: where is he?"
+
+"Here, under my protection. You forget yourself, my lord!" cried
+the Emperor, who, deserted by Nara, was stung to a poor show of
+self-assertion. "Under this roof he is safe."
+
+No-Kami raised his brows slightly, and with stiff politeness said,--
+
+"Since when may peasants enter where knights and samurai may not?
+These be new manners that we can scarce approve. You, my lord Nara, I
+believe took charge of the man. I thank you for your courtesy, and
+herewith reclaim my own."
+
+To the consternation of the Emperor, who expected that now, at least,
+the one to whom he pinned his faith would speak boldly, the Daimio of
+Nara gravely bowed, and said,--
+
+"If such is the pleasure of our master, be it so."
+
+Put to the test, then, Nara was a windbag that had burst! The Mikado
+groaned in spirit.
+
+"You will promise that he shall not be injured," stammered he, as,
+wincing under the basilisk eye, and seeking support in vain, the poor
+boy grew sick and giddy.
+
+"You see, Lord Nara, that 'tis our master's wish," responded No-Kami
+bluntly. "I make no promises. My time is valuable, and my retinue
+without is waiting. See that the wretch is handed over instantly for
+immediate transport to my _yashiki_." And with this the Hojo turned
+and strode away, without deigning to await an answer.
+
+The cup was full. The Fountain of Honour overflowed in a torrent of
+brackish tears. To be insulted thus before all the court; to be
+treated like a child; to be bearded with such dour disdain! The fate
+of his three predecessors, in their tranquil monastery, was preferable
+to his, alone upon the rack in the midst of empty grandeur. When Nara
+attempted to instil words of comfort, he turned on him with the swift,
+unreasoning vituperation of the weak.
+
+"You on whom I leaned," he sobbed,--"who are ever prating of the
+wondrous things that you are going to do! Before him you tremble more
+than all the rest, and sit mumchance! The man will be tormented, and I
+thereby eternally disgraced, since I took him under my protection.
+When they hear of it, what will my people say, seeing me that
+monster's puppet?"
+
+"They, will pity you," replied Nara quietly, "as they pity the other
+three. I am not so craven as you think. What if the man be tortured?
+He is but a boor of little consequence, and will be none the worse for
+martyrdom. Let be, let be--a little patience only. The more scurvily
+the man is treated, the better in the end; the deeper the universal
+execration for him we all detest. A little time, a little time, and
+all will be well, believe me. We have but to sit with hands devoutly
+folded, and wait; for the Hojo is preparing his own undoing,--carving
+out his own destruction!"
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER VII.
+
+ THE FARMER'S SENTENCE.
+
+
+Perhaps the Daimio of Nara was right in his prognostications of the
+probable. Although the lives of a few peasants are to Japanese
+patricians of but small account, there had been considerable
+excitement among the daimios over Hojo's high-handed treatment of the
+village elders, a tornado of lamentation among the lower and unarmed
+classes. Had the action of the despot been voted orthodox, had he
+unwaveringly pursued his course, the other lords would have done the
+same as he with joy, to wring out additional sums for pleasant uses;
+but as No-Kami gave way with little pressing, and thereby stultified
+his action, there was a general chorus of disapproval. If, excited and
+cruel, he were now to inflict signal vengeance on the unfortunate
+farmer, there would be still further uproar; and each fresh
+demonstration tended to a universal rising, for the destruction of the
+terrible octopus. Nara was old enough to have learned that the waiting
+game is generally best in the end, and preached sage wisdom to his
+master, who wept, being foolish, and young, and also uneasy in his
+mind.
+
+No-Kami was frantic with wrath when he considered Koshiu's sin. What a
+deplorable precedent was this! A petty farmer, little better than the
+common labourer, who strews the paddy field with filth, and grubs on
+hands on knees like a pig in the mud when the young rice begins to
+sprout; this abject, well-nigh four-footed, grovelling creature had
+absolutely, erect upon hind legs, dared to approach the head of the
+state--the nominal head--with a writing wherein he, the reignina
+Hojo--the real head of the state--was impeached and accused of
+misdemeanours,--even of deeds called CRIMES! Such audacity to the most
+nimble imagination was all but inconceivable. It was no less
+preposterous and ludicrous than if the brisk and too sprightly flea
+were, with his tiny mandibles, to assault the elephant. As he revolved
+the circumstance, the Daimio was so tickled that, as he paced a path
+in his garden outside Ki[^y]oto, he laughed a hard and grating
+cachination, that was half a snort, and shouted for a cup of warm
+saké, the which was brought, with the humblest of genuflections; for
+my lord's laugh clanked like rusty chains, and was precursor usually
+of bloodshed. But this was really too amusing, or would have been, if
+not so impudent. As he drained cup after cup of wine, my lord's mind
+became more active, the heat of his resentment more whitely glowing.
+What punishment was severe enough for such a caitiff? What was mere
+death, even the slowest, with ingeniously long-drawn agonies, but
+absurdly insufficient. The doom of the farmer must be something
+calculated to appal,--to spread terror broadcast, or his pestilent
+example might be followed by other swine. He would be a good riddance,
+this Koshiu, for he had always been a dangerous character,--one who
+dared to think for himself, actually to think, and frame views and
+theories of an independent and subversive kind. Oh for some brilliant
+idea, some happy thought, startling and awe-inspiring,--something at
+which the ordinary mind would revolt, then shrink down cowering!
+Decidedly this was an occasion on which the culprit must be made a
+genuine "example;" and as he paced the garden path, the brain of
+No-Kami was much exercised to find some awful sentence worthy of his
+reputation and his name.
+
+His heart was so hardened by schemes of revenge that the scene around
+was powerless to calm his ruffled soul; and yet his villa without
+Ki[^y]oto, known as the Golden House (it exists to this day), was a
+spot where loving nature had freely given of her best.
+
+On the plain between the city and the mountains is a wood, some three
+miles square, wherein branching umbrella pines and lofty cryptomerias
+and black-pointed cypresses are mingled in calculated confusion with
+the ensanguined foliage of the maple, and a luxuriant shrub covered
+with yellow blossoms, which has a scent resembling that of the
+apricot. The underbrush being carefully removed, the feet of the trees
+stand clear, rising from a tumbled surface of rich moss and rock and
+knoll, through which meander crystal streams shaded by grass and
+ferns. In a secluded portion of the wood is a large oblong pond,
+half-covered with dense reeds, and full offish and tortoises. In this,
+between the reed-beds, is mirrored a fairy cot--very small, as
+suitable for fairies--with the usual heavy roof and posts, and with
+windows inlaid with oyster shell. The peculiarity of the villa, at the
+time which occupies us, was that inside and out it was entirely gilt,
+which, against the sombre green background, in the limpid atmosphere,
+gave it the aspect of an enchanted dwelling. The rooms were of the
+smallest, and as naked and uncomfortable as Japanese rooms always are;
+and yet, in miniature, there was naught neglected. There was the
+porter's lodge, wherein lounged the armed retainers, and where
+upright, clean, and ready were the three formidable instruments
+designed to entangle, throw down, and pin a quarrelsome or unwelcome
+visitor. Stout quarter staves were also ready wherewith to belabour a
+struggling wight. There were bows and arrows in plenty, while in a row
+hung wooden tickets inscribed with the names of the soldiers in
+residence, which, were handed to the keeper of the gate, in token of
+absence, as the men passed out. In one corner was a bath--a mere rude
+tub--wherein, after the Daimio had bathed, others might be allowed to
+plunge; while further on, in the _tokonoma_, or recess of honour, were
+ranged in glittering state, ready always for use, the armour of my
+lord--his cuirass and greaves, helmet, chainmail, and swords.
+
+As he paced up and down under shadow of the trees, No-Kami had an
+inspiration; and summoning his favourite samurai, he bade him produce
+the prisoner. With arms crossed on his broad chest, and a mien of
+sullen defiance, Koshiu emerged, and having approached, stared hard
+into his oppressor's eyes with such undaunted boldness that Hojo felt
+almost sorry. It was a pity to have to annihilate so bold a varlet;
+and yet the independent ways of these same bold varlets are
+pestilent,--dangerous to the lords who are set over them.
+
+"What hast thou to say--what excuse to make?" demanded the imperious
+No-Kami.
+
+"The performance of duty calls for no excuse," replied the bluff
+farmer.
+
+"Duty!"
+
+"Yes, duty,--to myself, to my fellow-sufferers, to the sublime Mikado,
+who, unless told, knows naught--for he dwells apart--of the wicked
+such as thee."
+
+"By Buddha's crown, but thou art mad! instead of suing for mercy,
+aggravating thy offence."
+
+"The Hojos never knew mercy--thou least of all--and I expect none."
+
+"Will none make a lid for this rascal?" cried the Daimio, his small
+stock of patience ebbing. Then, seeing half a score of bright blades
+flashing in the sun, he waved them back into their scabbards. "Nay,
+nay," he grumbled; "sully not your steel."
+
+"The Hojos were ever bad," observed Koshiu, without blenching. "Thou
+and thy brother are the worst."
+
+"Sampei!" exclaimed No-Kami, in surprise. "Why he is half of thy caste
+himself, and is adored by the populace. What evil hath he done to
+thee?"
+
+"He robbed me of my eldest child, whom I held dear. She has vanished,
+seduced by him."
+
+No-Kami laughed long and loud, that very ugly laugh.
+
+"So, so. The General is sly, and keeps his counsel, and hath done thee
+and thine far too much honour, ingrate! See, here he comes to answer
+for himself."
+
+It was indeed Sampei, who, in extreme haste and heat, was crashing
+through the ferns. How unfortunate that the Emperor should not have
+detained him ten minutes longer. He would have expostulated with his
+brother then and there, in the Imperial presence,--have entreated the
+Fountain of Honour not to give up the captive. For in Hojo's greedy
+desire to obtain possession of him there was lurking something
+sinister. No-Kami's temper was so warm. For his sake, and the name
+they both bore, he must be prevented from going to extremities. Thanks
+to the gods, he was in time, for there the man stood, unharmed as yet.
+Ere he reached the spot where the two were standing, with retainers
+grouped in a circle, Sampei cried out, in his strong voice,--
+
+"No-Kami, my brother, give me this man's life!"
+
+"Again," laughed No-Kami. "What a glutton for the lives of prisoners.
+Not this one; no, his is a special case; but I'll give thee his little
+wanton."
+
+"What wanton?" And then of a sudden the young soldier remembered his
+mother's news which had so startled him. This was the father of the
+maid whose heart he had unconsciously captured, and whose parent had
+five years ago denied to him his doors. It was with a whimsical smile
+that he shrugged his shoulders, and said,--"Miné' is no wanton that I
+know of. She is as pure for me as Fugi, the holy and snow-capped
+mountain."
+
+"Liar!" shouted Koshiu. "What have Hojos to do with truth?"
+
+Whereupon, with a low growl, the retainers drew their dirks and
+pressed close round.
+
+Sampei grew a shade paler, but, controlling himself, quietly said,--
+
+"Let be, men! Sheathe your blades! The man labours under a mistake,
+and will know better by-and-by. Grant me his life, my brother!"
+
+"Why, of what parentage art thou?" exclaimed No-Kami, with a gesture
+of scorn. "He dubbed thee liar! Well, well! A drop of low peasant
+blood mingled with the best envenoms the entire stream. Yet am I
+ashamed, that thou, who art said to have done deeds of exceeding
+prowess, should tamely accept such insolence! And yet--and yet! I see
+now that I was wrong, precipitate. So mean a target is not worth your
+arrows. Fear not, my sober brother, I will myself avenge thee. Stand
+forth thou, and hear thy sentence. Whereas thou--audacious and
+stiff-necked--hast set thyself up as a champion and head of the
+villagers; and whereas thou hast dared to make light of me, thy feudal
+lord, by petitioning the Emperor directly; and whereas thou hast been
+guilty of conspiracy--three heinous crimes--it is decreed that thou
+shalt be taken in chains to Tsu, in a litter covered with a net of
+shame, and there suffer death by crucifixion. Thy wife will suffer
+likewise. Thy children shall merely be beheaded. The girl--what is her
+name? Miné--alone shall live, since I have bestowed her as a boon upon
+my brother."
+
+The samurai knelt down and rested their foreheads on the grass,
+clasping their hands in token of admiration and respect; Sampei
+covered his glowing face with quivering fingers; the farmer turned
+ashen grey. A thunderbolt hurled down to annihilate a family. For
+himself he cared not: his life he had known was forfeit. But wife and
+innocent babes! Gennosuké, the sturdy little lad; and pretty Sohei,
+and Kihachi, who could barely toddle! The unexpected blow was
+paralysing--stupefying with overwhelming sweep; and No-Kami, who saw
+with delight that the bolt went home, motioned for the condemned to be
+removed. Sampei felt stunned,--torn between horror, and the instinct
+of blind loyalty to his chief, his creed--the creed in which he had
+carefully been nurtured. The innocent and the guilty involved in one
+common doom. It was horrible--unjust! Less vindictive by-and-by, the
+Daimio would repent him of his severity. Sampei saw clearly that the
+man must go. That could not be helped: he had brought on himself his
+punishment. But the wife and children! Sampei had hurried hither to
+endeavour to rescue the man, and on behalf of the innocent had not
+found a word of protest. Thank goodness that, owing to a mistake, Miné
+at least was safe. As to the wife and children, he and O'Tei must
+combine ere the sentence was carried out, and make a strenuous effort.
+There was no help to be looked for from the weak Mikado. What a pity
+that he was such a feeble creature! But then, had he been more
+formidable, he would have shared the fate of the others long ago. The
+Hojo looked so surly, that Sampei felt the moment unpropitious for
+remonstrance. Incensed as my lord now was, prayers would but aggravate
+him further. Sampei seemed, therefore, to acquiesce in the decision of
+the Daimio, and turned to another topic.
+
+"A new eye sees things," he remarked, as they strolled under the
+trees, "which escape the ken of him to whom surrounding objects are
+familiar. Powerful as you are, swaying with a nod affairs of state,
+you strike me as less secure than was our father."
+
+"He governed, as was necessary, with an iron hand, and so do I,"
+retorted No-Kami.
+
+"His was not so wet with blood," suggested the other gently.
+
+"Can this be indeed the successful soldier?" asked the Daimio,
+stopping in amaze. "More like that puling wife of mine. A pity you did
+not wed her!"
+
+Sampei started and winced. Could his brother guess. There was no trace
+of suspicion on his visage. His secret was safe. It was only a stray
+shot.
+
+"The daimios," he observed quietly, "hate you, and they are
+treacherous."
+
+"The daimios always hate him who is in power," replied the other with
+composure, "and burn to oust him. And people say that all Japanese are
+treacherous. They must be curbed by fear. Hence my severity just now.
+Nay, do not speak or waste your breath and anger me. On that my mind
+is fixed. I was too mild and compassionate with those elders, and look
+on the result! A stupid blunder, due to over-kindliness. The new-born
+arrogance of those tillers of the soil must be sternly checked.
+Clemency would be construed into a sign of weakness. He who rules with
+the sword must not be afraid to use it."
+
+"I would warn you to mistrust Nara," observed Sampei, after a pause of
+thought; "he does not wish you well."
+
+"Nara!" echoed the Daimio. "He who our astute father selected as my
+special counsellor! You are too suspicious. For Nara I have nothing
+but contempt--for him as for his counsel. He assumes sapient airs, and
+beneath them is a coward and a fool. Sometimes, in sport, I press down
+my heel on him, and he affords no sport, for he does not even writhe.
+Since you are a man of valour--the hero of the hour, though I vow you
+are more like a girl--furbish up your arms, and drill your cohorts,
+and leave policy to me. Drill your troops for my protection, most
+doughty of Hojos. As for statecraft, believe me, meddle not with a
+complicated tangle which you have not the skill to unravel. Your arm
+is more exercised than mine, but of heads, mine is the better."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ DESTINY IS BUSY.
+
+
+When the slow procession of armed men with a guarded litter in its
+midst was discerned approaching Tsu, great was the curiosity excited,
+for though none spoke of him, the absent farmer, devoted to a forlorn
+hope, was uppermost in the minds of all. A vague report gained ground
+that he had actually been permitted to see the face of the Sublime
+One, who, as just as he was holy, had listened to the tale of wrong.
+The stricken people, accustomed to adversity, were dazed by the gleam
+of fortune. Buddha had hearkened at last unto their groaning, had
+pitied their misery! The Hojo was not so bad after all, for the extra
+weight of taxes would doubtless be removed; the elders had returned
+forgiven; Koshiu was coming in triumph to his home, where a fitting
+reception should be accorded him. The listless men rose up upon their
+feet, the hammer and the gong resounded once again, amid blessings on
+the name of Koshiu.
+
+The only one who was not joyous was Kennui, the farmer's faithful
+wife. She had heard so much from her spouse about the wickedness of
+the Hojos, that unconsciously she echoed his words, shaking her head
+as she muttered, "The Hojos know not mercy!" As the approaching
+procession became clearer to the view, defiling with clank of iron
+down the street, she gave a wild shriek, and fell swooning; for in the
+litter, under the fatal net, she had recognised the grizzled head and
+burly shoulders of him she loved best on earth. Awe-stricken, fearing
+they knew not what, the town turned out _en masse_ and silently
+followed the procession, until, crossing the bridge that led over the
+outer moat of the castle, the ponderous doors closed upon it and the
+prisoner. For, strange and incomprehensible as it appeared, there was
+no doubt that Koshiu was a prisoner. The net and chains, and scowling
+escort told as much. Why? Was the report a false one? Had he not
+succeeded in communicating with the Sublime One? Sure he who was the
+Fount of Honour had not spurned the humble prayer! If he had been
+gracious, why was the victim brought to his home with sinister pomp
+and circumstance? While the crowd in scattered knots were discussing
+the enigma, the gates opened again, a band of samurai rushed forth,
+and presently returned with--wonder of wonders!--Kennui and her little
+children, who, driven at point of spear, like the farmer vanished.
+
+Curiosity and impatience were getting the better of alarm, and some of
+the elders were about to cross the bridge, and knocking, make
+inquiries, when again the door swung upon its hinges, a man posted up
+a paper, and the gate was again shut to. A thrill of horror and
+consternation shivered over the crowd, as some one, mounting on a
+riding block, read aloud the proclamation. Crucifixion for the patriot
+and his innocent wife--the annihilation of his family and name! The
+injustice and brutality of such a sweeping sentence cried aloud to
+Heaven. Japan should ring with it. Come what might, the elders would
+remonstrate,--would lift up their voices in supreme protest against
+the iniquity of the cold-blooded tyrant.
+
+The head men of the town and surrounding villages assembled, one
+hundred and thirty in number, and drew up an appeal, affixing thereto
+their seals, and Rokubei and Zembei, whose consciences smote them
+somewhat, travelled with it themselves to Ki[^y]oto. There the streets
+were in commotion, business was put aside, and men sat on the mats in
+groups discussing the darkening future. In whispers, with furtive
+glances over the shoulder, they murmured that there must be an end of
+it; anything was preferable as a change to such a life as No-Kami
+prepared for the people. Submission was making matters worse instead
+of better. Letters must be sent to the surrounding provinces. They
+must shake off sloth, and rise as one to free themselves and their
+Mikado.
+
+Sampei, riding to the Golden House, told his brother of the hubbub. As
+he heard, the brow of the despot darkened; his eyeballs became
+bloodshot, like those of the demon Razetsu, as in obstinate fume he
+gnashed his teeth.
+
+"What?" he cried. "Oh, girl in man's attire, I have borne too long
+with your puling! You dare to come hither, and take the part of the
+scum against me, your feudal lord! A shivering coward, who calls
+himself a soldier! Not a word more, or, despite the army at your back,
+I'll have you seized and scourged, and your head flung to the
+jackals."
+
+Hot words rose in Sampei's throat, but the mournful face of his pale
+love rose before him, and he choked them down. His brother was
+distraught with passion,--knew not what he said. His feudal lord! Yes,
+that much was true. If danger was brewing, his place was by the side
+of his brother, to save him, if might be, from the consequences of the
+wickedness instilled by demons; if not, to assist him in his death.
+
+The silence and sullen submission of the young General irritated the
+Daimio to frenzy. He cursed and growled like some savage animal,
+became the more furious from the conviction that in this matter he
+had been precipitate and wrong,--had been guilty of a mistake in
+state-craft,--of over-harshness. And yet it would never do to give to
+the scum the victory--to the low mechanics, and mean, unarmed
+artificers, who were assuming a threatening attitude. What would the
+other daimios say, who were eagerly watching the next move, if the
+ruler were again to give way,--to succumb like a woman before the
+outcry of a few rustics? The prestige of the Hojos would be gone for
+ever, and the bearer of the name would be sucked under and drowned by
+the torrent which would assuredly break loose. Give way! That, by the
+crown of Buddha, he swore he never would; and yet, perceiving too late
+the danger, in his heart he longed for a compromise. Hearing that
+Rokubei and Zembei, venerable elders, had dared to come pestering, and
+that a deputation of priests, headed by the bonzes of Tsu, awaited his
+pleasure, he smothered his rage, and bade Sampei admit them. He even
+deigned to summon his father's friend, and solicit counsel, placing
+the case before him.
+
+Concealing his exultation under an air of sympathy, Nara arrived with
+promptitude, and, true to his tactics, gave advice which was
+calculated to undo his enemy.
+
+"The peril is extreme," he said, "so I will speak plainly. 'Tis easier
+to raise a storm than quell it."
+
+"If you are here to talk platitudes, begone," interrupted No-Kami.
+
+"Be patient, my almost son, and attend," the malicious Daimio
+responded, with inward laughter. Like a bear in the toils his foe was
+caught, and it should be no fault of his if he became not more closely
+enmeshed. "You are right in this," he continued. "It will not do to
+lower the proud standard of the Hojos before the rabble; and yet you
+must provide them with a sop. Let the sentence stand. What is decreed
+should be irrevocable; but grant the boon in the memorial. Remove the
+obnoxious taxes. So will you seem clement, as well as stern and
+strong. They will fear you more than ever, while compelled to praise
+your bounty."
+
+The advice jumped with No-Kami's inclination The more he considered
+it, the more crafty it appeared; but, true to his principle of
+blood-letting and tyrannising over the weak, he slightly improved on
+it. He would pretend to have known nothing of these taxes, and,
+as an example, would bring to condign punishment the bailiffs and
+tax-gatherers who had so harshly oppressed his vassals.
+
+A master-stroke worthy of his sapient father this. A touch of genius.
+He accordingly harangued the deputations; declared his surprise as
+well as sympathy and love with such assurance that they scarce could
+believe their ears. The sentence, if somewhat harsh, must stand, he
+said, for 'twas a grievous crime in a vassal to hold up to obloquy his
+feudal lord. The property of the offending farmer should, however, not
+all be confiscated, but a part would be handed over to the girl Miné,
+who was spared, thanks to his brother's pleading. He assured his
+amazed listeners that he grieved over the rapacity of his officers--of
+whom he would make an example--in that they had invented new imposts
+on their own account, to the detriment of their lord's repute. He was
+sorry that the full details of the case had not reached him before.
+The town councillors of Tsu would be dismissed from their posts. Four
+district governors and three bailiffs would be banished to the
+northern island. The chief bailiff of Tsu and one particularly-sinful
+officer would be invited to perform harakiri. The objectionable taxes
+were abolished.
+
+With this, while his audience stood aghast and dumb, my lord waved his
+fan with courteous condescension, in token of dismissal, and retired,
+flattering himself that he had got extremely well out of rather an
+awkward hobble.
+
+The news which the deputations brought back with them to Tsu was
+received with mixed feelings. It was sad that the farmer's family must
+perish, but Koshiu would know that they had not died in vain. For the
+public good he and his were made a sacrifice. Many litanies should be
+chanted in the temples; the martyr should be canonised, enrolled on
+the list of saints.
+
+One who was inconsolable was Miné. Spurned by him at whose feet she
+had cast herself--for Sampei had never deigned to inquire after
+her--she was compelled to admit that her father was right in his
+estimate of the reigning family. If he whom she elected to worship as
+a hero had not been as cruel as his brother, he would not stand
+by--he, a powerful general in command of many soldiers, while so
+wicked a sentence was promulgated. Father, mother, brothers--all. And
+she had loved this man! Distracted, she rushed to the castle, and
+braving the obscene jests of the samurai, implored to be admitted to
+her parents. She had done wrong, and must die heartbroken if deprived
+of their forgiveness.
+
+A soldier, softened by the maiden's anguish, carried her entreaty, and
+returned with the message that her father refused to see her. She who
+was the chattel of a Hojo was no child of his, he had declared. Three
+beloved sons were his, but no daughter. Miné battered with weak hands
+upon the closing door. Her father had judged too harshly, for--alas!
+to confess such infamy--the Hojo had repulsed her. She was not his
+mistress,--had never even seen him since he sallied forth to war. The
+samurai laughed loud at the confession, and gibed at the hapless maid,
+bandying foul pleasantries. A likely story. Since, owing to the
+General's intervention, she was to have the property, she would
+doubtless find some one to pick up that which my lord Sampei had
+tossed into the mire. How much would she be worth? Would she set
+herself up to auction? By-and-by she could purchase for herself a
+husband, if not now a messenger. Her father declined to see her, so if
+yet she had a shred of shame left she had best depart, and quickly. If
+not, the soldiery would take her in, and for their own delectation
+keep her there. In terror she sped away, nor stopped till she reached
+the temple; and when in the gloaming the spectral line of nuns and
+Abbess entered for the evening prayer, Masago lifted the exhausted and
+fainting girl, and pressing cold lips upon her brow, bade her take
+rest and comfort. Henceforth she was theirs and Buddha's.
+
+To show that, although clement, he was not to be intimidated, No-Kami
+resolved to make of the prospective execution a wholesome precedent,
+and to that end journeyed to Tsu in person. He was determined that the
+spectacle should abide in the minds of those who were privileged to
+witness it, as an ineffaceable lesson and an awful memory. It should
+take place within the castle boundaries, he decreed, in the presence
+of the Daimio and his suite, in gala robes, and all and sundry were
+invited to attend this new and engaging form of public festival.
+
+As the fatal day approached, the fiery temper of the despot was
+severely tried, and grew hotter under the trial; for although the
+truculent retinue applauded, and looked forward with glee to a rare
+frolic, there was hanging over the land a shadow that might be felt.
+
+Men spoke together in isolated knots, scudding away like hares if the
+gallop of my lord's escort was heard returning from the chase. This
+showed a wholesome and gratifying fear; but there were some who took
+no pains to cloke their insolence. The friends of the tax-gatherers
+and others who had been condemned, raised an outcry, vowing that they
+had obeyed to the letter their lord's behest, and that 'twas hard to
+suffer for being only too faithfully obedient. No-Kami increased the
+number of his personal attendants, daring no longer to go forth alone,
+lest haply some wailing relative should cling to his stirrup, and
+decline to be beaten off. Even behind the bristling defences of the
+castle he was not secure. Masago and her nuns arrived in solemn
+procession at the gate, and the soldiers, hardened though they were,
+were afraid to refuse them entrance. The austere Abbess was not to be
+browbeaten. Calm and cold, with inflexible mien she looked No-Kami in
+the eyes, and in presence of his warriors, in the name of her dead
+lord his father, dared him to fulfil his purpose. Solemnly she warned
+him of divine rancour. She had had a dream, and, as all the world
+knows, the soul during sleep is in active communication with the
+departed. Even now, at the eleventh hour, she urged that there was
+still time to avert the vengeance of the gods. The growing anger of
+Buddha might be appeased by pilgrimage and prayer, self-humbling, and
+precious gifts.
+
+But Masago might as well have preached to the lotuses. Her speech was
+met with uneasy ribaldry, and smouldering ire.
+
+"Bah! Threats from a troop of women! A made-up ghost to affright
+children with. Ye are hungry for the good things of this world,"
+snarled the Daimio, "like all the priesthood. Be off! I care not for
+nuns or bonzes, self-appointed messengers from Heaven. Chatterers, get
+you gone while ye have time, or despite your garb your bodies shall
+feel the whip."
+
+With that he bade the doorkeepers open wide the gate, that his guards
+might drive forth the embassage.
+
+The unfortunate chatelaine, although none of the castle denizens cared
+to know it, was the one who was most hardly stricken by her husband's
+culminating sin. When the sad procession arrived with in its midst the
+patriot, she was boating outside the walls, deftly guiding her shallop
+with a slender pole through the luxuriant floating greenery. The
+elders having been spared at her written request, the horizon
+seemed less black. This was a first step towards the reclaiming of
+No-Kami--by-and-by, little by little, she would by tact and persistent
+effort regain over him the influence which at first she had too
+quickly abdicated. As she pondered, she blamed herself for lack of
+patient perseverance.
+
+What was her own petty pride to the people's good? She had misjudged
+No-Kami, for on receipt of her letter he had given way at once. So he
+would again, and yet again, till drawn out of himself by tenderness,
+he would cast aside his wicked self like a foul garment, and live a
+cleanly life. Then she fell a-weaving of plans for assuaging the
+misery of her people, and all at once there fell the thunderbolt, and
+her new calm was rudely broken.
+
+This horror was worse than all. Retiring to her bower, and dismissing
+her maidens, she cast herself upon the floor, and, numbed by despair,
+remained inanimate for hours. Had the gods no pity for such frail
+things as she? The contemplation of her husband, of the man who could
+deliberately plan and execute so vile an atrocity as this, caused her
+flesh to creep, her soul to shudder. He proposed, moreover, to
+accomplish the dreadful deed _here_, within the precincts of her
+house. The smell of the blood would never fade, its stain might never
+be effaced; and she was doomed to endure its constant presence for
+long years, unless the gods were clement. Some rail at the brief span
+of life. To some it seems too short, to others interminable. How
+earnestly, lying prone, did O'Tei entreat release. A long vista of
+grim dreadful years. No, at bay, she would revolt against the
+nightmare, would leap into the waves, and make an end of it. Since men
+may relieve themselves with the dirk of a too heavy existence, might
+not women seek relief in the embrace of the blessed sea?
+
+He was coming here soon, her husband, to superintend the shocking
+details. He would touch, perhaps clasp her in his arms. Oh, no! And
+yet, why not? Clutched by him, pressed to the hard heart of the
+monster, inhaling the poison of his breath, she must surely wither;
+and if her soul were freed, what signified the horror of the means?
+
+Sinking into a condition of dull lethargy, she went forth no more, but
+brooded in the quiet of her chamber, from which she could see the hill
+crowned by the temple groves. Dim and distant, like the roar in a
+sea-shell, she heard the noise of arrival, the neighing of steeds, and
+clank of iron, the braying of hoarse throats, the shouts and laughter
+at carousal. With sick apprehension she awaited the dreaded footsteps
+which soon must cross the threshold. But time went on and it came not,
+and she thanked the gods for that. He had inquired for her, the
+maidens said, and they had replied that their lady was ill. He had
+said no more, and had seemed satisfied. Truth to tell, he was as much
+relieved as she at the postponement of a meeting. For, worried and
+annoyed by the abominable behaviour of the scum, he was in no mood for
+whining, and instinct whispered that on such an occasion as the
+forthcoming festival the degenerate O'Tei would whine. When it was
+past and over, she would know better than to whimper, since what is
+done is done; and once resolved, no whining of silly women-folk should
+turn him from his purpose. Whilst dreading the creak of one footfall,
+she listened wistfully for another. Where was Sampei, her childhood's
+friend? Sure, he would sympathise, for his kind heart would tell him
+of the direful condition of his sister. Had he, disgusted with his
+brother, deserted him? It was likely; and yet not so, for Sampei--who
+should know better than she?--was loyal and true. He had arrived with
+my lord; the maidens had seen and admired him, and had grieved to
+perceive that he was dejected, the noble young hero. How strange then
+that he should not visit his old playmate.
+
+Alack! Sampei avoided O'Tei as diligently as did No-Kami. What could
+he say to her that would not increase her sorrow? Fully appreciating
+her highly-wrought and reserved and sensitive nature, he knew too well
+what she must be suffering; and the sight of her tears, since he might
+not dry them, would cut him like a sword-thrust. Moreover, the seed
+his mother had prudently sown had taken deep root in his light soil,
+by reason of Miné's foolishness. On every account it was well to avoid
+personal contact with O'Tei. Without being conceited, the fact was
+patent that if one woman fell in love with him without encouragement,
+another might. In his ordinary frame of mind, he would cheerfully have
+said, "The more the better," and have basked with joy in the sunshine
+of unlimited loveliness. But he knew now that he adored O'Tei with an
+affection so pure and deep that there was no selfishness in it,--that,
+rather than cause her a pang, he would himself make any sacrifice. Her
+heart, he knew, was empty. As the Abbess had hinted, it was not at all
+impossible that if tempted she might grow to love her brother-in-law
+in unbrotherly fashion; and then, what pain to her, to him, to all?
+For once the young soldier would be prudent. Near, but unseen, he
+would shield his beloved as much as possible,--commune with her as
+little as might be,--come forward only in emergency.
+
+With regard to No-Kami, he grew grievously perplexed, marvelling
+sometimes whether his brother was sane. The practice of cruelty upon
+the weak, for the enjoyment thereof, was something so foreign to his
+own open character that he could not comprehend the motives which
+moved the Daimio, nor his fits of frenzy when thwarted. Once, since
+their arrival at Tsu, he had remonstrated fearlessly with his chief,
+who had thereupon threatened to dismiss him into banishment. For the
+sake of the chatelaine, in the quickly-clouding future, this must not
+be. So Sampei, at his wits' end, like a dutiful son, climbed the
+temple stairs and unlocked the secrets of his heart before the shrewd
+ken of the Abbess. Masago surveyed him anxiously, then unaccustomed
+tears for a moment dimmed her vision as she gave praise to the gods in
+that she had been given such a son. Truth and trust looked from out
+his eyes. The noble fellow. Placing her firm white hand upon his
+shoulder, she kissed his brow.
+
+"The situation is dark," she said; "the skein is tangled. The gods
+have marked down for destruction my lord of Tsu. That much is clear to
+me. Blindfold he marches to the edge of the abyss. I am a weak,
+purblind woman groping in the dark, unable to give counsel in so
+difficult a strait. My voice has been raised in vain: he thrust us
+forth like dogs. I will pray. Maybe that through prayer and vigil I
+may learn to know; and when I know, then will I tell thee, child.
+Peradventure divine wrath may yet, by diligent pleading, be turned
+aside. The farmer and his family must perish, thou a dumb spectator.
+That much cannot be helped. Be patient. Wait. I will prostrate myself
+before the altar, that the veil of the future may be rent."
+
+One morning a lull of unaccustomed quietude informed O'Tei that my
+lord and all his following had gone scouring over the plain, and her
+maids, seeing her listless and sad-eyed, implored their mistress to
+mount to the top of the tower, and breathe the fresher air. From the
+upper gallery, shaded by the huge copper roof, the weary recluse gazed
+over the flat towards the twin hills with an intense longing. Since my
+lord's coming, she had not visited her summer-house, for she could not
+bear the sight of the mourning which she knew overhung the town. She
+yearned to steal forth now and gaze on the lovely view, with its
+sequestered temple, and placid land-locked waters, and fishers, and
+sunny islets. Alas! all labour was abandoned. The fishers were too
+wretched to pursue their avocation. Their boats were drawn up upon the
+beach untenanted. She could see them, a white fringe upon the yellow.
+Then, as her eye moved homeward, she started, and cried aloud, and
+wrung her hands, for down below in the courtyard rose, gaunt and
+terrible, the symbols of oppression. In a corner of the space within
+the outer moat stood ready a pair of crosses. The preparations were
+made then?--the consummation of the tragedy was imminent; and she,
+cowering and cowardly, had never attempted to stem the new tide of the
+Daimio's anger. A tacit connivance at this villainy!
+
+Shaking herself as from the drowsy clog of sleep, she swiftly
+descended the stair with head erect, distended eye, and face as grey
+as ashes, and, to the surprise of the sentinels, crossed the first
+drawbridge as one in a trance, and made for the place of execution.
+
+It occupied an extreme corner, far from the huts of the soldiers, and
+was masked from the path in common use by a belt of trees, concerning
+which there were fearsome legends. So many terrible events had taken
+place beneath their shade that they were said to be tenanted by souls
+of criminals,--to groan at times, and ooze with gore, and be accursed.
+To the Asiatic peasant all streams and woods are peopled with
+visionary forms,--are the homes of demons or of angels. It was well
+known that a sacrilegious cutter had striven once to fell one of these
+gnarled trunks, and had been blasted as if by lightning. It was an
+equally established fact that their vicinity impelled to suicide, for
+many men had, apparently without reason, hung themselves upon their
+branches, fascinated to self-destruction by some dread and secret
+spell.
+
+O'Tei passed under their shade, and, shivering, recalled the legend,
+for though there seemed no wind, they swayed and creaked, spreading
+gaunt arms over her head, with trails of grey-green spindles, like
+uncanny mildewed hair. Why she had come she knew not--it was in
+obedience to no volition of her own. Her heart and temples were
+throbbing wildly. Within her swimming brain there was room for but one
+idea. The web of a terrible fate was being spun with ruthless fingers
+around my lord and her to choke them both. Was she to be permitted
+again to intervene between him and his victims?--or, to tear the
+meshes which encircled them, were they destined to writhe in vain?
+Advocate of mercy, how sweet a privilege! What could she do? Had she
+the courage to face that sin-stained man? Irresolute and trembling,
+she stood staring at the crosses, marking their shadows as they
+lengthened, till, with a gasp and sob, she heard the tread of horses,
+accompanied by shouts and laughter.
+
+He had returned from the chase--the tyrant--and it was well that she
+was here. She would try not to fear him,--strive hard to do her duty.
+They must meet now, and, summoning her puny strength, she would
+endeavour to push him from the precipice.
+
+The cavalcade swept past in a cloud of dust--a brilliant, uproarious
+company--and clattered across the moat. Two riders were following a
+little behind the rest, when one, catching sight of a familiar drapery
+among the trees, pulled back his horse upon its haunches.
+
+"The lady O'Tei," he exclaimed, "beneath that baleful canopy!"
+
+And straightway Sampei dismounted, and held the stirrup for his
+brother.
+
+And thus they met again, those three, on this fateful day for all---my
+lord in an evil mood, for even to him there was something oppressive
+in the air. A pall, as of the shadow of death, hung murky over the
+land.
+
+With trembling, blue lips, more like a spectre than a woman, O'Tei
+awaited my lord's approach, and turning, flung herself upon her knees,
+clinging about his feet.
+
+No-Kami glared down in surprised dudgeon, while the soul of Sampei was
+thrilled with pity to perceive how wan she looked.
+
+"My lord!" she murmured low, with fluttering heart, "a boon. Oh! spare
+them--for my sake--for your own--spare them--spare them--spare them!
+Give me at least the lives of the woman and her babes. If the man must
+suffer, be it so. You see that for him I say no word, not one--the
+gods forgive me! For his act he knew and weighed the penalty. But
+those innocents are not to perish. Say 'twas but a pleasantry, and I
+will kiss your feet, and bless you."
+
+The visage of No-Kami grew purple as he glowered down upon his wife,
+and then, with grinding teeth, he glanced furtively around. There was
+no witness to the interview.
+
+"It is well," he hissed, "that the company has gone before, and that I
+am spared humiliation in their eyes. Fie! what shameful folly's this?
+Can this grovelling thing, like a slave in the dust, be Hojo's wife,
+child of the Daimio of Nara? Nay! it is some mean Eta woman, pariah
+and outcast. Sampei, raise her up, and quickly, and let us both forget
+this spectacle. Arise!" he cried, spurning the prostrate figure with
+his foot. "Even among the Etas obedience is a wife's first duty."
+
+Sampei stooped, and gently raising his distracted sister, supported
+her upon his breast, whilst the furious despot continued dryly,--
+
+"Know that your existence is a blot on my name and your own. It is
+well that you have borne no children to perpetuate disgrace. If any of
+the bold samurai had seen you but now, what would they have thought of
+me?--of you? how could they respect their lady? Shame, shame! Pluck up
+a spirit--borrow one--and make at least pretence to assume a fitting
+dignity. The condemned are to die at sundown; no more on that score;
+even now the spectators are trooping hitherward. Go; tire your hair
+and don your gala robes. When all is ready, I will send for you."
+
+"For me!" gasped O'Tei, turning a shade more white.
+
+"As chatelaine of Tsu, your place is by my side," announced the Daimio
+sternly. "Be my will your law. Go now, and try not to degrade us."
+
+His unhappy sister-in-law cast an imploring glance at Sampei, who
+stood with head bowed and sullen averted gaze. His blood was coursing
+through his veins at fevered speed. Patience, his mother had said, and
+wait. How could he wait and practise patience, seeing her he loved so
+outraged? Was she to be forced, by the whim of a madman, to give the
+sanction of her gracious presence to the deed which all deplored?
+
+Masago, as usual, had been right. The Divine finger was in it, or why
+should the heiress of Nara, belying her own pride and the traditions
+of her haughty lineage, have selected the very means of interference
+which was most sure to offend her lord, and frustrate her own desires?
+
+Had she, with imperious attitude and supercilious air, demanded the
+lives of the woman and her offspring, No-Kami might, touched by the
+proud beauty of her who was his bone, have, even so late as this, been
+surprised into some clemency. Sampei himself, to whom all she did was
+dear, felt a sharp twinge of mortification as, burning with sorrowful
+regret, he had quickly lifted her.
+
+Both brothers, jealous of the name they bore, suffered in their
+tenderest point on seeing her thus prostrate. O'Tei must have been
+overcome with grief indeed ere she could have been guilty of so grave
+an error. But the Daimio's last demand must be rescinded. He must not
+insist upon her being present at the ceremony, or she might succumb
+under the ordeal.
+
+Angry words of protest rose to the General's lips, but for her sake
+(remembering his mother's injunctions) he mastered them, and, as the
+trio moved slowly to the castle, strove to speak with a steady voice
+and dispassionate temperance.
+
+"Far be it from me," he began, "to interfere between a wife and her
+spouse, or fatigue my lord with argument, yet would I suggest this
+much to my brother. Alas! see how weak she is--feeble in health.
+Nerves overstrung are not under complete control. But for this, the
+heiress of Nara would never have given just cause for a husband's
+displeasure by an act which we will all forget. Do not insist upon her
+witnessing the ceremony, for she has dwelt of late in such strict
+retirement that none will expect her presence."
+
+A look at No-Kami cut him short. There was a lurid glitter in his
+glance that boded serious mischief if thwarted, threatening a new
+burst of frenzy. How difficult it was to be prudent, to steer without
+shipwreck in such troubled waters. Again for a space was the General
+torn between contending duties. Was he bound blindly to follow the
+head of his clan in his mad recklessness, lead where he would? Could
+he be excused were he to look on and refrain from action while the
+soul of his love was tortured? Was it not craven idly to mark her
+growing misery? Her true knight, forsooth! A knight unarmed, his spear
+a rotten bulrush. Was it destined that he might never afford her help?
+Better go away then, back to Corea, or farther still. Yet how would
+that be possible, she in this desperate quandary? Like a green flash
+of pallid light it broke upon him clearly, as he walked beside his
+chief, that the day might come when, the weapon in the grasp of a
+higher power, he would be compelled to smite his brother. With the
+thought came a grisly dread. Desperation drives men to acts for which
+a long life of penitence may not atone. Fate is fate, and man may not
+master it.
+
+Sampei thought of his mother, and, like her, prayed to be enlightened.
+Was the doomed No-Kami indeed to fall by the treacherous hand of him
+who should be the first to help? And, ah! what a grievous punishment
+would follow, since by the very act of freeing her he would cut
+himself off from her for ever. A brother's widow and a brother's
+murderer. Wait, the Abbess had said. Wait! How long? Events rolling
+onward with the turbid tide, would it be possible to wait?
+
+The toils of destiny were wrapped around the three, clasping them
+closer and more close, as, gloomy and tempest-tossed, they passed
+under the gateway of the castle.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER IX.
+
+ THE EXECUTION.
+
+
+The Daimio was well served by his subordinates. Nothing was omitted
+which could add impressiveness to the coming rite. The two crosses
+stood facing the west, gaunt and forbidding, at a convenient distance
+one from the other, backed by the green trees, and around them was
+spread thick paper, to save the earth from pollution. It had been a
+knotty question with the chief samurai, who acted as master of the
+ceremonies, as to the exact shade of punctilio which it would be
+fitting to employ on the occasion. All the world knows that the most
+minute instructions were laid down in 1336 by Ashikaga for the
+guidance of those of upper or military class who were to assist either
+as principals or seconds at harakiri, or suicide by disembowelling.
+The exact hour, the place, the number of lights, of mats, of screens
+and hangings, bows and genuflections, according to the rank of the
+sufferer, were arranged by him in the form of a long code, and so
+complete and comprehensive were these instructions that no room was
+left for doubt as to the most trifling detail. But here was a case
+without precedent, for the sufferers were plebeians, too low and
+common to be worthy of the smallest candle or commonest mat, or,
+indeed, of anything whatever except an ignominious slaughter like
+swine. But then the Daimio had insisted that the spectators should be
+regaled with pomp and circumstance,--that the criminals should have
+the honour of being done to death within the castle precincts, and
+therefore the chief samurai was obliged to hold a council with his
+fellows for the fixing of this weighty matter.
+
+In the first place, the farmer and his wife were of too mean a stock
+to be permitted to put an end to themselves, just as the children
+were too young to perform the act, even if accorded the privilege. No,
+they must be handed over to the Etas, members of the lowest class in
+Japan--people who dig graves and kill animals--social outcasts beyond
+the pale of society, filthy and degraded, who are never allowed to
+enter a house, or eat or drink or cook at any fire in company with
+decent persons. Being unworthy of mats or hangings, the device of the
+paper was an ingenious thought, for the blood of mere peasants must
+not defile the private ground of my lord, and yet the spirits of the
+departing must not be overcomforted by too much consideration. As the
+execution was to take place at the hour of the cock, or sundown, it
+would be necessary to have lights, but not too many, or of too grand a
+kind, for excessive illumination would be indecorous. Four tall bamboo
+poles, carrying lanterns of plain white, were placed at four corners,
+while behind a screen were concealed a lance, a dirk upon a tray,
+buckets to contain the heads, an incense burner, cloths, and a pail of
+water. In the centre of the space facing the crosses, thick mats were
+laid, covered with rich embroideries, for the accommodation of my lord
+and his party, behind which was to be arranged, standing in rows, his
+brilliant retinue in their most splendid and glittering array. Down
+the sides, behind a low barrier, were mats of a coarser kind for the
+town's-people, with fire boxes or hibachis, and bronze kettles and tea
+things, and cakes and sweetmeats on trays of gold lacquer, in order
+that none of his vassals might accuse his benignant lord of want of
+hospitality or lack of thought for their comfort.
+
+It was a beautiful and still evening in autumn, with the opalescent
+sky of crystalline clearness, which so often in Japan gives us a hint
+of the infinite. The sun was just dipping behind the outer wall,
+flanked by its massive towers, tipping with gold the eddies of the
+brawling river which protected the side of the square opposite the
+crosses, when a flourish of conch shells announced that the time was
+come.
+
+With a thunder of hoofs over the wooden drawbridge, first there
+defiled a troop of cavalry with tapering lances and pennons, in
+glistening black armour and housings, each helmet adorned with the
+badge of Hojo, the face of each horse covered by a gilded mask of
+frowning and horrific aspect. Solemnly the horsemen man[oe]uvred,
+forming a hollow square of gold and sable; then at a signal the outer
+gates were opened, and with clatter of many clogs there poured in from
+the town a sea of men and women, old and young, with anxious pallid
+faces. The invitation had been accepted by all classes. Fishermen
+there were in short blue cotton shirts and tight gaiters, and mushroom
+hats roughly bedizened in colour with tigers or twisting dragons. Old
+dames and young rosy girls jostled and fought for places, for sure
+never had the oldest inhabitant been bidden to so strange a mummery.
+Artisans there were too, burly and bronzed, naked, save for a
+loin-cloth and loose jacket; and merchants and superior persons, in
+long crape kimonos, adorned with curious designs, bound round the
+waist with scarves of silk. The black phalanx looked down with scorn
+but half concealed, for never had so motley a rabblement been admitted
+within these walls, and many a timid wight glanced trembling at the
+swart fierce visages under shadow of the casques, wishing he had
+stayed away. There was one, however, conspicuous for gay attire and
+many hairpins, who, no whit abashed, looked saucily along the line,
+making loud remarks, with pointed finger, as if the motionless figures
+were statues. A very pretty little lady like a humming bird, with
+dancing eyes and silvery laugh, and hair tricked out and stiffened
+with pomade, who, by her gay dress, was a geisha or professional
+dancing-girl. All about her was small, but neat and natty and trim,
+from her tiny feet and lacquered clogs to her impudent little nose. It
+was plain that she was afraid of nothing, taking life lightly,
+resolved upon enjoying the day, however dark its setting; for,
+elbowing her way to the front, she commenced, with a comical
+assumption of haughtiness, to criticise the arrangements, as if all
+her short career had been passed in castles and palaces.
+
+The chief samurai was uncertain how to act respecting her, for she
+presumed to mock at him, and mimic his rolling swagger and pompous
+stride, rating him the while for tardiness,--a lamentable lack of
+punctuality. Who was this forward wench? he asked, awaking from dumb
+amazement, who, respecting neither place nor persons, mumbled
+sweetmeats between cherry lips, and, tapping a garish fan, shouted for
+the performance to commence! It was O'Kikú some one said, a celebrated
+dancer and spoilt beauty from distant Kamakura, who was in the habit
+of walking upon hearts, of attaching herself to richest youths like a
+tarantula, and quickly sucking them dry. She was on a pilgrimage to
+the groves of Isé--for even frail and flighty young ladies have souls
+that require doctoring--but hearing of what was toward, and the
+temptation great, had gaily tossed aside her pilgrim robes of white,
+and postponed her journey and her prayers.
+
+But now, even naughty and irrepressible O'Kikú was hushed to silence,
+for there was another flourish, and, stately and slow, with all the
+pomp of state, the procession of the Daimio marched across the bridge.
+Very handsome the two brothers looked as, in full dress, and wearing
+the courtly Naga-bakama (full long trousers of red silk), they moved
+with a lady between them--a lady who, by her exceeding stateliness and
+unusual pallor, riveted the attention of the geisha.
+
+"Patrician to the finger ends," muttered the latter approvingly. "I
+have never seen so high-bred a lady--no, not even among the gorgeous
+court of the Shogun in distant Kamakura--as noble in bearing as her
+two supporters. Which is the Daimio, I wonder? The older one, of
+course."
+
+The older one. Her heart---or what served as such--went straight out
+to him; and from her worldly point of view, in which inclination and
+interest seemed in unaccustomed fashion to mingle, she decided, as
+rustic Miné had done before her, that he, and he only, should be her
+master. The handsome stalwart fellow, bronzed and weather-worn, his
+brow crossed by a deep and honourable cicatrice! A typical soldier he,
+whom 'twould be a joy to love. The other one? Well, handsome too, but
+ill-tempered evidently; as rich in scowls as a tiger in stripes; a
+wild beast, whose taming might amuse. And yet toying with wild beasts
+is dangerous, for when they scratch they tear. Brothers apparently.
+The wife of which was the patrician lady? For a second the world-worn
+geisha felt the prick of a curious and new sensation. Could it be
+jealousy? If she were the wife of the soldier, she was a rival whom it
+would be necessary to fight and crush. Cold--almost inanimate; a
+doll--stupid probably--entirely wrapped, like so many of her station,
+in contemplation of the family tree. Pooh! an absurd rival; for sure
+no man could love an icicle. Were they newly married? This bridegroom
+with the scar was delectably attentive to his bride. How mawkish! And
+then the observant little woman noticed that the scowls of the younger
+brother were specially turned upon the icicle. Why was that? There was
+an air about him of discontented proprietorship. Suddenly she became
+aware of the richness of his attire as he took his place in the
+centre, amid the bows and genuflections of the spectators.
+
+So the younger of the twain was the Daimio, and the icicle his wife.
+What a pity that it was not the elder. It was with a twinge of genuine
+regret that the geisha turned from the bronzed hero to examine the
+chief of the clan. A forbidding savage! Clearly he did not love the
+icicle. He was fancy free. Inclination and interest as usual did not
+mingle. Heigho! must we always throw over romance for the better
+filling of our pockets? An unsatisfactory world, in sooth, where
+things have such a provoking way of clashing. A good-looking
+aristocratic person this head of the clan, if cross.
+
+"I did well to drop my foolish prayers; this is the moment for
+business," she inly murmured. "I shall have first to ensnare the
+chief, and his stalwart brother after."
+
+Her line of action thus promptly and practically decided, the young
+woman prepared her batteries.
+
+Even No-Kami, with much cause, as he told himself, for displeasure,
+could find little room for carping in the attitude of his consort, now
+frozen into compliance with his mandate. She had, as it were, gone out
+of herself, leaving a stiffened body, moved by automatic springs.
+Condemned to do awful penance, she walked mechanically, leaning on the
+arm of her brother, who glanced from time to time at her, with mixed
+satisfaction and surprise. He had dreaded lest, her task beyond her
+strength, she should quail and break down, object of derision to
+samurai; but no--the struggle was past--the blood of the Daimios of
+Nara asserted itself. Of what use was it for a girl to struggle
+against destiny? What must be, will be, despite our feeble protests.
+To beat soft palms against a wall is but to bruise and maim them. One
+who drowns, battles with futile strength among the waters, then drifts
+quiescent beyond the pale, power of resistance gone.
+
+The watchful warriors smiled, relieved, behind their iron-mounted
+tans, as silently they dropped into their places. For once their
+chatelaine was as chill and disdainful and impassable as the
+chatelaine of Tsu should be.
+
+No-Kami cast his eyes, gleaming tawny with malice satisfied, over the
+throng. He was well-pleased. As a pageant the affair was a distinct
+success, for, hemmed round by the swart square, his vassals were
+learning a lesson of fear that should stem their insolence in future.
+
+The executioner and his aids stood ready on their lengthening shadows,
+chosen from among the Etas for their breadth of beam. Their athletic
+bodies stripped to the waist, dark as burnished bronze, tatooed in
+intricate designs, with loins girt up, and hair loosely knotted, and
+sandalled feet apart, they awaited the signal of their lord.
+
+The Daimio raised his arm; the shells sent forth a blast, and at the
+warning all heads were turned, for there appeared from among the grey
+and ghostly trees the sad procession of the doomed.
+
+First, with chains about their ankles, and wrists fast bound, came the
+unlucky officials who for too slavishly literal obedience were to
+serve as a sop to the people. A purr of applause, a drawing in of the
+breath, like the sibillation of the plashing wave, went round the
+throng, as the heads of the condemned were severed; for there is no
+denying that it is delicious to enjoy the discomfiture of foes. But
+this act of popular justice accomplished, there was a pause, and then
+the assemblage, changing its tone, sent up a protesting moan of
+tribulation, accompanied by tears; for, smiling, with head well poised
+and brawny shoulders bare, the patriot, who was one of themselves,
+advanced to martyrdom. By his side, in mien as brave as he, walked in
+her best kimono his wife, the hapless Kennui, leading in each hand a
+child, pathetically crowned with simple field-flowers. Ah me! How
+grievous a spectacle was this of innocence marching to the slaughter.
+
+There was a rustle and ripple as of wind over a rice field.
+O'Tei alone of all appeared unmoved. But for the twitching of
+slightly-contracted brows, her delicate features might have been
+carven, as, peering into space and seeing nothing, she sat motionless
+with bloodless lips.
+
+Even the fair and outrageously irreverent and saucy O'Kikú, who had
+made so merry, with that musical strong voice of hers, Over the rueful
+plight of the tax-gatherers, as to draw on herself the flattering
+attention of the Daimio, was obliged, at sight of the babes, to dash
+away one tiny crystal drop; but then remembering that weeping makes
+pink the nose, and that life at best is brief, she resumed the reins
+of composure. More, for she succeeded in emitting such a jocund and
+appropriate peal of laughter as disconcerted the mob and wrung for
+behoof of the stranger a gratified inclination from my lord. Who was
+this bewitching creature? he began to ask. As good-looking as
+sensible. The eyes of the pretty girl beyond the common barrier and
+those of the great man on the mat of honour met, and from beneath a
+silky curtain the former shot forth a languishing glance of modest and
+reluctant but uncontrollable admiration, which was answered by a
+brazen ogle.
+
+O'Kikú blushed like a budding peony, which made her look more engaging
+than ever, and lowering her lids behind her fan, began seriously to
+congratulate herself. How clever she had been, adapting herself to
+circumstances, to postpone those tiresome prayers at Isé; for 'twas
+more and more evident that the great man cared nothing for the stony
+image by his side, and was susceptible to the blandishments of beauty.
+It was rather fortunate, too, that that other one with the scar upon
+his brow should be glumly engrossed in contemplating the heavens. Had
+she not, with a precision of judgment that was worthy of all praise,
+arranged that she would ensnare the great man first, and dally with
+the other afterwards? Even so well skilled a person as the geisha
+would have found it difficult to angle for both in the presence of one
+another. The Daimio caught and landed, fishing for the elder brother
+would be a delightful pastime. Yes. Business first and pleasure
+afterwards. Buddha is always on his lotus, calm and cross-legged, and
+to him, in matter of favours asked, all times are one, for is he not
+eternal? Whereas it must be evident to the smallest capacity that the
+great ones of the earth are not always accessible, but, within range,
+must be shot flying as they pass.
+
+Her plans arranged with accuracy and speed, the wily damsel commenced
+such a series of arch man[oe]uvres with eyes and fan as a long and
+varied experience had taught were deadly; a silent yet eloquent
+language, which pleasantly titillated the nerves of the first of her
+intended victims. When public opinion and your own conscience upbraid
+your act, it is consoling to be encouraged by a pair of lustrous orbs.
+Sympathy, always sweet, is doubly so when we secretly know that we are
+wrong. By contrast, O'Tei's recent behaviour now seemed doubly
+execrable to No-Kami. Her cold glance, even in the early days had
+betrayed a polite indifference, which gradually changed, as he
+remembered now with sullen ire, into an expression of scorn half
+veiled, varied with dread and horror. As he gazed on the dazzling
+geisha, his spirits rose to blytheness.
+
+How whimsical are the arrangements of Nature! He could see now why his
+wife, despite her beauty, had always been repellent. She was tall and
+frigid, with an assumption of faultlessness which cannot but be
+disapproved by those who make no pretence to ph[oe]nixdom; whereas
+there, opposite, sent by the gods to comfort his loneliness, was a
+fairy vision replete with glowing perfections, accentuated by the
+piquancy of frailty, which he yearned to clasp in his arms. Sure so
+fragile an atomy would melt away in the fervour of a hot embrace? Yet
+no. The flesh was flesh--warm with life, deliciously solid and plump
+and peachen, if sylph-like in contour.
+
+Thrilled with desire of possession, the pageant interested my lord no
+more save for the amusement it afforded to the stranger. Somewhat
+vexed and annoyed by the ill-timed gurgles of the scum (yet what can
+you expect of low people but vulgarity?), he was pleased to perceive,
+by engaging little pouts and shoulder-shrugs and entrancing
+nose-wrinklings, that the stranger from afar was with him. It was
+evident that she deemed the sentence just--his severity wise and
+opportune. Stealing a glance at the chill statue by his side, upon
+which the anxious gaze of his brother was fixed, he became much
+annoyed; for in every line of O'Tei's suffering face was imprinted
+remonstrance and despair. Sampei, too, the milksop, appeared quite as
+miserable. It was a fortunate chance indeed that had brought the
+geisha to the castle.
+
+From afar there boomed across the flat a sweet but solemn sound that
+stirred the hearts of all; for was not the peal of the great bronze
+bell of Buddha a mystic friend close woven in the life of each? Every
+day its toll awoke the slumbering peasants for miles around, preaching
+with mellow voice a life of honest labour; and, ablutions over, each
+simple man and woman, with fervent face turned to the rising sun,
+clapped palms together, craving a blessing on their toil.
+
+To the superstitious Japanese the bronze temple bell is a living
+entity. It breathes with their breath, joys with their joy, grieves
+with their sorrow. As wood and brook are peopled, so are the temple
+and groves; and the great bronze bell is the voice of the myriad
+spirits, messengers of Buddha's will. How exasperatingly pestilent,
+therefore, was it now of Masago to give to the festivity a mournful
+turn of warning by slowly beating the bell as if for some popular
+calamity.
+
+A shudder passed over the crowd. Hark' What was that? The soughing of
+the wind? The twee-twee of the shrill cicada? No. A faint and distant
+chant, growing each moment louder; and, as he heard, the face of my
+lord grew purple and his brow black with rage, which he was vainly
+seeking to control. He, like the others, guessed the purport of the
+music, and his fingers mechanically sought his sword-hilt. That
+abominable Abbess, not to be daunted by recent contumely, was again
+coming to the castle with all her bonzes and her maidens to demand at
+least the lifeless bodies of those who were about to die. Nothing
+could be more inopportune,--better calculated to mar the pageant; for
+of what use were sweetmeats and fruit and the best tea as concomitants
+to a grim enjoyment made fascinating by wholesome terror, if the
+occasion were suddenly to be turned into one of open mourning? What
+was to be done? If 'twas but a bevy of priests, a few deft taps in
+tender places with the bamboo would send them squealing; but the
+voices were those of women, and even a tyrannical daimio will not gain
+in dignity by the scourging of a posse of girls. For an instant he
+breathed a deep curse upon all women--universal marplots; but,
+catching the glance of the stranger, he recanted. Even she found it
+difficult to combat her emotion. Her cheek had blanched, her lovely
+bosom heaved under the crape kimono; but being a damsel of strong
+will, gifted with a power of seeing ahead, she forced an arch flash
+from her eye, for the comfort of her new adorer. By a swift signal
+she bade him know that her sympathy was with him still. By instinct
+born of new affection, he seemed to read her thoughts. Abbesses are
+cross-grained, churlish hags, she seemed to say,--disappointed because
+youth has fled. Yet, in her heart, she could not but be aware that
+things were going badly, and that the effect produced by that gruesome
+festivity was far from the one intended. Well, so much the better, for
+her sympathy was rendered thereby more precious. Instead of accepting
+their harsh lesson with humble and meek duty, the fractious mob of
+artizans and mean persons, who should have been awed by mere admission
+within the castle, were presuming, with sighs and lamentations, openly
+to side with the convicted! With sobs and streaming cheeks the
+spectators leaned over the barriers, and, with low murmurs of "Cruel!"
+and "Pitiless!" threw their sweetmeats to the little ones.
+
+Beyond the outer wall, glinting through embrasures in the masonry, the
+rapid river rushed red and golden, flushed by the sinking sun. Its
+glitter was reflected in the eyes of Koshiu, who, with a martyr's
+smile, hearkened to the swell of the dirge. How comforting it was! How
+good of Buddha, the silent and watchful, thus to have inspired his
+priestesses! The will of a wicked man could keep them beyond the moat,
+but their voices, preternaturally clear with words from beyond the
+grave, floated over bolts and barriers. 'Twas with exultation and
+glee, as of one heated with warm wine, that, drawing his burly form to
+its full height, Koshiu turned him to his wife as both were bound to
+their crosses.
+
+"Cheer thee, dear Kennui!" he gaily laughed. "A spasm, and then
+happiness. It is given me to see, and I behold. Our poor transient
+lives are forfeit in this dim world of twilight, but our end is
+gained. The odious taxes are removed, and our brethren, not yet ripe
+for flitting, may rise upon their feet; for my lord is banned, the
+days of his oppression numbered. With deep humility and praise I see a
+miracle. In the next cycle--which is but a tiny step--we are rich and
+prosperous, ay and, oh wonder! reunited. Gennosuké will be reborn to
+us, and our little Sohei and dear Kihachi, in a clime where the Hojos
+are not."
+
+As the chant pealed louder yet, the chief victim was wrapped in
+ecstasy, shared as it seemed by his faithful helpmeet, for with bright
+eyes fixed on him she forgot her children's suffering, wistfully
+awaiting their rebirth.
+
+Not so the appalled audience, who, shivering with terror, watched the
+Etas at their work. Who may presume to gauge the designs of the
+Eternal? For his own mysterious ends--upright on his lotos--he was
+permitting this great wickedness; but whilst permitting, and lest
+mortals should lose their trust, and topple into unbelief, he deigned
+to raise a corner of the veil. 'Twas clear that the doomed farmer was
+big with prophecy. What words would next drop from his lips? And about
+the heads of the children too--the innocents--there gleamed a mystic
+radiance. When, to accompany their feudal leader on his passage of the
+river Sandzu, the privileged members of his bodyguard perform the rite
+of harakiri, 'tis the deliberate act of mature men, whose hands are
+steadied by faith unwavering. As such, it inspires respect and awe in
+which there is no fear. But to look on at ignorant and helpless
+infants butchered! oh, woeful sight! And, while the dread deed is
+being done, to hearken to the prophetic words of him who stands beside
+them on the brink. Well may the cheek blanch and the breast heave of
+those privileged to witness such a spectacle! Sure 'twas supported by
+the holy finger of the Unseen himself that Gennosuké assumed a manly
+dignity beyond his thirteen years as, stretching forth his head to the
+knife, he looked calmly up at the executioner. "Oh, father and
+mother," he simply said, "and little brothers, I go first, to wait for
+you, and will put forth my hand to help you across the river. All you
+who have come to see us die, farewell! and to you, sir, also a kind
+farewell. Hurt me as little as you may."
+
+Even the headsman, a stalwart Eta, brutalised by his bleeding and long
+years of taunts and flouts, turned a glassy eye of appeal upon his
+lord, but seeing no mercy on his gloomy visage, was fain, unnerved and
+stricken to the heart, to do his revolting duty. A gleam through the
+still air, and straightway a piteous wail from the onlookers, in
+harmony with the distant dirge.
+
+Then said the second lad, miraculously brave,--"I know not how to die,
+sir, and I beg you teach me." His blood was quickly swallowed by the
+greedy sand; and then 'twas the turn of the babe--the wee naked urchin
+with skin so berry-brown, who wist so little what was forward that, as
+he stretched his tiny fingers for a persimmon that was tossed to him,
+he was sent to rejoin his brethren.
+
+Roused by the groan that was forced from many breasts, Kennui spoke,
+her eyes fixed steadily upon her husband. "Mourn not," she said, as
+one who beholds a vision. "How blessed are we! From the first you
+foresaw this fate. A little wrench--no more. Man lives but for a
+lifetime, his good name for many, and that is more precious than
+life!"
+
+The voice of Kennui waxed faint, for, tight bound as she was, the
+spear of the Eta was more kindly than the Hojo; and it was only when
+he knew himself alone--all those he loved waiting on the further
+shore--that the farmer roused himself from musing.
+
+Twisting his body towards my lord so far as his bonds permitted, he
+slowly wagged his head and laughed low and long. "Could I live here
+five hundred lives in pomp like thee," he said, "I would not, knowing
+that which will come after. Oh, cruel one! oh, pitiless!--steeped to
+the lips in crime. Fence thee with walls, and moats, and barriers of
+stone, my spirit shall burst them all to avenge thy deed this day!
+Hearken to my voice. Mark my red eyes. Waking and sleeping--in the din
+of battle--in thy secret chamber--they shall be with thee. When they
+fade, know that thy end is nigh. Thy time is brief. All-patient Buddha
+sickens at thee. Last of thy race. Thou and thine--all, all--shall
+perish miserably--thy name a horror for all time."
+
+The voice of the martyr choked. The sable phalanx of grim warriors
+quaked and rustled in their armour like leaves before the coming
+storm. The Eta, scarce knowing what he did, beside himself with fear,
+plunged the lance into his side.
+
+The head of the farmer drooped; his eyes filmed, then opened wide
+lurid, reflecting the crimson sunset. "See yonder river," he gasped,
+"and take a sign. 'Tis tinged with blood already, sucked from thy
+fortress stones. See how red it flows! A day shall come when it will
+lap those stones no more. Then shall thy house fall, a shapeless ruin.
+Cursed, thrice cursed, be the long line of Hojo! In cycles yet to come
+may they stumble and wander, led astray, hopeless, and blind, and
+never attain oblivion!"
+
+The Daimio, with lightning in his glance, and terror in his heart,
+rose up, and, speechless with passion, stretched forth his hand. The
+trembling Eta again thrust in his weapon, and the voice of menace was
+hushed. But the sightless eyes still gazed at him, who was accursed as
+from out of the infinite, and the reflection from the river shone
+forth, cast back ensanguined, from them.
+
+A panic fell on the spectators. The men, fearing they knew not what,
+grew pale; the women shrieked, and stuffed fingers into ears, or clung
+wildly one to another. The samurai, grouped behind their lord, placed
+hands on swords, irresolute; for there was no foe worthy of their
+steel. A regrettable _dénouement_. 'Twas the Eta's fault--the tardy
+caitiff! His life should pay the penalty. Then of a sudden there was a
+diversion. The lady O'Tei, who, statue-like and numb, had witnessed
+the scene as one who saw not, willowed forward with a moan, and fell
+on her face unconscious.
+
+No-Kami looked around, his eyes bloodshot like the dead. Humiliation
+on humiliation. So intense was the depth of his impotent wrath, that
+his hands trembled, and his nerves were wrung with agony. What?
+He? Hojo No-Kami--tyrant of broad Japan, master of the Emperor
+himself--before whom all daimios and kugés and hatamotos were wont to
+bow, was to be bearded--openly insulted--by a low peasant fellow
+within the precincts of his castle, before his assembled vassals! The
+wretch was dead, worse luck, out of reach of further torment, bleeding
+from many spear-wounds; but ere he died he had covered his lord with
+ridicule. How different was the result of the pageant from that which
+had been proposed. The superstitious people clearly believed that the
+body hanging by its ropes was that of a martyred saint, who had spoken
+the words of Buddha; not of an insolent varlet who had perished with
+deserved ignominy. They believed the absurd threat about the river,
+and looked with awe for the accomplishment of the prophecy. The only
+dignified way out of the dilemma was by treating it with light
+contempt, turning it off as a sorry jest, with a peal of disdainful
+merriment. The attitude of Sampei was worthy of his stock. Involved
+with his brother in the curse, he had raised his brows in angry scorn,
+while his fingers moved towards his dirk. Then of a sudden, his manner
+had lamentably changed. With a sibillation of dismay, he had knelt
+over the swooning chatelaine, striving to call her to herself with
+gentle words of comfort. O'Tei! Ah, there was the worst point of all!
+By fainting thus inopportunely, she had accentuated the falseness of
+the position. That she (the chatelaine of Tsu) should cower under the
+anathema of a peasant. How different would have been the conduct of
+the bellicose Tomoyé. To swoon thus in public, was to betray unfitness
+for her rank,--to allow the scum to perceive that she believed in
+the curse, and its justice,--that she disapproved the fiat of my
+lord,--regretted his well-timed severity. Sampei was right when he
+pleaded for the too weak O'Tei. So scalding was the shame of the
+Daimio, that, but for the intervening figure of his brother, he would
+then and there have struck the craven chatelaine. And yet not so. His
+loathing and hatred for his unworthy partner was so intense, that
+contact even with her robe-hem would at this juncture have been most
+distasteful. Glancing about for consolation, his eyes met those of
+O'Kikú, and there shot into his heart a glow of solace which to its
+emptiness had been long unknown.
+
+Circumstances were assisting the man[oe]uvres of the cunning geisha
+more than she could have dared to hope. The helpless misery of
+No-Kami, as he looked down upon his wife, was a confirmation of her
+conjectures. A chicken-hearten rival, easily vanquished, this
+high-bred chatelaine would prove, since she would obtain no support
+from her spouse. The brother was unnecessarily affectionate. What did
+this portend? O'Kikú's smooth brow was wrinkled by a frown. Pooh! She
+had heard much of the General, whose name was Sampei--the name she
+learned from the crowd. He was good-natured and generous, no more.
+This was not the moment to dream of him, since the head of his clan
+was standing by in need of moral support.
+
+O'Kikú had lived an eventful life, if a short one, and was not one to
+be alarmed by spectres. Taken aback for a moment, somewhat frightened
+by the scene, involved for a few seconds in the unreasoning panic of
+the mob, she had quickly regained aplomb.
+
+Tapping her fan against the barrier with a peevish shrug of shapely
+shoulders, she demanded, in a chirrupping voice, as loud and clear as
+musical, to be instantly rescued from contamination.
+
+"It serves me right," she cried, tossing her chin, "for abandoning the
+realm of fashion. Faugh! Was there ever anything so disgusting as
+these rustics? The country with its evil-smelling rice paddy and foul
+slush was fit for them, and they for it. What a ridiculous pother, to
+be sure, over one paltry man's impertinence! The ways of the coolies
+were nauseous. Thank the gods, she was unaccustomed to coolies. If
+some one would have the gallantry to remove her from their contact,
+she would skip into her kago, and return to Kamakura forthwith." Oh,
+intriguing and long-headed O'Kikú! Ah, if O'Tei had had presence of
+mind to accept the situation in this spirit! Could No-Kami ever lavish
+sufficient gratitude for so signal a service rendered in the nick of
+time?
+
+The bewitching tourist had touched the right note, and saved the
+Daimio from embarrassment. With a smile of thanks, he bowed, and
+commanded an officer without delay to extricate the lady from the
+scum. With courteous apologies and well-turned compliments he
+descended from the dais, and, taking the stranger by the finger-tips,
+led her to the place of honour. Ignoring his wife, who, seemingly as
+lifeless as the farmer's family, was being gently borne away, under
+the tender surveillance of his brother, he was free to superintend the
+stranger's comfort, to see that the new-comer was provided with tea,
+in a cup of the best hirado, and plied with the choicest sweetmeats. A
+blush of gratified vanity served to add piquancy to her beauty, as,
+with an engaging air of bashfulness that went well with long lashes
+and sly glances, she seemed to deprecate attention.
+
+"I was so sorry for you," she gently purred; "but 'tis the penalty of
+greatness to be misinterpreted."
+
+Fanning herself with demure grace, she turned her pretty head aside to
+hearken to the words of her host, gazing the while with studied
+nonchalance at the proceedings of the Etas as they placed the heads in
+buckets, piled the bodies of the infants behind a convenient screen,
+did away with tokens of the sacrifice. The hollow square of
+dark-mailed men remained motionless till it should please their lord
+to move; but under many an iron vizard was a smile lurking, for the
+conduct of the saucy lady was approved by all, and the admiration of
+No-Kami no more than natural. Unlike the one who had been borne away,
+she was an honour to her sex, a vision of brightness and of courage,
+and gladly would one and all have hailed such as she for their
+mistress.
+
+"You were cruel just now," whispered No-Kami; "though, after what has
+happened, 'twas your right."
+
+"Cruel? Poor little I?" exclaimed the artless geisha. "Why, I never
+hurt so much as a buzzing mantis when it tumbled on my head, as the
+vexatious insects will! I cruel indeed!"
+
+"You said you would depart forthwith; but you forgot that within these
+walls you are our prisoner."
+
+"I was on my way to pray at Isé," remarked the demure damsel; "sure
+you would not balk so pious an intent?"
+
+"That can wait--and must!" returned the Daimio. "Bad impressions must
+be effaced. You must not relate to the Shogun, on your return to
+Kamakura, how the lion of Tsu was bearded. For a few days, at least,
+you stay as our guest, or else our captive."
+
+O'Kikú laughed a rippling laugh, as she considered within herself as
+to which was likely to be the captive.
+
+"When a great lord commands," she murmured, "a poor weak girl obeys."
+
+Exultant glee pervaded the bosom of the Daimio. The welcome new-comer
+should be his guest--his honoured guest---and the pusillanimous O'Tei
+should be taught manners by example. He was about to move towards the
+castle, conducting with due ceremony the lady thither, when, with a
+familiar fan-tap on the arm, she stayed his progress.
+
+"You are so good and kind,--so generous, and so wickedly
+misinterpreted," she whispered hurriedly, "that I take courage,
+although a stranger, to crave a boon. Your object accomplished, 'tis
+the moment to show clemency, and disclaim the stigma of the tyrant.
+Those nuns still sing without, awaiting the bodies for interment. Let
+them be delivered up to them. The first favour I ever asked," she
+added gently, seeing the Daimio hesitate. "Believe me, 'twould be an
+act of policy, and stay farther clamour."
+
+No-Kami looked down into the deep dark well of her eyes, from which he
+could see peeping his own pleased reflection. Why, what a treasure was
+this--a wise little counsellor! More than ever was he disgusted with
+the absent chatelaine, who could only implore, and writhe, and groan,
+and grovel on the ground in intervals of stony glaring. Practical, and
+shrewd, and plump, and purring was this fairy by his side. She should
+have her boon, and welcome, with many thanks for the suggestion.
+
+The Daimio having been pleased to announce that, yielding to the
+intercession of his charming guest, Masago might be permitted to
+remove the corpses, he crossed the inner moat, followed by his
+brilliant train, while the grim samurai laughed behind their vizards,
+wondering how the ladies would agree.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER X.
+
+ FOREBODINGS.
+
+
+It was with feelings strangely mingled that the concourse prepared to
+depart. For their good, the farmer had suffered martyrdom; himself and
+his family were swept like insects from the earth, but not from the
+grateful memories of the people. No sooner was the inner drawbridge
+raised behind the departing despot, than with one accord all meekly
+knelt while the Abbess issued orders. Her brow was more sombre than
+its wont, her jaw more firmly set, as the troubled elders related what
+had happened. She had prayed for light, but Buddha had vouchsafed no
+answer. What was this coil that was winding slowly but surely round
+the son of him who had been her husband? Ay, round her own son as
+well, the noble Sampei. It was under misapprehension that Koshiu had
+included him in his anathema, supposing him the seducer of his child;
+yet here was the child, clad now in the crape of a nun, as pure as she
+had ever been. The farmer was in error, and surely idle curses recoil
+on those who launch them. Sampei, the brave and generous, was without
+reproach. Even sleepy Buddha must know that. Perchance he was at this
+moment rating Koshiu, on the further bank of the mystic Sandzu, for
+his precipitate injustice. Masago strove to persuade herself that it
+must be so, whilst striving to console the terror-stricken Miné, and
+yet at the bottom of her heart there was apprehension, a dull weight
+of cold foreboding.
+
+The ways of Heaven are so strange, so unaccountable sometimes, and to
+our purblind vision so unjust, that the most robust of faith is
+sometimes sorely shaken. Miné wrung her hands, refusing comfort. As
+with trembling fingers she untied the bonds which supported her dead
+father, she prayed to him with cries and lamentations. It was through
+her own wrongheaded madness that the mistake had occurred. Sure her
+parent knew it now. If the curse must fall on one of the two, let it
+be on her, for she was in fault, not the glorious young General. Could
+he hear her now, her father? Oh, for some sign that he could hear and
+would grant her humble petition! Wretched, wretched child! Her
+punishment was already greater than she could bear, for was not she
+doomed to drag on a sad existence, stripped of all her kin. Had she
+but behaved as a dutiful daughter should, instead of grieving now,
+heart-broken, she would be standing on the further bank of the river
+of death along with Gennosuké, and little Sohei, and sweet Kihachi.
+Alack! alack! While the bereaved daughter raved, distracted, the
+elders of Tsu and the outlying villages were taking counsel. A notice
+had been handed to them, on the part of their lord, which ran
+thus:--"The property of the deceased, his rice fields and corn fields,
+and forest and mountain land, shall be sold without delay, and divided
+into two parts; one shall be paid over to the lord of the estate; the
+other, by his extreme condescension, shall be the portion of the
+culprit's daughter, who has been permitted to live. This is to show
+how godlike and noble is your master; and it is hereby strictly
+forbidden to make comments on the sentence, or find fault with this
+his decision."
+
+One-half for Miné, who was in some sort an heiress, then. Poor heart!
+She little recked of her good fortune. The temple yonder would be the
+richer for her portion, for she was Buddha's servant now,--his
+handmaid till her spirit was released. With regard to the dead, the
+elders consulted awhile, and then with calm decision Zembei, supported
+by Rokubei, rose from his knees and spoke.
+
+"Dear friends," he said, "Koshiu, who suffered this day, bruised his
+bones and crushed his soul for your sakes. In appealing direct to the
+Most Holy Mikado he sinned greatly, but 'twas from excess of zeal; and
+in being compelled to see those he loved massacred before his eyes,
+his punishment was in excess of his misdemeanour. We have decided that
+honour shall be paid to him, for indeed before his death he was the
+mouthpiece of the Eternal, who deigned to speak through his lips.
+It is meet therefore that we, his old friends, who loved him and
+his as ourselves--though perhaps on one occasion we were unduly
+selfish--should undertake this matter. We will leave our homes and
+lands in possession of our heirs, and, shaving our heads, will retire
+for a while to the top of the holy mountain; and after a period of
+probation, will descend from Mount Kôya in Kishiu, and, becoming
+priests, will wander from town to town, praying at every shrine for
+the souls of the departed, collecting as we go from the charity of all
+good people. And then, having collected enough, we will erect a temple
+over their bones, with six Buddhas in bronze to do them honour, and
+there shall prayers be offered up for ever for them, and also for us."
+
+The people listened to the oration, and bowed their heads without a
+word, for the decision of the elders was good and natural. All
+therefore lighting paper lanterns, for it was dark now, turned to
+follow across the outer moat, away along the straggling interminable
+street, the procession of the dead.
+
+Masago had accepted a temporary trust, and it was well. Within the
+darkling groves of her sacred pines should the victims lie at peace,
+until such time as, by divine grace, the elders should return to
+fulfil their holy task; and it behoved those here assembled, who had
+witnessed the sacrifice, to offer a prayer together, and commence
+among themselves a collection for the building of a shrine.
+
+Solemn and slow, like an army of glow-worms, the procession wended
+along to the sad chant of nuns and bonzes; and, unknown to them, as
+the simple people marched, there followed a fervent benison from the
+lips of one despairing. The dreary chatelaine was sitting at an upper
+casement of the castle, wistfully gazing into the night.
+
+Recovering consciousness, the Lady O'Tei found herself in her bower,
+surrounded by grieving maidens, and was relieved, glancing fearfully
+around, to miss the figure of my lord. She was spared his hateful
+presence. For that small mercy, thanks. For, still and self-possessed
+as she had appeared during the ordeal, thereby winning the admiration
+of Sampei, and, even for a time, the grudging approval of No-Kami, the
+chatelaine had suffered so intensely as to produce a crisis in her
+nature.
+
+During the short while that the scene lasted, years seemed to have
+passed over her head. Hitherto she had been weary and empty and
+unhappy--deeply miserable, but yet with a germ of hope half stifled.
+That germ was quite dead now, shrivelled and black. She was beset with
+an intense craving for rest and sleep,--for the fragrant perfume of
+the earth. Although the execrated name of Hojo was hers, the scathing
+curse on all who bore the name passed harmless over her. Her
+conscience was clear. She had done all that within her lay to save the
+victims, and, calm and still in outward aspect, had suffered far more
+than they. A threat of proximate death?--release! The world, whose
+beauty she had so intensely enjoyed ages ago at Nara, was repellent
+now,--a hideous mockery,--a skull crowned with flowers. For how false
+was its song of sweetness, since such wickedness and injustice
+flourished in its midst. A world of disease and pain and sorrow. In
+this life are not many punished for their virtues, as a set-off to the
+manner in which others are rewarded for their vices? What wonder if
+people fall under burthens too heavy for their backs?
+
+Koshiu and his had already entered on a new and smiling existence; if
+his dying words might be believed, had started under sunny auspices on
+the next round of life. And at the same time he had prophesied that no
+Hojo henceforth might ever win peace. They were doomed to wander from
+one globe to another, gaining no step, rising no higher on the earth,
+for all eternity! How horrible! So dread a bolt overshot its mark; for
+sure the universe must be ruled by fiends if those whose crime is to
+bear an execrated name are for that to be undone for ever. To die, and
+try again, and yet again, in vain--a weary prospect. The sooner the
+better, after all, for no future phase could be less tolerable to the
+Lady O'Tei than the present one. She was condemned, as it seemed,
+never to attain aught that she desired; never to have a prayer
+answered, or a wish gratified. And all that she now longed for was
+repose. Ah, how vain that wish! For never may we enjoy perfect rest
+save in far-off Nirvana--away in the incalculable and limitless
+Nirvana! where, when time is dead for us, refined and freed from the
+last speck of dross, we are to achieve the reward of nonexistence.
+
+O'Tei had learned to despise her husband more and more, but now
+she had a new and positive feeling for him--active and sore and
+gnawing--one of _intensest hatred_. And she was his--bound to obey his
+whim. How long? For his part, he took little trouble to conceal that
+he hated her, and would be glad to be rid of an encumbrance. Should
+she fling herself at his feet, and, baring her white bosom, implore
+the mercy of his dirk? No. She shuddered as she thought that he would
+laugh--that fierce and ugly laugh of his that made her blood run
+cold--would spurn and revile, hissing forth _recreant_, but yet would
+forbear to strike her. There was nothing for it but plodding
+patience,--a stringing of the nerves to endurance--slow, continuous,
+monotonous--the hardest of all tasks to an overwrought and nervous
+woman.
+
+Meanwhile Masago, moving like a tall still ghost at the head of the
+procession, was disturbed and exercised in mind. How strangely things
+were going. If she might only be allowed to see. What thunderous
+clouds were gathering? Was the appalling prophecy to be accomplished
+to the letter? Like the chatelaine, her being rose in protest. Was her
+own brave boy, innocent of all wrong, to be involved with the rest,
+simply because his name was Hojo--the guiltless suffering for the
+guilty? Why, so was hers. Though but a second wife or concubine, she
+was mother of a Hojo--proud to call herself Hojo--jealous of the
+family honour, although of plebeian birth. She could quite understand
+the feelings of the rough warriors towards a chatelaine who was to
+them a riddle; but she, discerning, renowned for subtle acumen, could
+see under the rind what a fragrant nature was O'Tei's, if it had not
+been nipped half-blown. She sighed heavily as she walked, and pondered
+of O'Tei. What of this new element introduced into the castle--of
+discord surely? Not of necessity so. Should No-Kami elect to take the
+new-comer to himself, as folk already whispered, what of it? Had not
+his father done the same? And she, Masago (concubine), and the
+bellicose Tomoyé (wife) had never quarrelled.
+
+But then O'Tei was so different from her predecessor. She was so odd
+and sensitive and self-contained, given to contemplative fancies which
+served no good purpose. Masago, the sage, was quite angry sometimes
+when she considered the education of O'Tei. She, an abbess, should
+know something of such matters, and there was no doubt about it that
+the bonzes and priestesses of Nara had blundered. The heiress of Nara
+was destined by her birth to a grand alliance, to reign in a world of
+strife, and they should have combated, while the nature of their pupil
+was yet malleable, such tendencies as might be likely to interfere
+with the young lady's future happiness. Dancing the kagura in a wood
+was all very well for priestesses, but in a fierce age, when every
+man's hand is at his fellow's throat, the female head of a warlike
+household should be taught to hold her own. Poor O'Tei had never been
+properly prepared, and was in truth no more fit to cope with the
+difficulties of her high position than would be the merest coolie's
+daughter.
+
+In the candour of self-communing Masago admitted this much to herself,
+making apologies the while for the shortcomings of her favourite, and
+laying the blame upon the priesthood.
+
+And again the question would assert itself--Was the new element for
+harmony or discord? If she could only know, and help to keep matters
+straight. If O'Tei were sensible, she would accept the second wife
+with gratitude, for she would be relieved of the society of one whom
+she abhorred. But then O'Tei was so peculiar. And so much depended on
+the attitude assumed by the second wife, if second wife she were to
+be. She, Masago, and Tomoyé had got on so splendidly that, as she
+thought of the past, a faint blush of self-complacency tinged the
+Abbess's ascetic cheek. No doubt about it. She, Masago, had displayed,
+as she usually did, consummate tact. In fact, in their instance, the
+two wives completed each other. Each had the talent which was denied
+to her companion, for Tomoyé often declared that though her muscle was
+a marvel her brain was wanting, while Masago was the best of advisers,
+although no warrior. Hence, whilst both adoring their lord from their
+own point of view, they could perfectly trust each other without
+jealousy, and play into one another's hands--a fact which was clearly
+proven when the regnant Hojo wearied of his concubine. Tomoyé did her
+best to retain the second wife (not knowing what the next fancy of her
+lord might be), and constantly sought counsel from Masago after her
+assumption of the crape.
+
+Masago therefore, as she walked, summoned to her side the
+devoted elders who were so soon to embrace the priesthood, and
+cross-questioned them narrowly. They had observed, had they, in my
+lord's visage, how desperately he had become enamoured? They were
+certain that his sudden passion would insist on being gratified? But
+what if the travelling geisha were a light-o'-love to be picked up too
+easily to-day and cast forth to-morrow? Rokubei shook his head. The
+astute Masago--all-wise counsellor--would never venture so futile a
+suggestion had she once scanned the lady with her searching scrutiny.
+Oh, a cunning and fascinating lady! A petulant and wilful lady, and an
+obstinate! Ay, and a circumspect. What object could she have had in
+insisting on the bodies being given up, except to ingratiate herself
+with the lower lieges? What cared she, a stranger from afar, for a
+farmer of Tsu or his family? And then, that way she had of sending
+gleams out of her dark velvet eyes from under the deep fringes. Even
+he, Rokubei, who spoke, and who shortly on the holy hill was to have
+his pate shaven, was fain to admit, under the seal of secrecy, that
+his own, for the future ascetic, bosom had been pervaded by
+inconvenient warmth under the glamour of those lightning shafts, and
+all the while he knew that they were intended for another. And my
+lord, so inflammable, so given to indulgence, who knew so little of
+the curb! Masago might believe, or not, the speaker, but it was clear
+to him that in a few days--nay, hours--the too fascinating geisha
+O'Kikú would rule the Daimio and his vassals, whether for good or evil
+was as yet in the womb of time.
+
+Masago listened, and became more and more uneasy. Could it be possible
+that she, who had that day only appeared upon the scene, was the
+chosen instrument--selected beforehand and arrived exactly in
+time--for the fulfilment of the prophecy? Was she to undermine with
+her pink little fingers the great dynasty of Hojo? and, if so, how?
+For the advantage of the dynasty she, the discarded second wife, would
+gladly sacrifice herself and wear her fingers to the bone; would even
+surrender the life of her dearly-beloved son Sampei for its advantage.
+Fool! unreasoning woman, and incorrigible fool! Who was she to presume
+to combat Destiny?--to raise her weak hand in feeble protest against
+the finger of Buddha, the all-seeing? Although the blasphemous
+suggestion had unbidden entered her brain, vigils and much praying
+would be needed to atone for its presence. She would kneel on
+the stones throughout the ensuing darkness, praying for pardon
+and for light. How may we, however watchful, guard against
+presumption--against pitting our puny sagacity against the Infinite?
+
+And though she fulfilled her self-imposed penance, remaining until
+dawn, despite years and infirmities, with forehead resting on the
+stones, maternity struggled with asceticism. Her bowels yearned over
+Sampei--the pride, the flower of Japan--and she prayed as only a
+mother can pray that her boy might escape the curse. How willingly,
+she pleaded, would she herself submit for his dear sake to recommence
+the ladder from the bottom. She knew not, of course, how high she had
+attained by long and painful climbing, but from her present
+consideration and eminence she must be considerably advanced on her
+pilgrimage. She would sacrifice all--all--with what ecstatic joy--for
+his sake. And as she lay convulsed in the dark, with the drops of a
+mother's travail coursing down her wrinkled brow, she never dreamed
+that in the pure intensity of undimmed devotion she might be in the
+act of rising yet another step. In the morning, feeble and exhausted,
+she turned her to the newborn orb as he showed above the glorious sea,
+and, vaguely relieved, sat basking in his beams. Then struggling up
+she groped to her cell with lagging feet, and sank into a stupor of
+fatigue.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XI.
+
+ THE CURSE BEGINS TO WORK.
+
+
+And Sampei, what of him, under the new _régime_, inaugurated so
+unexpectedly? Could his mother have delved into his storm-riven soul,
+she would have won no comfort by her prayers. Never was luckless
+warrior so hedged about with difficulties, which might not be
+vanquished with the sword. His influence over No-Kami was proved to be
+practically nil, for the latter was unable to comprehend his brother's
+character any better than that of his wife. What good then was to be
+gained by lingering at Tsu? The question had propounded itself before,
+to be set aside. Why shun it now? More than once Sampei determined
+that flight is in some cases the truest valour, and on every occasion
+the haunting and ever-present face of his early love upbraided him for
+selfishness, in that he was her only champion.
+
+It was a fine specimen of bravery, in sooth, to be self-elected "own
+true knight," and run away at the first appearance of the enemy. That
+the new-comer would prove an enemy there was little room for doubt.
+Such a reproach should never be hurled at our young General, he
+doughtily determined. The more he saw of the fair O'Kikú, the more
+uneasy did he grow. There was no knowing how soon O'Tei might require
+protection from her. He might be of use. That was enough. Under the
+circumstances, despite his mother's warnings, Sampei resolved to
+stay--moth dancing round a candle--and keep an eye upon the geisha.
+
+The proceedings of that winsome fairy, when installed within the
+castle, bade fair to set its inmates by the ears. With a vast parade
+of prudery she insisted at first upon apartments being provided as
+remote as might be from my lord's. A series of pleading messages,
+mingled with threats, were required ere she would consent to appear in
+the hall and perform graceful measures, or sing and play upon the
+samisen. Her performance finished, she would smile, and bow, and kiss
+her finger tips, and then flee like the timid hare. When No-Kami, who,
+tantalised, grew hourly more amorous, chid his guest for suspicion of
+his motives, she shrugged her shoulders, and imperiously demanded her
+kago. "I am detained here against my will," she would remark pouting.
+"'Tis monstrous dull, and to return to delightful Kamakura is my most
+ardent wish." And then with distracting little sighs wrung from a
+plump heaving bosom, she would dilate upon the glories of the Shogun's
+court,--tell of the tiltings, the hawking parties--constant flow of
+jocund gatherings--till the undisciplined Daimio clenched his nails
+into his palms with jealousy, and the lady laughed behind her fan.
+
+Before many days had passed, it was announced that O'Kikú had
+consented to remain at Tsu, the acknowledged second wife; and the
+samurai congratulated one another, looking forward to a period of
+liveliness. As for their chatelaine, they thought no more of her; took
+no heed of her incomings or outgoings; for she drew the curtains of
+her litter close, and rarely went forth at all except on some
+charitable errand. Really such mean-spirited conduct in a Hojo's wife
+was a distinct besmirching of the name; and the younger and more
+unruly of the warriors purposely turned their backs upon her kago, to
+avoid saluting its passage.
+
+The Lady O'Tei, as proud as any of them, though they wist it not,
+marked their growing insolence, and stored their insults in her
+embittered heart; and more than ever loathed her lord, on account of
+her false position, as well as his new favourite. From the moment of
+the latter's advent O'Tei abandoned for ever any idea of attempting to
+exert influence over him. On that last occasion when she bowed her
+pride and humbled herself to the very dust before No-Kami, the attempt
+was crowned with disaster. It was decreed that she must live, must
+breathe the same air as he. What must be must; but she would look on
+him in future as little as she might. That he should choose to take a
+second wife, the first or legitimate one proving barren, was not
+surprising. The latter had neither right nor desire to object; but it
+was clearly his duty to see that the introduction of the second spouse
+brought no slight upon the first. Instead of demanding her rights, and
+boldly grappling at once with a situation that was ominous of evil,
+and so defining the geisha's place without more ado, O'Tei made
+another mistake. Haughtily she withdrew within herself and brooded
+over her wrongs, leaving to the intruder a clear field, of which she
+was not slow to take advantage.
+
+Having achieved the position for which she had so cleverly angled,
+O'Kikú threw down the mask, shook off her bashful ways. Wherever my
+lord could go, the damsel argued, so could she, for was she not young
+and active? By his side in the chase she rode, untiring. When he
+reviewed his men within the outer moat, she stood beside him, and with
+amusing sharpness rated them all soundly for their awkwardness.
+Accustomed to a disdainful mistress who interested herself not at all
+in their doings, the warriors were surprised and enchanted. She would
+even condescend to come down sometimes, looking so fresh and bright
+and cheery, into the outer hall, where the soldiery lounged, yawning,
+and administer reviving draughts. The throat of the soldier, she would
+laughingly observe, is curiously parched, always yearning for
+saké,--quite a serious disease, and catching too; one which was common
+in the army. And then she would familiarly take their swords from
+them--the swords which are the souls of the samurai--and closely
+examining the blades, demand the genealogy of each.
+
+No-Kami was flattered when he observed what a favourite his choice was
+becoming with high and low alike. The men, one and all, adored her,
+some of them declaring that she was a sunbeam detached miraculously
+from the orb of life to illumine the darkness of their fortress.
+
+At this moment the ambition of O'Kikú should have been satisfied, for
+she could wind my lord and all his men around her finger, ruling them
+as she listed. She held in supremest contempt the real chatelaine, as
+an enemy not worthy of her steel--usurping her position and her
+duties; taking pleasure in exposing her to ridicule. Low born as she
+was herself--sprung from the gutter--there was something particularly
+delightful in insulting the heiress of Nara; but the sharp, tiny pins
+did not seem to rankle. This was annoying. Egged on little by little,
+piqued by O'Tei's attitude of scornful indifference, the concubine
+went dangerously far. She gathered around her a bevy of maidens more
+numerous and more splendidly attired than those of her superior; she
+exacted from the soldiery special homage which was due to the
+legitimate chatelaine alone; even presumed, after a time--culminating
+impertinence--to take unto herself the best litter, the one emblazoned
+with the Hojo badge upon gold lacquer and the gilded poles and
+brocaded curtains, declaring that since O'Tei chose to go only into
+the low purlieus of the town, a less resplendent equipage was better
+suited to her degraded taste.
+
+O'Kikú should have been quite happy. But when is a vulgar-minded,
+low-born woman happy who is consumed in the ratio of pampering by
+ambition and greed and caprice? Having attained the summit of present
+desire as planned on her arrival, she set herself to gratify her fancy
+in another way. At first sight she had been smitten with Sampei; but,
+on discovering that, though the elder, he held the second place, had
+prudently postponed his conquest until a more convenient period. That
+moment was now come. She had abundant leisure for the task. Sure a
+warrior should be a willing slave of beauty. Yet when she warily
+reconnoitred the ground, she marvelled at his coldness. Every inch a
+splendid young soldier, he should have been less chill. She made
+purring advances, favoured him with a few of the arrows under which
+his brother had succumbed; and these shafts fell so short that she
+guessed at once, with quick jealousy, that she had a rival. His heart
+was not his to give. How provoking! for she had so cleverly arranged
+that the two--he and she--were to become such friends!
+
+On his side, Sampei (an adept in such matters) was not slow to read
+her purpose, and, horrified at her calculating treachery, boldly
+reviled her with rough words. She smarted and winced under the whip,
+and wished for him all the more. It was idle to feign, and her speech
+was as plain as his. She did not love her husband--O'Tei herself did
+not gauge his low worth more clearly--she loved him, Sampei, and
+gloried in it. See! For a caress she would be his slave, and fawn at
+his feet like a dog. No Eta could be more abject than she, if he would
+but look on her with love. A little--a very little--and she would be
+so grateful, since, on her side, there was enough for both. Wreathing
+her white arms about him, while his body quivered with disgust, she
+cooed and prayed and worshipped, and uttered a sharp cry of pain as,
+unable to endure the ordeal, he flung her rudely on the ground. _She_
+prate of love! he cried. How dared she defile the holy word with such
+foul lips as hers?
+
+Furious--burning with shame at her repulse--she scoffed at him.
+
+"_You_ talk big of virtue," she sneered, with cruel lines about her
+mouth, "not knowing that I can read your secret. Treachery? What is my
+treachery to yours? I am but a concubine. You love your brother's
+wife--the mawkish doll of wax!--and she, as guilty as yourself, has
+doubtless fallen an easy prey, since 'tis plain that she hates my
+lord."
+
+That shaft, at least, went home, for Sampei turned pale. Was it
+written so plainly on his face that all who ran might read? A useful
+champion--a true knight--whose faithful service it would be to guide
+his mistress to her ruin. He must go away--far away--since his
+tell-tale features could not keep the secret. And yet--to leave her
+here at the mercy of this wicked woman!
+
+O'Kikú perceived what was passing in his mind, and was for the moment
+satisfied. She held revenge within her palm whenever she should choose
+to use it. Sampei had spurned her. Well, she could afford to wait; for
+what he had been powerless to deny might prove an invaluable
+discovery. Sampei and O'Tei loved each other. Judging others from her
+own standpoint, she had no doubt of their guilt. Perchance he would
+soon tire of such an icicle, and she might woo and win him after all.
+If not, she could use her discovery to avenge the slight, and free
+herself of the inconvenient presence of both wife and paramour. It
+would be so easy to open the eyes of the unsuspecting Daimio, and goad
+him deftly on until the two brothers were at open enmity.
+
+For a time she must abandon her designs upon the General, and lull the
+pangs of disappointment and injured vanity by drowning thought in
+excitement. Since she had bared her spotted heart to him, there was no
+use in assuming a mask. On the contrary, her recklessness would sting
+him like a serpent's bite since, knowing what she knew, he dared not
+betray her to No-Kami. It pleased O'Kikú, therefore, to abandon
+prudence, and cast shame aside. Secure of unlimited sway over the
+infatuated despot, who would gladly accept such explanations as she
+vouchsafed, she selected lovers from among the soldiery as they struck
+her wanton fancy, disdaining to cloak her proceedings from the shocked
+Sampei, who hourly grew more troubled and uneasy.
+
+On which side lay his duty? How should he act? Were he to denounce the
+geisha to his brother in the matter of her declaration to himself, she
+would swear it was spitefully conceived, and No-Kami would refuse to
+be convinced. 'Twas fortunate that O'Tei dwelt in such strict
+seclusion, enveloped in the armour of purity, innocent of guile. But
+what was to be the upshot of it all? As the falling stone increases in
+velocity, so would the insolence of the concubine unchecked in
+shamelessness. The tempest growled on the horizon, and grew apace; the
+cloudlet was spreading over the heavens. Awe-stricken by the sinister
+turn which, so rapidly, events were taking, the martyr's anathema rung
+in Sampei's ears. The house of Hojo was to fall. Already, in his
+mind's eye, could he see it reel, hear the crash of its disruption.
+For a long time past the conduct of the head of the clan had been
+indefensible. Buddha, awakened by clamour, was angry--and no wonder!
+
+In his perplexity and indignation an ensanguined mist passed across
+the vision of Sampei. The hint thrown out by Nara some time since
+festered within his breast. The history of Japan teems with the enmity
+of brothers, he had said. Was it indeed written that the last of the
+Hojos was to perish by a fraternal hand? For the honour of the name
+which they both bore, must the cord of an unworthy career be severed,
+and by him? It would be well for the suffering land that No-Kami's
+catalogue of misdeeds should be closed, but not by the hand of a
+brother. Not murder! The honest soul of Sampei recoiled before the
+insidious vision. It was vain to seek counsel of the Abbess, since she
+confessed herself as perplexed as he. _Wait_ was all she could advise.
+If the curse of Koshiu was to be accomplished, it would be
+accomplished, whatever the efforts of the doomed. If his was decreed
+to be the avenging sword, was he not a helpless infant in the grip of
+destiny? The will of Heaven would be pronounced more clearly soon.
+Meanwhile, there was nothing for it but to wait. Peering sadly into
+the dark-lined future, Sampei waited in suspense, gloomy on the
+threshold of despair.
+
+Tidings reached Masago in her dim retreat of what was passing, and she
+sighed. The finger of an outraged God was on them, that was becoming
+certain. The fate of Hojo was to be a warning lesson to generations
+yet unborn. By-and-by a rumour came, she could not tell from whence,
+that the Daimio was going mad. In sooth, he was never sane, and could
+scarce be held accountable for his growing pile of crimes. In
+accordance with the rearing which befitted his rank and station, he
+had scoffed with ribald laughter at a peasant's prophecy, treating
+with levity the wild words of one who had deservedly been punished.
+And yet there were moments when, though he fought against the
+illusion, he was haunted by the dying face,--when those glazing eyes
+that reflected the sunset shone out of the dark like glowing coals, to
+wither and scorch his soul. In the night he would wake, seeming to
+hear again louder than temple bell the words of evil omen, and then he
+would hug so fiercely the form of the slumbering O'Kikú upon the mat
+beside him, that she would turn on him with peevish reproach.
+
+The visions and the voices increased, till he was afraid to be left
+alone. His brutish nature became yet more vindictive and morose, and
+the geisha, vowing that as a companion, after his paroxysms of
+unreasoning fear, he grew intolerable, freely dosed him with saké, to
+subdue his importunate tremors. In his chamber she would leave him
+chained by drunken stupor, while she, with the favourite of the hour,
+caroused below. This proved so convenient an arrangement, that to
+obtain for herself a liberty of action yet more complete, she tempted
+her lord to increased potations, till there arrived at length a period
+when he was scarcely ever sober.
+
+But then constant inebriety has its intermittent moments of recoil,
+when the stomach sickens at the drink, yet craves for it, and at such
+dismal times the smile would fade even from the brazen visage of the
+baleful enchantress, for my lord would then pass without warning from
+the extreme of grovelling anguish to the fury of mania; and O'Kikú
+wondered, with blanched cheek, whether, perhaps, some day in one of
+these mad fits the Daimio would rise and slay her.
+
+One evening he woke with chattering teeth, and finding himself alone
+in the quickly-gathering shadows, stumbled upon his feet, with curses
+on the concubine in that she deserted him in his extremity. Did she
+not know how much he feared the darkness, and how necessary it was on
+many counts to conceal his condition from his warriors? Had he not
+raised her up to be partner of his bed, giving her all she desired,
+gratifying her every whim? And yet what recked the selfish creature of
+his wishes, of his terrors, his requirements? Naught! Regardless of
+his agony, she could quietly go away and amuse herself, leaving her
+lord and benefactor a prey to goblins. Shivering, with swimming brain,
+he groped his way in search of her; and somehow found himself, ere he
+was aware, upon the drawbridge that led beyond the moat.
+
+A chill wind was blowing from the river that lapped the frowning
+walls--a singing murmur seemed to whisper "Come!" Shuddering, obedient
+to a spell against which his will was powerless, he stumbled on. How
+dismal dark it was! From the windows of the hall came a ruddy line of
+light which served to intensify the black. There was a faint sound of
+brawling within, a clash of steel, a din of bandied threats, followed
+by the long rippling laugh of the geisha, and then the twang of her
+samisen. "Always in that hall among the soldiers," No-Kami querulously
+muttered. "She loves me less and less--cares nothing for my trouble."
+Since her arrival, he reflected, there had been a gradual and grievous
+decrease of discipline among the samurai,--a growing tendency to
+quarrel and snarl in open disrespect of _him_. Had she betrayed his
+secret? Had she divulged the nameless horror, and the cowardice which
+unnerved his arm, unsettled his reason, and undermined his strength?
+Impulse bade him turn and stride into the hall, and there assert
+himself; and then the breeze, like clammy fingers, stroked his cheek
+and murmured, "Come!" Whither was he to proceed? Was it the water that
+summoned him? No! had not the farmer said that the river should ebb
+away? Folly! why, what was this? Was he, the head of the Hojos, as
+infatuated as others? Did he believe in the threats of the martyr?
+On--on, away to the left--whither? To the dim belt of grim grey trees
+that reared gnarled arms aloft, groaning and swaying in the wind. The
+accursed trees--home of malevolent ghosts! The trees that chanted ever
+their loving call to ignominious death.
+
+With beads of sweat upon his brow No-Kami listened, and, not knowing
+what he did, unwound his long silk sash. Then out of the dark shone
+forth, like glowing coals, the eyes he knew too well, and then there
+pealed upon the night a mocking shout. Hist! what was that? The voice
+of Futen, the wind imp? or Raiden, king of thunder, beating upon his
+drums? What was he doing with that sash?--he, the proud No-Kami?
+Horror! he, the head of the Hojos, was about to hang himself--to
+disgrace his line for ever!
+
+With a growl of fear No-Kami sped away, his fingers in his ears, back
+toward the light--and the saucy geisha, seeing a crouching shadow
+pass, complained of some unclean animal. With stealthy speed, born of
+terror and shame, the Daimio crept away, nor stopped to draw breath
+till, safe in the sanctuary of his chamber, he fell panting, prostrate
+on the mat. Another instant, and, unconscious of what he did, he would
+have swung on the fateful tree. Strange that it should have been the
+warning voice of Koshiu that had averted supreme disgrace. Why? Was he
+reserved for something yet more infamous? Better now, at once, to make
+an end of it--perish as a Daimio should when driven to bay by his own
+well-tempered steel. Groping with aspen hands for the sword-rack, he
+took his dirk, and unsheathing it, passed a finger on its edge. A
+blade of Sanjo's, a masterpiece. Yes. Here in the dark, alone, he
+would perform the rites of harakiri, and join with unsmirched brow the
+line of haughty ancestors.
+
+Footsteps, a yellow glimmer through the paper of the sliding doors.
+O'Kikú's tardy feet? No, the heavier footfall of a man. A panel was
+pushed aside. Sampei, shading with his hand the flickering flame of a
+candle. The latter peered in, and uttered a cry. The dirk, the body
+bared, the kneeling posture. The intention of the Daimio was evident,
+though rising with a fierce curse he strove to conceal his purpose.
+
+"I am glad I was in time," Sampei remarked, with cold composure.
+"Would the chief of our clan commit harakiri without a second? Where
+is he? I see no kaishaku. Pah! When all is lost 'tis time to think of
+dying. If you wish it, and have courage, things are not yet past
+remedy."
+
+"What do you want?" snarled the Daimio, as with a scowl he retreated
+into a corner.
+
+"My lord of Nara has arrived, and is now closeted with his daughter.
+Though you seem to have abdicated your dignities, it is right that you
+should be informed of it.
+
+"Sent for by her?" inquired No-Kami.
+
+"No!" replied Sampei bitterly. "With all your arrogant parade, she is
+more proud than you, and would never stoop to complain of your many
+cruelties."
+
+"Sent for more like by _him!_--snake in the grass!" gibed a voice
+behind, and the two brothers, turning, beheld the geisha, a frown
+puckering her brow, a red spot of annoyance on either cheek bone.
+"Yes, snake in the grass!" repeated she, lashed to imprudence by
+resentment. "He does well to play the part of the lady O'Tei's
+interpreter--he who knows her so much better than others!"
+
+Sampei was silent, while the suspicious gaze of the Daimio was turned
+to his brother from the concubine.
+
+"O fool!" she laughed. "To be fooled by women is the lot of the
+haughtiest among ye! I vow I pity such blindness. Know that the crust
+of a proud woman's nature often conceals a furnace. The lady O'Tei has
+kindled a fire on the altar of her heart in honour--well, not of you!"
+
+"You lie!" cried the General, kindling, yet striving still to control
+himself for _her_ sake. "It was an evil day for the house of Hojo when
+this strumpet came among us!"
+
+"We are not all so blind as my lord," gibed O'Kikú. "When my lady goes
+forth, in what direction do the bearers carry her? To the temple of
+the vixen Masago, to offer up prayers, of course. A curious
+coincidence! My lord Sampei, returning from the chase, pays dutiful
+visits to his mother. A pattern son. There, there! be hoodwinked no
+more. Stupid mole that you are, he loves O'Tei and she loves him. Look
+in his face, man; is it not eloquent enough?"
+
+The soul of No-Kami, already torn, writhed and quivered. Could it be
+true, this dreadful thing? Miné already ruined, a mere pretty peasant,
+a passing fancy, suitable toy enough--and now O'Tei! Had the lawless
+libertine dared to aspire to the legitimate wife of his lord? The dirk
+was still in the Daimio's grasp. Tottering forward a step, with
+heaving breast and distracted features, he narrowly scrutinised his
+brother.
+
+"If I thought this was true," he slowly growled between his teeth, "I
+would have speedy and ample vengeance. Sampei, why do you look
+confused? Yonder, on the rack, is a sword!"
+
+Again the mist of blood passed across the vision of the General. It
+was decreed. No-Kami rushed upon his fate. He himself pointed out the
+blade, lying so ready to the hand. A pass or two, and O'Tei, the
+long-suffering, would be freed from her grinding bondage.
+Involuntarily he stretched forth his arm, while No-Kami stood waiting.
+He touched the sword; his hand recoiled, his arm dropped by his side
+inert, for beyond the taunting visage of the geisha he seemed to
+behold, tearless and pale, the shadowy figure of O'Tei. No, this was a
+trap deliberately set by that wicked woman for her undoing and his.
+If, in the combat, it was his lot to fall, her fair fame would be for
+ever blasted. It would be skilfully bruited abroad by O'Kikú that the
+Daimio had avenged his honour. Forcing himself to calmness by strength
+of will, aided by an all-absorbing love, Sampei crossed his arms upon
+his labouring chest, and sadly shook his head.
+
+"You are insane," he sighed,--"beguiled to frenzy by the glamour of
+this sorceress. You know, if you have power to think, that the dawn is
+no purer than your wife. What madness is it that has so mastered you
+that you would rather believe this harlot--for she is a harlot, and a
+shameless one, as every one in the castle knows except yourself? Rave
+as you will, I shall not gratify her spleen by fighting with you.
+Should the necessity be forced on me, I will summon the samurai to
+bind you, for your own protection. Cudgel your distempered brain,
+my brother, and see the snare. Your father was mine before
+you--unhappily--were born. The honour of our name is mine as well as
+yours, and for me it shall remain untarnished. Alas, we are under a
+ban, indeed! I can surety trace the finger of the Eternal; this
+harlot, the instrument of ruin."
+
+Foiled spite and impotent rage leapt up and invaded the calculating
+spirit of the geisha. That he, so hot and careless usually, should be
+able to school himself to prudence. How he must adore that pale-face!
+
+It was humiliating to one who justly prided herself on cunning, to be
+outwitted by truth and manhood. No doubt it was satisfactory to mark
+how firm was her hold upon No-Kami. He had hearkened to her accusation
+of his wife and brother, but the countercharge brought by the latter
+against herself had remained unnoticed. And yet Sampei had had the
+best of it. She was obliged to confess with self-upbraiding that,
+exasperated by the appearance of Nara, whose unexpected arrival seemed
+like to mar her plots and upset her calculations, she had been
+precipitate--led into a foolish error.
+
+The moment chosen was curiously ill-timed for bringing about a
+quarrel. Not that she would have permitted blood to flow. Not so silly
+as that. At the first onset she would have rushed out with clamour and
+shrill cries to summon the sleepy attendants,--have sworn that Sampei
+had attacked his feudal lord,--have created such a coil as would
+have led to the former's banishment. But, devoted to the paleface, he
+had for her sake curbed his heat. Noble and severe in bearing, his
+dark brow seamed by battle scars, he was just the man to master a
+turbulent plebeian woman of strong passions. As he stood, erect and
+self-possessed, O'Kikú adored yet hated him. His scathing antipathy to
+her he did not care to mask, and who should know as well as she how
+well it was deserved. A man such as this might have wrought a miracle
+upon her nature. She could have hugged her gyves, glorying in his
+tyranny. Could have! He had repulsed her,--shrunk with loathing
+undisguised as from a reptile, and all for love of the pale-face. The
+dregs of her low nature bubbled to the surface in a rising surge of
+abhorrence. At this moment, as she contemplated his still dignity, she
+could have stabbed him to the heart with joy.
+
+As schemes and combinations passed swiftly through her brain, the
+geisha hotly blamed herself. A short-sighted novice! An awkward
+bungler! The merest tyro could have warned her of the imprudence of
+airing family feuds before outsiders. What a moment this, when the
+powerful and astute noble of Nara was on the spot, to suggest charges
+against his heiress. Well, well, it was for the best that Sampei had
+kept his temper. The seed, dropped into the mind of No-Kami, would
+swell and burst and blossom by-and-by--the grain of suspicion which at
+a fitting season was to make of these brothers enemies. For the
+present it was best to drop the subject, to turn it off with a jest;
+then to make much of the illustrious visitor, and get rid of him as
+soon as possible.
+
+O'Kikú, therefore, suddenly changed her tactics. With a careless laugh
+and a wave of shapely arms she swept aside the dangerous topic, and
+remarked: "Perhaps I was wrong,--too prone to believe evil. Your
+brother was before me with the news. The Daimio of Nara is here, and
+must be made welcome. If you will do him honour, I will see to the
+bestowing of his retinue. As you are her friend, Sampei--if really
+nothing more--I trust you will beg his daughter to refrain from
+telling lies of us." With this, awaiting no reply, she vanished, and,
+resuming the demureness of the past and assuming a meek and gracious
+air that befitted the position of the concubine, proceeded to charm
+the retainers of Nara as she had already conquered Hojo's.
+
+What was he here for, this inconvenient guest? What could his object
+be in swooping down on Tsu? The question buzzed in her head as she
+moved hither and thither, on hospitality intent. He must know that he,
+was little welcome. Had the chatelaine been goaded at last out of her
+silence? Did the tiny pins at last lacerate her skin? Had she summoned
+her father to rescue her from a position that was unbearable?
+
+What then? Would Nara, interfering on his child's behalf, insist upon
+the prompt suppression of the second wife? And if he did, would his
+mandate be obeyed, or was No-Kami still strong enough to do battle for
+his siren? The prestige of Japan's despot had not paled as yet, for
+the secret of his peculiar mental condition was well kept. Such
+precautions had been taken that, though many knew the Daimio to be
+ill, none but O'Kikú and Sampei were aware of his critical state. Had
+Sampei, pursuing a tortuous game of his own, summoned Nara to council?
+The traitor! And what a simpleton she not to have foreseen and parried
+such a stroke. Nara present and siding with Sampei--made aware of
+No-Kami's weakness--what easier for the twain than to seize the reins
+and fling forth the offending concubine? Again was O'Kikú compelled to
+admit with tingling cheeks how unskilfully she had developed plans
+which at the start had seemed so promising. By pandering to his fears,
+and plying my lord with drink, she gained no doubt a measure of extra
+liberty, but purchased at what a cost! At a time when every man's hand
+was at his neighbour's throat, to lose your nerve was to lose respect
+and be toppled over in the fray. Execrated as she knew my lord to be,
+with myriad and lynx eyes watching for a cranny in his armour, why had
+she not foreseen that there would be traitors in the camp? O'Kikú had
+been so careless because she reckoned on her rival's unpopularity. Not
+a swaggerer among the samurai--as she had long since learned--but
+looked on his liege mistress with uncomprehending pity. To think that
+bluff, single-minded Sampei--so skilful in the field, so blundering at
+home--should have had the inspiration to summon Nara! But had he? Sure
+his surprise on the arrival of the cavalcade was not feigned? If it
+were, then was he a dangerous enemy indeed--concealing consummate
+craft under an appearance of simplicity.
+
+The more O'Kikú pondered and considered, the more nebulous grew the
+result of her meditations, and on the morrow she was brought to the
+highest stage of bewilderment by the departure of the Daimio of Nara
+as abruptly as he had arrived, and in a friendly manner too. Gazing
+through the hole made by a wetted finger in her paper-covered
+casement, she had striven to read on the faces of those concerned the
+result of their interview: and her jaw dropped in sheer amazement. Was
+the lady O'Tei even more mean-spirited and craven than her rival had
+supposed? Fearful of retribution and ill-usage in the future, had she
+masked her wounds from her parent, vowing she was well and happy, when
+her very looks should betray the truth? In that case, neither she nor
+her paramour had summoned Nara. Why then was he come? Could it have
+been of his own accord, so speedily to go away, with no result from
+his advent? The more she considered, the more knotty did the problem
+grow--one that her low instincts could never fathom. She wist not that
+a proud nature, instead of crying out with shrill uproar, will conceal
+stabs dealt in private by her legitimate lord from the scrutiny even
+of a father; the more when her parent bears only the name, since he
+has never won her love.
+
+How surprised would the geisha have been could she have read the
+riddle aright. It was Masago, the Abbess, who had given the hint. She,
+who was but too well aware of the position of her favourite, could see
+that she was dying slowly of a breaking heart, for each time that she
+visited the temple O'Tei was more frail and wan, more spiritual in
+aspect; her step more slow and feeble. Moreover, over and above
+personal affection for her, was it not the duty of the Abbess to give
+warning to the lady's natural protector, lest her own dear boy Sampei
+should be goaded to leap into the breach? Knowing all she knew, it was
+a subject for marvel that Sampei should have refrained till now.
+School himself as he would, he could not conceal from a mother's
+anxious gaze the canker that gnawed his entrails. So far as he was
+concerned, the arrows of O'Kikú had not missed their mark. He pined
+with sympathy,--was wrung with anguish at the drawn expression of the
+wistful face, the dimmed eyes that were once so bright, in which hope
+was quite extinguished.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XII.
+
+ THE DAIMIO OF NARA IMITATES THE SPHYNX.
+
+
+What a pity it is that in our odd world the wicked should be so much
+more clever than the good,--that the combinations of sinners should so
+easily outwit the simply virtuous. But then, were not the good so
+naïve, they might not possibly submit so quietly to the unhappiness
+which is usually their portion. They might scream, and rail, and wax
+obstreperous, point out the cases of flagrant injustice too often to
+be observed among their ranks, and become unedifying texts and
+examples.
+
+Poor Sampei, being less cunning than the geisha, and not perceiving
+the advantage of which he might have availed himself, naturally did
+not seize it. It never occurred to him that the appearance of Nara on
+the scene might have brought about the salvation of his family,--that
+he and Sampei united might have ousted the female marplot. Clearly
+this lack of discrimination was due to the interference of the gods.
+
+Sampei was quite as surprised as the concubine at singular conduct of
+Nara. He took no umbrage at his sullen reception by the lord of Tsu;
+seemed not to perceive how little he was welcomed; showed a
+disposition to be easily pleased, a slowness to take offence, such as
+ill became a daimio. Closeted with his daughter, he refrained from
+searching questions, conversed about the pleasures of Ki[^y]oto, and
+the probabilities of a visit in the summer, while she, stony and
+indifferent, as reticent as her parent, and dreamily gazing into
+vacancy, replied in monosyllables. With studied ceremony he took leave
+of her as though she were a stranger, bade farewell of his sulky host
+with suave courtesy, and, followed by his brilliant retinue, journeyed
+slowly up into the mountains. So cautious was he, even under the
+glances of his own people, that it was not until, resigning his horse
+to a betto, he retired into a litter, and drew the curtains close,
+that he permitted his thoughts to appear upon his features. "It is
+very nearly time," he murmured, "very nearly time, and then shall my
+child--ay, and all Japan--be avenged, and signally." With gleeful
+exultation he rubbed his hands together as he revolved a host of
+little points which had not escaped the eagle ken of his experience. A
+drunken dissolute cohort now, the redoubtable warriors of Tsu.
+
+Arriving unawares by night, he had found no sentries at the gate. His
+men had blown the horn, and hammered with lances, and shouted till
+their throats were hoarse, ere any one had appeared upon the walls;
+and what a scurry then! The castle, left unprotected in the silent
+watches, would have fallen without a struggle into the hands of a
+skilful foe. And--the cognisance and titles of the father of the
+chatelaine having been recognised, and the drawbridge lowered--the
+relaxation of discipline everywhere apparent within did not escape his
+practised eye. Before the presence of a stranger was made known, he
+had heard sounds of wassail and of quarrelling,--had seen the
+abandoned concubine of the Hojo toying with the common soldiers.
+And he was enchanted. What mattered it that his child looked
+wretched?--women must suffer for the common good. Patience--a little
+patience--and her burthen would soon be removed.
+
+The Abbess, proud as she was of considering herself in some sort a
+Hojo, had naturally turned, in her anxiety, to him who had been
+selected by her now departed lord as the prime adviser of the family.
+Unwitting of what she did, it was her finger that first pointed out
+how the joints in the harness were loosening; and with a savage laugh
+Nara gave her thanks for it.
+
+The young General, who had never learned the arts of diplomacy,
+blushed crimson as the eyes of the new arrival took in the situation,
+and stammered awkward excuses. His brother was ill, had for some time
+past been unable to occupy himself with affairs, and was, moreover, so
+jealous of interference, that for a while he, the elder, had let
+things go. But now that my lord had come, his father's friend, the
+twain would remonstrate, and arrange together. And then, from under
+the white bettle-brows of the old man there shot a meaning leer which
+chilled the words upon the lips of the younger, and brought to his
+mind an earlier interview which had seemed ominous of complications.
+Was this man a friend, or the worst of enemies, one who wears
+disguise? Buffeting in a sea of knavery, wherein fraud and chicane and
+stratagem and pitfall boil into a seething broth, what wonder if the
+true and single-minded grow bewildered and confused? Sampei was so
+little skilled in double-dealing, that, lulled by specious sentences,
+mystified, he concluded that he had been wrong, had misunderstood the
+purport of lord Nara's talk in the palace. Was he not his father's
+ally,--the man specially picked out for the guidance of the Hojo's
+sons? The old Daimio, ever quick to read thoughts, pressed the hand of
+his young friend with touching affection.
+
+"All will be well by-and-by," he murmured. His dear young General, of
+whom he and Japan were so justly proud, must sit quiet, and hope for
+the best. He too, then, was preaching patience. Sure, the venerable
+Abbess and the hoary statesman must be right--of course they were. The
+loyal Sampei blamed himself accordingly, and put his suspicions from
+him.
+
+Although no open confidences passed between the pair, Nara was
+satisfied, for he could detect a change in the young man. His easy
+confidence in the direction of the straight and honest course was
+gone, had given place to a pained perplexity which boded well for the
+future. The arrow which the astute kugé had planted during the
+interview at the palace, was festering. He seemed to perceive that
+much. Sampei's sense of right and wrong had been disturbed. He was
+uncomfortable, and half-suspecting he knew not what, held his peace
+moodily, while his brain groped in darksome byways. Yes, he was
+mistaken when he deemed Nara to be a foe. Yet how was it possible he
+could be really friendly, perceiving as he must how bad was his
+daughter's treatment, how outrageous on every count were the
+proceedings of her spouse? Could any one who loved Japan be Hojo's
+friend? Alack, even he, Sampei, his only brother, was but too well
+aware that he was his country's scourge--that one who should remove
+the incubus would earn his country's gratitude.
+
+The old Daimio, guessing what knotty problem it was that so vexed the
+young soldier's mind, evolved a stroke of genius. Suave and sweet in
+manner, with an engaging air of candour, he communed with himself
+aloud, "What a sad thing it is," he mused abstractedly, "that the
+history and the literature of our country should so teem with the
+enmity of brothers! And yet, in the main, a happy land, more
+privileged than the dim fog-bound realms of the west." Again, how
+bewildering was this to one who was groping so anxiously for light.
+
+Looking in the wrinkled face, Sampei could see no meaning there--no
+special meaning--addressed to himself especially. And then, as the two
+strolled about the precincts of the castle, Sampei became more
+bewildered yet and more uneasy, for in some unaccountable way it had
+come about, without his knowing how, that old Nara concealed no longer
+that he was No-Kami's enemy, that he was aware of the ill-treatment of
+his child, and grateful for the sympathy of his companion. He even, as
+a matter of course, affected to look on him as a willing accomplice;
+gave him no chance of disavowal. And then, tacit consent to this being
+given, he dropped mysterious hints. Verily the future was growing
+strangely dark, the skein of the race more tangled hourly. With
+helpless resignation Sampei was fain to allow that the fiat had gone
+forth, that the days of the Hojos were numbered. If, as was growing
+every moment plainer, the prophecy of the farmer was to be fulfilled
+to the minutest detail, what was to be gained by struggling?
+
+Patience was in very truth the only virtue which it became the doomed
+to cultivate. Humbled, therefore, and filled with murky presage, the
+young man bowed his neck and folded his hands, resolved to float with
+the stream, obedient to the whim of destiny.
+
+Thus Nara--kugé and devoted servant of the Holy Mikado--having been
+warned by the Abbess of Tsu of the tottering condition of her house,
+came and spied out the land, and returned home delighted; while she,
+hearing in due course how he had come and gone, smiling and
+dangerously courteous, fell a prey to vague misgivings, and betook
+herself to prayer and abstinence. Vainly she cross-examined O'Tei,
+grown stonier and whiter. Since her father's unsatisfactory visit, the
+unhappy lady appeared to wake from a frozen trance to a sense of
+feverish existence, only when prostrate on the temple floor praying
+for the untying of her bonds. The words of Koshiu were seared as by an
+iron on her heart; sleeping or waking, she saw them burning on the
+wall.
+
+The scene within the grey circle of weird trees was never absent from
+her vision. What had she done to deserve the ban? The full horror of
+the anathema ate into her being slowly. In succeeding cycles she was
+destined to be accursed. Little by little she realised her doom; for
+her there was to be no rest, no peace, no change for the better. Why?
+Because, obedient to her father's commands, she had bestowed her hand
+upon a tyrant. For blind obedience, punished for all time; for more
+than time--for ever!
+
+There was no justice, then, in this life, or in the realms beyond the
+grave. She was created for misfortune and misery, specially picked out
+for all the worst evils that beset mortality. If accursed in future
+cycles, she might never rise,--never win Nirvana,--never hope for
+oblivion. The unflecked blackness of the despair that settled down
+like a foldless sable curtain upon O'Tei, caused the heart of Masago
+to bleed for her. The gentlest, noblest, most patient, as well as the
+most innocent of ladies! Truly the ways of the Eternal are
+inscrutable. The austere Abbess strove to instil comfort into the
+numbed soul--without avail. Her arguments, after all, were shallowest
+platitudes, to be tossed aside by O'Tei with easy scorn. What to her
+were the puny arts of O'Kikú the second wife? Shielded by the buckler
+of such suffering as hers, the tiny pins of the geisha fell harmless.
+Pity that 'twas so, for wholesome indignation might have wakened her
+from the stupor which, unless broken, must shortly end in dissolution.
+
+Pondering as she paced the silent groves, the Abbess sought for a clue
+in vain. If the family was doomed to be smitten root and branch, it
+was doomed. But what a store of faith is needed humbly to acquiesce
+in the monstrous belief that the innocent must suffer for the
+guilty,--that generations yet unborn are to come into the world
+for the express purpose of bearing on their backs the guilt of
+their ancestors. With terror Masago felt that she was growing
+rebellious,--that her faith was trembling,--that she could no longer
+gaze with trustful veneration upon Buddha, the expressionless and the
+impassible, reposing cross-legged on his lotus. Herself, O'Tei, the
+dearly-loved Sampei, were all to suffer for No-Kami. Sure Tomoyé must
+be writhing on some other sphere for being the mother of such a
+cockatrice! And so it naturally came about that Masago, as well as
+others, looked forward to the sacrificing of Hojo--the chief to whom
+they owed allegiance,--of the head of the family of which she was
+proud to be one,--that she even prayed for the death of No-Kami as the
+only possible solution of the problem.
+
+O'Kikú was not above profiting by the lesson which had been taught by
+Nara's visit. Instead of being permitted to subside into hopeless
+imbecility, her lord must be aroused,--must be exhorted to tighten the
+cords of his nervous system, in preparation for a sudden strain.
+Accordingly, after a period of wonder at Nara's visit and its apparent
+abortiveness, she began to suspect that, courteous as his manner was,
+and suavely ceremonious his departure, they had not yet heard the last
+of the kugé's irruption; and that it behoved her, as the guiding
+spirit of the castle, to practise caution. That snake, Sampei, was
+wriggling in the grass in inconvenient proximity, darting glances of
+adoration at the chatelaine. For the dignity of her dear lord's name
+(and her own future comfort), she must accentuate and renew her
+exposure of the villain and his paramour, now that the coast was
+clear. To this end, in order that vengeance might be tempered with
+_sang froid_, their deluded victim must be taught to mingle vigilance
+with circumspection, which would require a measure of sobriety. It
+would be vexatious to have to resign a modicum of personal liberty,
+but the sacking of the castle by a watchful enemy, who knew of its
+master's sottishness, would be a worse evil. It behoved her for her
+own sake to protect my lord from the enemy within the citadel. Arguing
+from her own ways of thought, it was a logical deduction that, in love
+with No-Kami's wife, Sampei must desire his death.
+
+The geisha, adapting herself to the circumstances of the moment,
+became outwardly more circumspect in her behaviour; watched over her
+lord with affectionate care; exhorted and chid him with tender
+patience till his paroxysms of fear were past; made herself so
+absolutely needful to his existence, that he could not but fondly mark
+the contrast betwixt her and his legitimate consort. And she was not
+slow in administering the deadly drops when occasion served. What
+should the lady O'Tei care? she would babble artlessly, that her lord
+was well or ill, since her affections were engrossed by another, who
+all along had possessed her heart. The silent twilight of cryptomeria
+groves is conducive to holy meditation, but is also vastly convenient
+for mundane dallying. But no! he must not excite himself. Why should
+my lord exercise his shattered nerves, and pace like a caged bear?
+What mattered it what they did, or how frequently they met? For
+her part, his faithful O'Kikú thought it very diverting that any
+warm-blooded man should elect to fall in love with an icicle.
+
+No-Kami hearkened, and although his reason rejected the geisha's
+hints, they set him pondering. Of O'Tei's character he had never seen
+any side, after the first few days, but the cold, repellent one, made
+more obnoxious sometimes by that lack of proper pride, which to his
+nostrils was as an evil savour. His brother was also a riddle; as a
+soldier brave to a fault, in other concerns hesitating, even timid,
+beset with petty scruples incomprehensible to the broader views of his
+feudal master. At the bottom of his heart he was afraid of his first
+wife, and disliked his brother, who, instinct whispered, was more
+worthy than himself. But to suspect those two of love passages!
+O'Kikú, unable to read correctly the characters of either, was led
+astray by over anxiety on his behalf. And yet, what if she were right?
+
+That dreadful curse that was ringing ever in his ears. Was this one of
+the ways in which he was to be stricken? Was he to be held up by wife
+and brother as a laughing-stock in the eyes of his assembled warriors?
+He had been weak, unnerved; had groaned and grovelled, forgetting his
+name and lineage; had all but been lured to submit to degradation that
+night among the enchanted trees. He would battle with the phantoms
+now, like a true son of his father and Tomoyé--would conquer, by force
+of indomitable will, even the goblins that pursued him. Rising up, and
+girding his loins, thankful that the samurai had never beheld his
+throes of terror, he appeared once more in the hall, overbearing and
+stern and firm of step--as fierce and harsh as heretofore, if haggard
+and ashen of hue.
+
+Sampei marked the change with approval; for the idea that the head of
+the house was to turn coward seemed the most grievous of possibilities
+in connection with the martyr's curse. At this juncture an event
+occurred which added yet further to his relief. The lord of Tsu was
+summoned, by sudden mandate of the Mikado, and was ordered to present
+himself in the sacred precincts of Ki[^y]oto without delay,
+accompanied by a small following. This order, publicly given, he must
+perforce obey, and, removed from the bad influence of the favourite,
+there was no knowing what happy turn might follow. Though polygamy was
+a recognised institution, it was not etiquette for any other than the
+first wife to hold communion with the ladies of the imperial court.
+
+The peremptory nature of the summons surprised and offended the lord
+of Tsu. Old Nara, doubtless, had perceived how unstrung he was, had
+whispered to the silly babbling kugés and their infatuated head that
+the lion was toothless, that the poison-bag of the serpent was
+removed. A sense of their mistake, and the speedy discomfiture of the
+feeble gang, acted on the system of the despot like a dash of fresh
+salt brine. He laughed aloud, as, detaching the clinging arm of the
+siren from about his neck, he leapt lightly on Typhoon, his war-horse.
+The day was crisp and brightly cold--exhilarating--the sky cloudless,
+as he galloped towards the hills. In the frosty reviving air of the
+mountains the vengeful shades were exorcised; Koshiu and Kennui and
+their baleful family lingered behind in the plains, and stretch forth
+in vain their talons. The ghosts faded into thin vapour--nightmare was
+shaken off--No-Kami felt ten years younger than yesterday. A fig for
+the farmer and his curse! The tyrant of Japan must have been sick
+indeed to have shivered under a peasant's puling!
+
+Of a surety a signal change had come over my lord. Peradventure there
+was to be an alteration in the mind as well as the body--greater
+miracles have come to pass. So mused Sampei--strangely relieved--while
+he watched the knot of horsemen as they wound upwards and over the
+sky-line. The gods grant it! O'Kikú also mused as she stood watching.
+My lord was better--that was a comfort,--would prove to the trembling
+courtiers that they had reckoned wrongly. She had a secret for him on
+his return which should bind him yet closer to her. Meanwhile she
+could enjoy a time of absolute freedom, give vent to her proclivities,
+whilst narrowly watching the young General and his love, and weaving
+the web of her intrigues.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XIII.
+
+ THE DESPOT OBEYS ORDERS.
+
+
+The little cavalcade sped swiftly on, for the frost-bound roads were
+pleasant travelling, and towards evening a dim mass appeared on the
+horizon, which presaged a fall of snow. It behoved the Daimio and his
+escort to ascend the wild and rugged pass, and seek the sheltered
+plains, before the coming of the storm.
+
+Yes, No-Kami was himself again. The eyes, like burning coals, no
+longer glared at him. The good horse Typhoon, idle too long, chafed
+under the bit, buffeted with his lord for mastery. A distempered
+dream, no more, one that was past and gone. Light of heart and
+jovially inclined, he gratified his taste for cruelty by lashing his
+steed into a fever. Even he, the horse, was aware how sick he had
+been--was mutinous and restive--needed a sharp lesson. The samurai, he
+remarked, were more familiar than of yore. There was a shade less of
+submission in their manner. One went so far as to bandy a broad jest,
+putting forth lips too close to his master's ear, upon which he
+received a smart blow upon the cheek, as a hint to keep his distance.
+
+Their lord was himself again, and the warriors were glad. That he
+should be fooled by a wanton to their benefit was amusing for a while,
+but with satiety rose a feeling of disgust. The fascinating geisha's
+heart had room for too many occupants, and the warriors began to
+reflect some while since that, by betraying their lord in their
+society, she was shaming the house they served. As the charm of
+novelty waned, they began to see her as she was. Removed from the
+range of O'Kikú's orbs, the more sober among then grieved about that
+second marriage. As a dancing-girl--a passing fancy--O'Kikú was all
+that could be desired--but as a permanent second wife?--no. On the
+whole, even the mawkish chatelaine was less grievous as a mistress.
+Her sins were of omission only. Never by word or look had she
+disgraced the name she bore. Unfortunately, the same could not be said
+for the concubine.
+
+My lord was himself again, and, being so, was desperately tetchy. This
+was untoward. Otherwise, a wary hint might have been thrown out by the
+trusted and war-beaten officer who rode beside him as to the reckless
+proceedings of his favourite. In the present condition of his temper,
+interference might produce explosion. Well, time is the best guide. If
+detained at Ki[^y]oto, he might see some one he liked better, and
+forget O'Kikú, and then she could be relegated to a convent as lumber
+is removed to a godown.
+
+The samurai were in high spirits, and noisy withal, and the Daimio
+observed with displeasing the effect of discipline relaxed. So
+soon as he returned home he would set his castle in order, he
+resolved,--suppress undue lawlessness,--check familiarity. When he
+returned? Would the nightmare crush him again--numbing his limbs,
+breaking his spirit? Surely not. Why should he ever return? Was he not
+lord of other castles? Could he not appropriate at will, with the
+strong hand of might, any stronghold that should take his fancy? Tsu
+could be left to O'Tei and to the goblins. Henceforth it was a hateful
+spot, recalling humiliation and pain. And then he mused about
+O'Kikú--entrancing little fairy! A pity she was unreasonably jealous,
+for all those stories about his wife and his brother were too absurd
+to be believed. Yet were they? What, after all, if the concubine were
+right, and Sampei's air of offended dignity a piece of clever
+masquerading? Had he, the chief, not seemed to detect something like
+commiseration on the bronzed features of his warriors? Why should they
+pity him? Perhaps they knew too well that, behind his back, his wife
+and brother held clandestine meetings. Of course, this must be it.
+Scales fell from his eyes, and he trembled with passion. His first
+wife was deceiving him, and with his brother! Hence their waning
+respect and covert pity. And, fool that he was, he had left the two
+together. Grinding his teeth, he twitched the rein so sharply that
+Typhoon, beflecked with foam, fell back upon his haunches. And then,
+in fitful mood, he laughed again. To Ki[^y]oto first to tie up
+loosened strands, then back to Tsu with furtive speed! He would swoop
+upon both the guilty ones, catch them off their guard, and make of
+them an example for all time.
+
+The peasants, scared out of their wits by the truculent bearing of the
+soldiery, betook them to the woods, and lurked in hiding till the
+enemy had passed. At the top of the mountain, just where the way is
+level, before dipping down through a thicket of wind-tossed pines,
+there stood a modest tea-house where my lord was wont to sleep on his
+journeys between his castle and the capital. Here he resolved to stop
+as usual, and, after bathing, enjoy his dinner. The landlord and his
+daughters came smiling forth, and, clapping palms upon their thighs,
+knelt down and rapped foreheads on the floor. My lord was paler than
+his wont, observed mine host, with profuse sighing; and thin, which
+tore in twain the hearts of his loyal vassals; indeed they had heard
+that he was grievously sick--almost unto death. Had not my lord of
+Nara gone by recently and brought the evil tidings! One and all had
+wept, and offered prayers for his recovery. But my lord was young, and
+would speedily recover, thanks to the elasticity of youth. And so on,
+with many genuflections and drawings in of the breath; sibillations,
+and head-rappings; while No-Kami's face grew purple, and he growled a
+string of curses.
+
+Nara dared--the insolent dotard!--he dared to spread reports among the
+people to the detriment of him, the Hojo! Sick unto death, forsooth!
+He burned to continue his journey forthwith, that the old schemer
+might be swiftly punished. Hark! What was that? A clatter of hoofs on
+the hard road. A betto, breathless, wearing the badge of Tsu. What had
+chanced? Not an accident to the fair O'Kikú? Anything but that. The
+anxiety of No-Kami caused the warriors to glance with grim meaning
+from one to another, and shake their heads. How infatuated was their
+lord with that brazen hussy! A lacquer box, bound with a red cord,
+containing a roll--a letter scrawled by the dear one. The darling
+faithful fairy was pining in the absence of her love! Retiring to the
+inner chamber, with its fine white mats, and gold ceiling painted with
+many fans, he proceeded to peruse the scroll. "He must not be angry
+with his little slave in that she perforce must write to him." (Angry!
+and with her? At home he might have snarled, but now time and distance
+were between them.) "She was not so well-disciplined, springing from
+the warm-hearted people, as my lady, the chill chatelaine." (No, in
+sooth! O'Tei would be long ere she despatched love-missives to her
+husband.) "She was silly enough to adore my lord so well that each
+moment out of his company was like a dagger-stab; and yet, _she had
+comfort in his absence!_"
+
+Here was a mystery concerning which he must not be jealous, since the
+comfort of which she spoke would affect him as well as her. My lord
+must give way before her whim, and be patient, or if not patient, must
+hasten home the sooner, that the grand secret of joy might be
+divulged. Softened, he laid the paper down. He must be a brute indeed
+who hath not a tender spot in his ruggedness for one who so
+unselfishly adored! The guileless, silly child! What was the grand
+secret that was to be the harbinger of doubly-concentrated bliss?
+Stay! there was a postscript to the letter, and the Hojo scrunched its
+frail tissue in his palm. Under the green leaf lies the scorpion.
+"Since my lord went they are at ease, and the Abbess a shameless
+pander!" That was all, but it was enough to remove the sweetness from
+the rest,--the one drop of gall that could turn a whole dish sour.
+
+_At ease_, were they! Not for long--not for long! Squatting on the
+mat, with a futon, or wadded quilt, about his shoulders, and his cold
+hands spread over the hibachi, where charcoal ashes distributed a
+mockery of warmth, No-Kami quivered now in every racked sinew. Did
+everybody unite to beard him? He was fallen so low as that! The
+prestige due to wholesome fear was paling. He had been too lenient.
+That pageant had somehow been a failure. Only just in time had he
+recovered from his illness. It was time to turn over a new leaf and
+coerce the rebellious and unruly with an increase of severity. A
+plague on the noisy soldiery! They were as insolent as all the rest.
+The world was out of gear. What hideous din was that in the outer
+chamber? Springing to his feet, the Daimio flung back in their grooves
+the paper-covered doors, and in a voice of thunder demanded the cause
+of the uproar. A disgraceful scene, in truth! The landlord, but now so
+smiling and obsequious, was tied and gagged. So were the plump girls,
+his daughters, whose bosoms heaved with terror-stricken sobs, while
+tears coursed down their cheeks, and their locks, though plastered
+thick with oil, were bereft of pins and ornaments.
+
+What was the meaning of this? stammered their outraged lord, so soon
+as indignation permitted of speech. Sure they must be out of their
+senses! He had borne with their impudence upon the road,--their
+offensive, rollicking gait and vulgar swagger; but now they had gone
+too far, and should feel the weight of his displeasure. Were they
+samurai--faithful and obedient henchmen--or ronins--bandits? There had
+been more than enough quarrelling of late between the soldiers and the
+lower class. Landlord and maidens must be instantly released with full
+apologies, with substantial damages in the future, which should be
+extorted from the pay of the truculent and peccant braves.
+
+The Hojo was awful in his indignation--a whirlwind! Sure the
+thunder-god looked like this while deafening with his gongs the
+firmament. The girls were set free with tardy sullenness, and cowered
+together, trembling; but the man who menaced the landlord clutched him
+still, with the point of a dirk at his throat, while he who was in
+command approached his lord with extreme humility, begging to be
+permitted to explain.
+
+"We were toying with the maidens," he bluntly urged--"surely an
+appropriate amusement for soldiers--when one, too roughly pinched,
+perhaps, turned on the aggressor with a jibe. 'Take heed,' she
+shrieked, in shrill resentment at that which was only gallantry, 'lest
+you strutting fowls get your fine feathers clipped!' She would have
+said more, but her sire, in fear, clapped a hand upon her mouth,
+exhorting her to prudence. She had betrayed herself--uttered a dark
+threat, whose meaning it became us to learn. With the steel at his
+throat the man had made confession--and a pretty coil it was! The
+clans are gathering, he says; silently, by detachments, in the
+mountains, ready, at given signal to fall unawares upon my lord. That
+was why the Daimio of Nara deigned to visit us. He came to reconnoitre
+the ground, to see if we were prepared and vigilant. While we reposed
+in false security (this varlet hath confessed) the hostile daimios
+have been summoning their men, have enrolled in their service paid
+auxiliaries; disbanded, wandering ronins; soldiers of fortune,
+ruffians. And this, as it seems (though one can scarce believe it),
+with the tacit consent both of the Holy Mikado and of the Shogun at
+Kamakura. This summons to Ki[^y]oto is a snare, detected luckily in
+time. May it please my lord--pardoning the arrogance of his poor
+servant in advising--to take horse at once, and, riding quickly home
+prepare for danger. Finding their plot discovered, they will follow,
+striving, by myriads like locusts, to undo us. But the walls of Tsu
+are strong. Behind them we may laugh, secure."
+
+Having made this long oration, the chief of the samurai bent down,
+touched with his lips the hem of my lord's hanging girdle, and then
+rising, with bowed neck awaited orders. A discovery indeed! When
+closeted with his child the crafty Nara had doubtless explained the
+plot, had held out the hope of freedom to the prisoner; and she, as
+consummate in dissimulation as her parent, had seen without a quiver
+of an eyelid her husband riding to his death. Perhaps Sampei knew also
+of it--of course he did. Ambitious for himself, a willing tool of
+Nara's! Faithless traitors all! O'Kikú was the only true one!
+
+His brows knitted in deep concern, the Daimio waved his hand, and
+retired for a while to think. The suddenly-opened chasm that yawned
+before his feet completed the recovery of No-Kami. His wife, his
+brother, false. That was evident now. The adviser selected by his
+parent convicted of treason. Incensed Japan ready to rise as one to
+shake off a weakened despot. Nobody but himself to trust to; no arm
+but his own to succour him. Return with all speed to Tsu, and place
+that impregnable stronghold in a condition to endure a siege? Prudent
+advice enough; but what if the hovering ghosts should on his
+re-entrance there claim and clutch him for their own. Then would he be
+undone indeed. But the ghosts had ceased to worry. No-Kami thrilled
+with glee as he realised the imminence of his peril. How mistaken in
+their estimate they were of him who held them leashed. What! Catch a
+Hojo like a rat in a trap? Not they. Not all the united prowess of
+Japan should succeed in doing it, provided goblins were kept aloof
+from the contest. Return at once to Tsu. No! 'Twould be a sign of
+weakness. Instead of retiring, it behoved him to assume the offensive.
+He would invade the Mikado, as he had often done before, and cow with
+his scowl alone the poor timid array of hares. By the prestige of his
+name and the uncompromising power of his will he had held his own
+since the demise of his father and Tomoyé. It is a mistake for a
+despot to hide his frown too long. The past should be retrieved by a
+blow so heavy and unexpected that the hares, quaking with
+apprehension, would scuttle off without a sound.
+
+Striding forth again from retirement, No-Kami issued orders so prompt
+and to the purpose that there was no gainsaying them.
+
+The betto was to return to Tsu at the top of his speed, with private
+instructions to the officers as to increased watchfulness. This scroll
+he would deliver to Sampei, and instruct him, at the peril of his life
+without delay to join his brother at the capital. The letter was so
+sternly worded that he would perceive he had been betrayed,--that the
+head of his clan was aware of his perfidy, and he would accordingly
+throw up the game, confess, and sue for mercy.
+
+The Daimio himself and his following would, after a few hours of
+repose, push on to Ki[^y]oto. The rice of the men consumed, the horses
+fed, and a cup of saké all round, and then, away!
+
+The landlord and his daughter; what of them?
+
+The miserable peasant was quaking on the mat, groaning and wringing
+hands with incoherent supplications, deeply distressed in mind to
+think that through the blabbing of him and his the tyrant should have
+received timely warning.
+
+To all posterity would their names go branded down, since but for
+their folly the bonds of their land would have been loosened. The
+girls, beside themselves with fear, crawled on hands and knees,
+imploring clemency.
+
+Folding his arms, No-Kami looked down upon the supplicants, while his
+features were contracted by a spasm that might pass for a malignant
+grin.
+
+"What of these?" he glowered. "Slash the father's throat; 'tis given
+to garrulity and chattering. The girls? Serve them as you will. What
+have I to do with vermin?"
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XIV.
+
+ THE MIKADO DOES BUSINESS.
+
+
+Since the return of Nara from his mysterious excursion, the interior
+of the sad prison-house of the Mikado was quite lively. The kneeling
+kugés chirruped like birds; their tall black headdresses waved and
+nodded like sable plumes in the wind. Excitement being contagious, the
+un-elect, who might not step within the sacred halls, laughed too and
+gabbled on the outer verandahs, showing their white teeth, and
+gossiping hopefully. They wist not why they were so light of heart;
+but if the privileged denizens of the lugubrious dwelling, usually so
+glum, were gay, it meant that the Holy Mikado was well pleased; and if
+the Fountain of Honour was content, it was clearly the duty of them,
+his lowly faithful ones, to vie one with another in sympathy.
+
+After that terrible interview when he was publicly insulted before his
+court, the miserable Mikado retired into darkness, declining to emerge
+or to be comforted. He vowed that the three deposed Emperors who were
+mumbling prayers in remote monasteries were far better off than he,
+for they at any rate were left in peace, so long as they submitted
+quietly, and were pitied as well as loved by the Empire. The actual
+Emperor, so long as he seemed to reign, was held responsible for what
+was done, and he, unfortunately for himself, was of a conscientious
+turn of mind. The peasant man who, alas, too trusting, had confided
+himself to the safe keeping of the Holy One, had been torn from
+sanctuary, ignominiously executed, together with his innocent family,
+and the Fountain of Honour was aware that in the eyes of the people he
+must be a willing accomplice, or else the meanest of puppets. His
+conscience was torn by pincers. He ought somehow to have saved that
+family. Humiliation and shame gnawed into his vitals, as rusty gyves
+into the wrists. No slavery, he declared, while he crouched in his
+dark chamber, with drops of sweat upon his brow, could possibly be
+worse than his. A change of masters, if master he must have, would be
+for the better, since his plight could not be altered for the worse.
+Not the lowest coolie,--the meanest Eta in his dominions, was of less
+account than he. If all these chattering kugés, who prostrated
+themselves so humbly, drawing in breath like humming insects,
+professing profound devotion, would only do something practical, then
+would he, the Fountain, sparkle with gratitude, and profusely
+distribute benedictions.
+
+Nara was a provoking person. Wise as an owl in aspect, his wisdom was
+much an imposture as that of the sapient bird. As usual he exhorted to
+patience, droned platitudes through his nose. The friends of that
+much-tried individual on a dunghill, whom Christians had been heard to
+prate about, were no more exasperating. When the octopus holds you
+with his tentacles in fell embrace, you must summon all your strength
+in a supreme effort to tear him piecemeal. A series of small struggles
+are mere waste of tissue. The Hojo, as all within the holy prison
+house were painfully aware, was a portentous octopus, more awful than
+any of the forbidding monsters, with arms of five feet and more, that
+are to be seen any day in the fish-market.
+
+Those who would measure lances with him must be cautious--very
+cautious. Perhaps, looking back on history, the Fountain might
+remember Yoriiyé, son of Yoritomo the Great, who, banished to the
+temple of Idzu, was compelled to shave off his hair. Objecting, he
+rebelled, and, to the general dismay, was found strangled one morning
+in his bath. The present Fountain was young and impetuous, a boy, and
+ignorant, and must learn to smile and wait--to smile and smile--and
+_strike!_ That he should have resolved on a change at any cost, was
+well. His trusty lords would beat about and see what was to be done.
+Doth not the ratcatcher's cat hide her claws?--to serve her end
+perform miracles? With the stirring of the wind the heron rises from
+the stream. A little faith, and patience.
+
+It was fortunate for the conspirators, headed by Nara, that after his
+deplorable exhibition of cruelty at Tsu the tyrant should remain
+quiescent. The snake, for the moment gorged, was comatose. Taking
+advantage of his absence and inaction, the Daimio of Nara threw his
+spies broadcast over the land--sent letters to absent magnates
+inviting them to unite and march for the emancipation of their lord
+from serfdom. He even sent privately to the Shogun at Kamakura,
+declaring that if any one was despot in future it should be he, since,
+by virtue of his post, he was the first General of the Empire, the
+legitimate leader of her armies. If the Hojo had been at Ki[^y]oto,
+and awake, these proceedings would have been at once detected, and
+crushed with an iron hand. Why was he so quiet in his distant castle?
+
+When the message from Masago arrived, declaring that the Daimio of Tsu
+was sinking into lowest debauchery, willing victim of a harlot, Nara
+thanked the gods, and rushed to his imperial master. The other item in
+the communication--concerning the position of his own daughter--was a
+trifle. She also must practise patience. She would be amply avenged
+for present torment at the same time as the Holy Mikado. Was not this
+grand news, well worth a little waiting--a little suffering? Had he
+not been right--he, the hoary one, the sage, the experienced, the
+prudent? They had waited, and the moment was at hand. In exultant joy
+he flung himself headlong on the mat, and embraced his master's feet.
+
+Of course the latter was glad that evil should befall his tyrant; but
+Nara was always more glib with tongue than sword. A little patience,
+quotha. For patience the times were out of joint. A little action now.
+Answers arrived from east and west, from north and south--some
+bellicose and ardent, some timid and time-serving. The Fountain of
+Honour deigned to come out of darkness like a snail out of its shell;
+but as he lay supported on his hand in the centre of the floor, his
+mien was so troubled, his young brow so puckered and scowling, that
+the kugés squatting around in a circle sat wistful, with heads on one
+side--motionless. For hours and hours he remained as inanimate as
+they--lost in gloomy thoughts and dumb abstraction. The prospect was
+too halcyon. The tyrant, firm in the toils of a low woman, might
+become sodden and besotted. What of the other--no less than he a
+Hojo--the idol of the army, bravest of the brave? The soul of loyalty
+(or his face belied him), he would stand by his brother, a tower of
+strength in an emergency.
+
+Plausible and garrulous and self-deceiving as old men are wont to be,
+Nara had been quite wrong in his estimate of General Sampei. He, the
+General, had appeared distressed at the proceedings of his feudal
+superior. And yet could it be denied that he had calmly attended and
+approved that shocking massacre,--had stood by with hands before him
+while infants were slaughtered,--had remained on the premises ever
+since, perfectly composed and comfortable? His face was a lying mask
+then. He was as bad, every bit, as his brother,--as much to be feared
+and hated; for since it was clear that he approved his acts, he would,
+of course, stand by him to the death.
+
+Nara rubbed his chin, and whilst confessing that that much of the
+problem was at present not quite so clear as was desirable, stoutly
+declared that if the distant chiefs could succeed in quietly gathering
+their adherents, and, unsuspected, mass them within distance of the
+capital the desired end would be attained, Sampei or no Sampei. The
+Hojo must be lulled in false security, and awake to a sense of danger
+only in time to perish. In order to reconnoitre the ground, he, the
+veteran, would stir his old bones and pay a visit to his son-in-law.
+There would be naught in this to raise suspicion, for what could be
+more natural than that a fond parent should make a pilgrimage to visit
+his only child?
+
+He went, as we have seen, and in due course returned, so jubilant and
+radiant that even his glum master perforce believed in him. Their
+prayers were heard. The gods were sick of tyranny. The despot,
+blindfold, was marching to his fate. His foot was on the edge of the
+abyss. As the Fountain of Honour in his inspired wisdom had pointed
+out, Sampei was loyal to his chief, so far, but he was evidently full
+of disgust, uncertain what he ought to do, harried and worried,
+wretched. The citadel was more than half undermined already. He, the
+brilliant general, soldier to his finger nails, moved in a centre of
+undisciplined debauchery; listess, unshocked, uninterested. Why, a
+handful of ronins could take and sack in a trice the castle once
+deemed impregnable! The guards were wrapped in drunken sleep, the
+sentinels, absent from their posts, were engaged in uproarious wassail
+Not a peasant for miles around but would hail with joyous relief the
+advent of a new master; not a farmer or artizan but, with full faith
+in Koshiu's dying words, would look on No-Kami's downfall as
+retribution heaven-born. Nothing would be easier than, guided by
+peasants, to march trusty troops by night through the mountain defiles
+and take the castle by surprise. Sampei, half-hearted as he was, and
+preternaturally listless, would acquiesce in the inevitable (would be
+only too glad to do so), and, his brother slain--no longer tied by
+fealty--would appear in his true colours. In the absence of their
+hereditary chief, the braves of Tsu would lose their heads, throw down
+their arms. For the stronghold must fall in the absence of the Hojo,
+or the prestige that hung around his dignity might save him after all.
+Just see how cautiously and well-prepared were the plans of the
+veteran counsellor. Hojo must be summoned to Ki[^y]oto on some
+business; then sent back with a reproof, to fall into a skilfully-set
+trap. Admitted within the walls that were once his own--but which
+would have surrendered in his absence--he could be seized and bound,
+and, in this plight, covered with the green net of dishonour, be
+exhibited before awed crowds, as a sermon against vaulting ambition.
+
+So fluent was the old man, so completely self-convinced, that the
+Mikado revived and sat up, while the eyes of the circle of kugés
+goggled in their heads with mingled admiration and alarm. No-Kami, as
+we have seen, was sent for in peremptory fashion. The Fountain
+suggested timidly that this was rash, perhaps; and then old Nara
+laughed loud and long and savagely.
+
+"Time was, O Holy One!" he cried, with wagging headpiece, "when 'twas
+I who prated of prudence. Now I say be brave! There is naught to fear:
+his claws are cut. I have looked on him! There is terror in his
+bloodshot eyes, dread in his shaking hands and shuffling footsteps.
+The dying farmer called down a curse, and it works visibly, for his
+confidence in himself has gone--his belief in a lucky star!"
+
+All this was vastly refreshing to the inhabitants of the palace,
+accustomed as they were to groaning. The Mikado, with mind at ease,
+sat on his lacquered chair within the white-curtained tent, and gave
+audience to all and sundry. The weather was bitterly cold.
+
+A cutting wind blew down from the hills, sheeted last night with snow.
+Nevertheless, so benignantly disposed was he, that the Fountain of
+Honour ordered the shutters of the Great Hall to be removed, that
+those without might see him, and fall in ecstasy upon their faces.
+With a hibachi of fine bronze before him, clad in wadded robes with
+seven linings, his wizened visage was cut clear against the background
+by the towering black gauze leaf that he only of mortals was permitted
+to wear erect. Despite his wadding and his charcoal he was chilly; but
+what matters that when the heart is warm, the spirits high? The moment
+of triumph was approaching when he would claim an eye for an eye and a
+tooth for a tooth,--exact a cry of pain for each that himself had
+uttered. Since the despot was already so stricken by outraged Buddha
+as to be spiritless, he, the Fountain, would improve the occasion when
+the culprit arrived, in order that all might perceive and applaud the
+seasonable resumption of his free will and dignity. Openly now he
+discussed with assembled kugés each succeeding step. Troops were
+already moving silently, under cover of the dark, towards the castle.
+Others were approaching from afar in the direction of the central
+rendezvous. On the arrival of the culprit--news had already been
+received of his starting--he should be solemnly arraigned and
+admonished, then banished in disgrace to his lands at Tsu. There he
+would fall into the snare, be brought back with every mark of insult
+and ignominy to the capital--and then--and then! What was to happen
+after that was too delicious to be too promptly settled. It was a
+morsel to be turned over and over on the tongue, not swallowed with a
+gulp.
+
+Both Fountain and attendant kugés were never weary now of discussing
+"what then?" Of course, the last thing of all was to be harakiri. This
+means of final exit he could justly claim by right of name and
+lineage. But before the final tragedy there might, if skilfully
+thought out, be endless shades of moral torture; and the kugés,
+squatting in a row, crumpled their foreheads and stared at the gold
+ceiling in the delightful travail of conception. Every one had an idea
+which required to be examined and considered, sifted, accepted, or
+rejected. Meanwhile the Fountain dribbled out wisdom, encouraged
+brains to nimbleness, distributed applause. One of the nobles had an
+inspiration, whereon all his fellows cackled. There was a punishment
+that none had endured for years, but which might be revived with
+advantage for the behoof of the fallen Hojo. In a public place, before
+the assembled populace, a series of the lowest and dirtiest Etas were
+to be placed in a long line, with straddled legs, and under the arcade
+thus formed--a pilgrimage of consummate degradation--the humbled
+noble, on hands and knees, was to be condemned to crawl. An admirable
+suggestion! Traitorous nobles condemned to this ordeal had been known
+to die from very shame--their soul crushed out of them, ere half the
+journey was accomplished. Sure the proud-stomached Hojo would not
+survive, and thus would go out of the world deprived of the honour of
+harakiri.
+
+The Mikado, enchanted, could conjure up the scene. He longed for the
+moment to arrive when the culprit, erst so domineering, would shuffle
+in, nervous and unstrung. A new and charming sensation this to one who
+was wont himself to quiver. Yes, he longed for the moment, but the
+wretch should not be admitted at once. Certainly not. He should be
+shown his place; he who had ridden roughshod should be kept waiting in
+an ante-room. He----Hark! what sound was that? Rapid and dreadfully
+familiar? Could it indeed be? A footfall, too well known, was creaking
+quickly along the bare boards of the corridor. Shuffling, forsooth! it
+was as brisk and elastic as of yore. With a glance of dismayed
+reproach the Mikado turned to Nara, then concealed behind a fan his
+burning face. Nara frowned, surprised. The crouching kugés twittered.
+
+Mice gambol when their hereditary foe is slumbering; then, when the
+green gleaming eyes re-open, scuffle into holes. For these poor mice
+there were no holes. The footstep was crunching--crunching on their
+hearts. Though it approached more near, more near, with dreadful
+swiftness, they might not move, since no shelter was at hand, and they
+had not wings to fly. Alack! with idle presumption they had uncorked a
+bottle, and out had popped a gin that spread his bat's pinions over
+the sky with stifling sulphurous stench.
+
+Dread in his shaking hand indeed! Oh, Nara! Nara! Peeping nervously
+between his fan-sticks, as the commanding figure that he knew too well
+darkened the doorway, the Fountain of Honour perceived a threatening
+outline in which there was no sign of decadence. As with hand lightly
+poised on hip, and proud head raised, the Hojo strode into the
+Presence, the Mikado marked that he was pale and thin, but his eye, if
+bloodshot, was piercing as ever--fierce as the untamed eagle's. That
+Nara, who boasted of experience and acumen, should be so grievously
+taken in. Well, well! it was all the fault of that old fool. The
+embroglio was of his making; it must be for him to get them out of the
+hobble.
+
+But Nara, save for a deepening line between the brows, and teeth that
+bit the lip, seemed unaware of the apparition. Red and wrinkled lids
+blinked over glazed eyes which stared stonily into space from under a
+white and shaggy penthouse. The Daimio of Tsu, erect and menacing,
+glanced slowly down at the assembled lords, who, with bent backs, were
+contemplating the floor--then at the fan and bundle of silks which
+concealed the Fountain of Honour--then at the crowd without, who stood
+with craned necks on the verandahs, or grouped about the garden. From
+between his fan-sticks the Mikado followed the motions of the despot
+with increasing trepidation.
+
+If only he dared to command the closing of the doors--but his tongue
+refused its office. Instinct told him that the cup of disgrace was
+again to be presented to his lips, and that it would be more bitter
+than ever to the taste. How hard was fate! Every one of the court
+circle--hatamotos, lords, knights, dependants--was to witness the
+unpleasing ceremony.
+
+As the Daimio stood quietly glancing round without a word, the silence
+became each second less endurable. By bearing and power of eye,
+combined with an eloquent past, the tyrant held them cowed. Insolent!
+He had presumed to appear in the presence in ordinary garb,--had not
+deigned to don the _Uye-no-Bakama_; or the regulation white silk
+shirt, or _[=O] Katabira_. And the attitude of the courtiers, too! A
+pack of grovelling cowards! fine weather friends. A minute since they
+were gabbling, one against another, of future deeds of prowess--of
+dazzling achievements; now not one among the startled herd had courage
+to sacrifice himself--to save his lord from the dilemma. Piteously the
+Mikado looked at Nara, who made no response; then--since it was
+absolutely essential that some one should break the silence--he closed
+his fan and whispered meekly,--
+
+"Lord Hojo, you are welcome."
+
+No-Kami smiled, and remarked shortly,--
+
+"Very welcome, doubtless. As I came hither I heard a sound of
+mirth--now all sit mumchance. Had I not received a special summons, I
+should have deemed I had intruded."
+
+The smile and accents of studied courtesy were more galling than rude
+speech, to which all were well accustomed. 'Twas as when a tamer of
+animals flicks them playfully with a wand. They are too docile to need
+whipping, yet, pending possible contingencies, 'tis wholesome that
+they should receive a tap.
+
+Suddenly dropping the tone of banter, the Daimio strode nearer to his
+master, and sternly said,--
+
+"May I know why I was summoned? No matter. I have come, and, being
+here, will ask a question. We are at peace, I think. During the weeks
+of my retirement I have heard no news of war. Why, then, a stir of
+arms,--a movement of troops,--marching, countermarching in the night?
+What is the subject of offence?--is it with China or Corea?"
+
+The sinister eye of No-Kami fell upon Nara, who calmly responded,--"I
+know nothing."
+
+"You lie!" retorted the Hojo fiercely. "Oh, base and double-faced and
+craven! False and deceitful is the blood of Nara--rotten is stock and
+branch! You and your daughter are alike."
+
+Without changing his attitude one tittle, the old man slightly raised
+his brows.
+
+"My daughter!" he said, with exceeding calm. "Forbear to breathe her
+name. You have broken her heart; driven her to the gate of Death. I
+ought to have known that none but a savage was a fit mate for Hojo."
+
+"Pretty innocent!" sneered No-Kami, lashing himself to frenzy as he
+advanced towards Nara, hand raised as if to smite. "Know that your
+pure white blossom is my brother's paramour!"
+
+A flush passed over the grim features of the old Daimio, then left
+them pale. His master nervously scanned the kugés, whose heads were
+bent lower than ever. From no quarter was there succour against this
+octopus. The Mikado fairly jumped in his seat when No-Kami spoke
+again.
+
+"You, boy," he said, "see to this matter of the troops. They were
+summoned without your knowledge, I am willing to believe, by others,
+who never troubled to consult one so feeble. Or shall I, since you
+have called me to your side, undertake to relieve you of the task?
+Letters shall be despatched forthwith to the effect that 'twas a false
+alarm, bred of mischief and malice,--that the ronins may be disbanded,
+the men returned to their homes. I shall remain for the present at the
+Golden House, ready with my humble service when required. With you and
+yours, my lord, I will settle later."
+
+With a show of exaggerated humility, which was worse than knife-stabs,
+and a glare at Nara, the despot departed as he came, leaving in his
+wake, as he scrunched away, a trail of terror and discomfiture. The
+sliding doors were closed in haste. For a while, the assembly remained
+frozen, then the unhappy Mikado heaved a deep sigh, which was met by a
+flutter of moaning. He was gone for the present, that was a small
+mercy; but then he might return at any moment, abusive and vindictive
+instead of caustic. The shuffling step and trembling hand. Oh, Nara,
+Nara! Broken reed, false friend; vain, impotent wind-bag; purblind,
+blustering dotard!
+
+Gushing with torrents of weak tears, the Fountain relieved his pent-up
+anguish with trickling reproaches and sobs, to which the old Daimio
+listened gloomily. No doubt, he had been wrong in some measure, he
+admitted with hesitation, for so rapid a recovery had never entered
+into the complex web of his calculations. Perchance it was but the
+bright temporary flicker of the expiring lamp. The Fountain of Honour
+must not be too severe on his aged servant. Had he not kept his temper
+under grievous provocation, blows would have been exchanged in the
+holy presence, imperial prestige in the eyes of the whole court would
+have been lowered.
+
+"Rubbish! A paltry excuse! Why, as he stood there, did none of you rid
+me of him?" groaned the Fountain, whereupon the abject circle groaned
+in echo.
+
+"Of a truth, some one should have done it," bleated one; but surprise,
+after what they had heard, unnerved each arm; and, indeed, the Hojo
+was a terrible person, an ogre to terrify the doughtiest.
+
+"Bluster and cowardice are sisters!" continued the lamenting Mikado.
+He could never trust any of them any more--never, never--the cravens!
+His chains, heavy and numbing, were riveted with adamantine links! and
+so forth--with a chorus of bleating.
+
+When you know that you have done your best,--that but for some one
+unforeseen and ineradicable speck your carefully-wrought blade would
+be faultless, a shimmering masterpiece--it is vastly vexatious for
+people whom you despise, although they wear the aureole, to go on
+ungenerously drivelling anent that one undeniable blemish. Nara, as he
+said, had endured a great deal at the hard hand of Hojo, but to sit
+calmly any longer under the futile reproaches of the Holy One was
+beyond his stock of that patience he was so fond of recommending to
+others.
+
+Moreover, is not the putting aside of what is past and unpleasant a
+principle approved of by sages? What is done is done. Even after the
+late scene, wherein a brutal keeper disported himself among his
+animals, and departed triumphing, all was not lost, The Fountain
+had been compelled to imbibe another sip of a nauseous draught with
+which he was so familiar, that surely it did not signify, at any
+rate, it should be the last His faithful Nara promised it. How the
+never-sufficiently-to-be-accursed Hojo had ever discovered the
+approaching advent of cohorts was a puzzle. But the cohorts were near
+by this time, and they must even make an open stand against the
+tyrant, since the scheme of treachery had failed. He, the domineering
+Hojo, would write angry and imperious letters to the approaching
+daimios, bidding them begone; but in the name of the Holy One letters
+could also be sent--secretly, of course--exhorting them to ride all
+the quicker, since the situation had become acute.
+
+"I will gird my old sword again, despite my many winters," Nara
+concluded pompously. "Dost think that because my hair is white my
+heart is frozen? Under the snows of Shirané-San and Asama-Yama
+smoulder the hidden fires. This man's father has immured three
+Emperors, and he himself is preparing to depose a fourth. He has
+insulted me, and broken my daughter's heart. A little craft--a very
+little more--and the crest of the despot is laid low."
+
+The hapless Mikado suffocated. Tears of impotent wrath welled from his
+august eyelids. Cowardice and bluster to the end, and broken reeds to
+lean on, while he drained the nauseous cup! Verily the banished
+Emperors were to be envied. The young man rose, and retired to his
+inner chamber, and lay prone with moans in darkness.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XV.
+
+ WILL BUDDHA SPEAK?
+
+
+Meanwhile affairs at Tsu were not prospering. Sampei, tossed like a
+shuttlecock, formed, as usual, a dozen resolutions daily, and broke
+them all. At one moment he was for the flight of O'Tei from the doomed
+castle--become now a hell of untramelled debauchery--and her
+installation with his mother at the temple. There she would be in
+sanctuary, whence even her husband durst not wrest her. But then what
+a triumph for O'Kikú! He felt that O'Tei would never consent to a step
+which would be a tacit admission of defeat, for she was a Nara of pure
+blood, with all the pride of her race. No. She must stop where she
+was, and await the unrolling of events; and yet what a life was hers,
+compelled to remain much in her bower, lest she should be insulted by
+O'Kikú or the braves. As Nara hoped, the evil germ was working
+inwardly. A regret rose within the mind of Sampei which scorched and
+blackened it. Is a faithful clansman and an honest man ever justified
+in turning on his chief? Before there was no question of it: now he
+was in more than doubt. May a brother ever be pardoned for taking his
+brother's life? Cases of fratricide were common enough, as Nara had
+hinted--there were precedents galore--but then the ruling feature of
+Sampei's character had always been loyal honesty. The gods in their
+wisdom had set over him certain superiors. What would be said to him
+when the end came, and accounts were totted up upon the abacus, if he
+had rebelled? Buddha, frowning, would demand to know how he dared move
+out of his place, arrogantly assuming to be the wiser.
+
+His first duty was to the head of his house: surely there should be no
+doubt whatever about that. But what if another urgent duty had been
+imposed by his heart--an imperative duty, clashing with the first?
+There lay the rub, a problem beyond the solving of the simple General.
+And since the shocking suggestion had been spread by the wily geisha
+that there were unholy bonds 'twixt him and her whom it was only too
+plain he loved, the situation had become so strained as to fill him
+with foreboding and dismay. To save her fair fame ought he indeed to
+go? To leave her a helpless waif on this whirlpool of black wickedness
+was out of the question. And yet how was she benefited by his staying,
+since he dared not approach without compromising her? So miserable did
+the poor man feel, racked and torn by a difficulty with which he was
+incapable of coping, that the light was dark to him, his heart stone
+cold. He knew himself as weak as she, a ball at the foot of Fate; and
+so he wandered aimless and disconsolate, hearing and seeing nothing,
+caring not what befell, waiting--as the rudderless do--to see what
+would happen next.
+
+Oh, heart of man, centre of suffering! When one is said to be
+heartless, 'tis looked upon as a reproach, instead of a matter for
+gratulation! The heart of man! 'Tis barely enough for a kite's dinner,
+yet the whole world is not sufficiently large to satisfy its lust, its
+greed, its ambition--and how it suffers!
+
+When he sailed so blythely for Corea with his enthusiastic army, how
+halcyon was the world to Sampei; what wonders he was going to perform;
+what a career of ambition was before him. And now, ambition was dead.
+Life had become Endurance. His candid spirit was warped by suspicion.
+He, once so open and trustful, saw in everything a hidden meaning; in
+every event an occult snare.
+
+In due course the betto brought him the letter of his chief, and he
+smiled with pitying derision. Was he to be taken in so easily? Had he
+not seen the betto ride off with the missive of O'Kikú? Had he not
+heard the woman herself urging the servant to speed? A puerile trick.
+The letter had counselled the infatuated Daimio to remove his brother
+from her path, that O'Tei, left unprotected and alone, might lie at
+her mercy. What other reason could there be for so sudden a summons to
+Ki[^y]oto? With disdain he tore the letter up, resolved more firmly
+than ever to stick to his post, to carry out his mission to the end.
+When my lord should return, there would be time enough for
+explanations. They were burning to be rid of O'Tei--the guilty couple.
+From this crowning sin, at least, Sampei would save his brother.
+
+It required no little resolution unblenchingly to follow the straight
+but rugged path. O'Kikú smarted more than ever under his cold and
+implacable disdain. All her arts were useless. Maddened, she strove to
+pique him by excesses of abandonment under his very nose, and was
+convulsed by fits of corroding acrimony to discover how futile were
+her efforts. Against all her attacks he was armed _cap-à-pié_. If my
+lord would but return, that she might wreak envenomed spite upon these
+two, whom now with her whole soul she hated! Meanwhile the only result
+produced by her reckless behaviour was that the samurai, for the most
+part, disapproved of her more and more; while Sampei, to shun the
+sight of one so odious, devoted himself to excursions and the chase.
+
+Away upon the hill, with its temple and solemn arcades of greenery, as
+in the hum of the houses below, the cloud of anxiety was thickening.
+
+The still dim shrine no longer lulled to devout prayer the soul of
+Masago. In the midst of supplication her mind turned worldwards. She
+yearned over her son and the tottering family. She grieved so for
+O'Tei, when the chatelaine arrived for prayers, that her hard face
+grew wondrous soft, and she marvelled at the stoniness of destiny.
+Seeing now with clearer ken than in the past, when she had admired the
+warlike Tomoyé, adored her rude lord, had almost persuaded herself to
+believe that all that he did was good, she began to have a denned
+perception of his crimes, mingled with a startled regret. He had been
+guilty of much that was deplorable. No-Kami had been brought up in his
+father's school, had from the first gone lengths that were much more
+regrettable, to end in deeds which she preferred not to contemplate.
+He deserved to be accursed, and was accursed. Our sins, like sable
+ravens, return to roost. Ever since the culminating crime, events had
+moved so directly towards a visible goal that the finger of fate was
+plain. But why Sampei? Why the fair and good O'Tei, a symbol of all
+that was pure? These questions, so bewildering, would rise
+persistently to the surface. Why should these two, mixed up in this
+horror, without overt act of theirs, be marched as victims to the
+sacrifice?
+
+She had heard from Sampei that my lord had rallied suddenly before he
+went to Ki[^y]oto, and this started a fresh train of thought.
+O'Kikú, the baleful geisha, was at the bottom of all the trouble. She
+had suddenly appeared, emissary of devils, on the fatal day, and
+ever since had been a scourge. Thanks to an inspiration from above,
+the Abbess had been the means of separating my lord from his
+concubine. Oh, what if, Heaven relenting, the separation might become
+final--No-Kami himself reformed? The soul of Masago gave a great leap.
+Yes, she saw light at last--the light for which she had besought so
+fervently. _She_ was to be the humble means of unravelling the tangle,
+of saving the family honour.
+
+But how was this to be accomplished? With trepidation she remembered
+that she was in her sixty-first year, which, as all the world knows,
+is the last of the yaku doshi, or evil years, after which a woman may
+be at peace. During her thirty-third and forty-second (the other
+yaku-doshi--happily passed) she had been very careful lest, tempted
+by Ratatzu, she should be capable of something dreadful, that would
+ruin her and hers. And now it was terrible to think that in this last
+year of ordeal--the one of a long life which was most beset with
+brambles--she was called upon to act with decision, to stand forth for
+the succour of the innocent, for the shriving and salvation of the
+guilty. This state of things would call for much vigil, much putting
+off of earth-trammels, and adoration of the sun-god at his rising,
+that her old eyes might clearly see.
+
+The more she pondered--a slow, tall figure pacing among the moss-grown
+tombs, under the stately criptomerias--the more plain her duty seemed.
+Thanks to the benign deities, her prayers for light were answered, and
+she saw. It was by Heaven's decree that the geisha had travelled
+hitherward, an agent for the fulfilling of a purpose pre-ordained.
+Buddha, with omniscient vision, had caused her to come to Tsu for the
+accomplishment of the curse of the martyr. But now, through the
+prayers and entreaties of his humble handmaid, he had relented,--been
+turned from his intent. What a scaffold was the Abbess raising. When
+No-Kami should come back, his evil genius would be gone. This favour
+granted, Buddha would vouchsafe another. By force of supplication
+Masago would obtain that the temper of the Hojo might be changed. He
+would repent him of his evil ways, and atone in the future for the
+past. Then it should be her proud privilege to bring together again
+the husband and the wife. O'Tei must be taught to forgive, to break
+down the barrier of ice behind which her better nature had been
+shrouded. Warming in the radiance of a new happiness her frozen petals
+would unfold, give forth their sweetness, and No-Kami would come to
+know the treasure that he had ignorantly tossed aside. The wan cheek
+of the old Abbess was flushed, her dimmed eyes sparkled, as she
+revolved these things, devoutly giving thanks to Heaven. Is it not the
+greatest joy that may be tasted by mortals--the permission to
+intervene in the house of discord, and bring to it peace and
+happiness? The end was plain to the prophetic vision of Masago, but
+the way to it was long. The gentle O'Tei would be brought with little
+trouble to play her part.
+
+The difficulty lay with the geisha. The Abbess, mindful of yaku doshi,
+resolved to be prudent and cautious--not precipitate; and yet,
+whatever had to be done must be done before the return of No-Kami to
+the castle. There was not time then for protracted cogitation. She
+would appeal in person to the siren,--speak words inspired from on
+high which should touch her flinty heart. Seizing her staff, the gaunt
+figure in its flowing draperies of crape descended the long flight of
+stairs, passed under the torii at the bottom, and strode, buoyed by
+celestial fervour, along the winding street which led to the castle
+gate. O'Kikú was in a boat upon the river---O'Tei's own favourite
+shallop, which she had robbed her of, as of other things--and
+marvelled greatly to behold the Abbess of the temple beckoning to her
+from the shore.
+
+Approaching, she reclined idly at the bottom of the boat, toying with
+some winter blossoms she had plucked; dipping, in saucy contempt of
+cold, the fingers of the other hand into the running water. She was
+muffled in a robe of furs, her head swathed in a kerchief of thick
+silk; and Masago remarked that she looked worn,--had lost that
+freshness which had been her most piquant charm. Earnestly the Abbess
+spoke; pleaded for the family honour on the verge of wreck; discoursed
+with proud eloquence of the illustrious house of which she was a lowly
+member; reminded her hearer that she, O'Kikú, also now was one of the
+house, in precisely the same position as she, the speaker, had been.
+There were two ways open to her. Lest she should bring upon herself
+the reproach of having brought a great family to ruin, she must turn
+over a new leaf, and eschew in future the vices for which she was
+notorious; or, if waywardness was in her blood, she must depart, and
+by self-sacrifice atone for the past, and save the family. Amused with
+the thought that the Abbess must be mad, the geisha lay listening, a
+sly smile playing about her lips, until the unlucky pleader began to
+talk about her son. Then starting, as if bitten by an adder, uprose
+the concubine, and, taking up the pole, leisurely pushed off from the
+bank.
+
+"Sampei, forsooth! A ridiculous old lunatic!" she scoffed, with a
+superb head-toss. "You must be very insane. What! You'd have me go
+hence and prison myself for the behoof of the pale idiot yonder? Even
+if I were myself mad enough to consent, my lord would never love her.
+The contemptible creature is barren; whereas I, the second wife--" and
+with a trail of mocking merriment, and an attempt to raise a blush,
+she smiled at the astounded Abbess, and propelled her bark into the
+stream.
+
+Masago remained standing, her tall figure mirrored in the water, her
+shrunken hands crossed upon her breast, amazed and troubled. What was
+this new factor in the embroglio? She was with child--the interloper.
+There would soon be a new bond, a fresh silver link to unite more
+closely the pair whom she was bound to separate. The woman's influence
+over my lord would be greater than ever; and, all for evil as of yore.
+The breach between No-Kami and O'Tei would grow wider. As in a
+dream--with slow gait and corrugated brow--the Abbess passed back
+towards the grove, heedless of the salutations of the peasants,--of
+the brown urchins that plucked at her skirts. A child--a son,
+perhaps--that woman's son! Swiftly there passed through her brain a
+sense of the results that would accrue. The wife, ambitious and
+unscrupulous, who was a mother, would become all-powerful. Fresh
+insults would day by day be heaped on the one who was not thus blessed
+among women. In her mind's eye Masago beheld a long train of disasters
+and calamities, O'Kikú the active agent. Crouched down before the
+altar, her chin supported by her palms, she gazed at the bronze symbol
+that sat so calm and still and upright, with mouth shut and eyelids
+closed.
+
+"Oh, if you would vouchsafe to speak," she murmured imploringly, "one
+little word of guidance. One other ray of light; one little, little
+ray! During years of unflinching devotion has my life been given to
+your service. I know that I have earned nothing save, perhaps, one
+touch of pity!"
+
+With sore and heavy heart the Abbess sighed, for the bronzed lips
+remained tight shut, the eyelids closed. He was asleep and deaf. There
+was no sound of comfort or of counsel.
+
+Presently she distinguished the patter of clogs upon the outer stairs,
+and, after a while a man, pushing aside the curtain, stood framed in
+the doorway.
+
+"Sampei!" Her boy! Was this the reply of Buddha? Ashy pale, trembling
+like a leaf, the old woman bent to the stones with moving lips; while
+the General, reverently doffing his geta, and beating his hands
+together, approached and knelt. She took his warm broad hand between
+her cold ones, and earnestly scrutinised his face. Her thoughts were
+in such a turmoil that, though she heard his words, they seemed to
+reach her ears from a distance, through a tunnel. Riding listlessly,
+as was his wont, with no settled purpose, he had been astonished to
+see the geisha in conference with his mother. What could those two
+have had to say to each other? Greatly marvelling, he had watched, and
+then turned his horse towards the temple. What ailed his mother, that
+her features were grey-green? Was she ill? She looked so scared and
+strange and terrified. Was it some ghost she saw that caused that look
+of awe?
+
+Without taking her eyes from her son's, the Abbess rose, and like one
+in a trance led him behind the altar, down the open corridor, into her
+own quiet chamber. Nothing could be more simple than its furnishing.
+The woodwork was unadorned, but scrupulously clean, so were the mats
+and screens. A plain fire-box of iron stood in the centre. Above the
+low dais in the tokonoma, or place of honour, there hung a single and
+very ancient kakemono, representing Kwannon, the thousand-handed; and
+under it, upon the dais, stood in a lacquered sword-rack, a dirk in
+its silken case.
+
+Floating before Sampei she lifted the weapon, pressed it to her bosom,
+then slowly unfastening the case, drew forth the dirk, which, with a
+cry, he recognised. It was a precious blade, forged by Miochin
+himself, adorned with a hilt minutely worked with gold--a dirk which
+in childhood he had been wont to play with.
+
+"My father's!" he murmured, and pressed it to his lips and forehead.
+
+"Your father's!" echoed the Abbess, in a whisper, drawing herself to
+the full height of her commanding stature, and placing on the bent
+head of her son a trembling hand. "Your father, and _his_, wore yonder
+blade in many a fray, and it was never sullied with dishonour. To you,
+my dear son, do I surrender it. The gods have spoken. She must die!"
+
+As pale as his mother, who looked on him now with a rapt and solemn
+smile, Sampei heaved a sigh of relief. _She_. His nerves tingled to
+his finger ends, for he had thought that the deed must be done which
+had so often crossed his mind, and which he had always put away from
+him with dread. It was not his brother--thanks to the gods for
+that--but the wicked concubine, whose blood was required in atonement.
+
+Then the two sat down, and the inspired priestess spoke.
+
+"The honour of the family was to be saved by him--Sampei. Buddha
+himself had deigned to settle it. He must bide his time, and wait and
+watch, and when occasion offered he must, with his father's dirk, slay
+the baleful sorceress. With his own hand must the deed be done--not be
+trusted to a hireling, even to a samurai. It might be some time before
+the fitting opportunity presented itself, for the braves, whom she
+still debauched, would defend her doubtless with their lives. There
+must not be too long delay, lest my lord No-Kami should come home. The
+avenging hand must be sure and steady; the result not a mere wound,
+but--death."
+
+Nodding, Sampei placed the weapon in his obi, and, embracing his
+mother, departed with proud step. It was to be his privilege--by
+Buddha's own decree--to save the honour of the house,--to rescue his
+infatuated brother,--to bestow upon the dear O'Tei a measure of future
+happiness.
+
+Masago, calm now, returned to the temple, and spent the night in
+vigil. Blessed be Buddha; for his mercy thrice-blessed! He had spoken
+through the silent lips. The course and conscience of his handmaid
+were clear as crystal now.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XVI.
+
+ MASAGO TAKES THE REINS.
+
+
+Now it came to pass that after the mental torture she had endured, the
+soul-racking perplexities, the days of prayer and nights of vigil, the
+strong frame of the Abbess gave way under her burthen. She was deeply
+thankful for the god's decision,--that her prayers had been heard and
+answered. But her body was worn out--the lamp was burning low, and she
+was compelled to remain in her chamber, wrapped in many quilts, with
+Miné, hapless victim of unrequited love, in anxious attendance on her.
+That unfortunate maiden had never recovered the effect of the dreadful
+day,--the massacre of her dear ones,--her parents' departure,
+unforgiving. She moved about her sacred duties like a phantom, with
+remorse gnawing at her vitals. No need now to keep watch over her lest
+she should again fling herself into the reluctant arms of the too
+fascinating young General. He was no more to her seared heart than any
+other man, for it had lost all sense of feeling. It was scorched out
+of life on the day of the massacre, and she bore only its ashes in her
+breast.
+
+Masago had sunk into that deep sleep which is the greatest boon to
+unhappy mortality, and Miné, bending over the hibachi, was stirring
+the charcoal with a rod, immersed in sad reflection, when there
+entered a certain bonze who enjoyed reputation as a doctor. He was a
+learned and a holy man, who dwelt in a monastery on the mountain,--was
+wise of counsel, and learned in the use of simples.
+
+Hearing by chance that the venerated Abbess of Tsu was lying sick, he
+took his bundle, his lacquered medicine-box, and his staff; put on his
+tall clogs, and great mushroom priestly hat, and hied towards the
+convent. Sleep, he observed, after a brief survey, was a better
+anodyne than simples, and he would therefore await the waking. Warming
+his fingers: over the glow he chatted with Miné in undertones,
+exchanged the gossip of Tsu for the last reports from Ki[^y]oto,
+inquired of what new atrocity my lord the Daimio had been guilty. Oh,
+yes; he was aware that my lord was away,--summoned to the capital; and
+added, with mysterious head-shakings, that a surprise was preparing
+for his return. "_You_ should be pleased to hear of it," went on the
+good garrulous old gentleman, "after all that your family have
+suffered at his hands--'tis only fitting retribution;" and then,
+chattering in whispers, he proceeded to tell of soldiers' shadowy
+cohorts, who by night had marched past the monastery. "They are
+massing troops in all the defiles," he whispered. "Your father's
+anathema has taken effect. The race of the Hojos is run."
+
+The bonze was so intent upon his tale, and so long-winded in the
+telling of it, that he, as well as his listener, forgot all about the
+patient. Though deep wrapt in slumber, she moved now and again
+uneasily, tossing from off a surcharged bosom the multitude of futons
+that covered it. Then gradually the sleep-goddess relaxed her embrace,
+folded her arms less closely, and she of dreams spread forth the
+shadow of her pinions. The Abbess dreamed a dreadful dream, offspring
+of trouble and of fever. She thought that her own lord was alive
+again,--that, covered with crimson stains streaming from many a wound,
+he stood over dead Tomoyé. Why was Tomoyé dead? In sober truth of
+history past and gone, it was she who had stood over him. There he
+stood, however, reeling from loss of blood, his favourite katana
+hacked and notched from the battle. Then there appeared the boy
+No-Kami, also gashed and wounded. To her, the sleeper, turned her
+revered lord, stretching forth imploring hands. "Save _him_," he
+hoarsely gasped. "My time and hers is come, and it is well; but he is
+on the threshold of his life!" She, the dreamer, could not save him,
+for she was bound herself with cords, the which perceiving, her lord
+looked down reproachfully, and died; and then from out a crystal brook
+there rose a silver form that clasped the boy, and his wounds
+closed,--a slim shimmering form, daughter of the moon, which, shaping
+itself out of argent vapour, became O'Tei the chatelaine.
+
+Bedewed with sweat the old woman awoke, and for a space lay panting.
+What awful vision was this? All good Buddhists know that when we are
+asleep the soul goes forth upon its errands. If we waken a person too
+suddenly he will die, because the wanderer cannot return with needful
+quickness to his tenement. When the soul is merely out at play the
+dream is of no importance, and its pictures are rapidly effaced; but
+when the truant is on serious duty bent, the vision remains distinct,
+and it behoves us to accept its lesson. Waking, the portrayal of O'Tei
+closing No-Kami's wounds was as distinct as if the two were standing
+there before her; also the reproachful gaze of her dear lord ere he
+gave up his spirit. The gods were indeed good to speak so plainly to
+their handmaid. It was the honour of her dear lord's name that she
+desired saved at any cost, wishing for his son no ill. The geisha was
+to die, No-Kami to repent, and O'Tei was somehow to dissect the
+tangle. Masago found herself to-day more weak than usual, and much
+unhinged. Perchance her time was near. It behoved her to see the
+chatelaine, to reason with her while yet her voice was strong, her
+brain still clear. Then there rose upon her dimmed senses a sound of
+whispering, and she distinctly heard some one say, "The race of the
+Hojos is run."
+
+The long moan which burst from her breast recalled the attention of
+the watchers. The bonze was full of solicitude,--grieved to perceive
+how fluttering was the patient's pulse,--vastly busy in the
+preparation of remedies. He could have bitten his tongue through for
+his imprudence. How could he have been such a fool as to forget that
+the patient was herself a Hojo, and that fevered sleep is treacherous?
+He chattered and chirruped to and fro, shot forth his most brilliant
+sallies, showed his teeth as he twanged bolts of merry satire at
+that unreceptive target Miné. The eyes of the old woman--smileless
+now--knit in intense inquiry, never left his face, while with feeble
+persistence she repeated the question,--"How are the Hojos doomed?"
+
+Having committed one egregious error, he was not going to be guilty of
+another. Regardless of the severe course of penance which followed
+lying, he boldly averred that he had never mentioned Hojo at all, or
+the race,--that he was talking about the Daimio of Osaka, who was
+hovering on the verge of the grave,--that under no circumstances
+whatever would he have breathed a syllable about the Hojos in the
+presence of the late lord's wife. And twittering thus, he at length
+retired, with good wishes for the patient's recovery, glad that by
+wonderful presence of mind he had lulled the Abbess's suspicions.
+
+But Masago knew better than to be hoodwinked by the plausible gabble
+of a blundering bonze. Out of delicacy she would refrain from
+cross-questioning Miné. Well, the warning was twofold. The Hojo was in
+imminent peril of some kind, from which apparently he was to be
+rescued by his wife.
+
+For many hours she lay staring upwards in deep thought. The wintry
+light was quickly waning. Who might tell how near the peril was? Her
+own strength was ebbing rapidly. She must see the chatelaine at once.
+
+The brief twilight of Japan was darkening over the bleak landscape
+like a sable veil, when a breathless messenger arrived at the
+drawbridge of the fortress, demanding an interview with the lady.
+
+"With the lady!" jeered the soldier, who had been so long upon his
+watch as to be glad to chat with any one. "She has other things to do
+just now, our lady, than listen to beggars from the town. Was
+ever such a lady--so restless, so domineering, so devoted to
+pleasure--always seeking new excitement in the dreary absence of my
+lord? The moon rises late, and will be full to-night, and what must
+she do, dost think, heedless of her delicate situation, but go to the
+tea-house by the river, to gaze at the light upon the snow? 'Tis a
+lovely sight, no doubt, dear to the eyes of our people, be they high
+or low,--the green glimmer on the water, the black banks of reeds, and
+white expanse beyond; but plaguey cold. Of course there will be supper
+when she returns, and singing and wassail and jollity, warming to the
+cockles of the heart. Ah, well! if such as I were admitted to the
+junketings, I'd not mind this weary watch."
+
+"'Tis with the lady O'Tei that I must speak, and quickly," said the
+messenger.
+
+The sentinel, leaning over the parapet, discerned by the conical shape
+of the speaker's hat that he was a priest.
+
+"Oh!" he grumbled, "some wretched coolie sick? Such vermin as these
+don't come after the lady O'Kikú. You may come in and seek her, an you
+will. She's likely in her bower--we've not seen her this many a day."
+
+As the priest sped with clattering clogs across the paved courtyards,
+he perceived that there was feasting toward. The interior of the great
+hall, brilliantly illumined, threw gay streaks of yellow out across
+the white. Servants moved to and fro, bearers of viands; the saké cup
+was already passing freely. By the principal entrance loomed the
+unwieldy mass of my lady's kago, gay with banners and streamers, and
+looped curtains and lacquered poles--the same gaudy equipage belonging
+to O'Tei which, on her arrival, the geisha in her insolence had
+appropriated to herself. Hard by, in groups, stamping and clapping
+hands for warmth, were the two sets of bearers--sturdy coolies
+selected for speed and staying power--each with his head muffled in
+blue cotton under his hat, his grass rain-coat bound round his waist,
+the handle of his sword carefully protected by oiled paper, strong
+sandals of straw upon his feet. Some were bringing wraps and cushions;
+some trimming paper lanterns; all shouting with the shrill distractive
+hubbub so dear to low-class Japan. The geisha he could see as he went
+by, was surrounded by her maidens and an outer circle of braves, armed
+ready to attend her. Muffled to the eyes in a thick mantle of deep
+maroon, she stood waiting till all was ready, a saké-cup in hand. Past
+this noisy assemblage to the remote corner of the tower which faced
+the river trotted the messenger. In vivid contrast to the hall, with
+its warm reek of heated wine, dark and silent was the bower of the
+chatelaine. Was she asleep already, the sad recluse?
+
+Not so. There was a twinkling tiny light above, and like the hum of an
+insect there reached his ear the tinkle of a distant samisen. He
+knocked, and the sound ceased; a paper window was pushed aside; a
+maiden's head peeped forth.
+
+"Who dares at this hour," she inquired angrily, "to intrude upon my
+lady's privacy? A pretty pass! Was not the castle large enough for its
+debauched inmates that this retired eyrie might not be treated with
+respect?"
+
+"I come from Masago," the messenger said. "She is very sick, and has
+somewhat of grave import to say to the chatelaine."
+
+Admitted, the priest followed the maiden to the upper floor,
+where, surrounded by books and embroidery, and choice blossoms
+and graceful nicknacks, sat, in a soft mellow light, she for whom
+the peasants sorrowed. Since last we looked on her, she was much
+changed--improved--for there was something celestial now---refined and
+dreamy, as if reflected from some other world--about her loveliness.
+Her manner had that still, self-contained, dignity which is only to be
+acquired through much trouble. With grieved concern in her dark eyes,
+she hearkened to the messenger. Masago on the verge of death! Was she,
+O'Tei, to be left friendless? Of course she would go to her at once.
+Ah, if she might change places with the holy Abbess, and depart out of
+a sphere where no one wanted her! But it is always those who have no
+wish to stay who are kept loitering here. Was Masago so ill, and she
+not told of it? This was wrong, for at any hour of the day or night
+she would have gladly sought her friend. Not a moment was to be lost.
+Quick, quick! Her litter. Her bearers, where were they? Wandering in
+the town, possibly, chattering in some tea-house, their daily duty
+over.
+
+"There is a litter below," suggested the priest timidly. "The one that
+in old times my lady used to use. Its bearers are standing ready with
+lanterns lit. Perhaps my lady O'Kikú--"
+
+A look of unusual sternness passed over the features of O'Tei, and a
+shadow veiled her eyes.
+
+"O'Kikú!" she muttered, "O'Kikú! My state litter is ready, you say?
+Then I will use it; come!"
+
+And to the amazement of the maidens, the chatelaine took from a screen
+a mantle of costly furs, and bidding her attendants follow with a
+candle, moved rapidly away down a dark corridor which led to the
+centre of the castle.
+
+The geisha was so astonished at the apparition which suddenly
+presented itself before her that the saké-cup dropped from her
+fingers. She turned red and white, and tried, with but poor success,
+to laugh off her confusion. With heaving breast and dark brows knit,
+O'Tei looked down on her with disdain ineffable.
+
+"You have ordered my kago. Thank you," she said shortly, "for I want
+it. Tell the bearers I am ready; and you, priest, proceed before. I go
+but to the temple, so shall not want the soldiers."
+
+With that she moved with stately step to where, in a stream of light,
+the kago stood.
+
+The braves were breathless, for they beheld the heiress of proud Nara
+now, no longer the recluse; and there was an easy air about her of
+natural command, which they knew how to admire and appreciate. Not one
+had a word to say against the firmly-expressed resolution of their
+liege-lady, but stood by sheepishly. O'Tei was the real chatelaine,
+and, in absence of her lord, supreme mistress of castle and of
+warriors. The bewitching O'Kikú, as if by magic, shrank down into her
+natural insignificance. No doubt about it; she was the concubine, low
+of birth and common of breeding--the crow by the side of the falcon.
+The geisha tingled with exasperated shame, for her quick instinct
+could read at a glance the open faces of the braves. Had she toiled
+and schemed and wormed and man[oe]uvred for this?--to be swept with a
+hand-wave like a beetle from the path by the rival she had so
+undervalued! Oh, when my lord returned, an effort must be made to save
+the situation! Clearing her husky throat, she said sourly,--
+
+"I was about to view the snows by moonlight, but if yours is an urgent
+errand, I will gladly give up my litter. The weather is clear, but for
+a few sailing clouds; the moon will serve to-morrow."
+
+Her foot upon the step, the chatelaine turned.
+
+"I take my own, and crave of you no favour," she remarked haughtily.
+"To the temple, by way of the river bank. I myself will see the
+snows."
+
+The scene had passed so swiftly that 'twas over as soon as begun.
+There was naught to tell the tale of the geisha's discomfiture but the
+shattered saké-cup. Yes, there was the absent kago, the marks of many
+feet where it had stood; the sheepish faces of the warriors. There was
+the group, too, of O'Tei's maidens huddled behind, where they
+chattered in high glee. The ambitious and presumptuous geisha had been
+put down into her place at last, firmly and quietly by her superior.
+That was the plain truth which there was no denying. It was written on
+the visages of the maidens as well as on those of the samurai.
+Accustomed to reign unchallenged, the blow was hard to bear. Bursting
+into a torrent of tears, brackish with impotent mortification, O'Kikú
+sank upon a cushion, and was as racked by sobs as if she had possessed
+a heart.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XVII.
+
+ UNDER THE MOON.
+
+
+The road by way of the stream was a longer one than that by the
+street, for the river wound with many a turn and twist, as if loth to
+reach the sea. It was no more than a path, stony in some places and
+muddy in others--rough throughout; and there were spots where the
+unwieldy vehicle was in danger of overturning. The Japanese are so
+innately poetic that even the least educated find pleasure in gazing
+upon nature in its sweetest moods. On Lake Biwa, not far from
+Ki[^y]oto, there is, while I write, a tea-house on a hill, which, at
+certain seasons, does a thriving trade, because from that particular
+spot an entrancing view may be obtained of moon and foliage and water.
+And it is not the cultured class alone that enjoys this refined
+amusement. The common horny-handed field coolie may be seen smoking
+his pipe, beaming with satisfaction, upon the mat, surrounded by wife
+and children, all equally enchanted by the spectacle.
+
+On the river-bank, built out over the stream, not far from Tsu, there
+was just such another tea-house, from which a view was obtained of
+land-locked bay and rocks and feathery bamboo--the self-same picture
+which O'Tei used to enjoy from her own garden near the temple, seen
+from another point. It was to this tea-house that O'Kikú had proposed
+to conduct the rollicking samurai, to sit there a while with quip and
+jest, and thence return to supper. Preparations had been made on a
+grand scale; coolies had been sent to repair the path in rotten places
+with bundles of rushes, to clear away stones; and therefore the
+expedition was a matter of talk for several days before among those
+who dwelt in the castle. It was in obedience to a whim--in order more
+completely to crush her rival--that O'Tei had elected to choose this
+route. A vision of her favourite landscape had appeared before her. It
+was so long since she had seen it that she yearned to look on it
+again. As the procession moved swiftly and silently over the snow, she
+became lost in reverie. She had been happy once in her garden in a
+negative sort of way. How long ago it seemed! And since those early
+days (sure a century since) what a catalogue of suffering and crime!
+Yes, it must be a century, not a few years only. She was an old, old
+woman, seared and world-worn, longing for the mysterious change. Her
+ordeal on this planet would soon be over. How gladly would she move
+elsewhere.
+
+The cold was intense. She drew over her head a purple kerchief, for
+the beauty of the scene must not be blocked out by curtains. The
+well-skilled bearers marched with a steady, gentle sway, picking their
+steps with cat-like caution. Their straw shoes made no sound on the
+soft snow. The regular rhythm of their breathing lulled to repose.
+Leaning back her weary head upon the cushions, O'Tei fell fast asleep.
+
+At the last turn of the river, before reaching the spot whereon stood
+the tea-house, it sweeps in a wide bend, leaving a large flat space--a
+dangerous pitfall; for, firm though it appears to the unwary, between
+the pools it is a quagmire, a bog of thick ooze which forms a kind of
+quicksand. The bearers knew this right well, for skirting the water
+close they hugged a narrow causeway of masonry, the group that bore
+the pole walking one before the other, keeping time with monotonous
+chant, the rest of the party falling back, following in single file.
+It was necessary to move slowly now, for a false step would
+precipitate the top-heavy vehicle into the water. Two bettos pioneered
+in front, stepping deftly backwards, holding their lanterns aloft
+above their heads. "Steady, lads, steady!" one of them exhorted
+cheerily. Forty yards farther on the path would widen again, and the
+rest of the journey was plain-sailing.
+
+Whirr! The bettos turned round startled. What was that? nothing; a
+stream of awakened wild-fowl scudding across the flat. The night was
+so solemnly silent that their wings rent the stillness with a loud
+sharp tearing as of linen.
+
+
+ * * * * *
+
+
+For hours past, from out a brake of sedge and reeds two bright eyes
+had been intently watching. Heedless of cold and wet a man had been
+lying concealed with face turned towards the castle. From this point
+the fortress loomed out of the river in a dense mass against the sky,
+in full sombre majesty of battlement and ponderous roof and storied
+tower, with fish of gold upon its summit; for it was on this side that
+the stream laved its foundation wall of Cyclopean stones as it brawled
+towards the sea.
+
+From where he lay, wrapped in a coolie's rain-coat, the man could mark
+the procession from afar, a line of swart insects on the white,
+glow-worms with twinkling lights. As they approached, winding with the
+river's windings, he counted the number of men who bore the litter,
+and observed with surprised exultation that the guards had been left
+behind. There was no panoply of spear and streaming banner and
+glancing lance-head, no clatter of armed horsemen such as usually
+attends the progress of a noble's kago.
+
+"My task will be the easier," he muttered, unfastening the thongs of
+his rain-coat, and taking in the corners of his mouth the ends of the
+cloth about his head. The man's attire was strange and incongruous,
+for though his garb was that of a peasant, the cloth from out of which
+his sharp eyes peered was of silk broidered with silver. He rose
+stealthily upon his knees, felt for a dirk in his obi, drew forth the
+blade and ran a finger along the edge, then laid the scabbard in the
+water.
+
+"How slow they are," he murmured.
+
+Nearer--nearer still. The bearers were intent upon their task, for
+there had been a frost last night, and the stones were slippery.
+Clouds had been rising in banks, masses of cumuli that passed fitfully
+across the moon. Snowflakes began to fall.
+
+Hist! what was that, another batch of waterfowl? No; a cry as of
+frighted animals. A commotion--a rush--a panic. Robbers! a gang--a
+multitude.
+
+Stabbed in the back, the two bettos dropped without a struggle. For an
+instant the attendants strove to free themselves from cumbrous
+grass-coats, to disengage their swords from oiled paper coverings, in
+vain; for it must be at least a dozen nimble blades, wielded by unseen
+hands, that were swirling through the air with such deadly purpose.
+Who could have foreseen that on this quiet track assassins were in
+ambush? With a howl and a cry of treachery the cohort of poltroons
+abandoned the litter, which fell heavily on its side, and fled over
+the quicksand, where they buffeted, to lie engulfed. The man, for
+there was but one--or was it not the god of thunder?--dashed at the
+fallen kago, tore back with one hand its half-closed curtains, from
+whose folds there emerged a woman. A sway of two tussling figures, as
+the clouds swept over the moon, and the snow fell thickly. A tossing
+of white arms and clutching fingers clasped in a grip of death. A
+gurgle, a long wild shriek--so terrible a cry of anguish, as a soul
+was forcibly rent from out its tenement, that boors within their huts
+crept close together and prayed for protection against goblins. Even
+the austere figure of the avenger remained for a second spellbound,
+as, standing erect to wipe his dirk, his ear followed that last
+piteous wail of agony that faded in the music of the stream.
+
+His task was successfully accomplished: to the gods all gratitude. He
+peered anxiously around, while he bound up something in a purple
+kerchief, then, drawing the pick from his katana's sheath, thrust it
+through the silk for easier carrying. He was alone with slumbering
+nature, and with it. The relay had fled to give alarm. There was
+nought to be seen of the others save distant circles on the watery
+quagmire, with here and there a hand whose groping soon was stilled.
+At his feet lay the two dead bettos and a heap of sumptuous furs, from
+out of which there trickled a thick stream that meandered slow over
+the stones.
+
+Looking upward at the moon, which now unveiled again, the man, smiling
+softly, pressed to his lips the dirk. "Old friend," he murmured,
+"beloved of my father, thou hast saved his honour and ours, an evil
+life the ransom. With speed to my mother now, that she may know the
+atonement is complete."
+
+He sought for a moment leisurely among the reeds, and seeing the
+scabbard gleam, replaced it with the dirk within his belt. Then
+swinging his burthen in his hand, he strode quickly away towards the
+temple.
+
+His mind was relieved of a great anxiety, and he felt happier than for
+many a day. All had gone well. In the scurry not one had seen his
+face, swathed as it was by a cloth. There was nothing to betray whose
+arm had been that which had struck the ghastly blow. There would be
+turmoil and uproar among the samurai, a hot pursuit of the assassins;
+then, search proving vain, silence, and oblivion. The family honour
+was safe. The concubine would be speedily forgotten, and it would be
+as if the shadow of the wicked geisha had never crossed their path.
+
+Under the torii, up the long straight flight of stairs, through the
+temple where Miné and the nuns were praying audibly, to the corridor
+beyond, off which was the chamber of the Abbess.
+
+A light was flickering. She was awake, anxious for the arrival of the
+chatelaine. Her ascetic visage was wrapped in holy calm, as with
+closed eyes she told her beads. The sound of her son's dear footfall,
+as he strode across the floor, aroused her, and she looked on him with
+fond inquiry.
+
+"My mother, it is done," he whispered, out of breath. "Here have I
+brought the proof that your instructions have been obeyed."
+
+Masago, raising herself with difficulty, stretched forth eager hands
+to claim the bundle, and, her fingers trembling with exultation,
+hasted to untie its knots. Then from her breast was wrung a wail,
+racked with the ring of unavailing grief, echo of that shriek along
+the water.
+
+Out of her grasp, upon the mat, there rolled a woman's head, bloody
+and waxen. Its delicate features were warped, convulsed in the life
+battle. Stretched wide in terror were its glassy eyes, its parted lips
+distorted.
+
+Stunned and dazed, crowned with the brain-ache of a hopeless sorrow,
+the icy grip about his heart of a despair that might never be
+assuaged, Sampei sank slowly on his knees.
+
+For the eyes that stared upon him now in mute imploring were those he
+loved best on earth.
+
+The face was the face of O'Tei, the fair, and gentle, and unfortunate.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+ FACE TO FACE.
+
+
+When the panic-stricken servants rushed into the castle with their
+appalling tale, there was general consternation. They had been
+attacked, they swore, by a band of at least fifty ronins. By the last
+act of the doomed chatelaine she had won back the respect of the
+warriors, for they perceived, too late, that her gentleness had naught
+akin with cowardice. Resuming her fit position by force of princely
+dignity, she had become a liege lady of whom they could be proud. They
+felt pangs of remorse, too, in having allowed her to sally forth by
+night unprotected by soldiers. Yet, if they had not cared for her, it
+was well known that the peasants did, who vowed she was a saint. And
+sure none could ever have supposed that there were any, even in this
+bad world, who could be so wicked as to do her to death thus cruelly.
+The country far and near was scoured, but no trace of a gang was
+found. The thickly-falling snow had obliterated footmarks. On the
+fatal spot, seek as they would, nothing was to be found but the
+overturned litter and mutilated remains of their mistress--hats and
+garments scattered here and there--and the bodies of the drowned
+bearers. At dawn, the sad _cortége_ returned home with its freight,
+having learned nothing; and then a feeling of uneasiness came over the
+samurai as to what my lord would say. He neglected and disliked his
+wife, but would surely retaliate swiftly and fearfully upon those
+whose carelessness had led to so gruesome a catastrophe.
+
+As for O'Kikú, whom all avoided now as if she were plague-stricken,
+she remained secluded in her chamber, transfixed with growing wonder.
+The blows of the assassins were aimed at herself--of that she had no
+doubt--and she had been saved by a miracle. Yet who could there be who
+wished to kill her, unless it were O'Tei or Masago? Of course, it was
+not O'Tei, or she would never have marched thus deliberately to her
+own undoing; and as she was on her way to the temple, summoned
+thither, it could not be a plot of Masago's, for Masago loved her
+dearly. The more she thought it out, the more incomprehensible grew
+the whole affair, and at last she was fain to put it from her as a
+mystery which time might some day decipher. One thing, however, was
+plain. By a wondrous stroke of luck, the position of herself, O'Kikú,
+had vastly improved. A stumbling-block that threatened to become
+troublesome was swept out of her path. So soon as my lord should learn
+her secret, he would, if skilfully wheedled, take to his arms, as his
+first wife, the mother of his child. She would be consort of the Hojo,
+chatelaine of Tsu, and as she thought of it, her bosom glowed with
+gratified ambition, and she there and then determined that in the
+smiling future the castle should contain no concubine.
+
+At early dawn the good-natured bonze hied him down from the mountain
+to visit his revered patient, and greatly was he shocked by the
+spectacle that met his view. On the threshold of the Abbess's chamber
+stood Miné, with finger on lip, and a far-off vacant look of dread
+that betokened incipient madness. Her father's curse was falling with
+leaden weight upon the members of the devoted family, and as she
+beheld the swoop of stroke after stroke her soul was withered within
+her. She too--she whom he had repulsed unpardoning--she too was doomed
+with them. What would her end be? Entering the room of Masago with
+accustomed listless step to attend to duties, she had stood riveted as
+she read the full horror of the scene. On the floor was Masago,
+delirious; close by crouched her shuddering son, clasping
+something--something terrible--in his arms.
+
+From that moment till the arrival of the friendly bonze, Miné had
+stood a faithful sentinel, lest peradventure prying nuns might learn
+and spread the truth. Should it become known that Sampei--the once
+dear Sampei--had been guilty of this awful crime, the town would arise
+as one man to tear him limb from limb. The young priestess was not
+capable of deciding what was to be done, but the friendly bonze would
+think for her, and propound the words of wisdom. Little by little the
+first distracting throes of misery passed. The Abbess grew calm, and
+with the death-sweat came resignation.
+
+The gods, ungenerous and mocking, had fooled their handmaid. Instead
+of being turned from their purpose by her puny supplications, as she
+had arrogantly dared to hope, they had singled her out, with a
+consummate refinement of cruelty as their chief implement of
+vengeance. By her hand--the hand of the mother and the friend--were
+stricken down the apple of her eye--her son, and the sweet lady who
+had loved and trusted her. And in them was she not herself
+smitten--ay, so crushed and beaten that naught could hurt her more?
+Alas! alas! that she should have been so blinded as not to take
+warning by the fateful year--the last of yaka doshi, and have kept
+herself from dangerous meddling. What should chance henceforth she
+cared not. Since all were condemned, the sooner fell the last and
+fatal stroke the better,--on the dear head of the son she loved so
+fondly--on all. As for Sampei, he appeared as if changed to stone.
+In the presence of so intense a depth of black despair, Miné
+trembled--the kindly bonze was awed; for sure there is no sight so
+pitiful in nature as the whirl and flood of human anguish whose
+torrent we may not stem.
+
+It was essential that some plan of action should be decided on
+forthwith; and the bonze was of opinion that the secret of who it was
+that had done the deed for the present must be kept. Gently raising
+Sampei from his attitude of utter abandonment, and taking his treasure
+from him, he led him into the temple, and placed it within a bronze
+coffer of exceeding sanctity which stood beside the altar.
+
+"He alone who can act," he said, "in such a crisis, is my lord of
+Nara. To him will I go forthwith."
+
+On foot, with staff and scrip, he made the pilgrimage to Ki[^y]oto,
+wrapped as he journeyed in holy ecstasy, thanking the gods for their
+goodness. Were not the wicked who are set in high places sometimes to
+receive their meed, the faith of man in truth and God and justice
+would wane and crumble. As the dragon that browses on the white flesh
+of innocent young maids is slain at last, so was it to be with the
+Hojos. Their cup was full. For some good and occult purpose beyond
+purblind human ken, the scourge for generations had afflicted the
+earth, but now was the limit placed. Awakening Buddha had said, "So
+far shalt thou go and no farther, for the punishing of the
+transgressions of the people." The limit was reached, and now Buddha,
+merciful, would hold his hand. But how subtle was the means of
+retribution--so subtle, that as he contemplated it, the bonze was
+overcome with wonder. Not only was each member of the family to perish
+miserably, but the nearest and dearest the agent! A woman was to be
+butchered by him who to save a hair of her dear head would gladly have
+sacrificed his life. A man was to be brought to a condition worse far
+than the most lingering of deaths, by the mother who, to save him from
+a pang, would have bartered her hope of Nirvana.
+
+The bonze, travel-stained and weary, sought my lord of Nara at the
+Mikado's palace, and found him without difficulty; for it was the
+policy of that crafty daimio to be of easy access to the people. He
+was buried to the lips in papers and despatches, for the die was cast
+now; it was to be a hand-to-hand tussle for existence. Either the Hojo
+must fall, or they would all be sacrificed. Answers had been received
+from country magnates. Despite peremptory orders from the Hojo, they
+were advancing by forced marches. They had gone too far for retreat.
+To obey the tyrant without a struggle for freedom was to condemn
+themselves to life-long bondage. What of the Corean army once
+commanded by Sampei? the magnates inquired. What of the thousands of
+disbanded ronins? Would they side with the despot, or unite for the
+saving of their Emperor? "Tush!" Nara muttered, as he wrote replies.
+"Have not I, the shrewd and the astute, considered these matters? The
+mountains about Tsu are teeming with faithful men in ambush. When
+these marching daimios reach their appointed posts, the Holy City will
+be surrounded by a protecting girdle; and then--and then--we may act!"
+
+But Destiny amused herself as usual by thwarting the intricate plans
+so carefully conceived by mortal ingenuity. Is it not always so? If we
+arrange a sequence of events for ourselves, does not something always
+intervene to mar and derange the scheme? Perhaps in the next life, or
+the next after, we may be permitted to settle things for ourselves.
+Clearly in this one it is forbidden. First it had been arranged that
+the Hojo was to be caught in a trap in his own castle. Since then the
+aspect of affairs was altered; for after a few days passed in the
+Golden House among his vassals, their master had again mysteriously
+gone into retirement. Spies informed Nara that he was heard to groan
+at night,--that he saw visions, and dreamed dreams of strange and
+mystic import. He had relapsed into the previous state, as before he
+came up from Tsu. Had not wise Nara said that his energy was the
+expiring of the lamp. This being so, difficulties were delightfully
+smoothed, and Nara was able to improve the occasion for his master's
+benefit, by pointing out how admirably sage he had been in the keeping
+of his temper. Is not time the healer of all wounds? A scandal in the
+palace had been averted. The claws of the bear were rotting piecemeal.
+So soon as the circle of iron was complete it should close in and
+crush the tyrant, while a simultaneous movement would be made on Tsu
+for the capture of his brother and retainers.
+
+And a few hurried sentences from the lips of a simple bonze upset all
+these elaborate calculations. He hearkened to the dolorous tale, with
+a choler that might not be suppressed. This was too much! Old Nara had
+allowed himself to be bearded. Under great provocation, he had curbed
+his wrath,--had swallowed his pride, and waited. But now he might wait
+no more. What, his heiress, his only child, the only bearer of his
+august and honoured name, was to be openly and cruelly slain, because
+her lord was weary of her, and wished to please a wanton! As with
+hands behind his back, and distended nostrils, the stately veteran
+strode hither and thither in the chamber, his old eyes flashed fire as
+of yore. In truth, under the snows, the volcano had slept, and,
+stirred to its centre, now blazed forth. Come what might, with his own
+shrivelled arm, since he had no son, would he wipe out this stain, or
+be dishonoured for aye in the noble annals of Japan. Narrowly he
+questioned the priest. Then the bonze had no idea, he said, who had
+been the butcher? It mattered not. There was no one but the Hojo and
+his wanton who desired the poor lady's death. It was at their bidding
+that the crime had been committed. First the Hojo and then his harlot.
+The fortress should be demolished stone by stone, the geisha executed
+on its ruins.
+
+As he hearkened to the wrathful diatribes of the now furious lord, the
+bonze mused in ever-increasing admiration. Verily the working of the
+divine decrees is worthy of humble worship. The priest had promised
+Miné that Sampei should not be betrayed, 'Twas probable that when he
+rallied, as human nature will rally, to some small extent, however
+severe the shock, the rest of his days would be spent in the holy
+garb, and that comfort would come to him at last. For public
+edification and example, the soldier's remaining years were to be
+passed in prayer. The Hojo himself was to fall by the hand of Nara;
+that much was evident now, and it was fitting as well as just.
+
+He who was wont to be over-prudent, even under stress of extreme and
+unendurable provocation, now threw prudence to the winds. Without
+delay he girded on his swords and dirk, mounted his horse, and
+galloped to the Golden House. Consequences were as rice straw in the
+wind. To fight and kill another daimio within the sacred city--within
+a given distance of the palace, meant death by harakiri. Himself to be
+slain meant confiscation of all his goods. His goods! a fig for them!
+He was childless now, and honour is worth more than goods.
+Peradventure when the stain had been wiped out, the Holy Mikado would
+forgive, in consideration for past service. No doubt he would be
+grateful for the removal of the incubus. If not, what mattered it? The
+childless old man would die, having saved at least his honour, and to
+the paltry dross of this world his sovereign lord was welcome.
+
+Hearing the clatter of a single horseman's hoofs, the watchful samurai
+at the gate of the Golden House came forth and shaded their eyes with
+their palms to reconnoitre the visitor. Among themselves they were
+somewhat disturbed, for rumours of approaching troops were rife; the
+warriors of other magnates were unfriendly to the dominating one; and
+their lord was curiously inactive. Indeed, for the last day or two, he
+had not stepped abroad. That he was at home, and sick, was evident,
+for they could hear his muffled ejaculations; and now and then his
+distempered visage peered from an upper window with disordered mien,
+gazing on the wood and lake. The Daimio of Nara, with care upon his
+brow--in haste--unattended--alone? Strange! But events were moving
+strangely. The father-in-law of my lord; his parent's chosen guide and
+counsellor. With respectful salutes and genuflections the Daimio was
+allowed to pass. For of a certainty my lord required helpful counsel,
+and Nara, all agreed, was the very prince to give it.
+
+The new-comer dashed past without deigning notice, nor drew rein till
+he reached the entrance of the villa. The heavy foliage of the
+surrounding pines was bowed down with a glittering burden; the
+picturesque lake, with its rocks and tiny islets, was frozen over, and
+on its surface wandered painfully and slow the myriad of black
+tortoises that usually slept beneath. A haven of peace and rest, an
+oasis of silence in a sea of turmoil. Even the sentries, who slowly
+marched before the doors, seemed under the spell of winter, their
+senses blunted by the nipping air.
+
+The whirling mind of Nara was too much engrossed to heed such trivial
+matters. Flinging his bridle to a sentinel, he inquired where was his
+master. The man pointed upward with his lance, but added in troubled
+accents, that my lord was sick,--had given special orders that he was
+on no account to be disturbed.
+
+"I have come to cure his sickness," the old man said, with a grim
+smile of peculiar meaning. "I have brought him medicine. See that we
+are left alone."
+
+The Golden House, as we saw when we were here some time since, is a
+dwelling of small proportions on the lake bank, built of wood, with a
+huge towering roof bedizened with much gold. The upper chambers are
+reached by a ladder-stair of extreme exiguity, so frail and narrow
+that one person only can mount at a time, and only then by bowing his
+head.
+
+Nara's tall and bulky form had much ado to reach the landing; but,
+arrived there, he loosed his katana in its sheath, and, with a
+strength, for which none would have credited him, seized the ladder,
+and, wrenching it from its iron fastening, hurled it clattering down.
+
+The paper windows were closed; the light was dim; a voice, tuned low
+by world-worn weariness, demanded who was there.
+
+Nara strode into the inner room where, wrapped in quilts, the Hojo
+lay, a hibachi close at hand, his swords in their rack beside him.
+
+"_You!_" he said, rising to a sitting posture.
+
+"I," was the rejoinder. "I, _murderer!_ The father of O'Tei, the wife
+whom you have slaughtered."
+
+No-Kami looked dreamily at the figure that stood over him, then felt
+his garb with a vague, uncertain movement of twitching fingers.
+
+"Murderer?" he muttered, with a cynic's laugh.
+
+The wrath of the old man flared up. Grinding his teeth, he spurned the
+prostrate figure.
+
+"Yes, murderer!" he hissed, "and I, the father of your victim. No one
+can interrupt us. O'Tei is dead--you know it--and by your decree. Only
+one, if one, will leave this room alive. Have you any manhood left,
+degenerate spawn of tyrants? Take up your sword, and quickly, or I'll
+slay you like a dog, as you deserve."
+
+Had not the old man been so distraught he would have seen by No-Kami's
+face that the intelligence was bewildering news to him. He sat gazing
+at his persecutor open-mouthed, till he, goaded beyond control, smote
+him with flat blade across the face.
+
+It left a livid mark, the rest of the visage purple, the veins swollen
+and congested. With a hoarse growl like an animal at bay, No-Kami
+sprang to his feet, seized his katana, and attacked the aggressor with
+set teeth. Glaring one at the other, with starting eyeballs and
+foaming lips, the two--the old man and the young--fought on in the
+small space and the dim light. Both were too furious for caution, and
+hacked each at each, smearing walls and floor, without a sound but
+labouring breath and clashing steel. The old man, taller, with longer
+arm, was getting the mastery. He had step by step driven No-Kami to
+the corner, where stood an idol of bronze, against which he leaned.
+Uncovering himself to deliver the final blow, he slipped in the blood
+upon the floor, and received the point of the Hojo right through his
+breast, below the nipple. Dropping his weapon, and flinging up his
+arms, he fell with a sob upon his back.
+
+No-Kami withdrew his sword and wiped it carefully, then sat him down
+to think.
+
+O'Tei murdered! By whom? what for? It must be true, or the crafty old
+lord would never have been driven to such frenzy. It was quieted now,
+that same frenzy, however. He lay still enough, his skin as grey as
+was his hair. "Not my fault," No-Kami murmured, with compunction; for,
+debauched though he was, the Hojo had respect for bravery. "He has
+brought his end upon himself. Now, what of me? Who will believe me if
+I say that one who was the soul of caution came and smote me like a
+rat? Within the prohibited distance, the Mikado's favourite
+counsellor, and I so ill, so spectre-ridden." Clasping his burning
+forehead in his hands, No-Kami looked hungrily at the dirk which
+seemed to invite him from its rack, and thought, as he had once done
+before, that it would be well to make an end on't. Not yet. He was
+taken by an uncontrollable desire to know more of the tragedy at home.
+O'Tei murdered! The words seemed burnt into his brain; and as he
+contemplated them, with her father dead at his feet, an ineffable
+sadness--a cold sense of extreme loneliness--crept over his soul. The
+past rose up before his vision. For a little while they had been
+happy, he and the fair O'Tei. She had been cold and haughty and
+repellent, despising him always, and that had maddened him. And was
+she not right to do so--fully justified? She was better than he,--far
+above his level, and it was this that had made him hate her. But did
+he hate her? No! Now that she was gone, he became aware of a singular
+sensation. Down in the deeps of his being there was a profound pity
+for her fate. Why did he feel so lonely? Why did he shudder at the
+shadows whose chills encompassed him about?
+
+Who had planned her murder? Like a green ray of lightning it flashed
+on him--O'Kikú! His curse and hers. Oh, wretched, infatuated
+man--O'Kikú! Poor O'Tei, murdered by her rival! The punishment of the
+concubine was the only reparation possible. She should be punished. If
+he was to leave Ki[^y]oto unmolested, there was not a minute to be
+lost. The ladder was gone, the distance to the ground but small.
+No-Kami, his nerves strung again by a distinct purpose, moved to the
+verandah, and swung himself down its column. With steady tread he
+appeared before the sleepy sentinel, and with stern, sharp accents
+issued his instructions.
+
+"My horse Typhoon, quick. I need no followers. The Daimio of Nara has
+gone the other way. Close up the house--nay, I will myself fasten it.
+Double the sentries. Keep watch and ward. Let none, on whatever
+pretext, set foot within the boundaries."
+
+As he clattered away on his favourite charger at full speed, the
+samurai looked after him.
+
+"Ticklish times," muttered he who was in command, "each moment fraught
+with peril. My lord of Nara, no doubt, has given the best advice. My
+lord is gone to act on it. Well, well, the gods be praised, our chief
+is himself again!"
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XIX.
+
+ THE WEB IS WOVEN.
+
+
+Typhoon was the best charger in the Daimio's stable, and worthy of his
+name; but this was his last journey. He was so hard pressed by his
+frantic master, that at the castle gate he sank and died.
+
+The sudden arrival of my lord, a fugitive, without a single follower,
+created within the fortress a commotion which was no little aggravated
+by the news of which he was the bearer. How swift was the cumulation
+of events. My lord of Nara and his heiress murdered. A siege in
+immediate prospect, and after that--what? A long course of excess and
+idleness had sapped the discipline of the braves, and instead of
+hailing the coming fray with the joy that becomes heroes, they showed
+signs of sullen discontent. No-Kami had slain in a secret manner,
+without witnesses, the venerable Nara, the esteemed friend of the Holy
+Mikado.
+
+This was going too far, even for so overbearing a despot. Even the
+samurai of Tsu were aware that Japan at bay would arise and shake off
+its incubus. The castle would be invested by the foes of Hojo, who
+were legion. Look where he would, there was no single ally who could
+be counted on for succour. There was but one consummation possible. An
+iron wall would hem the fortress, and all within would perish. Under
+these circumstances, the warriors (privately discussing the situation)
+were divided in opinion. Would it be well to accept the inevitable and
+bow the neck at once, suing for mercy; or would it perchance be
+better to baulk the foe, to act as the celebrated forty-seven ronins
+did--revered for ever by the Japanese--namely, to perform harakiri in
+concert? Thus it will be seen that the glamour of evil fortune had
+wrapped the castle like a mist. Even the bold retainers of the
+crumbling family lost heart, and if they prepared to show any
+resistance at all, it was owing to the presence of Sampei, the heroic
+subduer of Corea.
+
+Even Sampei, whilom bravest of the brave, showed no enthusiasm. He had
+stumbled along the stony road of the Valley of the Shadow of Death,
+and seemed to look down from afar upon the petty frettings of
+humanity, as you might idly watch the proceedings in an opened
+anthill.
+
+The first acute bitterness waned insensibly, and he grew resigned to
+life-long pain. Had it not been so, reason would have fallen from her
+throne. He could think of O'Tei not as corruption but as
+_transformed_. The sap of a tree, the glow of a gem, the plumage of a
+bird, contained her outward part. Nature had taken back and set to
+other purpose that which she had lent. As to the other, who might tell
+where it wandered? Where was her pure soul hovering?
+
+Was the gulf that yawned in front as dark as the path already trodden?
+If the gods were really good, they could not but be mild to one who
+was so gentle. After all, for himself it mattered not. What, to a
+mortal so maimed as he, was a little more or less of suffering, after
+that wound from which the life-drops of his heart were slowly
+dripping?
+
+He would not desert his brother, Sampei declared with quiet gravity.
+So long as the gods willed that he should fight, he would fight; but
+the sooner suspense was over, the greater the relief for all.
+
+The bewitching O'Kikú when, rosy and wreathed with smiles, she flew
+from her bower in the most becoming of costumes to embrace her love,
+was considerably disconcerted by her reception. She had carefully gone
+over details, and planned within her mind exactly how it was all to
+be. He would be a little upset, possibly, on his arrival, to hear of
+the sudden and mysterious end of his icicle. He would pretend concern,
+and probably show anger, relieved all the while by her flitting. She,
+O'Kikú, would condole, clasp her husband--all her own now--in white
+arms, and, breast to breast, divulge the delicious secret. He would be
+enchanted, of course. She would make herself so agreeable bringing
+forth the entire armoury of her blandishments for his behoof, that
+memory of O'Tei would speedily be relegated to the limbo prepared for
+the ghosts of marplots. This point reached, she would summon all her
+skill and tact, wheedle and cajole and flatter, so as to achieve the
+desired prize.
+
+By making herself absolutely necessary to No-Kami, then turning on the
+tap of tears, the living wife would advance a step, be lifted to the
+dead one's place. And he should never have cause to regret the signal
+favour. His interests would then be hers completely. No prospect in
+the future, then, of being put away,--compelled, like Masago, to
+assume the crape. She would take her lord in hand,--be a long-headed
+little counsellor, chide his faults with gentleness, teach him to curb
+his passions, help him to replace on the neck of struggling Japan the
+yoke that was ominously-loose. And lo! how quickly did her toy palace
+tumble! No-Kami looked twenty years older than when he went away.
+There was a haggard wildness in his face--an expression, as he glanced
+at the enchantress, curiously akin, if it were possible, to aversion.
+His hands twitched; foam gathered on his lips. When, cooing, she laid
+her head upon his bosom, her hair new dressed with fresh camellia oil,
+he pushed her so rudely from him, that, reeling, with bruised arms,
+she tottered against the wall.
+
+Could it, oh could it be, that he could have ever loved that woman?
+Could it be that his fiery nature was consuming, torn by the pincers
+of remorse? Surely he could feel naught at most for an icicle but a
+cold regret that would soon pass. Was it possible that in a revulsion
+of feeling he had actually come to detest the enchanting siren who so
+easily had won him? Verily it seemed like it. With eyes lowered in
+antipathy, he seemed to avoid her gaze with loathing. And what was
+that he muttered as he so roughly threw her off. Was it _murderess?_
+And what a look accompanied the word. Her tongue clove to the roof of
+her mouth, and though she ardently wished to repel the accusation, her
+lips refused their office. Did he really believe her guilty of such a
+foolish prank, of such a stupid blunder? She had no doubt arranged to
+oust the rival, to procure her expulsion from the castle; but to shed
+her blood and create a scandal, that would have been too foolish.
+Before she had time to recover from shocked surprise, my lord was
+gone. He gave a few brief husky orders, then groped his way, as if in
+darkness, to the retired eyrie where had dwelt the vanished
+chatelaine. Thither she felt that she dared not follow him. With
+forebodings gathering within her breast, O'Kikú withdrew to her
+apartments, fearing she knew not what.
+
+There, on the mat, where she had laid it down, was O'Tei's samisen,
+encrusted with gold and ivory; yonder her broidery-frame, a book of
+poems open, a hundred pathetic evidences, eloquent of her who was
+gone. Far removed from the hum of preparation, No-Kami sat, dumbly
+gazing from the casement across the river towards the sea.
+
+And then, for the first time, there passed across the mental ken of
+Hojo the phantoms of a gloomy retrospect. He seemed, as they swept by,
+to hear a forlorn chant, with the saddest of refrains--"Too late!"
+
+He had been given a life full of brilliant opportunities and had cast
+them all away. His name was a byword in the land. There was not one
+living thing that loved him, while thousands clamoured for his death.
+The chill of a desolation, novel and surprising, crept over his heart,
+as, glancing around the bower, small objects recalled the past. Why
+had they tied him to O'Tei? With one more congenial the asperities of
+his character might have softened. O'Tei, the soft and clinging, had
+never loved him; no--never--not for a single moment. Something
+whispered now that, had he been more kind, she might have come
+to like him. Then, as if stung by an adder, he sprang upon his feet,
+with beads of perspiration on his forehead. Fool! what spell was
+this?--what disgraceful, infatuated weakness? Had he been more kind!
+_Had she not loved his brother?_ The poison instilled by the geisha,
+dormant through the rapid passage of stirring events, throbbed through
+his veins, and he gasped and grew faint under the pain of it. Both
+false--his wife and brother. _She_ was dead; no wonder _he_ looked so
+glum! Perturbed though his own mind was, No-Kami could not but notice
+the change which had come over the face of Sampei. The sharp iron
+share of an ineffable sorrow had passed over his features, ploughing
+deep lines of grief.
+
+On second thoughts, it was well that she was dead. She had sinned, and
+was justly punished. Thus far was his honour satisfied. The murderess
+must suffer also. By-and-by, when there should be breathing time. And
+the paramour as well. With staggering steps the Daimio roamed like a
+caged animal about the chamber, revolving direful designs. Then
+suddenly stopping, he laughed aloud and clapped his palms together.
+By-and-by, in the future! Was there any future except a yawning,
+bottomless gulf down which he and his were sliding? Honour, forsooth!
+He and his had as little to do with honour as with a future, or with
+life.
+
+From far away across the sunlit waters a voice whispered mockingly,
+"Accursed and doomed! betrayed and friendless! Oh, desolate, solitary
+soul, the gods have set their brand on thee! In worlds to come an
+outcast!"
+
+Trembling, the Daimio peered around. Some one had spoken. Who? No one
+in the corridor without. No one beneath the window. That unearthly
+jibing merriment! Two bloodshot eyes glaring from the cloudless sky.
+Cursed and doomed! Predestined to endless travail! Moaning, the Daimio
+cowered down and rocked himself in terror.
+
+It was soon understood that, my lord being unhinged, and grievously
+sick in body and mind, Sampei would assume command. So long as the
+gods willed it, there should be defence, the General had determined,
+and to that end he moved hither and thither with forced calm,
+arranging details by the light of a shrewd experience; steady as some
+strong machine that does its work unconsciously.
+
+The contents of the armoury were overhauled and furbished. Seasoned
+wood was sought throughout the town, for the making of countless
+arrows; thick porous paper for dressing wounds, according to the
+standard rules of rough field surgery. The ground within the inner
+moat was covered over with boards and canvas, to conceal what was done
+inside; for an investing army is ever full of stratagems for learning
+the weak points of the besieged. Lofty trees, or high peaks of rock,
+were sure to be occupied at once, tall towers to be erected on points
+of vantage. It was even a common thing to fly huge kites, large enough
+to support a man, and so obtain a bird's-eye view of the interior of
+an enemy's castle. Sampei organised a band of scouts, and sent them
+forth to crawl by night along the narrow causeways that intersected
+the oozy rice fields, bidding them return with earliest information
+with regard to the coming of the foe. Parties of braves were
+despatched in all directions to annex the scanty stores which
+oppression had left to the peasantry. All possible precautions taken,
+he divided his men into watches, taught each his post and duty, then
+waited for the future to unroll.
+
+Nor had he long to wait. As though rising by magic through the ground,
+an army of combatants appeared, who surrounded the fortress with their
+engines. From the top of the central tower, crowned with its copper
+roof and golden fish, could be descried a host so numerous and
+well-equipped that Sampei stood marvelling how they could be here so
+quickly. It soon became manifest that they had no intention of
+endeavouring to storm the place, at least not yet, for they
+methodically set about the forming of a line of pallisades, consisting
+of heavy planks propped by hinged supports, behind which they could
+safely repose, and starve the foe to extremity.
+
+There is nothing so soul-depressing to those hemmed in as a siege thus
+coldly carried out. The sense of being an animal shut in a trap, the
+lack of incident and excitement, the feeling of being without the pale
+of busy humanity, damp the courage, and chill the spirits. There is
+something so prosaic about a war waged against the stomach. The
+samurai of Tsu, disorganised already, their native prowess undermined,
+soon felt the pinch, and began to brawl and murmur. Their lord they
+saw no more, for, reason rocking on its pedestal, he remained shut
+up, refusing consolation, within the apartments of the deceased. But
+for the prestige that clung like a halo round his brother, and
+enforced a surly and half mutinous obedience, the braves would have
+thrown open the gates, have attempted to fraternise with the host of
+invading warriors. But the stoutest among them stood in dread of
+Sampei,---quailed before the bluff, uncompromising severity which,
+without the wink of an eyelid, would have made an example of traitors.
+The vassals of the Hojo fought, discharging arrows and javelins,
+occasionally making a feeble show of a sortie: but all knew that the
+end was imminent, that suspense would soon be over.
+
+O'Kikú, grasping, sly, and unheroic, fretted, as may be imagined,
+bitterly. How different was the present state of things from her
+cherished rainbow-dream. That sharp repulse, followed by utter
+neglect, upset her calculations. She appeared of a sudden to have lost
+influence over all her willing slaves. My lord, absorbed in his own
+troubles, ignored the fact of her existence. The braves, with whom she
+was once so popular--many of whom, it must be confessed, were vain at
+one time of being numbered among her lovers--now gnashed their teeth
+in her face, and poured on her head twofold the obloquy that had been
+the portion of O'Tei.
+
+And why was this? Doubtless the truculent and unlettered samurai
+could scarcely be expected to be logical. Yet having witnessed the
+passage-of-arms between the ladies, they must know as well as she that
+the concubine was innocent of the catastrophe. And yet somehow or
+other it had become plain to their obtuse intelligence that the siren
+was at the bottom of the trouble. There was no arguing the point,
+since none could deny that it was from her advent that the run of
+disaster must be dated. Accustomed to be pampered and petted, she was
+devoured with smouldering rage, and unreasoning hate of Tsu and Hojo,
+and all connected with the race, in finding herself treated like a
+leper. What a pity it was that, lured by a sham glitter, she should
+have turned aside from the pilgrimage to Isé, for the gathering of
+mundane baubles. What had she gained by it? Troubles and
+disappointments, and illusions roughly shattered. And perhaps in the
+background something even worse was lurking; for she realised with
+apprehension that she was hedged round with a phalanx of enemies, who
+persisted in connecting her, in spite of evidence, with the untimely
+death of the chatelaine. Was there ever anything so unreasonable, and
+yet fraught with graver peril? My lord was a madman, beset by absurd
+hallucinations; a furious tiger, accustomed to batten upon blood, as
+devoid of conscience as of scruple. He had called her murderess, and
+in the crooked recesses of his muddy brain was concocting some
+frightful retribution; There was no escape for her by flight, for she
+was in the position of a kid locked in a den of lions.
+
+In case of personal peril, to whom might O'Kikú turn for succour?
+Sampei was honest and upright, but on his worn face, when turned to
+her, was a horrible expression of icy vindictiveness. That he had
+idolised O'Tei none knew better than she, and she was in some
+manner connected in his mind with that most unfortunate murder. He
+also was evidently brooding over some unpleasant form of reprisal.
+Enemies--nothing but enemies--inside and out; she their future target.
+At all events Sampei could be counted upon as straight and above mean
+treason. Gulping down the lees of offended vanity, O'Kikú resolved
+to clear herself in his eyes from any complicity in the tragedy. He
+would believe her--for once in her life she would really speak the
+truth--and he would stand by her if assaulted by the madman. But when,
+waylaying him one day, with a poor ghostly show of the old coquetry,
+she entered on the subject, such a wave of blank despair seemed to
+sweep over him that the words froze on her lips, and he was gone
+before she had recovered.
+
+Condemned to inaction, deprived of amusement and male companionship,
+relegated to the uninteresting society of tire-women, the unhappy
+geisha pined as well as fretted. If they would only let her out,--set
+the caged bird free! Dreams of ambition faded, she now desired no more
+than liberty. Several times each day she climbed to the top of the
+central tower, just under the fish of gold, and gazed--oh, with what
+longing--at the cohorts of the invading host. The strictest guard was
+kept at the openings in the palisading, but soldiers off duty were
+free to amuse themselves. She could see bands of them engaged in
+military sports. Some went a-hunting, and returned laden. Oh, if she
+were only with them, outside these horrid walls, beyond which lay
+tantalising freedom! And what was to be the end? There was only one
+end possible. All could see that now. Scanty stores, hastily
+collected, were waning. What then? Gaunt famine stalked already. Would
+those without linger inactive till the besieged were dead to a man,
+then march in over the corpses? or would they in a more martial spirit
+wait only till the braves were weak, and then take the place by
+escalade? It was too revolting to die thus by inches. The idea
+suddenly flashed upon the wretched woman, whose moral sense, never
+acute, was blunting hourly, that the key of the situation was in her
+own little hand. Why should she not open the postern, let in the foe,
+who in gratitude would spare her life--maybe applaud and treat her
+with homage as a heroine? What to her were the Hojos; their
+illustrious name which was hers--that name about which the silly
+Masago had preached so loftily--now that they were on the brink of
+ruin? She had good cause to hate the Hojos. Many a lady in the annals
+of Japan has bared her breast to her husband's dirk in just such an
+emergency as this. When the famed Shibata knew all was lost, he gave a
+final banquet, at the conclusion of which he said to his wife, "You
+women must go, for it is time for us men to die." And what answer made
+she? With tears she thanked her lord, she, the sister of Nobunago the
+Great, composed a farewell verse of poetry, and received his sword
+into her bosom.
+
+But then O'Kikú was not of noble birth, and such flights did not suit
+her fancy. She knew herself to be still young and lovely, and full of
+life, and burning for fresh fields to conquer. If all had gone well,
+and she had stepped into the dead one's place, she would, outwardly at
+least, have been henceforth as demure as prudery could desire. Rank
+and honour and power and appetites pampered, form one condition of
+things. Untimely death, trapped within four walls, is quite another.
+It would be merciful,--a deed worthy of commendation, to let the enemy
+in, and put these doomed ones out of misery. My lord, a prey to
+goblins, was become quite too contemptible. What a delight to be
+present at the slaying of the hateful Sampei! Doubtless in yonder host
+there were many as noble as he who would, when opportunity offered,
+vie with one another for her favours. Her mind was made up. A fig for
+the race of Hojo. She would start upon her scheme forthwith.
+
+Changing her tactics, the geisha, braving the scowls of the samurai,
+became interested in military operations, and despite their new-born
+dislike of one whom they had come to esteem as a bad angel, it was
+cheering to be commended by the lips of a pretty woman. She organised
+her maidens into a band of mercy for the relief of those who were
+wounded; helped with her own hands to prepare and carry food; filled
+and passed the saké-cup, declaring that wine gives strength. Sampei
+observed these proceedings with displeasure, but did not interfere.
+One morning when the commander was busy, and she knew herself
+unwatched, O'Kikú crept to the top of the tower with her dainty bow,
+and discharged into the air an arrow, round which was wrapped a paper.
+As she marked its flight, and perceived that it fell beyond the
+palisade, "So far well," she murmured. "This suspense will conclude
+to-night."
+
+The weather was exceeding cold, the blood of the soldiers thin, by
+reason of under-feeding. Both food and drink were scrupulously
+measured now in gradually shrinking rations. But the wily damsel had a
+private supply of _saké_, remnant of that with which she used to ply
+my lord before his late visit to Ki[^y]oto. She prepared and warmed a
+pot of it, in which she distilled some seeds, and waited with
+philosophic patience for the night. Then, robed in a dark soft kimono,
+she stole through the first gate, and round under shadow of the fatal
+belt of trees, regardless of their wooing and their sighing (she was
+not one to be tricked to suicide), and thus reached unseen the corner
+of the outer gate. The muffled sentinel was leaning upon his lance
+against the parapet, and started from doleful reverie as she appeared
+before him.
+
+"Hush," she murmured rapidly, "it is I, O'Kikú. You used to love me
+once--false that you are--or told me so. See how I love you still.
+Risking my good name for you, I have brought you this, lest haply you
+be frozen by the morning."
+
+The man looked at her with feelings of self-reproach. Yes, he had
+fancied her once, more fickle apparently than she; and as she stood
+before him now, so small and dark, with eyes of mouse-like brightness,
+and ravishing dimples playing at hide-and-seek, he liked her yet
+again. But she fluttered like a bird in his embrace.
+
+"No, no," she whispered, as she passed over his rough face caressing
+fingers. "Remember duty, and the plight we are in. Folly is over, and
+stern reality is here. You wronged me in your thoughts, deeming I had
+forgotten you. Admit you did. Fie, fie--for shame! There, you are
+forgiven! Drink!"
+
+She held forth the saké pot, kept warm with a woollen covering. He
+took a long draught, his gaze on her the while, and she shook her
+shapely head in arch reproach. And then, with set teeth and no dimples
+showing now, she caught the saké-pot as it escaped from his hand, and
+he fell insensible upon his back.
+
+"Idiot!" she said, with a curl of her full lip, "lie there undisturbed
+until your foolish throat is cut," and peering cautiously around,
+descended quickly to the postern.
+
+It will be remembered that the outer gate stood at right angles to the
+road, for the better purpose of defence, but that there was a small
+postern in the angle facing it. In her outgoings and incomings she had
+always, as a matter of convenience, used this postern, and had kept
+the key of it. How provoking were these plaguy clouds over the moon.
+At one moment it was dark--at another as light as day--dazzling,
+puzzling. She stood in the open doorway peeping forth, when a mailed
+man in ambush seized her by the arm, and pinched it so suddenly that
+she had much ado to suppress a scream.
+
+"I have you!" he said; "you are our hostage. We got your billet, and
+are ready."
+
+"You hurt me, sir," she answered, struggling. "Brute! let me go. The
+door is open as I promised. Here is the key of the inner gate."
+
+She endeavoured to shake off the iron grip and flee in the direction
+of liberty, but the man held her as in a vice.
+
+"Softly, softly!" he chuckled, "or this tender flesh will suffer. She
+who can wantonly betray her people may not be trusted. You shall go
+before and lead us to the inner gate. When once we are within the
+citadel you shall receive reward, I promise."
+
+A cry of vexation and abortive spite rose in the geisha's throat, and
+choked her. What hardened brutal wretches soldiers are! She who
+expected effusive gratitude for a signal favour was to be treated like
+a common spy. The biter was bit. The man--an officer of rank, as was
+evident by the glittering badge upon his casque--took no pains to
+conceal his lack of consideration for the agent whom he stooped to
+employ. He looked on her, it was but too evident, as on some
+reptile--of service for the moment, which was to be used, then crushed
+under the heel. Careless of her pain, he held her soft arm as tightly
+in his armoured hand as if he meant to snap the bone.
+
+"Lead on," he threatened, "or--"
+
+There was no help for it. With the sharpest twinge of self-upbraiding
+that she had ever felt, O'Kikú turned and led the officer under shadow
+of the wall, under the belt of devilish trees that swayed now, and
+wheezed and croaked in ghastly merriment, till they reached the inner
+moat. She could tell by the dull thud behind that the cohorts were
+silently following. One, tripping over the snoring sentinel, gave him
+his _coup de grâce_. The outer space within the range of huts was
+black with the ranks of the invader. Sampei, going his rounds, and
+hearing a strange sound, glanced over the parapet, and pressed his two
+hands upon his heart to still the commotion there.
+
+It was all over then! So much the better--oh, so much the
+better--since the gods were ruthless. By treachery from within all was
+lost. The moment he had so yearned for was come at last, when he would
+be freed from the bondage that was rotting him.
+
+"My love!" he murmured, spreading wide his arms towards the stars,
+while tears poured down his cheeks. "Wait for me, O'Tei, upon the
+other bank. Be patient for a few moments more. Stretch forth thy hand
+to me, my own; surely such love as mine should win its guerdon. In the
+next life we shall be re-united."
+
+The clouds were rent like a curtain, and the light streamed forth. The
+whole outer space was covered now by a moving army as of locusts.
+Sampei could detect on fluttering banners the butterfly of the Lord of
+Bizen, the badges of Shioshiu, and of Satsuma. The moment had arrived
+for which his soul had pined, and he was glad. But for his vigilance,
+mutiny would have broken out long since; and now that treachery had
+unlocked the gates, resistance would be small. He knew full well that
+his men would not stand for a moment against panic. There would be a
+stampede, a massacre, unless the braves were permitted to make terms.
+Befall what might as to the rest, he and his must not be taken alive,
+for who might tell what ignominy was prepared for the fallen Hojos?
+Hastily summoning his captains, he pointed over the parapet, and laid
+a hand upon his dirk with a motion understood by all.
+
+"Act for yourselves," he said; "and the gods, who have deserted us, be
+with you, old comrades."
+
+As he rapidly strode away towards the distant corner by the river,
+where dwelt No-Kami, there were tears in the eyes of the veterans. Was
+this their final parting from the bravest of the brave? Ought they not
+to follow, and claim participation in the rites?
+
+"No," a white-haired warrior said. "Let his last wishes be obeyed by
+us who love him. Be our last task to keep the gate, in order that they
+may not be interrupted. If we do not fall in the assault, and our
+lives are given us, it will be time then to follow our chiefs along
+the road which they have chosen."
+
+With quick and steady foot Sampei ascended the stair, which to him was
+sanctified by the abiding presence of O'Tei. Pushing back the screen,
+he entered, and, looking on his brother, there was upon his face a
+newborn tenderness.
+
+"The moment has come," he announced abruptly. "The foe is within the
+gate."
+
+A great shout went up into the stillness--a double cry--a scream of
+fear, a yell of victory. How strangely close the air was--despite the
+cold, heavy and sulphurous. Now that the banks of inky cloud had
+completely rolled away, the sky was unnaturally clear, the stars like
+specks of steel, while low along the bases of the hills was a dense
+white vapour rising. Sampei clasped his throat and gasped for air, for
+he was suffocating. Shaking back his locks, which, untied, had drifted
+about his clammy brow, he took a candle and set fire to the dry
+woodwork of the room, which crackled and flared, while No-Kami, in a
+daze, looked on.
+
+"You will be my kaishaku?" demanded the Hojo shortly.
+
+"Not I!" returned his brother, with strange emotion. "Each one for
+himself now. You take your dirk; I mine. We will have no seconds.
+Quick! Each moment's golden."
+
+"I am your feudal chief, as well as brother," No-Kami said, with
+supreme haughtiness, shaking off lethargy like an ill-fitting garment,
+"and as such I claim obedience. Shall it be said that the last Hojo
+passed away without befitting rites? Would you dare to refuse the last
+service to your departing lord?"
+
+There was a tumult in the elder's breast. No, he dared not refuse the
+last offices which were claimed thus solemnly. The final tribute of
+respect due from the nearest kinsman to the head of a great house was
+to act as his kaishaku or executioner. And yet, how hard! O'Tei was
+waiting on the other bank. No-Kami would be there before him. Not far
+ahead, though, for Sampei disdained a kaishaku. His brother gone, he
+would not linger.
+
+"Be it so," he said; and No-Kami nodded gratefully.
+
+The heat of the curling flames was stifling. The air was thick with
+smoke,--dense with an overpowering and scorching weight, like the
+fumes belched out by a volcano.
+
+Gently the lord of Tsu took from its rack his dirk, while his brother
+removed the sleeve from his own right arm and drew his sword, and,
+left foot forward, narrowly watched his movements. No-Kami, with
+dreamy deliberation, kneeled, supporting his weight upon his heels,
+and allowing his upper garment to drop down, tucked the sleeves under
+his knees, to save himself from falling backwards. Then, balancing the
+dirk, he looked on it with affectionate wistfulness, and, collecting
+his thoughts, hearkened musingly to the increasing turmoil. A clash of
+arms hard by; a hubbub of approaching voices; a volley of wild shouts
+and guttural curses, ever nearer--nearer.
+
+"Despatch!" cried the elder, with impatience, as he tightened the grip
+upon his hilt.
+
+No-Kami glanced round at him with a slow, proud smile, in which there
+was more of human softness than his features had ever worn. Then,
+stabbing himself below the waist on the left side, he drew the dirk
+with firm and unswerving hand across, and, twisting it in the wound,
+gave it a slight turn upwards.
+
+The eager eyes of his brother sparkled. A flash in the air; a heavy
+thud; a crash. No-Kami was gone; his sin-stained soul had flown. His
+blood welled out over the floor from his headless trunk.
+
+Sampei reeled, sick and giddy. Strange that the crisp air of a winter
+night should be so oppressive!
+
+What sinister new noise was that? A low, rumbling sound, like a great
+tremulous sigh--a heaving as though the panting soil were labouring
+for breath.
+
+For an instant of awful silence the human storm was stilled, then in a
+combined shriek rose heavenward. With swimming eyes Sampei gazed
+forth, clinging to the casement for support. A boom, a roar, a rush of
+boiling waters. A sweeping blast, a whirlwind--like a conflict of
+spirits for a soul. With a groan as of a giant in pain, the hillside
+opposite yawned. He beheld the wood of ancient cryptomerias, from
+childhood so familiar, slowly descend, leaving in its place a scar. He
+saw it slide down with majestic movement into the plain, turning from
+its bed the river. As though propelled by hurricane force, trees and
+rocks fell thundering, piled in heaps upon the flat, while through
+opening gaps and fissures new-born streams gushed out.
+
+Another shock, a long shuddering spasm, a wail of strong men for
+mercy. Then with deafening din the central tower rocked and swayed and
+split from top to bottom. The huge timbers cracked like wands, and
+parted. The ponderous copper roofs and sculptured eaves were torn and
+rent, and, toppling upon the crouching multitude, rolled over into the
+abyss. Forked tongues of flame shot up with a wild whirl of sparks,
+and died; and then from a common grave there curled a dense column of
+black smoke. Of all who were within the walls of Tsu not one escaped.
+At the gods' behest, nature had arisen in her strength. When the hail
+of destruction ceased, nothing remained of the impregnable fortress
+but a heap of shapeless ruin. The pride of Hojo was abased; its
+cherished home was become a charnel-house; its stronghold a sepulchre;
+a wreck its monument.
+
+
+ * * * * *
+
+
+Thus was the prophecy fulfilled,--the death-cry of the martyr
+answered. Buddha was awake, the while he seemed to sleep. By grim
+decree of outraged Heaven the race of tyrants was extinguished,
+leaving no rack behind save a loathed and dishonoured name.
+
+
+
+ THE END.
+
+
+
+
+ * * * * *
+ COLSTON AND COMPANY, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Curse of Koshiu, by Lewis Wingfield
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Curse of Koshiu, by Lewis Wingfield
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Curse of Koshiu
+ A Chronicle of Old Japan
+
+Author: Lewis Wingfield
+
+Release Date: February 13, 2012 [EBook #38853]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CURSE OF KOSHIU ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<p class="hang1">Transcriber's Notes:<br>
+<br>
+1. Page scan source:<br>
+http://books.google.com/books?id=UCQXAAAAYAAJ<br>
+<br>
+2. The diphthong oe is represented by &#338; and &#339;; &quot;y&quot; with a circumflex
+above by &quot;<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>&quot;; "o" with a macron above by
+<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#332; and &#333;</span>.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h1>THE CURSE OF KOSHIU.</h1>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h3><i>A CHRONICLE OF OLD JAPAN</i>.</h3>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h5>BY</h5>
+
+<h3><span class="sc">The Honble</span>. LEWIS WINGFIELD,</h3>
+
+<h5>AUTHOR OF<br>
+&quot;LADY ORIZEL,&quot; &quot;IN HER MAJESTY'S KEEPING,&quot; &quot;ABIGEL ROWE,&quot;<br>
+&quot;BARBARA PHILPOT,&quot; ETC.</h5>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h3>LONDON:<br>
+WARD &amp; DOWNEY,<br>
+12 YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.</h3>
+<hr class="W10" style="margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt">
+<h3>1888.</h3>
+
+<h5>[<i>All Rights reserved</i>.]</h5>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h5>EDINBURGH<br>
+COLSTON AND COMPANY<br>
+PRINTERS</h5>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<div style="margin-left:25%; margin-right:25%">
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+<br>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER I.</h3>
+
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_01" href="#div1_01"><span class="sc">Boy and Girl.</span></a></p>
+<br>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER II.</h3>
+
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_02" href="#div1_02"><span class="sc">The Last Hojo.</span></a></p>
+<br>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER III.</h3>
+
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_03" href="#div1_03"><span class="sc">Married Life.</span></a></p>
+<br>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER IV.</h3>
+
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_04" href="#div1_04"><span class="sc">The Abbess gives Advice.</span></a></p>
+<br>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER V.</h3>
+
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_05" href="#div1_05"><span class="sc">The Farmer girds His Loins.</span></a></p>
+<br>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VI.</h3>
+
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_06" href="#div1_06"><span class="sc">The Young Mikado.</span></a></p>
+<br>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VII.</h3>
+
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_07" href="#div1_07"><span class="sc">The Farmer's Sentence.</span></a></p>
+<br>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER VIII.</h3>
+
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_08" href="#div1_08"><span class="sc">Destiny is Busy.</span></a></p>
+<br>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER IX.</h3>
+
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_09" href="#div1_09"><span class="sc">The Execution.</span></a></p>
+<br>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER X.</h3>
+
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_10" href="#div1_10"><span class="sc">Forebodings.</span></a></p>
+<br>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XI.</h3>
+
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_11" href="#div1_11"><span class="sc">The Curse begins to Work.</span></a></p>
+<br>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XII.</h3>
+
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_12" href="#div1_12"><span class="sc">The Daimio of Nara Begins to Work.</span></a></p>
+<br>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIII.</h3>
+
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_13" href="#div1_13"><span class="sc">The Despot obeys Orders.</span></a></p>
+<br>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIV.</h3>
+
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_14" href="#div1_14"><span class="sc">The Mikado does Business.</span></a></p>
+<br>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XV.</h3>
+
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_15" href="#div1_15"><span class="sc">Will Buddha Speak?</span></a></p>
+<br>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVI.</h3>
+
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_16" href="#div1_16"><span class="sc">Masago takes the Reins.</span></a></p>
+<br>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVII.</h3>
+
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_17" href="#div1_17"><span class="sc">Under the Moon.</span></a></p>
+<br>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XVIII.</h3>
+
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_18" href="#div1_18"><span class="sc">Face to Face.</span></a></p>
+<br>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER XIX.</h3>
+
+<p class="normal"><a name="div1Ref_19" href="#div1_19"><span class="sc">The Web Is Woven.</span></a></p>
+</div>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h1>THE CURSE OF KOSHIU.</h1>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_01" href="#div1Ref_01">BOY AND GIRL.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">It was towards the end of the fourteenth century that the grandeur of
+the Hojo family rose to its acme, then fell with awful crash. The
+feudal story of the Land of the Rising Sun is a long dark chronicle of
+blood and tears, of crime and rapine, of vengeance and vendetta, out
+of which there glints at intervals a gleam of glorious heroism, of
+holy devotion, of pure love and unsullied faith.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In the stately roll of the great names of old Japan, there is none so
+terrible as Hojo. From time to time the patient people were ruled by
+one race or another of despots, cruel and selfish; the most cruel of
+all, the Hojos. Even now, after five hundred years of war and havoc,
+of vain aspirations, power misused, and wrecked ambitions, mothers
+still hush their babes to silence by breathing the dreaded name. The
+most destructive insect that ravages the fairest island in the
+world--the most voracious and omnivorous--is yet known as the Hojo
+beetle. When the first of the line erected a strong fortress--the
+Castle of Tsu, which will serve as background to many scenes in this
+our chronicle--he gave to it a bloody baptism, by burying beneath the
+foundations two hundred living men. Although their baleful course was
+marked by an ensanguined streak like a gory finger drawn across a map,
+they were not all black, these gruesome daimios, or even Buddha, whom
+we know to be deaf, and prone to somnolence, would earlier in the day
+have bestirred himself to punish them. Maybe Buddha drinks too much
+saké, for though we piously crack our finger-joints, and beat our
+palms, each morn at sunrise, and bang the gongs and pull the
+bell-strings each evening in the temple, he recks little of mere
+mundane worries, letting things go from bad to worse in grievous
+fashion. And yet, once roused to wakefulness, his vengeance is swift
+as the typhoon, as destructive and as sweeping.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No. The lurid Hojo cloud that for a hundred years brooded over
+long-suffering Japan, had silver breaks in it. The Mikados, as nominal
+rulers, dwelt at Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto; while the Shoguns, as military viceroys,
+reigned at Kamakura; but the dominating family, as wire-pullers,
+directed their movements from behind. The father of Hojo No-Kami, last
+of the race, had his good points. None of his supercilious ancestors
+was more superbly overbearing, more sublimely indifferent to human
+pain; and yet his worst enemies were compelled to admit that, if
+stern, his rule was sagacious. The Mikado, and his court of <i>kugés</i> or
+lords-in-waiting, shivered before him, for his dirk was loose in the
+scabbard, and the order promptly to depart into another world by
+uncompromising <i>harakiri</i> was ever trembling on his lips. During his
+career three emperors had been summoned to shave their heads and
+retire into monkish solitude, each puppet bowled over in its turn for
+daring to dispute his will; and yet the very fact of his disdaining to
+mask the iron hand under the glove of silk, even in dealing with the
+highest, compelled the unwilling admiration of his turbulent and
+light-hearted countrymen.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The upper class--Samurai, two-sword men, hatamotos, soldiers--could
+appreciate his martial bearing, as, in gallant bravery of scarlet
+armour and gold-studded helm, he rode forth to battle, with his
+martial wife beside him. For the beautiful Tomoyé was a fit mother for
+lion whelps. Of great personal strength as well as graceful carriage,
+sheathed in armour like her lord, astride on a swift horse, she was
+ever in the van of conflict. With her own hand she cut off the head of
+a rival daimio who crossed swords with her; and when her lord died,
+pierced through the heart by an arrow she fought till she fell beside
+him. The lower class of the unarmed--mechanics, mere farmers,
+paltry merchants--could also from their inferior standpoint admire
+their ruler, whilst grieving at his rough treatment of the Holy
+Mikado--mystic head of all--for he protected the workers of the hive
+from the depredations of other tyrants. The burthen of taxes was
+nicely weighed to suit the backs of the bearers. The ken of the Hojo
+was as piercing, and minutely attentive to details, as it was
+farsighted. A petition from the elders of the meanest village was sure
+of immediate attention. No petty feudal master, however recklessly
+bold or savagely contemptuous, dared to overstep his rights.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The result of the adamantine rule of the last Hojo but one was peace.
+The land that was given over usually to turmoil and bloodshed, with
+intervals of complete anarchy, enjoyed rest for fifteen years, during
+which the despot set himself to consolidate his power, and fix yet
+more firmly the family yoke on the necks of lords and people.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He had two sons, the elder of whom--by Japanese paradox--was treated
+as if he had been the younger. Sampei, three years older than No-Kami,
+was the offspring of a second wife or concubine. The latter,
+heir-apparent, was the whelp of the war-queen Tomoyé. Now in Japan
+concubinage is a recognised institution, and the son of the handmaid
+is no bastard. And yet the child of the bondwoman is not co-heir with
+the child of the free. The latter, in the case of a great family, is
+undisputed head of the clan, and to him the former owes allegiance,
+however much older in years, in the same degree as lesser clansmen.
+The institution is so firmly welded into the constitution of the land
+as, save in a few cases, to preclude jealousy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Of course, as in all Eastern countries, ambitious men have striven to
+supplant their brothers--have hacked off their heads and reigned in
+their stead--but this does not affect the principle. The two sons of
+Hojo grew up side by side in perfect amity. Together they learned to
+ride and wield the sword and spear under the approving gaze of their
+martial parents. They were both soldiers--with a difference. Even
+Tomoyé was forced to admit that of the twain Sampei, son of the
+concubine, was the most promising. His nature was clear and bright
+as running water, simple and unsmirched, unlike that of the
+heir-apparent. None more brave than he, more quick and skilful with
+his weapons, more ready to smite hard and heavily; and yet on occasion
+he could be soft and tender as a woman. A polished politeness and
+chivalrous demeanour were so innate in him as to win the admiration of
+the ladies. For seductive luxury he had nothing but contempt. No-Kami,
+on the other hand, if brave and skilled in arms, was fierce and
+selfish and debauched; overfond of the harem and perfumed bath and
+saké cup; sullen, too, as an ill-conditioned animal; brutal to women,
+ruthlessly tossing them aside like shattered toys when sated with
+their charms. People nodded their pates and whispered of him the
+timeworn proverb which says that there is no seed to a great man. In
+sooth it has ever been a common thing in this otherwise favoured land
+to see a great house crumble into speedy ruin through the supineness
+and debauchery of its sons.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There was no need for anxiety as to the future of Sampei. A soldier
+and a gentleman to the tips of his trim finger-nails, his career, in
+the most war-ridden of countries, was carved clear before him. It came
+to pass that Corea, conquered long since by the Amazon Empress Jingo,
+threw off allegiance.. Who more fitted than doughty young Sampei to
+reduce the rebel to obedience? Accordingly, five years before this
+story opens, the gay young general, full of life and hope, and
+rippling with high spirits, bade a respectful farewell to the father
+he was never to see again, a more tender one of his fond mother,
+Masago, who, like many another discarded concubine, was now the Abbess
+of a convent, and sailed with a fleet and army for Corea, whence news
+arrived from time to time, praising his deeds of valour.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As for the future of No-Kami, it was more difficult to prophesy, and
+his parents were no little anxious. His prospects were splendid; but
+although his father had endeavoured to foresee contingencies, and
+build barriers against accidents, the path of the next tyrant must
+needs be beset with thorns. His <i>rôle</i> in the future would be arduous,
+thick strewn with snares and difficulties. To keep the <i>entourage</i> of
+the Mikado in subjection--to hold the daimios--powerful and wealthy
+princes as sturdy as the barons of the English John--in the requisite
+condition of meekness, would require more statecraft, diplomacy, and
+force of iron will, than could be expected of a model youth. And
+No-Kami, as we have seen, was by no means a model youth. None knew
+better than his astute and experienced parent how difficult to a young
+man this task would prove; none was more distinctly aware of the frail
+tenure of a despot's life. At any moment he, the father, might be
+taken, and what then would happen to his boy?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Treachery stalks through the history of Japan. At any instant the
+dominant Hojo might be murdered under his son's eyes. Would the
+self-indulgent No-Kami be prepared with vigorous promptitude to avenge
+the slain, and, seizing the dropped reins, pursue his policy? Both
+father and mother sadly shook their heads. Even their partial vision
+could not but perceive that the hope of the house was a leper,
+abnormally sinful, inclined to become a sybarite. Was this young man
+to be left to steer the bark without a pilot? Certainly not. In case
+of anything unexpected arising, a staff must be prepared for him to
+lean upon. A man must be placed by his side, old in years and in
+experience, whose position and wisdom would command respect, whose
+interest it would be to bestow sound advice and timely sage reproof.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">What better guide than a prudent father-in-law? What surer loadstone
+to lure an embryo debauchee from the muddy byways of low company than
+a beautiful patrician bride? one of the pure and slender, refined and
+high-bred maidens of noble lineage--fair and sweet as the fragrant
+mountain-lily--who now, as five hundred years ago, are the brightest
+glory of Japan.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A crafty combination this on the part of the warrior-statesman, which
+would doubtless have been crowned with success, if he had not chanced
+to live in a world where mischievous spirits delight in frustrating
+plans the most cleverly matured. Tomoyé heard, and listened dubiously.
+Even among the most elevated Japanese, as well as in the highest
+European circles, papas and mammas will differ as to the ideal bride.
+What was the precise article that would suit No-Kami? Unfortunately
+there was not time to have one specially ordered. Since perfection is
+chary of repetition, it was not to be expected that another Tomoyé--a
+stern yet loving lioness--could be found for the precious youth.
+Indeed, so recreant a scion was he of the stock, that he might have
+objected possibly to a muscular and fiery wife whose pastime was the
+chopping of heads. And yet not so. A true lion-whelp was he in blood
+enjoyment. Even the low-born <i>Geisha</i> singing girls who stocked his
+harem, had often cried under his buffets, and shouted shame, with
+tears, at his barbarous treatment of his servants.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Alas! how sad it is that even the most sapient in mundane experience
+will be guilty of errors sometimes that are patent to the lesser fry.
+Is it over-anxiety that blinds them? The problem was to put the finger
+on a great noble--daimio among daimios--who could compare in descent
+and grandeur <i>almost</i> with the line of Hojo; who, of weight in
+counsel, and rather cool than hot, would stem precipitate rashness. He
+must have no son, and but one daughter, and devoid therefore of the
+ambition which accompanies male issue, must adopt his daughter's
+husband as his son; and by thus uniting the two families in closest
+bonds, make their interests identical. The child of the magnate (given
+that the two were found) must be mentally perfect, and a vision of
+corporeal loveliness.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My dear!&quot; quoth the broad-shouldered but practical Tomoyé, as with
+one eye critically closed she assayed the temper of a brand new sword.
+The lady was apt to get vexed when her lord grew warm and garrulous.
+&quot;My dear,&quot; she observed, &quot;we have many rounds of mortal life to climb
+ere, reaching the summit, we attain Nirvana. Though you are good
+enough to be blind to my blemishes, even I am not quite perfect.
+Perfection, in our present low cycle, is so very scarce, you know.&quot;
+With this she beamed upon her lord, whilst artlessly belying her words
+by approvingly fingering her muscles. She was inwardly aware, with
+pardonable pride, that no other daimio's daughter could boast such an
+arm as hers.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">My lord was provoked, and rubbed his nose. When you are erecting airy
+towers, practical people are exasperating. It was evident she had
+gained a point, so she proceeded to follow it up.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Where in broad Japan do you propose to seek these paragons? This pink
+of perfect daimios, and his yet more model child?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There was a tendency to irreverence in this tone, which required
+nipping in the bud. The eye of the Mikado's master shot forth a gleam,
+before which even the lioness cowered. When his mind was made up, the
+Hojo brooked no argument.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Be it as you will!&quot; Tomoyé dutifully murmured. &quot;My lord is all-wise,
+all-powerful; his wife his willing slave. Go forth and seek the
+paragons, and let us hope you will find them soon.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">To please him whom she loved best on earth, Tomoyé made believe to be
+convinced; and yet her woman's tact whispered down in the deep
+recesses of her manly bosom, that my lord, for all his wiliness, was
+wrong; that he was building a fool's paradise far up in &#338;ther, out
+of which her dear boy might tumble.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Curious to relate, the paragons concerning whom she was tempted to be
+disrespectful were not far to seek. With but little hocus-pocus father
+and daughter were conjured on the scene, as absolutely the &quot;very
+thing,&quot; to all appearance, as the cunning Hojo had conceived them. He
+declared as much at least, and dutiful Tomoyé acquiesced, slightly
+pinching her lips in silent protest. Instead of the &quot;very thing&quot; which
+was to bring about complete success before its time in our weary
+pilgrimage of cycles, the mother's instinct beheld with prophetic
+vision, in the proposed alliance, the worst elements of discord and
+defeat,--of so dire and dread a tragedy as should shake Japan to its
+centre, and annihilate the dominating house. Yet who was she, the
+warrior wife reflected in her humility, to set up puny instincts
+against the ripened statecraft of my lord? Her muscles were better
+than her brains. Should she presume to know more than he who held in
+his hand Mikado, nobles, people?--whose nod was law in the land
+beloved of Buddha? who had preserved it from contamination from
+without? Her place was to bend before the will of the dictator, and
+offer prayers for her husband and her son.</p>
+<br>
+
+<p class="center" style="letter-spacing:20pt">* * * * *</p>
+
+
+<p class="normal">The most perfectly poetic spot in all poetic Japan, whose
+ensanguined
+history is made beauteous to the eye of a fastidious posterity by the
+flora of chivalry and valour, is Nara.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Lovely and secluded, sweet-smelling and umbrageous Nara! The Nara of
+to-day--how much more the Nara of five hundred years ago--suggests to
+the incursive foreigner a bit of Eden's garden.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In very early times the central mart of Japanese opulence (which ebbed
+by-and-by to Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto), it came after a while to be recognised as the
+special home of holiness. Accepting the better part, it exchanged the
+shimmering sham glory of mundane ambition for the sheen reflected from
+above. Some twenty miles from Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto--time-honoured residence of
+Mikados, and therefore a sacred city--the small town of Nara stands on
+a plain surrounded by rugged hills. Passing through low grey streets,
+leaving on the left a huge and ornate pagoda, you enter a tangle of
+wild greenery--an ideal wood of immense cryptomerias darkling skyward
+after light. A jungle of variegated foliage, so sweet and fresh, masks
+half their altitude, while the undulating ground beneath is broken
+into verdant waves chequered with blossoms of all hues. This forest is
+vast and silent, save where a white-robed group of pilgrims saunters
+along its glades--undefended by barriers, save those of religious
+custom. And what more tough than they? If sprightly and given to
+skull-cracking, the Japanese live in terror of their deities, who
+without exception are vindictive. Buddha and the lesser lights
+are awful and threatening and ever-present, and the favourite
+hunting-grounds of Buddha are the hallowed groves of Nara.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The thickets teem with game. All kinds of coy animals which usually
+flee at sight of man, here hold undisputed sway. The intruder is on
+their territory, and they let him know it. The timorous doe stands
+with soft unstartled eyes across the path, sniffing with moist
+nostrils the expected cake. And if the white-clad pilgrim should have
+striven to combine economy with cure of soul by investing in cheap
+offerings, the scornful stag and his following will shake their ears,
+and bound away to relate to the gods the insult. With head on one
+side, birds look critically down from boughs, nor think of flight;
+hares, taught by impunity, instead of making off, white scut in air,
+groom nose with paw, undaunted.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hidden away, centre of an intricate labyrinth--enclosed in many
+courts, each hung with myriad lamps in bronze-like fringes round the
+eaves--stands the Holy of Holies, Buddha's hunting-box, wherein a band
+of virgins perform weird shinto rites for the behoof of awe-struck
+pilgrims. At stated seasons this bevy of priestesses, emerging from
+strict retirement, performs the <i>kagura</i>, a slow swanlike measure,
+with many and intricate figures and waving of fans and bells and
+kerchiefs, accompanied by priestly flutes--which (doubtless good for
+the soul, since its weary length is interminable) is soothing also to
+ear and eye, for the ladies are graceful and slender in their loose
+red trousers and gossamer robes, their long locks flowing as they
+float to and fro, with a background of gold screens, and beyond the
+antique forest. How peaceful a life, free from sordid cares, must
+these holy damsels lead! Far from the fretful striving of the churlish
+world--its hate and jealousy and bitterness and disillusion--no call
+to arms or shock of war invades this calm retreat. They share
+ungrudgingly their Eden with the beasts and butterflies, guileless and
+content as they, strumming the three-stringed samisen, sailing through
+maze of solemn <i>kagura</i>, doing tender service in the temple.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Among the troop of maidens was one who wore no religious habit.
+Although she had taken no vows, priests and virgins loved her as much
+as if one of themselves. Brought up among them with the hares and
+birds for comrades, as stately and as gentle as the deer, she shared
+from childhood, being motherless, their pure and contemplative life.
+Strangers often said that the fairest thing in lovely Nara was the
+tall and pale O'Tei. Some compared her to the unblown white lotos as
+it sways dreamily in the breeze. Others dubbed her pearl; but later
+all agreed that young Sanjo the armourer was delivered of the neatest
+simile when he fashioned a white fawn of purest silver and gave it to
+the maiden for a hairpin. As a child she had always been still and
+given to day-dreams, peering into the flowers as if she could read
+secrets there, or gazing into the opal sky in search of angels, or
+watching the pallid stars as they glimmered forth out of the deepening
+blue. Yet was she as gay as the chirping cicadas in the trees, as
+light and fleet as her four-footed friends, as, pattering on dainty
+clogs in wayward mood, she would leave the forest for the town, and
+peeping in at Sanjo's, shake an arch finger at the brawny armourers,
+while they wiped their swart brows, and laughed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was by a whimsical coincidence that the celebrated family of Sanjo,
+from time immemorial armourers in chief to the Mikados, as the
+Miochins were to the Shoguns, should have set up the forge, emblem of
+war, hard by the sacred wood, the type of peace. But so it was.
+Indeed, as I write, the existing Sanjos occupy the ancestral dwelling.
+They are poor now. Their occupation is gone, for civilisation and
+European ways have stepped in and ruined them. At the period which
+occupies us, the blowing of the forge-bellows and the welding of iron
+on the anvil were in curious contrast to the surrounding calm. Many
+lords who came hither in pilgrim guise to improve their soul's estate,
+looked in at Sanjo's ere they went away, to buy new blades and armour.
+The holy forest was an oasis of peace in a world of uproar; for was
+not the castle of the powerful lord of Nara but a mile beyond the
+town; and did not close by (happily concealed by a hill from his proud
+gaze) the fortress of the Daimio of Osaka rear its majestic front,
+home of his hereditary foe? Of course it was enough for two great
+feudal lords to dwell cheek by jowl for them to hate one another
+cordially. These two were as jealous as two rival beauties. The outer
+moat at Nara was wider than that of my lord of Osaka, but then the
+interior of Osaka's stronghold was the more splendid, and its armoury
+more richly furnished. Hence frowns and jibes and backbitings from
+generation to generation, varied now and then by siege or battle,
+accompanied by fire and massacre.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Among the many who were firm friends of the Sanjos, was, naturally
+enough, Sampei. Of course, so gallant a young gentleman could wear no
+armour but Sanjo's, could wield no sword but one that bore his mark.
+One morning, standing beside the anvil, and laying down the law to an
+obsequious audience, on military subjects, he beheld, framed in the
+doorway, such a delightful vision, that his heart gave a great thump,
+and he dropped the precious blade, whose temper he was critically
+testing by the bisecting of a coin. It was only for a second. Startled
+by the apparition of a distinguished stranger, and grown unaccountably
+bashful of a sudden, the blushing and beautiful O'Tei cried Oh! and,
+turning on her clogs, scampered back into the wood, whither the
+inflammable Sampei would swiftly have followed, had he not been
+restrained by the armourer.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Beware!&quot; the latter whispered, grasping him tightly by the skirt.
+&quot;That maid is not for thee! The heiress of the Daimio of Nara will
+look higher than a soldier of fortune!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sampei laughed, to conceal his annoyance. It is exasperating and
+humiliating too, to a handsome young soldier, who as such adores the
+sex, to be bluntly informed that the loveliest girl whom he has ever
+looked upon is hopelessly out of reach. And yet he could not deny that
+his friend was right. The White Fawn of Nara might never be his, for
+one so noble and so fair could command the most splendid of <i>partis</i>.
+But was that any reason why he should not look at her? He was
+heartwhole. No doubt of that. His soul was devoted to his sword; but,
+as dashing young warriors have done time out of mind, he liked to
+dally with maidens, and the prettier they were the better. Instead of
+purchasing a blade and departing straightway, he all at once became
+fastidious. This one was too light; that one ill-balanced.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Japan is the land of blades. From the tail of the Dragon was born the
+sword which the Sun-goddess bestowed on the first Emperor. By the
+sword of the clustering clouds, Yamato-Daké subdued the East. It was
+quite fitting that our young general should be particular. Sanjo
+produced in vain his rarest achievements. There was &quot;Knee-cutter&quot; and
+&quot;Beard-divider,&quot; unrivalled masterpieces, which Sanjo himself so loved
+that he had always declined to part with them. But there was no
+satisfying this capricious and arrogant youth. Sanjo would be good
+enough to set himself to work and create an inspiration; and Sampei,
+to whom time had all at once become no object, would remain at Nara
+and superintend the progress of the miracle. And so it came about that
+the blade, taking long to make, O'Tei (curious, after the fashion of
+maidens) came pattering along the street, just to see if the young
+warrior was gone. Oddly enough, he was still there; with face towards
+the door too. This was well, if strange; for he was comely; extremely
+civil, to boot; courteous, and vastly respectful; could troll rich
+snatches of merry song, and tell diverting tales with dancing eye and
+glittering teeth; while as for his smile, it did one good to bask
+under it--so bright it was, so warm and genial, exuberant with
+bubbling youth.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The brawny workers at the anvil vowed with grins and nudges that 'twas
+charming to watch these two--she, the type of the patrician beauty of
+her country--complexion of palest olive, nose aquiline, cheek bones a
+trifle high, perfectly moulded chin and throat, eyes and hair a deep
+black, the former raised the least little bit in the world at the
+outer corners--as she lounged in a steely <i>kimono</i> of finest crape
+drawn up over one of scarlet. And he was in his way as bonny a
+spectacle. Exceeding dark of skin; of low stature, as are most of the
+Japanese, but admirably proportioned and muscular; his luxuriant sable
+locks (shaven away in the centre, lest the eyes should be obscured in
+battle), fastened in two tresses at the back, while a becoming blue
+fillet bound his temples, knotted at the side in a bow.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">I am afraid I must admit at once that Sampei, to whom I am very
+partial, was a sad flirt. He invented appalling tales of death and
+slaughter, for the pleasure of seeing the cheek of O'Tei grow whiter,
+then set himself to woo the delicate sea-shell colour back with
+well-timed jest; and was flattered and pleased to find that he could
+learn to play upon her as on some fragile instrument. To the girl his
+radiant advent was a strange and wondrous break in the sweet monotony
+of years,--a revelation like the raising of some veil that masks the
+infinite; and she marvelled vaguely whether the perfumed wood would
+hold so rich a charm when <i>he</i> was no longer there to rouse the echoes
+with his laughter. Hand in hand they wandered--artless children--while
+the soft-eyed deer peeped out at them approvingly. They visited her
+favourite haunts; the open glade where the glorious lilies grew in
+clusters--lemon-yellow, or white, brown centred; where the great
+jewelled butterflies tumbled low along like junks under heavy sail;
+where beds of scarlet blossoms like geraniums nestled in sheets on the
+bank of a crystal stream--home of flights of glittering dragon-flies,
+black and iron-blue, like the cohorts of the warlike Osaka. And then
+the sharp <i>twee twee</i> of the cicadas, answering or calling one another
+out of the deep stillness of the canopy above, the boom of the hoarse
+bees, the buzzing of gossamer wings, the click of the cricket, the hum
+of the myriad tiny voices up in the dense green, which joining in
+harmonious chorus form a silence--a haven of solitude and rest.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was not possible to linger in the shadowed aisles whose pillars
+were the giant cryptomerias, without feeling subdued and softened; and
+a suspicion flitted more than once across the mind of the young
+soldier that perchance the career of hurly-burly and the clash of
+steel were a mistake, the contemplative life a better. What happier
+method of getting through the cycle than to muse away the years, till
+called to go, with gentle O'Tei, and the forest, and the animals? And
+then, the sylvan influence and flash of the clear eyes removed, Sampei
+would wake and shake himself in distress, and know that the ground was
+dangerous. The contemplative life was good for girls and shaven
+priests, and men who had succumbed in the battle. Youths with lives
+spread out before like a trail of moonlight on the sea, must gird up
+their loins and elbow their way through the medley. Too long already
+had the young General dallied, wasting time. And yet, not wasting, for
+he and she were to be friends for life--that was quite settled--dear
+brother and loving sister, trusting each other without question,
+certain, in moments of emergency, of the completest helpfulness and
+sympathy. It was delicious to possess such a sister, a soft warm
+sunspot on his harsh career; more she might never be, and he
+recognised that this was well.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Her gentleness unnerved his arm, he was wont jestingly to say, for her
+nature was woven of such frail glass threads that just as the rush of
+the herd snapped the slender lily-stems, a rude puff of wind might
+shatter it. Some day she would find a suitable husband, and her
+adopted brother would love him for her sake; and then they would
+recline in the long grass and fall a-talking of what the lucky mortal
+would be like. To match with the perfection of O'Tei he must be a
+perfect creature. Not a bluff soldier like Sampei. No, that would
+never do, for like a tender plant must the dear maid be cherished. To
+the end must the White Fawn be screened from din of war and rude
+surroundings. Poor hearts! They were both so young and ignorant and
+hopeful. They knew not how futile a pastime is the building of
+air-palaces. They were unaware that Fate is a sad marplot, and that if
+we plan a matter in a certain way, it will surely come out quite
+otherwise.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Shinto virgins were somewhat scandalised by the romantic
+proceedings of the fair O'Tei and the too good-looking General. They
+were disinclined to approve of him, for they knew he had said that,
+with faces painted a dead white, eyebrows at top of foreheads, and
+long flat hair well-oiled, they looked like the dolls of Asakusa. A
+ribald military person was not expected to have taste, or to know
+wherein lies true beauty, but he might show more respect for youthful
+gorgons. O'Tei did little credit, they averred, with tart displeasure,
+to her education. If she pined for male society, was not the temple
+full of holy bonzes? The heiress of Nara showed lamentable signs of
+incipient depravity. What business had she with Sanjo, the common
+armourer? She who, wayward always and inconsistent, when taught like
+every prospective chatelaine to wield a pike, had been wont to toss
+down the silver-mounted weapon, with a pout, vowing that she hated
+fighting.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Things could not go on as they were, for the situation was a false
+one. Sanjo grew nervous. If the Daimio of Nara, who as Kugé or court
+noble lived usually at Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto in attendance on the Emperor, were to
+hear that his only child, instead of innocently floating through mazes
+of <i>kagura</i>, was using his (Sanjo's) forge for flirting purposes with
+an ineligible man who was the son of a concubine, there would be
+trouble; and Sanjo was not unaware of the parable concerning iron pots
+and earthen pipkins. All were relieved, therefore, except O'Tei, who
+was hazy as to her own sentiments, when the news arrived that the
+rebellion in Corea was to be quelled, and that Sampei was to command
+the expedition.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When brother and sister parted, O'Tei clung round the neck of the
+youth, and, weeping bitterly, shivered she knew not why. Lovingly he
+kissed her brow, and disengaged himself from her embrace, and was more
+than ever certain as he rode away that, perfect in a congenial sphere,
+as wife of some grandee who would appreciate her gentle excellence,
+his sweet and sensitive sister would make the worst of consoles for
+one whose trade was war.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_02" href="#div1Ref_02">THE LAST HOJO.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Being a cunning and artful reader, you have long since guessed that
+the pattern maid whose benign influence was destined to reform the
+brutish No-Kami, was no other than O'Tei, while the paragon Daimio was
+Nara.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Shinto virgins, as unjust and purblind as young gorgons may be
+expected to prove, were quite wrong as to O'Tei, who was no flirt. She
+did all credit to her rearing, for, when summoned to leave the
+conventual seclusion of the forest and assume the garb and
+responsibilities of her rank, she dutifully murmured, &quot;Let my father's
+will be done,&quot; and accepted the husband of his choice. She had never
+been told--for the holy bonzes knew little about the subject--that in
+many marriages there are but two cheerful days--the first and the
+last--and marched straight upon her fate without a tremor.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The elder Hojo, though a crafty and long-headed statesman, made a sad
+mistake while arranging the affairs of his son. The air palace he
+built was complete and imposing, beautiful to the eye, but, as the
+muscular and practical Tomoyé had foreseen, its foundations were of
+the weakest. He forgot that old Nara, as lord in waiting, was likely
+to be deeply attached to the person as well as to the position of the
+Mikado; that he, like the rest of the Kugés, would probably treasure
+up the insults which were freely showered on his master, with a view
+to future vengeance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thanks to the uncompromising tactics of the despot, the reigning
+Mikado (there were three in exile) was a boy, a <i>roi fainéant</i>, a
+puppet; but he was hedged about with the intangible and mystic
+attributes of the Mikadoate, and the buffets he received reverberated
+along the line of Kugés into the hearts of the lower class. To possess
+the person of the Emperor was doubtless pleasing to the possessor--a
+trump card--but those who did not possess him felt his thraldom
+bitterly. That his daughter should wed the heir of the all-powerful
+Hojo was satisfactory and flattering to Nara. So long as the tyrant
+lived against whom it was hopeless to struggle, he would mask his
+game; but after his death, what then? He was expected to assume the
+functions of chief adviser, and keep the successor straight--was, in
+fact, to tighten the bonds about his master's limbs, for the behoof of
+the execrated family.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This was whimsical--illogically planned--and Hojo a fool for his
+pains, When he contemplated the folly of the man he hated in his
+heart, the grim visage of the cautious Nara was puckered into
+unaccustomed smiles. The advice he would give in the future--so the
+wily lord decided--must depend on the attitude of his son-in-law, and
+be guided by the course of events for the benefit of the imperial
+prisoner. In his mind's eye (if Hojo could only have guessed it!) he
+beheld with secret exultation the brutish No-Kami sinking lower and
+lower by sure degrees into debauchery, until the moment should arrive
+when the ruler would become the ruled. And then--and then! Well, time
+must show what then. Sufficient for the day is its labour.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Just as a Nimrod of the chase may fly safely over tremendous obstacles
+and be undone by a ditch at last, so was it with old Hojo. He sallied
+forth one day to put down an insignificant riot in never tranquil
+Satsuma, and received there his quietus. As already related, the
+faithful Tomoyé died with him, and No-Kami--juvenile, inexperienced,
+and cruel--was called to reign in his stead. And now, no longer
+restrained in the smallest degree by respect for a severe mother or
+fear of a fiery father, the new despot, surrounded by parasites, gave
+free rein to all his vices.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The unaccustomed period of peace came to an abrupt conclusion. The
+young Mikado having been goaded one day to remonstrate with his new
+jailor, the latter raised his fan and slapped the august cheek. The
+Kugés flew to arms to avenge their outraged lord, but No-Kami, with
+the aureole of his father's prestige still about him, was too much for
+them. The nobles who dwelt in the palace bore but little of the stamp
+of warriors. The astute Nara, whilst hating the young man, saw that
+now, while the aureole remained unfaded, it was not yet the time to
+strike. He assumed therefore, with much parade of zeal, the <i>rôle</i> of
+mediator between his master and his son-in-law. At first in vain.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">An unorganised band of patriots took the field, who were speedily
+routed and slain; and No-Kami, like the tyrant that he was,
+ungenerously pursued his advantage. Thanks to Nara's intervention, he
+refrained from deposing the Mikado; but he made up for this act of
+clemency by committing outrageous deeds. Banishment and confiscation
+were the order of the day. The estates of those who had dared to
+unsheath the <i>katana</i> were distributed among the minions of the
+despot. All over Japan, those who loved their country heard with
+groans of the annihilation of the loyalists, and the pitiful condition
+of the Emperors. There was a puppet Mikado at Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto, and a nominal
+Shogun at Kamakura, but they were both under the tutelage of Hojo.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No-Kami, as Nara hoped and expected, flushed with easy victory, and
+drunk with blood, resigned himself for a while to luxury, and
+neglected public business. A horde of rapacious bravos and licensed
+bandits sucked the lifeblood and paralysed the energies of the people.
+The weight of taxes, that ever crushes the spirit of the Asiatic
+peasant, grew heavier, day by day, until existence became intolerable.
+How was an end to be put to this nightmare? That was the question
+which all were fearfully whispering, and to which there seemed no
+solution.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No-Kami, if self-indulgent and ruthless, was no zany. He knew that his
+position was to be maintained by fear and a strong hand, and that
+enervation meant destruction. Bundles of bamboo, when bound together,
+will dam a stream, though each separate stem is but a feeble wand. The
+insurrection of effeminate Kugés had been precipitate and foolish. If
+the whole country were to rise like one man, he would, as he was
+aware, be swept like rice chaff into the sea. In the mutual jealousy
+of the Daimios lay his chief safeguard. While plunging each in
+separate discomfort, union at all costs must be prevented. Attempts at
+conspiracy among the nobles, or at combinations among the lower
+classes, must be frustrated, and to that end he gave strict orders to
+officials and tax-collectors to allow of no public meetings. The
+people were to pay what was demanded of them, humbly and dutifully, as
+best they could, but on no account were to be permitted to hold
+gatherings. Even the great festivals of the year were for a while to
+be discontinued.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Over and above these precautions, the tyrant surrounded his person
+with a picked body-guard of Samurai, or two-sword men; hedged his
+fortress with bristling defences; and recalled his brother, the
+brilliant Sampei, from his career of victory abroad.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Urged possibly by a spirit of contrariness, a contempt for the society
+of his prisoner and the Kugés--perhaps by a sense of freedom from
+personal danger there--the favourite abode of No-Kami was his castle
+of Tsu, four days' journey from the capital, over precipitous hills.
+Here he loved to dwell, surrounded by his brawling warriors;
+sojourning from time to time, when business called him to Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto,
+at a small but superb villa, called the Golden House, which stood
+secluded in a park on the outskirts of the sacred city.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The castle of Tsu was one of the strongest in Japan (the outline of
+its foundations still remains to attest to its vast area), and
+covered, within the square space of the outer moat, sufficient ground
+to accommodate an army. This outer moat, upon which many a shallop
+floated, was wide and deep and sluggish on three sides, masked by a
+luxuriant crop of lotos; while the fourth wall was washed by a
+rapidly-running river, the Iwatagawa, which a couple of miles away
+brawled into the sea. Out of the water rose a platform of great
+stones, with a fringe of gnarled and rusty pines, through which were
+visible battlements of earth crowned by a low parapet. At each corner
+was a huge four-storied building, fitted with four wide roofs of
+sculptured copper; the walls of whitewashed plaster within frameworks
+of unpainted wood. Inside this outer defence was a recreation and
+drill-ground of sufficient extent to allow of room for jousts and
+spectators, as well as trees and vegetable gardens, and a village of
+wooden huts for soldiery and camp followers. Dwellings of a better
+class were clustered like seashells about the second or inner moat,
+which enclosed a second wall.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Within the inner square was a space of considerable size, in the
+centre of which uprose the castle, a four-sided tower three hundred
+feet in height, tapering towards the top. By reason of its many roofs
+or verandahs of burnished and sculptured bronze, it seemed more like a
+cluster of many towers, the centre one the loftiest; and a picturesque
+object it was, for owing to the prevalence of earthquakes, all the
+walls above the foundation platform were of whitened mud and plaster,
+enclosed like the corner buildings within frames of timber; while the
+middle roof reared its head with overhanging eaves to a sharp point,
+crowned on the apex by a great fish, fashioned of pure gold.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This fortress was, barring miracle or treachery, justly reputed
+impregnable. Both moats were crossed by drawbridges, as an extra
+caution against surprise. The outer entrance was approached round a
+corner, so that the gate with its side postern was doubly commanded
+from above. Even if the outer wall were stormed, the inner one frowned
+on the intruder with manifold engines, while the ground about it could
+be rendered untenable by missiles from the summit of the tower.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A bowshot from the outer moat, westward from the river bank, the town
+of Tsu, with straggling suburbs, meandered, low and grey, like a long
+serpent. All Japanese towns are of one colour, walls and roofs alike,
+of wood unpainted and weatherworn, rendered a shade more silvery by
+clusters of pale lichen; but Tsu was more monotonously gloomy in
+aspect than most, by reason of damp and misery. The country close
+around, with the exception of two low hills, was flat and sedgy,
+broken by marshes and shallow rivulets. Away, hazy, melting into blue,
+could be discerned the encircling peaks of the range, beyond which is
+Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto. Grand mountains these, rugged and austere, with many a
+beetling crag. Mikuni Yama; Outake San; and away to the south-east
+Asama Yama, the majestic chief volcano of Japan.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The town of Tsu differed from others in that it displayed none of the
+spick-and-span cleanliness for which the land of the Rising Sun is as
+conspicuous as European Holland. The outlying cottages bore the stamp
+of squalor and ague, standing in oozy sludge. So did the people bear
+the brand of sorrow, as, listless and inert, they dragged their heavy
+feet. As a poor show of enterprise, a few unripe persimmons, which no
+one desired to buy, were exposed for sale in the mire; while here and
+there a tray of sorrel-like leaves were placed to dry (?)--a plant
+used for dying blue the cotton which is the common garment of the
+peasant. There was none of the briskness and gaiety to be seen that
+make rural Japan so cheery. None of the incessant chatter and laughter
+and pattering of clogs, the rush-and-tumble of naked brown babies, the
+whirr of the silk-looms, the busy hammer of the carpenters.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The houses, wide open to the street, displayed the usual raised
+platform of wood, smoothly planed, covered with matting, with
+<i>hibachi</i> or firebox in the middle; but there was no brilliant glimpse
+beyond of the wonderful toy gardens, with rocks and dwarfed trees and
+straying tortoises and gaudy flowers and crickets in tiny cages, which
+distinguish a prosperous village. The paper windows or screens being
+always pushed back in their grooves during the day, a rustic Japanese
+household of the lower class may be said to live in public; for, till
+the screens are replaced, which they usually are at dusk, there may be
+said to be no privacy. You have a free view of goodman or matron in
+the bath, or at the toilet, or eating, or sleeping, or at work, and
+unabashed--with innocence sometimes for only garment--they nod to you
+pleasantly with a cheerful &quot;Ohayo!&quot; as you pass. Tsu was too degraded,
+steeped to the lips in grinding poverty, to have energy for work or
+washing, much less for the homely ornament of a single lily in a
+pot. Almost entirely nude the men, unkempt and frowsy, lolled and
+slept--such a marvellous variety of attitudes of sleep a sculptor
+might find there--while the housewife, thin and sallow, naked to the
+waist, fumbled feebly over the weaving of cheap hats, or grass sandals
+for man and horse.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Of course the town could boast of a superior quarter, where, in front
+of houses of a better kind, were flapping blue cotton awnings, each
+one adorned with the dominant daimio's cognisance. Into one of these,
+apparently the cleanest and the best, we will enter (first removing
+our clogs and swords), for what is proceeding within should interest
+us somewhat.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It is evening. The house-platform is raised on stilts as usual, two
+feet above ground, and the first room or ante-chamber is open to the
+street. When we rap with fan on the paper screen beyond, some one
+cries &quot;Enter,&quot; and sliding it aside we find ourselves in a large low
+room, whose ceiling of unpolished cryptomeria is supported by pillars
+of cherry. Above the dais or recess of honour at the end, a single
+picture hangs, representing the thirty-three Kwannon; under it is a
+gilt image of Buddha; while the monotony of the one wooden wall (the
+others are formed by paper screens running in grooves) is broken by a
+wandering spray of maple foliage, painted in autumn tints.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Everything is scrupulously clean and severely simple. You only become
+aware that this is a superior dwelling, by remarking the fineness of
+the mats. In the centre, round a large <i>hibachi</i> of bronze, filled
+with charcoal, a group are huddled close, for the all-pervading damp
+is chilling to the bones. Two well-known elders of the town are
+there--Zembei, and Rokubei his friend--the former talking volubly;
+while a man of middle age, the master of the house, is listening with
+dubious frown. His wife, Kennui, sits by, his hand in hers; while
+apart in a corner, with eyes as bright as a squirrel's, and flushed
+cheek, stands their eldest daughter Miné. Her mind--some call her a
+forward damsel--is disturbed, for, impatient and annoyed, she pushes
+aside a screen, and clatters off into the back garden, to tease with a
+finger the darting gold-fish that with mosquitoes reign in a pond.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The frowning man is Koshiu, the most important farmer in these parts,
+broad-shouldered, grave, and grizzled, whose opinions are of weight in
+the province.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Zembei--aged, with face like a walnut--has brought unpleasant news;
+indeed he has often dropped in of late, and each time his tidings are
+less agreeable. It is the old story, gruesome and too familiar. The
+rapacious Hojo needs more money--is always demanding more. But it is
+quite too bad to worry the men of Tsu, his own home, the poorest
+district in the Empire. Already the starving population have abandoned
+hope. In a former life they must have been very wicked, to suffer so
+much in this.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">After a long pause of dejection, &quot;Maybe my lord knows not of our
+wretchedness,&quot; suggests the farmer's wife, by way of pouring oil upon
+the waters.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Peace, Kennui!&quot; sighs her spouse. &quot;As well throw stones at the sun,
+or try to scatter a fog with a fan, as look for humanity from a Hojo!
+They were ever merciless.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Too true!&quot; groans Rokubei, the elder. &quot;Thus the matter stands; though
+you have shown so little interest of late, that perchance I am wasting
+breath.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, that hath he!&quot; chimes in Zembei. &quot;Why is it? You, Koshiu, whose
+words were ever of moment, and treated with respect, although from
+your stubborn pride you were never popular, instead of helping us,
+have been hanging back, content with grumbling complaint. We must act
+now, I tell you, and rend the air no more with idle moaning, or else
+we perish all! Gird up your loins, man. Awake! For unless this torrent
+of greed be stemmed, although less poor than most, you will soon be a
+beggar like the rest.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My husband,&quot; interrupted Kennui, &quot;is misjudged. He loves the people,
+and grieves for them, but perceives that resistance is useless--idle
+remonstrance will but make their plight more pitiful.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The beetle in combat with the bear!&quot; laughed the farmer drearily.
+&quot;Act, forsooth! All this is idle prate, believe me. What can we do but
+die?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No idle prate,&quot; retorted Zembei. &quot;Listen. By deputation--of which you
+would not form one--we humbly prayed and entreated the local
+counsellors of my lord:--the leeches--to be more lenient; but they
+replied that they were only tools, exactly performing his bidding.
+Then, after anxious thought and discussion, gathering together in
+secret the chiefs of a hundred villages, at peril of our heads, we
+resolved to draw up and send a solemn petition, signed by all, to my
+lord's golden dwelling at Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto, imploring justice. Twelve of the
+most respected elders, chosen from the assembly by lot, undertook the
+dangerous task. Clad in their grass rain-coats, they sallied forth,
+and arrived in time at Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Idiots!&quot; scoffed Koshiu. &quot;Did they pay a long farewell to wives and
+little ones?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Arrived at the Golden House, they were received at the gate with
+blows and contumely.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What else did they expect?&quot; inquired the farmer--&quot;to be feasted in
+the room of honour? Other lords perhaps, dreading public exposure of
+their misdeeds, might, if pushed, hasten to repair a wrong--the Hojos
+never; for the Hojos have no shame.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Miné pouted, and rapped the pavement with impatient clog.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;To be sweeping is always to be unjust!&quot; she cried shrilly, from the
+border of the pond. &quot;There are good as well as bad in every family.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Hush, child, hush! Be dutiful!&quot; reproved her mother. &quot;Thou wast
+bewitched by soft empty speeches and a bold bearing. It was a bad day
+for thee when the lord Sampei came among us!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He is good and brave and generous,&quot; returned the girl, with burning
+face, &quot;my lord Sampei!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Miné cooed out the name that was on every one's lips, with such an
+exceeding abandonment of tenderness as startled her father into
+attention.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;More words less sense!&quot; he remarked testily. &quot;My lord Sampei! what
+hast thou to do with him or his? My lord Sampei forsooth! Wouldst be a
+Hojo's concubine? Never! I'd see thee dead first.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The maid speaks not untruly,&quot; nodded Rokubei. &quot;Sampei is in all
+things, save his name, unlike his brother. Through his mother Masago,
+the holy Abbess, he has peasant blood in his veins.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And she,&quot; chimed in the girl, &quot;the late lord's concubine, although of
+peasant stock, is worthy to be noble. As good as her son is the Abbess
+Masago. Cold and severe, no doubt, but just and lovable.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;How the child prates!&quot; cried Madam Koshiu. &quot;The lord Sampei has been
+absent these five years, skull-cracking, and is but just returned.
+What canst thou know of him? When he sailed, thou wert a little maid,
+and even than now more foolish.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;From his mother I have heard of him,&quot; admitted the blushing girl.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;So this was thy religious fervour, praying so often at the temple!&quot;
+exclaimed the angry farmer. &quot;Take heed, thou silly wench, or I will
+punish thee, and grievously. What! A cur can bark loudly before its
+own gate, and I can defend my own. Once for all, no more of the lord
+Sampei, or it will go ill with thee. Banish from thy feather-pate idle
+worship of thy betters.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The mien of Koshiu was so stern and threatening, that though words of
+indignant protest rose to her lips, the girl was silent.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What if he were prevailed upon to intercede for us?&quot; mused Rokubei.
+&quot;He is as generous as brave--no doubt of that. My lord, after his
+brother's career of victory, could scarce refuse him a favour.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Five years bring about great changes,&quot; growled the farmer. &quot;Five
+years ago Hojo No-Kami was no worse than others of his rank. You will
+never persuade me that aught of good is to be found in a Hojo,
+legitimate or otherwise. Enough of him. Go on with your story of the
+elders.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;They were received, as I told you, at the outer gate with blows and
+curses. Had they not fled, murder would have been done, for a posse of
+samurai rushed out of the guardhouse, like devils, brandishing pikes.
+Disconcerted, grieved, and bruised, they returned to their inn to
+consult. Was the journey to go for nothing? Were they to return like
+beaten dogs, without even seeing my lord? Peradventure face to face
+with him something might yet be done, and his hard heart softened by
+their dismal catalogue of woe. They plumed their ruffled feathers,
+therefore, and lay in wait, and when he rode forth citywards, emerged
+from a clump of trees, and kneeling humbly in the dust, presented
+their petition. He took it, and, grinding his teeth with eyes aflame,
+turned savagely to his attendants.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;'Remove these wretches!' he thundered, 'who by persistent insolence
+have deserved more than death. By-and-by will I pass judgment on them.
+Torment shall reward their temerity.'&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A silence of dismay followed the elder's narrative. Koshiu was surely
+right--his deep hate justified. It seemed that the existing Hojo was
+worse than any of his ancestors--and so young too! What a gloomy
+future for unhappy fatherland! What a sunless roll of years!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The land is ripe for revolt, if we could find a leader we could
+trust,&quot; observed Zembei, who had been nursing his knees in silence.
+&quot;The other lords are weary of the Hojo, but unfortunately jealous of
+each other. If they would bury for a time their private feuds, things
+might yet come right. He who ventures not within the den, will never
+take the cub.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;There is no trusty leader, except the victorious General, himself a
+Hojo!&quot; added the other elder. &quot;Buddha has forgotten us. The case is
+beyond mortal settling. There is left for us nothing but to die.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Here was a dismal and unsatisfactory conclusion to the debate, and it
+seemed that there was no other, for each with dolorous visage eyed his
+neighbour, with nothing more to say.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Miné, tossing off her <i>geta</i> on the garden stones, and springing up
+with pretty pink feet upon the matted floor, came forward.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I am but a girl,&quot; she said timidly, &quot;and, my father tells me,
+foolish. Yet from mouths of fools sometimes come words of wisdom. You
+can die, you say. Is not death the last resource, when all else has
+failed, for escaping from earthly woe? Masago, the dear Abbess, is
+worshipped for miles around. Prejudiced though you are, you have
+nought to say but praise of her goodness and her piety. Sampei is her
+son--nay, I will speak--and who should know a son better than his
+mother? In your grief you are prone to believe evil, and speak harsh
+and unjust words of him you know not. Seek him out, and implore his
+intercession with his brother. Seek out the lady O'Tei--an angel come
+to earth. She, the chatelaine, is now at the castle yonder. Entreat
+her help as well, and sure betwixt the two that stony heart shall
+melt.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Miné blushed like a tea-rose at finding herself thus boldly haranguing
+a trio of grizzled pates, and flinging herself down by her mother's
+side in sudden bashfulness, buried her hot face in her bosom.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Buddha is not asleep,&quot; observed Madame Koshiu, with conviction, as
+she stroked her daughter's head. &quot;Verily the child speaks wisely words
+that are put into her mouth.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;We will follow her counsel,&quot; assented the marvelling Zembei, &quot;for the
+gods--whose names be praised--are with us. Urged by his brother and
+his wife, my lord will surely give us the lives of the devoted elders.
+We--Rokubei and Zembei--will journey ourselves to Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto, and make
+another effort. Learn, O stubborn Koshiu, a lesson from thy child, who
+has given us the counsel that we needed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The farmer shook his head.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Cursed be the tree of Hojo, root and branch!&quot; he cried. &quot;Its fruit is
+crime, its blossom, wickedness. My lord Sampei and my lord No-Kami are
+scourges both! Go your ways, and do as you think fit. I tell you your
+errand will be vain.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Was there ever any one so obstinate as this sturdy Koshiu?--a man who
+could only rail instead of bestowing help. The two elders were about
+to upbraid him for his mulishness, for they, like others, had naught
+but admiration for Sampei, when, raising his hand, he said,--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Listen, wife and friends. You deem me supine,--my judgment warped by
+bias. In this you wrong me. I am ready to lay down my life, if need
+be, for the common good, but not to fling it uselessly away. Try your
+plan first: go to Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto, and fail; then it shall be my turn. The
+arrogance of my lord reached its highest point when, some brief while
+ago, he smote with his fan the face of the revered one. For that sin,
+vengeance, if tardy, will be complete some day. The horror that flowed
+over the land warned him of the danger of his folly, of which,
+for safety's sake, he will never again be guilty. The Hojos are
+merciless--you will gain nothing from them but stripes. Here is my
+plan. I will gird my loins, and journey alone to the capital, and,
+biding my time in secret, will, with Heaven's help, thrust a copy of
+the petition into the hand of the Mikado himself, as in a litter he
+takes the air. Then will he, grieving for us, demand a public
+explanation from my lord as to why the poorest portion of the country
+should be ground down with such heavy burthens. So will my lord, weary
+with much admonishing, be stirred to lighten our backs.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The farmer's wife, hearkening to his decision, groaned and wept, for
+she felt that the tyrant, even if he gave way under strong pressure,
+would seek a victim for his wrath--that one the weakest. The elders
+saw the situation in the same light. They did not strive, however, to
+combat his resolve, for though their friend would probably be
+sacrificed, themselves would be gainers by his deed. If he chose to
+immolate himself, why not? They expressed approval, therefore, nodding
+topknots in unison, and, rising, departed to their homes, gossiping in
+whispers by the way.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">What a relief to know that they had been deceived in Koshiu. 'Twas a
+boldly-devised scheme that, whereby a peasant was to dare in person to
+address the Holy One. Peradventure he would be cut down by the guards
+ere he could present the paper. Well, well, time would show; and if,
+in the people's cause, he perished, his name would go down with
+blessings to posterity.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">His decision was a relief, in other ways, as the two friends agreed,
+pattering side by side in the quiet of the night. It was vastly heroic
+on their part, considering what had already been undergone by the
+other elders, to declare that they would cast themselves in the
+breach. If my lord Sampei could be induced to interest himself, they
+would be the bearers of his missive to his brother, and so gain credit
+in the town for wondrous' devotion to the people's cause. Not that for
+them there would be real danger (they had made up their minds of
+that), for No-Kami, however ferocious, would surely refrain from
+maltreating his brother's messengers. And yet now as they walked
+along, it seemed wise to give up the risk. Caution becomes old men.
+The independent Koshiu was resolved to make a journey on his own
+account: clearly there was nothing to be gained by everybody going.
+They would let him go, for obstinate men will have their way. All
+things considered, themselves having gained credit by proposing to go,
+would stop at home and do honour, by-and-by, to the escaped elders,
+when released.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This much satisfactorily settled, they gabbled of other things. Only
+to think of that little Miné being so clear-headed. Verily love works
+wonders. A comely maid, if unduly ambitious, and warm, to boot, of
+temper. How her blood mantled at her father's railing. How undaunted
+was her defence of the young General. She must love him much to be
+stung into bearding, for his sake, her sturdy parent. He must have won
+her heart before he sailed, and had long since, no doubt, forgotten
+her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A silly wench to look so high. A great General might stoop to pluck a
+flower as he passed, but, loosely caught, it would speedily fall from
+his breast, and he unwitting of the loss. She certainly was pretty;
+would develop some day, obstinate and headstrong like her father, into
+a shrew. Yes, she was young and fair to look upon at present, and,
+perhaps, were she so brazen as to cast herself at the young man's
+feet, he might deign to raise her for a moment.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Chattering thus, the cronies parted, each trudging his own way by the
+glimmer of his paper lantern. Could they have delved into the mind of
+the farmer's daughter, and have seen what was passing there, they
+would have had genuine cause for wonder.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Miné, as with frowning brow and dejected step she moved among the
+stones in the garden, struck her palms impatiently together.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I cannot bear it, and I will not!&quot; she muttered. &quot;Hard and unjust and
+narrow is my father! Of these taunts there shall be an end. I gave my
+heart to <i>him</i> to trample on, and do not regret the gift. His I am or
+no one's until death. Each day and hour to hear him and his reviled
+and vilified, is constant torture. I will leave a home that is not to
+be endured, and take refuge for the present with the Abbess.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Miné was a true daughter of Koshiu. Once her mind made up, there was
+no further indecision. Wrapping a mantle around her, she moved on
+tiptoe to where her three brothers slept, and then stealing forth into
+the night, closed the shutters behind her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Adieu, my darlings, perchance for ever!&quot; she murmured tenderly; &quot;for
+better or for worse the die is cast. He will soon visit the temple to
+see the mother whom he loves. If he will have me, I am his, to do with
+according to his pleasure; if not, I will remain to pray for him
+within the temple, in the garb of Buddha's handmaid.&quot;</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_03" href="#div1Ref_03">MARRIED LIFE.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">The meek obedience of O'Tei to her father's wishes was but ill
+requited. The gulf between past and present was so wide that for a
+while she was dazed and stunned. It seemed to her that she must have
+passed in sleep through the gates of Death, and have been born again
+into a new dark world--desolate and drear--which was all evil. How
+calm and happy by contrast appeared that other life, as she recalled
+to mind the company of prim priestesses slowly floating in the dance;
+the lazy, sweet-tempered bonzes tinkling on bells, droning amiably
+through noses--their weightiest duty, adoration of the sun with
+foreheads in the dust; their loving labour, the cleaning of temple
+precincts; their pastime, the gentle craft of gardening. Now she found
+herself surrounded by a roistering crew of fierce, rough, ignorant
+retainers--scowling, swearing, swaggering samurai--swash-bucklers who
+were eternally cleaning and polishing their two swords and dirk, or
+practising some horribly nimble feat of arms, or with set teeth in
+sudden rage like red-eyed rats flying at one another's throats.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Nuptial pomp and ceremony over, bride and groom retired to their
+castle, where, with the laudable intent of making other magnates
+jealous, a series of sham fights and sumptuous jousts were
+inaugurated, whose unaccustomed din confused the brain of the
+chatelaine. For a space No-Kami appeared in his best light, for he was
+subjugated by the beauty of his young wife, and unconsciously a little
+afraid of her quiet high-bred demeanour. Bravely she strove to
+interest herself in his pursuits; with unflagging patience watched the
+retainers wrestling or riding at the ring; compelled herself to bestow
+applause on bouts at quarter-staff which wearied her. And yet,
+discipline herself as she would, the constant thud of stick on skull,
+or blade on helm--the guttural shrieks and execrations--chilled her to
+the marrow. There could be no sympathy 'twixt the sensitive and poetic
+nature reared in the sacred groves, and these grim and savage
+warriors. And, sharp to read faces, if ignorant of letters, they knew
+it as well as she, for her virtues were strange riddles beyond their
+comprehension. What they could be sure of was that their lady was
+regrettably white and slender,--too soft and delicate for a hard world
+of struggle, where the weak were deservedly mangled. Sorrowfully they
+compared her with the late chatelaine, unhappily deceased, the lioness
+Tomoyé, much (as is the usual practice) to the disadvantage of the
+living one. There is nothing that such men hold in more withering
+contempt than weakness. The chivalry of mediæval Europe was mostly
+theory. Discontented, they did their liege lady a pathetic and
+grudging service, ashamed of her as unsuited to her station.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">One day as she sat listless, wondering at the emptiness of life,
+No-Kami strode into her bower to claim admiration for a new and
+wondrous sword, fresh from Sanjo's anvil. In his nervous grasp it
+whizzed through the air with diabolic whistling sound, as he showed
+exultantly how he meant to slash off the head with it of the Daimio of
+Bizen, and other abominable rivals.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Now although O'Tei, in careless girlish fashion, had been rather fond
+of watching the armourers at work (the more perhaps because of the
+disapproval of sniffing gorgons), she had never clearly associated the
+results of their skill with their true purpose. She had always been
+bidden to observe the spring of the glittering blade, the clouded
+lines so deftly worked into the steel; the patterned <i>kogai</i> or
+stilettoes fitted in the scabbard; the elaborately ornate <i>tsuba</i> or
+hilt-guard; and saw as she admired details beautiful works of art fit
+to adorn a dwelling. But now when she beheld her husband making fierce
+passes, with a blood-curdling expression of ferocity upon his face,
+she became aware, for the first time, of his animal greed for blood,
+and shuddered as she looked, turning a shade more pale. To this wild
+beast she had been tied for life. What sort of existence could she
+hope for in the future? Would it be possible to go on to the end
+pretending to sympathise with that which in her heart she loathed?
+Power, unless kept in leash by thongs and bridles, degenerates into a
+tyranny that, feeding on itself, grows every day more infamous. She
+had learnt by report that her lord was a tyrant, and disliked by many,
+though as yet she knew no details.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She had been taught vaguely by the learned bonzes that the human
+animal is by nature a beast of prey, blood-raw till cooked by
+education. The man before her was as ignorant, and more lawless than
+his own retainers. Was it her task to show him the right path?--to
+wean him to better things by gentle influence? A noble mission, for
+one who was strong of purpose, firm of will. The girl resolved that
+she would try, but felt, with a sinking of the heart, that the task
+was beyond her strength. No-Kami discerned upon her features a look of
+pained bewilderment out of tune with the occasion, and bluntly growled
+his discontent. He was surprised and angry. When a chatelaine is
+called on to sympathise and exult with her lord, why does she show
+disgust? It came suddenly upon him that there was a barrier between
+them which, though intangible, neither might ever pass. A pretty
+helpmeet for a Hojo was this degenerate child of Nara's! Strolling
+through the well-appointed armoury, displeased and concerned, he
+selected the light silver-mounted lance which his grandam had used to
+splendid purpose when, in the absence of her spouse, she defended this
+very castle. More doughty even than the much-regretted Tomoyé had been
+this grandam, and no wonder, for, of noblest lineage, was she not the
+direct descendant of that famous Empress Jingo, who, leaving her
+new-born babe in the charge of her ministers, sallied forth armed
+<i>cap-à-pié</i> to conquer Corea?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Did O'Tei know even how to hold a lance?&quot; sneered No-Kami.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Of course she did, she replied, with a forced smile. Was not every
+noble damsel taught how to defend her home?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At the outset she had made a mistake by showing her thoughts upon her
+features, an error that might be yet retrieved. To smooth the
+disappointed furrows from his wrinkled brow, she took the lance from
+him, and straightway went through the exercise. For a moment it
+pleased his vanity to watch the graceful movements of her tall lithe
+form as, gathering in one hand the ample folds of her long robe, she
+ran forward, thrust, and recovered. And then, happening to glance at
+the tell-tale countenance, he cursed and ground his teeth, for her
+martial exercise was a sham.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Her thoughts were far away. Like a patient automaton wound up with a
+spring, she half consciously did what was required, but clearly found
+no pleasure in the act. With a great oath he roughly wrenched the
+weapon from her, and bade her go mind her distaff.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She sighed, and, obeying with aggravating meekness, retired to her
+chamber; and from this moment there grew up between the wedded
+pair a thicket which waxed stronger each day and thicker. The
+parasites--braggart samurai, turbulent officers and soldiers, and
+truculent hangers-on--were quick to perceive a change with which they
+sympathised, and prompt to act upon it. Boisterous, rude, ill-mannered
+at the best, they saw that, like themselves, their lord was ashamed
+of his handsome and cold but fragile wife, and by insensible
+gradations--he unwitting of it--their perfunctory respect dropped from
+them. No-Kami was heard one day, in unguarded whirl of wrath, due to
+baulked hope and disappointment, to dub her &quot;Puling baby-face,&quot; and
+loud was the laughter at the <i>sobriquet</i>, for one and all they
+unconsciously chafed under a refinement of which they had no
+experience, and came to hate her for her gentleness.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And so it came about that, abandoning as hopeless at the initial stage
+the mission for which (by the late statesman's cunning) she had been
+destined, O'Tei withdrew from serious attempts at influencing the
+despot, and made the first fatal downward step on her dark and stony
+road.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Entrenching herself behind a screen of pride, she withdrew herself
+from contact with the samurai, by whom she was treated with a surly
+carelessness that was insult but half concealed. When etiquette
+required it, she appeared in public beside No-Kami, whose attitude was
+sulky and displeased; at other times she abode in her own bower
+overlooking the swift river, a retreat where she could not hear the
+yells and sword-thuds, embroidering among her maidens, or reading
+poetry, or playing on the three-stringed samisen. Though secluded, it
+was by her own choice, and she in no sense a prisoner. No-Kami, when
+in amiable mood--which, as time went on, became a more and more
+unusual circumstance--displayed for his wife an uncouth, sulky,
+snarling respect, like that of a wolf under a whip; for instinct
+whispered that he was totally unworthy,--that as she came to read
+him better she would despise him more,--that already she saw with
+those calm clear eyes his many faults and mental smallness, though too
+well-mannered and too haughty to admit it. A rude and proud as well as
+licentious and undisciplined man finds contempt from her who should be
+his congenial helpmeet a constantly galling spur.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">If O'Tei, descending from that lofty pedestal, would only have abused
+him roundly,--have bandied sharp words,--have stooped to scold him, he
+would have breathed more freely. The air would have been cleared of
+its oppressiveness, for he would have known himself nearer to her
+level. How exasperating was it to the self-indulgent and unscrupulous
+tyrant to have this pale and silent and superior woman always at his
+elbow dispassionately contemplating his peccadilloes with disapproval
+peeping from her eyes. The worst of it was that he knew her to be
+right in her estimate of him, and secretly admired his chill and
+independent wife. Yet at the same time her presence was irksome, and
+goaded her spouse to flashes of rage which drove him, as it were in
+protest, to deeds of violence. It was the old story, which is ever
+new, of the 'little rift;' of two young lives starting side by side
+from standpoints far as the poles, with mutual misunderstanding and
+distrust, that increase like a rolling snowball till they grow into
+active detestation.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Hojo neglected and avoided his consort, but was not wilfully
+cruel. If he chanced to have it by him, he would, when asked, give her
+money for charities; for, like many another misunderstood lady, she
+sought a salve for lacerated feelings in good works. It would have
+been most impolitic to have been patently unkind to her, because it
+was not well to make a foe of Nara by openly ill-using his heiress. He
+wist not of the conduct of the samurai, who took their cue from him;
+but he certainly saw as little as he conveniently could of his
+beautiful better half, spending considerable time at Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto
+quarrelling with other daimios, browbeating his imperial lord.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For her part, reared in retirement, and a stranger to town gaieties,
+she preferred the castle--when No-Kami was absent with his scowling
+retinue. Then, her own mistress, she would order her kago,--a heavy
+gorgeous litter, gold lacquered and emblazoned, adorned with rich
+curtains, and cushions, and tassels, borne on the shoulders of twelve
+staggering men--and penetrating, when the fancy seized her, along the
+centipede street of Tsu, make for a garden beyond, to which she had
+taken a liking. Reaching the favoured spot was the difficulty, for it
+was necessary to pass along two miles and more of straggling street
+and suburb, where poverty, if speechless, was rampant. To her pale
+face, though, it always showed its less hideous side, for the poor of
+Tsu (how many there were of them!) soon learned to adore their
+chatelaine.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She could not with her feeble force even attempt to stem the tide of
+suffering due to my lord's oppression; but the crushed creatures knew
+right well that behind the marble mask was a deep fund of pity--that
+their lady would sometimes go dinnerless herself for the sake of
+starving children. When she passed by, the toilworn women would look
+up, and show their blackened teeth in a wan smile; and the brown
+naked children, with their comical shaved pates and elf-locks--their
+bat-ears, wide mouths and eyes <i>à fleur de tête</i> like slits--would
+come trooping and crowing about her. She was always interested in the
+details of their poor homes,--ready with soothing words, and such
+money as she happened to possess; would converse with the old men as
+they wove sandals, the two straw loops caught on their great toes;
+criticise the painting of the ph&#339;nixes on the umbrellas of oil
+paper, an industry in vogue in these parts; exhort the languishing men
+to renewed courage and hope; and all the while her revolted soul died
+within her at contemplation of the wretched huts of mud and bamboo,
+some of them mere mats stretched on sticks, and stiffened with wire,
+with rotten crumbling roofs of decayed rice thatch, and mud floors
+that were never dry. Her heart bled for the patient, suffering people,
+and she was glad to get away to her garden, where the sun shone forth
+with halcyon brightness, and nature at least was happy. For Tsu, I
+would have you know, is not all ugliness. Passing out of the low-lying
+oozy suburb, you reach a wooden bridge over one of the numberless
+streams that intersect the marsh, and a little further on come to
+rising ground, well wooded with the luxuriant vegetation which in
+Japan is the lavish gift of the rain-god. At the top of the hill,
+under the lee of a group of ancient pines, much tossed and
+wind-beaten, is a summer-house. From the road it is not visible, so
+deeply is it embowered in cherry and maple, each so glorious and
+lovely in its season, the which are closely tangled and entwined with
+such cataracts of purple wisteria as no western mind can realise. This
+hill or hillock, and another one hard by, stand alone on a wide plain,
+and from them may be gained a singularly varied view of flat marsh,
+and sedge, and vivid green rice fields, and scattered villages, and
+far-off hazy mountains. In front--and this was the view that brought
+back peace into the empty breast of the young chatelaine, the ground
+shelved gradually, thick strewn with flowers, until--a semicircle of
+yellow sand--it was washed by the softly-rippling waves of a blue bay,
+land-locked. Here nature, casting her golden glamour over all, masked
+the prevailing squalor. No typhoon ever vexed these enchanted waters,
+that washed to and fro in slow cadence the clumps of bamboo with which
+their edge was feathered. The tiny toy villages on the opposite brink
+were mirrored in long shadow. The festooned sails of the little
+fishing-boats, and trim white junks, were pictured in quivering double
+four times their height. The mountains beyond, of a deep reddish
+purple, without detail in the haze, were topped with strange
+silhouettes of single pines, clear against opal ether, or sharp cut
+against the blue with chasm and precipice. Many rocky islets were
+dotted here and there--volcanic, peaked, flat-topped--each with its
+long reflection, fringed with feathery foliage, hanging apparently to
+nothing--around, a flight of boats, like sea-birds floating. Sitting
+for hours gazing down on the fairy scene, her stalwart naked
+kago-bearers asleep like statues of warm bronze away in the shade,
+O'Tei could forget her disillusions; but then with setting sun the
+shadow darkened, for the time was arrived when she must go home again,
+and with a return to the panoply of war, and swagger of the sentinels,
+peace and light faded out, and her heart was as sick as ever.
+Sometimes, more sad than usual, she would make to the sister hill a
+pilgrimage.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The gateway or torii at the bottom (one heavy beam curled at the
+corners, resting on two others) and the long straight flight of stone
+steps leading to a building with huge top-heavy roof, nestling in a
+grove of cryptomerias, showed that this was a holy hill surmounted by
+a temple. A very important temple too, with an immense gilt Buddha
+looming out of twilight on a bronze lotus, in an attitude of perpetual
+repose; gardens; fish-ponds, crowded with lotus plants; and a long low
+building glinting through the trees, wherein dwelt an abbess and her
+nuns.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">What would happen to the Japanese if the lotus were banished from
+their midst? In winter, a mere yellow whisp languishing in mud; in
+early summer there rises a fairy thing from out the ooze--a concave
+shield of vivid green, with a blue down as of a grape, and dewdrops
+glistening like diamonds. Then a round ball appears, which slowly
+opens, trembling upon the water, and gradually reveals the loveliest
+flower that blows. To the Japanese child who strives to pluck its
+white or roseate blossom, it is a picture of unearthly loveliness; to
+the adult it is the symbol of religious truth, the emblem of the
+eternal calm which is the highest ultimate reward. Taught from
+earliest childhood to love its beauty, the mature Buddhist sees in its
+petals creative power and world growth, and knows that when his mortal
+body approaches the cremation house, his weary cycle done, a stone
+carved to represent a lotus flower will support his bier and receive
+the last ashes of his fleshly prison-house.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">During her three years of married life, O'Tei had made, under shadow
+of these groves, a firm and steady friend, without whose support she
+thought sometimes that she must lie down and die--the cold but kindly
+Abbess Masago.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As has been told, the second wife or concubine of the late Hojo, so
+soon as her fickle lord grew weary of her, shaved off her hair and
+donned the Buddhist habit. Monastic life in Japan is a strange
+anomaly. Many an abbess or abbot, supposed to have retired from the
+world, bestows from the seclusion of the grove mundane advice and
+counsel. Some, indeed, gain weight and influence of an important
+political kind with the loss of their shaven hair; and so it was with
+Masago. As Abbess of Tsu, many of the weary or unstable of lofty
+lineage came to crave counsel of her--lords and dames who would have
+scoffed at the concubine of Hojo. The religious establishments of
+Japan become asylums for the afflicted or the persecuted. In
+them the defeated soldier or refugee from the vendetta finds
+inviolate sanctuary. Many a man hopelessly crossed in love, or a
+grief-stricken father, or fallen minister, has--mundane illusions
+vanished--devoted himself to a priestly life. To the nunneries,
+widowhood furnishes the greater number of fervent nuns; but a
+necessity of evading an uncongenial match, or the brutal lusts of rude
+men in unsettled times, gave many an inmate to the convents.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Often enough, after communing with Masago under the solemn
+cryptomerias, O'Tei had gone home comforted. There was something
+consoling and supporting in the low-toned strong voice of the Abbess,
+in the touch of her firm white hand. Her face was more set and stern
+than Sampei's, but his kindly eyes looked out from under the shaven
+brows, and O'Tei could feel almost as if her dear adopted brother was
+walking hand-in-hand with her as in the good old days. Ah, me, how far
+away they seemed, those days of five years ago! The gleeful white fawn
+was a hundred years older, at least, than then, stricken and
+grievously wounded. Her breast was empty; nobody cared whether she was
+alive or dead; she loved none, had none to love, and yet there was a
+longing within that was positive physical pain, to twine her
+affectionate tendrils around something, and exhale to it the treasures
+of her sweetness.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Alack, what a cycle is this; what a hard and rugged stage in the long
+journey! What are we to think, when injustice rules paramount?--when
+we see in this life how many are punished for their virtues, as a
+set-off to the peculiar manner in which others are rewarded for their
+vices?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On a certain morning, which must now occupy us, our stately lily was
+lying disconsolate. Acutely suffering, and much perturbed in mind,
+power of judging and weighing all agog, O'Tei crouched on the mat of
+her favourite summer-house, watching the swaying waves, yet seeing
+nothing; on her finely-chiselled features a grey pallor.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As a rule, the misery through which her bearers carried her was chary
+of complaint, for the poor folk had room in their sorrowing hearts for
+pity for their solitary lady; but on this morning she had come on such
+a scene of anguish that she stopped her kago and alighted. The
+housewife was tearing her dishevelled hair, and wringing hands, and
+writhing her tortured body, while a young family stood grouped around
+in varied attitudes of woe. What could this mean? The house was of the
+better kind; there was rice in the brazen pot; unless she was
+mistaken, it was the dwelling of one of the elders.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Yes. It was the dwelling of an elder--was--who never would dwell there
+more--was dead now, probably. He had dared to go to Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto, and
+make one of a set of insolent varlets who had presumed to waylay their
+lord, despite of warnings, and, with brow in dust, present a written
+prayer. His lord had resented the impertinence, had incarcerated him
+and his audacious fellows, with a view to making an example of such
+wretches by an end of exquisite torment. For him it was not so bad,
+for he would shuffle out of yet another life--one more of that dreary
+series so many of which have yet to be endured before we reach
+Nirvana. But what of his wife and family without the breadwinner? Like
+a faithful spouse, she had borne many children; how now was she to
+fill their mouths? Would the dear and noble lady vouchsafe to lend a
+hand, and implore her husband's clemency?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">O'Tei turned deathly pale, and, catching her breath painfully, leant
+against the screen. She would indeed have fallen, if one of the
+kago-bearers had not presumed to catch and hold her in his arms. Her
+lord! How long was it ago that she had disdainfully given up all hope
+of influencing him? She was weak and wrong. It was a crime--she saw it
+now--but too late--too late! That separating thicket had grown so
+dense, that there was no hewing a passage through it. If the harrowed
+wife of the victim was suffering, how much more the sensitive young
+chatelaine, whose nerves were so highly strung! The man, if he
+perished, was a martyr in the cause of right. Each new delinquency of
+the Hojo was a fresh hammer-stroke on his wife's heart.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Out of his sight, O'Tei strove to forget his wickedness, the full
+measure of which she had learned to guess by this time. On her
+frequent visits to the temple she prayed with sweat of agony for his
+reformation, for the repentance of him who, alas! was bone of her bone
+for life. She was his--part and parcel of himself--and yet she saw,
+with a sickening horror and sense of self-upbraiding, that he grew
+worse and worse--more cruel and more reckless,--while she, with folded
+hands, looked on. In a vague, terror-stricken way she wondered what
+grisly phantom lurked behind the veil, what vengeance would fall from
+heaven. And might not this moral descent be in some sort her own
+doing, in that, while interference might have been of service, she had
+been too hurt and proud to attempt to stay his course? If he had no
+conscience, she had enough for both. Oh, for a dose of Tomoyé's
+spirit,--of the unbending pluck of the militant grandam concerning
+whom the samurai were always trolling ditties.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But no!--the warriors were right--she unfitted for her station. Her
+burthen--the sooner the better--might crush and kill her. She quailed
+at the thought of ever seeing again the tyrant in whom there were no
+bowels of compassion, and who seemed to take delight in augmenting the
+calamities of his fellows.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Herself as grey as a corpse, she bent down and kissed the writhing
+woman, and without a word (how could she console her?), with parched
+lips and catching breath, swung away to her garden on the mountain.
+What was she to do? What could she do? If, by giving over her own
+tender body to the pincers of the torturers, she could assuage the
+growing trouble of the people, how gladly would she bare her breast.
+But no--she was condemned to sit and watch, with idle hands and dread
+forebodings, a horror-stricken spectator of her husband's deepening
+sin, and the lingering anguish of his victims.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">What was she to do? What could she do? If madness might be wooed, it
+would bring oblivion and relief. Who would have thought that a
+delicate and tender girl, so little used to suffering, could bear such
+pain and live? As she lay upon the mat, she revolved that unanswerable
+question which worries a good many of us. What could she have done in
+a previous phase of existence to make the present one so exceedingly
+painful? To lie thus in dumb pain was intolerable: action of some kind
+was imperative. She would go to the temple and pray, and ask the
+advice of Masago.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Turning towards the other hill, she was astonished to see on the
+top of the long flight of steps a man--by his dress apparently a
+noble--who slowly descended, and mounting a horse, trotted in the
+direction of the summer-house. Her heart gave a great bound, then
+seemed to stand still. Could it be? Yes! it was Sampei--returned home
+at last--and he was coming here!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Yes, it was the victorious Sampei, who, having duly visited his
+mother, was coming to see his sister. For she was really his sister
+now; and he had heard from the Abbess an account of the condition of
+things, which, though guarded, pleased him little. When far away, he
+had received the news of the marriage, he had been amazed, and
+laughed; annoyed somewhat, he scarcely knew why. To think that the
+destined husband should be his own brother! And then he had felt grave
+doubts as to the success of the union; and then, light and
+<i>débonnaire</i>, and occupied with much cheerful splitting of skulls, he
+had put the subject from him. He was no marrying man--not he. His
+sword was his true love; to others he had not the smallest intention
+of being true. To cull the most fragrant flowers while the sun was
+shining--as many and as various as possible--and get others when they
+were faded, was his soldierly but scarcely moral code of ethics. And
+yet, while gaily slaughtering the Coreans, he had time now and then to
+hope that all was right at home, and that his white fawn was happy;
+and it was gruesome now on his return to discover that she was
+wretched instead of happy,--his half-suspected previsions justified.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He flung his bridle to his betto, and striding with the firm and
+springy step of buoyant youth through the plantation of cherries and
+maples, stood still to take in the scene. And a pretty picture it was
+that his vision lighted on. An awning of fine blue linen, broidered
+with deer, in memory of beloved Nara, cast a shadow upon the mats of
+the summer-house, which were further shaded by a natural cascade of
+wisteria. Around the raised platform were tall camellias in full blow,
+scarlet and white; and within, the carved but unvarnished woodwork
+showed its grain like the pattern on watered silk. A low gilt screen,
+painted with chrysanthemums, divided the floor in two, in the front
+part of which was a firebox in finest bronze, representing a dragon
+coiled round a blossom of the lotus. A long flat <i>koto</i>, with thirteen
+strings, encrusted with gold and ebony, stood close by; and on the
+yellow matting, half raised expectantly, reclined the young mistress
+of the hermitage. The eyes of Sampei moistened with unaccustomed
+tears, and a knot rose in his throat as he contemplated his old ally.
+She was matured--fairer than of yore, paler and thinner, and more
+delicately beautiful; but there was that about her that seemed too
+ethereal, stamped with predestined misfortune. He seemed to be aware
+of a something, reflected in light from the glow of another world. The
+roundness of youth was gone. The arch wayward tricks of irresponsible
+maidenhood had given place to a reserved and haughty dignity that was
+unnaturally still. The eyes were unduly large, and, surrounded with
+bistre circles, glistened with feverish lustre. Sampei's affectionate
+gaze could mark all this, though the winsome face was brightened now
+with the radiance of a glad surprise.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sampei, bluff and careless though he generally was, could not but
+trace with sinking of the heart the line of precocious sorrow ploughed
+large and deep upon it. The coils of massive hair appeared heavier and
+more sombre by contrast with the ivory whiteness of the skin, slightly
+relieved as they were by a bunch of fresh red blossoms, which the
+loving hand of a tirewoman had tucked under the comb.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In accordance with the exigencies of her rank, she wore four
+under-robes of silk, the edges of which, in stripes of varied colour,
+showed at throat and open sleeves, while the ample folds of the heavy
+and voluminous outer robe, broidered in a design of fans, were held
+together by a magnificent obi--pale brown, bedizened with black
+butterflies.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Never had Sampei, whom a wide experience had made an expert in such
+matters, looked on a more complete embodiment of patrician womanhood.
+Strange! He, so well versed in female charms, so used to the spectacle
+of beauty in all ranks and phases, felt his heart throb in quite
+unaccustomed fashion, and yearn unaccountably towards his sister.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_04" href="#div1Ref_04">THE ABBESS GIVES ADVICE.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">With a great sob O'Tei sprang up, and, clinging closely to Sampei,
+burst into tears, while he, embarrassed and somewhat shy, stood
+waiting. Why this display of trouble so deep that it racked her frame?
+Had his mother concealed aught? She had not led him to suppose that it
+was as bad as this. Could No-Kami, careless of the treasure he
+possessed, have done her some grievous wrong? At the thought, the
+young General's dark face grew darker, and as a flood of wrath surged
+over him, he looked a genuine Hojo. And with it came a sense of
+something new and astonishing, which was to himself a riddle. Careless
+and light of heart, accustomed to look at things from their best
+point, and to delve no lower than was needful, he never dreamed of his
+old playfellow in her new sphere as wan and wasted and miserable, and
+with the feeling of indignation against his brother there was mixed a
+whimsical regretful longing. Had he not been wrong, when he might have
+taken the maid himself, to leave her for another?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Worldly-wise Sanjo had warned him that so dainty a dish was not for a
+soldier of fortune, and he had seen the prudence of the warning. But
+cold prudence is a mistake sometimes, as who should know better than a
+soldier? He felt sure that if, when playfully talking in the sylvan
+glades, he had led her to a pool, and, showing her the two faces
+reflected there, had pictured himself as the future lucky one, his
+playfellow would have returned his hand-clasp, and submitted to a
+lover's embrace. And when a maiden and a youth are of one mind, and
+the latter is energetic and determined, nine chances are in his
+favour, despite opposition of parents. It was diffidence that had
+undone him, and her. Although a rough soldier, he would, at home, have
+softened his roughness for her sweet sake, and if careful striving
+could have done it, have made her life a pleasant one. And now, fool
+that he had been, it was too late! Some such surprising thoughts as
+these--dark regretful visions of possibilities vanished--flitted
+across the mind of the young man as, her breast against his in
+perilous proximity, he kissed her perfumed hair. Scales seem to fall
+from his eyes as he questioned his own heart. In his brief career he
+had adored many a damsel, and had sworn to each to worship none but
+her; but with O'Tei it was quite different. With thought of her was
+mingled a respect he had never felt for other women. Once his very
+own, he could and would have been true to her,--have made it the joy
+of life to give her every pleasure, to watch and guard and shelter her
+from the blustering winds of the world--and it was too late! She was
+the wife of his own brother,--of him to whom, independent of natural
+affection, he owed allegiance as head of his clan. To her also then he
+in some sort owed faithful service. Yes, and he would be true and
+loyal. He swore it now, silently but fervently, as she lay upon his
+bosom. She had never known that he loved her otherwise than as a
+brother should. He would be her own true knight, with the privilege of
+bestowing all succour and comfort and counsel. Of the three, alas! she
+now stood in bitter need.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On his return from his arduous campaign of five years, he had been
+received with acclamation by the people, to whom glorious feats of
+arms were as the odour of the lily in the nostrils. They had knocked
+their foreheads in the dust, had pursued him with shouts in the
+streets, nearly tearing his garments from off his back; in their
+enthusiasm had well nigh forgotten that he came of the blood of Hojo;
+but the sweets of well-earned popularity were no little embittered by
+the proceedings of the head of his house. The tales he heard on his
+arrival filled him with shame and horror, and his honest soul was sore
+perplexed, torn as it was between the traditional blind obedience to
+the head of the clan, and indignant disapproval of his acts. He could
+not turn against his brother. Death would be better that disloyalty,
+and yet it was very terrible by silence to seem to acquiesce in his
+misdeeds. When fitting opportunity offered, he would remonstrate
+with No-Kami,--point out to him that his course must end in civil
+war,--that in his next life he would of a surety be a bear or pig, as
+a just and dire retribution for recklessly plunging his country in
+blood. It was his duty to remonstrate, and he would do so gently but
+firmly, come what might. Not that much good would come of it. He knew
+No-Kami to be as headstrong as he was fierce. There would be high
+words, and possible estrangement. Estrangement! no, for the sake of
+this girl, that must be avoided at all hazards. He must cultivate
+diplomacy--he, the simple Sampei. If it was only the pounding of an
+enemy, something bluff and straightforward, he would be in his
+element. But to smile when inclined to curse, to be compelled to bite
+your lip and swallow down the burning words of just anger, to Sampei
+would be very difficult. He must try though. His poor sweet sister.
+Her sobs were due on this occasion, happily, to joy and relief at his
+return, in that she, the lonely and forlorn, had a trusty champion by
+her side. Instinct told him this.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For her sake, then, he must not break with his brother, for, forbidden
+access to his sister-in-law, he would be of no service in extremity.
+In extremity! What prophetic foreboding was it that whispered to him
+of something terrible behind, wherein she would need all the help that
+his strong arm could give her? Ah! if he had spoken when he might, how
+different it would all have been. Too late--that chapter was closed.
+He was to be her knight--vigilant and true. With a deep sigh, he
+raised her tear-stained face, and kissed her lips, then put her
+gently from him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Side by side, and hand in hand, as in the old days, they reclined
+upon the mat, and the frown deepened on his brow as she told her
+story,--the uncomely story of selfishness, and greed, and cruelty, and
+wrong, waxing with impunity daily worse, till even sleepy Buddha must
+needs wake soon, and be impelled to hurl his thunderbolts. She told of
+the starving multitudes, to whom the son of the horse-leech cried
+&quot;Give&quot;; of the petition, and his brutal treatment of the elders. &quot;If
+only I could serve as sacrifice,&quot; she said, in conclusion, with a
+fresh burst of tears, &quot;how gladly would I lay down my life. But my
+lord and I are strangers. I dwell here, and he at Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto. Does not
+that tell its tale? The wind might as well preach to him as I. At
+first he liked me a little, but that soon passed. Of late his
+presence--knowing of what he is capable--has filled me with a nameless
+terror, for I seem to detect something in his eye that suggests a
+brain distracted. He is blood-drunk; his very laugh conceals a sword.
+And yet 'tis an awful thing for me, his wife, to sit by, attempting
+nothing.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No doubt the chatelaine ought to do something--what? Like Philippa, at
+Calais, she should wring, by pleading, from her lord, the lives of the
+condemned. Yet if the pair were so estranged, would she not be laying
+herself open uselessly to some insult, some rebuff? She admitted that
+she was growing afraid of her husband. That was bad. The situation was
+too many-sided for the soldier's unpolished wits. He pondered, and
+held his peace, and looked up with a sense of relief when, a shadow
+darkening the light, he beheld his mother, Masago.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The ascetic Abbess gazed proudly and fondly on her son, but with a
+tinge of concern. She had followed him from the temple, seeing that he
+turned his horse towards the summer-house; for she loved O'Tei, and
+was aware of the early passages which had passed between girl and boy.
+Sampei had such a free way of making love to every woman, that she,
+elderly and sensible, saw keenly the danger to both, if the neglected
+wife and pitying brother-in-law were thrown too much together. Side by
+side, hand clasped in hand, exchanging confidences. An ominous
+beginning. It was well that she had come, for these young people must
+be protected against themselves.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">While O'Tei, with a ghostly revival of coquetry, was arranging her
+tumbled hair by aid of a silver mirror, the Abbess drew her son aside,
+pleading urgent and important business.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My boy,&quot; she said, as, out of earshot, the two paced slowly in the
+shade, &quot;you are as brave and true as even I could desire, and
+gratefully I thank the gods for it; but you are guileless; your arm is
+stronger than your head, and your blood is overwarm.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Perceiving a ludicrous expression of bewilderment on the honest face
+of her son at this mysterious preamble, she gently smiled, and shook
+her head at him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The best friend a man has,&quot; she observed, &quot;is his mother; for a
+mother's love, undervalued often, is tinged with no selfish taint.
+Child, child,&quot; she sighed, placing a fond hand on his broad shoulder,
+&quot;take warning while there's time. Do not think me blind, or foolishly
+importunate. You love O'Tei, and, for sake of both, had better keep
+apart. Think what tragedy might follow if your brother had cause for
+jealousy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Love O'Tei! Was it so patent, then?--he the last to know it? The
+General in silence walked up and down, while his mother gazed upon him
+wistfully. There was a deep sadness on his face that pained her.
+Perhaps in speaking out so plainly, she had been precipitate. Yet no;
+she had never been one to beat about a bush. Her stern creed admitted
+no half measures. Presently Sampei spoke.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;For once, most dear and wise of mothers, you are wrong,&quot; he said. &quot;I
+love her; yes, I will not deny it--how much I did not know until ten
+minutes since. My love is so true and pure, that to save her a
+momentary grief I would fling myself off yonder rock. Be not afraid;
+no harm shall come to her through me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Noble and chivalrous in intent, just like my boy,&quot; nodded the sapient
+Abbess. &quot;Maybe you are strong enough to carry out your resolve
+unflinchingly; but what of her? What if she, less prudent and more
+weak, were to bestow her heart on you? It would lead to general
+wretchedness, if not to her undoing.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sampei had not considered it from that point, and ruefully rubbed his
+nose. It would no doubt be very awkward if O'Tei were to become
+enamoured of him. In that case, heroic leaps off rocks would be of
+little service. Then he burst into a loud shout of laughter.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;How like a mother!&quot; he crowed. &quot;Her own offspring being, of course,
+perfect--a full-plumaged ph&#339;nix--all must needs fall down and
+worship. Believe me, she is as pure as the dawn; her affection that of
+a sister.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Now, perhaps, and I sincerely hope so,&quot; replied the Abbess quietly;
+&quot;but you have no right to place her in temptation. So you deem me a
+silly old woman, too partial to her featherpated son? Well, then, I am
+forced to tell you, as a warning, that which I intended to conceal, to
+show that you are over-modest. I trow there are maids galore who wear
+the willow in secret for the most brilliant soldier in Japan. There is
+one luckless girl I wot of, who has flung her foolish heart at
+you--who weeps and languishes for love of you--swears she will have no
+other lord. Fie! She is a good and honest girl, who would never have
+thus bestowed herself without encouragement.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Bestowed herself on <i>me?</i>&quot; exclaimed Sampei, round-eyed, and feeling
+guilty.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Her name is Miné.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Miné!&quot; ejaculated the careless scapegrace. &quot;Tush! I know no Miné.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;For shame! Oh, light and fickle, it is as I guessed,&quot; returned the
+Abbess, with a head-shake that would have been solemn but for a sly
+flash of merriment in the usually stern eyes. &quot;I have no excuse for
+the maid, since 'tis vastly reprehensible to throw your heart at one
+who does not want it; and yet, when her only child is so extremely
+fascinating, a mother must be indulgent.&quot; Sampei appearing quite
+mystified, Masago pursued more gravely,--&quot;You used to single the poor
+thing out, bad boy, she says, at the rustic festivals here five years
+ago, and give her fans and hairpins. Unfortunate Miné! You turned her
+head, and have forgotten even her name. Do you remember Koshiu, the
+farmer?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Miné, Koshiu's daughter. Dear me! a pretty little thing, with a temper
+that it was such sport to play upon. Of course Sampei remembered now,
+for indeed the too independent Koshiu, dreading some such misfortune
+as had come to pass, had testily turned upon the dallying swain, which
+had mightily offended his lordship.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And for hopeless love of him this silly soul had been sighing all
+these years, with nothing to feed on but a few idle compliments.
+Sampei felt a twinge of conscience, was angry with himself, for
+perhaps he had been too ardent. Then he felt annoyed with the
+too-confiding maiden too easily won. A few common-place attentions,
+that was all, out of mere idleness. A pretty pass if all the young
+women whom one ogles were to insist on claiming one for life. What a
+pother about nothing. It is extremely immodest and indecent of maidens
+to give themselves away unasked.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And then his thoughts reverted to that other lady, sitting yonder
+before the mirror, and a pang of distress swept over his features as
+he dreamed again of what might have been; the which perceiving the
+Abbess whispered,--&quot;Be of good cheer, my son. By divine grace it will
+be for the best. My prayers added to hers, the maiden's mind will
+recover calm, and through the black passage of this hopeless love be
+led from earth to heaven. As a daughter of the people who has bestowed
+herself on you, I will cherish her. Already she has sought refuge
+under our roof, and ere long will become one of us for life.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He then, the light and jovial, was to be responsible for making of the
+poor maid a nun.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sobered and saddened, and made uncomfortable internally by all he had
+seen and heard since his return, Sampei led his mother back towards
+the summer-house, where the young chatelaine was beginning to marvel
+at the length of their private colloquy. In this retreat, where she
+expected no visitors, O'Tei dispensed with the service of her ladies,
+for it was a relief to think out her dreary thoughts with none to read
+them on her countenance. Now, with a new sprightliness to which she
+had been long a stranger, she busied herself with hospitable cares.
+Placing on the firebox a daintily-wrought kettle of fine bronze, she
+produced from a gold-lacquered cabinet three fairy cups of the
+eggshell white porcelain of Hirado, placed a pinch of tea in each, and
+waiting for the water to boil, made ready to play the hostess.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was with a tightening about the heart that Sampei watched her long
+fingers arranging sweetmeats on a tray, pouring water on the leaves,
+which straightway expanded, and turned the liquid of a pale straw
+colour. Had he not been so diffident and addlepated while there was
+time, she would not now have been so thin and wan; those teacups might
+have been his teacups, and--well, well. He was till death her own true
+knight, demanding nothing in exchange for his unselfish devotion. To
+his heart he would repeat this o'er and o'er again till it was used to
+it. What might have been was not to be. There was nothing now to be
+gained by brooding or railing against his own stupidity.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Over their refection the trio returned to the all-engrossing
+topic,--what was to be done for the poor suffering people?--how was
+the despot to be softened, and the imprisoned elders saved? Sampei
+related that the news of his coming must have preceded him, for no
+sooner had he clattered over the long wooden bridge which gives access
+to the main street of Tsu, than two ancient men had stopped him, and
+craved an immediate audience. Unlike my lord No-Kami, he had drawn
+rein at once, and listened; and the ancient men, with profuse
+grovellings, had implored my lord Sampei to use his personal influence
+for the rescue of the incarcerated headmen. It was indeed a heinous
+deed of insolence, they admitted with groans, to have sinned to the
+extent of imploring to be lightened of their burthens, but death of
+any kind was preferable to such a life as they endured at present.
+They reverently allowed that torments were deserved, but humbly
+implored mercy and consideration, for the sake of wives and children
+Sampei had been much shocked, for, to his generous nature, grovelling
+humility was offensive; and did not know what to do. He, as well as
+O'Tei, was resolved that something must be done for the sake of
+humanity, as well as to rescue from execration the unpopular name of
+Hojo. Perhaps the Abbess, the wise counsellor, would be good enough to
+settle what.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Now if Masago had a weakness (I am not prepared to say she had not),
+it was an appreciation of her position as chief adviser to every one.
+She therefore drank another cup of tea, then clearing her throat,
+began,--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My counsel is this. My lord Hojo No-Kami must be brought to yield.
+Probably he will not be sorry of an excuse to do so, considering that
+after such an act of clemency as the remitting of torment, the elders,
+cowed and abashed, will be too frightened to say more about the taxes;
+whereas, if the men suffer, there will be further outcry, and the tax
+question will come yet more prominently forward, producing lamentable
+results. Hence my lord will probably, as I say, be glad of an excuse
+to send the people back, if they promise to be more amenable in
+future. It would be well if he owed his way out of the difficulty to
+his wife, for it would soften his animosity against her, and would
+cause the people to venerate her even more than they do already. My
+son, Sampei, could not be more popular than he is--praise be to the
+gods--but it would be pleasing to his mother if he were joined in the
+work of mercy. I therefore propose that the Lady O'Tei forthwith do
+indite upon a roll a personal request to her husband, craving as a
+boon the lives of the condemned, and tying it in a box of
+tortoiseshell, do consign it to her brother-in-law, that he may ride
+with all speed to Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto, and, delivering the box, do add his own
+entreaties to his sister's--so may we be sure to gain our end, and
+avert a serious danger.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So succinct an oration, brief, and to the point, and patly delivered,
+deserved another cup of tea, and while she sipped it leisurely, Masago
+improved the occasion.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My dear,&quot; she said, &quot;I saw you shudder. This will never do. It is the
+greatest of mistakes to let such a man as Mylord No-Kami know that you
+are afraid of him. I noted in his childhood how he always treated more
+scurvily the hirelings who cringed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I never cringed!&quot; exclaimed O'Tei proudly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No; but if I mistake not, you have let him perceive fear, under a
+veil of contempt. Should he realise this, he will follow up the
+advantage, and all will indeed be lost. You should have coped with him
+at first, my lily. It would have been better for both, believe me.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">O'Tei twined her fingers together in distress. Had not the small voice
+within her whispered this long since. She did fear him, and dislike
+him, and despise him. Cope with him forsooth! How could she do it now?
+How could she ever have summoned sufficient moral courage? No; having
+retired into her shell of pride, she would stop there to the end, but
+in this matter of the elders she might bestir herself. Drawing forth a
+roll of paper, O'Tei and Sampei, with heads closer together than
+Masago approved, proceeded to concoct a warily-worded epistle.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Masago was truly an extremely clever old dame, for with her one stone
+she slew a variety of birds. O'Tei would be the happier in that she
+had been induced to intercede. She would gain points in the affections
+of the people, and so would the beloved Sampei. The latter, as bearer
+of the missive, would be removed forthwith from perilous association
+with his sister-in-law; he would also be removed from the temptation
+to reconnoitre Miné, who, the Abbess firmly resolved, was to shave her
+head immediately. This, being obstinate like her father, she would,
+doubtless, decline to do if the too warm-blooded warrior were to see
+and fancy her afresh.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The combination was artful from all points of view, and did credit to
+the adviser of every one. The elders would return unharmed, and, after
+a severe lesson, would be more dutiful. The storm would blow over, and
+all might repose in peace.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Alack! Masago knew nothing of the resolve of Koshiu. Had she known
+that he proposed to call, if necessary, for the individual
+intervention of the sublime Mikado himself, her eyes would have
+goggled in her head at his audacity, and her counsel might have been
+of a different order.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_05" href="#div1Ref_05">THE FARMER GIRDS HIS LOINS.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">The journey from Tsu to Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto may be made by one in haste, mounted
+on a strong horse, in two days, but in a land where trade is carried
+on in perfunctory fashion, time is and ever was a cheap commodity. In
+a shop the traders squat smoking on the mat, grin, prostrate
+themselves with head-knockings on your entrance, offer a cup of tea
+and a pipe, and consider that all has been done that may in fairness
+be required of them. In need of goods, you must search yourself, pull
+things from shelves, till you do or do not find the object you
+require. As with trade so is it to this day with travel. An
+energetic foreigner, by a liberal showering of yens, may induce his
+kuruma-runners to cover thirty miles per diem; but the Japanese of all
+ranks prefer to journey quietly, jogging along in kagos, at the
+favourite and decorous pace of the familiar snail. Indeed the higher
+the social status of the traveller, the slower will be his progress,
+for impedimenta are symbols of dignity.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Our magnificent young General, although on horseback, was surrounded
+and followed by a rabble, who for the most part were on foot. There
+was the inevitable bodyguard of swaggering samurai, who, with hair
+shorn from temples, and swords in red lacquer scabbards ostentatiously
+displayed, cultivated a scowling expression of perpetual defiance,
+incarnation of haughtiness, fanatical patriotism, and contempt of
+everybody but themselves. Then there were cotton-coated and
+straw-sandalled baggage-men by scores in charge of strings of
+packhorses; a group of sutlers; and, swaying in rear of the
+procession, an unwieldy but gaily-bedizened kago, for my lord to
+recline in when fatigued.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There being no professional fun toward, neither master nor men were in
+a hurry. To come upon a roadside tea-house, with its bevy of laughing
+waitresses, meant the performance of a variety of operations:
+tea-sipping, smoking, drowsy lounging, jesting, active dallying, and
+then unlimited sleep.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At first the method of progression was of the slowest, for the marshy
+plain was cut by various rivers, which had to be crossed in barges;
+then came a stretch of paddy, or rice fields; a green sea of slush
+bisected by a narrow gangway of stones, along which two men were
+unable to trudge abreast. Then, the foot of the hills being reached,
+there was a long and weariful ascent of rock and sliding stones--a
+climb over precipice and crag by a way that could scarce be called a
+path--and a descent on the other side as difficult. This feat
+accomplished, it was, of course, necessary to bathe, and worship in an
+adjoining temple, and rest and sleep again, and so it took more than a
+week for the cavalcade to reach the capital.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At approach of the noisy procession the mountaineer cottagers peeped
+out of their secluded dwellings, but perceiving the company of
+samurai, speedily put up their paper shutters, and made believe to be
+not at home. For the two-sword man was apt to ape the vices of his
+betters, and leave behind a trail of ruin such as marks the passage of
+the locust.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sampei was too busy with his own thoughts--which were gloomy enough,
+in sooth--to take heed of those he passed; and even if he had done so,
+would probably have failed to recognise an elderly pedestrian, who
+glared with hate from under beetle-brows, at the young noble riding
+by. Having forgotten even the name of the luckless Miné, it was not
+likely that he would quickly recognise her father, clad now in dusty
+pilgrim garb of white, and wide mushroom hat of rice straw. For
+Koshiu, true to his resolve, was also going to Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto to watch
+events, and fulfil, if need were, his self-imposed and dangerous
+mission. Like all fervent worshippers of Buddha, the sturdy farmer had
+no fear of death; like other natives of Japan, he was eminently
+superstitious. Among the Asiatic poor, where ceaseless drudgery,
+and hunger never fully satisfied, are the common lot; where the
+tax-gatherer and the avaricious noble are the representatives of
+government; where earthquake and typhoon cause the forces of nature to
+be feared as malignant influences; life is not so pleasant as to cause
+the earthly wayfarer to long for its continuance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The announcement of the Christian dogma that &quot;the gift of God is
+eternal life,&quot; would rather pain than delight a Japanese, for to him
+life in any form is to be dreaded--not because death is at the end of
+it, but because another birth and death must follow (possibly more
+painful still)--then other births and deaths--links in a long and
+weary chain, before attaining the ultimate haven. The moral pang that
+may possibly attend decease, consists in the parting from those whom
+he holds dear, and will, save under miraculous circumstances, never
+see again; for the Christian hope of meeting in a better world finds
+place but rarely in the Buddhist's mind. The chief deity, if slow and
+somniferous was just, and would (Koshiu argued) surely protect the
+family of him who was sacrificed for the common weal. There is a
+temple even now at Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto, standing on a dizzy height, whose
+terrace is protected by a strong pallisade, for, unless prevented, it
+is the practice of the faithful to crave a boon of the god, then fling
+themselves over the precipice, in the firm belief that--if the boon is
+to be granted--the deity will hold them scathless. It is strange that
+the number of bodies shattered on the stones below should not have
+shaken their faith either in the goodness or the power of the god.
+Having made up his mind that, if need were, he, the humble peasant,
+would invoke the sacred and mysterious Mikado's aid, Koshiu passed a
+night in prayer, then washed and dressed himself in the attire common
+to high and low who are engaged on a holy mission, and took a tender
+farewell of his family. There was his dear wife, Kennui; his three
+boys, Gennosuké, Sôkei, and Kibachi, ranging in years from thirteen to
+seven. Miné was unaccountably absent, but she was always a froward and
+unruly maid, wild and disobedient. On this solemn occasion, however,
+her father left for her a tender message of farewell, and amid the
+tears and outcries of those who feared that they never again might
+look on him, tore himself away.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This was on the day before Sampei's arrival,--on the morning which
+followed the consultation in the farmer's dwelling. The elders, filled
+with admiration for the single-minded heroism of the man whom they had
+deemed slow and selfish, went with him, marshalled by Rokubei and
+Zembei, to the entrance of the town, and with many blessings and
+prayers, wished the traveller success.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Urged on to speed by an engrossing object, he caught up, and, strong
+and stout of limb, passed the straggling array of Sampei, arriving in
+the capital two days before him. The imprisoned envoys were still in
+durance, he learned from one of those who had escaped, and lurked in
+hiding. My lord No-Kami--orders having in heat been issued for seizure
+and incarceration--had apparently forgotten their existence. The
+threatened vengeance of torment had not been wreaked, and yet their
+position was no pleasing one, for my lord's soldiers--the peasants
+and the military class were never friendly--amused themselves with
+the poor wretches, as cats play with mice--haling them out for
+diversion--depriving them of drink--pretending to offer saké, and when
+they held out eager hands for it, playfully pricking them with dirks.
+At the relation, the blood of Koshiu boiled within him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">These men--honoured and revered at home--who had done naught save
+humbly to implore redress of grievances, were being murdered
+piecemeal. It mattered not that my lord had never ordered it. His
+lawless myrmidons took from him their cue, satisfied that they would
+not be punished. If the poor things must die, the more speedily the
+better; but Koshiu swore, with oaths that terrified his listeners,
+that their deaths should be avenged. Alack! Koshiu must be mad. He
+prated as if himself a daimio, or a least a samurai or hatamoto! A
+mosquito on a wall might as well shake a paw, and vow to avenge the
+slaughter of his fellows! And then at the boldness of his speech they
+shivered, considering whether it would not be more prudent to withdraw
+from the society of so rash a person, and sneak back to their
+crumbling homes. Of a certainty it would, for with even the Mikado
+himself, the revered and mystical, the insect presumed to find fault.
+Next he would be falling foul of Buddha, who, putting out a finger,
+would crush him--and them along with him--the blasphemer; and what
+then would be their fate in the next cycle? In horror and dread they
+wrung their hands, and banged their apologetic foreheads on the floor,
+and, drawing forth beads, told them with feverish rapidity.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">These were the words that entered their astounded ears. &quot;For
+generations stretching back into the shadow of time,&quot; the over-bold
+farmer said, &quot;has our master dwelt behind a screen, looked on by no
+eyes but those of the kugés and his attendants. Nothing outside the
+screen penetrates to him save through the mouths of these. Being a
+mortal, if a highly-privileged one, he cannot see all, like Buddha,
+himself unseen. We are his, and we revere him, but he knows naught of
+us, and can know naught, secluded and fenced about, and thereby
+neglects his duty--for even he has duties; and if, which is unhappily
+true, the latter-day Mikados have been evilly entreated and dethroned
+and sent into banishment, 'tis by reason of this sin, and the vile
+Hojos have been but instruments of retribution in the hand of an
+offended deity.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">What subversive doctrines were these uttered by a presuming pigmy? The
+horror-stricken elders glanced furtively one at the other with the
+same thought. Instead of a possible saviour, this man was a firebrand
+who would involve others in his well-merited ruin. Perchance it would
+be well to betray him at once to my lord No-Kami, and thereby earn
+their pardon? Koshiu read their thoughts, and sighed, wishing them no
+evil. The views of the sturdy farmer were beyond them. As well talk to
+the trees--better, for the leaves would not shake with terror, and
+consider the expediency of treachery. He resolved to shut up his
+opinions therefore within his own bosom, and calmly discussed, without
+further blasphemy, what the next move should be.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As there was no possibility of, for the present at least, making any
+move at all, they were still idly chattering when, a few days later,
+they were startled by the appearance of the very envoys whose rescue
+was under discussion. They were thin, and gnarled, and haggard, and
+wrinkled--but then a Japanese peasant over the age of twenty is never
+a pretty object--yet in health seemed well enough. The tale of the
+saké and dirks must have been the invention of the foe. And yet to
+Koshiu these village elders looked suspiciously meek and lowly, more
+so than the humblest peasant should; indeed their bearing was not
+unlike that of a mongrel dog, that still smarts under severe
+correction. At first it was impossible to get anything out of them but
+fawning praise of the Hojo, uttered in trembling accents, in which
+fear battled with incoherence. Hojo was excellent and merciful. Had he
+not deigned to forgive their unpardonable sin, and set them free
+unhurt? Let them live under their own hats and be content, he had
+declared. If there were any noble individuals more admirable than the
+gracious lord No-Kami--and that was scarcely possible--those two were
+their liege lady and the General Sampei; for 'twas through the
+intervention of these that my lord had condescended to remember the
+existence of his humblest tenants, who might otherwise have been still
+in duress.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With lowering brow Koshiu looked upon his fellows, for these cringing,
+spirit-broken villagers belonged to the same class as he. Were they
+worth saving, at the risk of his own life? And then a vision of the
+misery at Tsu, the growing suffering of all down-trodden Japan, rose
+upon his vision. No-Kami, thanks to the pleading of his wife and
+brother, had been pleased, after outrage and ignominy, to release the
+men who had committed no crime. But what of their petition? The
+petition? Let it go hang! The well-whipped hounds preferred that the
+subject should be dropped. How ill-timed was any mention of the
+petition. It had brought nothing but trouble--the less said about it
+the better. All they desired was to depart with speed. The sportive
+samurai might swoop again. Baring their arms, the envoys showed their
+wounds. The story of the saké was true, then. Little wonder if the
+starved wretches had had enough of the facetious horseplay of the
+soldiers.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Koshiu paced the mat with folded arms. Yes, they were right, and had
+better go and save their wizened carcases. Here they were of no
+service, only butts for scoffers. My lady O'Tei all knew to be an
+angel; but that the newly-arrived General should interest himself in
+peasants, was curious; and then the thought flashed suddenly on the
+indignant father that the absence of Miné from her home had coincided
+with the arrival of Sampei. Her tender pronunciation of his name, and
+constant championship, recurred to his memory, and he shrank as from
+strokes of the bamboo. As profligate as all the Hojos, he had, of
+course, signalled his return by the seduction of an innocent and
+too-trusting maiden, who, by-and-by, he would fling away. Perhaps from
+out that curtained kago on the road his erring daughter may have
+peeped at him. If it were so, never, never would he forgive his child.
+Had he not warned her of his undying hatred of Hojos, of all connected
+with bloodthirsty brutal tyrants? With difficulty controlling his
+emotions, while his comrades more than ever deemed him dangerously
+insane, he told them they were right. Since they could serve no
+further purpose, they had better go back to Tsu, and speedily. For his
+own part, he would remain, and bide his time, and, when opportunity
+offered, present the petition to the Emperor.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And so, after a sad and parting feast, the band of elders returned to
+their place, and Koshiu dwelt alone, brooding over his wrongs, over
+the oppression of his class, and the ruin of his daughter, while his
+family bewailed at home. His impression was that the Mikado's
+supineness rose not from weakness but from indifference, out of which
+he might be roused. One day arrived a pedlar with news from Tsu, and a
+melancholy message from his wife, the faithful Kennui, which
+completely satisfied his mind that his suspicions were but too well
+founded. Miné had never again sought the legitimate shelter of her
+parents' roof, but was dwelling, if report spoke truly, with the
+mother of Sampei. Even she, then, the peasant-born, suffered under the
+taint which enveloped that hated race. The Abbess, who pretended to be
+pious, could stoop to shield his daughter's infamy, and give shelter
+to the mistress of her son. Poor soul, had she not been herself a
+concubine, and debased by pernicious surroundings? Ah, but the
+position of second wife--acknowledged concubine--was different from
+that of his own degraded daughter. No fixed position was hers, of
+course, or ever would be, since she had been so misguided as to throw
+herself into her lover's arms. And when he was weary of her? It would
+not bear thinking of, for Koshiu in his way was proud as any noble.
+Sampei and his mother were as bad as the rest, worthy to wear the
+cognisance of Hojo. The longer the farmer brooded, the harder grew his
+heart, the more bitter his resentment, and he hailed with fierce joy
+the news, at last, that the Mikado was to visit Nara.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was a solemn ceremony the pilgrimage of the Emperor to the Sacred
+Groves of Nara, one which, although the distance was short, he was
+expected to perform but once or twice during his career. Unlike lesser
+magnates, who were content with kagos--litters, more or less
+sumptuous, borne on men's shoulders--the Mikado travelled in a
+ponderous carriage on huge cumbrous wheels, its roof thatched with the
+long grey straws of a peculiar grass, its wood-work elaborately
+lacquered with the imperial crest, its windows closely curtained with
+the finest matting, which flapped with many tassels. The progress of
+so unwieldy a machine over a primitive road was slow. In front went a
+bodyguard on foot, followed by soldiers on horseback; then came the
+weighty kagos of the kugés in attendance, brave with banners and
+devices; then the Mikado's swaying uneasy carriage, drawn by eight
+horses in broidered housings; then more heavy litters and more
+soldiers, and a long straggling tail like that of a kite, composed of
+servants and rabble. It took many hours to penetrate through the
+tortuous and squalid suburbs of the capital, consisting for the most
+part of the shops of pawnbrokers and vendors of cheap toys and idols,
+jutting at will into the road, the procession stopped from time to
+time by hosts of the faithful on their faces.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Once free of buildings, the imperial <i>cortége</i> advanced by a wide way
+straight as an arrow across a plain devoted to the cultivation of tea,
+and by nightfall reached Uji. Here there was a villa overhanging with
+wide, wooden balconies a rushing stream--the Uji-Kawa, which rises in
+lake Biwa--spanned by a semicircular bridge formed of an intricate
+network of heavy timbers, for in winter this river swells into a
+torrent, sweeping all that is weak before it. This villa was for the
+special use of the sovereign, as might be guessed, from its lack of
+adornment. So high is the Mikado, that, in a general way, he is above
+the employment of ornament. His villas and summer-houses (unlike those
+of his brother of China) are as conspicuous for simplicity as his
+dress. Everything is of the very best that skill can produce, the
+woodwork of the very finest which the hand of man can command, the
+mats trimmed with a red and white braid forbidden to other men. His
+eyes look upon no pictures or porcelains or bronzes, for to one who
+communes at will with deities or spirits, and may peep even sometimes
+into Nirvana, such trivialities are, of course, superfluous. In the
+Imperial Palace of Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto it is different, for there he deigns to
+associate in a degree with mere common nobles and wives, to whom
+austere simplicity would be depressing if not soul-withering. In this
+villa, the Emperor, by time-honoured custom, was to pass the night,
+his <i>cortége</i> camping around for the protection of the sacred person.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Now Koshiu, whose object in life was the presenting of a memorial
+which should lead to the abrogation of imposts, and the holding up of
+the Hojos to deserved obloquy, knew right well that there was no
+reaching the imperial ear, either in Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto or on the road to Uji,
+by reason of a throng of guards. During the next day's route over the
+mountains, on the other side of which was Nara, the cumbrous carriage
+would be prevented from toppling over by myriad hands pressed on
+either wheel, but the brilliant idea had occurred to the farmer that
+in crossing the timber bridge, whose width was just sufficient for the
+passage of the vehicle, there would be none to defend either of the
+curtained windows, the guards of necessity passing on in front or
+dropping behind until the stream was crossed, and that here lay his
+only chance. In the night therefore, after prayers and ablutions, he
+took advantage of the darkness to swim into mid-stream unnoticed, and
+being washed against one of the pillars, to make good his footing, and
+climbing on the bridge, to secrete himself under a convenient shadow.
+Then with his knife he pruned a long bamboo, split it at the top, and
+inserting the memorial therein, awaited day.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The journey was yet long to Nara, and over the mountains fraught with
+possible disaster, so all were early astir. With wildly-beating heart
+and throbbing temples Koshiu heard the clatter of horses overhead, the
+rhythmed step of infantry, and then the thunder of the great wheels
+grinding under their heavy load. Now or never. Calculating his time to
+a nicety, the farmer nimbly climbed upon the parapet, and before the
+astonished guards could stop him, lifted a corner of the mat, and
+inserting his bamboo, cried in a loud voice,--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Take, O great Mikado! Fountain of Honour, this the petition of your
+humblest slave. Have pity on your people, O sovereign lord, ground
+down by the wicked Hojo!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The driver of the horses, aghast, stopped open-mouthed; the cavalcade
+stood still; the guards, with a yell, dashed clambering forward, to
+fling into the stream this audacious one, riddled with sword-thrusts;
+but the old Daimio of Nara, who, disdaining a kago, rode close behind,
+spurred quickly through the men, and, raising both hands, bade them
+refrain. He had caught the words &quot;wicked Hojo,&quot; saw that what might
+have been a spear was already withdrawn, and was no more than a cleft
+stick, and guessed the purport of the attempt.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;'Tis a petition,&quot; Nara cried. &quot;Our imperial lord already holds the
+man's paper in his sacred hand. It is for him, and not for us, to
+decide upon his fate.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Clutched by a dozen fists, Koshiu remained poised and stifled on the
+parapet, and presently a low voice issued from the shadow.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will read the petition on my return from the sacred groves. Keep
+the man close and safe. See that no harm comes to him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Daimio of Nara, with a cunning smile lurking about his lips, gave
+orders that the pilgrim should be safely conducted to his own private
+apartment in the palace, and then the ponderous procession moved on
+again, and crawled up the mountain.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_06" href="#div1Ref_06">THE YOUNG MIKADO.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Tomoyé, the brawny but practical, proved herself more clear-sighted
+than the statesman-warrior her husband. Hojo, the elder, certainly
+made the most serious blunder of his life when he arranged that
+marriage for his heir. A gulf 'twixt a husband and a wife cannot but
+widen daily, and the part of the latter, right or wrong, is sure to be
+espoused by her father. The admirable combinations that were to result
+from an alliance of the houses of Hojo and Nara were conspicuous by
+absence. As time went on, the haughty No-Kami, averse at all times to
+advice, showed to his wife's parent his most aggressive side, lest he
+should presume to lecture.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Although the Daimio of Nara had seen but little of his child, he had
+received from time to time such affectionate reports concerning the
+maiden, from the priests and priestesses who had supervised her
+education, that he was fully conscious of her worth. Between the two
+lords there was a show of courtesy, which masked on the one side
+jealousy of interference, on the other, hate. The father of O'Tei,
+although he pretended to perceive nothing, resented bitterly the
+scornful neglect with which she was treated by her spouse. During the
+rare visits of the young chatelaine to the capital, he could see how
+sad she was, and worn and listless, instead of vivacious and gay, as
+became her years; and in his heart, antipathy for the despot,
+implanted by cruelty to the Mikado, increased a hundredfold. He was
+too wary to quarrel yet with Hojo, but whenever he vouchsafed advice
+(as he did now and then, for the sake, as he said, of the departed),
+it was of a kind which rendered No-Kami more execrated still, more
+unpopular with the people he oppressed. The return of Sampei, and the
+demeanour of that warrior, produced fresh combinations in the subtle
+brain of Nara. It was plain that he was shocked by the excesses of his
+brother. He came of ambitious stock, and the long bloody tale of the
+history of Japan is full of the rivalry of brothers. What if he could
+be cajoled or goaded to take arms against him? The unruly army which
+he had brought back from Corea, accustomed to plunder and lawless
+licence, would have to be employed somehow, for idleness begets
+mischief. So long as Mikado and Daimios remained quiescent, the
+swash-bucklers could not be used against them, and, unemployed they
+would soon be a source of trouble. What if, by waiting, the enemies of
+the Hojo could succeed in turning against him the very troops he had
+summoned for his defence; and what if, by crafty man&#339;uvring, the
+disgust of Sampei could be raised to such a pitch as to induce him to
+resume their command?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As the general who had led them from victory to victory, his soldiers
+adored Sampei. In time, they might probably be made useful as a
+scourge for Hojo, without their commander, by prospect of pillaging
+castles, but if he whom they idolised were to summon them forth in the
+direction of their inclinations, there was no doubt they would follow
+in a mass. While his master was telling his beads before the great
+bronze idol in the Nara temple, the thoughts of the lord of the soil
+were engaged elsewhere, and he resolved on the first opportunity to
+sound Sampei, and to arrange his plans accordingly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was a fortnight after the incident on the bridge of Uji that the
+imperial <i>cortége</i> wound down the mountain, and returned to the palace
+in the capital. What a dreary spot this same palace, more like a
+prison than a free residence, well suited to the ghastly life of blank
+monotony led by its miserable occupant.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The chief abode of the Mikado occupies a vast space of ground in
+the centre of the city of Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto, surrounded by a high white
+wall, devoid of windows. Passing through a postern in a huge and
+highly-decorated gate, crowned by an immense tiled roof, you find
+yourself in a labyrinth, where you would speedily be lost without a
+guide, for long low buildings meander in and out, and meet at angles,
+one exactly like another, forming a series of little courtyards,
+adorned with prim grey bushes. The walls of these are of one pattern,
+formed of white plaster in timber settings, with heavy roofs and
+eaves. None of the buildings boast of more than a single storey, which
+is elevated on posts, a yard above the ground; this by reason of
+earthquakes, and unclean insects, which have no respect for Emperors.
+The long outer passages are protected from the weather by verandahs,
+because persons below a certain rank may not venture to breathe under
+the same roof as the Fountain of Honour, but must squat humbly in the
+air without. All the inner wood-work is of pine, smoothly planed, and
+left unpolished, set at points of junction with sumptuously sculptured
+nails; while mats are of the finest kind, trimmed white and red with
+the imperial braid. Within, the sliding screens which at will divide
+most of the space into small or large chambers, are of drab silk,
+spotted with gold dots, in form of clouds. There is no furniture,
+except a few low red lacquer tables.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The private suite of the Mikado saddens the soul, so small, and
+dismal, and uncomfortable are the rooms, or rather hutches, with no
+prospect or view outside, but three bare walls, a flag-pavement, and
+half-a-dozen bushes; and the mind turns involuntarily to the thought
+of Spanish Queens, whose drear existences must have been hilariously
+gay when compared with those of the Mikados. Sure many of these must
+have gone melancholy mad, or have sought relief from despondency by
+drowning care in the saké-cup. For the better protection of the
+Fountain of Honour, the two closets he inhabits are buried away in the
+centre of the labyrinth. There is nothing for him to hear but low,
+respectful sibillation, and the tramp of guards; nothing to see but
+nobles sprawling on their faces, with a glum background of whitewash,
+and a few tortoises wandering over the stones.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At the period which now concerns us, the Mikado usually sat upon a
+chair, while the kuges, in court trousers (Uye no Bakama) many yards
+under their feet, wearing high black crape hats, and brocaded
+trains--narrow and stiff, and of exceeding length--(kiy<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#333;</span>) reclined
+around him on the mat. When the potentate felt more bored than usual,
+he retired into a square tent (of the size of an old-fashioned
+European bed) in the middle of the room; which tent was composed of
+snowy silk, embroidered with bamboo and storks, and garnished with
+long streamers, red and black, decorated with butterflies. Inside the
+tent was placed a chair, and two low stools.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A few yards off is a dark place surrounded by gilt folding screens, in
+which is another tent. This was for the Fountain of Honour when
+boredom reached a climax, and he felt compelled to flee mankind. On
+state occasions he moved into a spacious hall at the back, whose
+sliding screens are painted with portraits, full length, of Chinese
+sages, and whose look-out is a shade more cheerful; for beyond there
+is a garden, with a lake full of speckled fish, some groups of pines,
+and quaint stone bridges. In the centre of the hall is yet another
+tent, precisely similar to the others--for the purpose of special
+audience, for the room is so large, that neither the elect, who knelt
+around, or the unelect, who crouched in the verandah, could overhear
+what passed within the curtains.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Into this hall, on the day after the return, trooped all who possessed
+the privilege, while the yards and passages were full of hatamotos and
+retainers; for the Fountain of Honour, refreshed by prayer and change
+of scene, declared he would attend to business.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In the first place, audience must be vouchsafed to the victorious
+General, that he might relate his deeds of valour, and receive thanks
+for faithful service; and then a consultation must be held, with
+closed doors, on the subject of the peasant and his petition. At
+mention of the audacious peasant, Nara smiled quietly, for he thought
+he saw his way to make a weapon of him wherewith to vex the enemy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Owing to the ruin and banishment of three Emperors, the present
+reigning one was a cowed youth, a pale and depressed boy, with a look
+of constant apprehension lurking in his eyes. So well drilled was he
+that the sound of his tyrant's footfall caused him to tremble; so
+acutely did he feel his equivocal position, that many a time, after a
+period of reverie, he would start and wince, as if expecting the
+descent of the blade that was suspended over his head. Poor Koshiu!
+Could he have looked on the liege lord--so timorous and helpless--who
+was awful, because invisible, he would probably have thought twice
+before making that rash attempt.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When Sampei, after prostration and the orthodox nine head-knockings of
+humility, was invited to occupy a stool within the tent, Nara was
+bidden, by a wave of the august fan, to take the other, and thus
+withdrawn from inquisitive eyes and ears, the Daimio of Nara deemed
+this to be a propitious moment for peering into the future. He drew
+out the modest General, and, as mouthpiece of his master, made pretty
+speeches, while the Mikado was anxiously scanning his face, seeking
+his brother's features.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Presently the Emperor gave a sigh of relief. It was a good-natured
+open visage, considerably tanned, ornamented (from a military point of
+view) by a deep scar across the brow, scored by a Corean spear.
+Although a Hojo, it was possible to feel comfortable in his presence,
+and the heart of the sad recluse quite warmed to him when Nara, with
+insidious flattery, related an episode of his career. He told of how
+young Sampei, in camp one day, investing the Taira forces, beheld a
+warrior whose crimson armour and golden cognisance marked him for a
+Taira noble. &quot;Come hither and fight!&quot; he cried, and both charged
+fiercely one at the other with gleaming blades. After a few passes,
+the Taira dropped his sword, and Sampei, chivalrous always, flung his
+away and rushed to clasp his foe. Close-locked they fell from their
+saddles on the sand, the Hojo uppermost. Tearing off the bedizened
+helm, with intent to strike, he was amazed to see not a hardy old
+campaigner but a delicate and lovely boy! Rising, and handing to the
+vanquished his headgear. &quot;So young,&quot; he said, &quot;thy mother yet lives,
+doubtless. To her I give thee--go!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sampei looked down and blushed, not ill-pleased that his lord should
+learn to like him; while the Mikado muttered behind his fan, &quot;Can this
+be the brother of No-Kami?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">After this jocund opening symphony, Nara changed his tune, and as he
+spoke of the suffering people, the General's face grew dark and
+sorrowful.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;And all this is due,&quot; Nara concluded, with emphasis, &quot;to the head of
+the house of Hojo, whom the gods have made pre-eminent. The greater
+the gift, the greater will be the punishment for opportunities
+misused. Dare you deny that it is so?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sampei shuffled on his seat, with lowered head.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My brother is unduly harsh,&quot; he stammered,--&quot;perchance is ignorant--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What of the elders, then, and their petition?&quot; demanded Nara.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He has sent them home unhurt!&quot; quickly responded Sampei.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ay, but with wrongs unredressed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young General was silent.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You are the senior in years,&quot; observed the Daimio, pursuing his
+advantage, &quot;and should claim some authority; further, even, if need
+be--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sampei drew himself up with dignity.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You, the Daimio of Nara,&quot; he said proudly, &quot;should know what is due
+from a vassal to his feudal chief. I am older in years, but not pure
+in blood. On my mother's side I am a peasant. I may grieve over my
+brother's follies, even chide with respectful gentleness, further than
+that I may not venture, as none should know better than yourself.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Nara felt angry and disappointed, for this was not what he expected.
+Could this brilliant fellow be destitute of personal ambition?
+Perhaps, more cunning than he seemed, he was waiting for something
+more explicit.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You, then, an honest man,&quot; sneered the Daimio, &quot;are prepared to stand
+by and see your flesh and blood perform the work of fiends? Perhaps I
+have made of your character a wrong estimate. Can it be that you enjoy
+the grievous plight of those to whose class, as you say, you partially
+belong? In crime an appreciative partner--perhaps even my lord Hojo's
+willing executioner?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Daimio laughed hoarsely, while the Mikado listened with pursed
+lips. Apparently the young soldier was not to be roused by taunts, for
+with a sigh he replied sadly,--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You wrong me. If I cannot aid, I can perish with them, and so escape
+dishonour.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;By hara-kiri?&quot; retorted Nara, with impatience, &quot;a vastly useful way
+of helping the afflicted! When all is lost, death by the dirk is the
+only appropriate end to a high-born gentleman; but an honest man and a
+brave may not declare that things are hopelessly wrong until he has
+tried to right them. That they are wrong at present you will admit,
+after perusing this memorial, humbly presented to our common lord by
+one of Hojo's vassals.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sampei took the paper, and, as he read, grew hot and cold with pity
+and indignation. And it was his own flesh and blood, as Nara said, who
+could act thus! The indictment was terrible in its straightforward
+simplicity. No wonder that the gentle wife of the tyrant, knowing
+what she must know, was fading slowly. And there was more trouble
+brewing--even simple Sampei could foresee that. If No-Kami had been so
+incensed at the elders daring to present a petition to himself, what
+would his feeling be when he knew that another had been handed to the
+Emperor? The Mikado having publicly received, would be bound to take
+some notice of it,--to make some attempt to check the excesses of the
+despot. And, knowing his brother as he now learned to know him, Sampei
+looked forward in dismay, for the wheel set rolling down a hill may
+not be stopped, and it was but too probable that, goaded by passion
+uncontrolled, crime heaped upon crime would, as O'Tei had suggested,
+induce some dire catastrophe.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A furtive glance at the dull weak face of the Emperor was not
+comforting. There was vacillation in every line of it. A gleam from
+No-Kami's wrathful eyes and he would shrivel up. Was it indeed the
+duty of his elder brother to stand forward and attempt to stay his
+junior's downward course? 'Tis a terrible thing when two of the same
+kin hold swords at one another's throats. And languishing O'Tei, what
+of her, whom he had secretly sworn to guard and cherish? Perhaps, by
+slaying her husband, he would be doing her a service as well as
+freeing the oppressed; but that husband his brother! To slay his
+brother! As the picture appeared upon his mental retina, Sampei
+shuddered; and then the thought flashed on him with vivid clearness
+that the stroke which slew his brother would delve for aye an
+impassable chasm 'twixt himself and her he loved. The young man heaved
+a sigh of relief, and raised his head. He was rescued from temptation
+for the time being, O'Tei the saving talisman. And then, his eye
+falling on the petition, he grew sorely perplexed. Was the old man
+right? Was it his bounden duty to interfere between the tyrant and his
+victims? What good would come of interference? Had he not intervened
+already for the behoof of the unlucky elders? It was not likely that
+the head of his house would brook incessant meddling. Slow-witted at
+the best, Sampei, the more he pondered, grew more wretched and
+uncertain. Nara marked with approving eye the extent of his
+uncertainty, and cast a keen glance of intelligence at his master. The
+poison instilled would slowly work, or Nara had mistaken his man. The
+seed was sown--must be left to swell and burst. Enough was done for
+the present.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Obedient to the signal of his most trusted counsellor, the Mikado
+graciously dismissed his General, with hope revived in the future. But
+the hope was short-lived. Scarcely had he emerged with lightened heart
+from out the tent, and, summoning the kuges together, had commanded
+the shutters to be closed, that the petition might be privately
+considered, than the sound of the awful footstep was heard on the
+creaking boards, and the soul of the hapless Emperor died within him.
+He writhed and turned scarlet under the insult, when, pushing back the
+shutter with a crash, No-Kami unannounced strode in.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What is this?&quot; he cried, in a harsh voice, omitting the customary
+obeisance. &quot;I should not believe it, if I did not see you shivering
+there, red with conscious guilt. Leniency to the scum is worse than a
+crime--it is a fault. It was to please your daughter, Nara--that she
+should condescend to plead for such insolent vermin, says little for
+her rearing--that I forgave those villagers. And no sooner have I
+committed that insensate act, than I am most justly punished for it.
+Where is he--he who presumed to present to you a paper? He shall never
+present another.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The trembling Mikado looked piteously at Nara, who, stolid, and
+apparently both deaf and blind, moved no muscle.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My lord No-Kami--&quot; began the Emperor, but was quickly silenced.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I ask no explanation,&quot; remarked the tyrant sternly, waving away
+argument. &quot;I demand the paper and the man. He is my vassal and my
+chattel: where is he?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Here, under my protection. You forget yourself, my lord!&quot; cried
+the Emperor, who, deserted by Nara, was stung to a poor show of
+self-assertion. &quot;Under this roof he is safe.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No-Kami raised his brows slightly, and with stiff politeness said,--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Since when may peasants enter where knights and samurai may not?
+These be new manners that we can scarce approve. You, my lord Nara, I
+believe took charge of the man. I thank you for your courtesy, and
+herewith reclaim my own.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">To the consternation of the Emperor, who expected that now, at least,
+the one to whom he pinned his faith would speak boldly, the Daimio of
+Nara gravely bowed, and said,--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;If such is the pleasure of our master, be it so.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Put to the test, then, Nara was a windbag that had burst! The Mikado
+groaned in spirit.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You will promise that he shall not be injured,&quot; stammered he, as,
+wincing under the basilisk eye, and seeking support in vain, the poor
+boy grew sick and giddy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You see, Lord Nara, that 'tis our master's wish,&quot; responded No-Kami
+bluntly. &quot;I make no promises. My time is valuable, and my retinue
+without is waiting. See that the wretch is handed over instantly for
+immediate transport to my <i>yashiki</i>.&quot; And with this the Hojo turned
+and strode away, without deigning to await an answer.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The cup was full. The Fountain of Honour overflowed in a torrent of
+brackish tears. To be insulted thus before all the court; to be
+treated like a child; to be bearded with such dour disdain! The fate
+of his three predecessors, in their tranquil monastery, was preferable
+to his, alone upon the rack in the midst of empty grandeur. When Nara
+attempted to instil words of comfort, he turned on him with the swift,
+unreasoning vituperation of the weak.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You on whom I leaned,&quot; he sobbed,--&quot;who are ever prating of the
+wondrous things that you are going to do! Before him you tremble more
+than all the rest, and sit mumchance! The man will be tormented, and I
+thereby eternally disgraced, since I took him under my protection.
+When they hear of it, what will my people say, seeing me that
+monster's puppet?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;They, will pity you,&quot; replied Nara quietly, &quot;as they pity the other
+three. I am not so craven as you think. What if the man be tortured?
+He is but a boor of little consequence, and will be none the worse for
+martyrdom. Let be, let be--a little patience only. The more scurvily
+the man is treated, the better in the end; the deeper the universal
+execration for him we all detest. A little time, a little time, and
+all will be well, believe me. We have but to sit with hands devoutly
+folded, and wait; for the Hojo is preparing his own undoing,--carving
+out his own destruction!&quot;</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_07" href="#div1Ref_07">THE FARMER'S SENTENCE.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Perhaps the Daimio of Nara was right in his prognostications of the
+probable. Although the lives of a few peasants are to Japanese
+patricians of but small account, there had been considerable
+excitement among the daimios over Hojo's high-handed treatment of the
+village elders, a tornado of lamentation among the lower and unarmed
+classes. Had the action of the despot been voted orthodox, had he
+unwaveringly pursued his course, the other lords would have done the
+same as he with joy, to wring out additional sums for pleasant uses;
+but as No-Kami gave way with little pressing, and thereby stultified
+his action, there was a general chorus of disapproval. If, excited and
+cruel, he were now to inflict signal vengeance on the unfortunate
+farmer, there would be still further uproar; and each fresh
+demonstration tended to a universal rising, for the destruction of the
+terrible octopus. Nara was old enough to have learned that the waiting
+game is generally best in the end, and preached sage wisdom to his
+master, who wept, being foolish, and young, and also uneasy in his
+mind.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No-Kami was frantic with wrath when he considered Koshiu's sin. What a
+deplorable precedent was this! A petty farmer, little better than the
+common labourer, who strews the paddy field with filth, and grubs on
+hands on knees like a pig in the mud when the young rice begins to
+sprout; this abject, well-nigh four-footed, grovelling creature had
+absolutely, erect upon hind legs, dared to approach the head of the
+state--the nominal head--with a writing wherein he, the reignina
+Hojo--the real head of the state--was impeached and accused of
+misdemeanours,--even of deeds called CRIMES! Such audacity to the most
+nimble imagination was all but inconceivable. It was no less
+preposterous and ludicrous than if the brisk and too sprightly flea
+were, with his tiny mandibles, to assault the elephant. As he revolved
+the circumstance, the Daimio was so tickled that, as he paced a path
+in his garden outside Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto, he laughed a hard and grating
+cachination, that was half a snort, and shouted for a cup of warm
+saké, the which was brought, with the humblest of genuflections; for
+my lord's laugh clanked like rusty chains, and was precursor usually
+of bloodshed. But this was really too amusing, or would have been, if
+not so impudent. As he drained cup after cup of wine, my lord's mind
+became more active, the heat of his resentment more whitely glowing.
+What punishment was severe enough for such a caitiff? What was mere
+death, even the slowest, with ingeniously long-drawn agonies, but
+absurdly insufficient. The doom of the farmer must be something
+calculated to appal,--to spread terror broadcast, or his pestilent
+example might be followed by other swine. He would be a good riddance,
+this Koshiu, for he had always been a dangerous character,--one who
+dared to think for himself, actually to think, and frame views and
+theories of an independent and subversive kind. Oh for some brilliant
+idea, some happy thought, startling and awe-inspiring,--something at
+which the ordinary mind would revolt, then shrink down cowering!
+Decidedly this was an occasion on which the culprit must be made a
+genuine &quot;example;&quot; and as he paced the garden path, the brain of
+No-Kami was much exercised to find some awful sentence worthy of his
+reputation and his name.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">His heart was so hardened by schemes of revenge that the scene around
+was powerless to calm his ruffled soul; and yet his villa without
+Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto, known as the Golden House (it exists to this day), was a
+spot where loving nature had freely given of her best.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On the plain between the city and the mountains is a wood, some three
+miles square, wherein branching umbrella pines and lofty cryptomerias
+and black-pointed cypresses are mingled in calculated confusion with
+the ensanguined foliage of the maple, and a luxuriant shrub covered
+with yellow blossoms, which has a scent resembling that of the
+apricot. The underbrush being carefully removed, the feet of the trees
+stand clear, rising from a tumbled surface of rich moss and rock and
+knoll, through which meander crystal streams shaded by grass and
+ferns. In a secluded portion of the wood is a large oblong pond,
+half-covered with dense reeds, and full offish and tortoises. In this,
+between the reed-beds, is mirrored a fairy cot--very small, as
+suitable for fairies--with the usual heavy roof and posts, and with
+windows inlaid with oyster shell. The peculiarity of the villa, at the
+time which occupies us, was that inside and out it was entirely gilt,
+which, against the sombre green background, in the limpid atmosphere,
+gave it the aspect of an enchanted dwelling. The rooms were of the
+smallest, and as naked and uncomfortable as Japanese rooms always are;
+and yet, in miniature, there was naught neglected. There was the
+porter's lodge, wherein lounged the armed retainers, and where
+upright, clean, and ready were the three formidable instruments
+designed to entangle, throw down, and pin a quarrelsome or unwelcome
+visitor. Stout quarter staves were also ready wherewith to belabour a
+struggling wight. There were bows and arrows in plenty, while in a row
+hung wooden tickets inscribed with the names of the soldiers in
+residence, which, were handed to the keeper of the gate, in token of
+absence, as the men passed out. In one corner was a bath--a mere rude
+tub--wherein, after the Daimio had bathed, others might be allowed to
+plunge; while further on, in the <i>tokonoma</i>, or recess of honour, were
+ranged in glittering state, ready always for use, the armour of my
+lord--his cuirass and greaves, helmet, chainmail, and swords.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As he paced up and down under shadow of the trees, No-Kami had an
+inspiration; and summoning his favourite samurai, he bade him produce
+the prisoner. With arms crossed on his broad chest, and a mien of
+sullen defiance, Koshiu emerged, and having approached, stared hard
+into his oppressor's eyes with such undaunted boldness that Hojo felt
+almost sorry. It was a pity to have to annihilate so bold a varlet;
+and yet the independent ways of these same bold varlets are
+pestilent,--dangerous to the lords who are set over them.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What hast thou to say--what excuse to make?&quot; demanded the imperious
+No-Kami.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The performance of duty calls for no excuse,&quot; replied the bluff
+farmer.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Duty!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yes, duty,--to myself, to my fellow-sufferers, to the sublime Mikado,
+who, unless told, knows naught--for he dwells apart--of the wicked
+such as thee.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;By Buddha's crown, but thou art mad! instead of suing for mercy,
+aggravating thy offence.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The Hojos never knew mercy--thou least of all--and I expect none.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Will none make a lid for this rascal?&quot; cried the Daimio, his small
+stock of patience ebbing. Then, seeing half a score of bright blades
+flashing in the sun, he waved them back into their scabbards. &quot;Nay,
+nay,&quot; he grumbled; &quot;sully not your steel.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The Hojos were ever bad,&quot; observed Koshiu, without blenching. &quot;Thou
+and thy brother are the worst.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Sampei!&quot; exclaimed No-Kami, in surprise. &quot;Why he is half of thy caste
+himself, and is adored by the populace. What evil hath he done to
+thee?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He robbed me of my eldest child, whom I held dear. She has vanished,
+seduced by him.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No-Kami laughed long and loud, that very ugly laugh.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;So, so. The General is sly, and keeps his counsel, and hath done thee
+and thine far too much honour, ingrate! See, here he comes to answer
+for himself.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was indeed Sampei, who, in extreme haste and heat, was crashing
+through the ferns. How unfortunate that the Emperor should not have
+detained him ten minutes longer. He would have expostulated with his
+brother then and there, in the Imperial presence,--have entreated the
+Fountain of Honour not to give up the captive. For in Hojo's greedy
+desire to obtain possession of him there was lurking something
+sinister. No-Kami's temper was so warm. For his sake, and the name
+they both bore, he must be prevented from going to extremities. Thanks
+to the gods, he was in time, for there the man stood, unharmed as yet.
+Ere he reached the spot where the two were standing, with retainers
+grouped in a circle, Sampei cried out, in his strong voice,--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No-Kami, my brother, give me this man's life!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Again,&quot; laughed No-Kami. &quot;What a glutton for the lives of prisoners.
+Not this one; no, his is a special case; but I'll give thee his little
+wanton.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What wanton?&quot; And then of a sudden the young soldier remembered his
+mother's news which had so startled him. This was the father of the
+maid whose heart he had unconsciously captured, and whose parent had
+five years ago denied to him his doors. It was with a whimsical smile
+that he shrugged his shoulders, and said,--&quot;Miné' is no wanton that I
+know of. She is as pure for me as Fugi, the holy and snow-capped
+mountain.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Liar!&quot; shouted Koshiu. &quot;What have Hojos to do with truth?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Whereupon, with a low growl, the retainers drew their dirks and
+pressed close round.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sampei grew a shade paler, but, controlling himself, quietly said,--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Let be, men! Sheathe your blades! The man labours under a mistake,
+and will know better by-and-by. Grant me his life, my brother!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Why, of what parentage art thou?&quot; exclaimed No-Kami, with a gesture
+of scorn. &quot;He dubbed thee liar! Well, well! A drop of low peasant
+blood mingled with the best envenoms the entire stream. Yet am I
+ashamed, that thou, who art said to have done deeds of exceeding
+prowess, should tamely accept such insolence! And yet--and yet! I see
+now that I was wrong, precipitate. So mean a target is not worth your
+arrows. Fear not, my sober brother, I will myself avenge thee. Stand
+forth thou, and hear thy sentence. Whereas thou--audacious and
+stiff-necked--hast set thyself up as a champion and head of the
+villagers; and whereas thou hast dared to make light of me, thy feudal
+lord, by petitioning the Emperor directly; and whereas thou hast been
+guilty of conspiracy--three heinous crimes--it is decreed that thou
+shalt be taken in chains to Tsu, in a litter covered with a net of
+shame, and there suffer death by crucifixion. Thy wife will suffer
+likewise. Thy children shall merely be beheaded. The girl--what is her
+name? Miné--alone shall live, since I have bestowed her as a boon upon
+my brother.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The samurai knelt down and rested their foreheads on the grass,
+clasping their hands in token of admiration and respect; Sampei
+covered his glowing face with quivering fingers; the farmer turned
+ashen grey. A thunderbolt hurled down to annihilate a family. For
+himself he cared not: his life he had known was forfeit. But wife and
+innocent babes! Gennosuké, the sturdy little lad; and pretty Sohei,
+and Kihachi, who could barely toddle! The unexpected blow was
+paralysing--stupefying with overwhelming sweep; and No-Kami, who saw
+with delight that the bolt went home, motioned for the condemned to be
+removed. Sampei felt stunned,--torn between horror, and the instinct
+of blind loyalty to his chief, his creed--the creed in which he had
+carefully been nurtured. The innocent and the guilty involved in one
+common doom. It was horrible--unjust! Less vindictive by-and-by, the
+Daimio would repent him of his severity. Sampei saw clearly that the
+man must go. That could not be helped: he had brought on himself his
+punishment. But the wife and children! Sampei had hurried hither to
+endeavour to rescue the man, and on behalf of the innocent had not
+found a word of protest. Thank goodness that, owing to a mistake, Miné
+at least was safe. As to the wife and children, he and O'Tei must
+combine ere the sentence was carried out, and make a strenuous effort.
+There was no help to be looked for from the weak Mikado. What a pity
+that he was such a feeble creature! But then, had he been more
+formidable, he would have shared the fate of the others long ago. The
+Hojo looked so surly, that Sampei felt the moment unpropitious for
+remonstrance. Incensed as my lord now was, prayers would but aggravate
+him further. Sampei seemed, therefore, to acquiesce in the decision of
+the Daimio, and turned to another topic.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;A new eye sees things,&quot; he remarked, as they strolled under the
+trees, &quot;which escape the ken of him to whom surrounding objects are
+familiar. Powerful as you are, swaying with a nod affairs of state,
+you strike me as less secure than was our father.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He governed, as was necessary, with an iron hand, and so do I,&quot;
+retorted No-Kami.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;His was not so wet with blood,&quot; suggested the other gently.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Can this be indeed the successful soldier?&quot; asked the Daimio,
+stopping in amaze. &quot;More like that puling wife of mine. A pity you did
+not wed her!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sampei started and winced. Could his brother guess. There was no trace
+of suspicion on his visage. His secret was safe. It was only a stray
+shot.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The daimios,&quot; he observed quietly, &quot;hate you, and they are
+treacherous.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The daimios always hate him who is in power,&quot; replied the other with
+composure, &quot;and burn to oust him. And people say that all Japanese are
+treacherous. They must be curbed by fear. Hence my severity just now.
+Nay, do not speak or waste your breath and anger me. On that my mind
+is fixed. I was too mild and compassionate with those elders, and look
+on the result! A stupid blunder, due to over-kindliness. The new-born
+arrogance of those tillers of the soil must be sternly checked.
+Clemency would be construed into a sign of weakness. He who rules with
+the sword must not be afraid to use it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I would warn you to mistrust Nara,&quot; observed Sampei, after a pause of
+thought; &quot;he does not wish you well.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Nara!&quot; echoed the Daimio. &quot;He who our astute father selected as my
+special counsellor! You are too suspicious. For Nara I have nothing
+but contempt--for him as for his counsel. He assumes sapient airs, and
+beneath them is a coward and a fool. Sometimes, in sport, I press down
+my heel on him, and he affords no sport, for he does not even writhe.
+Since you are a man of valour--the hero of the hour, though I vow you
+are more like a girl--furbish up your arms, and drill your cohorts,
+and leave policy to me. Drill your troops for my protection, most
+doughty of Hojos. As for statecraft, believe me, meddle not with a
+complicated tangle which you have not the skill to unravel. Your arm
+is more exercised than mine, but of heads, mine is the better.&quot;</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_08" href="#div1Ref_08">DESTINY IS BUSY.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">When the slow procession of armed men with a guarded litter in its
+midst was discerned approaching Tsu, great was the curiosity excited,
+for though none spoke of him, the absent farmer, devoted to a forlorn
+hope, was uppermost in the minds of all. A vague report gained ground
+that he had actually been permitted to see the face of the Sublime
+One, who, as just as he was holy, had listened to the tale of wrong.
+The stricken people, accustomed to adversity, were dazed by the gleam
+of fortune. Buddha had hearkened at last unto their groaning, had
+pitied their misery! The Hojo was not so bad after all, for the extra
+weight of taxes would doubtless be removed; the elders had returned
+forgiven; Koshiu was coming in triumph to his home, where a fitting
+reception should be accorded him. The listless men rose up upon their
+feet, the hammer and the gong resounded once again, amid blessings on
+the name of Koshiu.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The only one who was not joyous was Kennui, the farmer's faithful
+wife. She had heard so much from her spouse about the wickedness of
+the Hojos, that unconsciously she echoed his words, shaking her head
+as she muttered, &quot;The Hojos know not mercy!&quot; As the approaching
+procession became clearer to the view, defiling with clank of iron
+down the street, she gave a wild shriek, and fell swooning; for in the
+litter, under the fatal net, she had recognised the grizzled head and
+burly shoulders of him she loved best on earth. Awe-stricken, fearing
+they knew not what, the town turned out <i>en masse</i> and silently
+followed the procession, until, crossing the bridge that led over the
+outer moat of the castle, the ponderous doors closed upon it and the
+prisoner. For, strange and incomprehensible as it appeared, there was
+no doubt that Koshiu was a prisoner. The net and chains, and scowling
+escort told as much. Why? Was the report a false one? Had he not
+succeeded in communicating with the Sublime One? Sure he who was the
+Fount of Honour had not spurned the humble prayer! If he had been
+gracious, why was the victim brought to his home with sinister pomp
+and circumstance? While the crowd in scattered knots were discussing
+the enigma, the gates opened again, a band of samurai rushed forth,
+and presently returned with--wonder of wonders!--Kennui and her little
+children, who, driven at point of spear, like the farmer vanished.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Curiosity and impatience were getting the better of alarm, and some of
+the elders were about to cross the bridge, and knocking, make
+inquiries, when again the door swung upon its hinges, a man posted up
+a paper, and the gate was again shut to. A thrill of horror and
+consternation shivered over the crowd, as some one, mounting on a
+riding block, read aloud the proclamation. Crucifixion for the patriot
+and his innocent wife--the annihilation of his family and name! The
+injustice and brutality of such a sweeping sentence cried aloud to
+Heaven. Japan should ring with it. Come what might, the elders would
+remonstrate,--would lift up their voices in supreme protest against
+the iniquity of the cold-blooded tyrant.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The head men of the town and surrounding villages assembled, one
+hundred and thirty in number, and drew up an appeal, affixing thereto
+their seals, and Rokubei and Zembei, whose consciences smote them
+somewhat, travelled with it themselves to Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto. There the streets
+were in commotion, business was put aside, and men sat on the mats in
+groups discussing the darkening future. In whispers, with furtive
+glances over the shoulder, they murmured that there must be an end of
+it; anything was preferable as a change to such a life as No-Kami
+prepared for the people. Submission was making matters worse instead
+of better. Letters must be sent to the surrounding provinces. They
+must shake off sloth, and rise as one to free themselves and their
+Mikado.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sampei, riding to the Golden House, told his brother of the hubbub. As
+he heard, the brow of the despot darkened; his eyeballs became
+bloodshot, like those of the demon Razetsu, as in obstinate fume he
+gnashed his teeth.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What?&quot; he cried. &quot;Oh, girl in man's attire, I have borne too long
+with your puling! You dare to come hither, and take the part of the
+scum against me, your feudal lord! A shivering coward, who calls
+himself a soldier! Not a word more, or, despite the army at your back,
+I'll have you seized and scourged, and your head flung to the
+jackals.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hot words rose in Sampei's throat, but the mournful face of his pale
+love rose before him, and he choked them down. His brother was
+distraught with passion,--knew not what he said. His feudal lord! Yes,
+that much was true. If danger was brewing, his place was by the side
+of his brother, to save him, if might be, from the consequences of the
+wickedness instilled by demons; if not, to assist him in his death.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The silence and sullen submission of the young General irritated the
+Daimio to frenzy. He cursed and growled like some savage animal,
+became the more furious from the conviction that in this matter he
+had been precipitate and wrong,--had been guilty of a mistake in
+state-craft,--of over-harshness. And yet it would never do to give to
+the scum the victory--to the low mechanics, and mean, unarmed
+artificers, who were assuming a threatening attitude. What would the
+other daimios say, who were eagerly watching the next move, if the
+ruler were again to give way,--to succumb like a woman before the
+outcry of a few rustics? The prestige of the Hojos would be gone for
+ever, and the bearer of the name would be sucked under and drowned by
+the torrent which would assuredly break loose. Give way! That, by the
+crown of Buddha, he swore he never would; and yet, perceiving too late
+the danger, in his heart he longed for a compromise. Hearing that
+Rokubei and Zembei, venerable elders, had dared to come pestering, and
+that a deputation of priests, headed by the bonzes of Tsu, awaited his
+pleasure, he smothered his rage, and bade Sampei admit them. He even
+deigned to summon his father's friend, and solicit counsel, placing
+the case before him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Concealing his exultation under an air of sympathy, Nara arrived with
+promptitude, and, true to his tactics, gave advice which was
+calculated to undo his enemy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The peril is extreme,&quot; he said, &quot;so I will speak plainly. 'Tis easier
+to raise a storm than quell it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;If you are here to talk platitudes, begone,&quot; interrupted No-Kami.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Be patient, my almost son, and attend,&quot; the malicious Daimio
+responded, with inward laughter. Like a bear in the toils his foe was
+caught, and it should be no fault of his if he became not more closely
+enmeshed. &quot;You are right in this,&quot; he continued. &quot;It will not do to
+lower the proud standard of the Hojos before the rabble; and yet you
+must provide them with a sop. Let the sentence stand. What is decreed
+should be irrevocable; but grant the boon in the memorial. Remove the
+obnoxious taxes. So will you seem clement, as well as stern and
+strong. They will fear you more than ever, while compelled to praise
+your bounty.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The advice jumped with No-Kami's inclination The more he considered
+it, the more crafty it appeared; but, true to his principle of
+blood-letting and tyrannising over the weak, he slightly improved on
+it. He would pretend to have known nothing of these taxes, and,
+as an example, would bring to condign punishment the bailiffs and
+tax-gatherers who had so harshly oppressed his vassals.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A master-stroke worthy of his sapient father this. A touch of genius.
+He accordingly harangued the deputations; declared his surprise as
+well as sympathy and love with such assurance that they scarce could
+believe their ears. The sentence, if somewhat harsh, must stand, he
+said, for 'twas a grievous crime in a vassal to hold up to obloquy his
+feudal lord. The property of the offending farmer should, however, not
+all be confiscated, but a part would be handed over to the girl Miné,
+who was spared, thanks to his brother's pleading. He assured his
+amazed listeners that he grieved over the rapacity of his officers--of
+whom he would make an example--in that they had invented new imposts
+on their own account, to the detriment of their lord's repute. He was
+sorry that the full details of the case had not reached him before.
+The town councillors of Tsu would be dismissed from their posts. Four
+district governors and three bailiffs would be banished to the
+northern island. The chief bailiff of Tsu and one particularly-sinful
+officer would be invited to perform harakiri. The objectionable taxes
+were abolished.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With this, while his audience stood aghast and dumb, my lord waved his
+fan with courteous condescension, in token of dismissal, and retired,
+flattering himself that he had got extremely well out of rather an
+awkward hobble.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The news which the deputations brought back with them to Tsu was
+received with mixed feelings. It was sad that the farmer's family must
+perish, but Koshiu would know that they had not died in vain. For the
+public good he and his were made a sacrifice. Many litanies should be
+chanted in the temples; the martyr should be canonised, enrolled on
+the list of saints.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">One who was inconsolable was Miné. Spurned by him at whose feet she
+had cast herself--for Sampei had never deigned to inquire after
+her--she was compelled to admit that her father was right in his
+estimate of the reigning family. If he whom she elected to worship as
+a hero had not been as cruel as his brother, he would not stand
+by--he, a powerful general in command of many soldiers, while so
+wicked a sentence was promulgated. Father, mother, brothers--all. And
+she had loved this man! Distracted, she rushed to the castle, and
+braving the obscene jests of the samurai, implored to be admitted to
+her parents. She had done wrong, and must die heartbroken if deprived
+of their forgiveness.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A soldier, softened by the maiden's anguish, carried her entreaty, and
+returned with the message that her father refused to see her. She who
+was the chattel of a Hojo was no child of his, he had declared. Three
+beloved sons were his, but no daughter. Miné battered with weak hands
+upon the closing door. Her father had judged too harshly, for--alas!
+to confess such infamy--the Hojo had repulsed her. She was not his
+mistress,--had never even seen him since he sallied forth to war. The
+samurai laughed loud at the confession, and gibed at the hapless maid,
+bandying foul pleasantries. A likely story. Since, owing to the
+General's intervention, she was to have the property, she would
+doubtless find some one to pick up that which my lord Sampei had
+tossed into the mire. How much would she be worth? Would she set
+herself up to auction? By-and-by she could purchase for herself a
+husband, if not now a messenger. Her father declined to see her, so if
+yet she had a shred of shame left she had best depart, and quickly. If
+not, the soldiery would take her in, and for their own delectation
+keep her there. In terror she sped away, nor stopped till she reached
+the temple; and when in the gloaming the spectral line of nuns and
+Abbess entered for the evening prayer, Masago lifted the exhausted and
+fainting girl, and pressing cold lips upon her brow, bade her take
+rest and comfort. Henceforth she was theirs and Buddha's.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">To show that, although clement, he was not to be intimidated, No-Kami
+resolved to make of the prospective execution a wholesome precedent,
+and to that end journeyed to Tsu in person. He was determined that the
+spectacle should abide in the minds of those who were privileged to
+witness it, as an ineffaceable lesson and an awful memory. It should
+take place within the castle boundaries, he decreed, in the presence
+of the Daimio and his suite, in gala robes, and all and sundry were
+invited to attend this new and engaging form of public festival.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As the fatal day approached, the fiery temper of the despot was
+severely tried, and grew hotter under the trial; for although the
+truculent retinue applauded, and looked forward with glee to a rare
+frolic, there was hanging over the land a shadow that might be felt.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Men spoke together in isolated knots, scudding away like hares if the
+gallop of my lord's escort was heard returning from the chase. This
+showed a wholesome and gratifying fear; but there were some who took
+no pains to cloke their insolence. The friends of the tax-gatherers
+and others who had been condemned, raised an outcry, vowing that they
+had obeyed to the letter their lord's behest, and that 'twas hard to
+suffer for being only too faithfully obedient. No-Kami increased the
+number of his personal attendants, daring no longer to go forth alone,
+lest haply some wailing relative should cling to his stirrup, and
+decline to be beaten off. Even behind the bristling defences of the
+castle he was not secure. Masago and her nuns arrived in solemn
+procession at the gate, and the soldiers, hardened though they were,
+were afraid to refuse them entrance. The austere Abbess was not to be
+browbeaten. Calm and cold, with inflexible mien she looked No-Kami in
+the eyes, and in presence of his warriors, in the name of her dead
+lord his father, dared him to fulfil his purpose. Solemnly she warned
+him of divine rancour. She had had a dream, and, as all the world
+knows, the soul during sleep is in active communication with the
+departed. Even now, at the eleventh hour, she urged that there was
+still time to avert the vengeance of the gods. The growing anger of
+Buddha might be appeased by pilgrimage and prayer, self-humbling, and
+precious gifts.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But Masago might as well have preached to the lotuses. Her speech was
+met with uneasy ribaldry, and smouldering ire.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Bah! Threats from a troop of women! A made-up ghost to affright
+children with. Ye are hungry for the good things of this world,&quot;
+snarled the Daimio, &quot;like all the priesthood. Be off! I care not for
+nuns or bonzes, self-appointed messengers from Heaven. Chatterers, get
+you gone while ye have time, or despite your garb your bodies shall
+feel the whip.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With that he bade the doorkeepers open wide the gate, that his guards
+might drive forth the embassage.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The unfortunate chatelaine, although none of the castle denizens cared
+to know it, was the one who was most hardly stricken by her husband's
+culminating sin. When the sad procession arrived with in its midst the
+patriot, she was boating outside the walls, deftly guiding her shallop
+with a slender pole through the luxuriant floating greenery. The
+elders having been spared at her written request, the horizon
+seemed less black. This was a first step towards the reclaiming of
+No-Kami--by-and-by, little by little, she would by tact and persistent
+effort regain over him the influence which at first she had too
+quickly abdicated. As she pondered, she blamed herself for lack of
+patient perseverance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">What was her own petty pride to the people's good? She had misjudged
+No-Kami, for on receipt of her letter he had given way at once. So he
+would again, and yet again, till drawn out of himself by tenderness,
+he would cast aside his wicked self like a foul garment, and live a
+cleanly life. Then she fell a-weaving of plans for assuaging the
+misery of her people, and all at once there fell the thunderbolt, and
+her new calm was rudely broken.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This horror was worse than all. Retiring to her bower, and dismissing
+her maidens, she cast herself upon the floor, and, numbed by despair,
+remained inanimate for hours. Had the gods no pity for such frail
+things as she? The contemplation of her husband, of the man who could
+deliberately plan and execute so vile an atrocity as this, caused her
+flesh to creep, her soul to shudder. He proposed, moreover, to
+accomplish the dreadful deed <i>here</i>, within the precincts of her
+house. The smell of the blood would never fade, its stain might never
+be effaced; and she was doomed to endure its constant presence for
+long years, unless the gods were clement. Some rail at the brief span
+of life. To some it seems too short, to others interminable. How
+earnestly, lying prone, did O'Tei entreat release. A long vista of
+grim dreadful years. No, at bay, she would revolt against the
+nightmare, would leap into the waves, and make an end of it. Since men
+may relieve themselves with the dirk of a too heavy existence, might
+not women seek relief in the embrace of the blessed sea?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He was coming here soon, her husband, to superintend the shocking
+details. He would touch, perhaps clasp her in his arms. Oh, no! And
+yet, why not? Clutched by him, pressed to the hard heart of the
+monster, inhaling the poison of his breath, she must surely wither;
+and if her soul were freed, what signified the horror of the means?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sinking into a condition of dull lethargy, she went forth no more, but
+brooded in the quiet of her chamber, from which she could see the hill
+crowned by the temple groves. Dim and distant, like the roar in a
+sea-shell, she heard the noise of arrival, the neighing of steeds, and
+clank of iron, the braying of hoarse throats, the shouts and laughter
+at carousal. With sick apprehension she awaited the dreaded footsteps
+which soon must cross the threshold. But time went on and it came not,
+and she thanked the gods for that. He had inquired for her, the
+maidens said, and they had replied that their lady was ill. He had
+said no more, and had seemed satisfied. Truth to tell, he was as much
+relieved as she at the postponement of a meeting. For, worried and
+annoyed by the abominable behaviour of the scum, he was in no mood for
+whining, and instinct whispered that on such an occasion as the
+forthcoming festival the degenerate O'Tei would whine. When it was
+past and over, she would know better than to whimper, since what is
+done is done; and once resolved, no whining of silly women-folk should
+turn him from his purpose. Whilst dreading the creak of one footfall,
+she listened wistfully for another. Where was Sampei, her childhood's
+friend? Sure, he would sympathise, for his kind heart would tell him
+of the direful condition of his sister. Had he, disgusted with his
+brother, deserted him? It was likely; and yet not so, for Sampei--who
+should know better than she?--was loyal and true. He had arrived with
+my lord; the maidens had seen and admired him, and had grieved to
+perceive that he was dejected, the noble young hero. How strange then
+that he should not visit his old playmate.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Alack! Sampei avoided O'Tei as diligently as did No-Kami. What could
+he say to her that would not increase her sorrow? Fully appreciating
+her highly-wrought and reserved and sensitive nature, he knew too well
+what she must be suffering; and the sight of her tears, since he might
+not dry them, would cut him like a sword-thrust. Moreover, the seed
+his mother had prudently sown had taken deep root in his light soil,
+by reason of Miné's foolishness. On every account it was well to avoid
+personal contact with O'Tei. Without being conceited, the fact was
+patent that if one woman fell in love with him without encouragement,
+another might. In his ordinary frame of mind, he would cheerfully have
+said, &quot;The more the better,&quot; and have basked with joy in the sunshine
+of unlimited loveliness. But he knew now that he adored O'Tei with an
+affection so pure and deep that there was no selfishness in it,--that,
+rather than cause her a pang, he would himself make any sacrifice. Her
+heart, he knew, was empty. As the Abbess had hinted, it was not at all
+impossible that if tempted she might grow to love her brother-in-law
+in unbrotherly fashion; and then, what pain to her, to him, to all?
+For once the young soldier would be prudent. Near, but unseen, he
+would shield his beloved as much as possible,--commune with her as
+little as might be,--come forward only in emergency.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With regard to No-Kami, he grew grievously perplexed, marvelling
+sometimes whether his brother was sane. The practice of cruelty upon
+the weak, for the enjoyment thereof, was something so foreign to his
+own open character that he could not comprehend the motives which
+moved the Daimio, nor his fits of frenzy when thwarted. Once, since
+their arrival at Tsu, he had remonstrated fearlessly with his chief,
+who had thereupon threatened to dismiss him into banishment. For the
+sake of the chatelaine, in the quickly-clouding future, this must not
+be. So Sampei, at his wits' end, like a dutiful son, climbed the
+temple stairs and unlocked the secrets of his heart before the shrewd
+ken of the Abbess. Masago surveyed him anxiously, then unaccustomed
+tears for a moment dimmed her vision as she gave praise to the gods in
+that she had been given such a son. Truth and trust looked from out
+his eyes. The noble fellow. Placing her firm white hand upon his
+shoulder, she kissed his brow.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The situation is dark,&quot; she said; &quot;the skein is tangled. The gods
+have marked down for destruction my lord of Tsu. That much is clear to
+me. Blindfold he marches to the edge of the abyss. I am a weak,
+purblind woman groping in the dark, unable to give counsel in so
+difficult a strait. My voice has been raised in vain: he thrust us
+forth like dogs. I will pray. Maybe that through prayer and vigil I
+may learn to know; and when I know, then will I tell thee, child.
+Peradventure divine wrath may yet, by diligent pleading, be turned
+aside. The farmer and his family must perish, thou a dumb spectator.
+That much cannot be helped. Be patient. Wait. I will prostrate myself
+before the altar, that the veil of the future may be rent.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">One morning a lull of unaccustomed quietude informed O'Tei that my
+lord and all his following had gone scouring over the plain, and her
+maids, seeing her listless and sad-eyed, implored their mistress to
+mount to the top of the tower, and breathe the fresher air. From the
+upper gallery, shaded by the huge copper roof, the weary recluse gazed
+over the flat towards the twin hills with an intense longing. Since my
+lord's coming, she had not visited her summer-house, for she could not
+bear the sight of the mourning which she knew overhung the town. She
+yearned to steal forth now and gaze on the lovely view, with its
+sequestered temple, and placid land-locked waters, and fishers, and
+sunny islets. Alas! all labour was abandoned. The fishers were too
+wretched to pursue their avocation. Their boats were drawn up upon the
+beach untenanted. She could see them, a white fringe upon the yellow.
+Then, as her eye moved homeward, she started, and cried aloud, and
+wrung her hands, for down below in the courtyard rose, gaunt and
+terrible, the symbols of oppression. In a corner of the space within
+the outer moat stood ready a pair of crosses. The preparations were
+made then?--the consummation of the tragedy was imminent; and she,
+cowering and cowardly, had never attempted to stem the new tide of the
+Daimio's anger. A tacit connivance at this villainy!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Shaking herself as from the drowsy clog of sleep, she swiftly
+descended the stair with head erect, distended eye, and face as grey
+as ashes, and, to the surprise of the sentinels, crossed the first
+drawbridge as one in a trance, and made for the place of execution.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It occupied an extreme corner, far from the huts of the soldiers, and
+was masked from the path in common use by a belt of trees, concerning
+which there were fearsome legends. So many terrible events had taken
+place beneath their shade that they were said to be tenanted by souls
+of criminals,--to groan at times, and ooze with gore, and be accursed.
+To the Asiatic peasant all streams and woods are peopled with
+visionary forms,--are the homes of demons or of angels. It was well
+known that a sacrilegious cutter had striven once to fell one of these
+gnarled trunks, and had been blasted as if by lightning. It was an
+equally established fact that their vicinity impelled to suicide, for
+many men had, apparently without reason, hung themselves upon their
+branches, fascinated to self-destruction by some dread and secret
+spell.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">O'Tei passed under their shade, and, shivering, recalled the legend,
+for though there seemed no wind, they swayed and creaked, spreading
+gaunt arms over her head, with trails of grey-green spindles, like
+uncanny mildewed hair. Why she had come she knew not--it was in
+obedience to no volition of her own. Her heart and temples were
+throbbing wildly. Within her swimming brain there was room for but one
+idea. The web of a terrible fate was being spun with ruthless fingers
+around my lord and her to choke them both. Was she to be permitted
+again to intervene between him and his victims?--or, to tear the
+meshes which encircled them, were they destined to writhe in vain?
+Advocate of mercy, how sweet a privilege! What could she do? Had she
+the courage to face that sin-stained man? Irresolute and trembling,
+she stood staring at the crosses, marking their shadows as they
+lengthened, till, with a gasp and sob, she heard the tread of horses,
+accompanied by shouts and laughter.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He had returned from the chase--the tyrant--and it was well that she
+was here. She would try not to fear him,--strive hard to do her duty.
+They must meet now, and, summoning her puny strength, she would
+endeavour to push him from the precipice.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The cavalcade swept past in a cloud of dust--a brilliant, uproarious
+company--and clattered across the moat. Two riders were following a
+little behind the rest, when one, catching sight of a familiar drapery
+among the trees, pulled back his horse upon its haunches.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The lady O'Tei,&quot; he exclaimed, &quot;beneath that baleful canopy!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And straightway Sampei dismounted, and held the stirrup for his
+brother.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And thus they met again, those three, on this fateful day for all---my
+lord in an evil mood, for even to him there was something oppressive
+in the air. A pall, as of the shadow of death, hung murky over the
+land.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With trembling, blue lips, more like a spectre than a woman, O'Tei
+awaited my lord's approach, and turning, flung herself upon her knees,
+clinging about his feet.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No-Kami glared down in surprised dudgeon, while the soul of Sampei was
+thrilled with pity to perceive how wan she looked.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My lord!&quot; she murmured low, with fluttering heart, &quot;a boon. Oh! spare
+them--for my sake--for your own--spare them--spare them--spare them!
+Give me at least the lives of the woman and her babes. If the man must
+suffer, be it so. You see that for him I say no word, not one--the
+gods forgive me! For his act he knew and weighed the penalty. But
+those innocents are not to perish. Say 'twas but a pleasantry, and I
+will kiss your feet, and bless you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The visage of No-Kami grew purple as he glowered down upon his wife,
+and then, with grinding teeth, he glanced furtively around. There was
+no witness to the interview.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It is well,&quot; he hissed, &quot;that the company has gone before, and that I
+am spared humiliation in their eyes. Fie! what shameful folly's this?
+Can this grovelling thing, like a slave in the dust, be Hojo's wife,
+child of the Daimio of Nara? Nay! it is some mean Eta woman, pariah
+and outcast. Sampei, raise her up, and quickly, and let us both forget
+this spectacle. Arise!&quot; he cried, spurning the prostrate figure with
+his foot. &quot;Even among the Etas obedience is a wife's first duty.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sampei stooped, and gently raising his distracted sister, supported
+her upon his breast, whilst the furious despot continued dryly,--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Know that your existence is a blot on my name and your own. It is
+well that you have borne no children to perpetuate disgrace. If any of
+the bold samurai had seen you but now, what would they have thought of
+me?--of you? how could they respect their lady? Shame, shame! Pluck up
+a spirit--borrow one--and make at least pretence to assume a fitting
+dignity. The condemned are to die at sundown; no more on that score;
+even now the spectators are trooping hitherward. Go; tire your hair
+and don your gala robes. When all is ready, I will send for you.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;For me!&quot; gasped O'Tei, turning a shade more white.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;As chatelaine of Tsu, your place is by my side,&quot; announced the Daimio
+sternly. &quot;Be my will your law. Go now, and try not to degrade us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">His unhappy sister-in-law cast an imploring glance at Sampei, who
+stood with head bowed and sullen averted gaze. His blood was coursing
+through his veins at fevered speed. Patience, his mother had said, and
+wait. How could he wait and practise patience, seeing her he loved so
+outraged? Was she to be forced, by the whim of a madman, to give the
+sanction of her gracious presence to the deed which all deplored?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Masago, as usual, had been right. The Divine finger was in it, or why
+should the heiress of Nara, belying her own pride and the traditions
+of her haughty lineage, have selected the very means of interference
+which was most sure to offend her lord, and frustrate her own desires?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Had she, with imperious attitude and supercilious air, demanded the
+lives of the woman and her offspring, No-Kami might, touched by the
+proud beauty of her who was his bone, have, even so late as this, been
+surprised into some clemency. Sampei himself, to whom all she did was
+dear, felt a sharp twinge of mortification as, burning with sorrowful
+regret, he had quickly lifted her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Both brothers, jealous of the name they bore, suffered in their
+tenderest point on seeing her thus prostrate. O'Tei must have been
+overcome with grief indeed ere she could have been guilty of so grave
+an error. But the Daimio's last demand must be rescinded. He must not
+insist upon her being present at the ceremony, or she might succumb
+under the ordeal.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Angry words of protest rose to the General's lips, but for her sake
+(remembering his mother's injunctions) he mastered them, and, as the
+trio moved slowly to the castle, strove to speak with a steady voice
+and dispassionate temperance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Far be it from me,&quot; he began, &quot;to interfere between a wife and her
+spouse, or fatigue my lord with argument, yet would I suggest this
+much to my brother. Alas! see how weak she is--feeble in health.
+Nerves overstrung are not under complete control. But for this, the
+heiress of Nara would never have given just cause for a husband's
+displeasure by an act which we will all forget. Do not insist upon her
+witnessing the ceremony, for she has dwelt of late in such strict
+retirement that none will expect her presence.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A look at No-Kami cut him short. There was a lurid glitter in his
+glance that boded serious mischief if thwarted, threatening a new
+burst of frenzy. How difficult it was to be prudent, to steer without
+shipwreck in such troubled waters. Again for a space was the General
+torn between contending duties. Was he bound blindly to follow the
+head of his clan in his mad recklessness, lead where he would? Could
+he be excused were he to look on and refrain from action while the
+soul of his love was tortured? Was it not craven idly to mark her
+growing misery? Her true knight, forsooth! A knight unarmed, his spear
+a rotten bulrush. Was it destined that he might never afford her help?
+Better go away then, back to Corea, or farther still. Yet how would
+that be possible, she in this desperate quandary? Like a green flash
+of pallid light it broke upon him clearly, as he walked beside his
+chief, that the day might come when, the weapon in the grasp of a
+higher power, he would be compelled to smite his brother. With the
+thought came a grisly dread. Desperation drives men to acts for which
+a long life of penitence may not atone. Fate is fate, and man may not
+master it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sampei thought of his mother, and, like her, prayed to be enlightened.
+Was the doomed No-Kami indeed to fall by the treacherous hand of him
+who should be the first to help? And, ah! what a grievous punishment
+would follow, since by the very act of freeing her he would cut
+himself off from her for ever. A brother's widow and a brother's
+murderer. Wait, the Abbess had said. Wait! How long? Events rolling
+onward with the turbid tide, would it be possible to wait?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The toils of destiny were wrapped around the three, clasping them
+closer and more close, as, gloomy and tempest-tossed, they passed
+under the gateway of the castle.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_09" href="#div1Ref_09">THE EXECUTION.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">The Daimio was well served by his subordinates. Nothing was omitted
+which could add impressiveness to the coming rite. The two crosses
+stood facing the west, gaunt and forbidding, at a convenient distance
+one from the other, backed by the green trees, and around them was
+spread thick paper, to save the earth from pollution. It had been a
+knotty question with the chief samurai, who acted as master of the
+ceremonies, as to the exact shade of punctilio which it would be
+fitting to employ on the occasion. All the world knows that the most
+minute instructions were laid down in 1336 by Ashikaga for the
+guidance of those of upper or military class who were to assist either
+as principals or seconds at harakiri, or suicide by disembowelling.
+The exact hour, the place, the number of lights, of mats, of screens
+and hangings, bows and genuflections, according to the rank of the
+sufferer, were arranged by him in the form of a long code, and so
+complete and comprehensive were these instructions that no room was
+left for doubt as to the most trifling detail. But here was a case
+without precedent, for the sufferers were plebeians, too low and
+common to be worthy of the smallest candle or commonest mat, or,
+indeed, of anything whatever except an ignominious slaughter like
+swine. But then the Daimio had insisted that the spectators should be
+regaled with pomp and circumstance,--that the criminals should have
+the honour of being done to death within the castle precincts, and
+therefore the chief samurai was obliged to hold a council with his
+fellows for the fixing of this weighty matter.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In the first place, the farmer and his wife were of too mean a stock
+to be permitted to put an end to themselves, just as the children
+were too young to perform the act, even if accorded the privilege. No,
+they must be handed over to the Etas, members of the lowest class in
+Japan--people who dig graves and kill animals--social outcasts beyond
+the pale of society, filthy and degraded, who are never allowed to
+enter a house, or eat or drink or cook at any fire in company with
+decent persons. Being unworthy of mats or hangings, the device of the
+paper was an ingenious thought, for the blood of mere peasants must
+not defile the private ground of my lord, and yet the spirits of the
+departing must not be overcomforted by too much consideration. As the
+execution was to take place at the hour of the cock, or sundown, it
+would be necessary to have lights, but not too many, or of too grand a
+kind, for excessive illumination would be indecorous. Four tall bamboo
+poles, carrying lanterns of plain white, were placed at four corners,
+while behind a screen were concealed a lance, a dirk upon a tray,
+buckets to contain the heads, an incense burner, cloths, and a pail of
+water. In the centre of the space facing the crosses, thick mats were
+laid, covered with rich embroideries, for the accommodation of my lord
+and his party, behind which was to be arranged, standing in rows, his
+brilliant retinue in their most splendid and glittering array. Down
+the sides, behind a low barrier, were mats of a coarser kind for the
+town's-people, with fire boxes or hibachis, and bronze kettles and tea
+things, and cakes and sweetmeats on trays of gold lacquer, in order
+that none of his vassals might accuse his benignant lord of want of
+hospitality or lack of thought for their comfort.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was a beautiful and still evening in autumn, with the opalescent
+sky of crystalline clearness, which so often in Japan gives us a hint
+of the infinite. The sun was just dipping behind the outer wall,
+flanked by its massive towers, tipping with gold the eddies of the
+brawling river which protected the side of the square opposite the
+crosses, when a flourish of conch shells announced that the time was
+come.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With a thunder of hoofs over the wooden drawbridge, first there
+defiled a troop of cavalry with tapering lances and pennons, in
+glistening black armour and housings, each helmet adorned with the
+badge of Hojo, the face of each horse covered by a gilded mask of
+frowning and horrific aspect. Solemnly the horsemen man&#339;uvred,
+forming a hollow square of gold and sable; then at a signal the outer
+gates were opened, and with clatter of many clogs there poured in from
+the town a sea of men and women, old and young, with anxious pallid
+faces. The invitation had been accepted by all classes. Fishermen
+there were in short blue cotton shirts and tight gaiters, and mushroom
+hats roughly bedizened in colour with tigers or twisting dragons. Old
+dames and young rosy girls jostled and fought for places, for sure
+never had the oldest inhabitant been bidden to so strange a mummery.
+Artisans there were too, burly and bronzed, naked, save for a
+loin-cloth and loose jacket; and merchants and superior persons, in
+long crape kimonos, adorned with curious designs, bound round the
+waist with scarves of silk. The black phalanx looked down with scorn
+but half concealed, for never had so motley a rabblement been admitted
+within these walls, and many a timid wight glanced trembling at the
+swart fierce visages under shadow of the casques, wishing he had
+stayed away. There was one, however, conspicuous for gay attire and
+many hairpins, who, no whit abashed, looked saucily along the line,
+making loud remarks, with pointed finger, as if the motionless figures
+were statues. A very pretty little lady like a humming bird, with
+dancing eyes and silvery laugh, and hair tricked out and stiffened
+with pomade, who, by her gay dress, was a geisha or professional
+dancing-girl. All about her was small, but neat and natty and trim,
+from her tiny feet and lacquered clogs to her impudent little nose. It
+was plain that she was afraid of nothing, taking life lightly,
+resolved upon enjoying the day, however dark its setting; for,
+elbowing her way to the front, she commenced, with a comical
+assumption of haughtiness, to criticise the arrangements, as if all
+her short career had been passed in castles and palaces.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The chief samurai was uncertain how to act respecting her, for she
+presumed to mock at him, and mimic his rolling swagger and pompous
+stride, rating him the while for tardiness,--a lamentable lack of
+punctuality. Who was this forward wench? he asked, awaking from dumb
+amazement, who, respecting neither place nor persons, mumbled
+sweetmeats between cherry lips, and, tapping a garish fan, shouted for
+the performance to commence! It was O'Kikú some one said, a celebrated
+dancer and spoilt beauty from distant Kamakura, who was in the habit
+of walking upon hearts, of attaching herself to richest youths like a
+tarantula, and quickly sucking them dry. She was on a pilgrimage to
+the groves of Isé--for even frail and flighty young ladies have souls
+that require doctoring--but hearing of what was toward, and the
+temptation great, had gaily tossed aside her pilgrim robes of white,
+and postponed her journey and her prayers.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But now, even naughty and irrepressible O'Kikú was hushed to silence,
+for there was another flourish, and, stately and slow, with all the
+pomp of state, the procession of the Daimio marched across the bridge.
+Very handsome the two brothers looked as, in full dress, and wearing
+the courtly Naga-bakama (full long trousers of red silk), they moved
+with a lady between them--a lady who, by her exceeding stateliness and
+unusual pallor, riveted the attention of the geisha.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Patrician to the finger ends,&quot; muttered the latter approvingly. &quot;I
+have never seen so high-bred a lady--no, not even among the gorgeous
+court of the Shogun in distant Kamakura--as noble in bearing as her
+two supporters. Which is the Daimio, I wonder? The older one, of
+course.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The older one. Her heart---or what served as such--went straight out
+to him; and from her worldly point of view, in which inclination and
+interest seemed in unaccustomed fashion to mingle, she decided, as
+rustic Miné had done before her, that he, and he only, should be her
+master. The handsome stalwart fellow, bronzed and weather-worn, his
+brow crossed by a deep and honourable cicatrice! A typical soldier he,
+whom 'twould be a joy to love. The other one? Well, handsome too, but
+ill-tempered evidently; as rich in scowls as a tiger in stripes; a
+wild beast, whose taming might amuse. And yet toying with wild beasts
+is dangerous, for when they scratch they tear. Brothers apparently.
+The wife of which was the patrician lady? For a second the world-worn
+geisha felt the prick of a curious and new sensation. Could it be
+jealousy? If she were the wife of the soldier, she was a rival whom it
+would be necessary to fight and crush. Cold--almost inanimate; a
+doll--stupid probably--entirely wrapped, like so many of her station,
+in contemplation of the family tree. Pooh! an absurd rival; for sure
+no man could love an icicle. Were they newly married? This bridegroom
+with the scar was delectably attentive to his bride. How mawkish! And
+then the observant little woman noticed that the scowls of the younger
+brother were specially turned upon the icicle. Why was that? There was
+an air about him of discontented proprietorship. Suddenly she became
+aware of the richness of his attire as he took his place in the
+centre, amid the bows and genuflections of the spectators.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So the younger of the twain was the Daimio, and the icicle his wife.
+What a pity that it was not the elder. It was with a twinge of genuine
+regret that the geisha turned from the bronzed hero to examine the
+chief of the clan. A forbidding savage! Clearly he did not love the
+icicle. He was fancy free. Inclination and interest as usual did not
+mingle. Heigho! must we always throw over romance for the better
+filling of our pockets? An unsatisfactory world, in sooth, where
+things have such a provoking way of clashing. A good-looking
+aristocratic person this head of the clan, if cross.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I did well to drop my foolish prayers; this is the moment for
+business,&quot; she inly murmured. &quot;I shall have first to ensnare the
+chief, and his stalwart brother after.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Her line of action thus promptly and practically decided, the young
+woman prepared her batteries.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Even No-Kami, with much cause, as he told himself, for displeasure,
+could find little room for carping in the attitude of his consort, now
+frozen into compliance with his mandate. She had, as it were, gone out
+of herself, leaving a stiffened body, moved by automatic springs.
+Condemned to do awful penance, she walked mechanically, leaning on the
+arm of her brother, who glanced from time to time at her, with mixed
+satisfaction and surprise. He had dreaded lest, her task beyond her
+strength, she should quail and break down, object of derision to
+samurai; but no--the struggle was past--the blood of the Daimios of
+Nara asserted itself. Of what use was it for a girl to struggle
+against destiny? What must be, will be, despite our feeble protests.
+To beat soft palms against a wall is but to bruise and maim them. One
+who drowns, battles with futile strength among the waters, then drifts
+quiescent beyond the pale, power of resistance gone.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The watchful warriors smiled, relieved, behind their iron-mounted
+tans, as silently they dropped into their places. For once their
+chatelaine was as chill and disdainful and impassable as the
+chatelaine of Tsu should be.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No-Kami cast his eyes, gleaming tawny with malice satisfied, over the
+throng. He was well-pleased. As a pageant the affair was a distinct
+success, for, hemmed round by the swart square, his vassals were
+learning a lesson of fear that should stem their insolence in future.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The executioner and his aids stood ready on their lengthening shadows,
+chosen from among the Etas for their breadth of beam. Their athletic
+bodies stripped to the waist, dark as burnished bronze, tatooed in
+intricate designs, with loins girt up, and hair loosely knotted, and
+sandalled feet apart, they awaited the signal of their lord.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Daimio raised his arm; the shells sent forth a blast, and at the
+warning all heads were turned, for there appeared from among the grey
+and ghostly trees the sad procession of the doomed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">First, with chains about their ankles, and wrists fast bound, came the
+unlucky officials who for too slavishly literal obedience were to
+serve as a sop to the people. A purr of applause, a drawing in of the
+breath, like the sibillation of the plashing wave, went round the
+throng, as the heads of the condemned were severed; for there is no
+denying that it is delicious to enjoy the discomfiture of foes. But
+this act of popular justice accomplished, there was a pause, and then
+the assemblage, changing its tone, sent up a protesting moan of
+tribulation, accompanied by tears; for, smiling, with head well poised
+and brawny shoulders bare, the patriot, who was one of themselves,
+advanced to martyrdom. By his side, in mien as brave as he, walked in
+her best kimono his wife, the hapless Kennui, leading in each hand a
+child, pathetically crowned with simple field-flowers. Ah me! How
+grievous a spectacle was this of innocence marching to the slaughter.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There was a rustle and ripple as of wind over a rice field.
+O'Tei alone of all appeared unmoved. But for the twitching of
+slightly-contracted brows, her delicate features might have been
+carven, as, peering into space and seeing nothing, she sat motionless
+with bloodless lips.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Even the fair and outrageously irreverent and saucy O'Kikú, who had
+made so merry, with that musical strong voice of hers, Over the rueful
+plight of the tax-gatherers, as to draw on herself the flattering
+attention of the Daimio, was obliged, at sight of the babes, to dash
+away one tiny crystal drop; but then remembering that weeping makes
+pink the nose, and that life at best is brief, she resumed the reins
+of composure. More, for she succeeded in emitting such a jocund and
+appropriate peal of laughter as disconcerted the mob and wrung for
+behoof of the stranger a gratified inclination from my lord. Who was
+this bewitching creature? he began to ask. As good-looking as
+sensible. The eyes of the pretty girl beyond the common barrier and
+those of the great man on the mat of honour met, and from beneath a
+silky curtain the former shot forth a languishing glance of modest and
+reluctant but uncontrollable admiration, which was answered by a
+brazen ogle.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">O'Kikú blushed like a budding peony, which made her look more engaging
+than ever, and lowering her lids behind her fan, began seriously to
+congratulate herself. How clever she had been, adapting herself to
+circumstances, to postpone those tiresome prayers at Isé; for 'twas
+more and more evident that the great man cared nothing for the stony
+image by his side, and was susceptible to the blandishments of beauty.
+It was rather fortunate, too, that that other one with the scar upon
+his brow should be glumly engrossed in contemplating the heavens. Had
+she not, with a precision of judgment that was worthy of all praise,
+arranged that she would ensnare the great man first, and dally with
+the other afterwards? Even so well skilled a person as the geisha
+would have found it difficult to angle for both in the presence of one
+another. The Daimio caught and landed, fishing for the elder brother
+would be a delightful pastime. Yes. Business first and pleasure
+afterwards. Buddha is always on his lotus, calm and cross-legged, and
+to him, in matter of favours asked, all times are one, for is he not
+eternal? Whereas it must be evident to the smallest capacity that the
+great ones of the earth are not always accessible, but, within range,
+must be shot flying as they pass.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Her plans arranged with accuracy and speed, the wily damsel commenced
+such a series of arch man&#339;uvres with eyes and fan as a long and
+varied experience had taught were deadly; a silent yet eloquent
+language, which pleasantly titillated the nerves of the first of her
+intended victims. When public opinion and your own conscience upbraid
+your act, it is consoling to be encouraged by a pair of lustrous orbs.
+Sympathy, always sweet, is doubly so when we secretly know that we are
+wrong. By contrast, O'Tei's recent behaviour now seemed doubly
+execrable to No-Kami. Her cold glance, even in the early days had
+betrayed a polite indifference, which gradually changed, as he
+remembered now with sullen ire, into an expression of scorn half
+veiled, varied with dread and horror. As he gazed on the dazzling
+geisha, his spirits rose to blytheness.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">How whimsical are the arrangements of Nature! He could see now why his
+wife, despite her beauty, had always been repellent. She was tall and
+frigid, with an assumption of faultlessness which cannot but be
+disapproved by those who make no pretence to ph&#339;nixdom; whereas
+there, opposite, sent by the gods to comfort his loneliness, was a
+fairy vision replete with glowing perfections, accentuated by the
+piquancy of frailty, which he yearned to clasp in his arms. Sure so
+fragile an atomy would melt away in the fervour of a hot embrace? Yet
+no. The flesh was flesh--warm with life, deliciously solid and plump
+and peachen, if sylph-like in contour.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thrilled with desire of possession, the pageant interested my lord no
+more save for the amusement it afforded to the stranger. Somewhat
+vexed and annoyed by the ill-timed gurgles of the scum (yet what can
+you expect of low people but vulgarity?), he was pleased to perceive,
+by engaging little pouts and shoulder-shrugs and entrancing
+nose-wrinklings, that the stranger from afar was with him. It was
+evident that she deemed the sentence just--his severity wise and
+opportune. Stealing a glance at the chill statue by his side, upon
+which the anxious gaze of his brother was fixed, he became much
+annoyed; for in every line of O'Tei's suffering face was imprinted
+remonstrance and despair. Sampei, too, the milksop, appeared quite as
+miserable. It was a fortunate chance indeed that had brought the
+geisha to the castle.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">From afar there boomed across the flat a sweet but solemn sound that
+stirred the hearts of all; for was not the peal of the great bronze
+bell of Buddha a mystic friend close woven in the life of each? Every
+day its toll awoke the slumbering peasants for miles around, preaching
+with mellow voice a life of honest labour; and, ablutions over, each
+simple man and woman, with fervent face turned to the rising sun,
+clapped palms together, craving a blessing on their toil.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">To the superstitious Japanese the bronze temple bell is a living
+entity. It breathes with their breath, joys with their joy, grieves
+with their sorrow. As wood and brook are peopled, so are the temple
+and groves; and the great bronze bell is the voice of the myriad
+spirits, messengers of Buddha's will. How exasperatingly pestilent,
+therefore, was it now of Masago to give to the festivity a mournful
+turn of warning by slowly beating the bell as if for some popular
+calamity.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A shudder passed over the crowd. Hark' What was that? The soughing of
+the wind? The twee-twee of the shrill cicada? No. A faint and distant
+chant, growing each moment louder; and, as he heard, the face of my
+lord grew purple and his brow black with rage, which he was vainly
+seeking to control. He, like the others, guessed the purport of the
+music, and his fingers mechanically sought his sword-hilt. That
+abominable Abbess, not to be daunted by recent contumely, was again
+coming to the castle with all her bonzes and her maidens to demand at
+least the lifeless bodies of those who were about to die. Nothing
+could be more inopportune,--better calculated to mar the pageant; for
+of what use were sweetmeats and fruit and the best tea as concomitants
+to a grim enjoyment made fascinating by wholesome terror, if the
+occasion were suddenly to be turned into one of open mourning? What
+was to be done? If 'twas but a bevy of priests, a few deft taps in
+tender places with the bamboo would send them squealing; but the
+voices were those of women, and even a tyrannical daimio will not gain
+in dignity by the scourging of a posse of girls. For an instant he
+breathed a deep curse upon all women--universal marplots; but,
+catching the glance of the stranger, he recanted. Even she found it
+difficult to combat her emotion. Her cheek had blanched, her lovely
+bosom heaved under the crape kimono; but being a damsel of strong
+will, gifted with a power of seeing ahead, she forced an arch flash
+from her eye, for the comfort of her new adorer. By a swift signal
+she bade him know that her sympathy was with him still. By instinct
+born of new affection, he seemed to read her thoughts. Abbesses are
+cross-grained, churlish hags, she seemed to say,--disappointed because
+youth has fled. Yet, in her heart, she could not but be aware that
+things were going badly, and that the effect produced by that gruesome
+festivity was far from the one intended. Well, so much the better, for
+her sympathy was rendered thereby more precious. Instead of accepting
+their harsh lesson with humble and meek duty, the fractious mob of
+artizans and mean persons, who should have been awed by mere admission
+within the castle, were presuming, with sighs and lamentations, openly
+to side with the convicted! With sobs and streaming cheeks the
+spectators leaned over the barriers, and, with low murmurs of &quot;Cruel!&quot;
+and &quot;Pitiless!&quot; threw their sweetmeats to the little ones.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Beyond the outer wall, glinting through embrasures in the masonry, the
+rapid river rushed red and golden, flushed by the sinking sun. Its
+glitter was reflected in the eyes of Koshiu, who, with a martyr's
+smile, hearkened to the swell of the dirge. How comforting it was! How
+good of Buddha, the silent and watchful, thus to have inspired his
+priestesses! The will of a wicked man could keep them beyond the moat,
+but their voices, preternaturally clear with words from beyond the
+grave, floated over bolts and barriers. 'Twas with exultation and
+glee, as of one heated with warm wine, that, drawing his burly form to
+its full height, Koshiu turned him to his wife as both were bound to
+their crosses.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Cheer thee, dear Kennui!&quot; he gaily laughed. &quot;A spasm, and then
+happiness. It is given me to see, and I behold. Our poor transient
+lives are forfeit in this dim world of twilight, but our end is
+gained. The odious taxes are removed, and our brethren, not yet ripe
+for flitting, may rise upon their feet; for my lord is banned, the
+days of his oppression numbered. With deep humility and praise I see a
+miracle. In the next cycle--which is but a tiny step--we are rich and
+prosperous, ay and, oh wonder! reunited. Gennosuké will be reborn to
+us, and our little Sohei and dear Kihachi, in a clime where the Hojos
+are not.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As the chant pealed louder yet, the chief victim was wrapped in
+ecstasy, shared as it seemed by his faithful helpmeet, for with bright
+eyes fixed on him she forgot her children's suffering, wistfully
+awaiting their rebirth.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Not so the appalled audience, who, shivering with terror, watched the
+Etas at their work. Who may presume to gauge the designs of the
+Eternal? For his own mysterious ends--upright on his lotos--he was
+permitting this great wickedness; but whilst permitting, and lest
+mortals should lose their trust, and topple into unbelief, he deigned
+to raise a corner of the veil. 'Twas clear that the doomed farmer was
+big with prophecy. What words would next drop from his lips? And about
+the heads of the children too--the innocents--there gleamed a mystic
+radiance. When, to accompany their feudal leader on his passage of the
+river Sandzu, the privileged members of his bodyguard perform the rite
+of harakiri, 'tis the deliberate act of mature men, whose hands are
+steadied by faith unwavering. As such, it inspires respect and awe in
+which there is no fear. But to look on at ignorant and helpless
+infants butchered! oh, woeful sight! And, while the dread deed is
+being done, to hearken to the prophetic words of him who stands beside
+them on the brink. Well may the cheek blanch and the breast heave of
+those privileged to witness such a spectacle! Sure 'twas supported by
+the holy finger of the Unseen himself that Gennosuké assumed a manly
+dignity beyond his thirteen years as, stretching forth his head to the
+knife, he looked calmly up at the executioner. &quot;Oh, father and
+mother,&quot; he simply said, &quot;and little brothers, I go first, to wait for
+you, and will put forth my hand to help you across the river. All you
+who have come to see us die, farewell! and to you, sir, also a kind
+farewell. Hurt me as little as you may.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Even the headsman, a stalwart Eta, brutalised by his bleeding and long
+years of taunts and flouts, turned a glassy eye of appeal upon his
+lord, but seeing no mercy on his gloomy visage, was fain, unnerved and
+stricken to the heart, to do his revolting duty. A gleam through the
+still air, and straightway a piteous wail from the onlookers, in
+harmony with the distant dirge.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then said the second lad, miraculously brave,--&quot;I know not how to die,
+sir, and I beg you teach me.&quot; His blood was quickly swallowed by the
+greedy sand; and then 'twas the turn of the babe--the wee naked urchin
+with skin so berry-brown, who wist so little what was forward that, as
+he stretched his tiny fingers for a persimmon that was tossed to him,
+he was sent to rejoin his brethren.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Roused by the groan that was forced from many breasts, Kennui spoke,
+her eyes fixed steadily upon her husband. &quot;Mourn not,&quot; she said, as
+one who beholds a vision. &quot;How blessed are we! From the first you
+foresaw this fate. A little wrench--no more. Man lives but for a
+lifetime, his good name for many, and that is more precious than
+life!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The voice of Kennui waxed faint, for, tight bound as she was, the
+spear of the Eta was more kindly than the Hojo; and it was only when
+he knew himself alone--all those he loved waiting on the further
+shore--that the farmer roused himself from musing.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Twisting his body towards my lord so far as his bonds permitted, he
+slowly wagged his head and laughed low and long. &quot;Could I live here
+five hundred lives in pomp like thee,&quot; he said, &quot;I would not, knowing
+that which will come after. Oh, cruel one! oh, pitiless!--steeped to
+the lips in crime. Fence thee with walls, and moats, and barriers of
+stone, my spirit shall burst them all to avenge thy deed this day!
+Hearken to my voice. Mark my red eyes. Waking and sleeping--in the din
+of battle--in thy secret chamber--they shall be with thee. When they
+fade, know that thy end is nigh. Thy time is brief. All-patient Buddha
+sickens at thee. Last of thy race. Thou and thine--all, all--shall
+perish miserably--thy name a horror for all time.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The voice of the martyr choked. The sable phalanx of grim warriors
+quaked and rustled in their armour like leaves before the coming
+storm. The Eta, scarce knowing what he did, beside himself with fear,
+plunged the lance into his side.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The head of the farmer drooped; his eyes filmed, then opened wide
+lurid, reflecting the crimson sunset. &quot;See yonder river,&quot; he gasped,
+&quot;and take a sign. 'Tis tinged with blood already, sucked from thy
+fortress stones. See how red it flows! A day shall come when it will
+lap those stones no more. Then shall thy house fall, a shapeless ruin.
+Cursed, thrice cursed, be the long line of Hojo! In cycles yet to come
+may they stumble and wander, led astray, hopeless, and blind, and
+never attain oblivion!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Daimio, with lightning in his glance, and terror in his heart,
+rose up, and, speechless with passion, stretched forth his hand. The
+trembling Eta again thrust in his weapon, and the voice of menace was
+hushed. But the sightless eyes still gazed at him, who was accursed as
+from out of the infinite, and the reflection from the river shone
+forth, cast back ensanguined, from them.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A panic fell on the spectators. The men, fearing they knew not what,
+grew pale; the women shrieked, and stuffed fingers into ears, or clung
+wildly one to another. The samurai, grouped behind their lord, placed
+hands on swords, irresolute; for there was no foe worthy of their
+steel. A regrettable <i>dénouement</i>. 'Twas the Eta's fault--the tardy
+caitiff! His life should pay the penalty. Then of a sudden there was a
+diversion. The lady O'Tei, who, statue-like and numb, had witnessed
+the scene as one who saw not, willowed forward with a moan, and fell
+on her face unconscious.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No-Kami looked around, his eyes bloodshot like the dead. Humiliation
+on humiliation. So intense was the depth of his impotent wrath, that
+his hands trembled, and his nerves were wrung with agony. What?
+He? Hojo No-Kami--tyrant of broad Japan, master of the Emperor
+himself--before whom all daimios and kugés and hatamotos were wont to
+bow, was to be bearded--openly insulted--by a low peasant fellow
+within the precincts of his castle, before his assembled vassals! The
+wretch was dead, worse luck, out of reach of further torment, bleeding
+from many spear-wounds; but ere he died he had covered his lord with
+ridicule. How different was the result of the pageant from that which
+had been proposed. The superstitious people clearly believed that the
+body hanging by its ropes was that of a martyred saint, who had spoken
+the words of Buddha; not of an insolent varlet who had perished with
+deserved ignominy. They believed the absurd threat about the river,
+and looked with awe for the accomplishment of the prophecy. The only
+dignified way out of the dilemma was by treating it with light
+contempt, turning it off as a sorry jest, with a peal of disdainful
+merriment. The attitude of Sampei was worthy of his stock. Involved
+with his brother in the curse, he had raised his brows in angry scorn,
+while his fingers moved towards his dirk. Then of a sudden, his manner
+had lamentably changed. With a sibillation of dismay, he had knelt
+over the swooning chatelaine, striving to call her to herself with
+gentle words of comfort. O'Tei! Ah, there was the worst point of all!
+By fainting thus inopportunely, she had accentuated the falseness of
+the position. That she (the chatelaine of Tsu) should cower under the
+anathema of a peasant. How different would have been the conduct of
+the bellicose Tomoyé. To swoon thus in public, was to betray unfitness
+for her rank,--to allow the scum to perceive that she believed in
+the curse, and its justice,--that she disapproved the fiat of my
+lord,--regretted his well-timed severity. Sampei was right when he
+pleaded for the too weak O'Tei. So scalding was the shame of the
+Daimio, that, but for the intervening figure of his brother, he would
+then and there have struck the craven chatelaine. And yet not so. His
+loathing and hatred for his unworthy partner was so intense, that
+contact even with her robe-hem would at this juncture have been most
+distasteful. Glancing about for consolation, his eyes met those of
+O'Kikú, and there shot into his heart a glow of solace which to its
+emptiness had been long unknown.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Circumstances were assisting the man&#339;uvres of the cunning geisha
+more than she could have dared to hope. The helpless misery of
+No-Kami, as he looked down upon his wife, was a confirmation of her
+conjectures. A chicken-hearten rival, easily vanquished, this
+high-bred chatelaine would prove, since she would obtain no support
+from her spouse. The brother was unnecessarily affectionate. What did
+this portend? O'Kikú's smooth brow was wrinkled by a frown. Pooh! She
+had heard much of the General, whose name was Sampei--the name she
+learned from the crowd. He was good-natured and generous, no more.
+This was not the moment to dream of him, since the head of his clan
+was standing by in need of moral support.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">O'Kikú had lived an eventful life, if a short one, and was not one to
+be alarmed by spectres. Taken aback for a moment, somewhat frightened
+by the scene, involved for a few seconds in the unreasoning panic of
+the mob, she had quickly regained aplomb.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Tapping her fan against the barrier with a peevish shrug of shapely
+shoulders, she demanded, in a chirrupping voice, as loud and clear as
+musical, to be instantly rescued from contamination.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;It serves me right,&quot; she cried, tossing her chin, &quot;for abandoning the
+realm of fashion. Faugh! Was there ever anything so disgusting as
+these rustics? The country with its evil-smelling rice paddy and foul
+slush was fit for them, and they for it. What a ridiculous pother, to
+be sure, over one paltry man's impertinence! The ways of the coolies
+were nauseous. Thank the gods, she was unaccustomed to coolies. If
+some one would have the gallantry to remove her from their contact,
+she would skip into her kago, and return to Kamakura forthwith.&quot; Oh,
+intriguing and long-headed O'Kikú! Ah, if O'Tei had had presence of
+mind to accept the situation in this spirit! Could No-Kami ever lavish
+sufficient gratitude for so signal a service rendered in the nick of
+time?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The bewitching tourist had touched the right note, and saved the
+Daimio from embarrassment. With a smile of thanks, he bowed, and
+commanded an officer without delay to extricate the lady from the
+scum. With courteous apologies and well-turned compliments he
+descended from the dais, and, taking the stranger by the finger-tips,
+led her to the place of honour. Ignoring his wife, who, seemingly as
+lifeless as the farmer's family, was being gently borne away, under
+the tender surveillance of his brother, he was free to superintend the
+stranger's comfort, to see that the new-comer was provided with tea,
+in a cup of the best hirado, and plied with the choicest sweetmeats. A
+blush of gratified vanity served to add piquancy to her beauty, as,
+with an engaging air of bashfulness that went well with long lashes
+and sly glances, she seemed to deprecate attention.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I was so sorry for you,&quot; she gently purred; &quot;but 'tis the penalty of
+greatness to be misinterpreted.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Fanning herself with demure grace, she turned her pretty head aside to
+hearken to the words of her host, gazing the while with studied
+nonchalance at the proceedings of the Etas as they placed the heads in
+buckets, piled the bodies of the infants behind a convenient screen,
+did away with tokens of the sacrifice. The hollow square of
+dark-mailed men remained motionless till it should please their lord
+to move; but under many an iron vizard was a smile lurking, for the
+conduct of the saucy lady was approved by all, and the admiration of
+No-Kami no more than natural. Unlike the one who had been borne away,
+she was an honour to her sex, a vision of brightness and of courage,
+and gladly would one and all have hailed such as she for their
+mistress.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You were cruel just now,&quot; whispered No-Kami; &quot;though, after what has
+happened, 'twas your right.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Cruel? Poor little I?&quot; exclaimed the artless geisha. &quot;Why, I never
+hurt so much as a buzzing mantis when it tumbled on my head, as the
+vexatious insects will! I cruel indeed!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You said you would depart forthwith; but you forgot that within these
+walls you are our prisoner.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I was on my way to pray at Isé,&quot; remarked the demure damsel; &quot;sure
+you would not balk so pious an intent?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;That can wait--and must!&quot; returned the Daimio. &quot;Bad impressions must
+be effaced. You must not relate to the Shogun, on your return to
+Kamakura, how the lion of Tsu was bearded. For a few days, at least,
+you stay as our guest, or else our captive.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">O'Kikú laughed a rippling laugh, as she considered within herself as
+to which was likely to be the captive.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;When a great lord commands,&quot; she murmured, &quot;a poor weak girl obeys.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Exultant glee pervaded the bosom of the Daimio. The welcome new-comer
+should be his guest--his honoured guest---and the pusillanimous O'Tei
+should be taught manners by example. He was about to move towards the
+castle, conducting with due ceremony the lady thither, when, with a
+familiar fan-tap on the arm, she stayed his progress.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You are so good and kind,--so generous, and so wickedly
+misinterpreted,&quot; she whispered hurriedly, &quot;that I take courage,
+although a stranger, to crave a boon. Your object accomplished, 'tis
+the moment to show clemency, and disclaim the stigma of the tyrant.
+Those nuns still sing without, awaiting the bodies for interment. Let
+them be delivered up to them. The first favour I ever asked,&quot; she
+added gently, seeing the Daimio hesitate. &quot;Believe me, 'twould be an
+act of policy, and stay farther clamour.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No-Kami looked down into the deep dark well of her eyes, from which he
+could see peeping his own pleased reflection. Why, what a treasure was
+this--a wise little counsellor! More than ever was he disgusted with
+the absent chatelaine, who could only implore, and writhe, and groan,
+and grovel on the ground in intervals of stony glaring. Practical, and
+shrewd, and plump, and purring was this fairy by his side. She should
+have her boon, and welcome, with many thanks for the suggestion.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Daimio having been pleased to announce that, yielding to the
+intercession of his charming guest, Masago might be permitted to
+remove the corpses, he crossed the inner moat, followed by his
+brilliant train, while the grim samurai laughed behind their vizards,
+wondering how the ladies would agree.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_10" href="#div1Ref_10">FOREBODINGS.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">It was with feelings strangely mingled that the concourse prepared to
+depart. For their good, the farmer had suffered martyrdom; himself and
+his family were swept like insects from the earth, but not from the
+grateful memories of the people. No sooner was the inner drawbridge
+raised behind the departing despot, than with one accord all meekly
+knelt while the Abbess issued orders. Her brow was more sombre than
+its wont, her jaw more firmly set, as the troubled elders related what
+had happened. She had prayed for light, but Buddha had vouchsafed no
+answer. What was this coil that was winding slowly but surely round
+the son of him who had been her husband? Ay, round her own son as
+well, the noble Sampei. It was under misapprehension that Koshiu had
+included him in his anathema, supposing him the seducer of his child;
+yet here was the child, clad now in the crape of a nun, as pure as she
+had ever been. The farmer was in error, and surely idle curses recoil
+on those who launch them. Sampei, the brave and generous, was without
+reproach. Even sleepy Buddha must know that. Perchance he was at this
+moment rating Koshiu, on the further bank of the mystic Sandzu, for
+his precipitate injustice. Masago strove to persuade herself that it
+must be so, whilst striving to console the terror-stricken Miné, and
+yet at the bottom of her heart there was apprehension, a dull weight
+of cold foreboding.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The ways of Heaven are so strange, so unaccountable sometimes, and to
+our purblind vision so unjust, that the most robust of faith is
+sometimes sorely shaken. Miné wrung her hands, refusing comfort. As
+with trembling fingers she untied the bonds which supported her dead
+father, she prayed to him with cries and lamentations. It was through
+her own wrongheaded madness that the mistake had occurred. Sure her
+parent knew it now. If the curse must fall on one of the two, let it
+be on her, for she was in fault, not the glorious young General. Could
+he hear her now, her father? Oh, for some sign that he could hear and
+would grant her humble petition! Wretched, wretched child! Her
+punishment was already greater than she could bear, for was not she
+doomed to drag on a sad existence, stripped of all her kin. Had she
+but behaved as a dutiful daughter should, instead of grieving now,
+heart-broken, she would be standing on the further bank of the river
+of death along with Gennosuké, and little Sohei, and sweet Kihachi.
+Alack! alack! While the bereaved daughter raved, distracted, the
+elders of Tsu and the outlying villages were taking counsel. A notice
+had been handed to them, on the part of their lord, which ran
+thus:--&quot;The property of the deceased, his rice fields and corn fields,
+and forest and mountain land, shall be sold without delay, and divided
+into two parts; one shall be paid over to the lord of the estate; the
+other, by his extreme condescension, shall be the portion of the
+culprit's daughter, who has been permitted to live. This is to show
+how godlike and noble is your master; and it is hereby strictly
+forbidden to make comments on the sentence, or find fault with this
+his decision.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">One-half for Miné, who was in some sort an heiress, then. Poor heart!
+She little recked of her good fortune. The temple yonder would be the
+richer for her portion, for she was Buddha's servant now,--his
+handmaid till her spirit was released. With regard to the dead, the
+elders consulted awhile, and then with calm decision Zembei, supported
+by Rokubei, rose from his knees and spoke.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Dear friends,&quot; he said, &quot;Koshiu, who suffered this day, bruised his
+bones and crushed his soul for your sakes. In appealing direct to the
+Most Holy Mikado he sinned greatly, but 'twas from excess of zeal; and
+in being compelled to see those he loved massacred before his eyes,
+his punishment was in excess of his misdemeanour. We have decided that
+honour shall be paid to him, for indeed before his death he was the
+mouthpiece of the Eternal, who deigned to speak through his lips.
+It is meet therefore that we, his old friends, who loved him and
+his as ourselves--though perhaps on one occasion we were unduly
+selfish--should undertake this matter. We will leave our homes and
+lands in possession of our heirs, and, shaving our heads, will retire
+for a while to the top of the holy mountain; and after a period of
+probation, will descend from Mount Kôya in Kishiu, and, becoming
+priests, will wander from town to town, praying at every shrine for
+the souls of the departed, collecting as we go from the charity of all
+good people. And then, having collected enough, we will erect a temple
+over their bones, with six Buddhas in bronze to do them honour, and
+there shall prayers be offered up for ever for them, and also for us.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The people listened to the oration, and bowed their heads without a
+word, for the decision of the elders was good and natural. All
+therefore lighting paper lanterns, for it was dark now, turned to
+follow across the outer moat, away along the straggling interminable
+street, the procession of the dead.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Masago had accepted a temporary trust, and it was well. Within the
+darkling groves of her sacred pines should the victims lie at peace,
+until such time as, by divine grace, the elders should return to
+fulfil their holy task; and it behoved those here assembled, who had
+witnessed the sacrifice, to offer a prayer together, and commence
+among themselves a collection for the building of a shrine.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Solemn and slow, like an army of glow-worms, the procession wended
+along to the sad chant of nuns and bonzes; and, unknown to them, as
+the simple people marched, there followed a fervent benison from the
+lips of one despairing. The dreary chatelaine was sitting at an upper
+casement of the castle, wistfully gazing into the night.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Recovering consciousness, the Lady O'Tei found herself in her bower,
+surrounded by grieving maidens, and was relieved, glancing fearfully
+around, to miss the figure of my lord. She was spared his hateful
+presence. For that small mercy, thanks. For, still and self-possessed
+as she had appeared during the ordeal, thereby winning the admiration
+of Sampei, and, even for a time, the grudging approval of No-Kami, the
+chatelaine had suffered so intensely as to produce a crisis in her
+nature.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">During the short while that the scene lasted, years seemed to have
+passed over her head. Hitherto she had been weary and empty and
+unhappy--deeply miserable, but yet with a germ of hope half stifled.
+That germ was quite dead now, shrivelled and black. She was beset with
+an intense craving for rest and sleep,--for the fragrant perfume of
+the earth. Although the execrated name of Hojo was hers, the scathing
+curse on all who bore the name passed harmless over her. Her
+conscience was clear. She had done all that within her lay to save the
+victims, and, calm and still in outward aspect, had suffered far more
+than they. A threat of proximate death?--release! The world, whose
+beauty she had so intensely enjoyed ages ago at Nara, was repellent
+now,--a hideous mockery,--a skull crowned with flowers. For how false
+was its song of sweetness, since such wickedness and injustice
+flourished in its midst. A world of disease and pain and sorrow. In
+this life are not many punished for their virtues, as a set-off to the
+manner in which others are rewarded for their vices? What wonder if
+people fall under burthens too heavy for their backs?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Koshiu and his had already entered on a new and smiling existence; if
+his dying words might be believed, had started under sunny auspices on
+the next round of life. And at the same time he had prophesied that no
+Hojo henceforth might ever win peace. They were doomed to wander from
+one globe to another, gaining no step, rising no higher on the earth,
+for all eternity! How horrible! So dread a bolt overshot its mark; for
+sure the universe must be ruled by fiends if those whose crime is to
+bear an execrated name are for that to be undone for ever. To die, and
+try again, and yet again, in vain--a weary prospect. The sooner the
+better, after all, for no future phase could be less tolerable to the
+Lady O'Tei than the present one. She was condemned, as it seemed,
+never to attain aught that she desired; never to have a prayer
+answered, or a wish gratified. And all that she now longed for was
+repose. Ah, how vain that wish! For never may we enjoy perfect rest
+save in far-off Nirvana--away in the incalculable and limitless
+Nirvana! where, when time is dead for us, refined and freed from the
+last speck of dross, we are to achieve the reward of nonexistence.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">O'Tei had learned to despise her husband more and more, but now
+she had a new and positive feeling for him--active and sore and
+gnawing--one of <i>intensest hatred</i>. And she was his--bound to obey his
+whim. How long? For his part, he took little trouble to conceal that
+he hated her, and would be glad to be rid of an encumbrance. Should
+she fling herself at his feet, and, baring her white bosom, implore
+the mercy of his dirk? No. She shuddered as she thought that he would
+laugh--that fierce and ugly laugh of his that made her blood run
+cold--would spurn and revile, hissing forth <i>recreant</i>, but yet would
+forbear to strike her. There was nothing for it but plodding
+patience,--a stringing of the nerves to endurance--slow, continuous,
+monotonous--the hardest of all tasks to an overwrought and nervous
+woman.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Meanwhile Masago, moving like a tall still ghost at the head of the
+procession, was disturbed and exercised in mind. How strangely things
+were going. If she might only be allowed to see. What thunderous
+clouds were gathering? Was the appalling prophecy to be accomplished
+to the letter? Like the chatelaine, her being rose in protest. Was her
+own brave boy, innocent of all wrong, to be involved with the rest,
+simply because his name was Hojo--the guiltless suffering for the
+guilty? Why, so was hers. Though but a second wife or concubine, she
+was mother of a Hojo--proud to call herself Hojo--jealous of the
+family honour, although of plebeian birth. She could quite understand
+the feelings of the rough warriors towards a chatelaine who was to
+them a riddle; but she, discerning, renowned for subtle acumen, could
+see under the rind what a fragrant nature was O'Tei's, if it had not
+been nipped half-blown. She sighed heavily as she walked, and pondered
+of O'Tei. What of this new element introduced into the castle--of
+discord surely? Not of necessity so. Should No-Kami elect to take the
+new-comer to himself, as folk already whispered, what of it? Had not
+his father done the same? And she, Masago (concubine), and the
+bellicose Tomoyé (wife) had never quarrelled.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But then O'Tei was so different from her predecessor. She was so odd
+and sensitive and self-contained, given to contemplative fancies which
+served no good purpose. Masago, the sage, was quite angry sometimes
+when she considered the education of O'Tei. She, an abbess, should
+know something of such matters, and there was no doubt about it that
+the bonzes and priestesses of Nara had blundered. The heiress of Nara
+was destined by her birth to a grand alliance, to reign in a world of
+strife, and they should have combated, while the nature of their pupil
+was yet malleable, such tendencies as might be likely to interfere
+with the young lady's future happiness. Dancing the kagura in a wood
+was all very well for priestesses, but in a fierce age, when every
+man's hand is at his fellow's throat, the female head of a warlike
+household should be taught to hold her own. Poor O'Tei had never been
+properly prepared, and was in truth no more fit to cope with the
+difficulties of her high position than would be the merest coolie's
+daughter.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In the candour of self-communing Masago admitted this much to herself,
+making apologies the while for the shortcomings of her favourite, and
+laying the blame upon the priesthood.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And again the question would assert itself--Was the new element for
+harmony or discord? If she could only know, and help to keep matters
+straight. If O'Tei were sensible, she would accept the second wife
+with gratitude, for she would be relieved of the society of one whom
+she abhorred. But then O'Tei was so peculiar. And so much depended on
+the attitude assumed by the second wife, if second wife she were to
+be. She, Masago, and Tomoyé had got on so splendidly that, as she
+thought of the past, a faint blush of self-complacency tinged the
+Abbess's ascetic cheek. No doubt about it. She, Masago, had displayed,
+as she usually did, consummate tact. In fact, in their instance, the
+two wives completed each other. Each had the talent which was denied
+to her companion, for Tomoyé often declared that though her muscle was
+a marvel her brain was wanting, while Masago was the best of advisers,
+although no warrior. Hence, whilst both adoring their lord from their
+own point of view, they could perfectly trust each other without
+jealousy, and play into one another's hands--a fact which was clearly
+proven when the regnant Hojo wearied of his concubine. Tomoyé did her
+best to retain the second wife (not knowing what the next fancy of her
+lord might be), and constantly sought counsel from Masago after her
+assumption of the crape.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Masago therefore, as she walked, summoned to her side the
+devoted elders who were so soon to embrace the priesthood, and
+cross-questioned them narrowly. They had observed, had they, in my
+lord's visage, how desperately he had become enamoured? They were
+certain that his sudden passion would insist on being gratified? But
+what if the travelling geisha were a light-o'-love to be picked up too
+easily to-day and cast forth to-morrow? Rokubei shook his head. The
+astute Masago--all-wise counsellor--would never venture so futile a
+suggestion had she once scanned the lady with her searching scrutiny.
+Oh, a cunning and fascinating lady! A petulant and wilful lady, and an
+obstinate! Ay, and a circumspect. What object could she have had in
+insisting on the bodies being given up, except to ingratiate herself
+with the lower lieges? What cared she, a stranger from afar, for a
+farmer of Tsu or his family? And then, that way she had of sending
+gleams out of her dark velvet eyes from under the deep fringes. Even
+he, Rokubei, who spoke, and who shortly on the holy hill was to have
+his pate shaven, was fain to admit, under the seal of secrecy, that
+his own, for the future ascetic, bosom had been pervaded by
+inconvenient warmth under the glamour of those lightning shafts, and
+all the while he knew that they were intended for another. And my
+lord, so inflammable, so given to indulgence, who knew so little of
+the curb! Masago might believe, or not, the speaker, but it was clear
+to him that in a few days--nay, hours--the too fascinating geisha
+O'Kikú would rule the Daimio and his vassals, whether for good or evil
+was as yet in the womb of time.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Masago listened, and became more and more uneasy. Could it be possible
+that she, who had that day only appeared upon the scene, was the
+chosen instrument--selected beforehand and arrived exactly in
+time--for the fulfilment of the prophecy? Was she to undermine with
+her pink little fingers the great dynasty of Hojo? and, if so, how?
+For the advantage of the dynasty she, the discarded second wife, would
+gladly sacrifice herself and wear her fingers to the bone; would even
+surrender the life of her dearly-beloved son Sampei for its advantage.
+Fool! unreasoning woman, and incorrigible fool! Who was she to presume
+to combat Destiny?--to raise her weak hand in feeble protest against
+the finger of Buddha, the all-seeing? Although the blasphemous
+suggestion had unbidden entered her brain, vigils and much praying
+would be needed to atone for its presence. She would kneel on
+the stones throughout the ensuing darkness, praying for pardon
+and for light. How may we, however watchful, guard against
+presumption--against pitting our puny sagacity against the Infinite?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And though she fulfilled her self-imposed penance, remaining until
+dawn, despite years and infirmities, with forehead resting on the
+stones, maternity struggled with asceticism. Her bowels yearned over
+Sampei--the pride, the flower of Japan--and she prayed as only a
+mother can pray that her boy might escape the curse. How willingly,
+she pleaded, would she herself submit for his dear sake to recommence
+the ladder from the bottom. She knew not, of course, how high she had
+attained by long and painful climbing, but from her present
+consideration and eminence she must be considerably advanced on her
+pilgrimage. She would sacrifice all--all--with what ecstatic joy--for
+his sake. And as she lay convulsed in the dark, with the drops of a
+mother's travail coursing down her wrinkled brow, she never dreamed
+that in the pure intensity of undimmed devotion she might be in the
+act of rising yet another step. In the morning, feeble and exhausted,
+she turned her to the newborn orb as he showed above the glorious sea,
+and, vaguely relieved, sat basking in his beams. Then struggling up
+she groped to her cell with lagging feet, and sank into a stupor of
+fatigue.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_11" href="#div1Ref_11">THE CURSE BEGINS TO WORK.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">And Sampei, what of him, under the new <i>régime</i>, inaugurated so
+unexpectedly? Could his mother have delved into his storm-riven soul,
+she would have won no comfort by her prayers. Never was luckless
+warrior so hedged about with difficulties, which might not be
+vanquished with the sword. His influence over No-Kami was proved to be
+practically nil, for the latter was unable to comprehend his brother's
+character any better than that of his wife. What good then was to be
+gained by lingering at Tsu? The question had propounded itself before,
+to be set aside. Why shun it now? More than once Sampei determined
+that flight is in some cases the truest valour, and on every occasion
+the haunting and ever-present face of his early love upbraided him for
+selfishness, in that he was her only champion.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was a fine specimen of bravery, in sooth, to be self-elected &quot;own
+true knight,&quot; and run away at the first appearance of the enemy. That
+the new-comer would prove an enemy there was little room for doubt.
+Such a reproach should never be hurled at our young General, he
+doughtily determined. The more he saw of the fair O'Kikú, the more
+uneasy did he grow. There was no knowing how soon O'Tei might require
+protection from her. He might be of use. That was enough. Under the
+circumstances, despite his mother's warnings, Sampei resolved to
+stay--moth dancing round a candle--and keep an eye upon the geisha.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The proceedings of that winsome fairy, when installed within the
+castle, bade fair to set its inmates by the ears. With a vast parade
+of prudery she insisted at first upon apartments being provided as
+remote as might be from my lord's. A series of pleading messages,
+mingled with threats, were required ere she would consent to appear in
+the hall and perform graceful measures, or sing and play upon the
+samisen. Her performance finished, she would smile, and bow, and kiss
+her finger tips, and then flee like the timid hare. When No-Kami, who,
+tantalised, grew hourly more amorous, chid his guest for suspicion of
+his motives, she shrugged her shoulders, and imperiously demanded her
+kago. &quot;I am detained here against my will,&quot; she would remark pouting.
+&quot;'Tis monstrous dull, and to return to delightful Kamakura is my most
+ardent wish.&quot; And then with distracting little sighs wrung from a
+plump heaving bosom, she would dilate upon the glories of the Shogun's
+court,--tell of the tiltings, the hawking parties--constant flow of
+jocund gatherings--till the undisciplined Daimio clenched his nails
+into his palms with jealousy, and the lady laughed behind her fan.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Before many days had passed, it was announced that O'Kikú had
+consented to remain at Tsu, the acknowledged second wife; and the
+samurai congratulated one another, looking forward to a period of
+liveliness. As for their chatelaine, they thought no more of her; took
+no heed of her incomings or outgoings; for she drew the curtains of
+her litter close, and rarely went forth at all except on some
+charitable errand. Really such mean-spirited conduct in a Hojo's wife
+was a distinct besmirching of the name; and the younger and more
+unruly of the warriors purposely turned their backs upon her kago, to
+avoid saluting its passage.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Lady O'Tei, as proud as any of them, though they wist it not,
+marked their growing insolence, and stored their insults in her
+embittered heart; and more than ever loathed her lord, on account of
+her false position, as well as his new favourite. From the moment of
+the latter's advent O'Tei abandoned for ever any idea of attempting to
+exert influence over him. On that last occasion when she bowed her
+pride and humbled herself to the very dust before No-Kami, the attempt
+was crowned with disaster. It was decreed that she must live, must
+breathe the same air as he. What must be must; but she would look on
+him in future as little as she might. That he should choose to take a
+second wife, the first or legitimate one proving barren, was not
+surprising. The latter had neither right nor desire to object; but it
+was clearly his duty to see that the introduction of the second spouse
+brought no slight upon the first. Instead of demanding her rights, and
+boldly grappling at once with a situation that was ominous of evil,
+and so defining the geisha's place without more ado, O'Tei made
+another mistake. Haughtily she withdrew within herself and brooded
+over her wrongs, leaving to the intruder a clear field, of which she
+was not slow to take advantage.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Having achieved the position for which she had so cleverly angled,
+O'Kikú threw down the mask, shook off her bashful ways. Wherever my
+lord could go, the damsel argued, so could she, for was she not young
+and active? By his side in the chase she rode, untiring. When he
+reviewed his men within the outer moat, she stood beside him, and with
+amusing sharpness rated them all soundly for their awkwardness.
+Accustomed to a disdainful mistress who interested herself not at all
+in their doings, the warriors were surprised and enchanted. She would
+even condescend to come down sometimes, looking so fresh and bright
+and cheery, into the outer hall, where the soldiery lounged, yawning,
+and administer reviving draughts. The throat of the soldier, she would
+laughingly observe, is curiously parched, always yearning for
+saké,--quite a serious disease, and catching too; one which was common
+in the army. And then she would familiarly take their swords from
+them--the swords which are the souls of the samurai--and closely
+examining the blades, demand the genealogy of each.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No-Kami was flattered when he observed what a favourite his choice was
+becoming with high and low alike. The men, one and all, adored her,
+some of them declaring that she was a sunbeam detached miraculously
+from the orb of life to illumine the darkness of their fortress.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At this moment the ambition of O'Kikú should have been satisfied, for
+she could wind my lord and all his men around her finger, ruling them
+as she listed. She held in supremest contempt the real chatelaine, as
+an enemy not worthy of her steel--usurping her position and her
+duties; taking pleasure in exposing her to ridicule. Low born as she
+was herself--sprung from the gutter--there was something particularly
+delightful in insulting the heiress of Nara; but the sharp, tiny pins
+did not seem to rankle. This was annoying. Egged on little by little,
+piqued by O'Tei's attitude of scornful indifference, the concubine
+went dangerously far. She gathered around her a bevy of maidens more
+numerous and more splendidly attired than those of her superior; she
+exacted from the soldiery special homage which was due to the
+legitimate chatelaine alone; even presumed, after a time--culminating
+impertinence--to take unto herself the best litter, the one emblazoned
+with the Hojo badge upon gold lacquer and the gilded poles and
+brocaded curtains, declaring that since O'Tei chose to go only into
+the low purlieus of the town, a less resplendent equipage was better
+suited to her degraded taste.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">O'Kikú should have been quite happy. But when is a vulgar-minded,
+low-born woman happy who is consumed in the ratio of pampering by
+ambition and greed and caprice? Having attained the summit of present
+desire as planned on her arrival, she set herself to gratify her fancy
+in another way. At first sight she had been smitten with Sampei; but,
+on discovering that, though the elder, he held the second place, had
+prudently postponed his conquest until a more convenient period. That
+moment was now come. She had abundant leisure for the task. Sure a
+warrior should be a willing slave of beauty. Yet when she warily
+reconnoitred the ground, she marvelled at his coldness. Every inch a
+splendid young soldier, he should have been less chill. She made
+purring advances, favoured him with a few of the arrows under which
+his brother had succumbed; and these shafts fell so short that she
+guessed at once, with quick jealousy, that she had a rival. His heart
+was not his to give. How provoking! for she had so cleverly arranged
+that the two--he and she--were to become such friends!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On his side, Sampei (an adept in such matters) was not slow to read
+her purpose, and, horrified at her calculating treachery, boldly
+reviled her with rough words. She smarted and winced under the whip,
+and wished for him all the more. It was idle to feign, and her speech
+was as plain as his. She did not love her husband--O'Tei herself did
+not gauge his low worth more clearly--she loved him, Sampei, and
+gloried in it. See! For a caress she would be his slave, and fawn at
+his feet like a dog. No Eta could be more abject than she, if he would
+but look on her with love. A little--a very little--and she would be
+so grateful, since, on her side, there was enough for both. Wreathing
+her white arms about him, while his body quivered with disgust, she
+cooed and prayed and worshipped, and uttered a sharp cry of pain as,
+unable to endure the ordeal, he flung her rudely on the ground. <i>She</i>
+prate of love! he cried. How dared she defile the holy word with such
+foul lips as hers?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Furious--burning with shame at her repulse--she scoffed at him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;<i>You</i> talk big of virtue,&quot; she sneered, with cruel lines about her
+mouth, &quot;not knowing that I can read your secret. Treachery? What is my
+treachery to yours? I am but a concubine. You love your brother's
+wife--the mawkish doll of wax!--and she, as guilty as yourself, has
+doubtless fallen an easy prey, since 'tis plain that she hates my
+lord.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">That shaft, at least, went home, for Sampei turned pale. Was it
+written so plainly on his face that all who ran might read? A useful
+champion--a true knight--whose faithful service it would be to guide
+his mistress to her ruin. He must go away--far away--since his
+tell-tale features could not keep the secret. And yet--to leave her
+here at the mercy of this wicked woman!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">O'Kikú perceived what was passing in his mind, and was for the moment
+satisfied. She held revenge within her palm whenever she should choose
+to use it. Sampei had spurned her. Well, she could afford to wait; for
+what he had been powerless to deny might prove an invaluable
+discovery. Sampei and O'Tei loved each other. Judging others from her
+own standpoint, she had no doubt of their guilt. Perchance he would
+soon tire of such an icicle, and she might woo and win him after all.
+If not, she could use her discovery to avenge the slight, and free
+herself of the inconvenient presence of both wife and paramour. It
+would be so easy to open the eyes of the unsuspecting Daimio, and goad
+him deftly on until the two brothers were at open enmity.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For a time she must abandon her designs upon the General, and lull the
+pangs of disappointment and injured vanity by drowning thought in
+excitement. Since she had bared her spotted heart to him, there was no
+use in assuming a mask. On the contrary, her recklessness would sting
+him like a serpent's bite since, knowing what she knew, he dared not
+betray her to No-Kami. It pleased O'Kikú, therefore, to abandon
+prudence, and cast shame aside. Secure of unlimited sway over the
+infatuated despot, who would gladly accept such explanations as she
+vouchsafed, she selected lovers from among the soldiery as they struck
+her wanton fancy, disdaining to cloak her proceedings from the shocked
+Sampei, who hourly grew more troubled and uneasy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On which side lay his duty? How should he act? Were he to denounce the
+geisha to his brother in the matter of her declaration to himself, she
+would swear it was spitefully conceived, and No-Kami would refuse to
+be convinced. 'Twas fortunate that O'Tei dwelt in such strict
+seclusion, enveloped in the armour of purity, innocent of guile. But
+what was to be the upshot of it all? As the falling stone increases in
+velocity, so would the insolence of the concubine unchecked in
+shamelessness. The tempest growled on the horizon, and grew apace; the
+cloudlet was spreading over the heavens. Awe-stricken by the sinister
+turn which, so rapidly, events were taking, the martyr's anathema rung
+in Sampei's ears. The house of Hojo was to fall. Already, in his
+mind's eye, could he see it reel, hear the crash of its disruption.
+For a long time past the conduct of the head of the clan had been
+indefensible. Buddha, awakened by clamour, was angry--and no wonder!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In his perplexity and indignation an ensanguined mist passed across
+the vision of Sampei. The hint thrown out by Nara some time since
+festered within his breast. The history of Japan teems with the enmity
+of brothers, he had said. Was it indeed written that the last of the
+Hojos was to perish by a fraternal hand? For the honour of the name
+which they both bore, must the cord of an unworthy career be severed,
+and by him? It would be well for the suffering land that No-Kami's
+catalogue of misdeeds should be closed, but not by the hand of a
+brother. Not murder! The honest soul of Sampei recoiled before the
+insidious vision. It was vain to seek counsel of the Abbess, since she
+confessed herself as perplexed as he. <i>Wait</i> was all she could advise.
+If the curse of Koshiu was to be accomplished, it would be
+accomplished, whatever the efforts of the doomed. If his was decreed
+to be the avenging sword, was he not a helpless infant in the grip of
+destiny? The will of Heaven would be pronounced more clearly soon.
+Meanwhile, there was nothing for it but to wait. Peering sadly into
+the dark-lined future, Sampei waited in suspense, gloomy on the
+threshold of despair.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Tidings reached Masago in her dim retreat of what was passing, and she
+sighed. The finger of an outraged God was on them, that was becoming
+certain. The fate of Hojo was to be a warning lesson to generations
+yet unborn. By-and-by a rumour came, she could not tell from whence,
+that the Daimio was going mad. In sooth, he was never sane, and could
+scarce be held accountable for his growing pile of crimes. In
+accordance with the rearing which befitted his rank and station, he
+had scoffed with ribald laughter at a peasant's prophecy, treating
+with levity the wild words of one who had deservedly been punished.
+And yet there were moments when, though he fought against the
+illusion, he was haunted by the dying face,--when those glazing eyes
+that reflected the sunset shone out of the dark like glowing coals, to
+wither and scorch his soul. In the night he would wake, seeming to
+hear again louder than temple bell the words of evil omen, and then he
+would hug so fiercely the form of the slumbering O'Kikú upon the mat
+beside him, that she would turn on him with peevish reproach.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The visions and the voices increased, till he was afraid to be left
+alone. His brutish nature became yet more vindictive and morose, and
+the geisha, vowing that as a companion, after his paroxysms of
+unreasoning fear, he grew intolerable, freely dosed him with saké, to
+subdue his importunate tremors. In his chamber she would leave him
+chained by drunken stupor, while she, with the favourite of the hour,
+caroused below. This proved so convenient an arrangement, that to
+obtain for herself a liberty of action yet more complete, she tempted
+her lord to increased potations, till there arrived at length a period
+when he was scarcely ever sober.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But then constant inebriety has its intermittent moments of recoil,
+when the stomach sickens at the drink, yet craves for it, and at such
+dismal times the smile would fade even from the brazen visage of the
+baleful enchantress, for my lord would then pass without warning from
+the extreme of grovelling anguish to the fury of mania; and O'Kikú
+wondered, with blanched cheek, whether, perhaps, some day in one of
+these mad fits the Daimio would rise and slay her.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">One evening he woke with chattering teeth, and finding himself alone
+in the quickly-gathering shadows, stumbled upon his feet, with curses
+on the concubine in that she deserted him in his extremity. Did she
+not know how much he feared the darkness, and how necessary it was on
+many counts to conceal his condition from his warriors? Had he not
+raised her up to be partner of his bed, giving her all she desired,
+gratifying her every whim? And yet what recked the selfish creature of
+his wishes, of his terrors, his requirements? Naught! Regardless of
+his agony, she could quietly go away and amuse herself, leaving her
+lord and benefactor a prey to goblins. Shivering, with swimming brain,
+he groped his way in search of her; and somehow found himself, ere he
+was aware, upon the drawbridge that led beyond the moat.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A chill wind was blowing from the river that lapped the frowning
+walls--a singing murmur seemed to whisper &quot;Come!&quot; Shuddering, obedient
+to a spell against which his will was powerless, he stumbled on. How
+dismal dark it was! From the windows of the hall came a ruddy line of
+light which served to intensify the black. There was a faint sound of
+brawling within, a clash of steel, a din of bandied threats, followed
+by the long rippling laugh of the geisha, and then the twang of her
+samisen. &quot;Always in that hall among the soldiers,&quot; No-Kami querulously
+muttered. &quot;She loves me less and less--cares nothing for my trouble.&quot;
+Since her arrival, he reflected, there had been a gradual and grievous
+decrease of discipline among the samurai,--a growing tendency to
+quarrel and snarl in open disrespect of <i>him</i>. Had she betrayed his
+secret? Had she divulged the nameless horror, and the cowardice which
+unnerved his arm, unsettled his reason, and undermined his strength?
+Impulse bade him turn and stride into the hall, and there assert
+himself; and then the breeze, like clammy fingers, stroked his cheek
+and murmured, &quot;Come!&quot; Whither was he to proceed? Was it the water that
+summoned him? No! had not the farmer said that the river should ebb
+away? Folly! why, what was this? Was he, the head of the Hojos, as
+infatuated as others? Did he believe in the threats of the martyr?
+On--on, away to the left--whither? To the dim belt of grim grey trees
+that reared gnarled arms aloft, groaning and swaying in the wind. The
+accursed trees--home of malevolent ghosts! The trees that chanted ever
+their loving call to ignominious death.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With beads of sweat upon his brow No-Kami listened, and, not knowing
+what he did, unwound his long silk sash. Then out of the dark shone
+forth, like glowing coals, the eyes he knew too well, and then there
+pealed upon the night a mocking shout. Hist! what was that? The voice
+of Futen, the wind imp? or Raiden, king of thunder, beating upon his
+drums? What was he doing with that sash?--he, the proud No-Kami?
+Horror! he, the head of the Hojos, was about to hang himself--to
+disgrace his line for ever!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With a growl of fear No-Kami sped away, his fingers in his ears, back
+toward the light--and the saucy geisha, seeing a crouching shadow
+pass, complained of some unclean animal. With stealthy speed, born of
+terror and shame, the Daimio crept away, nor stopped to draw breath
+till, safe in the sanctuary of his chamber, he fell panting, prostrate
+on the mat. Another instant, and, unconscious of what he did, he would
+have swung on the fateful tree. Strange that it should have been the
+warning voice of Koshiu that had averted supreme disgrace. Why? Was he
+reserved for something yet more infamous? Better now, at once, to make
+an end of it--perish as a Daimio should when driven to bay by his own
+well-tempered steel. Groping with aspen hands for the sword-rack, he
+took his dirk, and unsheathing it, passed a finger on its edge. A
+blade of Sanjo's, a masterpiece. Yes. Here in the dark, alone, he
+would perform the rites of harakiri, and join with unsmirched brow the
+line of haughty ancestors.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Footsteps, a yellow glimmer through the paper of the sliding doors.
+O'Kikú's tardy feet? No, the heavier footfall of a man. A panel was
+pushed aside. Sampei, shading with his hand the flickering flame of a
+candle. The latter peered in, and uttered a cry. The dirk, the body
+bared, the kneeling posture. The intention of the Daimio was evident,
+though rising with a fierce curse he strove to conceal his purpose.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I am glad I was in time,&quot; Sampei remarked, with cold composure.
+&quot;Would the chief of our clan commit harakiri without a second? Where
+is he? I see no kaishaku. Pah! When all is lost 'tis time to think of
+dying. If you wish it, and have courage, things are not yet past
+remedy.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What do you want?&quot; snarled the Daimio, as with a scowl he retreated
+into a corner.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My lord of Nara has arrived, and is now closeted with his daughter.
+Though you seem to have abdicated your dignities, it is right that you
+should be informed of it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Sent for by her?&quot; inquired No-Kami.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No!&quot; replied Sampei bitterly. &quot;With all your arrogant parade, she is
+more proud than you, and would never stoop to complain of your many
+cruelties.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Sent for more like by <i>him!</i>--snake in the grass!&quot; gibed a voice
+behind, and the two brothers, turning, beheld the geisha, a frown
+puckering her brow, a red spot of annoyance on either cheek bone.
+&quot;Yes, snake in the grass!&quot; repeated she, lashed to imprudence by
+resentment. &quot;He does well to play the part of the lady O'Tei's
+interpreter--he who knows her so much better than others!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sampei was silent, while the suspicious gaze of the Daimio was turned
+to his brother from the concubine.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;O fool!&quot; she laughed. &quot;To be fooled by women is the lot of the
+haughtiest among ye! I vow I pity such blindness. Know that the crust
+of a proud woman's nature often conceals a furnace. The lady O'Tei has
+kindled a fire on the altar of her heart in honour--well, not of you!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You lie!&quot; cried the General, kindling, yet striving still to control
+himself for <i>her</i> sake. &quot;It was an evil day for the house of Hojo when
+this strumpet came among us!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;We are not all so blind as my lord,&quot; gibed O'Kikú. &quot;When my lady goes
+forth, in what direction do the bearers carry her? To the temple of
+the vixen Masago, to offer up prayers, of course. A curious
+coincidence! My lord Sampei, returning from the chase, pays dutiful
+visits to his mother. A pattern son. There, there! be hoodwinked no
+more. Stupid mole that you are, he loves O'Tei and she loves him. Look
+in his face, man; is it not eloquent enough?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The soul of No-Kami, already torn, writhed and quivered. Could it be
+true, this dreadful thing? Miné already ruined, a mere pretty peasant,
+a passing fancy, suitable toy enough--and now O'Tei! Had the lawless
+libertine dared to aspire to the legitimate wife of his lord? The dirk
+was still in the Daimio's grasp. Tottering forward a step, with
+heaving breast and distracted features, he narrowly scrutinised his
+brother.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;If I thought this was true,&quot; he slowly growled between his teeth, &quot;I
+would have speedy and ample vengeance. Sampei, why do you look
+confused? Yonder, on the rack, is a sword!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Again the mist of blood passed across the vision of the General. It
+was decreed. No-Kami rushed upon his fate. He himself pointed out the
+blade, lying so ready to the hand. A pass or two, and O'Tei, the
+long-suffering, would be freed from her grinding bondage.
+Involuntarily he stretched forth his arm, while No-Kami stood waiting.
+He touched the sword; his hand recoiled, his arm dropped by his side
+inert, for beyond the taunting visage of the geisha he seemed to
+behold, tearless and pale, the shadowy figure of O'Tei. No, this was a
+trap deliberately set by that wicked woman for her undoing and his.
+If, in the combat, it was his lot to fall, her fair fame would be for
+ever blasted. It would be skilfully bruited abroad by O'Kikú that the
+Daimio had avenged his honour. Forcing himself to calmness by strength
+of will, aided by an all-absorbing love, Sampei crossed his arms upon
+his labouring chest, and sadly shook his head.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You are insane,&quot; he sighed,--&quot;beguiled to frenzy by the glamour of
+this sorceress. You know, if you have power to think, that the dawn is
+no purer than your wife. What madness is it that has so mastered you
+that you would rather believe this harlot--for she is a harlot, and a
+shameless one, as every one in the castle knows except yourself? Rave
+as you will, I shall not gratify her spleen by fighting with you.
+Should the necessity be forced on me, I will summon the samurai to
+bind you, for your own protection. Cudgel your distempered brain,
+my brother, and see the snare. Your father was mine before
+you--unhappily--were born. The honour of our name is mine as well as
+yours, and for me it shall remain untarnished. Alas, we are under a
+ban, indeed! I can surety trace the finger of the Eternal; this
+harlot, the instrument of ruin.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Foiled spite and impotent rage leapt up and invaded the calculating
+spirit of the geisha. That he, so hot and careless usually, should be
+able to school himself to prudence. How he must adore that pale-face!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was humiliating to one who justly prided herself on cunning, to be
+outwitted by truth and manhood. No doubt it was satisfactory to mark
+how firm was her hold upon No-Kami. He had hearkened to her accusation
+of his wife and brother, but the countercharge brought by the latter
+against herself had remained unnoticed. And yet Sampei had had the
+best of it. She was obliged to confess with self-upbraiding that,
+exasperated by the appearance of Nara, whose unexpected arrival seemed
+like to mar her plots and upset her calculations, she had been
+precipitate--led into a foolish error.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The moment chosen was curiously ill-timed for bringing about a
+quarrel. Not that she would have permitted blood to flow. Not so silly
+as that. At the first onset she would have rushed out with clamour and
+shrill cries to summon the sleepy attendants,--have sworn that Sampei
+had attacked his feudal lord,--have created such a coil as would
+have led to the former's banishment. But, devoted to the paleface, he
+had for her sake curbed his heat. Noble and severe in bearing, his
+dark brow seamed by battle scars, he was just the man to master a
+turbulent plebeian woman of strong passions. As he stood, erect and
+self-possessed, O'Kikú adored yet hated him. His scathing antipathy to
+her he did not care to mask, and who should know as well as she how
+well it was deserved. A man such as this might have wrought a miracle
+upon her nature. She could have hugged her gyves, glorying in his
+tyranny. Could have! He had repulsed her,--shrunk with loathing
+undisguised as from a reptile, and all for love of the pale-face. The
+dregs of her low nature bubbled to the surface in a rising surge of
+abhorrence. At this moment, as she contemplated his still dignity, she
+could have stabbed him to the heart with joy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As schemes and combinations passed swiftly through her brain, the
+geisha hotly blamed herself. A short-sighted novice! An awkward
+bungler! The merest tyro could have warned her of the imprudence of
+airing family feuds before outsiders. What a moment this, when the
+powerful and astute noble of Nara was on the spot, to suggest charges
+against his heiress. Well, well, it was for the best that Sampei had
+kept his temper. The seed, dropped into the mind of No-Kami, would
+swell and burst and blossom by-and-by--the grain of suspicion which at
+a fitting season was to make of these brothers enemies. For the
+present it was best to drop the subject, to turn it off with a jest;
+then to make much of the illustrious visitor, and get rid of him as
+soon as possible.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">O'Kikú, therefore, suddenly changed her tactics. With a careless laugh
+and a wave of shapely arms she swept aside the dangerous topic, and
+remarked: &quot;Perhaps I was wrong,--too prone to believe evil. Your
+brother was before me with the news. The Daimio of Nara is here, and
+must be made welcome. If you will do him honour, I will see to the
+bestowing of his retinue. As you are her friend, Sampei--if really
+nothing more--I trust you will beg his daughter to refrain from
+telling lies of us.&quot; With this, awaiting no reply, she vanished, and,
+resuming the demureness of the past and assuming a meek and gracious
+air that befitted the position of the concubine, proceeded to charm
+the retainers of Nara as she had already conquered Hojo's.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">What was he here for, this inconvenient guest? What could his object
+be in swooping down on Tsu? The question buzzed in her head as she
+moved hither and thither, on hospitality intent. He must know that he,
+was little welcome. Had the chatelaine been goaded at last out of her
+silence? Did the tiny pins at last lacerate her skin? Had she summoned
+her father to rescue her from a position that was unbearable?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">What then? Would Nara, interfering on his child's behalf, insist upon
+the prompt suppression of the second wife? And if he did, would his
+mandate be obeyed, or was No-Kami still strong enough to do battle for
+his siren? The prestige of Japan's despot had not paled as yet, for
+the secret of his peculiar mental condition was well kept. Such
+precautions had been taken that, though many knew the Daimio to be
+ill, none but O'Kikú and Sampei were aware of his critical state. Had
+Sampei, pursuing a tortuous game of his own, summoned Nara to council?
+The traitor! And what a simpleton she not to have foreseen and parried
+such a stroke. Nara present and siding with Sampei--made aware of
+No-Kami's weakness--what easier for the twain than to seize the reins
+and fling forth the offending concubine? Again was O'Kikú compelled to
+admit with tingling cheeks how unskilfully she had developed plans
+which at the start had seemed so promising. By pandering to his fears,
+and plying my lord with drink, she gained no doubt a measure of extra
+liberty, but purchased at what a cost! At a time when every man's hand
+was at his neighbour's throat, to lose your nerve was to lose respect
+and be toppled over in the fray. Execrated as she knew my lord to be,
+with myriad and lynx eyes watching for a cranny in his armour, why had
+she not foreseen that there would be traitors in the camp? O'Kikú had
+been so careless because she reckoned on her rival's unpopularity. Not
+a swaggerer among the samurai--as she had long since learned--but
+looked on his liege mistress with uncomprehending pity. To think that
+bluff, single-minded Sampei--so skilful in the field, so blundering at
+home--should have had the inspiration to summon Nara! But had he? Sure
+his surprise on the arrival of the cavalcade was not feigned? If it
+were, then was he a dangerous enemy indeed--concealing consummate
+craft under an appearance of simplicity.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The more O'Kikú pondered and considered, the more nebulous grew the
+result of her meditations, and on the morrow she was brought to the
+highest stage of bewilderment by the departure of the Daimio of Nara
+as abruptly as he had arrived, and in a friendly manner too. Gazing
+through the hole made by a wetted finger in her paper-covered
+casement, she had striven to read on the faces of those concerned the
+result of their interview: and her jaw dropped in sheer amazement. Was
+the lady O'Tei even more mean-spirited and craven than her rival had
+supposed? Fearful of retribution and ill-usage in the future, had she
+masked her wounds from her parent, vowing she was well and happy, when
+her very looks should betray the truth? In that case, neither she nor
+her paramour had summoned Nara. Why then was he come? Could it have
+been of his own accord, so speedily to go away, with no result from
+his advent? The more she considered, the more knotty did the problem
+grow--one that her low instincts could never fathom. She wist not that
+a proud nature, instead of crying out with shrill uproar, will conceal
+stabs dealt in private by her legitimate lord from the scrutiny even
+of a father; the more when her parent bears only the name, since he
+has never won her love.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">How surprised would the geisha have been could she have read the
+riddle aright. It was Masago, the Abbess, who had given the hint. She,
+who was but too well aware of the position of her favourite, could see
+that she was dying slowly of a breaking heart, for each time that she
+visited the temple O'Tei was more frail and wan, more spiritual in
+aspect; her step more slow and feeble. Moreover, over and above
+personal affection for her, was it not the duty of the Abbess to give
+warning to the lady's natural protector, lest her own dear boy Sampei
+should be goaded to leap into the breach? Knowing all she knew, it was
+a subject for marvel that Sampei should have refrained till now.
+School himself as he would, he could not conceal from a mother's
+anxious gaze the canker that gnawed his entrails. So far as he was
+concerned, the arrows of O'Kikú had not missed their mark. He pined
+with sympathy,--was wrung with anguish at the drawn expression of the
+wistful face, the dimmed eyes that were once so bright, in which hope
+was quite extinguished.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_12" href="#div1Ref_12">THE DAIMIO OF NARA IMITATES THE SPHYNX.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">What a pity it is that in our odd world the wicked should be so much
+more clever than the good,--that the combinations of sinners should so
+easily outwit the simply virtuous. But then, were not the good so
+naïve, they might not possibly submit so quietly to the unhappiness
+which is usually their portion. They might scream, and rail, and wax
+obstreperous, point out the cases of flagrant injustice too often to
+be observed among their ranks, and become unedifying texts and
+examples.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Poor Sampei, being less cunning than the geisha, and not perceiving
+the advantage of which he might have availed himself, naturally did
+not seize it. It never occurred to him that the appearance of Nara on
+the scene might have brought about the salvation of his family,--that
+he and Sampei united might have ousted the female marplot. Clearly
+this lack of discrimination was due to the interference of the gods.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sampei was quite as surprised as the concubine at singular conduct of
+Nara. He took no umbrage at his sullen reception by the lord of Tsu;
+seemed not to perceive how little he was welcomed; showed a
+disposition to be easily pleased, a slowness to take offence, such as
+ill became a daimio. Closeted with his daughter, he refrained from
+searching questions, conversed about the pleasures of Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto, and
+the probabilities of a visit in the summer, while she, stony and
+indifferent, as reticent as her parent, and dreamily gazing into
+vacancy, replied in monosyllables. With studied ceremony he took leave
+of her as though she were a stranger, bade farewell of his sulky host
+with suave courtesy, and, followed by his brilliant retinue, journeyed
+slowly up into the mountains. So cautious was he, even under the
+glances of his own people, that it was not until, resigning his horse
+to a betto, he retired into a litter, and drew the curtains close,
+that he permitted his thoughts to appear upon his features. &quot;It is
+very nearly time,&quot; he murmured, &quot;very nearly time, and then shall my
+child--ay, and all Japan--be avenged, and signally.&quot; With gleeful
+exultation he rubbed his hands together as he revolved a host of
+little points which had not escaped the eagle ken of his experience. A
+drunken dissolute cohort now, the redoubtable warriors of Tsu.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Arriving unawares by night, he had found no sentries at the gate. His
+men had blown the horn, and hammered with lances, and shouted till
+their throats were hoarse, ere any one had appeared upon the walls;
+and what a scurry then! The castle, left unprotected in the silent
+watches, would have fallen without a struggle into the hands of a
+skilful foe. And--the cognisance and titles of the father of the
+chatelaine having been recognised, and the drawbridge lowered--the
+relaxation of discipline everywhere apparent within did not escape his
+practised eye. Before the presence of a stranger was made known, he
+had heard sounds of wassail and of quarrelling,--had seen the
+abandoned concubine of the Hojo toying with the common soldiers.
+And he was enchanted. What mattered it that his child looked
+wretched?--women must suffer for the common good. Patience--a little
+patience--and her burthen would soon be removed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Abbess, proud as she was of considering herself in some sort a
+Hojo, had naturally turned, in her anxiety, to him who had been
+selected by her now departed lord as the prime adviser of the family.
+Unwitting of what she did, it was her finger that first pointed out
+how the joints in the harness were loosening; and with a savage laugh
+Nara gave her thanks for it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The young General, who had never learned the arts of diplomacy,
+blushed crimson as the eyes of the new arrival took in the situation,
+and stammered awkward excuses. His brother was ill, had for some time
+past been unable to occupy himself with affairs, and was, moreover, so
+jealous of interference, that for a while he, the elder, had let
+things go. But now that my lord had come, his father's friend, the
+twain would remonstrate, and arrange together. And then, from under
+the white bettle-brows of the old man there shot a meaning leer which
+chilled the words upon the lips of the younger, and brought to his
+mind an earlier interview which had seemed ominous of complications.
+Was this man a friend, or the worst of enemies, one who wears
+disguise? Buffeting in a sea of knavery, wherein fraud and chicane and
+stratagem and pitfall boil into a seething broth, what wonder if the
+true and single-minded grow bewildered and confused? Sampei was so
+little skilled in double-dealing, that, lulled by specious sentences,
+mystified, he concluded that he had been wrong, had misunderstood the
+purport of lord Nara's talk in the palace. Was he not his father's
+ally,--the man specially picked out for the guidance of the Hojo's
+sons? The old Daimio, ever quick to read thoughts, pressed the hand of
+his young friend with touching affection.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;All will be well by-and-by,&quot; he murmured. His dear young General, of
+whom he and Japan were so justly proud, must sit quiet, and hope for
+the best. He too, then, was preaching patience. Sure, the venerable
+Abbess and the hoary statesman must be right--of course they were. The
+loyal Sampei blamed himself accordingly, and put his suspicions from
+him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Although no open confidences passed between the pair, Nara was
+satisfied, for he could detect a change in the young man. His easy
+confidence in the direction of the straight and honest course was
+gone, had given place to a pained perplexity which boded well for the
+future. The arrow which the astute kugé had planted during the
+interview at the palace, was festering. He seemed to perceive that
+much. Sampei's sense of right and wrong had been disturbed. He was
+uncomfortable, and half-suspecting he knew not what, held his peace
+moodily, while his brain groped in darksome byways. Yes, he was
+mistaken when he deemed Nara to be a foe. Yet how was it possible he
+could be really friendly, perceiving as he must how bad was his
+daughter's treatment, how outrageous on every count were the
+proceedings of her spouse? Could any one who loved Japan be Hojo's
+friend? Alack, even he, Sampei, his only brother, was but too well
+aware that he was his country's scourge--that one who should remove
+the incubus would earn his country's gratitude.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The old Daimio, guessing what knotty problem it was that so vexed the
+young soldier's mind, evolved a stroke of genius. Suave and sweet in
+manner, with an engaging air of candour, he communed with himself
+aloud, &quot;What a sad thing it is,&quot; he mused abstractedly, &quot;that the
+history and the literature of our country should so teem with the
+enmity of brothers! And yet, in the main, a happy land, more
+privileged than the dim fog-bound realms of the west.&quot; Again, how
+bewildering was this to one who was groping so anxiously for light.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Looking in the wrinkled face, Sampei could see no meaning there--no
+special meaning--addressed to himself especially. And then, as the two
+strolled about the precincts of the castle, Sampei became more
+bewildered yet and more uneasy, for in some unaccountable way it had
+come about, without his knowing how, that old Nara concealed no longer
+that he was No-Kami's enemy, that he was aware of the ill-treatment of
+his child, and grateful for the sympathy of his companion. He even, as
+a matter of course, affected to look on him as a willing accomplice;
+gave him no chance of disavowal. And then, tacit consent to this being
+given, he dropped mysterious hints. Verily the future was growing
+strangely dark, the skein of the race more tangled hourly. With
+helpless resignation Sampei was fain to allow that the fiat had gone
+forth, that the days of the Hojos were numbered. If, as was growing
+every moment plainer, the prophecy of the farmer was to be fulfilled
+to the minutest detail, what was to be gained by struggling?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Patience was in very truth the only virtue which it became the doomed
+to cultivate. Humbled, therefore, and filled with murky presage, the
+young man bowed his neck and folded his hands, resolved to float with
+the stream, obedient to the whim of destiny.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Thus Nara--kugé and devoted servant of the Holy Mikado--having been
+warned by the Abbess of Tsu of the tottering condition of her house,
+came and spied out the land, and returned home delighted; while she,
+hearing in due course how he had come and gone, smiling and
+dangerously courteous, fell a prey to vague misgivings, and betook
+herself to prayer and abstinence. Vainly she cross-examined O'Tei,
+grown stonier and whiter. Since her father's unsatisfactory visit, the
+unhappy lady appeared to wake from a frozen trance to a sense of
+feverish existence, only when prostrate on the temple floor praying
+for the untying of her bonds. The words of Koshiu were seared as by an
+iron on her heart; sleeping or waking, she saw them burning on the
+wall.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The scene within the grey circle of weird trees was never absent from
+her vision. What had she done to deserve the ban? The full horror of
+the anathema ate into her being slowly. In succeeding cycles she was
+destined to be accursed. Little by little she realised her doom; for
+her there was to be no rest, no peace, no change for the better. Why?
+Because, obedient to her father's commands, she had bestowed her hand
+upon a tyrant. For blind obedience, punished for all time; for more
+than time--for ever!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There was no justice, then, in this life, or in the realms beyond the
+grave. She was created for misfortune and misery, specially picked out
+for all the worst evils that beset mortality. If accursed in future
+cycles, she might never rise,--never win Nirvana,--never hope for
+oblivion. The unflecked blackness of the despair that settled down
+like a foldless sable curtain upon O'Tei, caused the heart of Masago
+to bleed for her. The gentlest, noblest, most patient, as well as the
+most innocent of ladies! Truly the ways of the Eternal are
+inscrutable. The austere Abbess strove to instil comfort into the
+numbed soul--without avail. Her arguments, after all, were shallowest
+platitudes, to be tossed aside by O'Tei with easy scorn. What to her
+were the puny arts of O'Kikú the second wife? Shielded by the buckler
+of such suffering as hers, the tiny pins of the geisha fell harmless.
+Pity that 'twas so, for wholesome indignation might have wakened her
+from the stupor which, unless broken, must shortly end in dissolution.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Pondering as she paced the silent groves, the Abbess sought for a clue
+in vain. If the family was doomed to be smitten root and branch, it
+was doomed. But what a store of faith is needed humbly to acquiesce
+in the monstrous belief that the innocent must suffer for the
+guilty,--that generations yet unborn are to come into the world
+for the express purpose of bearing on their backs the guilt of
+their ancestors. With terror Masago felt that she was growing
+rebellious,--that her faith was trembling,--that she could no longer
+gaze with trustful veneration upon Buddha, the expressionless and the
+impassible, reposing cross-legged on his lotus. Herself, O'Tei, the
+dearly-loved Sampei, were all to suffer for No-Kami. Sure Tomoyé must
+be writhing on some other sphere for being the mother of such a
+cockatrice! And so it naturally came about that Masago, as well as
+others, looked forward to the sacrificing of Hojo--the chief to whom
+they owed allegiance,--of the head of the family of which she was
+proud to be one,--that she even prayed for the death of No-Kami as the
+only possible solution of the problem.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">O'Kikú was not above profiting by the lesson which had been taught by
+Nara's visit. Instead of being permitted to subside into hopeless
+imbecility, her lord must be aroused,--must be exhorted to tighten the
+cords of his nervous system, in preparation for a sudden strain.
+Accordingly, after a period of wonder at Nara's visit and its apparent
+abortiveness, she began to suspect that, courteous as his manner was,
+and suavely ceremonious his departure, they had not yet heard the last
+of the kugé's irruption; and that it behoved her, as the guiding
+spirit of the castle, to practise caution. That snake, Sampei, was
+wriggling in the grass in inconvenient proximity, darting glances of
+adoration at the chatelaine. For the dignity of her dear lord's name
+(and her own future comfort), she must accentuate and renew her
+exposure of the villain and his paramour, now that the coast was
+clear. To this end, in order that vengeance might be tempered with
+<i>sang froid</i>, their deluded victim must be taught to mingle vigilance
+with circumspection, which would require a measure of sobriety. It
+would be vexatious to have to resign a modicum of personal liberty,
+but the sacking of the castle by a watchful enemy, who knew of its
+master's sottishness, would be a worse evil. It behoved her for her
+own sake to protect my lord from the enemy within the citadel. Arguing
+from her own ways of thought, it was a logical deduction that, in love
+with No-Kami's wife, Sampei must desire his death.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The geisha, adapting herself to the circumstances of the moment,
+became outwardly more circumspect in her behaviour; watched over her
+lord with affectionate care; exhorted and chid him with tender
+patience till his paroxysms of fear were past; made herself so
+absolutely needful to his existence, that he could not but fondly mark
+the contrast betwixt her and his legitimate consort. And she was not
+slow in administering the deadly drops when occasion served. What
+should the lady O'Tei care? she would babble artlessly, that her lord
+was well or ill, since her affections were engrossed by another, who
+all along had possessed her heart. The silent twilight of cryptomeria
+groves is conducive to holy meditation, but is also vastly convenient
+for mundane dallying. But no! he must not excite himself. Why should
+my lord exercise his shattered nerves, and pace like a caged bear?
+What mattered it what they did, or how frequently they met? For
+her part, his faithful O'Kikú thought it very diverting that any
+warm-blooded man should elect to fall in love with an icicle.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No-Kami hearkened, and although his reason rejected the geisha's
+hints, they set him pondering. Of O'Tei's character he had never seen
+any side, after the first few days, but the cold, repellent one, made
+more obnoxious sometimes by that lack of proper pride, which to his
+nostrils was as an evil savour. His brother was also a riddle; as a
+soldier brave to a fault, in other concerns hesitating, even timid,
+beset with petty scruples incomprehensible to the broader views of his
+feudal master. At the bottom of his heart he was afraid of his first
+wife, and disliked his brother, who, instinct whispered, was more
+worthy than himself. But to suspect those two of love passages!
+O'Kikú, unable to read correctly the characters of either, was led
+astray by over anxiety on his behalf. And yet, what if she were right?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">That dreadful curse that was ringing ever in his ears. Was this one of
+the ways in which he was to be stricken? Was he to be held up by wife
+and brother as a laughing-stock in the eyes of his assembled warriors?
+He had been weak, unnerved; had groaned and grovelled, forgetting his
+name and lineage; had all but been lured to submit to degradation that
+night among the enchanted trees. He would battle with the phantoms
+now, like a true son of his father and Tomoyé--would conquer, by force
+of indomitable will, even the goblins that pursued him. Rising up, and
+girding his loins, thankful that the samurai had never beheld his
+throes of terror, he appeared once more in the hall, overbearing and
+stern and firm of step--as fierce and harsh as heretofore, if haggard
+and ashen of hue.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sampei marked the change with approval; for the idea that the head of
+the house was to turn coward seemed the most grievous of possibilities
+in connection with the martyr's curse. At this juncture an event
+occurred which added yet further to his relief. The lord of Tsu was
+summoned, by sudden mandate of the Mikado, and was ordered to present
+himself in the sacred precincts of Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto without delay,
+accompanied by a small following. This order, publicly given, he must
+perforce obey, and, removed from the bad influence of the favourite,
+there was no knowing what happy turn might follow. Though polygamy was
+a recognised institution, it was not etiquette for any other than the
+first wife to hold communion with the ladies of the imperial court.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The peremptory nature of the summons surprised and offended the lord
+of Tsu. Old Nara, doubtless, had perceived how unstrung he was, had
+whispered to the silly babbling kugés and their infatuated head that
+the lion was toothless, that the poison-bag of the serpent was
+removed. A sense of their mistake, and the speedy discomfiture of the
+feeble gang, acted on the system of the despot like a dash of fresh
+salt brine. He laughed aloud, as, detaching the clinging arm of the
+siren from about his neck, he leapt lightly on Typhoon, his war-horse.
+The day was crisp and brightly cold--exhilarating--the sky cloudless,
+as he galloped towards the hills. In the frosty reviving air of the
+mountains the vengeful shades were exorcised; Koshiu and Kennui and
+their baleful family lingered behind in the plains, and stretch forth
+in vain their talons. The ghosts faded into thin vapour--nightmare was
+shaken off--No-Kami felt ten years younger than yesterday. A fig for
+the farmer and his curse! The tyrant of Japan must have been sick
+indeed to have shivered under a peasant's puling!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Of a surety a signal change had come over my lord. Peradventure there
+was to be an alteration in the mind as well as the body--greater
+miracles have come to pass. So mused Sampei--strangely relieved--while
+he watched the knot of horsemen as they wound upwards and over the
+sky-line. The gods grant it! O'Kikú also mused as she stood watching.
+My lord was better--that was a comfort,--would prove to the trembling
+courtiers that they had reckoned wrongly. She had a secret for him on
+his return which should bind him yet closer to her. Meanwhile she
+could enjoy a time of absolute freedom, give vent to her proclivities,
+whilst narrowly watching the young General and his love, and weaving
+the web of her intrigues.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_13" href="#div1Ref_13">THE DESPOT OBEYS ORDERS.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">The little cavalcade sped swiftly on, for the frost-bound roads were
+pleasant travelling, and towards evening a dim mass appeared on the
+horizon, which presaged a fall of snow. It behoved the Daimio and his
+escort to ascend the wild and rugged pass, and seek the sheltered
+plains, before the coming of the storm.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Yes, No-Kami was himself again. The eyes, like burning coals, no
+longer glared at him. The good horse Typhoon, idle too long, chafed
+under the bit, buffeted with his lord for mastery. A distempered
+dream, no more, one that was past and gone. Light of heart and
+jovially inclined, he gratified his taste for cruelty by lashing his
+steed into a fever. Even he, the horse, was aware how sick he had
+been--was mutinous and restive--needed a sharp lesson. The samurai, he
+remarked, were more familiar than of yore. There was a shade less of
+submission in their manner. One went so far as to bandy a broad jest,
+putting forth lips too close to his master's ear, upon which he
+received a smart blow upon the cheek, as a hint to keep his distance.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Their lord was himself again, and the warriors were glad. That he
+should be fooled by a wanton to their benefit was amusing for a while,
+but with satiety rose a feeling of disgust. The fascinating geisha's
+heart had room for too many occupants, and the warriors began to
+reflect some while since that, by betraying their lord in their
+society, she was shaming the house they served. As the charm of
+novelty waned, they began to see her as she was. Removed from the
+range of O'Kikú's orbs, the more sober among then grieved about that
+second marriage. As a dancing-girl--a passing fancy--O'Kikú was all
+that could be desired--but as a permanent second wife?--no. On the
+whole, even the mawkish chatelaine was less grievous as a mistress.
+Her sins were of omission only. Never by word or look had she
+disgraced the name she bore. Unfortunately, the same could not be said
+for the concubine.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">My lord was himself again, and, being so, was desperately tetchy. This
+was untoward. Otherwise, a wary hint might have been thrown out by the
+trusted and war-beaten officer who rode beside him as to the reckless
+proceedings of his favourite. In the present condition of his temper,
+interference might produce explosion. Well, time is the best guide. If
+detained at Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto, he might see some one he liked better, and
+forget O'Kikú, and then she could be relegated to a convent as lumber
+is removed to a godown.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The samurai were in high spirits, and noisy withal, and the Daimio
+observed with displeasing the effect of discipline relaxed. So
+soon as he returned home he would set his castle in order, he
+resolved,--suppress undue lawlessness,--check familiarity. When he
+returned? Would the nightmare crush him again--numbing his limbs,
+breaking his spirit? Surely not. Why should he ever return? Was he not
+lord of other castles? Could he not appropriate at will, with the
+strong hand of might, any stronghold that should take his fancy? Tsu
+could be left to O'Tei and to the goblins. Henceforth it was a hateful
+spot, recalling humiliation and pain. And then he mused about
+O'Kikú--entrancing little fairy! A pity she was unreasonably jealous,
+for all those stories about his wife and his brother were too absurd
+to be believed. Yet were they? What, after all, if the concubine were
+right, and Sampei's air of offended dignity a piece of clever
+masquerading? Had he, the chief, not seemed to detect something like
+commiseration on the bronzed features of his warriors? Why should they
+pity him? Perhaps they knew too well that, behind his back, his wife
+and brother held clandestine meetings. Of course, this must be it.
+Scales fell from his eyes, and he trembled with passion. His first
+wife was deceiving him, and with his brother! Hence their waning
+respect and covert pity. And, fool that he was, he had left the two
+together. Grinding his teeth, he twitched the rein so sharply that
+Typhoon, beflecked with foam, fell back upon his haunches. And then,
+in fitful mood, he laughed again. To Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto first to tie up
+loosened strands, then back to Tsu with furtive speed! He would swoop
+upon both the guilty ones, catch them off their guard, and make of
+them an example for all time.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The peasants, scared out of their wits by the truculent bearing of the
+soldiery, betook them to the woods, and lurked in hiding till the
+enemy had passed. At the top of the mountain, just where the way is
+level, before dipping down through a thicket of wind-tossed pines,
+there stood a modest tea-house where my lord was wont to sleep on his
+journeys between his castle and the capital. Here he resolved to stop
+as usual, and, after bathing, enjoy his dinner. The landlord and his
+daughters came smiling forth, and, clapping palms upon their thighs,
+knelt down and rapped foreheads on the floor. My lord was paler than
+his wont, observed mine host, with profuse sighing; and thin, which
+tore in twain the hearts of his loyal vassals; indeed they had heard
+that he was grievously sick--almost unto death. Had not my lord of
+Nara gone by recently and brought the evil tidings! One and all had
+wept, and offered prayers for his recovery. But my lord was young, and
+would speedily recover, thanks to the elasticity of youth. And so on,
+with many genuflections and drawings in of the breath; sibillations,
+and head-rappings; while No-Kami's face grew purple, and he growled a
+string of curses.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Nara dared--the insolent dotard!--he dared to spread reports among the
+people to the detriment of him, the Hojo! Sick unto death, forsooth!
+He burned to continue his journey forthwith, that the old schemer
+might be swiftly punished. Hark! What was that? A clatter of hoofs on
+the hard road. A betto, breathless, wearing the badge of Tsu. What had
+chanced? Not an accident to the fair O'Kikú? Anything but that. The
+anxiety of No-Kami caused the warriors to glance with grim meaning
+from one to another, and shake their heads. How infatuated was their
+lord with that brazen hussy! A lacquer box, bound with a red cord,
+containing a roll--a letter scrawled by the dear one. The darling
+faithful fairy was pining in the absence of her love! Retiring to the
+inner chamber, with its fine white mats, and gold ceiling painted with
+many fans, he proceeded to peruse the scroll. &quot;He must not be angry
+with his little slave in that she perforce must write to him.&quot; (Angry!
+and with her? At home he might have snarled, but now time and distance
+were between them.) &quot;She was not so well-disciplined, springing from
+the warm-hearted people, as my lady, the chill chatelaine.&quot; (No, in
+sooth! O'Tei would be long ere she despatched love-missives to her
+husband.) &quot;She was silly enough to adore my lord so well that each
+moment out of his company was like a dagger-stab; and yet, <i>she had
+comfort in his absence!</i>&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Here was a mystery concerning which he must not be jealous, since the
+comfort of which she spoke would affect him as well as her. My lord
+must give way before her whim, and be patient, or if not patient, must
+hasten home the sooner, that the grand secret of joy might be
+divulged. Softened, he laid the paper down. He must be a brute indeed
+who hath not a tender spot in his ruggedness for one who so
+unselfishly adored! The guileless, silly child! What was the grand
+secret that was to be the harbinger of doubly-concentrated bliss?
+Stay! there was a postscript to the letter, and the Hojo scrunched its
+frail tissue in his palm. Under the green leaf lies the scorpion.
+&quot;Since my lord went they are at ease, and the Abbess a shameless
+pander!&quot; That was all, but it was enough to remove the sweetness from
+the rest,--the one drop of gall that could turn a whole dish sour.</p>
+
+<p class="normal"><i>At ease</i>, were they! Not for long--not for long! Squatting on the
+mat, with a futon, or wadded quilt, about his shoulders, and his cold
+hands spread over the hibachi, where charcoal ashes distributed a
+mockery of warmth, No-Kami quivered now in every racked sinew. Did
+everybody unite to beard him? He was fallen so low as that! The
+prestige due to wholesome fear was paling. He had been too lenient.
+That pageant had somehow been a failure. Only just in time had he
+recovered from his illness. It was time to turn over a new leaf and
+coerce the rebellious and unruly with an increase of severity. A
+plague on the noisy soldiery! They were as insolent as all the rest.
+The world was out of gear. What hideous din was that in the outer
+chamber? Springing to his feet, the Daimio flung back in their grooves
+the paper-covered doors, and in a voice of thunder demanded the cause
+of the uproar. A disgraceful scene, in truth! The landlord, but now so
+smiling and obsequious, was tied and gagged. So were the plump girls,
+his daughters, whose bosoms heaved with terror-stricken sobs, while
+tears coursed down their cheeks, and their locks, though plastered
+thick with oil, were bereft of pins and ornaments.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">What was the meaning of this? stammered their outraged lord, so soon
+as indignation permitted of speech. Sure they must be out of their
+senses! He had borne with their impudence upon the road,--their
+offensive, rollicking gait and vulgar swagger; but now they had gone
+too far, and should feel the weight of his displeasure. Were they
+samurai--faithful and obedient henchmen--or ronins--bandits? There had
+been more than enough quarrelling of late between the soldiers and the
+lower class. Landlord and maidens must be instantly released with full
+apologies, with substantial damages in the future, which should be
+extorted from the pay of the truculent and peccant braves.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Hojo was awful in his indignation--a whirlwind! Sure the
+thunder-god looked like this while deafening with his gongs the
+firmament. The girls were set free with tardy sullenness, and cowered
+together, trembling; but the man who menaced the landlord clutched him
+still, with the point of a dirk at his throat, while he who was in
+command approached his lord with extreme humility, begging to be
+permitted to explain.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;We were toying with the maidens,&quot; he bluntly urged--&quot;surely an
+appropriate amusement for soldiers--when one, too roughly pinched,
+perhaps, turned on the aggressor with a jibe. 'Take heed,' she
+shrieked, in shrill resentment at that which was only gallantry, 'lest
+you strutting fowls get your fine feathers clipped!' She would have
+said more, but her sire, in fear, clapped a hand upon her mouth,
+exhorting her to prudence. She had betrayed herself--uttered a dark
+threat, whose meaning it became us to learn. With the steel at his
+throat the man had made confession--and a pretty coil it was! The
+clans are gathering, he says; silently, by detachments, in the
+mountains, ready, at given signal to fall unawares upon my lord. That
+was why the Daimio of Nara deigned to visit us. He came to reconnoitre
+the ground, to see if we were prepared and vigilant. While we reposed
+in false security (this varlet hath confessed) the hostile daimios
+have been summoning their men, have enrolled in their service paid
+auxiliaries; disbanded, wandering ronins; soldiers of fortune,
+ruffians. And this, as it seems (though one can scarce believe it),
+with the tacit consent both of the Holy Mikado and of the Shogun at
+Kamakura. This summons to Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto is a snare, detected luckily in
+time. May it please my lord--pardoning the arrogance of his poor
+servant in advising--to take horse at once, and, riding quickly home
+prepare for danger. Finding their plot discovered, they will follow,
+striving, by myriads like locusts, to undo us. But the walls of Tsu
+are strong. Behind them we may laugh, secure.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Having made this long oration, the chief of the samurai bent down,
+touched with his lips the hem of my lord's hanging girdle, and then
+rising, with bowed neck awaited orders. A discovery indeed! When
+closeted with his child the crafty Nara had doubtless explained the
+plot, had held out the hope of freedom to the prisoner; and she, as
+consummate in dissimulation as her parent, had seen without a quiver
+of an eyelid her husband riding to his death. Perhaps Sampei knew also
+of it--of course he did. Ambitious for himself, a willing tool of
+Nara's! Faithless traitors all! O'Kikú was the only true one!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">His brows knitted in deep concern, the Daimio waved his hand, and
+retired for a while to think. The suddenly-opened chasm that yawned
+before his feet completed the recovery of No-Kami. His wife, his
+brother, false. That was evident now. The adviser selected by his
+parent convicted of treason. Incensed Japan ready to rise as one to
+shake off a weakened despot. Nobody but himself to trust to; no arm
+but his own to succour him. Return with all speed to Tsu, and place
+that impregnable stronghold in a condition to endure a siege? Prudent
+advice enough; but what if the hovering ghosts should on his
+re-entrance there claim and clutch him for their own. Then would he be
+undone indeed. But the ghosts had ceased to worry. No-Kami thrilled
+with glee as he realised the imminence of his peril. How mistaken in
+their estimate they were of him who held them leashed. What! Catch a
+Hojo like a rat in a trap? Not they. Not all the united prowess of
+Japan should succeed in doing it, provided goblins were kept aloof
+from the contest. Return at once to Tsu. No! 'Twould be a sign of
+weakness. Instead of retiring, it behoved him to assume the offensive.
+He would invade the Mikado, as he had often done before, and cow with
+his scowl alone the poor timid array of hares. By the prestige of his
+name and the uncompromising power of his will he had held his own
+since the demise of his father and Tomoyé. It is a mistake for a
+despot to hide his frown too long. The past should be retrieved by a
+blow so heavy and unexpected that the hares, quaking with
+apprehension, would scuttle off without a sound.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Striding forth again from retirement, No-Kami issued orders so prompt
+and to the purpose that there was no gainsaying them.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The betto was to return to Tsu at the top of his speed, with private
+instructions to the officers as to increased watchfulness. This scroll
+he would deliver to Sampei, and instruct him, at the peril of his life
+without delay to join his brother at the capital. The letter was so
+sternly worded that he would perceive he had been betrayed,--that the
+head of his clan was aware of his perfidy, and he would accordingly
+throw up the game, confess, and sue for mercy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Daimio himself and his following would, after a few hours of
+repose, push on to Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto. The rice of the men consumed, the horses
+fed, and a cup of saké all round, and then, away!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The landlord and his daughter; what of them?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The miserable peasant was quaking on the mat, groaning and wringing
+hands with incoherent supplications, deeply distressed in mind to
+think that through the blabbing of him and his the tyrant should have
+received timely warning.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">To all posterity would their names go branded down, since but for
+their folly the bonds of their land would have been loosened. The
+girls, beside themselves with fear, crawled on hands and knees,
+imploring clemency.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Folding his arms, No-Kami looked down upon the supplicants, while his
+features were contracted by a spasm that might pass for a malignant
+grin.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;What of these?&quot; he glowered. &quot;Slash the father's throat; 'tis given
+to garrulity and chattering. The girls? Serve them as you will. What
+have I to do with vermin?&quot;</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_14" href="#div1Ref_14">THE MIKADO DOES BUSINESS.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Since the return of Nara from his mysterious excursion, the interior
+of the sad prison-house of the Mikado was quite lively. The kneeling
+kugés chirruped like birds; their tall black headdresses waved and
+nodded like sable plumes in the wind. Excitement being contagious, the
+un-elect, who might not step within the sacred halls, laughed too and
+gabbled on the outer verandahs, showing their white teeth, and
+gossiping hopefully. They wist not why they were so light of heart;
+but if the privileged denizens of the lugubrious dwelling, usually so
+glum, were gay, it meant that the Holy Mikado was well pleased; and if
+the Fountain of Honour was content, it was clearly the duty of them,
+his lowly faithful ones, to vie one with another in sympathy.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">After that terrible interview when he was publicly insulted before his
+court, the miserable Mikado retired into darkness, declining to emerge
+or to be comforted. He vowed that the three deposed Emperors who were
+mumbling prayers in remote monasteries were far better off than he,
+for they at any rate were left in peace, so long as they submitted
+quietly, and were pitied as well as loved by the Empire. The actual
+Emperor, so long as he seemed to reign, was held responsible for what
+was done, and he, unfortunately for himself, was of a conscientious
+turn of mind. The peasant man who, alas, too trusting, had confided
+himself to the safe keeping of the Holy One, had been torn from
+sanctuary, ignominiously executed, together with his innocent family,
+and the Fountain of Honour was aware that in the eyes of the people he
+must be a willing accomplice, or else the meanest of puppets. His
+conscience was torn by pincers. He ought somehow to have saved that
+family. Humiliation and shame gnawed into his vitals, as rusty gyves
+into the wrists. No slavery, he declared, while he crouched in his
+dark chamber, with drops of sweat upon his brow, could possibly be
+worse than his. A change of masters, if master he must have, would be
+for the better, since his plight could not be altered for the worse.
+Not the lowest coolie,--the meanest Eta in his dominions, was of less
+account than he. If all these chattering kugés, who prostrated
+themselves so humbly, drawing in breath like humming insects,
+professing profound devotion, would only do something practical, then
+would he, the Fountain, sparkle with gratitude, and profusely
+distribute benedictions.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Nara was a provoking person. Wise as an owl in aspect, his wisdom was
+much an imposture as that of the sapient bird. As usual he exhorted to
+patience, droned platitudes through his nose. The friends of that
+much-tried individual on a dunghill, whom Christians had been heard to
+prate about, were no more exasperating. When the octopus holds you
+with his tentacles in fell embrace, you must summon all your strength
+in a supreme effort to tear him piecemeal. A series of small struggles
+are mere waste of tissue. The Hojo, as all within the holy prison
+house were painfully aware, was a portentous octopus, more awful than
+any of the forbidding monsters, with arms of five feet and more, that
+are to be seen any day in the fish-market.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Those who would measure lances with him must be cautious--very
+cautious. Perhaps, looking back on history, the Fountain might
+remember Yoriiyé, son of Yoritomo the Great, who, banished to the
+temple of Idzu, was compelled to shave off his hair. Objecting, he
+rebelled, and, to the general dismay, was found strangled one morning
+in his bath. The present Fountain was young and impetuous, a boy, and
+ignorant, and must learn to smile and wait--to smile and smile--and
+<i>strike!</i> That he should have resolved on a change at any cost, was
+well. His trusty lords would beat about and see what was to be done.
+Doth not the ratcatcher's cat hide her claws?--to serve her end
+perform miracles? With the stirring of the wind the heron rises from
+the stream. A little faith, and patience.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was fortunate for the conspirators, headed by Nara, that after his
+deplorable exhibition of cruelty at Tsu the tyrant should remain
+quiescent. The snake, for the moment gorged, was comatose. Taking
+advantage of his absence and inaction, the Daimio of Nara threw his
+spies broadcast over the land--sent letters to absent magnates
+inviting them to unite and march for the emancipation of their lord
+from serfdom. He even sent privately to the Shogun at Kamakura,
+declaring that if any one was despot in future it should be he, since,
+by virtue of his post, he was the first General of the Empire, the
+legitimate leader of her armies. If the Hojo had been at Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto,
+and awake, these proceedings would have been at once detected, and
+crushed with an iron hand. Why was he so quiet in his distant castle?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When the message from Masago arrived, declaring that the Daimio of Tsu
+was sinking into lowest debauchery, willing victim of a harlot, Nara
+thanked the gods, and rushed to his imperial master. The other item in
+the communication--concerning the position of his own daughter--was a
+trifle. She also must practise patience. She would be amply avenged
+for present torment at the same time as the Holy Mikado. Was not this
+grand news, well worth a little waiting--a little suffering? Had he
+not been right--he, the hoary one, the sage, the experienced, the
+prudent? They had waited, and the moment was at hand. In exultant joy
+he flung himself headlong on the mat, and embraced his master's feet.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Of course the latter was glad that evil should befall his tyrant; but
+Nara was always more glib with tongue than sword. A little patience,
+quotha. For patience the times were out of joint. A little action now.
+Answers arrived from east and west, from north and south--some
+bellicose and ardent, some timid and time-serving. The Fountain of
+Honour deigned to come out of darkness like a snail out of its shell;
+but as he lay supported on his hand in the centre of the floor, his
+mien was so troubled, his young brow so puckered and scowling, that
+the kugés squatting around in a circle sat wistful, with heads on one
+side--motionless. For hours and hours he remained as inanimate as
+they--lost in gloomy thoughts and dumb abstraction. The prospect was
+too halcyon. The tyrant, firm in the toils of a low woman, might
+become sodden and besotted. What of the other--no less than he a
+Hojo--the idol of the army, bravest of the brave? The soul of loyalty
+(or his face belied him), he would stand by his brother, a tower of
+strength in an emergency.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Plausible and garrulous and self-deceiving as old men are wont to be,
+Nara had been quite wrong in his estimate of General Sampei. He, the
+General, had appeared distressed at the proceedings of his feudal
+superior. And yet could it be denied that he had calmly attended and
+approved that shocking massacre,--had stood by with hands before him
+while infants were slaughtered,--had remained on the premises ever
+since, perfectly composed and comfortable? His face was a lying mask
+then. He was as bad, every bit, as his brother,--as much to be feared
+and hated; for since it was clear that he approved his acts, he would,
+of course, stand by him to the death.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Nara rubbed his chin, and whilst confessing that that much of the
+problem was at present not quite so clear as was desirable, stoutly
+declared that if the distant chiefs could succeed in quietly gathering
+their adherents, and, unsuspected, mass them within distance of the
+capital the desired end would be attained, Sampei or no Sampei. The
+Hojo must be lulled in false security, and awake to a sense of danger
+only in time to perish. In order to reconnoitre the ground, he, the
+veteran, would stir his old bones and pay a visit to his son-in-law.
+There would be naught in this to raise suspicion, for what could be
+more natural than that a fond parent should make a pilgrimage to visit
+his only child?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He went, as we have seen, and in due course returned, so jubilant and
+radiant that even his glum master perforce believed in him. Their
+prayers were heard. The gods were sick of tyranny. The despot,
+blindfold, was marching to his fate. His foot was on the edge of the
+abyss. As the Fountain of Honour in his inspired wisdom had pointed
+out, Sampei was loyal to his chief, so far, but he was evidently full
+of disgust, uncertain what he ought to do, harried and worried,
+wretched. The citadel was more than half undermined already. He, the
+brilliant general, soldier to his finger nails, moved in a centre of
+undisciplined debauchery; listess, unshocked, uninterested. Why, a
+handful of ronins could take and sack in a trice the castle once
+deemed impregnable! The guards were wrapped in drunken sleep, the
+sentinels, absent from their posts, were engaged in uproarious wassail
+Not a peasant for miles around but would hail with joyous relief the
+advent of a new master; not a farmer or artizan but, with full faith
+in Koshiu's dying words, would look on No-Kami's downfall as
+retribution heaven-born. Nothing would be easier than, guided by
+peasants, to march trusty troops by night through the mountain defiles
+and take the castle by surprise. Sampei, half-hearted as he was, and
+preternaturally listless, would acquiesce in the inevitable (would be
+only too glad to do so), and, his brother slain--no longer tied by
+fealty--would appear in his true colours. In the absence of their
+hereditary chief, the braves of Tsu would lose their heads, throw down
+their arms. For the stronghold must fall in the absence of the Hojo,
+or the prestige that hung around his dignity might save him after all.
+Just see how cautiously and well-prepared were the plans of the
+veteran counsellor. Hojo must be summoned to Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto on some
+business; then sent back with a reproof, to fall into a skilfully-set
+trap. Admitted within the walls that were once his own--but which
+would have surrendered in his absence--he could be seized and bound,
+and, in this plight, covered with the green net of dishonour, be
+exhibited before awed crowds, as a sermon against vaulting ambition.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">So fluent was the old man, so completely self-convinced, that the
+Mikado revived and sat up, while the eyes of the circle of kugés
+goggled in their heads with mingled admiration and alarm. No-Kami, as
+we have seen, was sent for in peremptory fashion. The Fountain
+suggested timidly that this was rash, perhaps; and then old Nara
+laughed loud and long and savagely.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Time was, O Holy One!&quot; he cried, with wagging headpiece, &quot;when 'twas
+I who prated of prudence. Now I say be brave! There is naught to fear:
+his claws are cut. I have looked on him! There is terror in his
+bloodshot eyes, dread in his shaking hands and shuffling footsteps.
+The dying farmer called down a curse, and it works visibly, for his
+confidence in himself has gone--his belief in a lucky star!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">All this was vastly refreshing to the inhabitants of the palace,
+accustomed as they were to groaning. The Mikado, with mind at ease,
+sat on his lacquered chair within the white-curtained tent, and gave
+audience to all and sundry. The weather was bitterly cold.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A cutting wind blew down from the hills, sheeted last night with snow.
+Nevertheless, so benignantly disposed was he, that the Fountain of
+Honour ordered the shutters of the Great Hall to be removed, that
+those without might see him, and fall in ecstasy upon their faces.
+With a hibachi of fine bronze before him, clad in wadded robes with
+seven linings, his wizened visage was cut clear against the background
+by the towering black gauze leaf that he only of mortals was permitted
+to wear erect. Despite his wadding and his charcoal he was chilly; but
+what matters that when the heart is warm, the spirits high? The moment
+of triumph was approaching when he would claim an eye for an eye and a
+tooth for a tooth,--exact a cry of pain for each that himself had
+uttered. Since the despot was already so stricken by outraged Buddha
+as to be spiritless, he, the Fountain, would improve the occasion when
+the culprit arrived, in order that all might perceive and applaud the
+seasonable resumption of his free will and dignity. Openly now he
+discussed with assembled kugés each succeeding step. Troops were
+already moving silently, under cover of the dark, towards the castle.
+Others were approaching from afar in the direction of the central
+rendezvous. On the arrival of the culprit--news had already been
+received of his starting--he should be solemnly arraigned and
+admonished, then banished in disgrace to his lands at Tsu. There he
+would fall into the snare, be brought back with every mark of insult
+and ignominy to the capital--and then--and then! What was to happen
+after that was too delicious to be too promptly settled. It was a
+morsel to be turned over and over on the tongue, not swallowed with a
+gulp.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Both Fountain and attendant kugés were never weary now of discussing
+&quot;what then?&quot; Of course, the last thing of all was to be harakiri. This
+means of final exit he could justly claim by right of name and
+lineage. But before the final tragedy there might, if skilfully
+thought out, be endless shades of moral torture; and the kugés,
+squatting in a row, crumpled their foreheads and stared at the gold
+ceiling in the delightful travail of conception. Every one had an idea
+which required to be examined and considered, sifted, accepted, or
+rejected. Meanwhile the Fountain dribbled out wisdom, encouraged
+brains to nimbleness, distributed applause. One of the nobles had an
+inspiration, whereon all his fellows cackled. There was a punishment
+that none had endured for years, but which might be revived with
+advantage for the behoof of the fallen Hojo. In a public place, before
+the assembled populace, a series of the lowest and dirtiest Etas were
+to be placed in a long line, with straddled legs, and under the arcade
+thus formed--a pilgrimage of consummate degradation--the humbled
+noble, on hands and knees, was to be condemned to crawl. An admirable
+suggestion! Traitorous nobles condemned to this ordeal had been known
+to die from very shame--their soul crushed out of them, ere half the
+journey was accomplished. Sure the proud-stomached Hojo would not
+survive, and thus would go out of the world deprived of the honour of
+harakiri.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Mikado, enchanted, could conjure up the scene. He longed for the
+moment to arrive when the culprit, erst so domineering, would shuffle
+in, nervous and unstrung. A new and charming sensation this to one who
+was wont himself to quiver. Yes, he longed for the moment, but the
+wretch should not be admitted at once. Certainly not. He should be
+shown his place; he who had ridden roughshod should be kept waiting in
+an ante-room. He----Hark! what sound was that? Rapid and dreadfully
+familiar? Could it indeed be? A footfall, too well known, was creaking
+quickly along the bare boards of the corridor. Shuffling, forsooth! it
+was as brisk and elastic as of yore. With a glance of dismayed
+reproach the Mikado turned to Nara, then concealed behind a fan his
+burning face. Nara frowned, surprised. The crouching kugés twittered.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Mice gambol when their hereditary foe is slumbering; then, when the
+green gleaming eyes re-open, scuffle into holes. For these poor mice
+there were no holes. The footstep was crunching--crunching on their
+hearts. Though it approached more near, more near, with dreadful
+swiftness, they might not move, since no shelter was at hand, and they
+had not wings to fly. Alack! with idle presumption they had uncorked a
+bottle, and out had popped a gin that spread his bat's pinions over
+the sky with stifling sulphurous stench.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Dread in his shaking hand indeed! Oh, Nara! Nara! Peeping nervously
+between his fan-sticks, as the commanding figure that he knew too well
+darkened the doorway, the Fountain of Honour perceived a threatening
+outline in which there was no sign of decadence. As with hand lightly
+poised on hip, and proud head raised, the Hojo strode into the
+Presence, the Mikado marked that he was pale and thin, but his eye, if
+bloodshot, was piercing as ever--fierce as the untamed eagle's. That
+Nara, who boasted of experience and acumen, should be so grievously
+taken in. Well, well! it was all the fault of that old fool. The
+embroglio was of his making; it must be for him to get them out of the
+hobble.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But Nara, save for a deepening line between the brows, and teeth that
+bit the lip, seemed unaware of the apparition. Red and wrinkled lids
+blinked over glazed eyes which stared stonily into space from under a
+white and shaggy penthouse. The Daimio of Tsu, erect and menacing,
+glanced slowly down at the assembled lords, who, with bent backs, were
+contemplating the floor--then at the fan and bundle of silks which
+concealed the Fountain of Honour--then at the crowd without, who stood
+with craned necks on the verandahs, or grouped about the garden. From
+between his fan-sticks the Mikado followed the motions of the despot
+with increasing trepidation.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">If only he dared to command the closing of the doors--but his tongue
+refused its office. Instinct told him that the cup of disgrace was
+again to be presented to his lips, and that it would be more bitter
+than ever to the taste. How hard was fate! Every one of the court
+circle--hatamotos, lords, knights, dependants--was to witness the
+unpleasing ceremony.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As the Daimio stood quietly glancing round without a word, the silence
+became each second less endurable. By bearing and power of eye,
+combined with an eloquent past, the tyrant held them cowed. Insolent!
+He had presumed to appear in the presence in ordinary garb,--had not
+deigned to don the <i>Uye-no-Bakama</i>; or the regulation white silk
+shirt, or <i><span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#332;</span> Katabira</i>. And the attitude of the courtiers, too! A
+pack of grovelling cowards! fine weather friends. A minute since they
+were gabbling, one against another, of future deeds of prowess--of
+dazzling achievements; now not one among the startled herd had courage
+to sacrifice himself--to save his lord from the dilemma. Piteously the
+Mikado looked at Nara, who made no response; then--since it was
+absolutely essential that some one should break the silence--he closed
+his fan and whispered meekly,--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Lord Hojo, you are welcome.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No-Kami smiled, and remarked shortly,--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Very welcome, doubtless. As I came hither I heard a sound of
+mirth--now all sit mumchance. Had I not received a special summons, I
+should have deemed I had intruded.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The smile and accents of studied courtesy were more galling than rude
+speech, to which all were well accustomed. 'Twas as when a tamer of
+animals flicks them playfully with a wand. They are too docile to need
+whipping, yet, pending possible contingencies, 'tis wholesome that
+they should receive a tap.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Suddenly dropping the tone of banter, the Daimio strode nearer to his
+master, and sternly said,--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;May I know why I was summoned? No matter. I have come, and, being
+here, will ask a question. We are at peace, I think. During the weeks
+of my retirement I have heard no news of war. Why, then, a stir of
+arms,--a movement of troops,--marching, countermarching in the night?
+What is the subject of offence?--is it with China or Corea?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The sinister eye of No-Kami fell upon Nara, who calmly responded,--&quot;I
+know nothing.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You lie!&quot; retorted the Hojo fiercely. &quot;Oh, base and double-faced and
+craven! False and deceitful is the blood of Nara--rotten is stock and
+branch! You and your daughter are alike.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Without changing his attitude one tittle, the old man slightly raised
+his brows.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My daughter!&quot; he said, with exceeding calm. &quot;Forbear to breathe her
+name. You have broken her heart; driven her to the gate of Death. I
+ought to have known that none but a savage was a fit mate for Hojo.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Pretty innocent!&quot; sneered No-Kami, lashing himself to frenzy as he
+advanced towards Nara, hand raised as if to smite. &quot;Know that your
+pure white blossom is my brother's paramour!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A flush passed over the grim features of the old Daimio, then left
+them pale. His master nervously scanned the kugés, whose heads were
+bent lower than ever. From no quarter was there succour against this
+octopus. The Mikado fairly jumped in his seat when No-Kami spoke
+again.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You, boy,&quot; he said, &quot;see to this matter of the troops. They were
+summoned without your knowledge, I am willing to believe, by others,
+who never troubled to consult one so feeble. Or shall I, since you
+have called me to your side, undertake to relieve you of the task?
+Letters shall be despatched forthwith to the effect that 'twas a false
+alarm, bred of mischief and malice,--that the ronins may be disbanded,
+the men returned to their homes. I shall remain for the present at the
+Golden House, ready with my humble service when required. With you and
+yours, my lord, I will settle later.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With a show of exaggerated humility, which was worse than knife-stabs,
+and a glare at Nara, the despot departed as he came, leaving in his
+wake, as he scrunched away, a trail of terror and discomfiture. The
+sliding doors were closed in haste. For a while, the assembly remained
+frozen, then the unhappy Mikado heaved a deep sigh, which was met by a
+flutter of moaning. He was gone for the present, that was a small
+mercy; but then he might return at any moment, abusive and vindictive
+instead of caustic. The shuffling step and trembling hand. Oh, Nara,
+Nara! Broken reed, false friend; vain, impotent wind-bag; purblind,
+blustering dotard!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Gushing with torrents of weak tears, the Fountain relieved his pent-up
+anguish with trickling reproaches and sobs, to which the old Daimio
+listened gloomily. No doubt, he had been wrong in some measure, he
+admitted with hesitation, for so rapid a recovery had never entered
+into the complex web of his calculations. Perchance it was but the
+bright temporary flicker of the expiring lamp. The Fountain of Honour
+must not be too severe on his aged servant. Had he not kept his temper
+under grievous provocation, blows would have been exchanged in the
+holy presence, imperial prestige in the eyes of the whole court would
+have been lowered.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Rubbish! A paltry excuse! Why, as he stood there, did none of you rid
+me of him?&quot; groaned the Fountain, whereupon the abject circle groaned
+in echo.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Of a truth, some one should have done it,&quot; bleated one; but surprise,
+after what they had heard, unnerved each arm; and, indeed, the Hojo
+was a terrible person, an ogre to terrify the doughtiest.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Bluster and cowardice are sisters!&quot; continued the lamenting Mikado.
+He could never trust any of them any more--never, never--the cravens!
+His chains, heavy and numbing, were riveted with adamantine links! and
+so forth--with a chorus of bleating.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When you know that you have done your best,--that but for some one
+unforeseen and ineradicable speck your carefully-wrought blade would
+be faultless, a shimmering masterpiece--it is vastly vexatious for
+people whom you despise, although they wear the aureole, to go on
+ungenerously drivelling anent that one undeniable blemish. Nara, as he
+said, had endured a great deal at the hard hand of Hojo, but to sit
+calmly any longer under the futile reproaches of the Holy One was
+beyond his stock of that patience he was so fond of recommending to
+others.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Moreover, is not the putting aside of what is past and unpleasant a
+principle approved of by sages? What is done is done. Even after the
+late scene, wherein a brutal keeper disported himself among his
+animals, and departed triumphing, all was not lost, The Fountain
+had been compelled to imbibe another sip of a nauseous draught with
+which he was so familiar, that surely it did not signify, at any
+rate, it should be the last His faithful Nara promised it. How the
+never-sufficiently-to-be-accursed Hojo had ever discovered the
+approaching advent of cohorts was a puzzle. But the cohorts were near
+by this time, and they must even make an open stand against the
+tyrant, since the scheme of treachery had failed. He, the domineering
+Hojo, would write angry and imperious letters to the approaching
+daimios, bidding them begone; but in the name of the Holy One letters
+could also be sent--secretly, of course--exhorting them to ride all
+the quicker, since the situation had become acute.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I will gird my old sword again, despite my many winters,&quot; Nara
+concluded pompously. &quot;Dost think that because my hair is white my
+heart is frozen? Under the snows of Shirané-San and Asama-Yama
+smoulder the hidden fires. This man's father has immured three
+Emperors, and he himself is preparing to depose a fourth. He has
+insulted me, and broken my daughter's heart. A little craft--a very
+little more--and the crest of the despot is laid low.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The hapless Mikado suffocated. Tears of impotent wrath welled from his
+august eyelids. Cowardice and bluster to the end, and broken reeds to
+lean on, while he drained the nauseous cup! Verily the banished
+Emperors were to be envied. The young man rose, and retired to his
+inner chamber, and lay prone with moans in darkness.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_15" href="#div1Ref_15">WILL BUDDHA SPEAK?</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Meanwhile affairs at Tsu were not prospering. Sampei, tossed like a
+shuttlecock, formed, as usual, a dozen resolutions daily, and broke
+them all. At one moment he was for the flight of O'Tei from the doomed
+castle--become now a hell of untramelled debauchery--and her
+installation with his mother at the temple. There she would be in
+sanctuary, whence even her husband durst not wrest her. But then what
+a triumph for O'Kikú! He felt that O'Tei would never consent to a step
+which would be a tacit admission of defeat, for she was a Nara of pure
+blood, with all the pride of her race. No. She must stop where she
+was, and await the unrolling of events; and yet what a life was hers,
+compelled to remain much in her bower, lest she should be insulted by
+O'Kikú or the braves. As Nara hoped, the evil germ was working
+inwardly. A regret rose within the mind of Sampei which scorched and
+blackened it. Is a faithful clansman and an honest man ever justified
+in turning on his chief? Before there was no question of it: now he
+was in more than doubt. May a brother ever be pardoned for taking his
+brother's life? Cases of fratricide were common enough, as Nara had
+hinted--there were precedents galore--but then the ruling feature of
+Sampei's character had always been loyal honesty. The gods in their
+wisdom had set over him certain superiors. What would be said to him
+when the end came, and accounts were totted up upon the abacus, if he
+had rebelled? Buddha, frowning, would demand to know how he dared move
+out of his place, arrogantly assuming to be the wiser.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">His first duty was to the head of his house: surely there should be no
+doubt whatever about that. But what if another urgent duty had been
+imposed by his heart--an imperative duty, clashing with the first?
+There lay the rub, a problem beyond the solving of the simple General.
+And since the shocking suggestion had been spread by the wily geisha
+that there were unholy bonds 'twixt him and her whom it was only too
+plain he loved, the situation had become so strained as to fill him
+with foreboding and dismay. To save her fair fame ought he indeed to
+go? To leave her a helpless waif on this whirlpool of black wickedness
+was out of the question. And yet how was she benefited by his staying,
+since he dared not approach without compromising her? So miserable did
+the poor man feel, racked and torn by a difficulty with which he was
+incapable of coping, that the light was dark to him, his heart stone
+cold. He knew himself as weak as she, a ball at the foot of Fate; and
+so he wandered aimless and disconsolate, hearing and seeing nothing,
+caring not what befell, waiting--as the rudderless do--to see what
+would happen next.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Oh, heart of man, centre of suffering! When one is said to be
+heartless, 'tis looked upon as a reproach, instead of a matter for
+gratulation! The heart of man! 'Tis barely enough for a kite's dinner,
+yet the whole world is not sufficiently large to satisfy its lust, its
+greed, its ambition--and how it suffers!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">When he sailed so blythely for Corea with his enthusiastic army, how
+halcyon was the world to Sampei; what wonders he was going to perform;
+what a career of ambition was before him. And now, ambition was dead.
+Life had become Endurance. His candid spirit was warped by suspicion.
+He, once so open and trustful, saw in everything a hidden meaning; in
+every event an occult snare.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In due course the betto brought him the letter of his chief, and he
+smiled with pitying derision. Was he to be taken in so easily? Had he
+not seen the betto ride off with the missive of O'Kikú? Had he not
+heard the woman herself urging the servant to speed? A puerile trick.
+The letter had counselled the infatuated Daimio to remove his brother
+from her path, that O'Tei, left unprotected and alone, might lie at
+her mercy. What other reason could there be for so sudden a summons to
+Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto? With disdain he tore the letter up, resolved more firmly
+than ever to stick to his post, to carry out his mission to the end.
+When my lord should return, there would be time enough for
+explanations. They were burning to be rid of O'Tei--the guilty couple.
+From this crowning sin, at least, Sampei would save his brother.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It required no little resolution unblenchingly to follow the straight
+but rugged path. O'Kikú smarted more than ever under his cold and
+implacable disdain. All her arts were useless. Maddened, she strove to
+pique him by excesses of abandonment under his very nose, and was
+convulsed by fits of corroding acrimony to discover how futile were
+her efforts. Against all her attacks he was armed <i>cap-à-pié</i>. If my
+lord would but return, that she might wreak envenomed spite upon these
+two, whom now with her whole soul she hated! Meanwhile the only result
+produced by her reckless behaviour was that the samurai, for the most
+part, disapproved of her more and more; while Sampei, to shun the
+sight of one so odious, devoted himself to excursions and the chase.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Away upon the hill, with its temple and solemn arcades of greenery, as
+in the hum of the houses below, the cloud of anxiety was thickening.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The still dim shrine no longer lulled to devout prayer the soul of
+Masago. In the midst of supplication her mind turned worldwards. She
+yearned over her son and the tottering family. She grieved so for
+O'Tei, when the chatelaine arrived for prayers, that her hard face
+grew wondrous soft, and she marvelled at the stoniness of destiny.
+Seeing now with clearer ken than in the past, when she had admired the
+warlike Tomoyé, adored her rude lord, had almost persuaded herself to
+believe that all that he did was good, she began to have a denned
+perception of his crimes, mingled with a startled regret. He had been
+guilty of much that was deplorable. No-Kami had been brought up in his
+father's school, had from the first gone lengths that were much more
+regrettable, to end in deeds which she preferred not to contemplate.
+He deserved to be accursed, and was accursed. Our sins, like sable
+ravens, return to roost. Ever since the culminating crime, events had
+moved so directly towards a visible goal that the finger of fate was
+plain. But why Sampei? Why the fair and good O'Tei, a symbol of all
+that was pure? These questions, so bewildering, would rise
+persistently to the surface. Why should these two, mixed up in this
+horror, without overt act of theirs, be marched as victims to the
+sacrifice?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She had heard from Sampei that my lord had rallied suddenly before he
+went to Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto, and this started a fresh train of thought.
+O'Kikú, the baleful geisha, was at the bottom of all the trouble. She
+had suddenly appeared, emissary of devils, on the fatal day, and
+ever since had been a scourge. Thanks to an inspiration from above,
+the Abbess had been the means of separating my lord from his
+concubine. Oh, what if, Heaven relenting, the separation might become
+final--No-Kami himself reformed? The soul of Masago gave a great leap.
+Yes, she saw light at last--the light for which she had besought so
+fervently. <i>She</i> was to be the humble means of unravelling the tangle,
+of saving the family honour.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But how was this to be accomplished? With trepidation she remembered
+that she was in her sixty-first year, which, as all the world knows,
+is the last of the yaku doshi, or evil years, after which a woman may
+be at peace. During her thirty-third and forty-second (the other
+yaku-doshi--happily passed) she had been very careful lest, tempted
+by Ratatzu, she should be capable of something dreadful, that would
+ruin her and hers. And now it was terrible to think that in this last
+year of ordeal--the one of a long life which was most beset with
+brambles--she was called upon to act with decision, to stand forth for
+the succour of the innocent, for the shriving and salvation of the
+guilty. This state of things would call for much vigil, much putting
+off of earth-trammels, and adoration of the sun-god at his rising,
+that her old eyes might clearly see.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The more she pondered--a slow, tall figure pacing among the moss-grown
+tombs, under the stately criptomerias--the more plain her duty seemed.
+Thanks to the benign deities, her prayers for light were answered, and
+she saw. It was by Heaven's decree that the geisha had travelled
+hitherward, an agent for the fulfilling of a purpose pre-ordained.
+Buddha, with omniscient vision, had caused her to come to Tsu for the
+accomplishment of the curse of the martyr. But now, through the
+prayers and entreaties of his humble handmaid, he had relented,--been
+turned from his intent. What a scaffold was the Abbess raising. When
+No-Kami should come back, his evil genius would be gone. This favour
+granted, Buddha would vouchsafe another. By force of supplication
+Masago would obtain that the temper of the Hojo might be changed. He
+would repent him of his evil ways, and atone in the future for the
+past. Then it should be her proud privilege to bring together again
+the husband and the wife. O'Tei must be taught to forgive, to break
+down the barrier of ice behind which her better nature had been
+shrouded. Warming in the radiance of a new happiness her frozen petals
+would unfold, give forth their sweetness, and No-Kami would come to
+know the treasure that he had ignorantly tossed aside. The wan cheek
+of the old Abbess was flushed, her dimmed eyes sparkled, as she
+revolved these things, devoutly giving thanks to Heaven. Is it not the
+greatest joy that may be tasted by mortals--the permission to
+intervene in the house of discord, and bring to it peace and
+happiness? The end was plain to the prophetic vision of Masago, but
+the way to it was long. The gentle O'Tei would be brought with little
+trouble to play her part.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The difficulty lay with the geisha. The Abbess, mindful of yaku doshi,
+resolved to be prudent and cautious--not precipitate; and yet,
+whatever had to be done must be done before the return of No-Kami to
+the castle. There was not time then for protracted cogitation. She
+would appeal in person to the siren,--speak words inspired from on
+high which should touch her flinty heart. Seizing her staff, the gaunt
+figure in its flowing draperies of crape descended the long flight of
+stairs, passed under the torii at the bottom, and strode, buoyed by
+celestial fervour, along the winding street which led to the castle
+gate. O'Kikú was in a boat upon the river---O'Tei's own favourite
+shallop, which she had robbed her of, as of other things--and
+marvelled greatly to behold the Abbess of the temple beckoning to her
+from the shore.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Approaching, she reclined idly at the bottom of the boat, toying with
+some winter blossoms she had plucked; dipping, in saucy contempt of
+cold, the fingers of the other hand into the running water. She was
+muffled in a robe of furs, her head swathed in a kerchief of thick
+silk; and Masago remarked that she looked worn,--had lost that
+freshness which had been her most piquant charm. Earnestly the Abbess
+spoke; pleaded for the family honour on the verge of wreck; discoursed
+with proud eloquence of the illustrious house of which she was a lowly
+member; reminded her hearer that she, O'Kikú, also now was one of the
+house, in precisely the same position as she, the speaker, had been.
+There were two ways open to her. Lest she should bring upon herself
+the reproach of having brought a great family to ruin, she must turn
+over a new leaf, and eschew in future the vices for which she was
+notorious; or, if waywardness was in her blood, she must depart, and
+by self-sacrifice atone for the past, and save the family. Amused with
+the thought that the Abbess must be mad, the geisha lay listening, a
+sly smile playing about her lips, until the unlucky pleader began to
+talk about her son. Then starting, as if bitten by an adder, uprose
+the concubine, and, taking up the pole, leisurely pushed off from the
+bank.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Sampei, forsooth! A ridiculous old lunatic!&quot; she scoffed, with a
+superb head-toss. &quot;You must be very insane. What! You'd have me go
+hence and prison myself for the behoof of the pale idiot yonder? Even
+if I were myself mad enough to consent, my lord would never love her.
+The contemptible creature is barren; whereas I, the second wife--&quot; and
+with a trail of mocking merriment, and an attempt to raise a blush,
+she smiled at the astounded Abbess, and propelled her bark into the
+stream.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Masago remained standing, her tall figure mirrored in the water, her
+shrunken hands crossed upon her breast, amazed and troubled. What was
+this new factor in the embroglio? She was with child--the interloper.
+There would soon be a new bond, a fresh silver link to unite more
+closely the pair whom she was bound to separate. The woman's influence
+over my lord would be greater than ever; and, all for evil as of yore.
+The breach between No-Kami and O'Tei would grow wider. As in a
+dream--with slow gait and corrugated brow--the Abbess passed back
+towards the grove, heedless of the salutations of the peasants,--of
+the brown urchins that plucked at her skirts. A child--a son,
+perhaps--that woman's son! Swiftly there passed through her brain a
+sense of the results that would accrue. The wife, ambitious and
+unscrupulous, who was a mother, would become all-powerful. Fresh
+insults would day by day be heaped on the one who was not thus blessed
+among women. In her mind's eye Masago beheld a long train of disasters
+and calamities, O'Kikú the active agent. Crouched down before the
+altar, her chin supported by her palms, she gazed at the bronze symbol
+that sat so calm and still and upright, with mouth shut and eyelids
+closed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh, if you would vouchsafe to speak,&quot; she murmured imploringly, &quot;one
+little word of guidance. One other ray of light; one little, little
+ray! During years of unflinching devotion has my life been given to
+your service. I know that I have earned nothing save, perhaps, one
+touch of pity!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With sore and heavy heart the Abbess sighed, for the bronzed lips
+remained tight shut, the eyelids closed. He was asleep and deaf. There
+was no sound of comfort or of counsel.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Presently she distinguished the patter of clogs upon the outer stairs,
+and, after a while a man, pushing aside the curtain, stood framed in
+the doorway.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Sampei!&quot; Her boy! Was this the reply of Buddha? Ashy pale, trembling
+like a leaf, the old woman bent to the stones with moving lips; while
+the General, reverently doffing his geta, and beating his hands
+together, approached and knelt. She took his warm broad hand between
+her cold ones, and earnestly scrutinised his face. Her thoughts were
+in such a turmoil that, though she heard his words, they seemed to
+reach her ears from a distance, through a tunnel. Riding listlessly,
+as was his wont, with no settled purpose, he had been astonished to
+see the geisha in conference with his mother. What could those two
+have had to say to each other? Greatly marvelling, he had watched, and
+then turned his horse towards the temple. What ailed his mother, that
+her features were grey-green? Was she ill? She looked so scared and
+strange and terrified. Was it some ghost she saw that caused that look
+of awe?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Without taking her eyes from her son's, the Abbess rose, and like one
+in a trance led him behind the altar, down the open corridor, into her
+own quiet chamber. Nothing could be more simple than its furnishing.
+The woodwork was unadorned, but scrupulously clean, so were the mats
+and screens. A plain fire-box of iron stood in the centre. Above the
+low dais in the tokonoma, or place of honour, there hung a single and
+very ancient kakemono, representing Kwannon, the thousand-handed; and
+under it, upon the dais, stood in a lacquered sword-rack, a dirk in
+its silken case.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Floating before Sampei she lifted the weapon, pressed it to her bosom,
+then slowly unfastening the case, drew forth the dirk, which, with a
+cry, he recognised. It was a precious blade, forged by Miochin
+himself, adorned with a hilt minutely worked with gold--a dirk which
+in childhood he had been wont to play with.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My father's!&quot; he murmured, and pressed it to his lips and forehead.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Your father's!&quot; echoed the Abbess, in a whisper, drawing herself to
+the full height of her commanding stature, and placing on the bent
+head of her son a trembling hand. &quot;Your father, and <i>his</i>, wore yonder
+blade in many a fray, and it was never sullied with dishonour. To you,
+my dear son, do I surrender it. The gods have spoken. She must die!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As pale as his mother, who looked on him now with a rapt and solemn
+smile, Sampei heaved a sigh of relief. <i>She</i>. His nerves tingled to
+his finger ends, for he had thought that the deed must be done which
+had so often crossed his mind, and which he had always put away from
+him with dread. It was not his brother--thanks to the gods for
+that--but the wicked concubine, whose blood was required in atonement.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Then the two sat down, and the inspired priestess spoke.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The honour of the family was to be saved by him--Sampei. Buddha
+himself had deigned to settle it. He must bide his time, and wait and
+watch, and when occasion offered he must, with his father's dirk, slay
+the baleful sorceress. With his own hand must the deed be done--not be
+trusted to a hireling, even to a samurai. It might be some time before
+the fitting opportunity presented itself, for the braves, whom she
+still debauched, would defend her doubtless with their lives. There
+must not be too long delay, lest my lord No-Kami should come home. The
+avenging hand must be sure and steady; the result not a mere wound,
+but--death.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Nodding, Sampei placed the weapon in his obi, and, embracing his
+mother, departed with proud step. It was to be his privilege--by
+Buddha's own decree--to save the honour of the house,--to rescue his
+infatuated brother,--to bestow upon the dear O'Tei a measure of future
+happiness.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Masago, calm now, returned to the temple, and spent the night in
+vigil. Blessed be Buddha; for his mercy thrice-blessed! He had spoken
+through the silent lips. The course and conscience of his handmaid
+were clear as crystal now.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_16" href="#div1Ref_16">MASAGO TAKES THE REINS.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Now it came to pass that after the mental torture she had endured, the
+soul-racking perplexities, the days of prayer and nights of vigil, the
+strong frame of the Abbess gave way under her burthen. She was deeply
+thankful for the god's decision,--that her prayers had been heard and
+answered. But her body was worn out--the lamp was burning low, and she
+was compelled to remain in her chamber, wrapped in many quilts, with
+Miné, hapless victim of unrequited love, in anxious attendance on her.
+That unfortunate maiden had never recovered the effect of the dreadful
+day,--the massacre of her dear ones,--her parents' departure,
+unforgiving. She moved about her sacred duties like a phantom, with
+remorse gnawing at her vitals. No need now to keep watch over her lest
+she should again fling herself into the reluctant arms of the too
+fascinating young General. He was no more to her seared heart than any
+other man, for it had lost all sense of feeling. It was scorched out
+of life on the day of the massacre, and she bore only its ashes in her
+breast.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Masago had sunk into that deep sleep which is the greatest boon to
+unhappy mortality, and Miné, bending over the hibachi, was stirring
+the charcoal with a rod, immersed in sad reflection, when there
+entered a certain bonze who enjoyed reputation as a doctor. He was a
+learned and a holy man, who dwelt in a monastery on the mountain,--was
+wise of counsel, and learned in the use of simples.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hearing by chance that the venerated Abbess of Tsu was lying sick, he
+took his bundle, his lacquered medicine-box, and his staff; put on his
+tall clogs, and great mushroom priestly hat, and hied towards the
+convent. Sleep, he observed, after a brief survey, was a better
+anodyne than simples, and he would therefore await the waking. Warming
+his fingers: over the glow he chatted with Miné in undertones,
+exchanged the gossip of Tsu for the last reports from Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto,
+inquired of what new atrocity my lord the Daimio had been guilty. Oh,
+yes; he was aware that my lord was away,--summoned to the capital; and
+added, with mysterious head-shakings, that a surprise was preparing
+for his return. &quot;<i>You</i> should be pleased to hear of it,&quot; went on the
+good garrulous old gentleman, &quot;after all that your family have
+suffered at his hands--'tis only fitting retribution;&quot; and then,
+chattering in whispers, he proceeded to tell of soldiers' shadowy
+cohorts, who by night had marched past the monastery. &quot;They are
+massing troops in all the defiles,&quot; he whispered. &quot;Your father's
+anathema has taken effect. The race of the Hojos is run.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The bonze was so intent upon his tale, and so long-winded in the
+telling of it, that he, as well as his listener, forgot all about the
+patient. Though deep wrapt in slumber, she moved now and again
+uneasily, tossing from off a surcharged bosom the multitude of futons
+that covered it. Then gradually the sleep-goddess relaxed her embrace,
+folded her arms less closely, and she of dreams spread forth the
+shadow of her pinions. The Abbess dreamed a dreadful dream, offspring
+of trouble and of fever. She thought that her own lord was alive
+again,--that, covered with crimson stains streaming from many a wound,
+he stood over dead Tomoyé. Why was Tomoyé dead? In sober truth of
+history past and gone, it was she who had stood over him. There he
+stood, however, reeling from loss of blood, his favourite katana
+hacked and notched from the battle. Then there appeared the boy
+No-Kami, also gashed and wounded. To her, the sleeper, turned her
+revered lord, stretching forth imploring hands. &quot;Save <i>him</i>,&quot; he
+hoarsely gasped. &quot;My time and hers is come, and it is well; but he is
+on the threshold of his life!&quot; She, the dreamer, could not save him,
+for she was bound herself with cords, the which perceiving, her lord
+looked down reproachfully, and died; and then from out a crystal brook
+there rose a silver form that clasped the boy, and his wounds
+closed,--a slim shimmering form, daughter of the moon, which, shaping
+itself out of argent vapour, became O'Tei the chatelaine.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Bedewed with sweat the old woman awoke, and for a space lay panting.
+What awful vision was this? All good Buddhists know that when we are
+asleep the soul goes forth upon its errands. If we waken a person too
+suddenly he will die, because the wanderer cannot return with needful
+quickness to his tenement. When the soul is merely out at play the
+dream is of no importance, and its pictures are rapidly effaced; but
+when the truant is on serious duty bent, the vision remains distinct,
+and it behoves us to accept its lesson. Waking, the portrayal of O'Tei
+closing No-Kami's wounds was as distinct as if the two were standing
+there before her; also the reproachful gaze of her dear lord ere he
+gave up his spirit. The gods were indeed good to speak so plainly to
+their handmaid. It was the honour of her dear lord's name that she
+desired saved at any cost, wishing for his son no ill. The geisha was
+to die, No-Kami to repent, and O'Tei was somehow to dissect the
+tangle. Masago found herself to-day more weak than usual, and much
+unhinged. Perchance her time was near. It behoved her to see the
+chatelaine, to reason with her while yet her voice was strong, her
+brain still clear. Then there rose upon her dimmed senses a sound of
+whispering, and she distinctly heard some one say, &quot;The race of the
+Hojos is run.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The long moan which burst from her breast recalled the attention of
+the watchers. The bonze was full of solicitude,--grieved to perceive
+how fluttering was the patient's pulse,--vastly busy in the
+preparation of remedies. He could have bitten his tongue through for
+his imprudence. How could he have been such a fool as to forget that
+the patient was herself a Hojo, and that fevered sleep is treacherous?
+He chattered and chirruped to and fro, shot forth his most brilliant
+sallies, showed his teeth as he twanged bolts of merry satire at
+that unreceptive target Miné. The eyes of the old woman--smileless
+now--knit in intense inquiry, never left his face, while with feeble
+persistence she repeated the question,--&quot;How are the Hojos doomed?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Having committed one egregious error, he was not going to be guilty of
+another. Regardless of the severe course of penance which followed
+lying, he boldly averred that he had never mentioned Hojo at all, or
+the race,--that he was talking about the Daimio of Osaka, who was
+hovering on the verge of the grave,--that under no circumstances
+whatever would he have breathed a syllable about the Hojos in the
+presence of the late lord's wife. And twittering thus, he at length
+retired, with good wishes for the patient's recovery, glad that by
+wonderful presence of mind he had lulled the Abbess's suspicions.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But Masago knew better than to be hoodwinked by the plausible gabble
+of a blundering bonze. Out of delicacy she would refrain from
+cross-questioning Miné. Well, the warning was twofold. The Hojo was in
+imminent peril of some kind, from which apparently he was to be
+rescued by his wife.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For many hours she lay staring upwards in deep thought. The wintry
+light was quickly waning. Who might tell how near the peril was? Her
+own strength was ebbing rapidly. She must see the chatelaine at once.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The brief twilight of Japan was darkening over the bleak landscape
+like a sable veil, when a breathless messenger arrived at the
+drawbridge of the fortress, demanding an interview with the lady.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;With the lady!&quot; jeered the soldier, who had been so long upon his
+watch as to be glad to chat with any one. &quot;She has other things to do
+just now, our lady, than listen to beggars from the town. Was
+ever such a lady--so restless, so domineering, so devoted to
+pleasure--always seeking new excitement in the dreary absence of my
+lord? The moon rises late, and will be full to-night, and what must
+she do, dost think, heedless of her delicate situation, but go to the
+tea-house by the river, to gaze at the light upon the snow? 'Tis a
+lovely sight, no doubt, dear to the eyes of our people, be they high
+or low,--the green glimmer on the water, the black banks of reeds, and
+white expanse beyond; but plaguey cold. Of course there will be supper
+when she returns, and singing and wassail and jollity, warming to the
+cockles of the heart. Ah, well! if such as I were admitted to the
+junketings, I'd not mind this weary watch.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;'Tis with the lady O'Tei that I must speak, and quickly,&quot; said the
+messenger.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The sentinel, leaning over the parapet, discerned by the conical shape
+of the speaker's hat that he was a priest.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Oh!&quot; he grumbled, &quot;some wretched coolie sick? Such vermin as these
+don't come after the lady O'Kikú. You may come in and seek her, an you
+will. She's likely in her bower--we've not seen her this many a day.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As the priest sped with clattering clogs across the paved courtyards,
+he perceived that there was feasting toward. The interior of the great
+hall, brilliantly illumined, threw gay streaks of yellow out across
+the white. Servants moved to and fro, bearers of viands; the saké cup
+was already passing freely. By the principal entrance loomed the
+unwieldy mass of my lady's kago, gay with banners and streamers, and
+looped curtains and lacquered poles--the same gaudy equipage belonging
+to O'Tei which, on her arrival, the geisha in her insolence had
+appropriated to herself. Hard by, in groups, stamping and clapping
+hands for warmth, were the two sets of bearers--sturdy coolies
+selected for speed and staying power--each with his head muffled in
+blue cotton under his hat, his grass rain-coat bound round his waist,
+the handle of his sword carefully protected by oiled paper, strong
+sandals of straw upon his feet. Some were bringing wraps and cushions;
+some trimming paper lanterns; all shouting with the shrill distractive
+hubbub so dear to low-class Japan. The geisha he could see as he went
+by, was surrounded by her maidens and an outer circle of braves, armed
+ready to attend her. Muffled to the eyes in a thick mantle of deep
+maroon, she stood waiting till all was ready, a saké-cup in hand. Past
+this noisy assemblage to the remote corner of the tower which faced
+the river trotted the messenger. In vivid contrast to the hall, with
+its warm reek of heated wine, dark and silent was the bower of the
+chatelaine. Was she asleep already, the sad recluse?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Not so. There was a twinkling tiny light above, and like the hum of an
+insect there reached his ear the tinkle of a distant samisen. He
+knocked, and the sound ceased; a paper window was pushed aside; a
+maiden's head peeped forth.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Who dares at this hour,&quot; she inquired angrily, &quot;to intrude upon my
+lady's privacy? A pretty pass! Was not the castle large enough for its
+debauched inmates that this retired eyrie might not be treated with
+respect?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I come from Masago,&quot; the messenger said. &quot;She is very sick, and has
+somewhat of grave import to say to the chatelaine.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Admitted, the priest followed the maiden to the upper floor,
+where, surrounded by books and embroidery, and choice blossoms
+and graceful nicknacks, sat, in a soft mellow light, she for whom
+the peasants sorrowed. Since last we looked on her, she was much
+changed--improved--for there was something celestial now---refined and
+dreamy, as if reflected from some other world--about her loveliness.
+Her manner had that still, self-contained, dignity which is only to be
+acquired through much trouble. With grieved concern in her dark eyes,
+she hearkened to the messenger. Masago on the verge of death! Was she,
+O'Tei, to be left friendless? Of course she would go to her at once.
+Ah, if she might change places with the holy Abbess, and depart out of
+a sphere where no one wanted her! But it is always those who have no
+wish to stay who are kept loitering here. Was Masago so ill, and she
+not told of it? This was wrong, for at any hour of the day or night
+she would have gladly sought her friend. Not a moment was to be lost.
+Quick, quick! Her litter. Her bearers, where were they? Wandering in
+the town, possibly, chattering in some tea-house, their daily duty
+over.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;There is a litter below,&quot; suggested the priest timidly. &quot;The one that
+in old times my lady used to use. Its bearers are standing ready with
+lanterns lit. Perhaps my lady O'Kikú--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A look of unusual sternness passed over the features of O'Tei, and a
+shadow veiled her eyes.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;O'Kikú!&quot; she muttered, &quot;O'Kikú! My state litter is ready, you say?
+Then I will use it; come!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And to the amazement of the maidens, the chatelaine took from a screen
+a mantle of costly furs, and bidding her attendants follow with a
+candle, moved rapidly away down a dark corridor which led to the
+centre of the castle.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The geisha was so astonished at the apparition which suddenly
+presented itself before her that the saké-cup dropped from her
+fingers. She turned red and white, and tried, with but poor success,
+to laugh off her confusion. With heaving breast and dark brows knit,
+O'Tei looked down on her with disdain ineffable.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You have ordered my kago. Thank you,&quot; she said shortly, &quot;for I want
+it. Tell the bearers I am ready; and you, priest, proceed before. I go
+but to the temple, so shall not want the soldiers.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With that she moved with stately step to where, in a stream of light,
+the kago stood.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The braves were breathless, for they beheld the heiress of proud Nara
+now, no longer the recluse; and there was an easy air about her of
+natural command, which they knew how to admire and appreciate. Not one
+had a word to say against the firmly-expressed resolution of their
+liege-lady, but stood by sheepishly. O'Tei was the real chatelaine,
+and, in absence of her lord, supreme mistress of castle and of
+warriors. The bewitching O'Kikú, as if by magic, shrank down into her
+natural insignificance. No doubt about it; she was the concubine, low
+of birth and common of breeding--the crow by the side of the falcon.
+The geisha tingled with exasperated shame, for her quick instinct
+could read at a glance the open faces of the braves. Had she toiled
+and schemed and wormed and man&#339;uvred for this?--to be swept with a
+hand-wave like a beetle from the path by the rival she had so
+undervalued! Oh, when my lord returned, an effort must be made to save
+the situation! Clearing her husky throat, she said sourly,--</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I was about to view the snows by moonlight, but if yours is an urgent
+errand, I will gladly give up my litter. The weather is clear, but for
+a few sailing clouds; the moon will serve to-morrow.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Her foot upon the step, the chatelaine turned.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I take my own, and crave of you no favour,&quot; she remarked haughtily.
+&quot;To the temple, by way of the river bank. I myself will see the
+snows.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The scene had passed so swiftly that 'twas over as soon as begun.
+There was naught to tell the tale of the geisha's discomfiture but the
+shattered saké-cup. Yes, there was the absent kago, the marks of many
+feet where it had stood; the sheepish faces of the warriors. There was
+the group, too, of O'Tei's maidens huddled behind, where they
+chattered in high glee. The ambitious and presumptuous geisha had been
+put down into her place at last, firmly and quietly by her superior.
+That was the plain truth which there was no denying. It was written on
+the visages of the maidens as well as on those of the samurai.
+Accustomed to reign unchallenged, the blow was hard to bear. Bursting
+into a torrent of tears, brackish with impotent mortification, O'Kikú
+sank upon a cushion, and was as racked by sobs as if she had possessed
+a heart.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_17" href="#div1Ref_17">UNDER THE MOON.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">The road by way of the stream was a longer one than that by the
+street, for the river wound with many a turn and twist, as if loth to
+reach the sea. It was no more than a path, stony in some places and
+muddy in others--rough throughout; and there were spots where the
+unwieldy vehicle was in danger of overturning. The Japanese are so
+innately poetic that even the least educated find pleasure in gazing
+upon nature in its sweetest moods. On Lake Biwa, not far from
+Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto, there is, while I write, a tea-house on a hill, which, at
+certain seasons, does a thriving trade, because from that particular
+spot an entrancing view may be obtained of moon and foliage and water.
+And it is not the cultured class alone that enjoys this refined
+amusement. The common horny-handed field coolie may be seen smoking
+his pipe, beaming with satisfaction, upon the mat, surrounded by wife
+and children, all equally enchanted by the spectacle.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On the river-bank, built out over the stream, not far from Tsu, there
+was just such another tea-house, from which a view was obtained of
+land-locked bay and rocks and feathery bamboo--the self-same picture
+which O'Tei used to enjoy from her own garden near the temple, seen
+from another point. It was to this tea-house that O'Kikú had proposed
+to conduct the rollicking samurai, to sit there a while with quip and
+jest, and thence return to supper. Preparations had been made on a
+grand scale; coolies had been sent to repair the path in rotten places
+with bundles of rushes, to clear away stones; and therefore the
+expedition was a matter of talk for several days before among those
+who dwelt in the castle. It was in obedience to a whim--in order more
+completely to crush her rival--that O'Tei had elected to choose this
+route. A vision of her favourite landscape had appeared before her. It
+was so long since she had seen it that she yearned to look on it
+again. As the procession moved swiftly and silently over the snow, she
+became lost in reverie. She had been happy once in her garden in a
+negative sort of way. How long ago it seemed! And since those early
+days (sure a century since) what a catalogue of suffering and crime!
+Yes, it must be a century, not a few years only. She was an old, old
+woman, seared and world-worn, longing for the mysterious change. Her
+ordeal on this planet would soon be over. How gladly would she move
+elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The cold was intense. She drew over her head a purple kerchief, for
+the beauty of the scene must not be blocked out by curtains. The
+well-skilled bearers marched with a steady, gentle sway, picking their
+steps with cat-like caution. Their straw shoes made no sound on the
+soft snow. The regular rhythm of their breathing lulled to repose.
+Leaning back her weary head upon the cushions, O'Tei fell fast asleep.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At the last turn of the river, before reaching the spot whereon stood
+the tea-house, it sweeps in a wide bend, leaving a large flat space--a
+dangerous pitfall; for, firm though it appears to the unwary, between
+the pools it is a quagmire, a bog of thick ooze which forms a kind of
+quicksand. The bearers knew this right well, for skirting the water
+close they hugged a narrow causeway of masonry, the group that bore
+the pole walking one before the other, keeping time with monotonous
+chant, the rest of the party falling back, following in single file.
+It was necessary to move slowly now, for a false step would
+precipitate the top-heavy vehicle into the water. Two bettos pioneered
+in front, stepping deftly backwards, holding their lanterns aloft
+above their heads. &quot;Steady, lads, steady!&quot; one of them exhorted
+cheerily. Forty yards farther on the path would widen again, and the
+rest of the journey was plain-sailing.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Whirr! The bettos turned round startled. What was that? nothing; a
+stream of awakened wild-fowl scudding across the flat. The night was
+so solemnly silent that their wings rent the stillness with a loud
+sharp tearing as of linen.</p>
+<br>
+
+<p class="center" style="letter-spacing:20pt">* * * * *</p>
+
+
+<p class="normal">For hours past, from out a brake of sedge and reeds two bright
+eyes
+had been intently watching. Heedless of cold and wet a man had been
+lying concealed with face turned towards the castle. From this point
+the fortress loomed out of the river in a dense mass against the sky,
+in full sombre majesty of battlement and ponderous roof and storied
+tower, with fish of gold upon its summit; for it was on this side that
+the stream laved its foundation wall of Cyclopean stones as it brawled
+towards the sea.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">From where he lay, wrapped in a coolie's rain-coat, the man could mark
+the procession from afar, a line of swart insects on the white,
+glow-worms with twinkling lights. As they approached, winding with the
+river's windings, he counted the number of men who bore the litter,
+and observed with surprised exultation that the guards had been left
+behind. There was no panoply of spear and streaming banner and
+glancing lance-head, no clatter of armed horsemen such as usually
+attends the progress of a noble's kago.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My task will be the easier,&quot; he muttered, unfastening the thongs of
+his rain-coat, and taking in the corners of his mouth the ends of the
+cloth about his head. The man's attire was strange and incongruous,
+for though his garb was that of a peasant, the cloth from out of which
+his sharp eyes peered was of silk broidered with silver. He rose
+stealthily upon his knees, felt for a dirk in his obi, drew forth the
+blade and ran a finger along the edge, then laid the scabbard in the
+water.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;How slow they are,&quot; he murmured.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Nearer--nearer still. The bearers were intent upon their task, for
+there had been a frost last night, and the stones were slippery.
+Clouds had been rising in banks, masses of cumuli that passed fitfully
+across the moon. Snowflakes began to fall.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hist! what was that, another batch of waterfowl? No; a cry as of
+frighted animals. A commotion--a rush--a panic. Robbers! a gang--a
+multitude.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Stabbed in the back, the two bettos dropped without a struggle. For an
+instant the attendants strove to free themselves from cumbrous
+grass-coats, to disengage their swords from oiled paper coverings, in
+vain; for it must be at least a dozen nimble blades, wielded by unseen
+hands, that were swirling through the air with such deadly purpose.
+Who could have foreseen that on this quiet track assassins were in
+ambush? With a howl and a cry of treachery the cohort of poltroons
+abandoned the litter, which fell heavily on its side, and fled over
+the quicksand, where they buffeted, to lie engulfed. The man, for
+there was but one--or was it not the god of thunder?--dashed at the
+fallen kago, tore back with one hand its half-closed curtains, from
+whose folds there emerged a woman. A sway of two tussling figures, as
+the clouds swept over the moon, and the snow fell thickly. A tossing
+of white arms and clutching fingers clasped in a grip of death. A
+gurgle, a long wild shriek--so terrible a cry of anguish, as a soul
+was forcibly rent from out its tenement, that boors within their huts
+crept close together and prayed for protection against goblins. Even
+the austere figure of the avenger remained for a second spellbound,
+as, standing erect to wipe his dirk, his ear followed that last
+piteous wail of agony that faded in the music of the stream.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">His task was successfully accomplished: to the gods all gratitude. He
+peered anxiously around, while he bound up something in a purple
+kerchief, then, drawing the pick from his katana's sheath, thrust it
+through the silk for easier carrying. He was alone with slumbering
+nature, and with it. The relay had fled to give alarm. There was
+nought to be seen of the others save distant circles on the watery
+quagmire, with here and there a hand whose groping soon was stilled.
+At his feet lay the two dead bettos and a heap of sumptuous furs, from
+out of which there trickled a thick stream that meandered slow over
+the stones.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Looking upward at the moon, which now unveiled again, the man, smiling
+softly, pressed to his lips the dirk. &quot;Old friend,&quot; he murmured,
+&quot;beloved of my father, thou hast saved his honour and ours, an evil
+life the ransom. With speed to my mother now, that she may know the
+atonement is complete.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He sought for a moment leisurely among the reeds, and seeing the
+scabbard gleam, replaced it with the dirk within his belt. Then
+swinging his burthen in his hand, he strode quickly away towards the
+temple.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">His mind was relieved of a great anxiety, and he felt happier than for
+many a day. All had gone well. In the scurry not one had seen his
+face, swathed as it was by a cloth. There was nothing to betray whose
+arm had been that which had struck the ghastly blow. There would be
+turmoil and uproar among the samurai, a hot pursuit of the assassins;
+then, search proving vain, silence, and oblivion. The family honour
+was safe. The concubine would be speedily forgotten, and it would be
+as if the shadow of the wicked geisha had never crossed their path.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Under the torii, up the long straight flight of stairs, through the
+temple where Miné and the nuns were praying audibly, to the corridor
+beyond, off which was the chamber of the Abbess.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A light was flickering. She was awake, anxious for the arrival of the
+chatelaine. Her ascetic visage was wrapped in holy calm, as with
+closed eyes she told her beads. The sound of her son's dear footfall,
+as he strode across the floor, aroused her, and she looked on him with
+fond inquiry.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My mother, it is done,&quot; he whispered, out of breath. &quot;Here have I
+brought the proof that your instructions have been obeyed.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Masago, raising herself with difficulty, stretched forth eager hands
+to claim the bundle, and, her fingers trembling with exultation,
+hasted to untie its knots. Then from her breast was wrung a wail,
+racked with the ring of unavailing grief, echo of that shriek along
+the water.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Out of her grasp, upon the mat, there rolled a woman's head, bloody
+and waxen. Its delicate features were warped, convulsed in the life
+battle. Stretched wide in terror were its glassy eyes, its parted lips
+distorted.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Stunned and dazed, crowned with the brain-ache of a hopeless sorrow,
+the icy grip about his heart of a despair that might never be
+assuaged, Sampei sank slowly on his knees.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For the eyes that stared upon him now in mute imploring were those he
+loved best on earth.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The face was the face of O'Tei, the fair, and gentle, and unfortunate.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_18" href="#div1Ref_18">FACE TO FACE.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">When the panic-stricken servants rushed into the castle with their
+appalling tale, there was general consternation. They had been
+attacked, they swore, by a band of at least fifty ronins. By the last
+act of the doomed chatelaine she had won back the respect of the
+warriors, for they perceived, too late, that her gentleness had naught
+akin with cowardice. Resuming her fit position by force of princely
+dignity, she had become a liege lady of whom they could be proud. They
+felt pangs of remorse, too, in having allowed her to sally forth by
+night unprotected by soldiers. Yet, if they had not cared for her, it
+was well known that the peasants did, who vowed she was a saint. And
+sure none could ever have supposed that there were any, even in this
+bad world, who could be so wicked as to do her to death thus cruelly.
+The country far and near was scoured, but no trace of a gang was
+found. The thickly-falling snow had obliterated footmarks. On the
+fatal spot, seek as they would, nothing was to be found but the
+overturned litter and mutilated remains of their mistress--hats and
+garments scattered here and there--and the bodies of the drowned
+bearers. At dawn, the sad <i>cortége</i> returned home with its freight,
+having learned nothing; and then a feeling of uneasiness came over the
+samurai as to what my lord would say. He neglected and disliked his
+wife, but would surely retaliate swiftly and fearfully upon those
+whose carelessness had led to so gruesome a catastrophe.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As for O'Kikú, whom all avoided now as if she were plague-stricken,
+she remained secluded in her chamber, transfixed with growing wonder.
+The blows of the assassins were aimed at herself--of that she had no
+doubt--and she had been saved by a miracle. Yet who could there be who
+wished to kill her, unless it were O'Tei or Masago? Of course, it was
+not O'Tei, or she would never have marched thus deliberately to her
+own undoing; and as she was on her way to the temple, summoned
+thither, it could not be a plot of Masago's, for Masago loved her
+dearly. The more she thought it out, the more incomprehensible grew
+the whole affair, and at last she was fain to put it from her as a
+mystery which time might some day decipher. One thing, however, was
+plain. By a wondrous stroke of luck, the position of herself, O'Kikú,
+had vastly improved. A stumbling-block that threatened to become
+troublesome was swept out of her path. So soon as my lord should learn
+her secret, he would, if skilfully wheedled, take to his arms, as his
+first wife, the mother of his child. She would be consort of the Hojo,
+chatelaine of Tsu, and as she thought of it, her bosom glowed with
+gratified ambition, and she there and then determined that in the
+smiling future the castle should contain no concubine.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">At early dawn the good-natured bonze hied him down from the mountain
+to visit his revered patient, and greatly was he shocked by the
+spectacle that met his view. On the threshold of the Abbess's chamber
+stood Miné, with finger on lip, and a far-off vacant look of dread
+that betokened incipient madness. Her father's curse was falling with
+leaden weight upon the members of the devoted family, and as she
+beheld the swoop of stroke after stroke her soul was withered within
+her. She too--she whom he had repulsed unpardoning--she too was doomed
+with them. What would her end be? Entering the room of Masago with
+accustomed listless step to attend to duties, she had stood riveted as
+she read the full horror of the scene. On the floor was Masago,
+delirious; close by crouched her shuddering son, clasping
+something--something terrible--in his arms.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">From that moment till the arrival of the friendly bonze, Miné had
+stood a faithful sentinel, lest peradventure prying nuns might learn
+and spread the truth. Should it become known that Sampei--the once
+dear Sampei--had been guilty of this awful crime, the town would arise
+as one man to tear him limb from limb. The young priestess was not
+capable of deciding what was to be done, but the friendly bonze would
+think for her, and propound the words of wisdom. Little by little the
+first distracting throes of misery passed. The Abbess grew calm, and
+with the death-sweat came resignation.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The gods, ungenerous and mocking, had fooled their handmaid. Instead
+of being turned from their purpose by her puny supplications, as she
+had arrogantly dared to hope, they had singled her out, with a
+consummate refinement of cruelty as their chief implement of
+vengeance. By her hand--the hand of the mother and the friend--were
+stricken down the apple of her eye--her son, and the sweet lady who
+had loved and trusted her. And in them was she not herself
+smitten--ay, so crushed and beaten that naught could hurt her more?
+Alas! alas! that she should have been so blinded as not to take
+warning by the fateful year--the last of yaka doshi, and have kept
+herself from dangerous meddling. What should chance henceforth she
+cared not. Since all were condemned, the sooner fell the last and
+fatal stroke the better,--on the dear head of the son she loved so
+fondly--on all. As for Sampei, he appeared as if changed to stone.
+In the presence of so intense a depth of black despair, Miné
+trembled--the kindly bonze was awed; for sure there is no sight so
+pitiful in nature as the whirl and flood of human anguish whose
+torrent we may not stem.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was essential that some plan of action should be decided on
+forthwith; and the bonze was of opinion that the secret of who it was
+that had done the deed for the present must be kept. Gently raising
+Sampei from his attitude of utter abandonment, and taking his treasure
+from him, he led him into the temple, and placed it within a bronze
+coffer of exceeding sanctity which stood beside the altar.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;He alone who can act,&quot; he said, &quot;in such a crisis, is my lord of
+Nara. To him will I go forthwith.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On foot, with staff and scrip, he made the pilgrimage to Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto,
+wrapped as he journeyed in holy ecstasy, thanking the gods for their
+goodness. Were not the wicked who are set in high places sometimes to
+receive their meed, the faith of man in truth and God and justice
+would wane and crumble. As the dragon that browses on the white flesh
+of innocent young maids is slain at last, so was it to be with the
+Hojos. Their cup was full. For some good and occult purpose beyond
+purblind human ken, the scourge for generations had afflicted the
+earth, but now was the limit placed. Awakening Buddha had said, &quot;So
+far shalt thou go and no farther, for the punishing of the
+transgressions of the people.&quot; The limit was reached, and now Buddha,
+merciful, would hold his hand. But how subtle was the means of
+retribution--so subtle, that as he contemplated it, the bonze was
+overcome with wonder. Not only was each member of the family to perish
+miserably, but the nearest and dearest the agent! A woman was to be
+butchered by him who to save a hair of her dear head would gladly have
+sacrificed his life. A man was to be brought to a condition worse far
+than the most lingering of deaths, by the mother who, to save him from
+a pang, would have bartered her hope of Nirvana.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The bonze, travel-stained and weary, sought my lord of Nara at the
+Mikado's palace, and found him without difficulty; for it was the
+policy of that crafty daimio to be of easy access to the people. He
+was buried to the lips in papers and despatches, for the die was cast
+now; it was to be a hand-to-hand tussle for existence. Either the Hojo
+must fall, or they would all be sacrificed. Answers had been received
+from country magnates. Despite peremptory orders from the Hojo, they
+were advancing by forced marches. They had gone too far for retreat.
+To obey the tyrant without a struggle for freedom was to condemn
+themselves to life-long bondage. What of the Corean army once
+commanded by Sampei? the magnates inquired. What of the thousands of
+disbanded ronins? Would they side with the despot, or unite for the
+saving of their Emperor? &quot;Tush!&quot; Nara muttered, as he wrote replies.
+&quot;Have not I, the shrewd and the astute, considered these matters? The
+mountains about Tsu are teeming with faithful men in ambush. When
+these marching daimios reach their appointed posts, the Holy City will
+be surrounded by a protecting girdle; and then--and then--we may act!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But Destiny amused herself as usual by thwarting the intricate plans
+so carefully conceived by mortal ingenuity. Is it not always so? If we
+arrange a sequence of events for ourselves, does not something always
+intervene to mar and derange the scheme? Perhaps in the next life, or
+the next after, we may be permitted to settle things for ourselves.
+Clearly in this one it is forbidden. First it had been arranged that
+the Hojo was to be caught in a trap in his own castle. Since then the
+aspect of affairs was altered; for after a few days passed in the
+Golden House among his vassals, their master had again mysteriously
+gone into retirement. Spies informed Nara that he was heard to groan
+at night,--that he saw visions, and dreamed dreams of strange and
+mystic import. He had relapsed into the previous state, as before he
+came up from Tsu. Had not wise Nara said that his energy was the
+expiring of the lamp. This being so, difficulties were delightfully
+smoothed, and Nara was able to improve the occasion for his master's
+benefit, by pointing out how admirably sage he had been in the keeping
+of his temper. Is not time the healer of all wounds? A scandal in the
+palace had been averted. The claws of the bear were rotting piecemeal.
+So soon as the circle of iron was complete it should close in and
+crush the tyrant, while a simultaneous movement would be made on Tsu
+for the capture of his brother and retainers.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And a few hurried sentences from the lips of a simple bonze upset all
+these elaborate calculations. He hearkened to the dolorous tale, with
+a choler that might not be suppressed. This was too much! Old Nara had
+allowed himself to be bearded. Under great provocation, he had curbed
+his wrath,--had swallowed his pride, and waited. But now he might wait
+no more. What, his heiress, his only child, the only bearer of his
+august and honoured name, was to be openly and cruelly slain, because
+her lord was weary of her, and wished to please a wanton! As with
+hands behind his back, and distended nostrils, the stately veteran
+strode hither and thither in the chamber, his old eyes flashed fire as
+of yore. In truth, under the snows, the volcano had slept, and,
+stirred to its centre, now blazed forth. Come what might, with his own
+shrivelled arm, since he had no son, would he wipe out this stain, or
+be dishonoured for aye in the noble annals of Japan. Narrowly he
+questioned the priest. Then the bonze had no idea, he said, who had
+been the butcher? It mattered not. There was no one but the Hojo and
+his wanton who desired the poor lady's death. It was at their bidding
+that the crime had been committed. First the Hojo and then his harlot.
+The fortress should be demolished stone by stone, the geisha executed
+on its ruins.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As he hearkened to the wrathful diatribes of the now furious lord, the
+bonze mused in ever-increasing admiration. Verily the working of the
+divine decrees is worthy of humble worship. The priest had promised
+Miné that Sampei should not be betrayed, 'Twas probable that when he
+rallied, as human nature will rally, to some small extent, however
+severe the shock, the rest of his days would be spent in the holy
+garb, and that comfort would come to him at last. For public
+edification and example, the soldier's remaining years were to be
+passed in prayer. The Hojo himself was to fall by the hand of Nara;
+that much was evident now, and it was fitting as well as just.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He who was wont to be over-prudent, even under stress of extreme and
+unendurable provocation, now threw prudence to the winds. Without
+delay he girded on his swords and dirk, mounted his horse, and
+galloped to the Golden House. Consequences were as rice straw in the
+wind. To fight and kill another daimio within the sacred city--within
+a given distance of the palace, meant death by harakiri. Himself to be
+slain meant confiscation of all his goods. His goods! a fig for them!
+He was childless now, and honour is worth more than goods.
+Peradventure when the stain had been wiped out, the Holy Mikado would
+forgive, in consideration for past service. No doubt he would be
+grateful for the removal of the incubus. If not, what mattered it? The
+childless old man would die, having saved at least his honour, and to
+the paltry dross of this world his sovereign lord was welcome.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Hearing the clatter of a single horseman's hoofs, the watchful samurai
+at the gate of the Golden House came forth and shaded their eyes with
+their palms to reconnoitre the visitor. Among themselves they were
+somewhat disturbed, for rumours of approaching troops were rife; the
+warriors of other magnates were unfriendly to the dominating one; and
+their lord was curiously inactive. Indeed, for the last day or two, he
+had not stepped abroad. That he was at home, and sick, was evident,
+for they could hear his muffled ejaculations; and now and then his
+distempered visage peered from an upper window with disordered mien,
+gazing on the wood and lake. The Daimio of Nara, with care upon his
+brow--in haste--unattended--alone? Strange! But events were moving
+strangely. The father-in-law of my lord; his parent's chosen guide and
+counsellor. With respectful salutes and genuflections the Daimio was
+allowed to pass. For of a certainty my lord required helpful counsel,
+and Nara, all agreed, was the very prince to give it.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The new-comer dashed past without deigning notice, nor drew rein till
+he reached the entrance of the villa. The heavy foliage of the
+surrounding pines was bowed down with a glittering burden; the
+picturesque lake, with its rocks and tiny islets, was frozen over, and
+on its surface wandered painfully and slow the myriad of black
+tortoises that usually slept beneath. A haven of peace and rest, an
+oasis of silence in a sea of turmoil. Even the sentries, who slowly
+marched before the doors, seemed under the spell of winter, their
+senses blunted by the nipping air.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The whirling mind of Nara was too much engrossed to heed such trivial
+matters. Flinging his bridle to a sentinel, he inquired where was his
+master. The man pointed upward with his lance, but added in troubled
+accents, that my lord was sick,--had given special orders that he was
+on no account to be disturbed.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I have come to cure his sickness,&quot; the old man said, with a grim
+smile of peculiar meaning. &quot;I have brought him medicine. See that we
+are left alone.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The Golden House, as we saw when we were here some time since, is a
+dwelling of small proportions on the lake bank, built of wood, with a
+huge towering roof bedizened with much gold. The upper chambers are
+reached by a ladder-stair of extreme exiguity, so frail and narrow
+that one person only can mount at a time, and only then by bowing his
+head.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Nara's tall and bulky form had much ado to reach the landing; but,
+arrived there, he loosed his katana in its sheath, and, with a
+strength, for which none would have credited him, seized the ladder,
+and, wrenching it from its iron fastening, hurled it clattering down.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The paper windows were closed; the light was dim; a voice, tuned low
+by world-worn weariness, demanded who was there.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Nara strode into the inner room where, wrapped in quilts, the Hojo
+lay, a hibachi close at hand, his swords in their rack beside him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;<i>You!</i>&quot; he said, rising to a sitting posture.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I,&quot; was the rejoinder. &quot;I, <i>murderer!</i> The father of O'Tei, the wife
+whom you have slaughtered.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No-Kami looked dreamily at the figure that stood over him, then felt
+his garb with a vague, uncertain movement of twitching fingers.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Murderer?&quot; he muttered, with a cynic's laugh.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The wrath of the old man flared up. Grinding his teeth, he spurned the
+prostrate figure.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Yes, murderer!&quot; he hissed, &quot;and I, the father of your victim. No one
+can interrupt us. O'Tei is dead--you know it--and by your decree. Only
+one, if one, will leave this room alive. Have you any manhood left,
+degenerate spawn of tyrants? Take up your sword, and quickly, or I'll
+slay you like a dog, as you deserve.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Had not the old man been so distraught he would have seen by No-Kami's
+face that the intelligence was bewildering news to him. He sat gazing
+at his persecutor open-mouthed, till he, goaded beyond control, smote
+him with flat blade across the face.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It left a livid mark, the rest of the visage purple, the veins swollen
+and congested. With a hoarse growl like an animal at bay, No-Kami
+sprang to his feet, seized his katana, and attacked the aggressor with
+set teeth. Glaring one at the other, with starting eyeballs and
+foaming lips, the two--the old man and the young--fought on in the
+small space and the dim light. Both were too furious for caution, and
+hacked each at each, smearing walls and floor, without a sound but
+labouring breath and clashing steel. The old man, taller, with longer
+arm, was getting the mastery. He had step by step driven No-Kami to
+the corner, where stood an idol of bronze, against which he leaned.
+Uncovering himself to deliver the final blow, he slipped in the blood
+upon the floor, and received the point of the Hojo right through his
+breast, below the nipple. Dropping his weapon, and flinging up his
+arms, he fell with a sob upon his back.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No-Kami withdrew his sword and wiped it carefully, then sat him down
+to think.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">O'Tei murdered! By whom? what for? It must be true, or the crafty old
+lord would never have been driven to such frenzy. It was quieted now,
+that same frenzy, however. He lay still enough, his skin as grey as
+was his hair. &quot;Not my fault,&quot; No-Kami murmured, with compunction; for,
+debauched though he was, the Hojo had respect for bravery. &quot;He has
+brought his end upon himself. Now, what of me? Who will believe me if
+I say that one who was the soul of caution came and smote me like a
+rat? Within the prohibited distance, the Mikado's favourite
+counsellor, and I so ill, so spectre-ridden.&quot; Clasping his burning
+forehead in his hands, No-Kami looked hungrily at the dirk which
+seemed to invite him from its rack, and thought, as he had once done
+before, that it would be well to make an end on't. Not yet. He was
+taken by an uncontrollable desire to know more of the tragedy at home.
+O'Tei murdered! The words seemed burnt into his brain; and as he
+contemplated them, with her father dead at his feet, an ineffable
+sadness--a cold sense of extreme loneliness--crept over his soul. The
+past rose up before his vision. For a little while they had been
+happy, he and the fair O'Tei. She had been cold and haughty and
+repellent, despising him always, and that had maddened him. And was
+she not right to do so--fully justified? She was better than he,--far
+above his level, and it was this that had made him hate her. But did
+he hate her? No! Now that she was gone, he became aware of a singular
+sensation. Down in the deeps of his being there was a profound pity
+for her fate. Why did he feel so lonely? Why did he shudder at the
+shadows whose chills encompassed him about?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Who had planned her murder? Like a green ray of lightning it flashed
+on him--O'Kikú! His curse and hers. Oh, wretched, infatuated
+man--O'Kikú! Poor O'Tei, murdered by her rival! The punishment of the
+concubine was the only reparation possible. She should be punished. If
+he was to leave Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto unmolested, there was not a minute to be
+lost. The ladder was gone, the distance to the ground but small.
+No-Kami, his nerves strung again by a distinct purpose, moved to the
+verandah, and swung himself down its column. With steady tread he
+appeared before the sleepy sentinel, and with stern, sharp accents
+issued his instructions.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My horse Typhoon, quick. I need no followers. The Daimio of Nara has
+gone the other way. Close up the house--nay, I will myself fasten it.
+Double the sentries. Keep watch and ward. Let none, on whatever
+pretext, set foot within the boundaries.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As he clattered away on his favourite charger at full speed, the
+samurai looked after him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Ticklish times,&quot; muttered he who was in command, &quot;each moment fraught
+with peril. My lord of Nara, no doubt, has given the best advice. My
+lord is gone to act on it. Well, well, the gods be praised, our chief
+is himself again!&quot;</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h2>CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
+
+<h3><a name="div1_19" href="#div1Ref_19">THE WEB IS WOVEN.</a></h3>
+<br>
+
+<p class="normal">Typhoon was the best charger in the Daimio's stable, and worthy of his
+name; but this was his last journey. He was so hard pressed by his
+frantic master, that at the castle gate he sank and died.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The sudden arrival of my lord, a fugitive, without a single follower,
+created within the fortress a commotion which was no little aggravated
+by the news of which he was the bearer. How swift was the cumulation
+of events. My lord of Nara and his heiress murdered. A siege in
+immediate prospect, and after that--what? A long course of excess and
+idleness had sapped the discipline of the braves, and instead of
+hailing the coming fray with the joy that becomes heroes, they showed
+signs of sullen discontent. No-Kami had slain in a secret manner,
+without witnesses, the venerable Nara, the esteemed friend of the Holy
+Mikado.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">This was going too far, even for so overbearing a despot. Even the
+samurai of Tsu were aware that Japan at bay would arise and shake off
+its incubus. The castle would be invested by the foes of Hojo, who
+were legion. Look where he would, there was no single ally who could
+be counted on for succour. There was but one consummation possible. An
+iron wall would hem the fortress, and all within would perish. Under
+these circumstances, the warriors (privately discussing the situation)
+were divided in opinion. Would it be well to accept the inevitable and
+bow the neck at once, suing for mercy; or would it perchance be
+better to baulk the foe, to act as the celebrated forty-seven ronins
+did--revered for ever by the Japanese--namely, to perform harakiri in
+concert? Thus it will be seen that the glamour of evil fortune had
+wrapped the castle like a mist. Even the bold retainers of the
+crumbling family lost heart, and if they prepared to show any
+resistance at all, it was owing to the presence of Sampei, the heroic
+subduer of Corea.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Even Sampei, whilom bravest of the brave, showed no enthusiasm. He had
+stumbled along the stony road of the Valley of the Shadow of Death,
+and seemed to look down from afar upon the petty frettings of
+humanity, as you might idly watch the proceedings in an opened
+anthill.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The first acute bitterness waned insensibly, and he grew resigned to
+life-long pain. Had it not been so, reason would have fallen from her
+throne. He could think of O'Tei not as corruption but as
+<i>transformed</i>. The sap of a tree, the glow of a gem, the plumage of a
+bird, contained her outward part. Nature had taken back and set to
+other purpose that which she had lent. As to the other, who might tell
+where it wandered? Where was her pure soul hovering?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Was the gulf that yawned in front as dark as the path already trodden?
+If the gods were really good, they could not but be mild to one who
+was so gentle. After all, for himself it mattered not. What, to a
+mortal so maimed as he, was a little more or less of suffering, after
+that wound from which the life-drops of his heart were slowly
+dripping?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He would not desert his brother, Sampei declared with quiet gravity.
+So long as the gods willed that he should fight, he would fight; but
+the sooner suspense was over, the greater the relief for all.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The bewitching O'Kikú when, rosy and wreathed with smiles, she flew
+from her bower in the most becoming of costumes to embrace her love,
+was considerably disconcerted by her reception. She had carefully gone
+over details, and planned within her mind exactly how it was all to
+be. He would be a little upset, possibly, on his arrival, to hear of
+the sudden and mysterious end of his icicle. He would pretend concern,
+and probably show anger, relieved all the while by her flitting. She,
+O'Kikú, would condole, clasp her husband--all her own now--in white
+arms, and, breast to breast, divulge the delicious secret. He would be
+enchanted, of course. She would make herself so agreeable bringing
+forth the entire armoury of her blandishments for his behoof, that
+memory of O'Tei would speedily be relegated to the limbo prepared for
+the ghosts of marplots. This point reached, she would summon all her
+skill and tact, wheedle and cajole and flatter, so as to achieve the
+desired prize.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">By making herself absolutely necessary to No-Kami, then turning on the
+tap of tears, the living wife would advance a step, be lifted to the
+dead one's place. And he should never have cause to regret the signal
+favour. His interests would then be hers completely. No prospect in
+the future, then, of being put away,--compelled, like Masago, to
+assume the crape. She would take her lord in hand,--be a long-headed
+little counsellor, chide his faults with gentleness, teach him to curb
+his passions, help him to replace on the neck of struggling Japan the
+yoke that was ominously-loose. And lo! how quickly did her toy palace
+tumble! No-Kami looked twenty years older than when he went away.
+There was a haggard wildness in his face--an expression, as he glanced
+at the enchantress, curiously akin, if it were possible, to aversion.
+His hands twitched; foam gathered on his lips. When, cooing, she laid
+her head upon his bosom, her hair new dressed with fresh camellia oil,
+he pushed her so rudely from him, that, reeling, with bruised arms,
+she tottered against the wall.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Could it, oh could it be, that he could have ever loved that woman?
+Could it be that his fiery nature was consuming, torn by the pincers
+of remorse? Surely he could feel naught at most for an icicle but a
+cold regret that would soon pass. Was it possible that in a revulsion
+of feeling he had actually come to detest the enchanting siren who so
+easily had won him? Verily it seemed like it. With eyes lowered in
+antipathy, he seemed to avoid her gaze with loathing. And what was
+that he muttered as he so roughly threw her off. Was it <i>murderess?</i>
+And what a look accompanied the word. Her tongue clove to the roof of
+her mouth, and though she ardently wished to repel the accusation, her
+lips refused their office. Did he really believe her guilty of such a
+foolish prank, of such a stupid blunder? She had no doubt arranged to
+oust the rival, to procure her expulsion from the castle; but to shed
+her blood and create a scandal, that would have been too foolish.
+Before she had time to recover from shocked surprise, my lord was
+gone. He gave a few brief husky orders, then groped his way, as if in
+darkness, to the retired eyrie where had dwelt the vanished
+chatelaine. Thither she felt that she dared not follow him. With
+forebodings gathering within her breast, O'Kikú withdrew to her
+apartments, fearing she knew not what.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There, on the mat, where she had laid it down, was O'Tei's samisen,
+encrusted with gold and ivory; yonder her broidery-frame, a book of
+poems open, a hundred pathetic evidences, eloquent of her who was
+gone. Far removed from the hum of preparation, No-Kami sat, dumbly
+gazing from the casement across the river towards the sea.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And then, for the first time, there passed across the mental ken of
+Hojo the phantoms of a gloomy retrospect. He seemed, as they swept by,
+to hear a forlorn chant, with the saddest of refrains--&quot;Too late!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">He had been given a life full of brilliant opportunities and had cast
+them all away. His name was a byword in the land. There was not one
+living thing that loved him, while thousands clamoured for his death.
+The chill of a desolation, novel and surprising, crept over his heart,
+as, glancing around the bower, small objects recalled the past. Why
+had they tied him to O'Tei? With one more congenial the asperities of
+his character might have softened. O'Tei, the soft and clinging, had
+never loved him; no--never--not for a single moment. Something
+whispered now that, had he been more kind, she might have come
+to like him. Then, as if stung by an adder, he sprang upon his feet,
+with beads of perspiration on his forehead. Fool! what spell was
+this?--what disgraceful, infatuated weakness? Had he been more kind!
+<i>Had she not loved his brother?</i> The poison instilled by the geisha,
+dormant through the rapid passage of stirring events, throbbed through
+his veins, and he gasped and grew faint under the pain of it. Both
+false--his wife and brother. <i>She</i> was dead; no wonder <i>he</i> looked so
+glum! Perturbed though his own mind was, No-Kami could not but notice
+the change which had come over the face of Sampei. The sharp iron
+share of an ineffable sorrow had passed over his features, ploughing
+deep lines of grief.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">On second thoughts, it was well that she was dead. She had sinned, and
+was justly punished. Thus far was his honour satisfied. The murderess
+must suffer also. By-and-by, when there should be breathing time. And
+the paramour as well. With staggering steps the Daimio roamed like a
+caged animal about the chamber, revolving direful designs. Then
+suddenly stopping, he laughed aloud and clapped his palms together.
+By-and-by, in the future! Was there any future except a yawning,
+bottomless gulf down which he and his were sliding? Honour, forsooth!
+He and his had as little to do with honour as with a future, or with
+life.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">From far away across the sunlit waters a voice whispered mockingly,
+&quot;Accursed and doomed! betrayed and friendless! Oh, desolate, solitary
+soul, the gods have set their brand on thee! In worlds to come an
+outcast!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Trembling, the Daimio peered around. Some one had spoken. Who? No one
+in the corridor without. No one beneath the window. That unearthly
+jibing merriment! Two bloodshot eyes glaring from the cloudless sky.
+Cursed and doomed! Predestined to endless travail! Moaning, the Daimio
+cowered down and rocked himself in terror.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was soon understood that, my lord being unhinged, and grievously
+sick in body and mind, Sampei would assume command. So long as the
+gods willed it, there should be defence, the General had determined,
+and to that end he moved hither and thither with forced calm,
+arranging details by the light of a shrewd experience; steady as some
+strong machine that does its work unconsciously.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The contents of the armoury were overhauled and furbished. Seasoned
+wood was sought throughout the town, for the making of countless
+arrows; thick porous paper for dressing wounds, according to the
+standard rules of rough field surgery. The ground within the inner
+moat was covered over with boards and canvas, to conceal what was done
+inside; for an investing army is ever full of stratagems for learning
+the weak points of the besieged. Lofty trees, or high peaks of rock,
+were sure to be occupied at once, tall towers to be erected on points
+of vantage. It was even a common thing to fly huge kites, large enough
+to support a man, and so obtain a bird's-eye view of the interior of
+an enemy's castle. Sampei organised a band of scouts, and sent them
+forth to crawl by night along the narrow causeways that intersected
+the oozy rice fields, bidding them return with earliest information
+with regard to the coming of the foe. Parties of braves were
+despatched in all directions to annex the scanty stores which
+oppression had left to the peasantry. All possible precautions taken,
+he divided his men into watches, taught each his post and duty, then
+waited for the future to unroll.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Nor had he long to wait. As though rising by magic through the ground,
+an army of combatants appeared, who surrounded the fortress with their
+engines. From the top of the central tower, crowned with its copper
+roof and golden fish, could be descried a host so numerous and
+well-equipped that Sampei stood marvelling how they could be here so
+quickly. It soon became manifest that they had no intention of
+endeavouring to storm the place, at least not yet, for they
+methodically set about the forming of a line of pallisades, consisting
+of heavy planks propped by hinged supports, behind which they could
+safely repose, and starve the foe to extremity.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There is nothing so soul-depressing to those hemmed in as a siege thus
+coldly carried out. The sense of being an animal shut in a trap, the
+lack of incident and excitement, the feeling of being without the pale
+of busy humanity, damp the courage, and chill the spirits. There is
+something so prosaic about a war waged against the stomach. The
+samurai of Tsu, disorganised already, their native prowess undermined,
+soon felt the pinch, and began to brawl and murmur. Their lord they
+saw no more, for, reason rocking on its pedestal, he remained shut
+up, refusing consolation, within the apartments of the deceased. But
+for the prestige that clung like a halo round his brother, and
+enforced a surly and half mutinous obedience, the braves would have
+thrown open the gates, have attempted to fraternise with the host of
+invading warriors. But the stoutest among them stood in dread of
+Sampei,---quailed before the bluff, uncompromising severity which,
+without the wink of an eyelid, would have made an example of traitors.
+The vassals of the Hojo fought, discharging arrows and javelins,
+occasionally making a feeble show of a sortie: but all knew that the
+end was imminent, that suspense would soon be over.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">O'Kikú, grasping, sly, and unheroic, fretted, as may be imagined,
+bitterly. How different was the present state of things from her
+cherished rainbow-dream. That sharp repulse, followed by utter
+neglect, upset her calculations. She appeared of a sudden to have lost
+influence over all her willing slaves. My lord, absorbed in his own
+troubles, ignored the fact of her existence. The braves, with whom she
+was once so popular--many of whom, it must be confessed, were vain at
+one time of being numbered among her lovers--now gnashed their teeth
+in her face, and poured on her head twofold the obloquy that had been
+the portion of O'Tei.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">And why was this? Doubtless the truculent and unlettered samurai
+could scarcely be expected to be logical. Yet having witnessed the
+passage-of-arms between the ladies, they must know as well as she that
+the concubine was innocent of the catastrophe. And yet somehow or
+other it had become plain to their obtuse intelligence that the siren
+was at the bottom of the trouble. There was no arguing the point,
+since none could deny that it was from her advent that the run of
+disaster must be dated. Accustomed to be pampered and petted, she was
+devoured with smouldering rage, and unreasoning hate of Tsu and Hojo,
+and all connected with the race, in finding herself treated like a
+leper. What a pity it was that, lured by a sham glitter, she should
+have turned aside from the pilgrimage to Isé, for the gathering of
+mundane baubles. What had she gained by it? Troubles and
+disappointments, and illusions roughly shattered. And perhaps in the
+background something even worse was lurking; for she realised with
+apprehension that she was hedged round with a phalanx of enemies, who
+persisted in connecting her, in spite of evidence, with the untimely
+death of the chatelaine. Was there ever anything so unreasonable, and
+yet fraught with graver peril? My lord was a madman, beset by absurd
+hallucinations; a furious tiger, accustomed to batten upon blood, as
+devoid of conscience as of scruple. He had called her murderess, and
+in the crooked recesses of his muddy brain was concocting some
+frightful retribution; There was no escape for her by flight, for she
+was in the position of a kid locked in a den of lions.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">In case of personal peril, to whom might O'Kikú turn for succour?
+Sampei was honest and upright, but on his worn face, when turned to
+her, was a horrible expression of icy vindictiveness. That he had
+idolised O'Tei none knew better than she, and she was in some
+manner connected in his mind with that most unfortunate murder. He
+also was evidently brooding over some unpleasant form of reprisal.
+Enemies--nothing but enemies--inside and out; she their future target.
+At all events Sampei could be counted upon as straight and above mean
+treason. Gulping down the lees of offended vanity, O'Kikú resolved
+to clear herself in his eyes from any complicity in the tragedy. He
+would believe her--for once in her life she would really speak the
+truth--and he would stand by her if assaulted by the madman. But when,
+waylaying him one day, with a poor ghostly show of the old coquetry,
+she entered on the subject, such a wave of blank despair seemed to
+sweep over him that the words froze on her lips, and he was gone
+before she had recovered.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Condemned to inaction, deprived of amusement and male companionship,
+relegated to the uninteresting society of tire-women, the unhappy
+geisha pined as well as fretted. If they would only let her out,--set
+the caged bird free! Dreams of ambition faded, she now desired no more
+than liberty. Several times each day she climbed to the top of the
+central tower, just under the fish of gold, and gazed--oh, with what
+longing--at the cohorts of the invading host. The strictest guard was
+kept at the openings in the palisading, but soldiers off duty were
+free to amuse themselves. She could see bands of them engaged in
+military sports. Some went a-hunting, and returned laden. Oh, if she
+were only with them, outside these horrid walls, beyond which lay
+tantalising freedom! And what was to be the end? There was only one
+end possible. All could see that now. Scanty stores, hastily
+collected, were waning. What then? Gaunt famine stalked already. Would
+those without linger inactive till the besieged were dead to a man,
+then march in over the corpses? or would they in a more martial spirit
+wait only till the braves were weak, and then take the place by
+escalade? It was too revolting to die thus by inches. The idea
+suddenly flashed upon the wretched woman, whose moral sense, never
+acute, was blunting hourly, that the key of the situation was in her
+own little hand. Why should she not open the postern, let in the foe,
+who in gratitude would spare her life--maybe applaud and treat her
+with homage as a heroine? What to her were the Hojos; their
+illustrious name which was hers--that name about which the silly
+Masago had preached so loftily--now that they were on the brink of
+ruin? She had good cause to hate the Hojos. Many a lady in the annals
+of Japan has bared her breast to her husband's dirk in just such an
+emergency as this. When the famed Shibata knew all was lost, he gave a
+final banquet, at the conclusion of which he said to his wife, &quot;You
+women must go, for it is time for us men to die.&quot; And what answer made
+she? With tears she thanked her lord, she, the sister of Nobunago the
+Great, composed a farewell verse of poetry, and received his sword
+into her bosom.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">But then O'Kikú was not of noble birth, and such flights did not suit
+her fancy. She knew herself to be still young and lovely, and full of
+life, and burning for fresh fields to conquer. If all had gone well,
+and she had stepped into the dead one's place, she would, outwardly at
+least, have been henceforth as demure as prudery could desire. Rank
+and honour and power and appetites pampered, form one condition of
+things. Untimely death, trapped within four walls, is quite another.
+It would be merciful,--a deed worthy of commendation, to let the enemy
+in, and put these doomed ones out of misery. My lord, a prey to
+goblins, was become quite too contemptible. What a delight to be
+present at the slaying of the hateful Sampei! Doubtless in yonder host
+there were many as noble as he who would, when opportunity offered,
+vie with one another for her favours. Her mind was made up. A fig for
+the race of Hojo. She would start upon her scheme forthwith.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Changing her tactics, the geisha, braving the scowls of the samurai,
+became interested in military operations, and despite their new-born
+dislike of one whom they had come to esteem as a bad angel, it was
+cheering to be commended by the lips of a pretty woman. She organised
+her maidens into a band of mercy for the relief of those who were
+wounded; helped with her own hands to prepare and carry food; filled
+and passed the saké-cup, declaring that wine gives strength. Sampei
+observed these proceedings with displeasure, but did not interfere.
+One morning when the commander was busy, and she knew herself
+unwatched, O'Kikú crept to the top of the tower with her dainty bow,
+and discharged into the air an arrow, round which was wrapped a paper.
+As she marked its flight, and perceived that it fell beyond the
+palisade, &quot;So far well,&quot; she murmured. &quot;This suspense will conclude
+to-night.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The weather was exceeding cold, the blood of the soldiers thin, by
+reason of under-feeding. Both food and drink were scrupulously
+measured now in gradually shrinking rations. But the wily damsel had a
+private supply of <i>saké</i>, remnant of that with which she used to ply
+my lord before his late visit to Ki<span style="font-family:'Courier New'">&#375;</span>oto. She prepared and warmed a
+pot of it, in which she distilled some seeds, and waited with
+philosophic patience for the night. Then, robed in a dark soft kimono,
+she stole through the first gate, and round under shadow of the fatal
+belt of trees, regardless of their wooing and their sighing (she was
+not one to be tricked to suicide), and thus reached unseen the corner
+of the outer gate. The muffled sentinel was leaning upon his lance
+against the parapet, and started from doleful reverie as she appeared
+before him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Hush,&quot; she murmured rapidly, &quot;it is I, O'Kikú. You used to love me
+once--false that you are--or told me so. See how I love you still.
+Risking my good name for you, I have brought you this, lest haply you
+be frozen by the morning.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The man looked at her with feelings of self-reproach. Yes, he had
+fancied her once, more fickle apparently than she; and as she stood
+before him now, so small and dark, with eyes of mouse-like brightness,
+and ravishing dimples playing at hide-and-seek, he liked her yet
+again. But she fluttered like a bird in his embrace.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No, no,&quot; she whispered, as she passed over his rough face caressing
+fingers. &quot;Remember duty, and the plight we are in. Folly is over, and
+stern reality is here. You wronged me in your thoughts, deeming I had
+forgotten you. Admit you did. Fie, fie--for shame! There, you are
+forgiven! Drink!&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She held forth the saké pot, kept warm with a woollen covering. He
+took a long draught, his gaze on her the while, and she shook her
+shapely head in arch reproach. And then, with set teeth and no dimples
+showing now, she caught the saké-pot as it escaped from his hand, and
+he fell insensible upon his back.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Idiot!&quot; she said, with a curl of her full lip, &quot;lie there undisturbed
+until your foolish throat is cut,&quot; and peering cautiously around,
+descended quickly to the postern.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It will be remembered that the outer gate stood at right angles to the
+road, for the better purpose of defence, but that there was a small
+postern in the angle facing it. In her outgoings and incomings she had
+always, as a matter of convenience, used this postern, and had kept
+the key of it. How provoking were these plaguy clouds over the moon.
+At one moment it was dark--at another as light as day--dazzling,
+puzzling. She stood in the open doorway peeping forth, when a mailed
+man in ambush seized her by the arm, and pinched it so suddenly that
+she had much ado to suppress a scream.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I have you!&quot; he said; &quot;you are our hostage. We got your billet, and
+are ready.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You hurt me, sir,&quot; she answered, struggling. &quot;Brute! let me go. The
+door is open as I promised. Here is the key of the inner gate.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">She endeavoured to shake off the iron grip and flee in the direction
+of liberty, but the man held her as in a vice.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Softly, softly!&quot; he chuckled, &quot;or this tender flesh will suffer. She
+who can wantonly betray her people may not be trusted. You shall go
+before and lead us to the inner gate. When once we are within the
+citadel you shall receive reward, I promise.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A cry of vexation and abortive spite rose in the geisha's throat, and
+choked her. What hardened brutal wretches soldiers are! She who
+expected effusive gratitude for a signal favour was to be treated like
+a common spy. The biter was bit. The man--an officer of rank, as was
+evident by the glittering badge upon his casque--took no pains to
+conceal his lack of consideration for the agent whom he stooped to
+employ. He looked on her, it was but too evident, as on some
+reptile--of service for the moment, which was to be used, then crushed
+under the heel. Careless of her pain, he held her soft arm as tightly
+in his armoured hand as if he meant to snap the bone.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Lead on,&quot; he threatened, &quot;or--&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There was no help for it. With the sharpest twinge of self-upbraiding
+that she had ever felt, O'Kikú turned and led the officer under shadow
+of the wall, under the belt of devilish trees that swayed now, and
+wheezed and croaked in ghastly merriment, till they reached the inner
+moat. She could tell by the dull thud behind that the cohorts were
+silently following. One, tripping over the snoring sentinel, gave him
+his <i>coup de grâce</i>. The outer space within the range of huts was
+black with the ranks of the invader. Sampei, going his rounds, and
+hearing a strange sound, glanced over the parapet, and pressed his two
+hands upon his heart to still the commotion there.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">It was all over then! So much the better--oh, so much the
+better--since the gods were ruthless. By treachery from within all was
+lost. The moment he had so yearned for was come at last, when he would
+be freed from the bondage that was rotting him.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;My love!&quot; he murmured, spreading wide his arms towards the stars,
+while tears poured down his cheeks. &quot;Wait for me, O'Tei, upon the
+other bank. Be patient for a few moments more. Stretch forth thy hand
+to me, my own; surely such love as mine should win its guerdon. In the
+next life we shall be re-united.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The clouds were rent like a curtain, and the light streamed forth. The
+whole outer space was covered now by a moving army as of locusts.
+Sampei could detect on fluttering banners the butterfly of the Lord of
+Bizen, the badges of Shioshiu, and of Satsuma. The moment had arrived
+for which his soul had pined, and he was glad. But for his vigilance,
+mutiny would have broken out long since; and now that treachery had
+unlocked the gates, resistance would be small. He knew full well that
+his men would not stand for a moment against panic. There would be a
+stampede, a massacre, unless the braves were permitted to make terms.
+Befall what might as to the rest, he and his must not be taken alive,
+for who might tell what ignominy was prepared for the fallen Hojos?
+Hastily summoning his captains, he pointed over the parapet, and laid
+a hand upon his dirk with a motion understood by all.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Act for yourselves,&quot; he said; &quot;and the gods, who have deserted us, be
+with you, old comrades.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">As he rapidly strode away towards the distant corner by the river,
+where dwelt No-Kami, there were tears in the eyes of the veterans. Was
+this their final parting from the bravest of the brave? Ought they not
+to follow, and claim participation in the rites?</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;No,&quot; a white-haired warrior said. &quot;Let his last wishes be obeyed by
+us who love him. Be our last task to keep the gate, in order that they
+may not be interrupted. If we do not fall in the assault, and our
+lives are given us, it will be time then to follow our chiefs along
+the road which they have chosen.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">With quick and steady foot Sampei ascended the stair, which to him was
+sanctified by the abiding presence of O'Tei. Pushing back the screen,
+he entered, and, looking on his brother, there was upon his face a
+newborn tenderness.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;The moment has come,&quot; he announced abruptly. &quot;The foe is within the
+gate.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">A great shout went up into the stillness--a double cry--a scream of
+fear, a yell of victory. How strangely close the air was--despite the
+cold, heavy and sulphurous. Now that the banks of inky cloud had
+completely rolled away, the sky was unnaturally clear, the stars like
+specks of steel, while low along the bases of the hills was a dense
+white vapour rising. Sampei clasped his throat and gasped for air, for
+he was suffocating. Shaking back his locks, which, untied, had drifted
+about his clammy brow, he took a candle and set fire to the dry
+woodwork of the room, which crackled and flared, while No-Kami, in a
+daze, looked on.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;You will be my kaishaku?&quot; demanded the Hojo shortly.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Not I!&quot; returned his brother, with strange emotion. &quot;Each one for
+himself now. You take your dirk; I mine. We will have no seconds.
+Quick! Each moment's golden.&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;I am your feudal chief, as well as brother,&quot; No-Kami said, with
+supreme haughtiness, shaking off lethargy like an ill-fitting garment,
+&quot;and as such I claim obedience. Shall it be said that the last Hojo
+passed away without befitting rites? Would you dare to refuse the last
+service to your departing lord?&quot;</p>
+
+<p class="normal">There was a tumult in the elder's breast. No, he dared not refuse the
+last offices which were claimed thus solemnly. The final tribute of
+respect due from the nearest kinsman to the head of a great house was
+to act as his kaishaku or executioner. And yet, how hard! O'Tei was
+waiting on the other bank. No-Kami would be there before him. Not far
+ahead, though, for Sampei disdained a kaishaku. His brother gone, he
+would not linger.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Be it so,&quot; he said; and No-Kami nodded gratefully.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The heat of the curling flames was stifling. The air was thick with
+smoke,--dense with an overpowering and scorching weight, like the
+fumes belched out by a volcano.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Gently the lord of Tsu took from its rack his dirk, while his brother
+removed the sleeve from his own right arm and drew his sword, and,
+left foot forward, narrowly watched his movements. No-Kami, with
+dreamy deliberation, kneeled, supporting his weight upon his heels,
+and allowing his upper garment to drop down, tucked the sleeves under
+his knees, to save himself from falling backwards. Then, balancing the
+dirk, he looked on it with affectionate wistfulness, and, collecting
+his thoughts, hearkened musingly to the increasing turmoil. A clash of
+arms hard by; a hubbub of approaching voices; a volley of wild shouts
+and guttural curses, ever nearer--nearer.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">&quot;Despatch!&quot; cried the elder, with impatience, as he tightened the grip
+upon his hilt.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">No-Kami glanced round at him with a slow, proud smile, in which there
+was more of human softness than his features had ever worn. Then,
+stabbing himself below the waist on the left side, he drew the dirk
+with firm and unswerving hand across, and, twisting it in the wound,
+gave it a slight turn upwards.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">The eager eyes of his brother sparkled. A flash in the air; a heavy
+thud; a crash. No-Kami was gone; his sin-stained soul had flown. His
+blood welled out over the floor from his headless trunk.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Sampei reeled, sick and giddy. Strange that the crisp air of a winter
+night should be so oppressive!</p>
+
+<p class="normal">What sinister new noise was that? A low, rumbling sound, like a great
+tremulous sigh--a heaving as though the panting soil were labouring
+for breath.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">For an instant of awful silence the human storm was stilled, then in a
+combined shriek rose heavenward. With swimming eyes Sampei gazed
+forth, clinging to the casement for support. A boom, a roar, a rush of
+boiling waters. A sweeping blast, a whirlwind--like a conflict of
+spirits for a soul. With a groan as of a giant in pain, the hillside
+opposite yawned. He beheld the wood of ancient cryptomerias, from
+childhood so familiar, slowly descend, leaving in its place a scar. He
+saw it slide down with majestic movement into the plain, turning from
+its bed the river. As though propelled by hurricane force, trees and
+rocks fell thundering, piled in heaps upon the flat, while through
+opening gaps and fissures new-born streams gushed out.</p>
+
+<p class="normal">Another shock, a long shuddering spasm, a wail of strong men for
+mercy. Then with deafening din the central tower rocked and swayed and
+split from top to bottom. The huge timbers cracked like wands, and
+parted. The ponderous copper roofs and sculptured eaves were torn and
+rent, and, toppling upon the crouching multitude, rolled over into the
+abyss. Forked tongues of flame shot up with a wild whirl of sparks,
+and died; and then from a common grave there curled a dense column of
+black smoke. Of all who were within the walls of Tsu not one escaped.
+At the gods' behest, nature had arisen in her strength. When the hail
+of destruction ceased, nothing remained of the impregnable fortress
+but a heap of shapeless ruin. The pride of Hojo was abased; its
+cherished home was become a charnel-house; its stronghold a sepulchre;
+a wreck its monument.</p>
+<br>
+
+<p class="center" style="letter-spacing:20pt">* * * * *</p>
+
+
+<p class="normal">Thus was the prophecy fulfilled,--the death-cry of the martyr
+answered. Buddha was awake, the while he seemed to sleep. By grim
+decree of outraged Heaven the race of tyrants was extinguished,
+leaving no rack behind save a loathed and dishonoured name.</p>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<h3>THE END.</h3>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<hr class="W20">
+<h5>COLSTON AND COMPANY, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.</h5>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+<br>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Curse of Koshiu, by Lewis Wingfield
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Curse of Koshiu, by Lewis Wingfield
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Curse of Koshiu
+ A Chronicle of Old Japan
+
+Author: Lewis Wingfield
+
+Release Date: February 13, 2012 [EBook #38853]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CURSE OF KOSHIU ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+ 1. Page scan source:
+ http://books.google.com/books?id=UCQXAAAAYAAJ
+
+ 2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe]; "y" with a circumflex
+ above by [^y]; "o" with a macron above by [=o].
+
+
+
+
+ THE CURSE OF KOSHIU.
+
+
+ _A CHRONICLE OF OLD JAPAN_.
+
+
+
+
+ BY
+
+ The Honble. LEWIS WINGFIELD,
+
+ AUTHOR OF
+ "LADY ORIZEL," "IN HER MAJESTY'S KEEPING," "ABIGEL ROWE,"
+ "BARBARA PHILPOT," ETC.
+
+
+
+
+
+ LONDON:
+ WARD & DOWNEY,
+ 12 YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
+ * * *
+ 1888.
+
+ [_All Rights reserved_.]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ EDINBURGH
+ COLSTON AND COMPANY
+ PRINTERS
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ CONTENTS.
+
+
+ CHAPTER I.
+
+ Boy and Girl.
+
+
+ CHAPTER II.
+
+ The Last Hojo.
+
+
+ CHAPTER III.
+
+ Married Life.
+
+
+ CHAPTER IV.
+
+ The Abbess gives Advice.
+
+
+ CHAPTER V.
+
+ The Farmer girds His Loins.
+
+
+ CHAPTER VI.
+
+ The Young Mikado.
+
+
+ CHAPTER VII.
+
+ The Farmer's Sentence.
+
+
+ CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ Destiny is Busy.
+
+
+ CHAPTER IX.
+
+ The Execution.
+
+
+ CHAPTER X.
+
+ Forebodings.
+
+
+ CHAPTER XI.
+
+ The Curse begins to Work.
+
+
+ CHAPTER XII.
+
+ The Daimio of Nara Begins to Work.
+
+
+ CHAPTER XIII.
+
+ The Despot obeys Orders.
+
+
+ CHAPTER XIV.
+
+ The Mikado does Business.
+
+
+ CHAPTER XV.
+
+ Will Buddha Speak?
+
+
+ CHAPTER XVI.
+
+ Masago takes the Reins.
+
+
+ CHAPTER XVII.
+
+ Under the Moon.
+
+
+ CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+ Face to Face.
+
+
+ CHAPTER XIX.
+
+ The Web Is Woven.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ THE CURSE OF KOSHIU.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER I.
+
+ BOY AND GIRL.
+
+
+It was towards the end of the fourteenth century that the grandeur of
+the Hojo family rose to its acme, then fell with awful crash. The
+feudal story of the Land of the Rising Sun is a long dark chronicle of
+blood and tears, of crime and rapine, of vengeance and vendetta, out
+of which there glints at intervals a gleam of glorious heroism, of
+holy devotion, of pure love and unsullied faith.
+
+In the stately roll of the great names of old Japan, there is none so
+terrible as Hojo. From time to time the patient people were ruled by
+one race or another of despots, cruel and selfish; the most cruel of
+all, the Hojos. Even now, after five hundred years of war and havoc,
+of vain aspirations, power misused, and wrecked ambitions, mothers
+still hush their babes to silence by breathing the dreaded name. The
+most destructive insect that ravages the fairest island in the
+world--the most voracious and omnivorous--is yet known as the Hojo
+beetle. When the first of the line erected a strong fortress--the
+Castle of Tsu, which will serve as background to many scenes in this
+our chronicle--he gave to it a bloody baptism, by burying beneath the
+foundations two hundred living men. Although their baleful course was
+marked by an ensanguined streak like a gory finger drawn across a map,
+they were not all black, these gruesome daimios, or even Buddha, whom
+we know to be deaf, and prone to somnolence, would earlier in the day
+have bestirred himself to punish them. Maybe Buddha drinks too much
+sake, for though we piously crack our finger-joints, and beat our
+palms, each morn at sunrise, and bang the gongs and pull the
+bell-strings each evening in the temple, he recks little of mere
+mundane worries, letting things go from bad to worse in grievous
+fashion. And yet, once roused to wakefulness, his vengeance is swift
+as the typhoon, as destructive and as sweeping.
+
+No. The lurid Hojo cloud that for a hundred years brooded over
+long-suffering Japan, had silver breaks in it. The Mikados, as nominal
+rulers, dwelt at Ki[^y]oto; while the Shoguns, as military viceroys,
+reigned at Kamakura; but the dominating family, as wire-pullers,
+directed their movements from behind. The father of Hojo No-Kami, last
+of the race, had his good points. None of his supercilious ancestors
+was more superbly overbearing, more sublimely indifferent to human
+pain; and yet his worst enemies were compelled to admit that, if
+stern, his rule was sagacious. The Mikado, and his court of _kuges_ or
+lords-in-waiting, shivered before him, for his dirk was loose in the
+scabbard, and the order promptly to depart into another world by
+uncompromising _harakiri_ was ever trembling on his lips. During his
+career three emperors had been summoned to shave their heads and
+retire into monkish solitude, each puppet bowled over in its turn for
+daring to dispute his will; and yet the very fact of his disdaining to
+mask the iron hand under the glove of silk, even in dealing with the
+highest, compelled the unwilling admiration of his turbulent and
+light-hearted countrymen.
+
+The upper class--Samurai, two-sword men, hatamotos, soldiers--could
+appreciate his martial bearing, as, in gallant bravery of scarlet
+armour and gold-studded helm, he rode forth to battle, with his
+martial wife beside him. For the beautiful Tomoye was a fit mother for
+lion whelps. Of great personal strength as well as graceful carriage,
+sheathed in armour like her lord, astride on a swift horse, she was
+ever in the van of conflict. With her own hand she cut off the head of
+a rival daimio who crossed swords with her; and when her lord died,
+pierced through the heart by an arrow she fought till she fell beside
+him. The lower class of the unarmed--mechanics, mere farmers,
+paltry merchants--could also from their inferior standpoint admire
+their ruler, whilst grieving at his rough treatment of the Holy
+Mikado--mystic head of all--for he protected the workers of the hive
+from the depredations of other tyrants. The burthen of taxes was
+nicely weighed to suit the backs of the bearers. The ken of the Hojo
+was as piercing, and minutely attentive to details, as it was
+farsighted. A petition from the elders of the meanest village was sure
+of immediate attention. No petty feudal master, however recklessly
+bold or savagely contemptuous, dared to overstep his rights.
+
+The result of the adamantine rule of the last Hojo but one was peace.
+The land that was given over usually to turmoil and bloodshed, with
+intervals of complete anarchy, enjoyed rest for fifteen years, during
+which the despot set himself to consolidate his power, and fix yet
+more firmly the family yoke on the necks of lords and people.
+
+He had two sons, the elder of whom--by Japanese paradox--was treated
+as if he had been the younger. Sampei, three years older than No-Kami,
+was the offspring of a second wife or concubine. The latter,
+heir-apparent, was the whelp of the war-queen Tomoye. Now in Japan
+concubinage is a recognised institution, and the son of the handmaid
+is no bastard. And yet the child of the bondwoman is not co-heir with
+the child of the free. The latter, in the case of a great family, is
+undisputed head of the clan, and to him the former owes allegiance,
+however much older in years, in the same degree as lesser clansmen.
+The institution is so firmly welded into the constitution of the land
+as, save in a few cases, to preclude jealousy.
+
+Of course, as in all Eastern countries, ambitious men have striven to
+supplant their brothers--have hacked off their heads and reigned in
+their stead--but this does not affect the principle. The two sons of
+Hojo grew up side by side in perfect amity. Together they learned to
+ride and wield the sword and spear under the approving gaze of their
+martial parents. They were both soldiers--with a difference. Even
+Tomoye was forced to admit that of the twain Sampei, son of the
+concubine, was the most promising. His nature was clear and bright
+as running water, simple and unsmirched, unlike that of the
+heir-apparent. None more brave than he, more quick and skilful with
+his weapons, more ready to smite hard and heavily; and yet on occasion
+he could be soft and tender as a woman. A polished politeness and
+chivalrous demeanour were so innate in him as to win the admiration of
+the ladies. For seductive luxury he had nothing but contempt. No-Kami,
+on the other hand, if brave and skilled in arms, was fierce and
+selfish and debauched; overfond of the harem and perfumed bath and
+sake cup; sullen, too, as an ill-conditioned animal; brutal to women,
+ruthlessly tossing them aside like shattered toys when sated with
+their charms. People nodded their pates and whispered of him the
+timeworn proverb which says that there is no seed to a great man. In
+sooth it has ever been a common thing in this otherwise favoured land
+to see a great house crumble into speedy ruin through the supineness
+and debauchery of its sons.
+
+There was no need for anxiety as to the future of Sampei. A soldier
+and a gentleman to the tips of his trim finger-nails, his career, in
+the most war-ridden of countries, was carved clear before him. It came
+to pass that Corea, conquered long since by the Amazon Empress Jingo,
+threw off allegiance.. Who more fitted than doughty young Sampei to
+reduce the rebel to obedience? Accordingly, five years before this
+story opens, the gay young general, full of life and hope, and
+rippling with high spirits, bade a respectful farewell to the father
+he was never to see again, a more tender one of his fond mother,
+Masago, who, like many another discarded concubine, was now the Abbess
+of a convent, and sailed with a fleet and army for Corea, whence news
+arrived from time to time, praising his deeds of valour.
+
+As for the future of No-Kami, it was more difficult to prophesy, and
+his parents were no little anxious. His prospects were splendid; but
+although his father had endeavoured to foresee contingencies, and
+build barriers against accidents, the path of the next tyrant must
+needs be beset with thorns. His _role_ in the future would be arduous,
+thick strewn with snares and difficulties. To keep the _entourage_ of
+the Mikado in subjection--to hold the daimios--powerful and wealthy
+princes as sturdy as the barons of the English John--in the requisite
+condition of meekness, would require more statecraft, diplomacy, and
+force of iron will, than could be expected of a model youth. And
+No-Kami, as we have seen, was by no means a model youth. None knew
+better than his astute and experienced parent how difficult to a young
+man this task would prove; none was more distinctly aware of the frail
+tenure of a despot's life. At any moment he, the father, might be
+taken, and what then would happen to his boy?
+
+Treachery stalks through the history of Japan. At any instant the
+dominant Hojo might be murdered under his son's eyes. Would the
+self-indulgent No-Kami be prepared with vigorous promptitude to avenge
+the slain, and, seizing the dropped reins, pursue his policy? Both
+father and mother sadly shook their heads. Even their partial vision
+could not but perceive that the hope of the house was a leper,
+abnormally sinful, inclined to become a sybarite. Was this young man
+to be left to steer the bark without a pilot? Certainly not. In case
+of anything unexpected arising, a staff must be prepared for him to
+lean upon. A man must be placed by his side, old in years and in
+experience, whose position and wisdom would command respect, whose
+interest it would be to bestow sound advice and timely sage reproof.
+
+What better guide than a prudent father-in-law? What surer loadstone
+to lure an embryo debauchee from the muddy byways of low company than
+a beautiful patrician bride? one of the pure and slender, refined and
+high-bred maidens of noble lineage--fair and sweet as the fragrant
+mountain-lily--who now, as five hundred years ago, are the brightest
+glory of Japan.
+
+A crafty combination this on the part of the warrior-statesman, which
+would doubtless have been crowned with success, if he had not chanced
+to live in a world where mischievous spirits delight in frustrating
+plans the most cleverly matured. Tomoye heard, and listened dubiously.
+Even among the most elevated Japanese, as well as in the highest
+European circles, papas and mammas will differ as to the ideal bride.
+What was the precise article that would suit No-Kami? Unfortunately
+there was not time to have one specially ordered. Since perfection is
+chary of repetition, it was not to be expected that another Tomoye--a
+stern yet loving lioness--could be found for the precious youth.
+Indeed, so recreant a scion was he of the stock, that he might have
+objected possibly to a muscular and fiery wife whose pastime was the
+chopping of heads. And yet not so. A true lion-whelp was he in blood
+enjoyment. Even the low-born _Geisha_ singing girls who stocked his
+harem, had often cried under his buffets, and shouted shame, with
+tears, at his barbarous treatment of his servants.
+
+Alas! how sad it is that even the most sapient in mundane experience
+will be guilty of errors sometimes that are patent to the lesser fry.
+Is it over-anxiety that blinds them? The problem was to put the finger
+on a great noble--daimio among daimios--who could compare in descent
+and grandeur _almost_ with the line of Hojo; who, of weight in
+counsel, and rather cool than hot, would stem precipitate rashness. He
+must have no son, and but one daughter, and devoid therefore of the
+ambition which accompanies male issue, must adopt his daughter's
+husband as his son; and by thus uniting the two families in closest
+bonds, make their interests identical. The child of the magnate (given
+that the two were found) must be mentally perfect, and a vision of
+corporeal loveliness.
+
+"My dear!" quoth the broad-shouldered but practical Tomoye, as with
+one eye critically closed she assayed the temper of a brand new sword.
+The lady was apt to get vexed when her lord grew warm and garrulous.
+"My dear," she observed, "we have many rounds of mortal life to climb
+ere, reaching the summit, we attain Nirvana. Though you are good
+enough to be blind to my blemishes, even I am not quite perfect.
+Perfection, in our present low cycle, is so very scarce, you know."
+With this she beamed upon her lord, whilst artlessly belying her words
+by approvingly fingering her muscles. She was inwardly aware, with
+pardonable pride, that no other daimio's daughter could boast such an
+arm as hers.
+
+My lord was provoked, and rubbed his nose. When you are erecting airy
+towers, practical people are exasperating. It was evident she had
+gained a point, so she proceeded to follow it up.
+
+"Where in broad Japan do you propose to seek these paragons? This pink
+of perfect daimios, and his yet more model child?"
+
+There was a tendency to irreverence in this tone, which required
+nipping in the bud. The eye of the Mikado's master shot forth a gleam,
+before which even the lioness cowered. When his mind was made up, the
+Hojo brooked no argument.
+
+"Be it as you will!" Tomoye dutifully murmured. "My lord is all-wise,
+all-powerful; his wife his willing slave. Go forth and seek the
+paragons, and let us hope you will find them soon."
+
+To please him whom she loved best on earth, Tomoye made believe to be
+convinced; and yet her woman's tact whispered down in the deep
+recesses of her manly bosom, that my lord, for all his wiliness, was
+wrong; that he was building a fool's paradise far up in [OE]ther, out
+of which her dear boy might tumble.
+
+Curious to relate, the paragons concerning whom she was tempted to be
+disrespectful were not far to seek. With but little hocus-pocus father
+and daughter were conjured on the scene, as absolutely the "very
+thing," to all appearance, as the cunning Hojo had conceived them. He
+declared as much at least, and dutiful Tomoye acquiesced, slightly
+pinching her lips in silent protest. Instead of the "very thing" which
+was to bring about complete success before its time in our weary
+pilgrimage of cycles, the mother's instinct beheld with prophetic
+vision, in the proposed alliance, the worst elements of discord and
+defeat,--of so dire and dread a tragedy as should shake Japan to its
+centre, and annihilate the dominating house. Yet who was she, the
+warrior wife reflected in her humility, to set up puny instincts
+against the ripened statecraft of my lord? Her muscles were better
+than her brains. Should she presume to know more than he who held in
+his hand Mikado, nobles, people?--whose nod was law in the land
+beloved of Buddha? who had preserved it from contamination from
+without? Her place was to bend before the will of the dictator, and
+offer prayers for her husband and her son.
+
+
+ * * * * *
+
+
+The most perfectly poetic spot in all poetic Japan, whose ensanguined
+history is made beauteous to the eye of a fastidious posterity by the
+flora of chivalry and valour, is Nara.
+
+Lovely and secluded, sweet-smelling and umbrageous Nara! The Nara of
+to-day--how much more the Nara of five hundred years ago--suggests to
+the incursive foreigner a bit of Eden's garden.
+
+In very early times the central mart of Japanese opulence (which ebbed
+by-and-by to Ki[^y]oto), it came after a while to be recognised as the
+special home of holiness. Accepting the better part, it exchanged the
+shimmering sham glory of mundane ambition for the sheen reflected from
+above. Some twenty miles from Ki[^y]oto--time-honoured residence of
+Mikados, and therefore a sacred city--the small town of Nara stands on
+a plain surrounded by rugged hills. Passing through low grey streets,
+leaving on the left a huge and ornate pagoda, you enter a tangle of
+wild greenery--an ideal wood of immense cryptomerias darkling skyward
+after light. A jungle of variegated foliage, so sweet and fresh, masks
+half their altitude, while the undulating ground beneath is broken
+into verdant waves chequered with blossoms of all hues. This forest is
+vast and silent, save where a white-robed group of pilgrims saunters
+along its glades--undefended by barriers, save those of religious
+custom. And what more tough than they? If sprightly and given to
+skull-cracking, the Japanese live in terror of their deities, who
+without exception are vindictive. Buddha and the lesser lights
+are awful and threatening and ever-present, and the favourite
+hunting-grounds of Buddha are the hallowed groves of Nara.
+
+The thickets teem with game. All kinds of coy animals which usually
+flee at sight of man, here hold undisputed sway. The intruder is on
+their territory, and they let him know it. The timorous doe stands
+with soft unstartled eyes across the path, sniffing with moist
+nostrils the expected cake. And if the white-clad pilgrim should have
+striven to combine economy with cure of soul by investing in cheap
+offerings, the scornful stag and his following will shake their ears,
+and bound away to relate to the gods the insult. With head on one
+side, birds look critically down from boughs, nor think of flight;
+hares, taught by impunity, instead of making off, white scut in air,
+groom nose with paw, undaunted.
+
+Hidden away, centre of an intricate labyrinth--enclosed in many
+courts, each hung with myriad lamps in bronze-like fringes round the
+eaves--stands the Holy of Holies, Buddha's hunting-box, wherein a band
+of virgins perform weird shinto rites for the behoof of awe-struck
+pilgrims. At stated seasons this bevy of priestesses, emerging from
+strict retirement, performs the _kagura_, a slow swanlike measure,
+with many and intricate figures and waving of fans and bells and
+kerchiefs, accompanied by priestly flutes--which (doubtless good for
+the soul, since its weary length is interminable) is soothing also to
+ear and eye, for the ladies are graceful and slender in their loose
+red trousers and gossamer robes, their long locks flowing as they
+float to and fro, with a background of gold screens, and beyond the
+antique forest. How peaceful a life, free from sordid cares, must
+these holy damsels lead! Far from the fretful striving of the churlish
+world--its hate and jealousy and bitterness and disillusion--no call
+to arms or shock of war invades this calm retreat. They share
+ungrudgingly their Eden with the beasts and butterflies, guileless and
+content as they, strumming the three-stringed samisen, sailing through
+maze of solemn _kagura_, doing tender service in the temple.
+
+Among the troop of maidens was one who wore no religious habit.
+Although she had taken no vows, priests and virgins loved her as much
+as if one of themselves. Brought up among them with the hares and
+birds for comrades, as stately and as gentle as the deer, she shared
+from childhood, being motherless, their pure and contemplative life.
+Strangers often said that the fairest thing in lovely Nara was the
+tall and pale O'Tei. Some compared her to the unblown white lotos as
+it sways dreamily in the breeze. Others dubbed her pearl; but later
+all agreed that young Sanjo the armourer was delivered of the neatest
+simile when he fashioned a white fawn of purest silver and gave it to
+the maiden for a hairpin. As a child she had always been still and
+given to day-dreams, peering into the flowers as if she could read
+secrets there, or gazing into the opal sky in search of angels, or
+watching the pallid stars as they glimmered forth out of the deepening
+blue. Yet was she as gay as the chirping cicadas in the trees, as
+light and fleet as her four-footed friends, as, pattering on dainty
+clogs in wayward mood, she would leave the forest for the town, and
+peeping in at Sanjo's, shake an arch finger at the brawny armourers,
+while they wiped their swart brows, and laughed.
+
+It was by a whimsical coincidence that the celebrated family of Sanjo,
+from time immemorial armourers in chief to the Mikados, as the
+Miochins were to the Shoguns, should have set up the forge, emblem of
+war, hard by the sacred wood, the type of peace. But so it was.
+Indeed, as I write, the existing Sanjos occupy the ancestral dwelling.
+They are poor now. Their occupation is gone, for civilisation and
+European ways have stepped in and ruined them. At the period which
+occupies us, the blowing of the forge-bellows and the welding of iron
+on the anvil were in curious contrast to the surrounding calm. Many
+lords who came hither in pilgrim guise to improve their soul's estate,
+looked in at Sanjo's ere they went away, to buy new blades and armour.
+The holy forest was an oasis of peace in a world of uproar; for was
+not the castle of the powerful lord of Nara but a mile beyond the
+town; and did not close by (happily concealed by a hill from his proud
+gaze) the fortress of the Daimio of Osaka rear its majestic front,
+home of his hereditary foe? Of course it was enough for two great
+feudal lords to dwell cheek by jowl for them to hate one another
+cordially. These two were as jealous as two rival beauties. The outer
+moat at Nara was wider than that of my lord of Osaka, but then the
+interior of Osaka's stronghold was the more splendid, and its armoury
+more richly furnished. Hence frowns and jibes and backbitings from
+generation to generation, varied now and then by siege or battle,
+accompanied by fire and massacre.
+
+Among the many who were firm friends of the Sanjos, was, naturally
+enough, Sampei. Of course, so gallant a young gentleman could wear no
+armour but Sanjo's, could wield no sword but one that bore his mark.
+One morning, standing beside the anvil, and laying down the law to an
+obsequious audience, on military subjects, he beheld, framed in the
+doorway, such a delightful vision, that his heart gave a great thump,
+and he dropped the precious blade, whose temper he was critically
+testing by the bisecting of a coin. It was only for a second. Startled
+by the apparition of a distinguished stranger, and grown unaccountably
+bashful of a sudden, the blushing and beautiful O'Tei cried Oh! and,
+turning on her clogs, scampered back into the wood, whither the
+inflammable Sampei would swiftly have followed, had he not been
+restrained by the armourer.
+
+"Beware!" the latter whispered, grasping him tightly by the skirt.
+"That maid is not for thee! The heiress of the Daimio of Nara will
+look higher than a soldier of fortune!"
+
+Sampei laughed, to conceal his annoyance. It is exasperating and
+humiliating too, to a handsome young soldier, who as such adores the
+sex, to be bluntly informed that the loveliest girl whom he has ever
+looked upon is hopelessly out of reach. And yet he could not deny that
+his friend was right. The White Fawn of Nara might never be his, for
+one so noble and so fair could command the most splendid of _partis_.
+But was that any reason why he should not look at her? He was
+heartwhole. No doubt of that. His soul was devoted to his sword; but,
+as dashing young warriors have done time out of mind, he liked to
+dally with maidens, and the prettier they were the better. Instead of
+purchasing a blade and departing straightway, he all at once became
+fastidious. This one was too light; that one ill-balanced.
+
+Japan is the land of blades. From the tail of the Dragon was born the
+sword which the Sun-goddess bestowed on the first Emperor. By the
+sword of the clustering clouds, Yamato-Dake subdued the East. It was
+quite fitting that our young general should be particular. Sanjo
+produced in vain his rarest achievements. There was "Knee-cutter" and
+"Beard-divider," unrivalled masterpieces, which Sanjo himself so loved
+that he had always declined to part with them. But there was no
+satisfying this capricious and arrogant youth. Sanjo would be good
+enough to set himself to work and create an inspiration; and Sampei,
+to whom time had all at once become no object, would remain at Nara
+and superintend the progress of the miracle. And so it came about that
+the blade, taking long to make, O'Tei (curious, after the fashion of
+maidens) came pattering along the street, just to see if the young
+warrior was gone. Oddly enough, he was still there; with face towards
+the door too. This was well, if strange; for he was comely; extremely
+civil, to boot; courteous, and vastly respectful; could troll rich
+snatches of merry song, and tell diverting tales with dancing eye and
+glittering teeth; while as for his smile, it did one good to bask
+under it--so bright it was, so warm and genial, exuberant with
+bubbling youth.
+
+The brawny workers at the anvil vowed with grins and nudges that 'twas
+charming to watch these two--she, the type of the patrician beauty of
+her country--complexion of palest olive, nose aquiline, cheek bones a
+trifle high, perfectly moulded chin and throat, eyes and hair a deep
+black, the former raised the least little bit in the world at the
+outer corners--as she lounged in a steely _kimono_ of finest crape
+drawn up over one of scarlet. And he was in his way as bonny a
+spectacle. Exceeding dark of skin; of low stature, as are most of the
+Japanese, but admirably proportioned and muscular; his luxuriant sable
+locks (shaven away in the centre, lest the eyes should be obscured in
+battle), fastened in two tresses at the back, while a becoming blue
+fillet bound his temples, knotted at the side in a bow.
+
+I am afraid I must admit at once that Sampei, to whom I am very
+partial, was a sad flirt. He invented appalling tales of death and
+slaughter, for the pleasure of seeing the cheek of O'Tei grow whiter,
+then set himself to woo the delicate sea-shell colour back with
+well-timed jest; and was flattered and pleased to find that he could
+learn to play upon her as on some fragile instrument. To the girl his
+radiant advent was a strange and wondrous break in the sweet monotony
+of years,--a revelation like the raising of some veil that masks the
+infinite; and she marvelled vaguely whether the perfumed wood would
+hold so rich a charm when _he_ was no longer there to rouse the echoes
+with his laughter. Hand in hand they wandered--artless children--while
+the soft-eyed deer peeped out at them approvingly. They visited her
+favourite haunts; the open glade where the glorious lilies grew in
+clusters--lemon-yellow, or white, brown centred; where the great
+jewelled butterflies tumbled low along like junks under heavy sail;
+where beds of scarlet blossoms like geraniums nestled in sheets on the
+bank of a crystal stream--home of flights of glittering dragon-flies,
+black and iron-blue, like the cohorts of the warlike Osaka. And then
+the sharp _twee twee_ of the cicadas, answering or calling one another
+out of the deep stillness of the canopy above, the boom of the hoarse
+bees, the buzzing of gossamer wings, the click of the cricket, the hum
+of the myriad tiny voices up in the dense green, which joining in
+harmonious chorus form a silence--a haven of solitude and rest.
+
+It was not possible to linger in the shadowed aisles whose pillars
+were the giant cryptomerias, without feeling subdued and softened; and
+a suspicion flitted more than once across the mind of the young
+soldier that perchance the career of hurly-burly and the clash of
+steel were a mistake, the contemplative life a better. What happier
+method of getting through the cycle than to muse away the years, till
+called to go, with gentle O'Tei, and the forest, and the animals? And
+then, the sylvan influence and flash of the clear eyes removed, Sampei
+would wake and shake himself in distress, and know that the ground was
+dangerous. The contemplative life was good for girls and shaven
+priests, and men who had succumbed in the battle. Youths with lives
+spread out before like a trail of moonlight on the sea, must gird up
+their loins and elbow their way through the medley. Too long already
+had the young General dallied, wasting time. And yet, not wasting, for
+he and she were to be friends for life--that was quite settled--dear
+brother and loving sister, trusting each other without question,
+certain, in moments of emergency, of the completest helpfulness and
+sympathy. It was delicious to possess such a sister, a soft warm
+sunspot on his harsh career; more she might never be, and he
+recognised that this was well.
+
+Her gentleness unnerved his arm, he was wont jestingly to say, for her
+nature was woven of such frail glass threads that just as the rush of
+the herd snapped the slender lily-stems, a rude puff of wind might
+shatter it. Some day she would find a suitable husband, and her
+adopted brother would love him for her sake; and then they would
+recline in the long grass and fall a-talking of what the lucky mortal
+would be like. To match with the perfection of O'Tei he must be a
+perfect creature. Not a bluff soldier like Sampei. No, that would
+never do, for like a tender plant must the dear maid be cherished. To
+the end must the White Fawn be screened from din of war and rude
+surroundings. Poor hearts! They were both so young and ignorant and
+hopeful. They knew not how futile a pastime is the building of
+air-palaces. They were unaware that Fate is a sad marplot, and that if
+we plan a matter in a certain way, it will surely come out quite
+otherwise.
+
+The Shinto virgins were somewhat scandalised by the romantic
+proceedings of the fair O'Tei and the too good-looking General. They
+were disinclined to approve of him, for they knew he had said that,
+with faces painted a dead white, eyebrows at top of foreheads, and
+long flat hair well-oiled, they looked like the dolls of Asakusa. A
+ribald military person was not expected to have taste, or to know
+wherein lies true beauty, but he might show more respect for youthful
+gorgons. O'Tei did little credit, they averred, with tart displeasure,
+to her education. If she pined for male society, was not the temple
+full of holy bonzes? The heiress of Nara showed lamentable signs of
+incipient depravity. What business had she with Sanjo, the common
+armourer? She who, wayward always and inconsistent, when taught like
+every prospective chatelaine to wield a pike, had been wont to toss
+down the silver-mounted weapon, with a pout, vowing that she hated
+fighting.
+
+Things could not go on as they were, for the situation was a false
+one. Sanjo grew nervous. If the Daimio of Nara, who as Kuge or court
+noble lived usually at Ki[^y]oto in attendance on the Emperor, were to
+hear that his only child, instead of innocently floating through mazes
+of _kagura_, was using his (Sanjo's) forge for flirting purposes with
+an ineligible man who was the son of a concubine, there would be
+trouble; and Sanjo was not unaware of the parable concerning iron pots
+and earthen pipkins. All were relieved, therefore, except O'Tei, who
+was hazy as to her own sentiments, when the news arrived that the
+rebellion in Corea was to be quelled, and that Sampei was to command
+the expedition.
+
+When brother and sister parted, O'Tei clung round the neck of the
+youth, and, weeping bitterly, shivered she knew not why. Lovingly he
+kissed her brow, and disengaged himself from her embrace, and was more
+than ever certain as he rode away that, perfect in a congenial sphere,
+as wife of some grandee who would appreciate her gentle excellence,
+his sweet and sensitive sister would make the worst of consoles for
+one whose trade was war.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER II.
+
+ THE LAST HOJO.
+
+
+Being a cunning and artful reader, you have long since guessed that
+the pattern maid whose benign influence was destined to reform the
+brutish No-Kami, was no other than O'Tei, while the paragon Daimio was
+Nara.
+
+The Shinto virgins, as unjust and purblind as young gorgons may be
+expected to prove, were quite wrong as to O'Tei, who was no flirt. She
+did all credit to her rearing, for, when summoned to leave the
+conventual seclusion of the forest and assume the garb and
+responsibilities of her rank, she dutifully murmured, "Let my father's
+will be done," and accepted the husband of his choice. She had never
+been told--for the holy bonzes knew little about the subject--that in
+many marriages there are but two cheerful days--the first and the
+last--and marched straight upon her fate without a tremor.
+
+The elder Hojo, though a crafty and long-headed statesman, made a sad
+mistake while arranging the affairs of his son. The air palace he
+built was complete and imposing, beautiful to the eye, but, as the
+muscular and practical Tomoye had foreseen, its foundations were of
+the weakest. He forgot that old Nara, as lord in waiting, was likely
+to be deeply attached to the person as well as to the position of the
+Mikado; that he, like the rest of the Kuges, would probably treasure
+up the insults which were freely showered on his master, with a view
+to future vengeance.
+
+Thanks to the uncompromising tactics of the despot, the reigning
+Mikado (there were three in exile) was a boy, a _roi faineant_, a
+puppet; but he was hedged about with the intangible and mystic
+attributes of the Mikadoate, and the buffets he received reverberated
+along the line of Kuges into the hearts of the lower class. To possess
+the person of the Emperor was doubtless pleasing to the possessor--a
+trump card--but those who did not possess him felt his thraldom
+bitterly. That his daughter should wed the heir of the all-powerful
+Hojo was satisfactory and flattering to Nara. So long as the tyrant
+lived against whom it was hopeless to struggle, he would mask his
+game; but after his death, what then? He was expected to assume the
+functions of chief adviser, and keep the successor straight--was, in
+fact, to tighten the bonds about his master's limbs, for the behoof of
+the execrated family.
+
+This was whimsical--illogically planned--and Hojo a fool for his
+pains, When he contemplated the folly of the man he hated in his
+heart, the grim visage of the cautious Nara was puckered into
+unaccustomed smiles. The advice he would give in the future--so the
+wily lord decided--must depend on the attitude of his son-in-law, and
+be guided by the course of events for the benefit of the imperial
+prisoner. In his mind's eye (if Hojo could only have guessed it!) he
+beheld with secret exultation the brutish No-Kami sinking lower and
+lower by sure degrees into debauchery, until the moment should arrive
+when the ruler would become the ruled. And then--and then! Well, time
+must show what then. Sufficient for the day is its labour.
+
+Just as a Nimrod of the chase may fly safely over tremendous obstacles
+and be undone by a ditch at last, so was it with old Hojo. He sallied
+forth one day to put down an insignificant riot in never tranquil
+Satsuma, and received there his quietus. As already related, the
+faithful Tomoye died with him, and No-Kami--juvenile, inexperienced,
+and cruel--was called to reign in his stead. And now, no longer
+restrained in the smallest degree by respect for a severe mother or
+fear of a fiery father, the new despot, surrounded by parasites, gave
+free rein to all his vices.
+
+The unaccustomed period of peace came to an abrupt conclusion. The
+young Mikado having been goaded one day to remonstrate with his new
+jailor, the latter raised his fan and slapped the august cheek. The
+Kuges flew to arms to avenge their outraged lord, but No-Kami, with
+the aureole of his father's prestige still about him, was too much for
+them. The nobles who dwelt in the palace bore but little of the stamp
+of warriors. The astute Nara, whilst hating the young man, saw that
+now, while the aureole remained unfaded, it was not yet the time to
+strike. He assumed therefore, with much parade of zeal, the _role_ of
+mediator between his master and his son-in-law. At first in vain.
+
+An unorganised band of patriots took the field, who were speedily
+routed and slain; and No-Kami, like the tyrant that he was,
+ungenerously pursued his advantage. Thanks to Nara's intervention, he
+refrained from deposing the Mikado; but he made up for this act of
+clemency by committing outrageous deeds. Banishment and confiscation
+were the order of the day. The estates of those who had dared to
+unsheath the _katana_ were distributed among the minions of the
+despot. All over Japan, those who loved their country heard with
+groans of the annihilation of the loyalists, and the pitiful condition
+of the Emperors. There was a puppet Mikado at Ki[^y]oto, and a nominal
+Shogun at Kamakura, but they were both under the tutelage of Hojo.
+
+No-Kami, as Nara hoped and expected, flushed with easy victory, and
+drunk with blood, resigned himself for a while to luxury, and
+neglected public business. A horde of rapacious bravos and licensed
+bandits sucked the lifeblood and paralysed the energies of the people.
+The weight of taxes, that ever crushes the spirit of the Asiatic
+peasant, grew heavier, day by day, until existence became intolerable.
+How was an end to be put to this nightmare? That was the question
+which all were fearfully whispering, and to which there seemed no
+solution.
+
+No-Kami, if self-indulgent and ruthless, was no zany. He knew that his
+position was to be maintained by fear and a strong hand, and that
+enervation meant destruction. Bundles of bamboo, when bound together,
+will dam a stream, though each separate stem is but a feeble wand. The
+insurrection of effeminate Kuges had been precipitate and foolish. If
+the whole country were to rise like one man, he would, as he was
+aware, be swept like rice chaff into the sea. In the mutual jealousy
+of the Daimios lay his chief safeguard. While plunging each in
+separate discomfort, union at all costs must be prevented. Attempts at
+conspiracy among the nobles, or at combinations among the lower
+classes, must be frustrated, and to that end he gave strict orders to
+officials and tax-collectors to allow of no public meetings. The
+people were to pay what was demanded of them, humbly and dutifully, as
+best they could, but on no account were to be permitted to hold
+gatherings. Even the great festivals of the year were for a while to
+be discontinued.
+
+Over and above these precautions, the tyrant surrounded his person
+with a picked body-guard of Samurai, or two-sword men; hedged his
+fortress with bristling defences; and recalled his brother, the
+brilliant Sampei, from his career of victory abroad.
+
+Urged possibly by a spirit of contrariness, a contempt for the society
+of his prisoner and the Kuges--perhaps by a sense of freedom from
+personal danger there--the favourite abode of No-Kami was his castle
+of Tsu, four days' journey from the capital, over precipitous hills.
+Here he loved to dwell, surrounded by his brawling warriors;
+sojourning from time to time, when business called him to Ki[^y]oto,
+at a small but superb villa, called the Golden House, which stood
+secluded in a park on the outskirts of the sacred city.
+
+The castle of Tsu was one of the strongest in Japan (the outline of
+its foundations still remains to attest to its vast area), and
+covered, within the square space of the outer moat, sufficient ground
+to accommodate an army. This outer moat, upon which many a shallop
+floated, was wide and deep and sluggish on three sides, masked by a
+luxuriant crop of lotos; while the fourth wall was washed by a
+rapidly-running river, the Iwatagawa, which a couple of miles away
+brawled into the sea. Out of the water rose a platform of great
+stones, with a fringe of gnarled and rusty pines, through which were
+visible battlements of earth crowned by a low parapet. At each corner
+was a huge four-storied building, fitted with four wide roofs of
+sculptured copper; the walls of whitewashed plaster within frameworks
+of unpainted wood. Inside this outer defence was a recreation and
+drill-ground of sufficient extent to allow of room for jousts and
+spectators, as well as trees and vegetable gardens, and a village of
+wooden huts for soldiery and camp followers. Dwellings of a better
+class were clustered like seashells about the second or inner moat,
+which enclosed a second wall.
+
+Within the inner square was a space of considerable size, in the
+centre of which uprose the castle, a four-sided tower three hundred
+feet in height, tapering towards the top. By reason of its many roofs
+or verandahs of burnished and sculptured bronze, it seemed more like a
+cluster of many towers, the centre one the loftiest; and a picturesque
+object it was, for owing to the prevalence of earthquakes, all the
+walls above the foundation platform were of whitened mud and plaster,
+enclosed like the corner buildings within frames of timber; while the
+middle roof reared its head with overhanging eaves to a sharp point,
+crowned on the apex by a great fish, fashioned of pure gold.
+
+This fortress was, barring miracle or treachery, justly reputed
+impregnable. Both moats were crossed by drawbridges, as an extra
+caution against surprise. The outer entrance was approached round a
+corner, so that the gate with its side postern was doubly commanded
+from above. Even if the outer wall were stormed, the inner one frowned
+on the intruder with manifold engines, while the ground about it could
+be rendered untenable by missiles from the summit of the tower.
+
+A bowshot from the outer moat, westward from the river bank, the town
+of Tsu, with straggling suburbs, meandered, low and grey, like a long
+serpent. All Japanese towns are of one colour, walls and roofs alike,
+of wood unpainted and weatherworn, rendered a shade more silvery by
+clusters of pale lichen; but Tsu was more monotonously gloomy in
+aspect than most, by reason of damp and misery. The country close
+around, with the exception of two low hills, was flat and sedgy,
+broken by marshes and shallow rivulets. Away, hazy, melting into blue,
+could be discerned the encircling peaks of the range, beyond which is
+Ki[^y]oto. Grand mountains these, rugged and austere, with many a
+beetling crag. Mikuni Yama; Outake San; and away to the south-east
+Asama Yama, the majestic chief volcano of Japan.
+
+The town of Tsu differed from others in that it displayed none of the
+spick-and-span cleanliness for which the land of the Rising Sun is as
+conspicuous as European Holland. The outlying cottages bore the stamp
+of squalor and ague, standing in oozy sludge. So did the people bear
+the brand of sorrow, as, listless and inert, they dragged their heavy
+feet. As a poor show of enterprise, a few unripe persimmons, which no
+one desired to buy, were exposed for sale in the mire; while here and
+there a tray of sorrel-like leaves were placed to dry (?)--a plant
+used for dying blue the cotton which is the common garment of the
+peasant. There was none of the briskness and gaiety to be seen that
+make rural Japan so cheery. None of the incessant chatter and laughter
+and pattering of clogs, the rush-and-tumble of naked brown babies, the
+whirr of the silk-looms, the busy hammer of the carpenters.
+
+The houses, wide open to the street, displayed the usual raised
+platform of wood, smoothly planed, covered with matting, with
+_hibachi_ or firebox in the middle; but there was no brilliant glimpse
+beyond of the wonderful toy gardens, with rocks and dwarfed trees and
+straying tortoises and gaudy flowers and crickets in tiny cages, which
+distinguish a prosperous village. The paper windows or screens being
+always pushed back in their grooves during the day, a rustic Japanese
+household of the lower class may be said to live in public; for, till
+the screens are replaced, which they usually are at dusk, there may be
+said to be no privacy. You have a free view of goodman or matron in
+the bath, or at the toilet, or eating, or sleeping, or at work, and
+unabashed--with innocence sometimes for only garment--they nod to you
+pleasantly with a cheerful "Ohayo!" as you pass. Tsu was too degraded,
+steeped to the lips in grinding poverty, to have energy for work or
+washing, much less for the homely ornament of a single lily in a
+pot. Almost entirely nude the men, unkempt and frowsy, lolled and
+slept--such a marvellous variety of attitudes of sleep a sculptor
+might find there--while the housewife, thin and sallow, naked to the
+waist, fumbled feebly over the weaving of cheap hats, or grass sandals
+for man and horse.
+
+Of course the town could boast of a superior quarter, where, in front
+of houses of a better kind, were flapping blue cotton awnings, each
+one adorned with the dominant daimio's cognisance. Into one of these,
+apparently the cleanest and the best, we will enter (first removing
+our clogs and swords), for what is proceeding within should interest
+us somewhat.
+
+It is evening. The house-platform is raised on stilts as usual, two
+feet above ground, and the first room or ante-chamber is open to the
+street. When we rap with fan on the paper screen beyond, some one
+cries "Enter," and sliding it aside we find ourselves in a large low
+room, whose ceiling of unpolished cryptomeria is supported by pillars
+of cherry. Above the dais or recess of honour at the end, a single
+picture hangs, representing the thirty-three Kwannon; under it is a
+gilt image of Buddha; while the monotony of the one wooden wall (the
+others are formed by paper screens running in grooves) is broken by a
+wandering spray of maple foliage, painted in autumn tints.
+
+Everything is scrupulously clean and severely simple. You only become
+aware that this is a superior dwelling, by remarking the fineness of
+the mats. In the centre, round a large _hibachi_ of bronze, filled
+with charcoal, a group are huddled close, for the all-pervading damp
+is chilling to the bones. Two well-known elders of the town are
+there--Zembei, and Rokubei his friend--the former talking volubly;
+while a man of middle age, the master of the house, is listening with
+dubious frown. His wife, Kennui, sits by, his hand in hers; while
+apart in a corner, with eyes as bright as a squirrel's, and flushed
+cheek, stands their eldest daughter Mine. Her mind--some call her a
+forward damsel--is disturbed, for, impatient and annoyed, she pushes
+aside a screen, and clatters off into the back garden, to tease with a
+finger the darting gold-fish that with mosquitoes reign in a pond.
+
+The frowning man is Koshiu, the most important farmer in these parts,
+broad-shouldered, grave, and grizzled, whose opinions are of weight in
+the province.
+
+Zembei--aged, with face like a walnut--has brought unpleasant news;
+indeed he has often dropped in of late, and each time his tidings are
+less agreeable. It is the old story, gruesome and too familiar. The
+rapacious Hojo needs more money--is always demanding more. But it is
+quite too bad to worry the men of Tsu, his own home, the poorest
+district in the Empire. Already the starving population have abandoned
+hope. In a former life they must have been very wicked, to suffer so
+much in this.
+
+After a long pause of dejection, "Maybe my lord knows not of our
+wretchedness," suggests the farmer's wife, by way of pouring oil upon
+the waters.
+
+"Peace, Kennui!" sighs her spouse. "As well throw stones at the sun,
+or try to scatter a fog with a fan, as look for humanity from a Hojo!
+They were ever merciless."
+
+"Too true!" groans Rokubei, the elder. "Thus the matter stands; though
+you have shown so little interest of late, that perchance I am wasting
+breath."
+
+"Ay, that hath he!" chimes in Zembei. "Why is it? You, Koshiu, whose
+words were ever of moment, and treated with respect, although from
+your stubborn pride you were never popular, instead of helping us,
+have been hanging back, content with grumbling complaint. We must act
+now, I tell you, and rend the air no more with idle moaning, or else
+we perish all! Gird up your loins, man. Awake! For unless this torrent
+of greed be stemmed, although less poor than most, you will soon be a
+beggar like the rest."
+
+"My husband," interrupted Kennui, "is misjudged. He loves the people,
+and grieves for them, but perceives that resistance is useless--idle
+remonstrance will but make their plight more pitiful."
+
+"The beetle in combat with the bear!" laughed the farmer drearily.
+"Act, forsooth! All this is idle prate, believe me. What can we do but
+die?"
+
+"No idle prate," retorted Zembei. "Listen. By deputation--of which you
+would not form one--we humbly prayed and entreated the local
+counsellors of my lord:--the leeches--to be more lenient; but they
+replied that they were only tools, exactly performing his bidding.
+Then, after anxious thought and discussion, gathering together in
+secret the chiefs of a hundred villages, at peril of our heads, we
+resolved to draw up and send a solemn petition, signed by all, to my
+lord's golden dwelling at Ki[^y]oto, imploring justice. Twelve of the
+most respected elders, chosen from the assembly by lot, undertook the
+dangerous task. Clad in their grass rain-coats, they sallied forth,
+and arrived in time at Ki[^y]oto."
+
+"Idiots!" scoffed Koshiu. "Did they pay a long farewell to wives and
+little ones?"
+
+"Arrived at the Golden House, they were received at the gate with
+blows and contumely."
+
+"What else did they expect?" inquired the farmer--"to be feasted in
+the room of honour? Other lords perhaps, dreading public exposure of
+their misdeeds, might, if pushed, hasten to repair a wrong--the Hojos
+never; for the Hojos have no shame."
+
+Mine pouted, and rapped the pavement with impatient clog.
+
+"To be sweeping is always to be unjust!" she cried shrilly, from the
+border of the pond. "There are good as well as bad in every family."
+
+"Hush, child, hush! Be dutiful!" reproved her mother. "Thou wast
+bewitched by soft empty speeches and a bold bearing. It was a bad day
+for thee when the lord Sampei came among us!"
+
+"He is good and brave and generous," returned the girl, with burning
+face, "my lord Sampei!"
+
+Mine cooed out the name that was on every one's lips, with such an
+exceeding abandonment of tenderness as startled her father into
+attention.
+
+"More words less sense!" he remarked testily. "My lord Sampei! what
+hast thou to do with him or his? My lord Sampei forsooth! Wouldst be a
+Hojo's concubine? Never! I'd see thee dead first."
+
+"The maid speaks not untruly," nodded Rokubei. "Sampei is in all
+things, save his name, unlike his brother. Through his mother Masago,
+the holy Abbess, he has peasant blood in his veins."
+
+"And she," chimed in the girl, "the late lord's concubine, although of
+peasant stock, is worthy to be noble. As good as her son is the Abbess
+Masago. Cold and severe, no doubt, but just and lovable."
+
+"How the child prates!" cried Madam Koshiu. "The lord Sampei has been
+absent these five years, skull-cracking, and is but just returned.
+What canst thou know of him? When he sailed, thou wert a little maid,
+and even than now more foolish."
+
+"From his mother I have heard of him," admitted the blushing girl.
+
+"So this was thy religious fervour, praying so often at the temple!"
+exclaimed the angry farmer. "Take heed, thou silly wench, or I will
+punish thee, and grievously. What! A cur can bark loudly before its
+own gate, and I can defend my own. Once for all, no more of the lord
+Sampei, or it will go ill with thee. Banish from thy feather-pate idle
+worship of thy betters."
+
+The mien of Koshiu was so stern and threatening, that though words of
+indignant protest rose to her lips, the girl was silent.
+
+"What if he were prevailed upon to intercede for us?" mused Rokubei.
+"He is as generous as brave--no doubt of that. My lord, after his
+brother's career of victory, could scarce refuse him a favour."
+
+"Five years bring about great changes," growled the farmer. "Five
+years ago Hojo No-Kami was no worse than others of his rank. You will
+never persuade me that aught of good is to be found in a Hojo,
+legitimate or otherwise. Enough of him. Go on with your story of the
+elders."
+
+"They were received, as I told you, at the outer gate with blows and
+curses. Had they not fled, murder would have been done, for a posse of
+samurai rushed out of the guardhouse, like devils, brandishing pikes.
+Disconcerted, grieved, and bruised, they returned to their inn to
+consult. Was the journey to go for nothing? Were they to return like
+beaten dogs, without even seeing my lord? Peradventure face to face
+with him something might yet be done, and his hard heart softened by
+their dismal catalogue of woe. They plumed their ruffled feathers,
+therefore, and lay in wait, and when he rode forth citywards, emerged
+from a clump of trees, and kneeling humbly in the dust, presented
+their petition. He took it, and, grinding his teeth with eyes aflame,
+turned savagely to his attendants.
+
+"'Remove these wretches!' he thundered, 'who by persistent insolence
+have deserved more than death. By-and-by will I pass judgment on them.
+Torment shall reward their temerity.'"
+
+A silence of dismay followed the elder's narrative. Koshiu was surely
+right--his deep hate justified. It seemed that the existing Hojo was
+worse than any of his ancestors--and so young too! What a gloomy
+future for unhappy fatherland! What a sunless roll of years!
+
+"The land is ripe for revolt, if we could find a leader we could
+trust," observed Zembei, who had been nursing his knees in silence.
+"The other lords are weary of the Hojo, but unfortunately jealous of
+each other. If they would bury for a time their private feuds, things
+might yet come right. He who ventures not within the den, will never
+take the cub."
+
+"There is no trusty leader, except the victorious General, himself a
+Hojo!" added the other elder. "Buddha has forgotten us. The case is
+beyond mortal settling. There is left for us nothing but to die."
+
+Here was a dismal and unsatisfactory conclusion to the debate, and it
+seemed that there was no other, for each with dolorous visage eyed his
+neighbour, with nothing more to say.
+
+Mine, tossing off her _geta_ on the garden stones, and springing up
+with pretty pink feet upon the matted floor, came forward.
+
+"I am but a girl," she said timidly, "and, my father tells me,
+foolish. Yet from mouths of fools sometimes come words of wisdom. You
+can die, you say. Is not death the last resource, when all else has
+failed, for escaping from earthly woe? Masago, the dear Abbess, is
+worshipped for miles around. Prejudiced though you are, you have
+nought to say but praise of her goodness and her piety. Sampei is her
+son--nay, I will speak--and who should know a son better than his
+mother? In your grief you are prone to believe evil, and speak harsh
+and unjust words of him you know not. Seek him out, and implore his
+intercession with his brother. Seek out the lady O'Tei--an angel come
+to earth. She, the chatelaine, is now at the castle yonder. Entreat
+her help as well, and sure betwixt the two that stony heart shall
+melt."
+
+Mine blushed like a tea-rose at finding herself thus boldly haranguing
+a trio of grizzled pates, and flinging herself down by her mother's
+side in sudden bashfulness, buried her hot face in her bosom.
+
+"Buddha is not asleep," observed Madame Koshiu, with conviction, as
+she stroked her daughter's head. "Verily the child speaks wisely words
+that are put into her mouth."
+
+"We will follow her counsel," assented the marvelling Zembei, "for the
+gods--whose names be praised--are with us. Urged by his brother and
+his wife, my lord will surely give us the lives of the devoted elders.
+We--Rokubei and Zembei--will journey ourselves to Ki[^y]oto, and make
+another effort. Learn, O stubborn Koshiu, a lesson from thy child, who
+has given us the counsel that we needed."
+
+The farmer shook his head.
+
+"Cursed be the tree of Hojo, root and branch!" he cried. "Its fruit is
+crime, its blossom, wickedness. My lord Sampei and my lord No-Kami are
+scourges both! Go your ways, and do as you think fit. I tell you your
+errand will be vain."
+
+Was there ever any one so obstinate as this sturdy Koshiu?--a man who
+could only rail instead of bestowing help. The two elders were about
+to upbraid him for his mulishness, for they, like others, had naught
+but admiration for Sampei, when, raising his hand, he said,--
+
+"Listen, wife and friends. You deem me supine,--my judgment warped by
+bias. In this you wrong me. I am ready to lay down my life, if need
+be, for the common good, but not to fling it uselessly away. Try your
+plan first: go to Ki[^y]oto, and fail; then it shall be my turn. The
+arrogance of my lord reached its highest point when, some brief while
+ago, he smote with his fan the face of the revered one. For that sin,
+vengeance, if tardy, will be complete some day. The horror that flowed
+over the land warned him of the danger of his folly, of which,
+for safety's sake, he will never again be guilty. The Hojos are
+merciless--you will gain nothing from them but stripes. Here is my
+plan. I will gird my loins, and journey alone to the capital, and,
+biding my time in secret, will, with Heaven's help, thrust a copy of
+the petition into the hand of the Mikado himself, as in a litter he
+takes the air. Then will he, grieving for us, demand a public
+explanation from my lord as to why the poorest portion of the country
+should be ground down with such heavy burthens. So will my lord, weary
+with much admonishing, be stirred to lighten our backs."
+
+The farmer's wife, hearkening to his decision, groaned and wept, for
+she felt that the tyrant, even if he gave way under strong pressure,
+would seek a victim for his wrath--that one the weakest. The elders
+saw the situation in the same light. They did not strive, however, to
+combat his resolve, for though their friend would probably be
+sacrificed, themselves would be gainers by his deed. If he chose to
+immolate himself, why not? They expressed approval, therefore, nodding
+topknots in unison, and, rising, departed to their homes, gossiping in
+whispers by the way.
+
+What a relief to know that they had been deceived in Koshiu. 'Twas a
+boldly-devised scheme that, whereby a peasant was to dare in person to
+address the Holy One. Peradventure he would be cut down by the guards
+ere he could present the paper. Well, well, time would show; and if,
+in the people's cause, he perished, his name would go down with
+blessings to posterity.
+
+His decision was a relief, in other ways, as the two friends agreed,
+pattering side by side in the quiet of the night. It was vastly heroic
+on their part, considering what had already been undergone by the
+other elders, to declare that they would cast themselves in the
+breach. If my lord Sampei could be induced to interest himself, they
+would be the bearers of his missive to his brother, and so gain credit
+in the town for wondrous' devotion to the people's cause. Not that for
+them there would be real danger (they had made up their minds of
+that), for No-Kami, however ferocious, would surely refrain from
+maltreating his brother's messengers. And yet now as they walked
+along, it seemed wise to give up the risk. Caution becomes old men.
+The independent Koshiu was resolved to make a journey on his own
+account: clearly there was nothing to be gained by everybody going.
+They would let him go, for obstinate men will have their way. All
+things considered, themselves having gained credit by proposing to go,
+would stop at home and do honour, by-and-by, to the escaped elders,
+when released.
+
+This much satisfactorily settled, they gabbled of other things. Only
+to think of that little Mine being so clear-headed. Verily love works
+wonders. A comely maid, if unduly ambitious, and warm, to boot, of
+temper. How her blood mantled at her father's railing. How undaunted
+was her defence of the young General. She must love him much to be
+stung into bearding, for his sake, her sturdy parent. He must have won
+her heart before he sailed, and had long since, no doubt, forgotten
+her.
+
+A silly wench to look so high. A great General might stoop to pluck a
+flower as he passed, but, loosely caught, it would speedily fall from
+his breast, and he unwitting of the loss. She certainly was pretty;
+would develop some day, obstinate and headstrong like her father, into
+a shrew. Yes, she was young and fair to look upon at present, and,
+perhaps, were she so brazen as to cast herself at the young man's
+feet, he might deign to raise her for a moment.
+
+Chattering thus, the cronies parted, each trudging his own way by the
+glimmer of his paper lantern. Could they have delved into the mind of
+the farmer's daughter, and have seen what was passing there, they
+would have had genuine cause for wonder.
+
+Mine, as with frowning brow and dejected step she moved among the
+stones in the garden, struck her palms impatiently together.
+
+"I cannot bear it, and I will not!" she muttered. "Hard and unjust and
+narrow is my father! Of these taunts there shall be an end. I gave my
+heart to _him_ to trample on, and do not regret the gift. His I am or
+no one's until death. Each day and hour to hear him and his reviled
+and vilified, is constant torture. I will leave a home that is not to
+be endured, and take refuge for the present with the Abbess."
+
+Mine was a true daughter of Koshiu. Once her mind made up, there was
+no further indecision. Wrapping a mantle around her, she moved on
+tiptoe to where her three brothers slept, and then stealing forth into
+the night, closed the shutters behind her.
+
+"Adieu, my darlings, perchance for ever!" she murmured tenderly; "for
+better or for worse the die is cast. He will soon visit the temple to
+see the mother whom he loves. If he will have me, I am his, to do with
+according to his pleasure; if not, I will remain to pray for him
+within the temple, in the garb of Buddha's handmaid."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER III.
+
+ MARRIED LIFE.
+
+
+The meek obedience of O'Tei to her father's wishes was but ill
+requited. The gulf between past and present was so wide that for a
+while she was dazed and stunned. It seemed to her that she must have
+passed in sleep through the gates of Death, and have been born again
+into a new dark world--desolate and drear--which was all evil. How
+calm and happy by contrast appeared that other life, as she recalled
+to mind the company of prim priestesses slowly floating in the dance;
+the lazy, sweet-tempered bonzes tinkling on bells, droning amiably
+through noses--their weightiest duty, adoration of the sun with
+foreheads in the dust; their loving labour, the cleaning of temple
+precincts; their pastime, the gentle craft of gardening. Now she found
+herself surrounded by a roistering crew of fierce, rough, ignorant
+retainers--scowling, swearing, swaggering samurai--swash-bucklers who
+were eternally cleaning and polishing their two swords and dirk, or
+practising some horribly nimble feat of arms, or with set teeth in
+sudden rage like red-eyed rats flying at one another's throats.
+
+Nuptial pomp and ceremony over, bride and groom retired to their
+castle, where, with the laudable intent of making other magnates
+jealous, a series of sham fights and sumptuous jousts were
+inaugurated, whose unaccustomed din confused the brain of the
+chatelaine. For a space No-Kami appeared in his best light, for he was
+subjugated by the beauty of his young wife, and unconsciously a little
+afraid of her quiet high-bred demeanour. Bravely she strove to
+interest herself in his pursuits; with unflagging patience watched the
+retainers wrestling or riding at the ring; compelled herself to bestow
+applause on bouts at quarter-staff which wearied her. And yet,
+discipline herself as she would, the constant thud of stick on skull,
+or blade on helm--the guttural shrieks and execrations--chilled her to
+the marrow. There could be no sympathy 'twixt the sensitive and poetic
+nature reared in the sacred groves, and these grim and savage
+warriors. And, sharp to read faces, if ignorant of letters, they knew
+it as well as she, for her virtues were strange riddles beyond their
+comprehension. What they could be sure of was that their lady was
+regrettably white and slender,--too soft and delicate for a hard world
+of struggle, where the weak were deservedly mangled. Sorrowfully they
+compared her with the late chatelaine, unhappily deceased, the lioness
+Tomoye, much (as is the usual practice) to the disadvantage of the
+living one. There is nothing that such men hold in more withering
+contempt than weakness. The chivalry of mediaeval Europe was mostly
+theory. Discontented, they did their liege lady a pathetic and
+grudging service, ashamed of her as unsuited to her station.
+
+One day as she sat listless, wondering at the emptiness of life,
+No-Kami strode into her bower to claim admiration for a new and
+wondrous sword, fresh from Sanjo's anvil. In his nervous grasp it
+whizzed through the air with diabolic whistling sound, as he showed
+exultantly how he meant to slash off the head with it of the Daimio of
+Bizen, and other abominable rivals.
+
+Now although O'Tei, in careless girlish fashion, had been rather fond
+of watching the armourers at work (the more perhaps because of the
+disapproval of sniffing gorgons), she had never clearly associated the
+results of their skill with their true purpose. She had always been
+bidden to observe the spring of the glittering blade, the clouded
+lines so deftly worked into the steel; the patterned _kogai_ or
+stilettoes fitted in the scabbard; the elaborately ornate _tsuba_ or
+hilt-guard; and saw as she admired details beautiful works of art fit
+to adorn a dwelling. But now when she beheld her husband making fierce
+passes, with a blood-curdling expression of ferocity upon his face,
+she became aware, for the first time, of his animal greed for blood,
+and shuddered as she looked, turning a shade more pale. To this wild
+beast she had been tied for life. What sort of existence could she
+hope for in the future? Would it be possible to go on to the end
+pretending to sympathise with that which in her heart she loathed?
+Power, unless kept in leash by thongs and bridles, degenerates into a
+tyranny that, feeding on itself, grows every day more infamous. She
+had learnt by report that her lord was a tyrant, and disliked by many,
+though as yet she knew no details.
+
+She had been taught vaguely by the learned bonzes that the human
+animal is by nature a beast of prey, blood-raw till cooked by
+education. The man before her was as ignorant, and more lawless than
+his own retainers. Was it her task to show him the right path?--to
+wean him to better things by gentle influence? A noble mission, for
+one who was strong of purpose, firm of will. The girl resolved that
+she would try, but felt, with a sinking of the heart, that the task
+was beyond her strength. No-Kami discerned upon her features a look of
+pained bewilderment out of tune with the occasion, and bluntly growled
+his discontent. He was surprised and angry. When a chatelaine is
+called on to sympathise and exult with her lord, why does she show
+disgust? It came suddenly upon him that there was a barrier between
+them which, though intangible, neither might ever pass. A pretty
+helpmeet for a Hojo was this degenerate child of Nara's! Strolling
+through the well-appointed armoury, displeased and concerned, he
+selected the light silver-mounted lance which his grandam had used to
+splendid purpose when, in the absence of her spouse, she defended this
+very castle. More doughty even than the much-regretted Tomoye had been
+this grandam, and no wonder, for, of noblest lineage, was she not the
+direct descendant of that famous Empress Jingo, who, leaving her
+new-born babe in the charge of her ministers, sallied forth armed
+_cap-a-pie_ to conquer Corea?
+
+"Did O'Tei know even how to hold a lance?" sneered No-Kami.
+
+Of course she did, she replied, with a forced smile. Was not every
+noble damsel taught how to defend her home?
+
+At the outset she had made a mistake by showing her thoughts upon her
+features, an error that might be yet retrieved. To smooth the
+disappointed furrows from his wrinkled brow, she took the lance from
+him, and straightway went through the exercise. For a moment it
+pleased his vanity to watch the graceful movements of her tall lithe
+form as, gathering in one hand the ample folds of her long robe, she
+ran forward, thrust, and recovered. And then, happening to glance at
+the tell-tale countenance, he cursed and ground his teeth, for her
+martial exercise was a sham.
+
+Her thoughts were far away. Like a patient automaton wound up with a
+spring, she half consciously did what was required, but clearly found
+no pleasure in the act. With a great oath he roughly wrenched the
+weapon from her, and bade her go mind her distaff.
+
+She sighed, and, obeying with aggravating meekness, retired to her
+chamber; and from this moment there grew up between the wedded
+pair a thicket which waxed stronger each day and thicker. The
+parasites--braggart samurai, turbulent officers and soldiers, and
+truculent hangers-on--were quick to perceive a change with which they
+sympathised, and prompt to act upon it. Boisterous, rude, ill-mannered
+at the best, they saw that, like themselves, their lord was ashamed
+of his handsome and cold but fragile wife, and by insensible
+gradations--he unwitting of it--their perfunctory respect dropped from
+them. No-Kami was heard one day, in unguarded whirl of wrath, due to
+baulked hope and disappointment, to dub her "Puling baby-face," and
+loud was the laughter at the _sobriquet_, for one and all they
+unconsciously chafed under a refinement of which they had no
+experience, and came to hate her for her gentleness.
+
+And so it came about that, abandoning as hopeless at the initial stage
+the mission for which (by the late statesman's cunning) she had been
+destined, O'Tei withdrew from serious attempts at influencing the
+despot, and made the first fatal downward step on her dark and stony
+road.
+
+Entrenching herself behind a screen of pride, she withdrew herself
+from contact with the samurai, by whom she was treated with a surly
+carelessness that was insult but half concealed. When etiquette
+required it, she appeared in public beside No-Kami, whose attitude was
+sulky and displeased; at other times she abode in her own bower
+overlooking the swift river, a retreat where she could not hear the
+yells and sword-thuds, embroidering among her maidens, or reading
+poetry, or playing on the three-stringed samisen. Though secluded, it
+was by her own choice, and she in no sense a prisoner. No-Kami, when
+in amiable mood--which, as time went on, became a more and more
+unusual circumstance--displayed for his wife an uncouth, sulky,
+snarling respect, like that of a wolf under a whip; for instinct
+whispered that he was totally unworthy,--that as she came to read
+him better she would despise him more,--that already she saw with
+those calm clear eyes his many faults and mental smallness, though too
+well-mannered and too haughty to admit it. A rude and proud as well as
+licentious and undisciplined man finds contempt from her who should be
+his congenial helpmeet a constantly galling spur.
+
+If O'Tei, descending from that lofty pedestal, would only have abused
+him roundly,--have bandied sharp words,--have stooped to scold him, he
+would have breathed more freely. The air would have been cleared of
+its oppressiveness, for he would have known himself nearer to her
+level. How exasperating was it to the self-indulgent and unscrupulous
+tyrant to have this pale and silent and superior woman always at his
+elbow dispassionately contemplating his peccadilloes with disapproval
+peeping from her eyes. The worst of it was that he knew her to be
+right in her estimate of him, and secretly admired his chill and
+independent wife. Yet at the same time her presence was irksome, and
+goaded her spouse to flashes of rage which drove him, as it were in
+protest, to deeds of violence. It was the old story, which is ever
+new, of the 'little rift;' of two young lives starting side by side
+from standpoints far as the poles, with mutual misunderstanding and
+distrust, that increase like a rolling snowball till they grow into
+active detestation.
+
+The Hojo neglected and avoided his consort, but was not wilfully
+cruel. If he chanced to have it by him, he would, when asked, give her
+money for charities; for, like many another misunderstood lady, she
+sought a salve for lacerated feelings in good works. It would have
+been most impolitic to have been patently unkind to her, because it
+was not well to make a foe of Nara by openly ill-using his heiress. He
+wist not of the conduct of the samurai, who took their cue from him;
+but he certainly saw as little as he conveniently could of his
+beautiful better half, spending considerable time at Ki[^y]oto
+quarrelling with other daimios, browbeating his imperial lord.
+
+For her part, reared in retirement, and a stranger to town gaieties,
+she preferred the castle--when No-Kami was absent with his scowling
+retinue. Then, her own mistress, she would order her kago,--a heavy
+gorgeous litter, gold lacquered and emblazoned, adorned with rich
+curtains, and cushions, and tassels, borne on the shoulders of twelve
+staggering men--and penetrating, when the fancy seized her, along the
+centipede street of Tsu, make for a garden beyond, to which she had
+taken a liking. Reaching the favoured spot was the difficulty, for it
+was necessary to pass along two miles and more of straggling street
+and suburb, where poverty, if speechless, was rampant. To her pale
+face, though, it always showed its less hideous side, for the poor of
+Tsu (how many there were of them!) soon learned to adore their
+chatelaine.
+
+She could not with her feeble force even attempt to stem the tide of
+suffering due to my lord's oppression; but the crushed creatures knew
+right well that behind the marble mask was a deep fund of pity--that
+their lady would sometimes go dinnerless herself for the sake of
+starving children. When she passed by, the toilworn women would look
+up, and show their blackened teeth in a wan smile; and the brown
+naked children, with their comical shaved pates and elf-locks--their
+bat-ears, wide mouths and eyes _a fleur de tete_ like slits--would
+come trooping and crowing about her. She was always interested in the
+details of their poor homes,--ready with soothing words, and such
+money as she happened to possess; would converse with the old men as
+they wove sandals, the two straw loops caught on their great toes;
+criticise the painting of the ph[oe]nixes on the umbrellas of oil
+paper, an industry in vogue in these parts; exhort the languishing men
+to renewed courage and hope; and all the while her revolted soul died
+within her at contemplation of the wretched huts of mud and bamboo,
+some of them mere mats stretched on sticks, and stiffened with wire,
+with rotten crumbling roofs of decayed rice thatch, and mud floors
+that were never dry. Her heart bled for the patient, suffering people,
+and she was glad to get away to her garden, where the sun shone forth
+with halcyon brightness, and nature at least was happy. For Tsu, I
+would have you know, is not all ugliness. Passing out of the low-lying
+oozy suburb, you reach a wooden bridge over one of the numberless
+streams that intersect the marsh, and a little further on come to
+rising ground, well wooded with the luxuriant vegetation which in
+Japan is the lavish gift of the rain-god. At the top of the hill,
+under the lee of a group of ancient pines, much tossed and
+wind-beaten, is a summer-house. From the road it is not visible, so
+deeply is it embowered in cherry and maple, each so glorious and
+lovely in its season, the which are closely tangled and entwined with
+such cataracts of purple wisteria as no western mind can realise. This
+hill or hillock, and another one hard by, stand alone on a wide plain,
+and from them may be gained a singularly varied view of flat marsh,
+and sedge, and vivid green rice fields, and scattered villages, and
+far-off hazy mountains. In front--and this was the view that brought
+back peace into the empty breast of the young chatelaine, the ground
+shelved gradually, thick strewn with flowers, until--a semicircle of
+yellow sand--it was washed by the softly-rippling waves of a blue bay,
+land-locked. Here nature, casting her golden glamour over all, masked
+the prevailing squalor. No typhoon ever vexed these enchanted waters,
+that washed to and fro in slow cadence the clumps of bamboo with which
+their edge was feathered. The tiny toy villages on the opposite brink
+were mirrored in long shadow. The festooned sails of the little
+fishing-boats, and trim white junks, were pictured in quivering double
+four times their height. The mountains beyond, of a deep reddish
+purple, without detail in the haze, were topped with strange
+silhouettes of single pines, clear against opal ether, or sharp cut
+against the blue with chasm and precipice. Many rocky islets were
+dotted here and there--volcanic, peaked, flat-topped--each with its
+long reflection, fringed with feathery foliage, hanging apparently to
+nothing--around, a flight of boats, like sea-birds floating. Sitting
+for hours gazing down on the fairy scene, her stalwart naked
+kago-bearers asleep like statues of warm bronze away in the shade,
+O'Tei could forget her disillusions; but then with setting sun the
+shadow darkened, for the time was arrived when she must go home again,
+and with a return to the panoply of war, and swagger of the sentinels,
+peace and light faded out, and her heart was as sick as ever.
+Sometimes, more sad than usual, she would make to the sister hill a
+pilgrimage.
+
+The gateway or torii at the bottom (one heavy beam curled at the
+corners, resting on two others) and the long straight flight of stone
+steps leading to a building with huge top-heavy roof, nestling in a
+grove of cryptomerias, showed that this was a holy hill surmounted by
+a temple. A very important temple too, with an immense gilt Buddha
+looming out of twilight on a bronze lotus, in an attitude of perpetual
+repose; gardens; fish-ponds, crowded with lotus plants; and a long low
+building glinting through the trees, wherein dwelt an abbess and her
+nuns.
+
+What would happen to the Japanese if the lotus were banished from
+their midst? In winter, a mere yellow whisp languishing in mud; in
+early summer there rises a fairy thing from out the ooze--a concave
+shield of vivid green, with a blue down as of a grape, and dewdrops
+glistening like diamonds. Then a round ball appears, which slowly
+opens, trembling upon the water, and gradually reveals the loveliest
+flower that blows. To the Japanese child who strives to pluck its
+white or roseate blossom, it is a picture of unearthly loveliness; to
+the adult it is the symbol of religious truth, the emblem of the
+eternal calm which is the highest ultimate reward. Taught from
+earliest childhood to love its beauty, the mature Buddhist sees in its
+petals creative power and world growth, and knows that when his mortal
+body approaches the cremation house, his weary cycle done, a stone
+carved to represent a lotus flower will support his bier and receive
+the last ashes of his fleshly prison-house.
+
+During her three years of married life, O'Tei had made, under shadow
+of these groves, a firm and steady friend, without whose support she
+thought sometimes that she must lie down and die--the cold but kindly
+Abbess Masago.
+
+As has been told, the second wife or concubine of the late Hojo, so
+soon as her fickle lord grew weary of her, shaved off her hair and
+donned the Buddhist habit. Monastic life in Japan is a strange
+anomaly. Many an abbess or abbot, supposed to have retired from the
+world, bestows from the seclusion of the grove mundane advice and
+counsel. Some, indeed, gain weight and influence of an important
+political kind with the loss of their shaven hair; and so it was with
+Masago. As Abbess of Tsu, many of the weary or unstable of lofty
+lineage came to crave counsel of her--lords and dames who would have
+scoffed at the concubine of Hojo. The religious establishments of
+Japan become asylums for the afflicted or the persecuted. In
+them the defeated soldier or refugee from the vendetta finds
+inviolate sanctuary. Many a man hopelessly crossed in love, or a
+grief-stricken father, or fallen minister, has--mundane illusions
+vanished--devoted himself to a priestly life. To the nunneries,
+widowhood furnishes the greater number of fervent nuns; but a
+necessity of evading an uncongenial match, or the brutal lusts of rude
+men in unsettled times, gave many an inmate to the convents.
+
+Often enough, after communing with Masago under the solemn
+cryptomerias, O'Tei had gone home comforted. There was something
+consoling and supporting in the low-toned strong voice of the Abbess,
+in the touch of her firm white hand. Her face was more set and stern
+than Sampei's, but his kindly eyes looked out from under the shaven
+brows, and O'Tei could feel almost as if her dear adopted brother was
+walking hand-in-hand with her as in the good old days. Ah, me, how far
+away they seemed, those days of five years ago! The gleeful white fawn
+was a hundred years older, at least, than then, stricken and
+grievously wounded. Her breast was empty; nobody cared whether she was
+alive or dead; she loved none, had none to love, and yet there was a
+longing within that was positive physical pain, to twine her
+affectionate tendrils around something, and exhale to it the treasures
+of her sweetness.
+
+Alack, what a cycle is this; what a hard and rugged stage in the long
+journey! What are we to think, when injustice rules paramount?--when
+we see in this life how many are punished for their virtues, as a
+set-off to the peculiar manner in which others are rewarded for their
+vices?
+
+On a certain morning, which must now occupy us, our stately lily was
+lying disconsolate. Acutely suffering, and much perturbed in mind,
+power of judging and weighing all agog, O'Tei crouched on the mat of
+her favourite summer-house, watching the swaying waves, yet seeing
+nothing; on her finely-chiselled features a grey pallor.
+
+As a rule, the misery through which her bearers carried her was chary
+of complaint, for the poor folk had room in their sorrowing hearts for
+pity for their solitary lady; but on this morning she had come on such
+a scene of anguish that she stopped her kago and alighted. The
+housewife was tearing her dishevelled hair, and wringing hands, and
+writhing her tortured body, while a young family stood grouped around
+in varied attitudes of woe. What could this mean? The house was of the
+better kind; there was rice in the brazen pot; unless she was
+mistaken, it was the dwelling of one of the elders.
+
+Yes. It was the dwelling of an elder--was--who never would dwell there
+more--was dead now, probably. He had dared to go to Ki[^y]oto, and
+make one of a set of insolent varlets who had presumed to waylay their
+lord, despite of warnings, and, with brow in dust, present a written
+prayer. His lord had resented the impertinence, had incarcerated him
+and his audacious fellows, with a view to making an example of such
+wretches by an end of exquisite torment. For him it was not so bad,
+for he would shuffle out of yet another life--one more of that dreary
+series so many of which have yet to be endured before we reach
+Nirvana. But what of his wife and family without the breadwinner? Like
+a faithful spouse, she had borne many children; how now was she to
+fill their mouths? Would the dear and noble lady vouchsafe to lend a
+hand, and implore her husband's clemency?
+
+O'Tei turned deathly pale, and, catching her breath painfully, leant
+against the screen. She would indeed have fallen, if one of the
+kago-bearers had not presumed to catch and hold her in his arms. Her
+lord! How long was it ago that she had disdainfully given up all hope
+of influencing him? She was weak and wrong. It was a crime--she saw it
+now--but too late--too late! That separating thicket had grown so
+dense, that there was no hewing a passage through it. If the harrowed
+wife of the victim was suffering, how much more the sensitive young
+chatelaine, whose nerves were so highly strung! The man, if he
+perished, was a martyr in the cause of right. Each new delinquency of
+the Hojo was a fresh hammer-stroke on his wife's heart.
+
+Out of his sight, O'Tei strove to forget his wickedness, the full
+measure of which she had learned to guess by this time. On her
+frequent visits to the temple she prayed with sweat of agony for his
+reformation, for the repentance of him who, alas! was bone of her bone
+for life. She was his--part and parcel of himself--and yet she saw,
+with a sickening horror and sense of self-upbraiding, that he grew
+worse and worse--more cruel and more reckless,--while she, with folded
+hands, looked on. In a vague, terror-stricken way she wondered what
+grisly phantom lurked behind the veil, what vengeance would fall from
+heaven. And might not this moral descent be in some sort her own
+doing, in that, while interference might have been of service, she had
+been too hurt and proud to attempt to stay his course? If he had no
+conscience, she had enough for both. Oh, for a dose of Tomoye's
+spirit,--of the unbending pluck of the militant grandam concerning
+whom the samurai were always trolling ditties.
+
+But no!--the warriors were right--she unfitted for her station. Her
+burthen--the sooner the better--might crush and kill her. She quailed
+at the thought of ever seeing again the tyrant in whom there were no
+bowels of compassion, and who seemed to take delight in augmenting the
+calamities of his fellows.
+
+Herself as grey as a corpse, she bent down and kissed the writhing
+woman, and without a word (how could she console her?), with parched
+lips and catching breath, swung away to her garden on the mountain.
+What was she to do? What could she do? If, by giving over her own
+tender body to the pincers of the torturers, she could assuage the
+growing trouble of the people, how gladly would she bare her breast.
+But no--she was condemned to sit and watch, with idle hands and dread
+forebodings, a horror-stricken spectator of her husband's deepening
+sin, and the lingering anguish of his victims.
+
+What was she to do? What could she do? If madness might be wooed, it
+would bring oblivion and relief. Who would have thought that a
+delicate and tender girl, so little used to suffering, could bear such
+pain and live? As she lay upon the mat, she revolved that unanswerable
+question which worries a good many of us. What could she have done in
+a previous phase of existence to make the present one so exceedingly
+painful? To lie thus in dumb pain was intolerable: action of some kind
+was imperative. She would go to the temple and pray, and ask the
+advice of Masago.
+
+Turning towards the other hill, she was astonished to see on the
+top of the long flight of steps a man--by his dress apparently a
+noble--who slowly descended, and mounting a horse, trotted in the
+direction of the summer-house. Her heart gave a great bound, then
+seemed to stand still. Could it be? Yes! it was Sampei--returned home
+at last--and he was coming here!
+
+Yes, it was the victorious Sampei, who, having duly visited his
+mother, was coming to see his sister. For she was really his sister
+now; and he had heard from the Abbess an account of the condition of
+things, which, though guarded, pleased him little. When far away, he
+had received the news of the marriage, he had been amazed, and
+laughed; annoyed somewhat, he scarcely knew why. To think that the
+destined husband should be his own brother! And then he had felt grave
+doubts as to the success of the union; and then, light and
+_debonnaire_, and occupied with much cheerful splitting of skulls, he
+had put the subject from him. He was no marrying man--not he. His
+sword was his true love; to others he had not the smallest intention
+of being true. To cull the most fragrant flowers while the sun was
+shining--as many and as various as possible--and get others when they
+were faded, was his soldierly but scarcely moral code of ethics. And
+yet, while gaily slaughtering the Coreans, he had time now and then to
+hope that all was right at home, and that his white fawn was happy;
+and it was gruesome now on his return to discover that she was
+wretched instead of happy,--his half-suspected previsions justified.
+
+He flung his bridle to his betto, and striding with the firm and
+springy step of buoyant youth through the plantation of cherries and
+maples, stood still to take in the scene. And a pretty picture it was
+that his vision lighted on. An awning of fine blue linen, broidered
+with deer, in memory of beloved Nara, cast a shadow upon the mats of
+the summer-house, which were further shaded by a natural cascade of
+wisteria. Around the raised platform were tall camellias in full blow,
+scarlet and white; and within, the carved but unvarnished woodwork
+showed its grain like the pattern on watered silk. A low gilt screen,
+painted with chrysanthemums, divided the floor in two, in the front
+part of which was a firebox in finest bronze, representing a dragon
+coiled round a blossom of the lotus. A long flat _koto_, with thirteen
+strings, encrusted with gold and ebony, stood close by; and on the
+yellow matting, half raised expectantly, reclined the young mistress
+of the hermitage. The eyes of Sampei moistened with unaccustomed
+tears, and a knot rose in his throat as he contemplated his old ally.
+She was matured--fairer than of yore, paler and thinner, and more
+delicately beautiful; but there was that about her that seemed too
+ethereal, stamped with predestined misfortune. He seemed to be aware
+of a something, reflected in light from the glow of another world. The
+roundness of youth was gone. The arch wayward tricks of irresponsible
+maidenhood had given place to a reserved and haughty dignity that was
+unnaturally still. The eyes were unduly large, and, surrounded with
+bistre circles, glistened with feverish lustre. Sampei's affectionate
+gaze could mark all this, though the winsome face was brightened now
+with the radiance of a glad surprise.
+
+Sampei, bluff and careless though he generally was, could not but
+trace with sinking of the heart the line of precocious sorrow ploughed
+large and deep upon it. The coils of massive hair appeared heavier and
+more sombre by contrast with the ivory whiteness of the skin, slightly
+relieved as they were by a bunch of fresh red blossoms, which the
+loving hand of a tirewoman had tucked under the comb.
+
+In accordance with the exigencies of her rank, she wore four
+under-robes of silk, the edges of which, in stripes of varied colour,
+showed at throat and open sleeves, while the ample folds of the heavy
+and voluminous outer robe, broidered in a design of fans, were held
+together by a magnificent obi--pale brown, bedizened with black
+butterflies.
+
+Never had Sampei, whom a wide experience had made an expert in such
+matters, looked on a more complete embodiment of patrician womanhood.
+Strange! He, so well versed in female charms, so used to the spectacle
+of beauty in all ranks and phases, felt his heart throb in quite
+unaccustomed fashion, and yearn unaccountably towards his sister.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER IV.
+
+ THE ABBESS GIVES ADVICE.
+
+
+With a great sob O'Tei sprang up, and, clinging closely to Sampei,
+burst into tears, while he, embarrassed and somewhat shy, stood
+waiting. Why this display of trouble so deep that it racked her frame?
+Had his mother concealed aught? She had not led him to suppose that it
+was as bad as this. Could No-Kami, careless of the treasure he
+possessed, have done her some grievous wrong? At the thought, the
+young General's dark face grew darker, and as a flood of wrath surged
+over him, he looked a genuine Hojo. And with it came a sense of
+something new and astonishing, which was to himself a riddle. Careless
+and light of heart, accustomed to look at things from their best
+point, and to delve no lower than was needful, he never dreamed of his
+old playfellow in her new sphere as wan and wasted and miserable, and
+with the feeling of indignation against his brother there was mixed a
+whimsical regretful longing. Had he not been wrong, when he might have
+taken the maid himself, to leave her for another?
+
+Worldly-wise Sanjo had warned him that so dainty a dish was not for a
+soldier of fortune, and he had seen the prudence of the warning. But
+cold prudence is a mistake sometimes, as who should know better than a
+soldier? He felt sure that if, when playfully talking in the sylvan
+glades, he had led her to a pool, and, showing her the two faces
+reflected there, had pictured himself as the future lucky one, his
+playfellow would have returned his hand-clasp, and submitted to a
+lover's embrace. And when a maiden and a youth are of one mind, and
+the latter is energetic and determined, nine chances are in his
+favour, despite opposition of parents. It was diffidence that had
+undone him, and her. Although a rough soldier, he would, at home, have
+softened his roughness for her sweet sake, and if careful striving
+could have done it, have made her life a pleasant one. And now, fool
+that he had been, it was too late! Some such surprising thoughts as
+these--dark regretful visions of possibilities vanished--flitted
+across the mind of the young man as, her breast against his in
+perilous proximity, he kissed her perfumed hair. Scales seem to fall
+from his eyes as he questioned his own heart. In his brief career he
+had adored many a damsel, and had sworn to each to worship none but
+her; but with O'Tei it was quite different. With thought of her was
+mingled a respect he had never felt for other women. Once his very
+own, he could and would have been true to her,--have made it the joy
+of life to give her every pleasure, to watch and guard and shelter her
+from the blustering winds of the world--and it was too late! She was
+the wife of his own brother,--of him to whom, independent of natural
+affection, he owed allegiance as head of his clan. To her also then he
+in some sort owed faithful service. Yes, and he would be true and
+loyal. He swore it now, silently but fervently, as she lay upon his
+bosom. She had never known that he loved her otherwise than as a
+brother should. He would be her own true knight, with the privilege of
+bestowing all succour and comfort and counsel. Of the three, alas! she
+now stood in bitter need.
+
+On his return from his arduous campaign of five years, he had been
+received with acclamation by the people, to whom glorious feats of
+arms were as the odour of the lily in the nostrils. They had knocked
+their foreheads in the dust, had pursued him with shouts in the
+streets, nearly tearing his garments from off his back; in their
+enthusiasm had well nigh forgotten that he came of the blood of Hojo;
+but the sweets of well-earned popularity were no little embittered by
+the proceedings of the head of his house. The tales he heard on his
+arrival filled him with shame and horror, and his honest soul was sore
+perplexed, torn as it was between the traditional blind obedience to
+the head of the clan, and indignant disapproval of his acts. He could
+not turn against his brother. Death would be better that disloyalty,
+and yet it was very terrible by silence to seem to acquiesce in his
+misdeeds. When fitting opportunity offered, he would remonstrate
+with No-Kami,--point out to him that his course must end in civil
+war,--that in his next life he would of a surety be a bear or pig, as
+a just and dire retribution for recklessly plunging his country in
+blood. It was his duty to remonstrate, and he would do so gently but
+firmly, come what might. Not that much good would come of it. He knew
+No-Kami to be as headstrong as he was fierce. There would be high
+words, and possible estrangement. Estrangement! no, for the sake of
+this girl, that must be avoided at all hazards. He must cultivate
+diplomacy--he, the simple Sampei. If it was only the pounding of an
+enemy, something bluff and straightforward, he would be in his
+element. But to smile when inclined to curse, to be compelled to bite
+your lip and swallow down the burning words of just anger, to Sampei
+would be very difficult. He must try though. His poor sweet sister.
+Her sobs were due on this occasion, happily, to joy and relief at his
+return, in that she, the lonely and forlorn, had a trusty champion by
+her side. Instinct told him this.
+
+For her sake, then, he must not break with his brother, for, forbidden
+access to his sister-in-law, he would be of no service in extremity.
+In extremity! What prophetic foreboding was it that whispered to him
+of something terrible behind, wherein she would need all the help that
+his strong arm could give her? Ah! if he had spoken when he might, how
+different it would all have been. Too late--that chapter was closed.
+He was to be her knight--vigilant and true. With a deep sigh, he
+raised her tear-stained face, and kissed her lips, then put her
+gently from him.
+
+Side by side, and hand in hand, as in the old days, they reclined
+upon the mat, and the frown deepened on his brow as she told her
+story,--the uncomely story of selfishness, and greed, and cruelty, and
+wrong, waxing with impunity daily worse, till even sleepy Buddha must
+needs wake soon, and be impelled to hurl his thunderbolts. She told of
+the starving multitudes, to whom the son of the horse-leech cried
+"Give"; of the petition, and his brutal treatment of the elders. "If
+only I could serve as sacrifice," she said, in conclusion, with a
+fresh burst of tears, "how gladly would I lay down my life. But my
+lord and I are strangers. I dwell here, and he at Ki[^y]oto. Does not
+that tell its tale? The wind might as well preach to him as I. At
+first he liked me a little, but that soon passed. Of late his
+presence--knowing of what he is capable--has filled me with a nameless
+terror, for I seem to detect something in his eye that suggests a
+brain distracted. He is blood-drunk; his very laugh conceals a sword.
+And yet 'tis an awful thing for me, his wife, to sit by, attempting
+nothing."
+
+No doubt the chatelaine ought to do something--what? Like Philippa, at
+Calais, she should wring, by pleading, from her lord, the lives of the
+condemned. Yet if the pair were so estranged, would she not be laying
+herself open uselessly to some insult, some rebuff? She admitted that
+she was growing afraid of her husband. That was bad. The situation was
+too many-sided for the soldier's unpolished wits. He pondered, and
+held his peace, and looked up with a sense of relief when, a shadow
+darkening the light, he beheld his mother, Masago.
+
+The ascetic Abbess gazed proudly and fondly on her son, but with a
+tinge of concern. She had followed him from the temple, seeing that he
+turned his horse towards the summer-house; for she loved O'Tei, and
+was aware of the early passages which had passed between girl and boy.
+Sampei had such a free way of making love to every woman, that she,
+elderly and sensible, saw keenly the danger to both, if the neglected
+wife and pitying brother-in-law were thrown too much together. Side by
+side, hand clasped in hand, exchanging confidences. An ominous
+beginning. It was well that she had come, for these young people must
+be protected against themselves.
+
+While O'Tei, with a ghostly revival of coquetry, was arranging her
+tumbled hair by aid of a silver mirror, the Abbess drew her son aside,
+pleading urgent and important business.
+
+"My boy," she said, as, out of earshot, the two paced slowly in the
+shade, "you are as brave and true as even I could desire, and
+gratefully I thank the gods for it; but you are guileless; your arm is
+stronger than your head, and your blood is overwarm."
+
+Perceiving a ludicrous expression of bewilderment on the honest face
+of her son at this mysterious preamble, she gently smiled, and shook
+her head at him.
+
+"The best friend a man has," she observed, "is his mother; for a
+mother's love, undervalued often, is tinged with no selfish taint.
+Child, child," she sighed, placing a fond hand on his broad shoulder,
+"take warning while there's time. Do not think me blind, or foolishly
+importunate. You love O'Tei, and, for sake of both, had better keep
+apart. Think what tragedy might follow if your brother had cause for
+jealousy."
+
+Love O'Tei! Was it so patent, then?--he the last to know it? The
+General in silence walked up and down, while his mother gazed upon him
+wistfully. There was a deep sadness on his face that pained her.
+Perhaps in speaking out so plainly, she had been precipitate. Yet no;
+she had never been one to beat about a bush. Her stern creed admitted
+no half measures. Presently Sampei spoke.
+
+"For once, most dear and wise of mothers, you are wrong," he said. "I
+love her; yes, I will not deny it--how much I did not know until ten
+minutes since. My love is so true and pure, that to save her a
+momentary grief I would fling myself off yonder rock. Be not afraid;
+no harm shall come to her through me."
+
+"Noble and chivalrous in intent, just like my boy," nodded the sapient
+Abbess. "Maybe you are strong enough to carry out your resolve
+unflinchingly; but what of her? What if she, less prudent and more
+weak, were to bestow her heart on you? It would lead to general
+wretchedness, if not to her undoing."
+
+Sampei had not considered it from that point, and ruefully rubbed his
+nose. It would no doubt be very awkward if O'Tei were to become
+enamoured of him. In that case, heroic leaps off rocks would be of
+little service. Then he burst into a loud shout of laughter.
+
+"How like a mother!" he crowed. "Her own offspring being, of course,
+perfect--a full-plumaged ph[oe]nix--all must needs fall down and
+worship. Believe me, she is as pure as the dawn; her affection that of
+a sister."
+
+"Now, perhaps, and I sincerely hope so," replied the Abbess quietly;
+"but you have no right to place her in temptation. So you deem me a
+silly old woman, too partial to her featherpated son? Well, then, I am
+forced to tell you, as a warning, that which I intended to conceal, to
+show that you are over-modest. I trow there are maids galore who wear
+the willow in secret for the most brilliant soldier in Japan. There is
+one luckless girl I wot of, who has flung her foolish heart at
+you--who weeps and languishes for love of you--swears she will have no
+other lord. Fie! She is a good and honest girl, who would never have
+thus bestowed herself without encouragement."
+
+"Bestowed herself on _me?_" exclaimed Sampei, round-eyed, and feeling
+guilty.
+
+"Her name is Mine."
+
+"Mine!" ejaculated the careless scapegrace. "Tush! I know no Mine."
+
+"For shame! Oh, light and fickle, it is as I guessed," returned the
+Abbess, with a head-shake that would have been solemn but for a sly
+flash of merriment in the usually stern eyes. "I have no excuse for
+the maid, since 'tis vastly reprehensible to throw your heart at one
+who does not want it; and yet, when her only child is so extremely
+fascinating, a mother must be indulgent." Sampei appearing quite
+mystified, Masago pursued more gravely,--"You used to single the poor
+thing out, bad boy, she says, at the rustic festivals here five years
+ago, and give her fans and hairpins. Unfortunate Mine! You turned her
+head, and have forgotten even her name. Do you remember Koshiu, the
+farmer?"
+
+Mine, Koshiu's daughter. Dear me! a pretty little thing, with a temper
+that it was such sport to play upon. Of course Sampei remembered now,
+for indeed the too independent Koshiu, dreading some such misfortune
+as had come to pass, had testily turned upon the dallying swain, which
+had mightily offended his lordship.
+
+And for hopeless love of him this silly soul had been sighing all
+these years, with nothing to feed on but a few idle compliments.
+Sampei felt a twinge of conscience, was angry with himself, for
+perhaps he had been too ardent. Then he felt annoyed with the
+too-confiding maiden too easily won. A few common-place attentions,
+that was all, out of mere idleness. A pretty pass if all the young
+women whom one ogles were to insist on claiming one for life. What a
+pother about nothing. It is extremely immodest and indecent of maidens
+to give themselves away unasked.
+
+And then his thoughts reverted to that other lady, sitting yonder
+before the mirror, and a pang of distress swept over his features as
+he dreamed again of what might have been; the which perceiving the
+Abbess whispered,--"Be of good cheer, my son. By divine grace it will
+be for the best. My prayers added to hers, the maiden's mind will
+recover calm, and through the black passage of this hopeless love be
+led from earth to heaven. As a daughter of the people who has bestowed
+herself on you, I will cherish her. Already she has sought refuge
+under our roof, and ere long will become one of us for life."
+
+He then, the light and jovial, was to be responsible for making of the
+poor maid a nun.
+
+Sobered and saddened, and made uncomfortable internally by all he had
+seen and heard since his return, Sampei led his mother back towards
+the summer-house, where the young chatelaine was beginning to marvel
+at the length of their private colloquy. In this retreat, where she
+expected no visitors, O'Tei dispensed with the service of her ladies,
+for it was a relief to think out her dreary thoughts with none to read
+them on her countenance. Now, with a new sprightliness to which she
+had been long a stranger, she busied herself with hospitable cares.
+Placing on the firebox a daintily-wrought kettle of fine bronze, she
+produced from a gold-lacquered cabinet three fairy cups of the
+eggshell white porcelain of Hirado, placed a pinch of tea in each, and
+waiting for the water to boil, made ready to play the hostess.
+
+It was with a tightening about the heart that Sampei watched her long
+fingers arranging sweetmeats on a tray, pouring water on the leaves,
+which straightway expanded, and turned the liquid of a pale straw
+colour. Had he not been so diffident and addlepated while there was
+time, she would not now have been so thin and wan; those teacups might
+have been his teacups, and--well, well. He was till death her own true
+knight, demanding nothing in exchange for his unselfish devotion. To
+his heart he would repeat this o'er and o'er again till it was used to
+it. What might have been was not to be. There was nothing now to be
+gained by brooding or railing against his own stupidity.
+
+Over their refection the trio returned to the all-engrossing
+topic,--what was to be done for the poor suffering people?--how was
+the despot to be softened, and the imprisoned elders saved? Sampei
+related that the news of his coming must have preceded him, for no
+sooner had he clattered over the long wooden bridge which gives access
+to the main street of Tsu, than two ancient men had stopped him, and
+craved an immediate audience. Unlike my lord No-Kami, he had drawn
+rein at once, and listened; and the ancient men, with profuse
+grovellings, had implored my lord Sampei to use his personal influence
+for the rescue of the incarcerated headmen. It was indeed a heinous
+deed of insolence, they admitted with groans, to have sinned to the
+extent of imploring to be lightened of their burthens, but death of
+any kind was preferable to such a life as they endured at present.
+They reverently allowed that torments were deserved, but humbly
+implored mercy and consideration, for the sake of wives and children
+Sampei had been much shocked, for, to his generous nature, grovelling
+humility was offensive; and did not know what to do. He, as well as
+O'Tei, was resolved that something must be done for the sake of
+humanity, as well as to rescue from execration the unpopular name of
+Hojo. Perhaps the Abbess, the wise counsellor, would be good enough to
+settle what.
+
+Now if Masago had a weakness (I am not prepared to say she had not),
+it was an appreciation of her position as chief adviser to every one.
+She therefore drank another cup of tea, then clearing her throat,
+began,--
+
+"My counsel is this. My lord Hojo No-Kami must be brought to yield.
+Probably he will not be sorry of an excuse to do so, considering that
+after such an act of clemency as the remitting of torment, the elders,
+cowed and abashed, will be too frightened to say more about the taxes;
+whereas, if the men suffer, there will be further outcry, and the tax
+question will come yet more prominently forward, producing lamentable
+results. Hence my lord will probably, as I say, be glad of an excuse
+to send the people back, if they promise to be more amenable in
+future. It would be well if he owed his way out of the difficulty to
+his wife, for it would soften his animosity against her, and would
+cause the people to venerate her even more than they do already. My
+son, Sampei, could not be more popular than he is--praise be to the
+gods--but it would be pleasing to his mother if he were joined in the
+work of mercy. I therefore propose that the Lady O'Tei forthwith do
+indite upon a roll a personal request to her husband, craving as a
+boon the lives of the condemned, and tying it in a box of
+tortoiseshell, do consign it to her brother-in-law, that he may ride
+with all speed to Ki[^y]oto, and, delivering the box, do add his own
+entreaties to his sister's--so may we be sure to gain our end, and
+avert a serious danger."
+
+So succinct an oration, brief, and to the point, and patly delivered,
+deserved another cup of tea, and while she sipped it leisurely, Masago
+improved the occasion.
+
+"My dear," she said, "I saw you shudder. This will never do. It is the
+greatest of mistakes to let such a man as Mylord No-Kami know that you
+are afraid of him. I noted in his childhood how he always treated more
+scurvily the hirelings who cringed."
+
+"I never cringed!" exclaimed O'Tei proudly.
+
+"No; but if I mistake not, you have let him perceive fear, under a
+veil of contempt. Should he realise this, he will follow up the
+advantage, and all will indeed be lost. You should have coped with him
+at first, my lily. It would have been better for both, believe me."
+
+O'Tei twined her fingers together in distress. Had not the small voice
+within her whispered this long since. She did fear him, and dislike
+him, and despise him. Cope with him forsooth! How could she do it now?
+How could she ever have summoned sufficient moral courage? No; having
+retired into her shell of pride, she would stop there to the end, but
+in this matter of the elders she might bestir herself. Drawing forth a
+roll of paper, O'Tei and Sampei, with heads closer together than
+Masago approved, proceeded to concoct a warily-worded epistle.
+
+Masago was truly an extremely clever old dame, for with her one stone
+she slew a variety of birds. O'Tei would be the happier in that she
+had been induced to intercede. She would gain points in the affections
+of the people, and so would the beloved Sampei. The latter, as bearer
+of the missive, would be removed forthwith from perilous association
+with his sister-in-law; he would also be removed from the temptation
+to reconnoitre Mine, who, the Abbess firmly resolved, was to shave her
+head immediately. This, being obstinate like her father, she would,
+doubtless, decline to do if the too warm-blooded warrior were to see
+and fancy her afresh.
+
+The combination was artful from all points of view, and did credit to
+the adviser of every one. The elders would return unharmed, and, after
+a severe lesson, would be more dutiful. The storm would blow over, and
+all might repose in peace.
+
+Alack! Masago knew nothing of the resolve of Koshiu. Had she known
+that he proposed to call, if necessary, for the individual
+intervention of the sublime Mikado himself, her eyes would have
+goggled in her head at his audacity, and her counsel might have been
+of a different order.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER V.
+
+ THE FARMER GIRDS HIS LOINS.
+
+
+The journey from Tsu to Ki[^y]oto may be made by one in haste, mounted
+on a strong horse, in two days, but in a land where trade is carried
+on in perfunctory fashion, time is and ever was a cheap commodity. In
+a shop the traders squat smoking on the mat, grin, prostrate
+themselves with head-knockings on your entrance, offer a cup of tea
+and a pipe, and consider that all has been done that may in fairness
+be required of them. In need of goods, you must search yourself, pull
+things from shelves, till you do or do not find the object you
+require. As with trade so is it to this day with travel. An
+energetic foreigner, by a liberal showering of yens, may induce his
+kuruma-runners to cover thirty miles per diem; but the Japanese of all
+ranks prefer to journey quietly, jogging along in kagos, at the
+favourite and decorous pace of the familiar snail. Indeed the higher
+the social status of the traveller, the slower will be his progress,
+for impedimenta are symbols of dignity.
+
+Our magnificent young General, although on horseback, was surrounded
+and followed by a rabble, who for the most part were on foot. There
+was the inevitable bodyguard of swaggering samurai, who, with hair
+shorn from temples, and swords in red lacquer scabbards ostentatiously
+displayed, cultivated a scowling expression of perpetual defiance,
+incarnation of haughtiness, fanatical patriotism, and contempt of
+everybody but themselves. Then there were cotton-coated and
+straw-sandalled baggage-men by scores in charge of strings of
+packhorses; a group of sutlers; and, swaying in rear of the
+procession, an unwieldy but gaily-bedizened kago, for my lord to
+recline in when fatigued.
+
+There being no professional fun toward, neither master nor men were in
+a hurry. To come upon a roadside tea-house, with its bevy of laughing
+waitresses, meant the performance of a variety of operations:
+tea-sipping, smoking, drowsy lounging, jesting, active dallying, and
+then unlimited sleep.
+
+At first the method of progression was of the slowest, for the marshy
+plain was cut by various rivers, which had to be crossed in barges;
+then came a stretch of paddy, or rice fields; a green sea of slush
+bisected by a narrow gangway of stones, along which two men were
+unable to trudge abreast. Then, the foot of the hills being reached,
+there was a long and weariful ascent of rock and sliding stones--a
+climb over precipice and crag by a way that could scarce be called a
+path--and a descent on the other side as difficult. This feat
+accomplished, it was, of course, necessary to bathe, and worship in an
+adjoining temple, and rest and sleep again, and so it took more than a
+week for the cavalcade to reach the capital.
+
+At approach of the noisy procession the mountaineer cottagers peeped
+out of their secluded dwellings, but perceiving the company of
+samurai, speedily put up their paper shutters, and made believe to be
+not at home. For the two-sword man was apt to ape the vices of his
+betters, and leave behind a trail of ruin such as marks the passage of
+the locust.
+
+Sampei was too busy with his own thoughts--which were gloomy enough,
+in sooth--to take heed of those he passed; and even if he had done so,
+would probably have failed to recognise an elderly pedestrian, who
+glared with hate from under beetle-brows, at the young noble riding
+by. Having forgotten even the name of the luckless Mine, it was not
+likely that he would quickly recognise her father, clad now in dusty
+pilgrim garb of white, and wide mushroom hat of rice straw. For
+Koshiu, true to his resolve, was also going to Ki[^y]oto to watch
+events, and fulfil, if need were, his self-imposed and dangerous
+mission. Like all fervent worshippers of Buddha, the sturdy farmer had
+no fear of death; like other natives of Japan, he was eminently
+superstitious. Among the Asiatic poor, where ceaseless drudgery,
+and hunger never fully satisfied, are the common lot; where the
+tax-gatherer and the avaricious noble are the representatives of
+government; where earthquake and typhoon cause the forces of nature to
+be feared as malignant influences; life is not so pleasant as to cause
+the earthly wayfarer to long for its continuance.
+
+The announcement of the Christian dogma that "the gift of God is
+eternal life," would rather pain than delight a Japanese, for to him
+life in any form is to be dreaded--not because death is at the end of
+it, but because another birth and death must follow (possibly more
+painful still)--then other births and deaths--links in a long and
+weary chain, before attaining the ultimate haven. The moral pang that
+may possibly attend decease, consists in the parting from those whom
+he holds dear, and will, save under miraculous circumstances, never
+see again; for the Christian hope of meeting in a better world finds
+place but rarely in the Buddhist's mind. The chief deity, if slow and
+somniferous was just, and would (Koshiu argued) surely protect the
+family of him who was sacrificed for the common weal. There is a
+temple even now at Ki[^y]oto, standing on a dizzy height, whose
+terrace is protected by a strong pallisade, for, unless prevented, it
+is the practice of the faithful to crave a boon of the god, then fling
+themselves over the precipice, in the firm belief that--if the boon is
+to be granted--the deity will hold them scathless. It is strange that
+the number of bodies shattered on the stones below should not have
+shaken their faith either in the goodness or the power of the god.
+Having made up his mind that, if need were, he, the humble peasant,
+would invoke the sacred and mysterious Mikado's aid, Koshiu passed a
+night in prayer, then washed and dressed himself in the attire common
+to high and low who are engaged on a holy mission, and took a tender
+farewell of his family. There was his dear wife, Kennui; his three
+boys, Gennosuke, Sokei, and Kibachi, ranging in years from thirteen to
+seven. Mine was unaccountably absent, but she was always a froward and
+unruly maid, wild and disobedient. On this solemn occasion, however,
+her father left for her a tender message of farewell, and amid the
+tears and outcries of those who feared that they never again might
+look on him, tore himself away.
+
+This was on the day before Sampei's arrival,--on the morning which
+followed the consultation in the farmer's dwelling. The elders, filled
+with admiration for the single-minded heroism of the man whom they had
+deemed slow and selfish, went with him, marshalled by Rokubei and
+Zembei, to the entrance of the town, and with many blessings and
+prayers, wished the traveller success.
+
+Urged on to speed by an engrossing object, he caught up, and, strong
+and stout of limb, passed the straggling array of Sampei, arriving in
+the capital two days before him. The imprisoned envoys were still in
+durance, he learned from one of those who had escaped, and lurked in
+hiding. My lord No-Kami--orders having in heat been issued for seizure
+and incarceration--had apparently forgotten their existence. The
+threatened vengeance of torment had not been wreaked, and yet their
+position was no pleasing one, for my lord's soldiers--the peasants
+and the military class were never friendly--amused themselves with
+the poor wretches, as cats play with mice--haling them out for
+diversion--depriving them of drink--pretending to offer sake, and when
+they held out eager hands for it, playfully pricking them with dirks.
+At the relation, the blood of Koshiu boiled within him.
+
+These men--honoured and revered at home--who had done naught save
+humbly to implore redress of grievances, were being murdered
+piecemeal. It mattered not that my lord had never ordered it. His
+lawless myrmidons took from him their cue, satisfied that they would
+not be punished. If the poor things must die, the more speedily the
+better; but Koshiu swore, with oaths that terrified his listeners,
+that their deaths should be avenged. Alack! Koshiu must be mad. He
+prated as if himself a daimio, or a least a samurai or hatamoto! A
+mosquito on a wall might as well shake a paw, and vow to avenge the
+slaughter of his fellows! And then at the boldness of his speech they
+shivered, considering whether it would not be more prudent to withdraw
+from the society of so rash a person, and sneak back to their
+crumbling homes. Of a certainty it would, for with even the Mikado
+himself, the revered and mystical, the insect presumed to find fault.
+Next he would be falling foul of Buddha, who, putting out a finger,
+would crush him--and them along with him--the blasphemer; and what
+then would be their fate in the next cycle? In horror and dread they
+wrung their hands, and banged their apologetic foreheads on the floor,
+and, drawing forth beads, told them with feverish rapidity.
+
+These were the words that entered their astounded ears. "For
+generations stretching back into the shadow of time," the over-bold
+farmer said, "has our master dwelt behind a screen, looked on by no
+eyes but those of the kuges and his attendants. Nothing outside the
+screen penetrates to him save through the mouths of these. Being a
+mortal, if a highly-privileged one, he cannot see all, like Buddha,
+himself unseen. We are his, and we revere him, but he knows naught of
+us, and can know naught, secluded and fenced about, and thereby
+neglects his duty--for even he has duties; and if, which is unhappily
+true, the latter-day Mikados have been evilly entreated and dethroned
+and sent into banishment, 'tis by reason of this sin, and the vile
+Hojos have been but instruments of retribution in the hand of an
+offended deity."
+
+What subversive doctrines were these uttered by a presuming pigmy? The
+horror-stricken elders glanced furtively one at the other with the
+same thought. Instead of a possible saviour, this man was a firebrand
+who would involve others in his well-merited ruin. Perchance it would
+be well to betray him at once to my lord No-Kami, and thereby earn
+their pardon? Koshiu read their thoughts, and sighed, wishing them no
+evil. The views of the sturdy farmer were beyond them. As well talk to
+the trees--better, for the leaves would not shake with terror, and
+consider the expediency of treachery. He resolved to shut up his
+opinions therefore within his own bosom, and calmly discussed, without
+further blasphemy, what the next move should be.
+
+As there was no possibility of, for the present at least, making any
+move at all, they were still idly chattering when, a few days later,
+they were startled by the appearance of the very envoys whose rescue
+was under discussion. They were thin, and gnarled, and haggard, and
+wrinkled--but then a Japanese peasant over the age of twenty is never
+a pretty object--yet in health seemed well enough. The tale of the
+sake and dirks must have been the invention of the foe. And yet to
+Koshiu these village elders looked suspiciously meek and lowly, more
+so than the humblest peasant should; indeed their bearing was not
+unlike that of a mongrel dog, that still smarts under severe
+correction. At first it was impossible to get anything out of them but
+fawning praise of the Hojo, uttered in trembling accents, in which
+fear battled with incoherence. Hojo was excellent and merciful. Had he
+not deigned to forgive their unpardonable sin, and set them free
+unhurt? Let them live under their own hats and be content, he had
+declared. If there were any noble individuals more admirable than the
+gracious lord No-Kami--and that was scarcely possible--those two were
+their liege lady and the General Sampei; for 'twas through the
+intervention of these that my lord had condescended to remember the
+existence of his humblest tenants, who might otherwise have been still
+in duress.
+
+With lowering brow Koshiu looked upon his fellows, for these cringing,
+spirit-broken villagers belonged to the same class as he. Were they
+worth saving, at the risk of his own life? And then a vision of the
+misery at Tsu, the growing suffering of all down-trodden Japan, rose
+upon his vision. No-Kami, thanks to the pleading of his wife and
+brother, had been pleased, after outrage and ignominy, to release the
+men who had committed no crime. But what of their petition? The
+petition? Let it go hang! The well-whipped hounds preferred that the
+subject should be dropped. How ill-timed was any mention of the
+petition. It had brought nothing but trouble--the less said about it
+the better. All they desired was to depart with speed. The sportive
+samurai might swoop again. Baring their arms, the envoys showed their
+wounds. The story of the sake was true, then. Little wonder if the
+starved wretches had had enough of the facetious horseplay of the
+soldiers.
+
+Koshiu paced the mat with folded arms. Yes, they were right, and had
+better go and save their wizened carcases. Here they were of no
+service, only butts for scoffers. My lady O'Tei all knew to be an
+angel; but that the newly-arrived General should interest himself in
+peasants, was curious; and then the thought flashed suddenly on the
+indignant father that the absence of Mine from her home had coincided
+with the arrival of Sampei. Her tender pronunciation of his name, and
+constant championship, recurred to his memory, and he shrank as from
+strokes of the bamboo. As profligate as all the Hojos, he had, of
+course, signalled his return by the seduction of an innocent and
+too-trusting maiden, who, by-and-by, he would fling away. Perhaps from
+out that curtained kago on the road his erring daughter may have
+peeped at him. If it were so, never, never would he forgive his child.
+Had he not warned her of his undying hatred of Hojos, of all connected
+with bloodthirsty brutal tyrants? With difficulty controlling his
+emotions, while his comrades more than ever deemed him dangerously
+insane, he told them they were right. Since they could serve no
+further purpose, they had better go back to Tsu, and speedily. For his
+own part, he would remain, and bide his time, and, when opportunity
+offered, present the petition to the Emperor.
+
+And so, after a sad and parting feast, the band of elders returned to
+their place, and Koshiu dwelt alone, brooding over his wrongs, over
+the oppression of his class, and the ruin of his daughter, while his
+family bewailed at home. His impression was that the Mikado's
+supineness rose not from weakness but from indifference, out of which
+he might be roused. One day arrived a pedlar with news from Tsu, and a
+melancholy message from his wife, the faithful Kennui, which
+completely satisfied his mind that his suspicions were but too well
+founded. Mine had never again sought the legitimate shelter of her
+parents' roof, but was dwelling, if report spoke truly, with the
+mother of Sampei. Even she, then, the peasant-born, suffered under the
+taint which enveloped that hated race. The Abbess, who pretended to be
+pious, could stoop to shield his daughter's infamy, and give shelter
+to the mistress of her son. Poor soul, had she not been herself a
+concubine, and debased by pernicious surroundings? Ah, but the
+position of second wife--acknowledged concubine--was different from
+that of his own degraded daughter. No fixed position was hers, of
+course, or ever would be, since she had been so misguided as to throw
+herself into her lover's arms. And when he was weary of her? It would
+not bear thinking of, for Koshiu in his way was proud as any noble.
+Sampei and his mother were as bad as the rest, worthy to wear the
+cognisance of Hojo. The longer the farmer brooded, the harder grew his
+heart, the more bitter his resentment, and he hailed with fierce joy
+the news, at last, that the Mikado was to visit Nara.
+
+It was a solemn ceremony the pilgrimage of the Emperor to the Sacred
+Groves of Nara, one which, although the distance was short, he was
+expected to perform but once or twice during his career. Unlike lesser
+magnates, who were content with kagos--litters, more or less
+sumptuous, borne on men's shoulders--the Mikado travelled in a
+ponderous carriage on huge cumbrous wheels, its roof thatched with the
+long grey straws of a peculiar grass, its wood-work elaborately
+lacquered with the imperial crest, its windows closely curtained with
+the finest matting, which flapped with many tassels. The progress of
+so unwieldy a machine over a primitive road was slow. In front went a
+bodyguard on foot, followed by soldiers on horseback; then came the
+weighty kagos of the kuges in attendance, brave with banners and
+devices; then the Mikado's swaying uneasy carriage, drawn by eight
+horses in broidered housings; then more heavy litters and more
+soldiers, and a long straggling tail like that of a kite, composed of
+servants and rabble. It took many hours to penetrate through the
+tortuous and squalid suburbs of the capital, consisting for the most
+part of the shops of pawnbrokers and vendors of cheap toys and idols,
+jutting at will into the road, the procession stopped from time to
+time by hosts of the faithful on their faces.
+
+Once free of buildings, the imperial _cortege_ advanced by a wide way
+straight as an arrow across a plain devoted to the cultivation of tea,
+and by nightfall reached Uji. Here there was a villa overhanging with
+wide, wooden balconies a rushing stream--the Uji-Kawa, which rises in
+lake Biwa--spanned by a semicircular bridge formed of an intricate
+network of heavy timbers, for in winter this river swells into a
+torrent, sweeping all that is weak before it. This villa was for the
+special use of the sovereign, as might be guessed, from its lack of
+adornment. So high is the Mikado, that, in a general way, he is above
+the employment of ornament. His villas and summer-houses (unlike those
+of his brother of China) are as conspicuous for simplicity as his
+dress. Everything is of the very best that skill can produce, the
+woodwork of the very finest which the hand of man can command, the
+mats trimmed with a red and white braid forbidden to other men. His
+eyes look upon no pictures or porcelains or bronzes, for to one who
+communes at will with deities or spirits, and may peep even sometimes
+into Nirvana, such trivialities are, of course, superfluous. In the
+Imperial Palace of Ki[^y]oto it is different, for there he deigns to
+associate in a degree with mere common nobles and wives, to whom
+austere simplicity would be depressing if not soul-withering. In this
+villa, the Emperor, by time-honoured custom, was to pass the night,
+his _cortege_ camping around for the protection of the sacred person.
+
+Now Koshiu, whose object in life was the presenting of a memorial
+which should lead to the abrogation of imposts, and the holding up of
+the Hojos to deserved obloquy, knew right well that there was no
+reaching the imperial ear, either in Ki[^y]oto or on the road to Uji,
+by reason of a throng of guards. During the next day's route over the
+mountains, on the other side of which was Nara, the cumbrous carriage
+would be prevented from toppling over by myriad hands pressed on
+either wheel, but the brilliant idea had occurred to the farmer that
+in crossing the timber bridge, whose width was just sufficient for the
+passage of the vehicle, there would be none to defend either of the
+curtained windows, the guards of necessity passing on in front or
+dropping behind until the stream was crossed, and that here lay his
+only chance. In the night therefore, after prayers and ablutions, he
+took advantage of the darkness to swim into mid-stream unnoticed, and
+being washed against one of the pillars, to make good his footing, and
+climbing on the bridge, to secrete himself under a convenient shadow.
+Then with his knife he pruned a long bamboo, split it at the top, and
+inserting the memorial therein, awaited day.
+
+The journey was yet long to Nara, and over the mountains fraught with
+possible disaster, so all were early astir. With wildly-beating heart
+and throbbing temples Koshiu heard the clatter of horses overhead, the
+rhythmed step of infantry, and then the thunder of the great wheels
+grinding under their heavy load. Now or never. Calculating his time to
+a nicety, the farmer nimbly climbed upon the parapet, and before the
+astonished guards could stop him, lifted a corner of the mat, and
+inserting his bamboo, cried in a loud voice,--
+
+"Take, O great Mikado! Fountain of Honour, this the petition of your
+humblest slave. Have pity on your people, O sovereign lord, ground
+down by the wicked Hojo!"
+
+The driver of the horses, aghast, stopped open-mouthed; the cavalcade
+stood still; the guards, with a yell, dashed clambering forward, to
+fling into the stream this audacious one, riddled with sword-thrusts;
+but the old Daimio of Nara, who, disdaining a kago, rode close behind,
+spurred quickly through the men, and, raising both hands, bade them
+refrain. He had caught the words "wicked Hojo," saw that what might
+have been a spear was already withdrawn, and was no more than a cleft
+stick, and guessed the purport of the attempt.
+
+"'Tis a petition," Nara cried. "Our imperial lord already holds the
+man's paper in his sacred hand. It is for him, and not for us, to
+decide upon his fate."
+
+Clutched by a dozen fists, Koshiu remained poised and stifled on the
+parapet, and presently a low voice issued from the shadow.
+
+"I will read the petition on my return from the sacred groves. Keep
+the man close and safe. See that no harm comes to him."
+
+The Daimio of Nara, with a cunning smile lurking about his lips, gave
+orders that the pilgrim should be safely conducted to his own private
+apartment in the palace, and then the ponderous procession moved on
+again, and crawled up the mountain.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER VI.
+
+ THE YOUNG MIKADO.
+
+
+Tomoye, the brawny but practical, proved herself more clear-sighted
+than the statesman-warrior her husband. Hojo, the elder, certainly
+made the most serious blunder of his life when he arranged that
+marriage for his heir. A gulf 'twixt a husband and a wife cannot but
+widen daily, and the part of the latter, right or wrong, is sure to be
+espoused by her father. The admirable combinations that were to result
+from an alliance of the houses of Hojo and Nara were conspicuous by
+absence. As time went on, the haughty No-Kami, averse at all times to
+advice, showed to his wife's parent his most aggressive side, lest he
+should presume to lecture.
+
+Although the Daimio of Nara had seen but little of his child, he had
+received from time to time such affectionate reports concerning the
+maiden, from the priests and priestesses who had supervised her
+education, that he was fully conscious of her worth. Between the two
+lords there was a show of courtesy, which masked on the one side
+jealousy of interference, on the other, hate. The father of O'Tei,
+although he pretended to perceive nothing, resented bitterly the
+scornful neglect with which she was treated by her spouse. During the
+rare visits of the young chatelaine to the capital, he could see how
+sad she was, and worn and listless, instead of vivacious and gay, as
+became her years; and in his heart, antipathy for the despot,
+implanted by cruelty to the Mikado, increased a hundredfold. He was
+too wary to quarrel yet with Hojo, but whenever he vouchsafed advice
+(as he did now and then, for the sake, as he said, of the departed),
+it was of a kind which rendered No-Kami more execrated still, more
+unpopular with the people he oppressed. The return of Sampei, and the
+demeanour of that warrior, produced fresh combinations in the subtle
+brain of Nara. It was plain that he was shocked by the excesses of his
+brother. He came of ambitious stock, and the long bloody tale of the
+history of Japan is full of the rivalry of brothers. What if he could
+be cajoled or goaded to take arms against him? The unruly army which
+he had brought back from Corea, accustomed to plunder and lawless
+licence, would have to be employed somehow, for idleness begets
+mischief. So long as Mikado and Daimios remained quiescent, the
+swash-bucklers could not be used against them, and, unemployed they
+would soon be a source of trouble. What if, by waiting, the enemies of
+the Hojo could succeed in turning against him the very troops he had
+summoned for his defence; and what if, by crafty man[oe]uvring, the
+disgust of Sampei could be raised to such a pitch as to induce him to
+resume their command?
+
+As the general who had led them from victory to victory, his soldiers
+adored Sampei. In time, they might probably be made useful as a
+scourge for Hojo, without their commander, by prospect of pillaging
+castles, but if he whom they idolised were to summon them forth in the
+direction of their inclinations, there was no doubt they would follow
+in a mass. While his master was telling his beads before the great
+bronze idol in the Nara temple, the thoughts of the lord of the soil
+were engaged elsewhere, and he resolved on the first opportunity to
+sound Sampei, and to arrange his plans accordingly.
+
+It was a fortnight after the incident on the bridge of Uji that the
+imperial _cortege_ wound down the mountain, and returned to the palace
+in the capital. What a dreary spot this same palace, more like a
+prison than a free residence, well suited to the ghastly life of blank
+monotony led by its miserable occupant.
+
+The chief abode of the Mikado occupies a vast space of ground in
+the centre of the city of Ki[^y]oto, surrounded by a high white
+wall, devoid of windows. Passing through a postern in a huge and
+highly-decorated gate, crowned by an immense tiled roof, you find
+yourself in a labyrinth, where you would speedily be lost without a
+guide, for long low buildings meander in and out, and meet at angles,
+one exactly like another, forming a series of little courtyards,
+adorned with prim grey bushes. The walls of these are of one pattern,
+formed of white plaster in timber settings, with heavy roofs and
+eaves. None of the buildings boast of more than a single storey, which
+is elevated on posts, a yard above the ground; this by reason of
+earthquakes, and unclean insects, which have no respect for Emperors.
+The long outer passages are protected from the weather by verandahs,
+because persons below a certain rank may not venture to breathe under
+the same roof as the Fountain of Honour, but must squat humbly in the
+air without. All the inner wood-work is of pine, smoothly planed, and
+left unpolished, set at points of junction with sumptuously sculptured
+nails; while mats are of the finest kind, trimmed white and red with
+the imperial braid. Within, the sliding screens which at will divide
+most of the space into small or large chambers, are of drab silk,
+spotted with gold dots, in form of clouds. There is no furniture,
+except a few low red lacquer tables.
+
+The private suite of the Mikado saddens the soul, so small, and
+dismal, and uncomfortable are the rooms, or rather hutches, with no
+prospect or view outside, but three bare walls, a flag-pavement, and
+half-a-dozen bushes; and the mind turns involuntarily to the thought
+of Spanish Queens, whose drear existences must have been hilariously
+gay when compared with those of the Mikados. Sure many of these must
+have gone melancholy mad, or have sought relief from despondency by
+drowning care in the sake-cup. For the better protection of the
+Fountain of Honour, the two closets he inhabits are buried away in the
+centre of the labyrinth. There is nothing for him to hear but low,
+respectful sibillation, and the tramp of guards; nothing to see but
+nobles sprawling on their faces, with a glum background of whitewash,
+and a few tortoises wandering over the stones.
+
+At the period which now concerns us, the Mikado usually sat upon a
+chair, while the kuges, in court trousers (Uye no Bakama) many yards
+under their feet, wearing high black crape hats, and brocaded
+trains--narrow and stiff, and of exceeding length--(kiy[=o]) reclined
+around him on the mat. When the potentate felt more bored than usual,
+he retired into a square tent (of the size of an old-fashioned
+European bed) in the middle of the room; which tent was composed of
+snowy silk, embroidered with bamboo and storks, and garnished with
+long streamers, red and black, decorated with butterflies. Inside the
+tent was placed a chair, and two low stools.
+
+A few yards off is a dark place surrounded by gilt folding screens, in
+which is another tent. This was for the Fountain of Honour when
+boredom reached a climax, and he felt compelled to flee mankind. On
+state occasions he moved into a spacious hall at the back, whose
+sliding screens are painted with portraits, full length, of Chinese
+sages, and whose look-out is a shade more cheerful; for beyond there
+is a garden, with a lake full of speckled fish, some groups of pines,
+and quaint stone bridges. In the centre of the hall is yet another
+tent, precisely similar to the others--for the purpose of special
+audience, for the room is so large, that neither the elect, who knelt
+around, or the unelect, who crouched in the verandah, could overhear
+what passed within the curtains.
+
+Into this hall, on the day after the return, trooped all who possessed
+the privilege, while the yards and passages were full of hatamotos and
+retainers; for the Fountain of Honour, refreshed by prayer and change
+of scene, declared he would attend to business.
+
+In the first place, audience must be vouchsafed to the victorious
+General, that he might relate his deeds of valour, and receive thanks
+for faithful service; and then a consultation must be held, with
+closed doors, on the subject of the peasant and his petition. At
+mention of the audacious peasant, Nara smiled quietly, for he thought
+he saw his way to make a weapon of him wherewith to vex the enemy.
+
+Owing to the ruin and banishment of three Emperors, the present
+reigning one was a cowed youth, a pale and depressed boy, with a look
+of constant apprehension lurking in his eyes. So well drilled was he
+that the sound of his tyrant's footfall caused him to tremble; so
+acutely did he feel his equivocal position, that many a time, after a
+period of reverie, he would start and wince, as if expecting the
+descent of the blade that was suspended over his head. Poor Koshiu!
+Could he have looked on the liege lord--so timorous and helpless--who
+was awful, because invisible, he would probably have thought twice
+before making that rash attempt.
+
+When Sampei, after prostration and the orthodox nine head-knockings of
+humility, was invited to occupy a stool within the tent, Nara was
+bidden, by a wave of the august fan, to take the other, and thus
+withdrawn from inquisitive eyes and ears, the Daimio of Nara deemed
+this to be a propitious moment for peering into the future. He drew
+out the modest General, and, as mouthpiece of his master, made pretty
+speeches, while the Mikado was anxiously scanning his face, seeking
+his brother's features.
+
+Presently the Emperor gave a sigh of relief. It was a good-natured
+open visage, considerably tanned, ornamented (from a military point of
+view) by a deep scar across the brow, scored by a Corean spear.
+Although a Hojo, it was possible to feel comfortable in his presence,
+and the heart of the sad recluse quite warmed to him when Nara, with
+insidious flattery, related an episode of his career. He told of how
+young Sampei, in camp one day, investing the Taira forces, beheld a
+warrior whose crimson armour and golden cognisance marked him for a
+Taira noble. "Come hither and fight!" he cried, and both charged
+fiercely one at the other with gleaming blades. After a few passes,
+the Taira dropped his sword, and Sampei, chivalrous always, flung his
+away and rushed to clasp his foe. Close-locked they fell from their
+saddles on the sand, the Hojo uppermost. Tearing off the bedizened
+helm, with intent to strike, he was amazed to see not a hardy old
+campaigner but a delicate and lovely boy! Rising, and handing to the
+vanquished his headgear. "So young," he said, "thy mother yet lives,
+doubtless. To her I give thee--go!"
+
+Sampei looked down and blushed, not ill-pleased that his lord should
+learn to like him; while the Mikado muttered behind his fan, "Can this
+be the brother of No-Kami?"
+
+After this jocund opening symphony, Nara changed his tune, and as he
+spoke of the suffering people, the General's face grew dark and
+sorrowful.
+
+"And all this is due," Nara concluded, with emphasis, "to the head of
+the house of Hojo, whom the gods have made pre-eminent. The greater
+the gift, the greater will be the punishment for opportunities
+misused. Dare you deny that it is so?"
+
+Sampei shuffled on his seat, with lowered head.
+
+"My brother is unduly harsh," he stammered,--"perchance is ignorant--"
+
+"What of the elders, then, and their petition?" demanded Nara.
+
+"He has sent them home unhurt!" quickly responded Sampei.
+
+"Ay, but with wrongs unredressed."
+
+The young General was silent.
+
+"You are the senior in years," observed the Daimio, pursuing his
+advantage, "and should claim some authority; further, even, if need
+be--"
+
+Sampei drew himself up with dignity.
+
+"You, the Daimio of Nara," he said proudly, "should know what is due
+from a vassal to his feudal chief. I am older in years, but not pure
+in blood. On my mother's side I am a peasant. I may grieve over my
+brother's follies, even chide with respectful gentleness, further than
+that I may not venture, as none should know better than yourself."
+
+Nara felt angry and disappointed, for this was not what he expected.
+Could this brilliant fellow be destitute of personal ambition?
+Perhaps, more cunning than he seemed, he was waiting for something
+more explicit.
+
+"You, then, an honest man," sneered the Daimio, "are prepared to stand
+by and see your flesh and blood perform the work of fiends? Perhaps I
+have made of your character a wrong estimate. Can it be that you enjoy
+the grievous plight of those to whose class, as you say, you partially
+belong? In crime an appreciative partner--perhaps even my lord Hojo's
+willing executioner?"
+
+The Daimio laughed hoarsely, while the Mikado listened with pursed
+lips. Apparently the young soldier was not to be roused by taunts, for
+with a sigh he replied sadly,--
+
+"You wrong me. If I cannot aid, I can perish with them, and so escape
+dishonour."
+
+"By hara-kiri?" retorted Nara, with impatience, "a vastly useful way
+of helping the afflicted! When all is lost, death by the dirk is the
+only appropriate end to a high-born gentleman; but an honest man and a
+brave may not declare that things are hopelessly wrong until he has
+tried to right them. That they are wrong at present you will admit,
+after perusing this memorial, humbly presented to our common lord by
+one of Hojo's vassals."
+
+Sampei took the paper, and, as he read, grew hot and cold with pity
+and indignation. And it was his own flesh and blood, as Nara said, who
+could act thus! The indictment was terrible in its straightforward
+simplicity. No wonder that the gentle wife of the tyrant, knowing
+what she must know, was fading slowly. And there was more trouble
+brewing--even simple Sampei could foresee that. If No-Kami had been so
+incensed at the elders daring to present a petition to himself, what
+would his feeling be when he knew that another had been handed to the
+Emperor? The Mikado having publicly received, would be bound to take
+some notice of it,--to make some attempt to check the excesses of the
+despot. And, knowing his brother as he now learned to know him, Sampei
+looked forward in dismay, for the wheel set rolling down a hill may
+not be stopped, and it was but too probable that, goaded by passion
+uncontrolled, crime heaped upon crime would, as O'Tei had suggested,
+induce some dire catastrophe.
+
+A furtive glance at the dull weak face of the Emperor was not
+comforting. There was vacillation in every line of it. A gleam from
+No-Kami's wrathful eyes and he would shrivel up. Was it indeed the
+duty of his elder brother to stand forward and attempt to stay his
+junior's downward course? 'Tis a terrible thing when two of the same
+kin hold swords at one another's throats. And languishing O'Tei, what
+of her, whom he had secretly sworn to guard and cherish? Perhaps, by
+slaying her husband, he would be doing her a service as well as
+freeing the oppressed; but that husband his brother! To slay his
+brother! As the picture appeared upon his mental retina, Sampei
+shuddered; and then the thought flashed on him with vivid clearness
+that the stroke which slew his brother would delve for aye an
+impassable chasm 'twixt himself and her he loved. The young man heaved
+a sigh of relief, and raised his head. He was rescued from temptation
+for the time being, O'Tei the saving talisman. And then, his eye
+falling on the petition, he grew sorely perplexed. Was the old man
+right? Was it his bounden duty to interfere between the tyrant and his
+victims? What good would come of interference? Had he not intervened
+already for the behoof of the unlucky elders? It was not likely that
+the head of his house would brook incessant meddling. Slow-witted at
+the best, Sampei, the more he pondered, grew more wretched and
+uncertain. Nara marked with approving eye the extent of his
+uncertainty, and cast a keen glance of intelligence at his master. The
+poison instilled would slowly work, or Nara had mistaken his man. The
+seed was sown--must be left to swell and burst. Enough was done for
+the present.
+
+Obedient to the signal of his most trusted counsellor, the Mikado
+graciously dismissed his General, with hope revived in the future. But
+the hope was short-lived. Scarcely had he emerged with lightened heart
+from out the tent, and, summoning the kuges together, had commanded
+the shutters to be closed, that the petition might be privately
+considered, than the sound of the awful footstep was heard on the
+creaking boards, and the soul of the hapless Emperor died within him.
+He writhed and turned scarlet under the insult, when, pushing back the
+shutter with a crash, No-Kami unannounced strode in.
+
+"What is this?" he cried, in a harsh voice, omitting the customary
+obeisance. "I should not believe it, if I did not see you shivering
+there, red with conscious guilt. Leniency to the scum is worse than a
+crime--it is a fault. It was to please your daughter, Nara--that she
+should condescend to plead for such insolent vermin, says little for
+her rearing--that I forgave those villagers. And no sooner have I
+committed that insensate act, than I am most justly punished for it.
+Where is he--he who presumed to present to you a paper? He shall never
+present another."
+
+The trembling Mikado looked piteously at Nara, who, stolid, and
+apparently both deaf and blind, moved no muscle.
+
+"My lord No-Kami--" began the Emperor, but was quickly silenced.
+
+"I ask no explanation," remarked the tyrant sternly, waving away
+argument. "I demand the paper and the man. He is my vassal and my
+chattel: where is he?"
+
+"Here, under my protection. You forget yourself, my lord!" cried
+the Emperor, who, deserted by Nara, was stung to a poor show of
+self-assertion. "Under this roof he is safe."
+
+No-Kami raised his brows slightly, and with stiff politeness said,--
+
+"Since when may peasants enter where knights and samurai may not?
+These be new manners that we can scarce approve. You, my lord Nara, I
+believe took charge of the man. I thank you for your courtesy, and
+herewith reclaim my own."
+
+To the consternation of the Emperor, who expected that now, at least,
+the one to whom he pinned his faith would speak boldly, the Daimio of
+Nara gravely bowed, and said,--
+
+"If such is the pleasure of our master, be it so."
+
+Put to the test, then, Nara was a windbag that had burst! The Mikado
+groaned in spirit.
+
+"You will promise that he shall not be injured," stammered he, as,
+wincing under the basilisk eye, and seeking support in vain, the poor
+boy grew sick and giddy.
+
+"You see, Lord Nara, that 'tis our master's wish," responded No-Kami
+bluntly. "I make no promises. My time is valuable, and my retinue
+without is waiting. See that the wretch is handed over instantly for
+immediate transport to my _yashiki_." And with this the Hojo turned
+and strode away, without deigning to await an answer.
+
+The cup was full. The Fountain of Honour overflowed in a torrent of
+brackish tears. To be insulted thus before all the court; to be
+treated like a child; to be bearded with such dour disdain! The fate
+of his three predecessors, in their tranquil monastery, was preferable
+to his, alone upon the rack in the midst of empty grandeur. When Nara
+attempted to instil words of comfort, he turned on him with the swift,
+unreasoning vituperation of the weak.
+
+"You on whom I leaned," he sobbed,--"who are ever prating of the
+wondrous things that you are going to do! Before him you tremble more
+than all the rest, and sit mumchance! The man will be tormented, and I
+thereby eternally disgraced, since I took him under my protection.
+When they hear of it, what will my people say, seeing me that
+monster's puppet?"
+
+"They, will pity you," replied Nara quietly, "as they pity the other
+three. I am not so craven as you think. What if the man be tortured?
+He is but a boor of little consequence, and will be none the worse for
+martyrdom. Let be, let be--a little patience only. The more scurvily
+the man is treated, the better in the end; the deeper the universal
+execration for him we all detest. A little time, a little time, and
+all will be well, believe me. We have but to sit with hands devoutly
+folded, and wait; for the Hojo is preparing his own undoing,--carving
+out his own destruction!"
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER VII.
+
+ THE FARMER'S SENTENCE.
+
+
+Perhaps the Daimio of Nara was right in his prognostications of the
+probable. Although the lives of a few peasants are to Japanese
+patricians of but small account, there had been considerable
+excitement among the daimios over Hojo's high-handed treatment of the
+village elders, a tornado of lamentation among the lower and unarmed
+classes. Had the action of the despot been voted orthodox, had he
+unwaveringly pursued his course, the other lords would have done the
+same as he with joy, to wring out additional sums for pleasant uses;
+but as No-Kami gave way with little pressing, and thereby stultified
+his action, there was a general chorus of disapproval. If, excited and
+cruel, he were now to inflict signal vengeance on the unfortunate
+farmer, there would be still further uproar; and each fresh
+demonstration tended to a universal rising, for the destruction of the
+terrible octopus. Nara was old enough to have learned that the waiting
+game is generally best in the end, and preached sage wisdom to his
+master, who wept, being foolish, and young, and also uneasy in his
+mind.
+
+No-Kami was frantic with wrath when he considered Koshiu's sin. What a
+deplorable precedent was this! A petty farmer, little better than the
+common labourer, who strews the paddy field with filth, and grubs on
+hands on knees like a pig in the mud when the young rice begins to
+sprout; this abject, well-nigh four-footed, grovelling creature had
+absolutely, erect upon hind legs, dared to approach the head of the
+state--the nominal head--with a writing wherein he, the reignina
+Hojo--the real head of the state--was impeached and accused of
+misdemeanours,--even of deeds called CRIMES! Such audacity to the most
+nimble imagination was all but inconceivable. It was no less
+preposterous and ludicrous than if the brisk and too sprightly flea
+were, with his tiny mandibles, to assault the elephant. As he revolved
+the circumstance, the Daimio was so tickled that, as he paced a path
+in his garden outside Ki[^y]oto, he laughed a hard and grating
+cachination, that was half a snort, and shouted for a cup of warm
+sake, the which was brought, with the humblest of genuflections; for
+my lord's laugh clanked like rusty chains, and was precursor usually
+of bloodshed. But this was really too amusing, or would have been, if
+not so impudent. As he drained cup after cup of wine, my lord's mind
+became more active, the heat of his resentment more whitely glowing.
+What punishment was severe enough for such a caitiff? What was mere
+death, even the slowest, with ingeniously long-drawn agonies, but
+absurdly insufficient. The doom of the farmer must be something
+calculated to appal,--to spread terror broadcast, or his pestilent
+example might be followed by other swine. He would be a good riddance,
+this Koshiu, for he had always been a dangerous character,--one who
+dared to think for himself, actually to think, and frame views and
+theories of an independent and subversive kind. Oh for some brilliant
+idea, some happy thought, startling and awe-inspiring,--something at
+which the ordinary mind would revolt, then shrink down cowering!
+Decidedly this was an occasion on which the culprit must be made a
+genuine "example;" and as he paced the garden path, the brain of
+No-Kami was much exercised to find some awful sentence worthy of his
+reputation and his name.
+
+His heart was so hardened by schemes of revenge that the scene around
+was powerless to calm his ruffled soul; and yet his villa without
+Ki[^y]oto, known as the Golden House (it exists to this day), was a
+spot where loving nature had freely given of her best.
+
+On the plain between the city and the mountains is a wood, some three
+miles square, wherein branching umbrella pines and lofty cryptomerias
+and black-pointed cypresses are mingled in calculated confusion with
+the ensanguined foliage of the maple, and a luxuriant shrub covered
+with yellow blossoms, which has a scent resembling that of the
+apricot. The underbrush being carefully removed, the feet of the trees
+stand clear, rising from a tumbled surface of rich moss and rock and
+knoll, through which meander crystal streams shaded by grass and
+ferns. In a secluded portion of the wood is a large oblong pond,
+half-covered with dense reeds, and full offish and tortoises. In this,
+between the reed-beds, is mirrored a fairy cot--very small, as
+suitable for fairies--with the usual heavy roof and posts, and with
+windows inlaid with oyster shell. The peculiarity of the villa, at the
+time which occupies us, was that inside and out it was entirely gilt,
+which, against the sombre green background, in the limpid atmosphere,
+gave it the aspect of an enchanted dwelling. The rooms were of the
+smallest, and as naked and uncomfortable as Japanese rooms always are;
+and yet, in miniature, there was naught neglected. There was the
+porter's lodge, wherein lounged the armed retainers, and where
+upright, clean, and ready were the three formidable instruments
+designed to entangle, throw down, and pin a quarrelsome or unwelcome
+visitor. Stout quarter staves were also ready wherewith to belabour a
+struggling wight. There were bows and arrows in plenty, while in a row
+hung wooden tickets inscribed with the names of the soldiers in
+residence, which, were handed to the keeper of the gate, in token of
+absence, as the men passed out. In one corner was a bath--a mere rude
+tub--wherein, after the Daimio had bathed, others might be allowed to
+plunge; while further on, in the _tokonoma_, or recess of honour, were
+ranged in glittering state, ready always for use, the armour of my
+lord--his cuirass and greaves, helmet, chainmail, and swords.
+
+As he paced up and down under shadow of the trees, No-Kami had an
+inspiration; and summoning his favourite samurai, he bade him produce
+the prisoner. With arms crossed on his broad chest, and a mien of
+sullen defiance, Koshiu emerged, and having approached, stared hard
+into his oppressor's eyes with such undaunted boldness that Hojo felt
+almost sorry. It was a pity to have to annihilate so bold a varlet;
+and yet the independent ways of these same bold varlets are
+pestilent,--dangerous to the lords who are set over them.
+
+"What hast thou to say--what excuse to make?" demanded the imperious
+No-Kami.
+
+"The performance of duty calls for no excuse," replied the bluff
+farmer.
+
+"Duty!"
+
+"Yes, duty,--to myself, to my fellow-sufferers, to the sublime Mikado,
+who, unless told, knows naught--for he dwells apart--of the wicked
+such as thee."
+
+"By Buddha's crown, but thou art mad! instead of suing for mercy,
+aggravating thy offence."
+
+"The Hojos never knew mercy--thou least of all--and I expect none."
+
+"Will none make a lid for this rascal?" cried the Daimio, his small
+stock of patience ebbing. Then, seeing half a score of bright blades
+flashing in the sun, he waved them back into their scabbards. "Nay,
+nay," he grumbled; "sully not your steel."
+
+"The Hojos were ever bad," observed Koshiu, without blenching. "Thou
+and thy brother are the worst."
+
+"Sampei!" exclaimed No-Kami, in surprise. "Why he is half of thy caste
+himself, and is adored by the populace. What evil hath he done to
+thee?"
+
+"He robbed me of my eldest child, whom I held dear. She has vanished,
+seduced by him."
+
+No-Kami laughed long and loud, that very ugly laugh.
+
+"So, so. The General is sly, and keeps his counsel, and hath done thee
+and thine far too much honour, ingrate! See, here he comes to answer
+for himself."
+
+It was indeed Sampei, who, in extreme haste and heat, was crashing
+through the ferns. How unfortunate that the Emperor should not have
+detained him ten minutes longer. He would have expostulated with his
+brother then and there, in the Imperial presence,--have entreated the
+Fountain of Honour not to give up the captive. For in Hojo's greedy
+desire to obtain possession of him there was lurking something
+sinister. No-Kami's temper was so warm. For his sake, and the name
+they both bore, he must be prevented from going to extremities. Thanks
+to the gods, he was in time, for there the man stood, unharmed as yet.
+Ere he reached the spot where the two were standing, with retainers
+grouped in a circle, Sampei cried out, in his strong voice,--
+
+"No-Kami, my brother, give me this man's life!"
+
+"Again," laughed No-Kami. "What a glutton for the lives of prisoners.
+Not this one; no, his is a special case; but I'll give thee his little
+wanton."
+
+"What wanton?" And then of a sudden the young soldier remembered his
+mother's news which had so startled him. This was the father of the
+maid whose heart he had unconsciously captured, and whose parent had
+five years ago denied to him his doors. It was with a whimsical smile
+that he shrugged his shoulders, and said,--"Mine' is no wanton that I
+know of. She is as pure for me as Fugi, the holy and snow-capped
+mountain."
+
+"Liar!" shouted Koshiu. "What have Hojos to do with truth?"
+
+Whereupon, with a low growl, the retainers drew their dirks and
+pressed close round.
+
+Sampei grew a shade paler, but, controlling himself, quietly said,--
+
+"Let be, men! Sheathe your blades! The man labours under a mistake,
+and will know better by-and-by. Grant me his life, my brother!"
+
+"Why, of what parentage art thou?" exclaimed No-Kami, with a gesture
+of scorn. "He dubbed thee liar! Well, well! A drop of low peasant
+blood mingled with the best envenoms the entire stream. Yet am I
+ashamed, that thou, who art said to have done deeds of exceeding
+prowess, should tamely accept such insolence! And yet--and yet! I see
+now that I was wrong, precipitate. So mean a target is not worth your
+arrows. Fear not, my sober brother, I will myself avenge thee. Stand
+forth thou, and hear thy sentence. Whereas thou--audacious and
+stiff-necked--hast set thyself up as a champion and head of the
+villagers; and whereas thou hast dared to make light of me, thy feudal
+lord, by petitioning the Emperor directly; and whereas thou hast been
+guilty of conspiracy--three heinous crimes--it is decreed that thou
+shalt be taken in chains to Tsu, in a litter covered with a net of
+shame, and there suffer death by crucifixion. Thy wife will suffer
+likewise. Thy children shall merely be beheaded. The girl--what is her
+name? Mine--alone shall live, since I have bestowed her as a boon upon
+my brother."
+
+The samurai knelt down and rested their foreheads on the grass,
+clasping their hands in token of admiration and respect; Sampei
+covered his glowing face with quivering fingers; the farmer turned
+ashen grey. A thunderbolt hurled down to annihilate a family. For
+himself he cared not: his life he had known was forfeit. But wife and
+innocent babes! Gennosuke, the sturdy little lad; and pretty Sohei,
+and Kihachi, who could barely toddle! The unexpected blow was
+paralysing--stupefying with overwhelming sweep; and No-Kami, who saw
+with delight that the bolt went home, motioned for the condemned to be
+removed. Sampei felt stunned,--torn between horror, and the instinct
+of blind loyalty to his chief, his creed--the creed in which he had
+carefully been nurtured. The innocent and the guilty involved in one
+common doom. It was horrible--unjust! Less vindictive by-and-by, the
+Daimio would repent him of his severity. Sampei saw clearly that the
+man must go. That could not be helped: he had brought on himself his
+punishment. But the wife and children! Sampei had hurried hither to
+endeavour to rescue the man, and on behalf of the innocent had not
+found a word of protest. Thank goodness that, owing to a mistake, Mine
+at least was safe. As to the wife and children, he and O'Tei must
+combine ere the sentence was carried out, and make a strenuous effort.
+There was no help to be looked for from the weak Mikado. What a pity
+that he was such a feeble creature! But then, had he been more
+formidable, he would have shared the fate of the others long ago. The
+Hojo looked so surly, that Sampei felt the moment unpropitious for
+remonstrance. Incensed as my lord now was, prayers would but aggravate
+him further. Sampei seemed, therefore, to acquiesce in the decision of
+the Daimio, and turned to another topic.
+
+"A new eye sees things," he remarked, as they strolled under the
+trees, "which escape the ken of him to whom surrounding objects are
+familiar. Powerful as you are, swaying with a nod affairs of state,
+you strike me as less secure than was our father."
+
+"He governed, as was necessary, with an iron hand, and so do I,"
+retorted No-Kami.
+
+"His was not so wet with blood," suggested the other gently.
+
+"Can this be indeed the successful soldier?" asked the Daimio,
+stopping in amaze. "More like that puling wife of mine. A pity you did
+not wed her!"
+
+Sampei started and winced. Could his brother guess. There was no trace
+of suspicion on his visage. His secret was safe. It was only a stray
+shot.
+
+"The daimios," he observed quietly, "hate you, and they are
+treacherous."
+
+"The daimios always hate him who is in power," replied the other with
+composure, "and burn to oust him. And people say that all Japanese are
+treacherous. They must be curbed by fear. Hence my severity just now.
+Nay, do not speak or waste your breath and anger me. On that my mind
+is fixed. I was too mild and compassionate with those elders, and look
+on the result! A stupid blunder, due to over-kindliness. The new-born
+arrogance of those tillers of the soil must be sternly checked.
+Clemency would be construed into a sign of weakness. He who rules with
+the sword must not be afraid to use it."
+
+"I would warn you to mistrust Nara," observed Sampei, after a pause of
+thought; "he does not wish you well."
+
+"Nara!" echoed the Daimio. "He who our astute father selected as my
+special counsellor! You are too suspicious. For Nara I have nothing
+but contempt--for him as for his counsel. He assumes sapient airs, and
+beneath them is a coward and a fool. Sometimes, in sport, I press down
+my heel on him, and he affords no sport, for he does not even writhe.
+Since you are a man of valour--the hero of the hour, though I vow you
+are more like a girl--furbish up your arms, and drill your cohorts,
+and leave policy to me. Drill your troops for my protection, most
+doughty of Hojos. As for statecraft, believe me, meddle not with a
+complicated tangle which you have not the skill to unravel. Your arm
+is more exercised than mine, but of heads, mine is the better."
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER VIII.
+
+ DESTINY IS BUSY.
+
+
+When the slow procession of armed men with a guarded litter in its
+midst was discerned approaching Tsu, great was the curiosity excited,
+for though none spoke of him, the absent farmer, devoted to a forlorn
+hope, was uppermost in the minds of all. A vague report gained ground
+that he had actually been permitted to see the face of the Sublime
+One, who, as just as he was holy, had listened to the tale of wrong.
+The stricken people, accustomed to adversity, were dazed by the gleam
+of fortune. Buddha had hearkened at last unto their groaning, had
+pitied their misery! The Hojo was not so bad after all, for the extra
+weight of taxes would doubtless be removed; the elders had returned
+forgiven; Koshiu was coming in triumph to his home, where a fitting
+reception should be accorded him. The listless men rose up upon their
+feet, the hammer and the gong resounded once again, amid blessings on
+the name of Koshiu.
+
+The only one who was not joyous was Kennui, the farmer's faithful
+wife. She had heard so much from her spouse about the wickedness of
+the Hojos, that unconsciously she echoed his words, shaking her head
+as she muttered, "The Hojos know not mercy!" As the approaching
+procession became clearer to the view, defiling with clank of iron
+down the street, she gave a wild shriek, and fell swooning; for in the
+litter, under the fatal net, she had recognised the grizzled head and
+burly shoulders of him she loved best on earth. Awe-stricken, fearing
+they knew not what, the town turned out _en masse_ and silently
+followed the procession, until, crossing the bridge that led over the
+outer moat of the castle, the ponderous doors closed upon it and the
+prisoner. For, strange and incomprehensible as it appeared, there was
+no doubt that Koshiu was a prisoner. The net and chains, and scowling
+escort told as much. Why? Was the report a false one? Had he not
+succeeded in communicating with the Sublime One? Sure he who was the
+Fount of Honour had not spurned the humble prayer! If he had been
+gracious, why was the victim brought to his home with sinister pomp
+and circumstance? While the crowd in scattered knots were discussing
+the enigma, the gates opened again, a band of samurai rushed forth,
+and presently returned with--wonder of wonders!--Kennui and her little
+children, who, driven at point of spear, like the farmer vanished.
+
+Curiosity and impatience were getting the better of alarm, and some of
+the elders were about to cross the bridge, and knocking, make
+inquiries, when again the door swung upon its hinges, a man posted up
+a paper, and the gate was again shut to. A thrill of horror and
+consternation shivered over the crowd, as some one, mounting on a
+riding block, read aloud the proclamation. Crucifixion for the patriot
+and his innocent wife--the annihilation of his family and name! The
+injustice and brutality of such a sweeping sentence cried aloud to
+Heaven. Japan should ring with it. Come what might, the elders would
+remonstrate,--would lift up their voices in supreme protest against
+the iniquity of the cold-blooded tyrant.
+
+The head men of the town and surrounding villages assembled, one
+hundred and thirty in number, and drew up an appeal, affixing thereto
+their seals, and Rokubei and Zembei, whose consciences smote them
+somewhat, travelled with it themselves to Ki[^y]oto. There the streets
+were in commotion, business was put aside, and men sat on the mats in
+groups discussing the darkening future. In whispers, with furtive
+glances over the shoulder, they murmured that there must be an end of
+it; anything was preferable as a change to such a life as No-Kami
+prepared for the people. Submission was making matters worse instead
+of better. Letters must be sent to the surrounding provinces. They
+must shake off sloth, and rise as one to free themselves and their
+Mikado.
+
+Sampei, riding to the Golden House, told his brother of the hubbub. As
+he heard, the brow of the despot darkened; his eyeballs became
+bloodshot, like those of the demon Razetsu, as in obstinate fume he
+gnashed his teeth.
+
+"What?" he cried. "Oh, girl in man's attire, I have borne too long
+with your puling! You dare to come hither, and take the part of the
+scum against me, your feudal lord! A shivering coward, who calls
+himself a soldier! Not a word more, or, despite the army at your back,
+I'll have you seized and scourged, and your head flung to the
+jackals."
+
+Hot words rose in Sampei's throat, but the mournful face of his pale
+love rose before him, and he choked them down. His brother was
+distraught with passion,--knew not what he said. His feudal lord! Yes,
+that much was true. If danger was brewing, his place was by the side
+of his brother, to save him, if might be, from the consequences of the
+wickedness instilled by demons; if not, to assist him in his death.
+
+The silence and sullen submission of the young General irritated the
+Daimio to frenzy. He cursed and growled like some savage animal,
+became the more furious from the conviction that in this matter he
+had been precipitate and wrong,--had been guilty of a mistake in
+state-craft,--of over-harshness. And yet it would never do to give to
+the scum the victory--to the low mechanics, and mean, unarmed
+artificers, who were assuming a threatening attitude. What would the
+other daimios say, who were eagerly watching the next move, if the
+ruler were again to give way,--to succumb like a woman before the
+outcry of a few rustics? The prestige of the Hojos would be gone for
+ever, and the bearer of the name would be sucked under and drowned by
+the torrent which would assuredly break loose. Give way! That, by the
+crown of Buddha, he swore he never would; and yet, perceiving too late
+the danger, in his heart he longed for a compromise. Hearing that
+Rokubei and Zembei, venerable elders, had dared to come pestering, and
+that a deputation of priests, headed by the bonzes of Tsu, awaited his
+pleasure, he smothered his rage, and bade Sampei admit them. He even
+deigned to summon his father's friend, and solicit counsel, placing
+the case before him.
+
+Concealing his exultation under an air of sympathy, Nara arrived with
+promptitude, and, true to his tactics, gave advice which was
+calculated to undo his enemy.
+
+"The peril is extreme," he said, "so I will speak plainly. 'Tis easier
+to raise a storm than quell it."
+
+"If you are here to talk platitudes, begone," interrupted No-Kami.
+
+"Be patient, my almost son, and attend," the malicious Daimio
+responded, with inward laughter. Like a bear in the toils his foe was
+caught, and it should be no fault of his if he became not more closely
+enmeshed. "You are right in this," he continued. "It will not do to
+lower the proud standard of the Hojos before the rabble; and yet you
+must provide them with a sop. Let the sentence stand. What is decreed
+should be irrevocable; but grant the boon in the memorial. Remove the
+obnoxious taxes. So will you seem clement, as well as stern and
+strong. They will fear you more than ever, while compelled to praise
+your bounty."
+
+The advice jumped with No-Kami's inclination The more he considered
+it, the more crafty it appeared; but, true to his principle of
+blood-letting and tyrannising over the weak, he slightly improved on
+it. He would pretend to have known nothing of these taxes, and,
+as an example, would bring to condign punishment the bailiffs and
+tax-gatherers who had so harshly oppressed his vassals.
+
+A master-stroke worthy of his sapient father this. A touch of genius.
+He accordingly harangued the deputations; declared his surprise as
+well as sympathy and love with such assurance that they scarce could
+believe their ears. The sentence, if somewhat harsh, must stand, he
+said, for 'twas a grievous crime in a vassal to hold up to obloquy his
+feudal lord. The property of the offending farmer should, however, not
+all be confiscated, but a part would be handed over to the girl Mine,
+who was spared, thanks to his brother's pleading. He assured his
+amazed listeners that he grieved over the rapacity of his officers--of
+whom he would make an example--in that they had invented new imposts
+on their own account, to the detriment of their lord's repute. He was
+sorry that the full details of the case had not reached him before.
+The town councillors of Tsu would be dismissed from their posts. Four
+district governors and three bailiffs would be banished to the
+northern island. The chief bailiff of Tsu and one particularly-sinful
+officer would be invited to perform harakiri. The objectionable taxes
+were abolished.
+
+With this, while his audience stood aghast and dumb, my lord waved his
+fan with courteous condescension, in token of dismissal, and retired,
+flattering himself that he had got extremely well out of rather an
+awkward hobble.
+
+The news which the deputations brought back with them to Tsu was
+received with mixed feelings. It was sad that the farmer's family must
+perish, but Koshiu would know that they had not died in vain. For the
+public good he and his were made a sacrifice. Many litanies should be
+chanted in the temples; the martyr should be canonised, enrolled on
+the list of saints.
+
+One who was inconsolable was Mine. Spurned by him at whose feet she
+had cast herself--for Sampei had never deigned to inquire after
+her--she was compelled to admit that her father was right in his
+estimate of the reigning family. If he whom she elected to worship as
+a hero had not been as cruel as his brother, he would not stand
+by--he, a powerful general in command of many soldiers, while so
+wicked a sentence was promulgated. Father, mother, brothers--all. And
+she had loved this man! Distracted, she rushed to the castle, and
+braving the obscene jests of the samurai, implored to be admitted to
+her parents. She had done wrong, and must die heartbroken if deprived
+of their forgiveness.
+
+A soldier, softened by the maiden's anguish, carried her entreaty, and
+returned with the message that her father refused to see her. She who
+was the chattel of a Hojo was no child of his, he had declared. Three
+beloved sons were his, but no daughter. Mine battered with weak hands
+upon the closing door. Her father had judged too harshly, for--alas!
+to confess such infamy--the Hojo had repulsed her. She was not his
+mistress,--had never even seen him since he sallied forth to war. The
+samurai laughed loud at the confession, and gibed at the hapless maid,
+bandying foul pleasantries. A likely story. Since, owing to the
+General's intervention, she was to have the property, she would
+doubtless find some one to pick up that which my lord Sampei had
+tossed into the mire. How much would she be worth? Would she set
+herself up to auction? By-and-by she could purchase for herself a
+husband, if not now a messenger. Her father declined to see her, so if
+yet she had a shred of shame left she had best depart, and quickly. If
+not, the soldiery would take her in, and for their own delectation
+keep her there. In terror she sped away, nor stopped till she reached
+the temple; and when in the gloaming the spectral line of nuns and
+Abbess entered for the evening prayer, Masago lifted the exhausted and
+fainting girl, and pressing cold lips upon her brow, bade her take
+rest and comfort. Henceforth she was theirs and Buddha's.
+
+To show that, although clement, he was not to be intimidated, No-Kami
+resolved to make of the prospective execution a wholesome precedent,
+and to that end journeyed to Tsu in person. He was determined that the
+spectacle should abide in the minds of those who were privileged to
+witness it, as an ineffaceable lesson and an awful memory. It should
+take place within the castle boundaries, he decreed, in the presence
+of the Daimio and his suite, in gala robes, and all and sundry were
+invited to attend this new and engaging form of public festival.
+
+As the fatal day approached, the fiery temper of the despot was
+severely tried, and grew hotter under the trial; for although the
+truculent retinue applauded, and looked forward with glee to a rare
+frolic, there was hanging over the land a shadow that might be felt.
+
+Men spoke together in isolated knots, scudding away like hares if the
+gallop of my lord's escort was heard returning from the chase. This
+showed a wholesome and gratifying fear; but there were some who took
+no pains to cloke their insolence. The friends of the tax-gatherers
+and others who had been condemned, raised an outcry, vowing that they
+had obeyed to the letter their lord's behest, and that 'twas hard to
+suffer for being only too faithfully obedient. No-Kami increased the
+number of his personal attendants, daring no longer to go forth alone,
+lest haply some wailing relative should cling to his stirrup, and
+decline to be beaten off. Even behind the bristling defences of the
+castle he was not secure. Masago and her nuns arrived in solemn
+procession at the gate, and the soldiers, hardened though they were,
+were afraid to refuse them entrance. The austere Abbess was not to be
+browbeaten. Calm and cold, with inflexible mien she looked No-Kami in
+the eyes, and in presence of his warriors, in the name of her dead
+lord his father, dared him to fulfil his purpose. Solemnly she warned
+him of divine rancour. She had had a dream, and, as all the world
+knows, the soul during sleep is in active communication with the
+departed. Even now, at the eleventh hour, she urged that there was
+still time to avert the vengeance of the gods. The growing anger of
+Buddha might be appeased by pilgrimage and prayer, self-humbling, and
+precious gifts.
+
+But Masago might as well have preached to the lotuses. Her speech was
+met with uneasy ribaldry, and smouldering ire.
+
+"Bah! Threats from a troop of women! A made-up ghost to affright
+children with. Ye are hungry for the good things of this world,"
+snarled the Daimio, "like all the priesthood. Be off! I care not for
+nuns or bonzes, self-appointed messengers from Heaven. Chatterers, get
+you gone while ye have time, or despite your garb your bodies shall
+feel the whip."
+
+With that he bade the doorkeepers open wide the gate, that his guards
+might drive forth the embassage.
+
+The unfortunate chatelaine, although none of the castle denizens cared
+to know it, was the one who was most hardly stricken by her husband's
+culminating sin. When the sad procession arrived with in its midst the
+patriot, she was boating outside the walls, deftly guiding her shallop
+with a slender pole through the luxuriant floating greenery. The
+elders having been spared at her written request, the horizon
+seemed less black. This was a first step towards the reclaiming of
+No-Kami--by-and-by, little by little, she would by tact and persistent
+effort regain over him the influence which at first she had too
+quickly abdicated. As she pondered, she blamed herself for lack of
+patient perseverance.
+
+What was her own petty pride to the people's good? She had misjudged
+No-Kami, for on receipt of her letter he had given way at once. So he
+would again, and yet again, till drawn out of himself by tenderness,
+he would cast aside his wicked self like a foul garment, and live a
+cleanly life. Then she fell a-weaving of plans for assuaging the
+misery of her people, and all at once there fell the thunderbolt, and
+her new calm was rudely broken.
+
+This horror was worse than all. Retiring to her bower, and dismissing
+her maidens, she cast herself upon the floor, and, numbed by despair,
+remained inanimate for hours. Had the gods no pity for such frail
+things as she? The contemplation of her husband, of the man who could
+deliberately plan and execute so vile an atrocity as this, caused her
+flesh to creep, her soul to shudder. He proposed, moreover, to
+accomplish the dreadful deed _here_, within the precincts of her
+house. The smell of the blood would never fade, its stain might never
+be effaced; and she was doomed to endure its constant presence for
+long years, unless the gods were clement. Some rail at the brief span
+of life. To some it seems too short, to others interminable. How
+earnestly, lying prone, did O'Tei entreat release. A long vista of
+grim dreadful years. No, at bay, she would revolt against the
+nightmare, would leap into the waves, and make an end of it. Since men
+may relieve themselves with the dirk of a too heavy existence, might
+not women seek relief in the embrace of the blessed sea?
+
+He was coming here soon, her husband, to superintend the shocking
+details. He would touch, perhaps clasp her in his arms. Oh, no! And
+yet, why not? Clutched by him, pressed to the hard heart of the
+monster, inhaling the poison of his breath, she must surely wither;
+and if her soul were freed, what signified the horror of the means?
+
+Sinking into a condition of dull lethargy, she went forth no more, but
+brooded in the quiet of her chamber, from which she could see the hill
+crowned by the temple groves. Dim and distant, like the roar in a
+sea-shell, she heard the noise of arrival, the neighing of steeds, and
+clank of iron, the braying of hoarse throats, the shouts and laughter
+at carousal. With sick apprehension she awaited the dreaded footsteps
+which soon must cross the threshold. But time went on and it came not,
+and she thanked the gods for that. He had inquired for her, the
+maidens said, and they had replied that their lady was ill. He had
+said no more, and had seemed satisfied. Truth to tell, he was as much
+relieved as she at the postponement of a meeting. For, worried and
+annoyed by the abominable behaviour of the scum, he was in no mood for
+whining, and instinct whispered that on such an occasion as the
+forthcoming festival the degenerate O'Tei would whine. When it was
+past and over, she would know better than to whimper, since what is
+done is done; and once resolved, no whining of silly women-folk should
+turn him from his purpose. Whilst dreading the creak of one footfall,
+she listened wistfully for another. Where was Sampei, her childhood's
+friend? Sure, he would sympathise, for his kind heart would tell him
+of the direful condition of his sister. Had he, disgusted with his
+brother, deserted him? It was likely; and yet not so, for Sampei--who
+should know better than she?--was loyal and true. He had arrived with
+my lord; the maidens had seen and admired him, and had grieved to
+perceive that he was dejected, the noble young hero. How strange then
+that he should not visit his old playmate.
+
+Alack! Sampei avoided O'Tei as diligently as did No-Kami. What could
+he say to her that would not increase her sorrow? Fully appreciating
+her highly-wrought and reserved and sensitive nature, he knew too well
+what she must be suffering; and the sight of her tears, since he might
+not dry them, would cut him like a sword-thrust. Moreover, the seed
+his mother had prudently sown had taken deep root in his light soil,
+by reason of Mine's foolishness. On every account it was well to avoid
+personal contact with O'Tei. Without being conceited, the fact was
+patent that if one woman fell in love with him without encouragement,
+another might. In his ordinary frame of mind, he would cheerfully have
+said, "The more the better," and have basked with joy in the sunshine
+of unlimited loveliness. But he knew now that he adored O'Tei with an
+affection so pure and deep that there was no selfishness in it,--that,
+rather than cause her a pang, he would himself make any sacrifice. Her
+heart, he knew, was empty. As the Abbess had hinted, it was not at all
+impossible that if tempted she might grow to love her brother-in-law
+in unbrotherly fashion; and then, what pain to her, to him, to all?
+For once the young soldier would be prudent. Near, but unseen, he
+would shield his beloved as much as possible,--commune with her as
+little as might be,--come forward only in emergency.
+
+With regard to No-Kami, he grew grievously perplexed, marvelling
+sometimes whether his brother was sane. The practice of cruelty upon
+the weak, for the enjoyment thereof, was something so foreign to his
+own open character that he could not comprehend the motives which
+moved the Daimio, nor his fits of frenzy when thwarted. Once, since
+their arrival at Tsu, he had remonstrated fearlessly with his chief,
+who had thereupon threatened to dismiss him into banishment. For the
+sake of the chatelaine, in the quickly-clouding future, this must not
+be. So Sampei, at his wits' end, like a dutiful son, climbed the
+temple stairs and unlocked the secrets of his heart before the shrewd
+ken of the Abbess. Masago surveyed him anxiously, then unaccustomed
+tears for a moment dimmed her vision as she gave praise to the gods in
+that she had been given such a son. Truth and trust looked from out
+his eyes. The noble fellow. Placing her firm white hand upon his
+shoulder, she kissed his brow.
+
+"The situation is dark," she said; "the skein is tangled. The gods
+have marked down for destruction my lord of Tsu. That much is clear to
+me. Blindfold he marches to the edge of the abyss. I am a weak,
+purblind woman groping in the dark, unable to give counsel in so
+difficult a strait. My voice has been raised in vain: he thrust us
+forth like dogs. I will pray. Maybe that through prayer and vigil I
+may learn to know; and when I know, then will I tell thee, child.
+Peradventure divine wrath may yet, by diligent pleading, be turned
+aside. The farmer and his family must perish, thou a dumb spectator.
+That much cannot be helped. Be patient. Wait. I will prostrate myself
+before the altar, that the veil of the future may be rent."
+
+One morning a lull of unaccustomed quietude informed O'Tei that my
+lord and all his following had gone scouring over the plain, and her
+maids, seeing her listless and sad-eyed, implored their mistress to
+mount to the top of the tower, and breathe the fresher air. From the
+upper gallery, shaded by the huge copper roof, the weary recluse gazed
+over the flat towards the twin hills with an intense longing. Since my
+lord's coming, she had not visited her summer-house, for she could not
+bear the sight of the mourning which she knew overhung the town. She
+yearned to steal forth now and gaze on the lovely view, with its
+sequestered temple, and placid land-locked waters, and fishers, and
+sunny islets. Alas! all labour was abandoned. The fishers were too
+wretched to pursue their avocation. Their boats were drawn up upon the
+beach untenanted. She could see them, a white fringe upon the yellow.
+Then, as her eye moved homeward, she started, and cried aloud, and
+wrung her hands, for down below in the courtyard rose, gaunt and
+terrible, the symbols of oppression. In a corner of the space within
+the outer moat stood ready a pair of crosses. The preparations were
+made then?--the consummation of the tragedy was imminent; and she,
+cowering and cowardly, had never attempted to stem the new tide of the
+Daimio's anger. A tacit connivance at this villainy!
+
+Shaking herself as from the drowsy clog of sleep, she swiftly
+descended the stair with head erect, distended eye, and face as grey
+as ashes, and, to the surprise of the sentinels, crossed the first
+drawbridge as one in a trance, and made for the place of execution.
+
+It occupied an extreme corner, far from the huts of the soldiers, and
+was masked from the path in common use by a belt of trees, concerning
+which there were fearsome legends. So many terrible events had taken
+place beneath their shade that they were said to be tenanted by souls
+of criminals,--to groan at times, and ooze with gore, and be accursed.
+To the Asiatic peasant all streams and woods are peopled with
+visionary forms,--are the homes of demons or of angels. It was well
+known that a sacrilegious cutter had striven once to fell one of these
+gnarled trunks, and had been blasted as if by lightning. It was an
+equally established fact that their vicinity impelled to suicide, for
+many men had, apparently without reason, hung themselves upon their
+branches, fascinated to self-destruction by some dread and secret
+spell.
+
+O'Tei passed under their shade, and, shivering, recalled the legend,
+for though there seemed no wind, they swayed and creaked, spreading
+gaunt arms over her head, with trails of grey-green spindles, like
+uncanny mildewed hair. Why she had come she knew not--it was in
+obedience to no volition of her own. Her heart and temples were
+throbbing wildly. Within her swimming brain there was room for but one
+idea. The web of a terrible fate was being spun with ruthless fingers
+around my lord and her to choke them both. Was she to be permitted
+again to intervene between him and his victims?--or, to tear the
+meshes which encircled them, were they destined to writhe in vain?
+Advocate of mercy, how sweet a privilege! What could she do? Had she
+the courage to face that sin-stained man? Irresolute and trembling,
+she stood staring at the crosses, marking their shadows as they
+lengthened, till, with a gasp and sob, she heard the tread of horses,
+accompanied by shouts and laughter.
+
+He had returned from the chase--the tyrant--and it was well that she
+was here. She would try not to fear him,--strive hard to do her duty.
+They must meet now, and, summoning her puny strength, she would
+endeavour to push him from the precipice.
+
+The cavalcade swept past in a cloud of dust--a brilliant, uproarious
+company--and clattered across the moat. Two riders were following a
+little behind the rest, when one, catching sight of a familiar drapery
+among the trees, pulled back his horse upon its haunches.
+
+"The lady O'Tei," he exclaimed, "beneath that baleful canopy!"
+
+And straightway Sampei dismounted, and held the stirrup for his
+brother.
+
+And thus they met again, those three, on this fateful day for all---my
+lord in an evil mood, for even to him there was something oppressive
+in the air. A pall, as of the shadow of death, hung murky over the
+land.
+
+With trembling, blue lips, more like a spectre than a woman, O'Tei
+awaited my lord's approach, and turning, flung herself upon her knees,
+clinging about his feet.
+
+No-Kami glared down in surprised dudgeon, while the soul of Sampei was
+thrilled with pity to perceive how wan she looked.
+
+"My lord!" she murmured low, with fluttering heart, "a boon. Oh! spare
+them--for my sake--for your own--spare them--spare them--spare them!
+Give me at least the lives of the woman and her babes. If the man must
+suffer, be it so. You see that for him I say no word, not one--the
+gods forgive me! For his act he knew and weighed the penalty. But
+those innocents are not to perish. Say 'twas but a pleasantry, and I
+will kiss your feet, and bless you."
+
+The visage of No-Kami grew purple as he glowered down upon his wife,
+and then, with grinding teeth, he glanced furtively around. There was
+no witness to the interview.
+
+"It is well," he hissed, "that the company has gone before, and that I
+am spared humiliation in their eyes. Fie! what shameful folly's this?
+Can this grovelling thing, like a slave in the dust, be Hojo's wife,
+child of the Daimio of Nara? Nay! it is some mean Eta woman, pariah
+and outcast. Sampei, raise her up, and quickly, and let us both forget
+this spectacle. Arise!" he cried, spurning the prostrate figure with
+his foot. "Even among the Etas obedience is a wife's first duty."
+
+Sampei stooped, and gently raising his distracted sister, supported
+her upon his breast, whilst the furious despot continued dryly,--
+
+"Know that your existence is a blot on my name and your own. It is
+well that you have borne no children to perpetuate disgrace. If any of
+the bold samurai had seen you but now, what would they have thought of
+me?--of you? how could they respect their lady? Shame, shame! Pluck up
+a spirit--borrow one--and make at least pretence to assume a fitting
+dignity. The condemned are to die at sundown; no more on that score;
+even now the spectators are trooping hitherward. Go; tire your hair
+and don your gala robes. When all is ready, I will send for you."
+
+"For me!" gasped O'Tei, turning a shade more white.
+
+"As chatelaine of Tsu, your place is by my side," announced the Daimio
+sternly. "Be my will your law. Go now, and try not to degrade us."
+
+His unhappy sister-in-law cast an imploring glance at Sampei, who
+stood with head bowed and sullen averted gaze. His blood was coursing
+through his veins at fevered speed. Patience, his mother had said, and
+wait. How could he wait and practise patience, seeing her he loved so
+outraged? Was she to be forced, by the whim of a madman, to give the
+sanction of her gracious presence to the deed which all deplored?
+
+Masago, as usual, had been right. The Divine finger was in it, or why
+should the heiress of Nara, belying her own pride and the traditions
+of her haughty lineage, have selected the very means of interference
+which was most sure to offend her lord, and frustrate her own desires?
+
+Had she, with imperious attitude and supercilious air, demanded the
+lives of the woman and her offspring, No-Kami might, touched by the
+proud beauty of her who was his bone, have, even so late as this, been
+surprised into some clemency. Sampei himself, to whom all she did was
+dear, felt a sharp twinge of mortification as, burning with sorrowful
+regret, he had quickly lifted her.
+
+Both brothers, jealous of the name they bore, suffered in their
+tenderest point on seeing her thus prostrate. O'Tei must have been
+overcome with grief indeed ere she could have been guilty of so grave
+an error. But the Daimio's last demand must be rescinded. He must not
+insist upon her being present at the ceremony, or she might succumb
+under the ordeal.
+
+Angry words of protest rose to the General's lips, but for her sake
+(remembering his mother's injunctions) he mastered them, and, as the
+trio moved slowly to the castle, strove to speak with a steady voice
+and dispassionate temperance.
+
+"Far be it from me," he began, "to interfere between a wife and her
+spouse, or fatigue my lord with argument, yet would I suggest this
+much to my brother. Alas! see how weak she is--feeble in health.
+Nerves overstrung are not under complete control. But for this, the
+heiress of Nara would never have given just cause for a husband's
+displeasure by an act which we will all forget. Do not insist upon her
+witnessing the ceremony, for she has dwelt of late in such strict
+retirement that none will expect her presence."
+
+A look at No-Kami cut him short. There was a lurid glitter in his
+glance that boded serious mischief if thwarted, threatening a new
+burst of frenzy. How difficult it was to be prudent, to steer without
+shipwreck in such troubled waters. Again for a space was the General
+torn between contending duties. Was he bound blindly to follow the
+head of his clan in his mad recklessness, lead where he would? Could
+he be excused were he to look on and refrain from action while the
+soul of his love was tortured? Was it not craven idly to mark her
+growing misery? Her true knight, forsooth! A knight unarmed, his spear
+a rotten bulrush. Was it destined that he might never afford her help?
+Better go away then, back to Corea, or farther still. Yet how would
+that be possible, she in this desperate quandary? Like a green flash
+of pallid light it broke upon him clearly, as he walked beside his
+chief, that the day might come when, the weapon in the grasp of a
+higher power, he would be compelled to smite his brother. With the
+thought came a grisly dread. Desperation drives men to acts for which
+a long life of penitence may not atone. Fate is fate, and man may not
+master it.
+
+Sampei thought of his mother, and, like her, prayed to be enlightened.
+Was the doomed No-Kami indeed to fall by the treacherous hand of him
+who should be the first to help? And, ah! what a grievous punishment
+would follow, since by the very act of freeing her he would cut
+himself off from her for ever. A brother's widow and a brother's
+murderer. Wait, the Abbess had said. Wait! How long? Events rolling
+onward with the turbid tide, would it be possible to wait?
+
+The toils of destiny were wrapped around the three, clasping them
+closer and more close, as, gloomy and tempest-tossed, they passed
+under the gateway of the castle.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER IX.
+
+ THE EXECUTION.
+
+
+The Daimio was well served by his subordinates. Nothing was omitted
+which could add impressiveness to the coming rite. The two crosses
+stood facing the west, gaunt and forbidding, at a convenient distance
+one from the other, backed by the green trees, and around them was
+spread thick paper, to save the earth from pollution. It had been a
+knotty question with the chief samurai, who acted as master of the
+ceremonies, as to the exact shade of punctilio which it would be
+fitting to employ on the occasion. All the world knows that the most
+minute instructions were laid down in 1336 by Ashikaga for the
+guidance of those of upper or military class who were to assist either
+as principals or seconds at harakiri, or suicide by disembowelling.
+The exact hour, the place, the number of lights, of mats, of screens
+and hangings, bows and genuflections, according to the rank of the
+sufferer, were arranged by him in the form of a long code, and so
+complete and comprehensive were these instructions that no room was
+left for doubt as to the most trifling detail. But here was a case
+without precedent, for the sufferers were plebeians, too low and
+common to be worthy of the smallest candle or commonest mat, or,
+indeed, of anything whatever except an ignominious slaughter like
+swine. But then the Daimio had insisted that the spectators should be
+regaled with pomp and circumstance,--that the criminals should have
+the honour of being done to death within the castle precincts, and
+therefore the chief samurai was obliged to hold a council with his
+fellows for the fixing of this weighty matter.
+
+In the first place, the farmer and his wife were of too mean a stock
+to be permitted to put an end to themselves, just as the children
+were too young to perform the act, even if accorded the privilege. No,
+they must be handed over to the Etas, members of the lowest class in
+Japan--people who dig graves and kill animals--social outcasts beyond
+the pale of society, filthy and degraded, who are never allowed to
+enter a house, or eat or drink or cook at any fire in company with
+decent persons. Being unworthy of mats or hangings, the device of the
+paper was an ingenious thought, for the blood of mere peasants must
+not defile the private ground of my lord, and yet the spirits of the
+departing must not be overcomforted by too much consideration. As the
+execution was to take place at the hour of the cock, or sundown, it
+would be necessary to have lights, but not too many, or of too grand a
+kind, for excessive illumination would be indecorous. Four tall bamboo
+poles, carrying lanterns of plain white, were placed at four corners,
+while behind a screen were concealed a lance, a dirk upon a tray,
+buckets to contain the heads, an incense burner, cloths, and a pail of
+water. In the centre of the space facing the crosses, thick mats were
+laid, covered with rich embroideries, for the accommodation of my lord
+and his party, behind which was to be arranged, standing in rows, his
+brilliant retinue in their most splendid and glittering array. Down
+the sides, behind a low barrier, were mats of a coarser kind for the
+town's-people, with fire boxes or hibachis, and bronze kettles and tea
+things, and cakes and sweetmeats on trays of gold lacquer, in order
+that none of his vassals might accuse his benignant lord of want of
+hospitality or lack of thought for their comfort.
+
+It was a beautiful and still evening in autumn, with the opalescent
+sky of crystalline clearness, which so often in Japan gives us a hint
+of the infinite. The sun was just dipping behind the outer wall,
+flanked by its massive towers, tipping with gold the eddies of the
+brawling river which protected the side of the square opposite the
+crosses, when a flourish of conch shells announced that the time was
+come.
+
+With a thunder of hoofs over the wooden drawbridge, first there
+defiled a troop of cavalry with tapering lances and pennons, in
+glistening black armour and housings, each helmet adorned with the
+badge of Hojo, the face of each horse covered by a gilded mask of
+frowning and horrific aspect. Solemnly the horsemen man[oe]uvred,
+forming a hollow square of gold and sable; then at a signal the outer
+gates were opened, and with clatter of many clogs there poured in from
+the town a sea of men and women, old and young, with anxious pallid
+faces. The invitation had been accepted by all classes. Fishermen
+there were in short blue cotton shirts and tight gaiters, and mushroom
+hats roughly bedizened in colour with tigers or twisting dragons. Old
+dames and young rosy girls jostled and fought for places, for sure
+never had the oldest inhabitant been bidden to so strange a mummery.
+Artisans there were too, burly and bronzed, naked, save for a
+loin-cloth and loose jacket; and merchants and superior persons, in
+long crape kimonos, adorned with curious designs, bound round the
+waist with scarves of silk. The black phalanx looked down with scorn
+but half concealed, for never had so motley a rabblement been admitted
+within these walls, and many a timid wight glanced trembling at the
+swart fierce visages under shadow of the casques, wishing he had
+stayed away. There was one, however, conspicuous for gay attire and
+many hairpins, who, no whit abashed, looked saucily along the line,
+making loud remarks, with pointed finger, as if the motionless figures
+were statues. A very pretty little lady like a humming bird, with
+dancing eyes and silvery laugh, and hair tricked out and stiffened
+with pomade, who, by her gay dress, was a geisha or professional
+dancing-girl. All about her was small, but neat and natty and trim,
+from her tiny feet and lacquered clogs to her impudent little nose. It
+was plain that she was afraid of nothing, taking life lightly,
+resolved upon enjoying the day, however dark its setting; for,
+elbowing her way to the front, she commenced, with a comical
+assumption of haughtiness, to criticise the arrangements, as if all
+her short career had been passed in castles and palaces.
+
+The chief samurai was uncertain how to act respecting her, for she
+presumed to mock at him, and mimic his rolling swagger and pompous
+stride, rating him the while for tardiness,--a lamentable lack of
+punctuality. Who was this forward wench? he asked, awaking from dumb
+amazement, who, respecting neither place nor persons, mumbled
+sweetmeats between cherry lips, and, tapping a garish fan, shouted for
+the performance to commence! It was O'Kiku some one said, a celebrated
+dancer and spoilt beauty from distant Kamakura, who was in the habit
+of walking upon hearts, of attaching herself to richest youths like a
+tarantula, and quickly sucking them dry. She was on a pilgrimage to
+the groves of Ise--for even frail and flighty young ladies have souls
+that require doctoring--but hearing of what was toward, and the
+temptation great, had gaily tossed aside her pilgrim robes of white,
+and postponed her journey and her prayers.
+
+But now, even naughty and irrepressible O'Kiku was hushed to silence,
+for there was another flourish, and, stately and slow, with all the
+pomp of state, the procession of the Daimio marched across the bridge.
+Very handsome the two brothers looked as, in full dress, and wearing
+the courtly Naga-bakama (full long trousers of red silk), they moved
+with a lady between them--a lady who, by her exceeding stateliness and
+unusual pallor, riveted the attention of the geisha.
+
+"Patrician to the finger ends," muttered the latter approvingly. "I
+have never seen so high-bred a lady--no, not even among the gorgeous
+court of the Shogun in distant Kamakura--as noble in bearing as her
+two supporters. Which is the Daimio, I wonder? The older one, of
+course."
+
+The older one. Her heart---or what served as such--went straight out
+to him; and from her worldly point of view, in which inclination and
+interest seemed in unaccustomed fashion to mingle, she decided, as
+rustic Mine had done before her, that he, and he only, should be her
+master. The handsome stalwart fellow, bronzed and weather-worn, his
+brow crossed by a deep and honourable cicatrice! A typical soldier he,
+whom 'twould be a joy to love. The other one? Well, handsome too, but
+ill-tempered evidently; as rich in scowls as a tiger in stripes; a
+wild beast, whose taming might amuse. And yet toying with wild beasts
+is dangerous, for when they scratch they tear. Brothers apparently.
+The wife of which was the patrician lady? For a second the world-worn
+geisha felt the prick of a curious and new sensation. Could it be
+jealousy? If she were the wife of the soldier, she was a rival whom it
+would be necessary to fight and crush. Cold--almost inanimate; a
+doll--stupid probably--entirely wrapped, like so many of her station,
+in contemplation of the family tree. Pooh! an absurd rival; for sure
+no man could love an icicle. Were they newly married? This bridegroom
+with the scar was delectably attentive to his bride. How mawkish! And
+then the observant little woman noticed that the scowls of the younger
+brother were specially turned upon the icicle. Why was that? There was
+an air about him of discontented proprietorship. Suddenly she became
+aware of the richness of his attire as he took his place in the
+centre, amid the bows and genuflections of the spectators.
+
+So the younger of the twain was the Daimio, and the icicle his wife.
+What a pity that it was not the elder. It was with a twinge of genuine
+regret that the geisha turned from the bronzed hero to examine the
+chief of the clan. A forbidding savage! Clearly he did not love the
+icicle. He was fancy free. Inclination and interest as usual did not
+mingle. Heigho! must we always throw over romance for the better
+filling of our pockets? An unsatisfactory world, in sooth, where
+things have such a provoking way of clashing. A good-looking
+aristocratic person this head of the clan, if cross.
+
+"I did well to drop my foolish prayers; this is the moment for
+business," she inly murmured. "I shall have first to ensnare the
+chief, and his stalwart brother after."
+
+Her line of action thus promptly and practically decided, the young
+woman prepared her batteries.
+
+Even No-Kami, with much cause, as he told himself, for displeasure,
+could find little room for carping in the attitude of his consort, now
+frozen into compliance with his mandate. She had, as it were, gone out
+of herself, leaving a stiffened body, moved by automatic springs.
+Condemned to do awful penance, she walked mechanically, leaning on the
+arm of her brother, who glanced from time to time at her, with mixed
+satisfaction and surprise. He had dreaded lest, her task beyond her
+strength, she should quail and break down, object of derision to
+samurai; but no--the struggle was past--the blood of the Daimios of
+Nara asserted itself. Of what use was it for a girl to struggle
+against destiny? What must be, will be, despite our feeble protests.
+To beat soft palms against a wall is but to bruise and maim them. One
+who drowns, battles with futile strength among the waters, then drifts
+quiescent beyond the pale, power of resistance gone.
+
+The watchful warriors smiled, relieved, behind their iron-mounted
+tans, as silently they dropped into their places. For once their
+chatelaine was as chill and disdainful and impassable as the
+chatelaine of Tsu should be.
+
+No-Kami cast his eyes, gleaming tawny with malice satisfied, over the
+throng. He was well-pleased. As a pageant the affair was a distinct
+success, for, hemmed round by the swart square, his vassals were
+learning a lesson of fear that should stem their insolence in future.
+
+The executioner and his aids stood ready on their lengthening shadows,
+chosen from among the Etas for their breadth of beam. Their athletic
+bodies stripped to the waist, dark as burnished bronze, tatooed in
+intricate designs, with loins girt up, and hair loosely knotted, and
+sandalled feet apart, they awaited the signal of their lord.
+
+The Daimio raised his arm; the shells sent forth a blast, and at the
+warning all heads were turned, for there appeared from among the grey
+and ghostly trees the sad procession of the doomed.
+
+First, with chains about their ankles, and wrists fast bound, came the
+unlucky officials who for too slavishly literal obedience were to
+serve as a sop to the people. A purr of applause, a drawing in of the
+breath, like the sibillation of the plashing wave, went round the
+throng, as the heads of the condemned were severed; for there is no
+denying that it is delicious to enjoy the discomfiture of foes. But
+this act of popular justice accomplished, there was a pause, and then
+the assemblage, changing its tone, sent up a protesting moan of
+tribulation, accompanied by tears; for, smiling, with head well poised
+and brawny shoulders bare, the patriot, who was one of themselves,
+advanced to martyrdom. By his side, in mien as brave as he, walked in
+her best kimono his wife, the hapless Kennui, leading in each hand a
+child, pathetically crowned with simple field-flowers. Ah me! How
+grievous a spectacle was this of innocence marching to the slaughter.
+
+There was a rustle and ripple as of wind over a rice field.
+O'Tei alone of all appeared unmoved. But for the twitching of
+slightly-contracted brows, her delicate features might have been
+carven, as, peering into space and seeing nothing, she sat motionless
+with bloodless lips.
+
+Even the fair and outrageously irreverent and saucy O'Kiku, who had
+made so merry, with that musical strong voice of hers, Over the rueful
+plight of the tax-gatherers, as to draw on herself the flattering
+attention of the Daimio, was obliged, at sight of the babes, to dash
+away one tiny crystal drop; but then remembering that weeping makes
+pink the nose, and that life at best is brief, she resumed the reins
+of composure. More, for she succeeded in emitting such a jocund and
+appropriate peal of laughter as disconcerted the mob and wrung for
+behoof of the stranger a gratified inclination from my lord. Who was
+this bewitching creature? he began to ask. As good-looking as
+sensible. The eyes of the pretty girl beyond the common barrier and
+those of the great man on the mat of honour met, and from beneath a
+silky curtain the former shot forth a languishing glance of modest and
+reluctant but uncontrollable admiration, which was answered by a
+brazen ogle.
+
+O'Kiku blushed like a budding peony, which made her look more engaging
+than ever, and lowering her lids behind her fan, began seriously to
+congratulate herself. How clever she had been, adapting herself to
+circumstances, to postpone those tiresome prayers at Ise; for 'twas
+more and more evident that the great man cared nothing for the stony
+image by his side, and was susceptible to the blandishments of beauty.
+It was rather fortunate, too, that that other one with the scar upon
+his brow should be glumly engrossed in contemplating the heavens. Had
+she not, with a precision of judgment that was worthy of all praise,
+arranged that she would ensnare the great man first, and dally with
+the other afterwards? Even so well skilled a person as the geisha
+would have found it difficult to angle for both in the presence of one
+another. The Daimio caught and landed, fishing for the elder brother
+would be a delightful pastime. Yes. Business first and pleasure
+afterwards. Buddha is always on his lotus, calm and cross-legged, and
+to him, in matter of favours asked, all times are one, for is he not
+eternal? Whereas it must be evident to the smallest capacity that the
+great ones of the earth are not always accessible, but, within range,
+must be shot flying as they pass.
+
+Her plans arranged with accuracy and speed, the wily damsel commenced
+such a series of arch man[oe]uvres with eyes and fan as a long and
+varied experience had taught were deadly; a silent yet eloquent
+language, which pleasantly titillated the nerves of the first of her
+intended victims. When public opinion and your own conscience upbraid
+your act, it is consoling to be encouraged by a pair of lustrous orbs.
+Sympathy, always sweet, is doubly so when we secretly know that we are
+wrong. By contrast, O'Tei's recent behaviour now seemed doubly
+execrable to No-Kami. Her cold glance, even in the early days had
+betrayed a polite indifference, which gradually changed, as he
+remembered now with sullen ire, into an expression of scorn half
+veiled, varied with dread and horror. As he gazed on the dazzling
+geisha, his spirits rose to blytheness.
+
+How whimsical are the arrangements of Nature! He could see now why his
+wife, despite her beauty, had always been repellent. She was tall and
+frigid, with an assumption of faultlessness which cannot but be
+disapproved by those who make no pretence to ph[oe]nixdom; whereas
+there, opposite, sent by the gods to comfort his loneliness, was a
+fairy vision replete with glowing perfections, accentuated by the
+piquancy of frailty, which he yearned to clasp in his arms. Sure so
+fragile an atomy would melt away in the fervour of a hot embrace? Yet
+no. The flesh was flesh--warm with life, deliciously solid and plump
+and peachen, if sylph-like in contour.
+
+Thrilled with desire of possession, the pageant interested my lord no
+more save for the amusement it afforded to the stranger. Somewhat
+vexed and annoyed by the ill-timed gurgles of the scum (yet what can
+you expect of low people but vulgarity?), he was pleased to perceive,
+by engaging little pouts and shoulder-shrugs and entrancing
+nose-wrinklings, that the stranger from afar was with him. It was
+evident that she deemed the sentence just--his severity wise and
+opportune. Stealing a glance at the chill statue by his side, upon
+which the anxious gaze of his brother was fixed, he became much
+annoyed; for in every line of O'Tei's suffering face was imprinted
+remonstrance and despair. Sampei, too, the milksop, appeared quite as
+miserable. It was a fortunate chance indeed that had brought the
+geisha to the castle.
+
+From afar there boomed across the flat a sweet but solemn sound that
+stirred the hearts of all; for was not the peal of the great bronze
+bell of Buddha a mystic friend close woven in the life of each? Every
+day its toll awoke the slumbering peasants for miles around, preaching
+with mellow voice a life of honest labour; and, ablutions over, each
+simple man and woman, with fervent face turned to the rising sun,
+clapped palms together, craving a blessing on their toil.
+
+To the superstitious Japanese the bronze temple bell is a living
+entity. It breathes with their breath, joys with their joy, grieves
+with their sorrow. As wood and brook are peopled, so are the temple
+and groves; and the great bronze bell is the voice of the myriad
+spirits, messengers of Buddha's will. How exasperatingly pestilent,
+therefore, was it now of Masago to give to the festivity a mournful
+turn of warning by slowly beating the bell as if for some popular
+calamity.
+
+A shudder passed over the crowd. Hark' What was that? The soughing of
+the wind? The twee-twee of the shrill cicada? No. A faint and distant
+chant, growing each moment louder; and, as he heard, the face of my
+lord grew purple and his brow black with rage, which he was vainly
+seeking to control. He, like the others, guessed the purport of the
+music, and his fingers mechanically sought his sword-hilt. That
+abominable Abbess, not to be daunted by recent contumely, was again
+coming to the castle with all her bonzes and her maidens to demand at
+least the lifeless bodies of those who were about to die. Nothing
+could be more inopportune,--better calculated to mar the pageant; for
+of what use were sweetmeats and fruit and the best tea as concomitants
+to a grim enjoyment made fascinating by wholesome terror, if the
+occasion were suddenly to be turned into one of open mourning? What
+was to be done? If 'twas but a bevy of priests, a few deft taps in
+tender places with the bamboo would send them squealing; but the
+voices were those of women, and even a tyrannical daimio will not gain
+in dignity by the scourging of a posse of girls. For an instant he
+breathed a deep curse upon all women--universal marplots; but,
+catching the glance of the stranger, he recanted. Even she found it
+difficult to combat her emotion. Her cheek had blanched, her lovely
+bosom heaved under the crape kimono; but being a damsel of strong
+will, gifted with a power of seeing ahead, she forced an arch flash
+from her eye, for the comfort of her new adorer. By a swift signal
+she bade him know that her sympathy was with him still. By instinct
+born of new affection, he seemed to read her thoughts. Abbesses are
+cross-grained, churlish hags, she seemed to say,--disappointed because
+youth has fled. Yet, in her heart, she could not but be aware that
+things were going badly, and that the effect produced by that gruesome
+festivity was far from the one intended. Well, so much the better, for
+her sympathy was rendered thereby more precious. Instead of accepting
+their harsh lesson with humble and meek duty, the fractious mob of
+artizans and mean persons, who should have been awed by mere admission
+within the castle, were presuming, with sighs and lamentations, openly
+to side with the convicted! With sobs and streaming cheeks the
+spectators leaned over the barriers, and, with low murmurs of "Cruel!"
+and "Pitiless!" threw their sweetmeats to the little ones.
+
+Beyond the outer wall, glinting through embrasures in the masonry, the
+rapid river rushed red and golden, flushed by the sinking sun. Its
+glitter was reflected in the eyes of Koshiu, who, with a martyr's
+smile, hearkened to the swell of the dirge. How comforting it was! How
+good of Buddha, the silent and watchful, thus to have inspired his
+priestesses! The will of a wicked man could keep them beyond the moat,
+but their voices, preternaturally clear with words from beyond the
+grave, floated over bolts and barriers. 'Twas with exultation and
+glee, as of one heated with warm wine, that, drawing his burly form to
+its full height, Koshiu turned him to his wife as both were bound to
+their crosses.
+
+"Cheer thee, dear Kennui!" he gaily laughed. "A spasm, and then
+happiness. It is given me to see, and I behold. Our poor transient
+lives are forfeit in this dim world of twilight, but our end is
+gained. The odious taxes are removed, and our brethren, not yet ripe
+for flitting, may rise upon their feet; for my lord is banned, the
+days of his oppression numbered. With deep humility and praise I see a
+miracle. In the next cycle--which is but a tiny step--we are rich and
+prosperous, ay and, oh wonder! reunited. Gennosuke will be reborn to
+us, and our little Sohei and dear Kihachi, in a clime where the Hojos
+are not."
+
+As the chant pealed louder yet, the chief victim was wrapped in
+ecstasy, shared as it seemed by his faithful helpmeet, for with bright
+eyes fixed on him she forgot her children's suffering, wistfully
+awaiting their rebirth.
+
+Not so the appalled audience, who, shivering with terror, watched the
+Etas at their work. Who may presume to gauge the designs of the
+Eternal? For his own mysterious ends--upright on his lotos--he was
+permitting this great wickedness; but whilst permitting, and lest
+mortals should lose their trust, and topple into unbelief, he deigned
+to raise a corner of the veil. 'Twas clear that the doomed farmer was
+big with prophecy. What words would next drop from his lips? And about
+the heads of the children too--the innocents--there gleamed a mystic
+radiance. When, to accompany their feudal leader on his passage of the
+river Sandzu, the privileged members of his bodyguard perform the rite
+of harakiri, 'tis the deliberate act of mature men, whose hands are
+steadied by faith unwavering. As such, it inspires respect and awe in
+which there is no fear. But to look on at ignorant and helpless
+infants butchered! oh, woeful sight! And, while the dread deed is
+being done, to hearken to the prophetic words of him who stands beside
+them on the brink. Well may the cheek blanch and the breast heave of
+those privileged to witness such a spectacle! Sure 'twas supported by
+the holy finger of the Unseen himself that Gennosuke assumed a manly
+dignity beyond his thirteen years as, stretching forth his head to the
+knife, he looked calmly up at the executioner. "Oh, father and
+mother," he simply said, "and little brothers, I go first, to wait for
+you, and will put forth my hand to help you across the river. All you
+who have come to see us die, farewell! and to you, sir, also a kind
+farewell. Hurt me as little as you may."
+
+Even the headsman, a stalwart Eta, brutalised by his bleeding and long
+years of taunts and flouts, turned a glassy eye of appeal upon his
+lord, but seeing no mercy on his gloomy visage, was fain, unnerved and
+stricken to the heart, to do his revolting duty. A gleam through the
+still air, and straightway a piteous wail from the onlookers, in
+harmony with the distant dirge.
+
+Then said the second lad, miraculously brave,--"I know not how to die,
+sir, and I beg you teach me." His blood was quickly swallowed by the
+greedy sand; and then 'twas the turn of the babe--the wee naked urchin
+with skin so berry-brown, who wist so little what was forward that, as
+he stretched his tiny fingers for a persimmon that was tossed to him,
+he was sent to rejoin his brethren.
+
+Roused by the groan that was forced from many breasts, Kennui spoke,
+her eyes fixed steadily upon her husband. "Mourn not," she said, as
+one who beholds a vision. "How blessed are we! From the first you
+foresaw this fate. A little wrench--no more. Man lives but for a
+lifetime, his good name for many, and that is more precious than
+life!"
+
+The voice of Kennui waxed faint, for, tight bound as she was, the
+spear of the Eta was more kindly than the Hojo; and it was only when
+he knew himself alone--all those he loved waiting on the further
+shore--that the farmer roused himself from musing.
+
+Twisting his body towards my lord so far as his bonds permitted, he
+slowly wagged his head and laughed low and long. "Could I live here
+five hundred lives in pomp like thee," he said, "I would not, knowing
+that which will come after. Oh, cruel one! oh, pitiless!--steeped to
+the lips in crime. Fence thee with walls, and moats, and barriers of
+stone, my spirit shall burst them all to avenge thy deed this day!
+Hearken to my voice. Mark my red eyes. Waking and sleeping--in the din
+of battle--in thy secret chamber--they shall be with thee. When they
+fade, know that thy end is nigh. Thy time is brief. All-patient Buddha
+sickens at thee. Last of thy race. Thou and thine--all, all--shall
+perish miserably--thy name a horror for all time."
+
+The voice of the martyr choked. The sable phalanx of grim warriors
+quaked and rustled in their armour like leaves before the coming
+storm. The Eta, scarce knowing what he did, beside himself with fear,
+plunged the lance into his side.
+
+The head of the farmer drooped; his eyes filmed, then opened wide
+lurid, reflecting the crimson sunset. "See yonder river," he gasped,
+"and take a sign. 'Tis tinged with blood already, sucked from thy
+fortress stones. See how red it flows! A day shall come when it will
+lap those stones no more. Then shall thy house fall, a shapeless ruin.
+Cursed, thrice cursed, be the long line of Hojo! In cycles yet to come
+may they stumble and wander, led astray, hopeless, and blind, and
+never attain oblivion!"
+
+The Daimio, with lightning in his glance, and terror in his heart,
+rose up, and, speechless with passion, stretched forth his hand. The
+trembling Eta again thrust in his weapon, and the voice of menace was
+hushed. But the sightless eyes still gazed at him, who was accursed as
+from out of the infinite, and the reflection from the river shone
+forth, cast back ensanguined, from them.
+
+A panic fell on the spectators. The men, fearing they knew not what,
+grew pale; the women shrieked, and stuffed fingers into ears, or clung
+wildly one to another. The samurai, grouped behind their lord, placed
+hands on swords, irresolute; for there was no foe worthy of their
+steel. A regrettable _denouement_. 'Twas the Eta's fault--the tardy
+caitiff! His life should pay the penalty. Then of a sudden there was a
+diversion. The lady O'Tei, who, statue-like and numb, had witnessed
+the scene as one who saw not, willowed forward with a moan, and fell
+on her face unconscious.
+
+No-Kami looked around, his eyes bloodshot like the dead. Humiliation
+on humiliation. So intense was the depth of his impotent wrath, that
+his hands trembled, and his nerves were wrung with agony. What?
+He? Hojo No-Kami--tyrant of broad Japan, master of the Emperor
+himself--before whom all daimios and kuges and hatamotos were wont to
+bow, was to be bearded--openly insulted--by a low peasant fellow
+within the precincts of his castle, before his assembled vassals! The
+wretch was dead, worse luck, out of reach of further torment, bleeding
+from many spear-wounds; but ere he died he had covered his lord with
+ridicule. How different was the result of the pageant from that which
+had been proposed. The superstitious people clearly believed that the
+body hanging by its ropes was that of a martyred saint, who had spoken
+the words of Buddha; not of an insolent varlet who had perished with
+deserved ignominy. They believed the absurd threat about the river,
+and looked with awe for the accomplishment of the prophecy. The only
+dignified way out of the dilemma was by treating it with light
+contempt, turning it off as a sorry jest, with a peal of disdainful
+merriment. The attitude of Sampei was worthy of his stock. Involved
+with his brother in the curse, he had raised his brows in angry scorn,
+while his fingers moved towards his dirk. Then of a sudden, his manner
+had lamentably changed. With a sibillation of dismay, he had knelt
+over the swooning chatelaine, striving to call her to herself with
+gentle words of comfort. O'Tei! Ah, there was the worst point of all!
+By fainting thus inopportunely, she had accentuated the falseness of
+the position. That she (the chatelaine of Tsu) should cower under the
+anathema of a peasant. How different would have been the conduct of
+the bellicose Tomoye. To swoon thus in public, was to betray unfitness
+for her rank,--to allow the scum to perceive that she believed in
+the curse, and its justice,--that she disapproved the fiat of my
+lord,--regretted his well-timed severity. Sampei was right when he
+pleaded for the too weak O'Tei. So scalding was the shame of the
+Daimio, that, but for the intervening figure of his brother, he would
+then and there have struck the craven chatelaine. And yet not so. His
+loathing and hatred for his unworthy partner was so intense, that
+contact even with her robe-hem would at this juncture have been most
+distasteful. Glancing about for consolation, his eyes met those of
+O'Kiku, and there shot into his heart a glow of solace which to its
+emptiness had been long unknown.
+
+Circumstances were assisting the man[oe]uvres of the cunning geisha
+more than she could have dared to hope. The helpless misery of
+No-Kami, as he looked down upon his wife, was a confirmation of her
+conjectures. A chicken-hearten rival, easily vanquished, this
+high-bred chatelaine would prove, since she would obtain no support
+from her spouse. The brother was unnecessarily affectionate. What did
+this portend? O'Kiku's smooth brow was wrinkled by a frown. Pooh! She
+had heard much of the General, whose name was Sampei--the name she
+learned from the crowd. He was good-natured and generous, no more.
+This was not the moment to dream of him, since the head of his clan
+was standing by in need of moral support.
+
+O'Kiku had lived an eventful life, if a short one, and was not one to
+be alarmed by spectres. Taken aback for a moment, somewhat frightened
+by the scene, involved for a few seconds in the unreasoning panic of
+the mob, she had quickly regained aplomb.
+
+Tapping her fan against the barrier with a peevish shrug of shapely
+shoulders, she demanded, in a chirrupping voice, as loud and clear as
+musical, to be instantly rescued from contamination.
+
+"It serves me right," she cried, tossing her chin, "for abandoning the
+realm of fashion. Faugh! Was there ever anything so disgusting as
+these rustics? The country with its evil-smelling rice paddy and foul
+slush was fit for them, and they for it. What a ridiculous pother, to
+be sure, over one paltry man's impertinence! The ways of the coolies
+were nauseous. Thank the gods, she was unaccustomed to coolies. If
+some one would have the gallantry to remove her from their contact,
+she would skip into her kago, and return to Kamakura forthwith." Oh,
+intriguing and long-headed O'Kiku! Ah, if O'Tei had had presence of
+mind to accept the situation in this spirit! Could No-Kami ever lavish
+sufficient gratitude for so signal a service rendered in the nick of
+time?
+
+The bewitching tourist had touched the right note, and saved the
+Daimio from embarrassment. With a smile of thanks, he bowed, and
+commanded an officer without delay to extricate the lady from the
+scum. With courteous apologies and well-turned compliments he
+descended from the dais, and, taking the stranger by the finger-tips,
+led her to the place of honour. Ignoring his wife, who, seemingly as
+lifeless as the farmer's family, was being gently borne away, under
+the tender surveillance of his brother, he was free to superintend the
+stranger's comfort, to see that the new-comer was provided with tea,
+in a cup of the best hirado, and plied with the choicest sweetmeats. A
+blush of gratified vanity served to add piquancy to her beauty, as,
+with an engaging air of bashfulness that went well with long lashes
+and sly glances, she seemed to deprecate attention.
+
+"I was so sorry for you," she gently purred; "but 'tis the penalty of
+greatness to be misinterpreted."
+
+Fanning herself with demure grace, she turned her pretty head aside to
+hearken to the words of her host, gazing the while with studied
+nonchalance at the proceedings of the Etas as they placed the heads in
+buckets, piled the bodies of the infants behind a convenient screen,
+did away with tokens of the sacrifice. The hollow square of
+dark-mailed men remained motionless till it should please their lord
+to move; but under many an iron vizard was a smile lurking, for the
+conduct of the saucy lady was approved by all, and the admiration of
+No-Kami no more than natural. Unlike the one who had been borne away,
+she was an honour to her sex, a vision of brightness and of courage,
+and gladly would one and all have hailed such as she for their
+mistress.
+
+"You were cruel just now," whispered No-Kami; "though, after what has
+happened, 'twas your right."
+
+"Cruel? Poor little I?" exclaimed the artless geisha. "Why, I never
+hurt so much as a buzzing mantis when it tumbled on my head, as the
+vexatious insects will! I cruel indeed!"
+
+"You said you would depart forthwith; but you forgot that within these
+walls you are our prisoner."
+
+"I was on my way to pray at Ise," remarked the demure damsel; "sure
+you would not balk so pious an intent?"
+
+"That can wait--and must!" returned the Daimio. "Bad impressions must
+be effaced. You must not relate to the Shogun, on your return to
+Kamakura, how the lion of Tsu was bearded. For a few days, at least,
+you stay as our guest, or else our captive."
+
+O'Kiku laughed a rippling laugh, as she considered within herself as
+to which was likely to be the captive.
+
+"When a great lord commands," she murmured, "a poor weak girl obeys."
+
+Exultant glee pervaded the bosom of the Daimio. The welcome new-comer
+should be his guest--his honoured guest---and the pusillanimous O'Tei
+should be taught manners by example. He was about to move towards the
+castle, conducting with due ceremony the lady thither, when, with a
+familiar fan-tap on the arm, she stayed his progress.
+
+"You are so good and kind,--so generous, and so wickedly
+misinterpreted," she whispered hurriedly, "that I take courage,
+although a stranger, to crave a boon. Your object accomplished, 'tis
+the moment to show clemency, and disclaim the stigma of the tyrant.
+Those nuns still sing without, awaiting the bodies for interment. Let
+them be delivered up to them. The first favour I ever asked," she
+added gently, seeing the Daimio hesitate. "Believe me, 'twould be an
+act of policy, and stay farther clamour."
+
+No-Kami looked down into the deep dark well of her eyes, from which he
+could see peeping his own pleased reflection. Why, what a treasure was
+this--a wise little counsellor! More than ever was he disgusted with
+the absent chatelaine, who could only implore, and writhe, and groan,
+and grovel on the ground in intervals of stony glaring. Practical, and
+shrewd, and plump, and purring was this fairy by his side. She should
+have her boon, and welcome, with many thanks for the suggestion.
+
+The Daimio having been pleased to announce that, yielding to the
+intercession of his charming guest, Masago might be permitted to
+remove the corpses, he crossed the inner moat, followed by his
+brilliant train, while the grim samurai laughed behind their vizards,
+wondering how the ladies would agree.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER X.
+
+ FOREBODINGS.
+
+
+It was with feelings strangely mingled that the concourse prepared to
+depart. For their good, the farmer had suffered martyrdom; himself and
+his family were swept like insects from the earth, but not from the
+grateful memories of the people. No sooner was the inner drawbridge
+raised behind the departing despot, than with one accord all meekly
+knelt while the Abbess issued orders. Her brow was more sombre than
+its wont, her jaw more firmly set, as the troubled elders related what
+had happened. She had prayed for light, but Buddha had vouchsafed no
+answer. What was this coil that was winding slowly but surely round
+the son of him who had been her husband? Ay, round her own son as
+well, the noble Sampei. It was under misapprehension that Koshiu had
+included him in his anathema, supposing him the seducer of his child;
+yet here was the child, clad now in the crape of a nun, as pure as she
+had ever been. The farmer was in error, and surely idle curses recoil
+on those who launch them. Sampei, the brave and generous, was without
+reproach. Even sleepy Buddha must know that. Perchance he was at this
+moment rating Koshiu, on the further bank of the mystic Sandzu, for
+his precipitate injustice. Masago strove to persuade herself that it
+must be so, whilst striving to console the terror-stricken Mine, and
+yet at the bottom of her heart there was apprehension, a dull weight
+of cold foreboding.
+
+The ways of Heaven are so strange, so unaccountable sometimes, and to
+our purblind vision so unjust, that the most robust of faith is
+sometimes sorely shaken. Mine wrung her hands, refusing comfort. As
+with trembling fingers she untied the bonds which supported her dead
+father, she prayed to him with cries and lamentations. It was through
+her own wrongheaded madness that the mistake had occurred. Sure her
+parent knew it now. If the curse must fall on one of the two, let it
+be on her, for she was in fault, not the glorious young General. Could
+he hear her now, her father? Oh, for some sign that he could hear and
+would grant her humble petition! Wretched, wretched child! Her
+punishment was already greater than she could bear, for was not she
+doomed to drag on a sad existence, stripped of all her kin. Had she
+but behaved as a dutiful daughter should, instead of grieving now,
+heart-broken, she would be standing on the further bank of the river
+of death along with Gennosuke, and little Sohei, and sweet Kihachi.
+Alack! alack! While the bereaved daughter raved, distracted, the
+elders of Tsu and the outlying villages were taking counsel. A notice
+had been handed to them, on the part of their lord, which ran
+thus:--"The property of the deceased, his rice fields and corn fields,
+and forest and mountain land, shall be sold without delay, and divided
+into two parts; one shall be paid over to the lord of the estate; the
+other, by his extreme condescension, shall be the portion of the
+culprit's daughter, who has been permitted to live. This is to show
+how godlike and noble is your master; and it is hereby strictly
+forbidden to make comments on the sentence, or find fault with this
+his decision."
+
+One-half for Mine, who was in some sort an heiress, then. Poor heart!
+She little recked of her good fortune. The temple yonder would be the
+richer for her portion, for she was Buddha's servant now,--his
+handmaid till her spirit was released. With regard to the dead, the
+elders consulted awhile, and then with calm decision Zembei, supported
+by Rokubei, rose from his knees and spoke.
+
+"Dear friends," he said, "Koshiu, who suffered this day, bruised his
+bones and crushed his soul for your sakes. In appealing direct to the
+Most Holy Mikado he sinned greatly, but 'twas from excess of zeal; and
+in being compelled to see those he loved massacred before his eyes,
+his punishment was in excess of his misdemeanour. We have decided that
+honour shall be paid to him, for indeed before his death he was the
+mouthpiece of the Eternal, who deigned to speak through his lips.
+It is meet therefore that we, his old friends, who loved him and
+his as ourselves--though perhaps on one occasion we were unduly
+selfish--should undertake this matter. We will leave our homes and
+lands in possession of our heirs, and, shaving our heads, will retire
+for a while to the top of the holy mountain; and after a period of
+probation, will descend from Mount Koya in Kishiu, and, becoming
+priests, will wander from town to town, praying at every shrine for
+the souls of the departed, collecting as we go from the charity of all
+good people. And then, having collected enough, we will erect a temple
+over their bones, with six Buddhas in bronze to do them honour, and
+there shall prayers be offered up for ever for them, and also for us."
+
+The people listened to the oration, and bowed their heads without a
+word, for the decision of the elders was good and natural. All
+therefore lighting paper lanterns, for it was dark now, turned to
+follow across the outer moat, away along the straggling interminable
+street, the procession of the dead.
+
+Masago had accepted a temporary trust, and it was well. Within the
+darkling groves of her sacred pines should the victims lie at peace,
+until such time as, by divine grace, the elders should return to
+fulfil their holy task; and it behoved those here assembled, who had
+witnessed the sacrifice, to offer a prayer together, and commence
+among themselves a collection for the building of a shrine.
+
+Solemn and slow, like an army of glow-worms, the procession wended
+along to the sad chant of nuns and bonzes; and, unknown to them, as
+the simple people marched, there followed a fervent benison from the
+lips of one despairing. The dreary chatelaine was sitting at an upper
+casement of the castle, wistfully gazing into the night.
+
+Recovering consciousness, the Lady O'Tei found herself in her bower,
+surrounded by grieving maidens, and was relieved, glancing fearfully
+around, to miss the figure of my lord. She was spared his hateful
+presence. For that small mercy, thanks. For, still and self-possessed
+as she had appeared during the ordeal, thereby winning the admiration
+of Sampei, and, even for a time, the grudging approval of No-Kami, the
+chatelaine had suffered so intensely as to produce a crisis in her
+nature.
+
+During the short while that the scene lasted, years seemed to have
+passed over her head. Hitherto she had been weary and empty and
+unhappy--deeply miserable, but yet with a germ of hope half stifled.
+That germ was quite dead now, shrivelled and black. She was beset with
+an intense craving for rest and sleep,--for the fragrant perfume of
+the earth. Although the execrated name of Hojo was hers, the scathing
+curse on all who bore the name passed harmless over her. Her
+conscience was clear. She had done all that within her lay to save the
+victims, and, calm and still in outward aspect, had suffered far more
+than they. A threat of proximate death?--release! The world, whose
+beauty she had so intensely enjoyed ages ago at Nara, was repellent
+now,--a hideous mockery,--a skull crowned with flowers. For how false
+was its song of sweetness, since such wickedness and injustice
+flourished in its midst. A world of disease and pain and sorrow. In
+this life are not many punished for their virtues, as a set-off to the
+manner in which others are rewarded for their vices? What wonder if
+people fall under burthens too heavy for their backs?
+
+Koshiu and his had already entered on a new and smiling existence; if
+his dying words might be believed, had started under sunny auspices on
+the next round of life. And at the same time he had prophesied that no
+Hojo henceforth might ever win peace. They were doomed to wander from
+one globe to another, gaining no step, rising no higher on the earth,
+for all eternity! How horrible! So dread a bolt overshot its mark; for
+sure the universe must be ruled by fiends if those whose crime is to
+bear an execrated name are for that to be undone for ever. To die, and
+try again, and yet again, in vain--a weary prospect. The sooner the
+better, after all, for no future phase could be less tolerable to the
+Lady O'Tei than the present one. She was condemned, as it seemed,
+never to attain aught that she desired; never to have a prayer
+answered, or a wish gratified. And all that she now longed for was
+repose. Ah, how vain that wish! For never may we enjoy perfect rest
+save in far-off Nirvana--away in the incalculable and limitless
+Nirvana! where, when time is dead for us, refined and freed from the
+last speck of dross, we are to achieve the reward of nonexistence.
+
+O'Tei had learned to despise her husband more and more, but now
+she had a new and positive feeling for him--active and sore and
+gnawing--one of _intensest hatred_. And she was his--bound to obey his
+whim. How long? For his part, he took little trouble to conceal that
+he hated her, and would be glad to be rid of an encumbrance. Should
+she fling herself at his feet, and, baring her white bosom, implore
+the mercy of his dirk? No. She shuddered as she thought that he would
+laugh--that fierce and ugly laugh of his that made her blood run
+cold--would spurn and revile, hissing forth _recreant_, but yet would
+forbear to strike her. There was nothing for it but plodding
+patience,--a stringing of the nerves to endurance--slow, continuous,
+monotonous--the hardest of all tasks to an overwrought and nervous
+woman.
+
+Meanwhile Masago, moving like a tall still ghost at the head of the
+procession, was disturbed and exercised in mind. How strangely things
+were going. If she might only be allowed to see. What thunderous
+clouds were gathering? Was the appalling prophecy to be accomplished
+to the letter? Like the chatelaine, her being rose in protest. Was her
+own brave boy, innocent of all wrong, to be involved with the rest,
+simply because his name was Hojo--the guiltless suffering for the
+guilty? Why, so was hers. Though but a second wife or concubine, she
+was mother of a Hojo--proud to call herself Hojo--jealous of the
+family honour, although of plebeian birth. She could quite understand
+the feelings of the rough warriors towards a chatelaine who was to
+them a riddle; but she, discerning, renowned for subtle acumen, could
+see under the rind what a fragrant nature was O'Tei's, if it had not
+been nipped half-blown. She sighed heavily as she walked, and pondered
+of O'Tei. What of this new element introduced into the castle--of
+discord surely? Not of necessity so. Should No-Kami elect to take the
+new-comer to himself, as folk already whispered, what of it? Had not
+his father done the same? And she, Masago (concubine), and the
+bellicose Tomoye (wife) had never quarrelled.
+
+But then O'Tei was so different from her predecessor. She was so odd
+and sensitive and self-contained, given to contemplative fancies which
+served no good purpose. Masago, the sage, was quite angry sometimes
+when she considered the education of O'Tei. She, an abbess, should
+know something of such matters, and there was no doubt about it that
+the bonzes and priestesses of Nara had blundered. The heiress of Nara
+was destined by her birth to a grand alliance, to reign in a world of
+strife, and they should have combated, while the nature of their pupil
+was yet malleable, such tendencies as might be likely to interfere
+with the young lady's future happiness. Dancing the kagura in a wood
+was all very well for priestesses, but in a fierce age, when every
+man's hand is at his fellow's throat, the female head of a warlike
+household should be taught to hold her own. Poor O'Tei had never been
+properly prepared, and was in truth no more fit to cope with the
+difficulties of her high position than would be the merest coolie's
+daughter.
+
+In the candour of self-communing Masago admitted this much to herself,
+making apologies the while for the shortcomings of her favourite, and
+laying the blame upon the priesthood.
+
+And again the question would assert itself--Was the new element for
+harmony or discord? If she could only know, and help to keep matters
+straight. If O'Tei were sensible, she would accept the second wife
+with gratitude, for she would be relieved of the society of one whom
+she abhorred. But then O'Tei was so peculiar. And so much depended on
+the attitude assumed by the second wife, if second wife she were to
+be. She, Masago, and Tomoye had got on so splendidly that, as she
+thought of the past, a faint blush of self-complacency tinged the
+Abbess's ascetic cheek. No doubt about it. She, Masago, had displayed,
+as she usually did, consummate tact. In fact, in their instance, the
+two wives completed each other. Each had the talent which was denied
+to her companion, for Tomoye often declared that though her muscle was
+a marvel her brain was wanting, while Masago was the best of advisers,
+although no warrior. Hence, whilst both adoring their lord from their
+own point of view, they could perfectly trust each other without
+jealousy, and play into one another's hands--a fact which was clearly
+proven when the regnant Hojo wearied of his concubine. Tomoye did her
+best to retain the second wife (not knowing what the next fancy of her
+lord might be), and constantly sought counsel from Masago after her
+assumption of the crape.
+
+Masago therefore, as she walked, summoned to her side the
+devoted elders who were so soon to embrace the priesthood, and
+cross-questioned them narrowly. They had observed, had they, in my
+lord's visage, how desperately he had become enamoured? They were
+certain that his sudden passion would insist on being gratified? But
+what if the travelling geisha were a light-o'-love to be picked up too
+easily to-day and cast forth to-morrow? Rokubei shook his head. The
+astute Masago--all-wise counsellor--would never venture so futile a
+suggestion had she once scanned the lady with her searching scrutiny.
+Oh, a cunning and fascinating lady! A petulant and wilful lady, and an
+obstinate! Ay, and a circumspect. What object could she have had in
+insisting on the bodies being given up, except to ingratiate herself
+with the lower lieges? What cared she, a stranger from afar, for a
+farmer of Tsu or his family? And then, that way she had of sending
+gleams out of her dark velvet eyes from under the deep fringes. Even
+he, Rokubei, who spoke, and who shortly on the holy hill was to have
+his pate shaven, was fain to admit, under the seal of secrecy, that
+his own, for the future ascetic, bosom had been pervaded by
+inconvenient warmth under the glamour of those lightning shafts, and
+all the while he knew that they were intended for another. And my
+lord, so inflammable, so given to indulgence, who knew so little of
+the curb! Masago might believe, or not, the speaker, but it was clear
+to him that in a few days--nay, hours--the too fascinating geisha
+O'Kiku would rule the Daimio and his vassals, whether for good or evil
+was as yet in the womb of time.
+
+Masago listened, and became more and more uneasy. Could it be possible
+that she, who had that day only appeared upon the scene, was the
+chosen instrument--selected beforehand and arrived exactly in
+time--for the fulfilment of the prophecy? Was she to undermine with
+her pink little fingers the great dynasty of Hojo? and, if so, how?
+For the advantage of the dynasty she, the discarded second wife, would
+gladly sacrifice herself and wear her fingers to the bone; would even
+surrender the life of her dearly-beloved son Sampei for its advantage.
+Fool! unreasoning woman, and incorrigible fool! Who was she to presume
+to combat Destiny?--to raise her weak hand in feeble protest against
+the finger of Buddha, the all-seeing? Although the blasphemous
+suggestion had unbidden entered her brain, vigils and much praying
+would be needed to atone for its presence. She would kneel on
+the stones throughout the ensuing darkness, praying for pardon
+and for light. How may we, however watchful, guard against
+presumption--against pitting our puny sagacity against the Infinite?
+
+And though she fulfilled her self-imposed penance, remaining until
+dawn, despite years and infirmities, with forehead resting on the
+stones, maternity struggled with asceticism. Her bowels yearned over
+Sampei--the pride, the flower of Japan--and she prayed as only a
+mother can pray that her boy might escape the curse. How willingly,
+she pleaded, would she herself submit for his dear sake to recommence
+the ladder from the bottom. She knew not, of course, how high she had
+attained by long and painful climbing, but from her present
+consideration and eminence she must be considerably advanced on her
+pilgrimage. She would sacrifice all--all--with what ecstatic joy--for
+his sake. And as she lay convulsed in the dark, with the drops of a
+mother's travail coursing down her wrinkled brow, she never dreamed
+that in the pure intensity of undimmed devotion she might be in the
+act of rising yet another step. In the morning, feeble and exhausted,
+she turned her to the newborn orb as he showed above the glorious sea,
+and, vaguely relieved, sat basking in his beams. Then struggling up
+she groped to her cell with lagging feet, and sank into a stupor of
+fatigue.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XI.
+
+ THE CURSE BEGINS TO WORK.
+
+
+And Sampei, what of him, under the new _regime_, inaugurated so
+unexpectedly? Could his mother have delved into his storm-riven soul,
+she would have won no comfort by her prayers. Never was luckless
+warrior so hedged about with difficulties, which might not be
+vanquished with the sword. His influence over No-Kami was proved to be
+practically nil, for the latter was unable to comprehend his brother's
+character any better than that of his wife. What good then was to be
+gained by lingering at Tsu? The question had propounded itself before,
+to be set aside. Why shun it now? More than once Sampei determined
+that flight is in some cases the truest valour, and on every occasion
+the haunting and ever-present face of his early love upbraided him for
+selfishness, in that he was her only champion.
+
+It was a fine specimen of bravery, in sooth, to be self-elected "own
+true knight," and run away at the first appearance of the enemy. That
+the new-comer would prove an enemy there was little room for doubt.
+Such a reproach should never be hurled at our young General, he
+doughtily determined. The more he saw of the fair O'Kiku, the more
+uneasy did he grow. There was no knowing how soon O'Tei might require
+protection from her. He might be of use. That was enough. Under the
+circumstances, despite his mother's warnings, Sampei resolved to
+stay--moth dancing round a candle--and keep an eye upon the geisha.
+
+The proceedings of that winsome fairy, when installed within the
+castle, bade fair to set its inmates by the ears. With a vast parade
+of prudery she insisted at first upon apartments being provided as
+remote as might be from my lord's. A series of pleading messages,
+mingled with threats, were required ere she would consent to appear in
+the hall and perform graceful measures, or sing and play upon the
+samisen. Her performance finished, she would smile, and bow, and kiss
+her finger tips, and then flee like the timid hare. When No-Kami, who,
+tantalised, grew hourly more amorous, chid his guest for suspicion of
+his motives, she shrugged her shoulders, and imperiously demanded her
+kago. "I am detained here against my will," she would remark pouting.
+"'Tis monstrous dull, and to return to delightful Kamakura is my most
+ardent wish." And then with distracting little sighs wrung from a
+plump heaving bosom, she would dilate upon the glories of the Shogun's
+court,--tell of the tiltings, the hawking parties--constant flow of
+jocund gatherings--till the undisciplined Daimio clenched his nails
+into his palms with jealousy, and the lady laughed behind her fan.
+
+Before many days had passed, it was announced that O'Kiku had
+consented to remain at Tsu, the acknowledged second wife; and the
+samurai congratulated one another, looking forward to a period of
+liveliness. As for their chatelaine, they thought no more of her; took
+no heed of her incomings or outgoings; for she drew the curtains of
+her litter close, and rarely went forth at all except on some
+charitable errand. Really such mean-spirited conduct in a Hojo's wife
+was a distinct besmirching of the name; and the younger and more
+unruly of the warriors purposely turned their backs upon her kago, to
+avoid saluting its passage.
+
+The Lady O'Tei, as proud as any of them, though they wist it not,
+marked their growing insolence, and stored their insults in her
+embittered heart; and more than ever loathed her lord, on account of
+her false position, as well as his new favourite. From the moment of
+the latter's advent O'Tei abandoned for ever any idea of attempting to
+exert influence over him. On that last occasion when she bowed her
+pride and humbled herself to the very dust before No-Kami, the attempt
+was crowned with disaster. It was decreed that she must live, must
+breathe the same air as he. What must be must; but she would look on
+him in future as little as she might. That he should choose to take a
+second wife, the first or legitimate one proving barren, was not
+surprising. The latter had neither right nor desire to object; but it
+was clearly his duty to see that the introduction of the second spouse
+brought no slight upon the first. Instead of demanding her rights, and
+boldly grappling at once with a situation that was ominous of evil,
+and so defining the geisha's place without more ado, O'Tei made
+another mistake. Haughtily she withdrew within herself and brooded
+over her wrongs, leaving to the intruder a clear field, of which she
+was not slow to take advantage.
+
+Having achieved the position for which she had so cleverly angled,
+O'Kiku threw down the mask, shook off her bashful ways. Wherever my
+lord could go, the damsel argued, so could she, for was she not young
+and active? By his side in the chase she rode, untiring. When he
+reviewed his men within the outer moat, she stood beside him, and with
+amusing sharpness rated them all soundly for their awkwardness.
+Accustomed to a disdainful mistress who interested herself not at all
+in their doings, the warriors were surprised and enchanted. She would
+even condescend to come down sometimes, looking so fresh and bright
+and cheery, into the outer hall, where the soldiery lounged, yawning,
+and administer reviving draughts. The throat of the soldier, she would
+laughingly observe, is curiously parched, always yearning for
+sake,--quite a serious disease, and catching too; one which was common
+in the army. And then she would familiarly take their swords from
+them--the swords which are the souls of the samurai--and closely
+examining the blades, demand the genealogy of each.
+
+No-Kami was flattered when he observed what a favourite his choice was
+becoming with high and low alike. The men, one and all, adored her,
+some of them declaring that she was a sunbeam detached miraculously
+from the orb of life to illumine the darkness of their fortress.
+
+At this moment the ambition of O'Kiku should have been satisfied, for
+she could wind my lord and all his men around her finger, ruling them
+as she listed. She held in supremest contempt the real chatelaine, as
+an enemy not worthy of her steel--usurping her position and her
+duties; taking pleasure in exposing her to ridicule. Low born as she
+was herself--sprung from the gutter--there was something particularly
+delightful in insulting the heiress of Nara; but the sharp, tiny pins
+did not seem to rankle. This was annoying. Egged on little by little,
+piqued by O'Tei's attitude of scornful indifference, the concubine
+went dangerously far. She gathered around her a bevy of maidens more
+numerous and more splendidly attired than those of her superior; she
+exacted from the soldiery special homage which was due to the
+legitimate chatelaine alone; even presumed, after a time--culminating
+impertinence--to take unto herself the best litter, the one emblazoned
+with the Hojo badge upon gold lacquer and the gilded poles and
+brocaded curtains, declaring that since O'Tei chose to go only into
+the low purlieus of the town, a less resplendent equipage was better
+suited to her degraded taste.
+
+O'Kiku should have been quite happy. But when is a vulgar-minded,
+low-born woman happy who is consumed in the ratio of pampering by
+ambition and greed and caprice? Having attained the summit of present
+desire as planned on her arrival, she set herself to gratify her fancy
+in another way. At first sight she had been smitten with Sampei; but,
+on discovering that, though the elder, he held the second place, had
+prudently postponed his conquest until a more convenient period. That
+moment was now come. She had abundant leisure for the task. Sure a
+warrior should be a willing slave of beauty. Yet when she warily
+reconnoitred the ground, she marvelled at his coldness. Every inch a
+splendid young soldier, he should have been less chill. She made
+purring advances, favoured him with a few of the arrows under which
+his brother had succumbed; and these shafts fell so short that she
+guessed at once, with quick jealousy, that she had a rival. His heart
+was not his to give. How provoking! for she had so cleverly arranged
+that the two--he and she--were to become such friends!
+
+On his side, Sampei (an adept in such matters) was not slow to read
+her purpose, and, horrified at her calculating treachery, boldly
+reviled her with rough words. She smarted and winced under the whip,
+and wished for him all the more. It was idle to feign, and her speech
+was as plain as his. She did not love her husband--O'Tei herself did
+not gauge his low worth more clearly--she loved him, Sampei, and
+gloried in it. See! For a caress she would be his slave, and fawn at
+his feet like a dog. No Eta could be more abject than she, if he would
+but look on her with love. A little--a very little--and she would be
+so grateful, since, on her side, there was enough for both. Wreathing
+her white arms about him, while his body quivered with disgust, she
+cooed and prayed and worshipped, and uttered a sharp cry of pain as,
+unable to endure the ordeal, he flung her rudely on the ground. _She_
+prate of love! he cried. How dared she defile the holy word with such
+foul lips as hers?
+
+Furious--burning with shame at her repulse--she scoffed at him.
+
+"_You_ talk big of virtue," she sneered, with cruel lines about her
+mouth, "not knowing that I can read your secret. Treachery? What is my
+treachery to yours? I am but a concubine. You love your brother's
+wife--the mawkish doll of wax!--and she, as guilty as yourself, has
+doubtless fallen an easy prey, since 'tis plain that she hates my
+lord."
+
+That shaft, at least, went home, for Sampei turned pale. Was it
+written so plainly on his face that all who ran might read? A useful
+champion--a true knight--whose faithful service it would be to guide
+his mistress to her ruin. He must go away--far away--since his
+tell-tale features could not keep the secret. And yet--to leave her
+here at the mercy of this wicked woman!
+
+O'Kiku perceived what was passing in his mind, and was for the moment
+satisfied. She held revenge within her palm whenever she should choose
+to use it. Sampei had spurned her. Well, she could afford to wait; for
+what he had been powerless to deny might prove an invaluable
+discovery. Sampei and O'Tei loved each other. Judging others from her
+own standpoint, she had no doubt of their guilt. Perchance he would
+soon tire of such an icicle, and she might woo and win him after all.
+If not, she could use her discovery to avenge the slight, and free
+herself of the inconvenient presence of both wife and paramour. It
+would be so easy to open the eyes of the unsuspecting Daimio, and goad
+him deftly on until the two brothers were at open enmity.
+
+For a time she must abandon her designs upon the General, and lull the
+pangs of disappointment and injured vanity by drowning thought in
+excitement. Since she had bared her spotted heart to him, there was no
+use in assuming a mask. On the contrary, her recklessness would sting
+him like a serpent's bite since, knowing what she knew, he dared not
+betray her to No-Kami. It pleased O'Kiku, therefore, to abandon
+prudence, and cast shame aside. Secure of unlimited sway over the
+infatuated despot, who would gladly accept such explanations as she
+vouchsafed, she selected lovers from among the soldiery as they struck
+her wanton fancy, disdaining to cloak her proceedings from the shocked
+Sampei, who hourly grew more troubled and uneasy.
+
+On which side lay his duty? How should he act? Were he to denounce the
+geisha to his brother in the matter of her declaration to himself, she
+would swear it was spitefully conceived, and No-Kami would refuse to
+be convinced. 'Twas fortunate that O'Tei dwelt in such strict
+seclusion, enveloped in the armour of purity, innocent of guile. But
+what was to be the upshot of it all? As the falling stone increases in
+velocity, so would the insolence of the concubine unchecked in
+shamelessness. The tempest growled on the horizon, and grew apace; the
+cloudlet was spreading over the heavens. Awe-stricken by the sinister
+turn which, so rapidly, events were taking, the martyr's anathema rung
+in Sampei's ears. The house of Hojo was to fall. Already, in his
+mind's eye, could he see it reel, hear the crash of its disruption.
+For a long time past the conduct of the head of the clan had been
+indefensible. Buddha, awakened by clamour, was angry--and no wonder!
+
+In his perplexity and indignation an ensanguined mist passed across
+the vision of Sampei. The hint thrown out by Nara some time since
+festered within his breast. The history of Japan teems with the enmity
+of brothers, he had said. Was it indeed written that the last of the
+Hojos was to perish by a fraternal hand? For the honour of the name
+which they both bore, must the cord of an unworthy career be severed,
+and by him? It would be well for the suffering land that No-Kami's
+catalogue of misdeeds should be closed, but not by the hand of a
+brother. Not murder! The honest soul of Sampei recoiled before the
+insidious vision. It was vain to seek counsel of the Abbess, since she
+confessed herself as perplexed as he. _Wait_ was all she could advise.
+If the curse of Koshiu was to be accomplished, it would be
+accomplished, whatever the efforts of the doomed. If his was decreed
+to be the avenging sword, was he not a helpless infant in the grip of
+destiny? The will of Heaven would be pronounced more clearly soon.
+Meanwhile, there was nothing for it but to wait. Peering sadly into
+the dark-lined future, Sampei waited in suspense, gloomy on the
+threshold of despair.
+
+Tidings reached Masago in her dim retreat of what was passing, and she
+sighed. The finger of an outraged God was on them, that was becoming
+certain. The fate of Hojo was to be a warning lesson to generations
+yet unborn. By-and-by a rumour came, she could not tell from whence,
+that the Daimio was going mad. In sooth, he was never sane, and could
+scarce be held accountable for his growing pile of crimes. In
+accordance with the rearing which befitted his rank and station, he
+had scoffed with ribald laughter at a peasant's prophecy, treating
+with levity the wild words of one who had deservedly been punished.
+And yet there were moments when, though he fought against the
+illusion, he was haunted by the dying face,--when those glazing eyes
+that reflected the sunset shone out of the dark like glowing coals, to
+wither and scorch his soul. In the night he would wake, seeming to
+hear again louder than temple bell the words of evil omen, and then he
+would hug so fiercely the form of the slumbering O'Kiku upon the mat
+beside him, that she would turn on him with peevish reproach.
+
+The visions and the voices increased, till he was afraid to be left
+alone. His brutish nature became yet more vindictive and morose, and
+the geisha, vowing that as a companion, after his paroxysms of
+unreasoning fear, he grew intolerable, freely dosed him with sake, to
+subdue his importunate tremors. In his chamber she would leave him
+chained by drunken stupor, while she, with the favourite of the hour,
+caroused below. This proved so convenient an arrangement, that to
+obtain for herself a liberty of action yet more complete, she tempted
+her lord to increased potations, till there arrived at length a period
+when he was scarcely ever sober.
+
+But then constant inebriety has its intermittent moments of recoil,
+when the stomach sickens at the drink, yet craves for it, and at such
+dismal times the smile would fade even from the brazen visage of the
+baleful enchantress, for my lord would then pass without warning from
+the extreme of grovelling anguish to the fury of mania; and O'Kiku
+wondered, with blanched cheek, whether, perhaps, some day in one of
+these mad fits the Daimio would rise and slay her.
+
+One evening he woke with chattering teeth, and finding himself alone
+in the quickly-gathering shadows, stumbled upon his feet, with curses
+on the concubine in that she deserted him in his extremity. Did she
+not know how much he feared the darkness, and how necessary it was on
+many counts to conceal his condition from his warriors? Had he not
+raised her up to be partner of his bed, giving her all she desired,
+gratifying her every whim? And yet what recked the selfish creature of
+his wishes, of his terrors, his requirements? Naught! Regardless of
+his agony, she could quietly go away and amuse herself, leaving her
+lord and benefactor a prey to goblins. Shivering, with swimming brain,
+he groped his way in search of her; and somehow found himself, ere he
+was aware, upon the drawbridge that led beyond the moat.
+
+A chill wind was blowing from the river that lapped the frowning
+walls--a singing murmur seemed to whisper "Come!" Shuddering, obedient
+to a spell against which his will was powerless, he stumbled on. How
+dismal dark it was! From the windows of the hall came a ruddy line of
+light which served to intensify the black. There was a faint sound of
+brawling within, a clash of steel, a din of bandied threats, followed
+by the long rippling laugh of the geisha, and then the twang of her
+samisen. "Always in that hall among the soldiers," No-Kami querulously
+muttered. "She loves me less and less--cares nothing for my trouble."
+Since her arrival, he reflected, there had been a gradual and grievous
+decrease of discipline among the samurai,--a growing tendency to
+quarrel and snarl in open disrespect of _him_. Had she betrayed his
+secret? Had she divulged the nameless horror, and the cowardice which
+unnerved his arm, unsettled his reason, and undermined his strength?
+Impulse bade him turn and stride into the hall, and there assert
+himself; and then the breeze, like clammy fingers, stroked his cheek
+and murmured, "Come!" Whither was he to proceed? Was it the water that
+summoned him? No! had not the farmer said that the river should ebb
+away? Folly! why, what was this? Was he, the head of the Hojos, as
+infatuated as others? Did he believe in the threats of the martyr?
+On--on, away to the left--whither? To the dim belt of grim grey trees
+that reared gnarled arms aloft, groaning and swaying in the wind. The
+accursed trees--home of malevolent ghosts! The trees that chanted ever
+their loving call to ignominious death.
+
+With beads of sweat upon his brow No-Kami listened, and, not knowing
+what he did, unwound his long silk sash. Then out of the dark shone
+forth, like glowing coals, the eyes he knew too well, and then there
+pealed upon the night a mocking shout. Hist! what was that? The voice
+of Futen, the wind imp? or Raiden, king of thunder, beating upon his
+drums? What was he doing with that sash?--he, the proud No-Kami?
+Horror! he, the head of the Hojos, was about to hang himself--to
+disgrace his line for ever!
+
+With a growl of fear No-Kami sped away, his fingers in his ears, back
+toward the light--and the saucy geisha, seeing a crouching shadow
+pass, complained of some unclean animal. With stealthy speed, born of
+terror and shame, the Daimio crept away, nor stopped to draw breath
+till, safe in the sanctuary of his chamber, he fell panting, prostrate
+on the mat. Another instant, and, unconscious of what he did, he would
+have swung on the fateful tree. Strange that it should have been the
+warning voice of Koshiu that had averted supreme disgrace. Why? Was he
+reserved for something yet more infamous? Better now, at once, to make
+an end of it--perish as a Daimio should when driven to bay by his own
+well-tempered steel. Groping with aspen hands for the sword-rack, he
+took his dirk, and unsheathing it, passed a finger on its edge. A
+blade of Sanjo's, a masterpiece. Yes. Here in the dark, alone, he
+would perform the rites of harakiri, and join with unsmirched brow the
+line of haughty ancestors.
+
+Footsteps, a yellow glimmer through the paper of the sliding doors.
+O'Kiku's tardy feet? No, the heavier footfall of a man. A panel was
+pushed aside. Sampei, shading with his hand the flickering flame of a
+candle. The latter peered in, and uttered a cry. The dirk, the body
+bared, the kneeling posture. The intention of the Daimio was evident,
+though rising with a fierce curse he strove to conceal his purpose.
+
+"I am glad I was in time," Sampei remarked, with cold composure.
+"Would the chief of our clan commit harakiri without a second? Where
+is he? I see no kaishaku. Pah! When all is lost 'tis time to think of
+dying. If you wish it, and have courage, things are not yet past
+remedy."
+
+"What do you want?" snarled the Daimio, as with a scowl he retreated
+into a corner.
+
+"My lord of Nara has arrived, and is now closeted with his daughter.
+Though you seem to have abdicated your dignities, it is right that you
+should be informed of it.
+
+"Sent for by her?" inquired No-Kami.
+
+"No!" replied Sampei bitterly. "With all your arrogant parade, she is
+more proud than you, and would never stoop to complain of your many
+cruelties."
+
+"Sent for more like by _him!_--snake in the grass!" gibed a voice
+behind, and the two brothers, turning, beheld the geisha, a frown
+puckering her brow, a red spot of annoyance on either cheek bone.
+"Yes, snake in the grass!" repeated she, lashed to imprudence by
+resentment. "He does well to play the part of the lady O'Tei's
+interpreter--he who knows her so much better than others!"
+
+Sampei was silent, while the suspicious gaze of the Daimio was turned
+to his brother from the concubine.
+
+"O fool!" she laughed. "To be fooled by women is the lot of the
+haughtiest among ye! I vow I pity such blindness. Know that the crust
+of a proud woman's nature often conceals a furnace. The lady O'Tei has
+kindled a fire on the altar of her heart in honour--well, not of you!"
+
+"You lie!" cried the General, kindling, yet striving still to control
+himself for _her_ sake. "It was an evil day for the house of Hojo when
+this strumpet came among us!"
+
+"We are not all so blind as my lord," gibed O'Kiku. "When my lady goes
+forth, in what direction do the bearers carry her? To the temple of
+the vixen Masago, to offer up prayers, of course. A curious
+coincidence! My lord Sampei, returning from the chase, pays dutiful
+visits to his mother. A pattern son. There, there! be hoodwinked no
+more. Stupid mole that you are, he loves O'Tei and she loves him. Look
+in his face, man; is it not eloquent enough?"
+
+The soul of No-Kami, already torn, writhed and quivered. Could it be
+true, this dreadful thing? Mine already ruined, a mere pretty peasant,
+a passing fancy, suitable toy enough--and now O'Tei! Had the lawless
+libertine dared to aspire to the legitimate wife of his lord? The dirk
+was still in the Daimio's grasp. Tottering forward a step, with
+heaving breast and distracted features, he narrowly scrutinised his
+brother.
+
+"If I thought this was true," he slowly growled between his teeth, "I
+would have speedy and ample vengeance. Sampei, why do you look
+confused? Yonder, on the rack, is a sword!"
+
+Again the mist of blood passed across the vision of the General. It
+was decreed. No-Kami rushed upon his fate. He himself pointed out the
+blade, lying so ready to the hand. A pass or two, and O'Tei, the
+long-suffering, would be freed from her grinding bondage.
+Involuntarily he stretched forth his arm, while No-Kami stood waiting.
+He touched the sword; his hand recoiled, his arm dropped by his side
+inert, for beyond the taunting visage of the geisha he seemed to
+behold, tearless and pale, the shadowy figure of O'Tei. No, this was a
+trap deliberately set by that wicked woman for her undoing and his.
+If, in the combat, it was his lot to fall, her fair fame would be for
+ever blasted. It would be skilfully bruited abroad by O'Kiku that the
+Daimio had avenged his honour. Forcing himself to calmness by strength
+of will, aided by an all-absorbing love, Sampei crossed his arms upon
+his labouring chest, and sadly shook his head.
+
+"You are insane," he sighed,--"beguiled to frenzy by the glamour of
+this sorceress. You know, if you have power to think, that the dawn is
+no purer than your wife. What madness is it that has so mastered you
+that you would rather believe this harlot--for she is a harlot, and a
+shameless one, as every one in the castle knows except yourself? Rave
+as you will, I shall not gratify her spleen by fighting with you.
+Should the necessity be forced on me, I will summon the samurai to
+bind you, for your own protection. Cudgel your distempered brain,
+my brother, and see the snare. Your father was mine before
+you--unhappily--were born. The honour of our name is mine as well as
+yours, and for me it shall remain untarnished. Alas, we are under a
+ban, indeed! I can surety trace the finger of the Eternal; this
+harlot, the instrument of ruin."
+
+Foiled spite and impotent rage leapt up and invaded the calculating
+spirit of the geisha. That he, so hot and careless usually, should be
+able to school himself to prudence. How he must adore that pale-face!
+
+It was humiliating to one who justly prided herself on cunning, to be
+outwitted by truth and manhood. No doubt it was satisfactory to mark
+how firm was her hold upon No-Kami. He had hearkened to her accusation
+of his wife and brother, but the countercharge brought by the latter
+against herself had remained unnoticed. And yet Sampei had had the
+best of it. She was obliged to confess with self-upbraiding that,
+exasperated by the appearance of Nara, whose unexpected arrival seemed
+like to mar her plots and upset her calculations, she had been
+precipitate--led into a foolish error.
+
+The moment chosen was curiously ill-timed for bringing about a
+quarrel. Not that she would have permitted blood to flow. Not so silly
+as that. At the first onset she would have rushed out with clamour and
+shrill cries to summon the sleepy attendants,--have sworn that Sampei
+had attacked his feudal lord,--have created such a coil as would
+have led to the former's banishment. But, devoted to the paleface, he
+had for her sake curbed his heat. Noble and severe in bearing, his
+dark brow seamed by battle scars, he was just the man to master a
+turbulent plebeian woman of strong passions. As he stood, erect and
+self-possessed, O'Kiku adored yet hated him. His scathing antipathy to
+her he did not care to mask, and who should know as well as she how
+well it was deserved. A man such as this might have wrought a miracle
+upon her nature. She could have hugged her gyves, glorying in his
+tyranny. Could have! He had repulsed her,--shrunk with loathing
+undisguised as from a reptile, and all for love of the pale-face. The
+dregs of her low nature bubbled to the surface in a rising surge of
+abhorrence. At this moment, as she contemplated his still dignity, she
+could have stabbed him to the heart with joy.
+
+As schemes and combinations passed swiftly through her brain, the
+geisha hotly blamed herself. A short-sighted novice! An awkward
+bungler! The merest tyro could have warned her of the imprudence of
+airing family feuds before outsiders. What a moment this, when the
+powerful and astute noble of Nara was on the spot, to suggest charges
+against his heiress. Well, well, it was for the best that Sampei had
+kept his temper. The seed, dropped into the mind of No-Kami, would
+swell and burst and blossom by-and-by--the grain of suspicion which at
+a fitting season was to make of these brothers enemies. For the
+present it was best to drop the subject, to turn it off with a jest;
+then to make much of the illustrious visitor, and get rid of him as
+soon as possible.
+
+O'Kiku, therefore, suddenly changed her tactics. With a careless laugh
+and a wave of shapely arms she swept aside the dangerous topic, and
+remarked: "Perhaps I was wrong,--too prone to believe evil. Your
+brother was before me with the news. The Daimio of Nara is here, and
+must be made welcome. If you will do him honour, I will see to the
+bestowing of his retinue. As you are her friend, Sampei--if really
+nothing more--I trust you will beg his daughter to refrain from
+telling lies of us." With this, awaiting no reply, she vanished, and,
+resuming the demureness of the past and assuming a meek and gracious
+air that befitted the position of the concubine, proceeded to charm
+the retainers of Nara as she had already conquered Hojo's.
+
+What was he here for, this inconvenient guest? What could his object
+be in swooping down on Tsu? The question buzzed in her head as she
+moved hither and thither, on hospitality intent. He must know that he,
+was little welcome. Had the chatelaine been goaded at last out of her
+silence? Did the tiny pins at last lacerate her skin? Had she summoned
+her father to rescue her from a position that was unbearable?
+
+What then? Would Nara, interfering on his child's behalf, insist upon
+the prompt suppression of the second wife? And if he did, would his
+mandate be obeyed, or was No-Kami still strong enough to do battle for
+his siren? The prestige of Japan's despot had not paled as yet, for
+the secret of his peculiar mental condition was well kept. Such
+precautions had been taken that, though many knew the Daimio to be
+ill, none but O'Kiku and Sampei were aware of his critical state. Had
+Sampei, pursuing a tortuous game of his own, summoned Nara to council?
+The traitor! And what a simpleton she not to have foreseen and parried
+such a stroke. Nara present and siding with Sampei--made aware of
+No-Kami's weakness--what easier for the twain than to seize the reins
+and fling forth the offending concubine? Again was O'Kiku compelled to
+admit with tingling cheeks how unskilfully she had developed plans
+which at the start had seemed so promising. By pandering to his fears,
+and plying my lord with drink, she gained no doubt a measure of extra
+liberty, but purchased at what a cost! At a time when every man's hand
+was at his neighbour's throat, to lose your nerve was to lose respect
+and be toppled over in the fray. Execrated as she knew my lord to be,
+with myriad and lynx eyes watching for a cranny in his armour, why had
+she not foreseen that there would be traitors in the camp? O'Kiku had
+been so careless because she reckoned on her rival's unpopularity. Not
+a swaggerer among the samurai--as she had long since learned--but
+looked on his liege mistress with uncomprehending pity. To think that
+bluff, single-minded Sampei--so skilful in the field, so blundering at
+home--should have had the inspiration to summon Nara! But had he? Sure
+his surprise on the arrival of the cavalcade was not feigned? If it
+were, then was he a dangerous enemy indeed--concealing consummate
+craft under an appearance of simplicity.
+
+The more O'Kiku pondered and considered, the more nebulous grew the
+result of her meditations, and on the morrow she was brought to the
+highest stage of bewilderment by the departure of the Daimio of Nara
+as abruptly as he had arrived, and in a friendly manner too. Gazing
+through the hole made by a wetted finger in her paper-covered
+casement, she had striven to read on the faces of those concerned the
+result of their interview: and her jaw dropped in sheer amazement. Was
+the lady O'Tei even more mean-spirited and craven than her rival had
+supposed? Fearful of retribution and ill-usage in the future, had she
+masked her wounds from her parent, vowing she was well and happy, when
+her very looks should betray the truth? In that case, neither she nor
+her paramour had summoned Nara. Why then was he come? Could it have
+been of his own accord, so speedily to go away, with no result from
+his advent? The more she considered, the more knotty did the problem
+grow--one that her low instincts could never fathom. She wist not that
+a proud nature, instead of crying out with shrill uproar, will conceal
+stabs dealt in private by her legitimate lord from the scrutiny even
+of a father; the more when her parent bears only the name, since he
+has never won her love.
+
+How surprised would the geisha have been could she have read the
+riddle aright. It was Masago, the Abbess, who had given the hint. She,
+who was but too well aware of the position of her favourite, could see
+that she was dying slowly of a breaking heart, for each time that she
+visited the temple O'Tei was more frail and wan, more spiritual in
+aspect; her step more slow and feeble. Moreover, over and above
+personal affection for her, was it not the duty of the Abbess to give
+warning to the lady's natural protector, lest her own dear boy Sampei
+should be goaded to leap into the breach? Knowing all she knew, it was
+a subject for marvel that Sampei should have refrained till now.
+School himself as he would, he could not conceal from a mother's
+anxious gaze the canker that gnawed his entrails. So far as he was
+concerned, the arrows of O'Kiku had not missed their mark. He pined
+with sympathy,--was wrung with anguish at the drawn expression of the
+wistful face, the dimmed eyes that were once so bright, in which hope
+was quite extinguished.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XII.
+
+ THE DAIMIO OF NARA IMITATES THE SPHYNX.
+
+
+What a pity it is that in our odd world the wicked should be so much
+more clever than the good,--that the combinations of sinners should so
+easily outwit the simply virtuous. But then, were not the good so
+naive, they might not possibly submit so quietly to the unhappiness
+which is usually their portion. They might scream, and rail, and wax
+obstreperous, point out the cases of flagrant injustice too often to
+be observed among their ranks, and become unedifying texts and
+examples.
+
+Poor Sampei, being less cunning than the geisha, and not perceiving
+the advantage of which he might have availed himself, naturally did
+not seize it. It never occurred to him that the appearance of Nara on
+the scene might have brought about the salvation of his family,--that
+he and Sampei united might have ousted the female marplot. Clearly
+this lack of discrimination was due to the interference of the gods.
+
+Sampei was quite as surprised as the concubine at singular conduct of
+Nara. He took no umbrage at his sullen reception by the lord of Tsu;
+seemed not to perceive how little he was welcomed; showed a
+disposition to be easily pleased, a slowness to take offence, such as
+ill became a daimio. Closeted with his daughter, he refrained from
+searching questions, conversed about the pleasures of Ki[^y]oto, and
+the probabilities of a visit in the summer, while she, stony and
+indifferent, as reticent as her parent, and dreamily gazing into
+vacancy, replied in monosyllables. With studied ceremony he took leave
+of her as though she were a stranger, bade farewell of his sulky host
+with suave courtesy, and, followed by his brilliant retinue, journeyed
+slowly up into the mountains. So cautious was he, even under the
+glances of his own people, that it was not until, resigning his horse
+to a betto, he retired into a litter, and drew the curtains close,
+that he permitted his thoughts to appear upon his features. "It is
+very nearly time," he murmured, "very nearly time, and then shall my
+child--ay, and all Japan--be avenged, and signally." With gleeful
+exultation he rubbed his hands together as he revolved a host of
+little points which had not escaped the eagle ken of his experience. A
+drunken dissolute cohort now, the redoubtable warriors of Tsu.
+
+Arriving unawares by night, he had found no sentries at the gate. His
+men had blown the horn, and hammered with lances, and shouted till
+their throats were hoarse, ere any one had appeared upon the walls;
+and what a scurry then! The castle, left unprotected in the silent
+watches, would have fallen without a struggle into the hands of a
+skilful foe. And--the cognisance and titles of the father of the
+chatelaine having been recognised, and the drawbridge lowered--the
+relaxation of discipline everywhere apparent within did not escape his
+practised eye. Before the presence of a stranger was made known, he
+had heard sounds of wassail and of quarrelling,--had seen the
+abandoned concubine of the Hojo toying with the common soldiers.
+And he was enchanted. What mattered it that his child looked
+wretched?--women must suffer for the common good. Patience--a little
+patience--and her burthen would soon be removed.
+
+The Abbess, proud as she was of considering herself in some sort a
+Hojo, had naturally turned, in her anxiety, to him who had been
+selected by her now departed lord as the prime adviser of the family.
+Unwitting of what she did, it was her finger that first pointed out
+how the joints in the harness were loosening; and with a savage laugh
+Nara gave her thanks for it.
+
+The young General, who had never learned the arts of diplomacy,
+blushed crimson as the eyes of the new arrival took in the situation,
+and stammered awkward excuses. His brother was ill, had for some time
+past been unable to occupy himself with affairs, and was, moreover, so
+jealous of interference, that for a while he, the elder, had let
+things go. But now that my lord had come, his father's friend, the
+twain would remonstrate, and arrange together. And then, from under
+the white bettle-brows of the old man there shot a meaning leer which
+chilled the words upon the lips of the younger, and brought to his
+mind an earlier interview which had seemed ominous of complications.
+Was this man a friend, or the worst of enemies, one who wears
+disguise? Buffeting in a sea of knavery, wherein fraud and chicane and
+stratagem and pitfall boil into a seething broth, what wonder if the
+true and single-minded grow bewildered and confused? Sampei was so
+little skilled in double-dealing, that, lulled by specious sentences,
+mystified, he concluded that he had been wrong, had misunderstood the
+purport of lord Nara's talk in the palace. Was he not his father's
+ally,--the man specially picked out for the guidance of the Hojo's
+sons? The old Daimio, ever quick to read thoughts, pressed the hand of
+his young friend with touching affection.
+
+"All will be well by-and-by," he murmured. His dear young General, of
+whom he and Japan were so justly proud, must sit quiet, and hope for
+the best. He too, then, was preaching patience. Sure, the venerable
+Abbess and the hoary statesman must be right--of course they were. The
+loyal Sampei blamed himself accordingly, and put his suspicions from
+him.
+
+Although no open confidences passed between the pair, Nara was
+satisfied, for he could detect a change in the young man. His easy
+confidence in the direction of the straight and honest course was
+gone, had given place to a pained perplexity which boded well for the
+future. The arrow which the astute kuge had planted during the
+interview at the palace, was festering. He seemed to perceive that
+much. Sampei's sense of right and wrong had been disturbed. He was
+uncomfortable, and half-suspecting he knew not what, held his peace
+moodily, while his brain groped in darksome byways. Yes, he was
+mistaken when he deemed Nara to be a foe. Yet how was it possible he
+could be really friendly, perceiving as he must how bad was his
+daughter's treatment, how outrageous on every count were the
+proceedings of her spouse? Could any one who loved Japan be Hojo's
+friend? Alack, even he, Sampei, his only brother, was but too well
+aware that he was his country's scourge--that one who should remove
+the incubus would earn his country's gratitude.
+
+The old Daimio, guessing what knotty problem it was that so vexed the
+young soldier's mind, evolved a stroke of genius. Suave and sweet in
+manner, with an engaging air of candour, he communed with himself
+aloud, "What a sad thing it is," he mused abstractedly, "that the
+history and the literature of our country should so teem with the
+enmity of brothers! And yet, in the main, a happy land, more
+privileged than the dim fog-bound realms of the west." Again, how
+bewildering was this to one who was groping so anxiously for light.
+
+Looking in the wrinkled face, Sampei could see no meaning there--no
+special meaning--addressed to himself especially. And then, as the two
+strolled about the precincts of the castle, Sampei became more
+bewildered yet and more uneasy, for in some unaccountable way it had
+come about, without his knowing how, that old Nara concealed no longer
+that he was No-Kami's enemy, that he was aware of the ill-treatment of
+his child, and grateful for the sympathy of his companion. He even, as
+a matter of course, affected to look on him as a willing accomplice;
+gave him no chance of disavowal. And then, tacit consent to this being
+given, he dropped mysterious hints. Verily the future was growing
+strangely dark, the skein of the race more tangled hourly. With
+helpless resignation Sampei was fain to allow that the fiat had gone
+forth, that the days of the Hojos were numbered. If, as was growing
+every moment plainer, the prophecy of the farmer was to be fulfilled
+to the minutest detail, what was to be gained by struggling?
+
+Patience was in very truth the only virtue which it became the doomed
+to cultivate. Humbled, therefore, and filled with murky presage, the
+young man bowed his neck and folded his hands, resolved to float with
+the stream, obedient to the whim of destiny.
+
+Thus Nara--kuge and devoted servant of the Holy Mikado--having been
+warned by the Abbess of Tsu of the tottering condition of her house,
+came and spied out the land, and returned home delighted; while she,
+hearing in due course how he had come and gone, smiling and
+dangerously courteous, fell a prey to vague misgivings, and betook
+herself to prayer and abstinence. Vainly she cross-examined O'Tei,
+grown stonier and whiter. Since her father's unsatisfactory visit, the
+unhappy lady appeared to wake from a frozen trance to a sense of
+feverish existence, only when prostrate on the temple floor praying
+for the untying of her bonds. The words of Koshiu were seared as by an
+iron on her heart; sleeping or waking, she saw them burning on the
+wall.
+
+The scene within the grey circle of weird trees was never absent from
+her vision. What had she done to deserve the ban? The full horror of
+the anathema ate into her being slowly. In succeeding cycles she was
+destined to be accursed. Little by little she realised her doom; for
+her there was to be no rest, no peace, no change for the better. Why?
+Because, obedient to her father's commands, she had bestowed her hand
+upon a tyrant. For blind obedience, punished for all time; for more
+than time--for ever!
+
+There was no justice, then, in this life, or in the realms beyond the
+grave. She was created for misfortune and misery, specially picked out
+for all the worst evils that beset mortality. If accursed in future
+cycles, she might never rise,--never win Nirvana,--never hope for
+oblivion. The unflecked blackness of the despair that settled down
+like a foldless sable curtain upon O'Tei, caused the heart of Masago
+to bleed for her. The gentlest, noblest, most patient, as well as the
+most innocent of ladies! Truly the ways of the Eternal are
+inscrutable. The austere Abbess strove to instil comfort into the
+numbed soul--without avail. Her arguments, after all, were shallowest
+platitudes, to be tossed aside by O'Tei with easy scorn. What to her
+were the puny arts of O'Kiku the second wife? Shielded by the buckler
+of such suffering as hers, the tiny pins of the geisha fell harmless.
+Pity that 'twas so, for wholesome indignation might have wakened her
+from the stupor which, unless broken, must shortly end in dissolution.
+
+Pondering as she paced the silent groves, the Abbess sought for a clue
+in vain. If the family was doomed to be smitten root and branch, it
+was doomed. But what a store of faith is needed humbly to acquiesce
+in the monstrous belief that the innocent must suffer for the
+guilty,--that generations yet unborn are to come into the world
+for the express purpose of bearing on their backs the guilt of
+their ancestors. With terror Masago felt that she was growing
+rebellious,--that her faith was trembling,--that she could no longer
+gaze with trustful veneration upon Buddha, the expressionless and the
+impassible, reposing cross-legged on his lotus. Herself, O'Tei, the
+dearly-loved Sampei, were all to suffer for No-Kami. Sure Tomoye must
+be writhing on some other sphere for being the mother of such a
+cockatrice! And so it naturally came about that Masago, as well as
+others, looked forward to the sacrificing of Hojo--the chief to whom
+they owed allegiance,--of the head of the family of which she was
+proud to be one,--that she even prayed for the death of No-Kami as the
+only possible solution of the problem.
+
+O'Kiku was not above profiting by the lesson which had been taught by
+Nara's visit. Instead of being permitted to subside into hopeless
+imbecility, her lord must be aroused,--must be exhorted to tighten the
+cords of his nervous system, in preparation for a sudden strain.
+Accordingly, after a period of wonder at Nara's visit and its apparent
+abortiveness, she began to suspect that, courteous as his manner was,
+and suavely ceremonious his departure, they had not yet heard the last
+of the kuge's irruption; and that it behoved her, as the guiding
+spirit of the castle, to practise caution. That snake, Sampei, was
+wriggling in the grass in inconvenient proximity, darting glances of
+adoration at the chatelaine. For the dignity of her dear lord's name
+(and her own future comfort), she must accentuate and renew her
+exposure of the villain and his paramour, now that the coast was
+clear. To this end, in order that vengeance might be tempered with
+_sang froid_, their deluded victim must be taught to mingle vigilance
+with circumspection, which would require a measure of sobriety. It
+would be vexatious to have to resign a modicum of personal liberty,
+but the sacking of the castle by a watchful enemy, who knew of its
+master's sottishness, would be a worse evil. It behoved her for her
+own sake to protect my lord from the enemy within the citadel. Arguing
+from her own ways of thought, it was a logical deduction that, in love
+with No-Kami's wife, Sampei must desire his death.
+
+The geisha, adapting herself to the circumstances of the moment,
+became outwardly more circumspect in her behaviour; watched over her
+lord with affectionate care; exhorted and chid him with tender
+patience till his paroxysms of fear were past; made herself so
+absolutely needful to his existence, that he could not but fondly mark
+the contrast betwixt her and his legitimate consort. And she was not
+slow in administering the deadly drops when occasion served. What
+should the lady O'Tei care? she would babble artlessly, that her lord
+was well or ill, since her affections were engrossed by another, who
+all along had possessed her heart. The silent twilight of cryptomeria
+groves is conducive to holy meditation, but is also vastly convenient
+for mundane dallying. But no! he must not excite himself. Why should
+my lord exercise his shattered nerves, and pace like a caged bear?
+What mattered it what they did, or how frequently they met? For
+her part, his faithful O'Kiku thought it very diverting that any
+warm-blooded man should elect to fall in love with an icicle.
+
+No-Kami hearkened, and although his reason rejected the geisha's
+hints, they set him pondering. Of O'Tei's character he had never seen
+any side, after the first few days, but the cold, repellent one, made
+more obnoxious sometimes by that lack of proper pride, which to his
+nostrils was as an evil savour. His brother was also a riddle; as a
+soldier brave to a fault, in other concerns hesitating, even timid,
+beset with petty scruples incomprehensible to the broader views of his
+feudal master. At the bottom of his heart he was afraid of his first
+wife, and disliked his brother, who, instinct whispered, was more
+worthy than himself. But to suspect those two of love passages!
+O'Kiku, unable to read correctly the characters of either, was led
+astray by over anxiety on his behalf. And yet, what if she were right?
+
+That dreadful curse that was ringing ever in his ears. Was this one of
+the ways in which he was to be stricken? Was he to be held up by wife
+and brother as a laughing-stock in the eyes of his assembled warriors?
+He had been weak, unnerved; had groaned and grovelled, forgetting his
+name and lineage; had all but been lured to submit to degradation that
+night among the enchanted trees. He would battle with the phantoms
+now, like a true son of his father and Tomoye--would conquer, by force
+of indomitable will, even the goblins that pursued him. Rising up, and
+girding his loins, thankful that the samurai had never beheld his
+throes of terror, he appeared once more in the hall, overbearing and
+stern and firm of step--as fierce and harsh as heretofore, if haggard
+and ashen of hue.
+
+Sampei marked the change with approval; for the idea that the head of
+the house was to turn coward seemed the most grievous of possibilities
+in connection with the martyr's curse. At this juncture an event
+occurred which added yet further to his relief. The lord of Tsu was
+summoned, by sudden mandate of the Mikado, and was ordered to present
+himself in the sacred precincts of Ki[^y]oto without delay,
+accompanied by a small following. This order, publicly given, he must
+perforce obey, and, removed from the bad influence of the favourite,
+there was no knowing what happy turn might follow. Though polygamy was
+a recognised institution, it was not etiquette for any other than the
+first wife to hold communion with the ladies of the imperial court.
+
+The peremptory nature of the summons surprised and offended the lord
+of Tsu. Old Nara, doubtless, had perceived how unstrung he was, had
+whispered to the silly babbling kuges and their infatuated head that
+the lion was toothless, that the poison-bag of the serpent was
+removed. A sense of their mistake, and the speedy discomfiture of the
+feeble gang, acted on the system of the despot like a dash of fresh
+salt brine. He laughed aloud, as, detaching the clinging arm of the
+siren from about his neck, he leapt lightly on Typhoon, his war-horse.
+The day was crisp and brightly cold--exhilarating--the sky cloudless,
+as he galloped towards the hills. In the frosty reviving air of the
+mountains the vengeful shades were exorcised; Koshiu and Kennui and
+their baleful family lingered behind in the plains, and stretch forth
+in vain their talons. The ghosts faded into thin vapour--nightmare was
+shaken off--No-Kami felt ten years younger than yesterday. A fig for
+the farmer and his curse! The tyrant of Japan must have been sick
+indeed to have shivered under a peasant's puling!
+
+Of a surety a signal change had come over my lord. Peradventure there
+was to be an alteration in the mind as well as the body--greater
+miracles have come to pass. So mused Sampei--strangely relieved--while
+he watched the knot of horsemen as they wound upwards and over the
+sky-line. The gods grant it! O'Kiku also mused as she stood watching.
+My lord was better--that was a comfort,--would prove to the trembling
+courtiers that they had reckoned wrongly. She had a secret for him on
+his return which should bind him yet closer to her. Meanwhile she
+could enjoy a time of absolute freedom, give vent to her proclivities,
+whilst narrowly watching the young General and his love, and weaving
+the web of her intrigues.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XIII.
+
+ THE DESPOT OBEYS ORDERS.
+
+
+The little cavalcade sped swiftly on, for the frost-bound roads were
+pleasant travelling, and towards evening a dim mass appeared on the
+horizon, which presaged a fall of snow. It behoved the Daimio and his
+escort to ascend the wild and rugged pass, and seek the sheltered
+plains, before the coming of the storm.
+
+Yes, No-Kami was himself again. The eyes, like burning coals, no
+longer glared at him. The good horse Typhoon, idle too long, chafed
+under the bit, buffeted with his lord for mastery. A distempered
+dream, no more, one that was past and gone. Light of heart and
+jovially inclined, he gratified his taste for cruelty by lashing his
+steed into a fever. Even he, the horse, was aware how sick he had
+been--was mutinous and restive--needed a sharp lesson. The samurai, he
+remarked, were more familiar than of yore. There was a shade less of
+submission in their manner. One went so far as to bandy a broad jest,
+putting forth lips too close to his master's ear, upon which he
+received a smart blow upon the cheek, as a hint to keep his distance.
+
+Their lord was himself again, and the warriors were glad. That he
+should be fooled by a wanton to their benefit was amusing for a while,
+but with satiety rose a feeling of disgust. The fascinating geisha's
+heart had room for too many occupants, and the warriors began to
+reflect some while since that, by betraying their lord in their
+society, she was shaming the house they served. As the charm of
+novelty waned, they began to see her as she was. Removed from the
+range of O'Kiku's orbs, the more sober among then grieved about that
+second marriage. As a dancing-girl--a passing fancy--O'Kiku was all
+that could be desired--but as a permanent second wife?--no. On the
+whole, even the mawkish chatelaine was less grievous as a mistress.
+Her sins were of omission only. Never by word or look had she
+disgraced the name she bore. Unfortunately, the same could not be said
+for the concubine.
+
+My lord was himself again, and, being so, was desperately tetchy. This
+was untoward. Otherwise, a wary hint might have been thrown out by the
+trusted and war-beaten officer who rode beside him as to the reckless
+proceedings of his favourite. In the present condition of his temper,
+interference might produce explosion. Well, time is the best guide. If
+detained at Ki[^y]oto, he might see some one he liked better, and
+forget O'Kiku, and then she could be relegated to a convent as lumber
+is removed to a godown.
+
+The samurai were in high spirits, and noisy withal, and the Daimio
+observed with displeasing the effect of discipline relaxed. So
+soon as he returned home he would set his castle in order, he
+resolved,--suppress undue lawlessness,--check familiarity. When he
+returned? Would the nightmare crush him again--numbing his limbs,
+breaking his spirit? Surely not. Why should he ever return? Was he not
+lord of other castles? Could he not appropriate at will, with the
+strong hand of might, any stronghold that should take his fancy? Tsu
+could be left to O'Tei and to the goblins. Henceforth it was a hateful
+spot, recalling humiliation and pain. And then he mused about
+O'Kiku--entrancing little fairy! A pity she was unreasonably jealous,
+for all those stories about his wife and his brother were too absurd
+to be believed. Yet were they? What, after all, if the concubine were
+right, and Sampei's air of offended dignity a piece of clever
+masquerading? Had he, the chief, not seemed to detect something like
+commiseration on the bronzed features of his warriors? Why should they
+pity him? Perhaps they knew too well that, behind his back, his wife
+and brother held clandestine meetings. Of course, this must be it.
+Scales fell from his eyes, and he trembled with passion. His first
+wife was deceiving him, and with his brother! Hence their waning
+respect and covert pity. And, fool that he was, he had left the two
+together. Grinding his teeth, he twitched the rein so sharply that
+Typhoon, beflecked with foam, fell back upon his haunches. And then,
+in fitful mood, he laughed again. To Ki[^y]oto first to tie up
+loosened strands, then back to Tsu with furtive speed! He would swoop
+upon both the guilty ones, catch them off their guard, and make of
+them an example for all time.
+
+The peasants, scared out of their wits by the truculent bearing of the
+soldiery, betook them to the woods, and lurked in hiding till the
+enemy had passed. At the top of the mountain, just where the way is
+level, before dipping down through a thicket of wind-tossed pines,
+there stood a modest tea-house where my lord was wont to sleep on his
+journeys between his castle and the capital. Here he resolved to stop
+as usual, and, after bathing, enjoy his dinner. The landlord and his
+daughters came smiling forth, and, clapping palms upon their thighs,
+knelt down and rapped foreheads on the floor. My lord was paler than
+his wont, observed mine host, with profuse sighing; and thin, which
+tore in twain the hearts of his loyal vassals; indeed they had heard
+that he was grievously sick--almost unto death. Had not my lord of
+Nara gone by recently and brought the evil tidings! One and all had
+wept, and offered prayers for his recovery. But my lord was young, and
+would speedily recover, thanks to the elasticity of youth. And so on,
+with many genuflections and drawings in of the breath; sibillations,
+and head-rappings; while No-Kami's face grew purple, and he growled a
+string of curses.
+
+Nara dared--the insolent dotard!--he dared to spread reports among the
+people to the detriment of him, the Hojo! Sick unto death, forsooth!
+He burned to continue his journey forthwith, that the old schemer
+might be swiftly punished. Hark! What was that? A clatter of hoofs on
+the hard road. A betto, breathless, wearing the badge of Tsu. What had
+chanced? Not an accident to the fair O'Kiku? Anything but that. The
+anxiety of No-Kami caused the warriors to glance with grim meaning
+from one to another, and shake their heads. How infatuated was their
+lord with that brazen hussy! A lacquer box, bound with a red cord,
+containing a roll--a letter scrawled by the dear one. The darling
+faithful fairy was pining in the absence of her love! Retiring to the
+inner chamber, with its fine white mats, and gold ceiling painted with
+many fans, he proceeded to peruse the scroll. "He must not be angry
+with his little slave in that she perforce must write to him." (Angry!
+and with her? At home he might have snarled, but now time and distance
+were between them.) "She was not so well-disciplined, springing from
+the warm-hearted people, as my lady, the chill chatelaine." (No, in
+sooth! O'Tei would be long ere she despatched love-missives to her
+husband.) "She was silly enough to adore my lord so well that each
+moment out of his company was like a dagger-stab; and yet, _she had
+comfort in his absence!_"
+
+Here was a mystery concerning which he must not be jealous, since the
+comfort of which she spoke would affect him as well as her. My lord
+must give way before her whim, and be patient, or if not patient, must
+hasten home the sooner, that the grand secret of joy might be
+divulged. Softened, he laid the paper down. He must be a brute indeed
+who hath not a tender spot in his ruggedness for one who so
+unselfishly adored! The guileless, silly child! What was the grand
+secret that was to be the harbinger of doubly-concentrated bliss?
+Stay! there was a postscript to the letter, and the Hojo scrunched its
+frail tissue in his palm. Under the green leaf lies the scorpion.
+"Since my lord went they are at ease, and the Abbess a shameless
+pander!" That was all, but it was enough to remove the sweetness from
+the rest,--the one drop of gall that could turn a whole dish sour.
+
+_At ease_, were they! Not for long--not for long! Squatting on the
+mat, with a futon, or wadded quilt, about his shoulders, and his cold
+hands spread over the hibachi, where charcoal ashes distributed a
+mockery of warmth, No-Kami quivered now in every racked sinew. Did
+everybody unite to beard him? He was fallen so low as that! The
+prestige due to wholesome fear was paling. He had been too lenient.
+That pageant had somehow been a failure. Only just in time had he
+recovered from his illness. It was time to turn over a new leaf and
+coerce the rebellious and unruly with an increase of severity. A
+plague on the noisy soldiery! They were as insolent as all the rest.
+The world was out of gear. What hideous din was that in the outer
+chamber? Springing to his feet, the Daimio flung back in their grooves
+the paper-covered doors, and in a voice of thunder demanded the cause
+of the uproar. A disgraceful scene, in truth! The landlord, but now so
+smiling and obsequious, was tied and gagged. So were the plump girls,
+his daughters, whose bosoms heaved with terror-stricken sobs, while
+tears coursed down their cheeks, and their locks, though plastered
+thick with oil, were bereft of pins and ornaments.
+
+What was the meaning of this? stammered their outraged lord, so soon
+as indignation permitted of speech. Sure they must be out of their
+senses! He had borne with their impudence upon the road,--their
+offensive, rollicking gait and vulgar swagger; but now they had gone
+too far, and should feel the weight of his displeasure. Were they
+samurai--faithful and obedient henchmen--or ronins--bandits? There had
+been more than enough quarrelling of late between the soldiers and the
+lower class. Landlord and maidens must be instantly released with full
+apologies, with substantial damages in the future, which should be
+extorted from the pay of the truculent and peccant braves.
+
+The Hojo was awful in his indignation--a whirlwind! Sure the
+thunder-god looked like this while deafening with his gongs the
+firmament. The girls were set free with tardy sullenness, and cowered
+together, trembling; but the man who menaced the landlord clutched him
+still, with the point of a dirk at his throat, while he who was in
+command approached his lord with extreme humility, begging to be
+permitted to explain.
+
+"We were toying with the maidens," he bluntly urged--"surely an
+appropriate amusement for soldiers--when one, too roughly pinched,
+perhaps, turned on the aggressor with a jibe. 'Take heed,' she
+shrieked, in shrill resentment at that which was only gallantry, 'lest
+you strutting fowls get your fine feathers clipped!' She would have
+said more, but her sire, in fear, clapped a hand upon her mouth,
+exhorting her to prudence. She had betrayed herself--uttered a dark
+threat, whose meaning it became us to learn. With the steel at his
+throat the man had made confession--and a pretty coil it was! The
+clans are gathering, he says; silently, by detachments, in the
+mountains, ready, at given signal to fall unawares upon my lord. That
+was why the Daimio of Nara deigned to visit us. He came to reconnoitre
+the ground, to see if we were prepared and vigilant. While we reposed
+in false security (this varlet hath confessed) the hostile daimios
+have been summoning their men, have enrolled in their service paid
+auxiliaries; disbanded, wandering ronins; soldiers of fortune,
+ruffians. And this, as it seems (though one can scarce believe it),
+with the tacit consent both of the Holy Mikado and of the Shogun at
+Kamakura. This summons to Ki[^y]oto is a snare, detected luckily in
+time. May it please my lord--pardoning the arrogance of his poor
+servant in advising--to take horse at once, and, riding quickly home
+prepare for danger. Finding their plot discovered, they will follow,
+striving, by myriads like locusts, to undo us. But the walls of Tsu
+are strong. Behind them we may laugh, secure."
+
+Having made this long oration, the chief of the samurai bent down,
+touched with his lips the hem of my lord's hanging girdle, and then
+rising, with bowed neck awaited orders. A discovery indeed! When
+closeted with his child the crafty Nara had doubtless explained the
+plot, had held out the hope of freedom to the prisoner; and she, as
+consummate in dissimulation as her parent, had seen without a quiver
+of an eyelid her husband riding to his death. Perhaps Sampei knew also
+of it--of course he did. Ambitious for himself, a willing tool of
+Nara's! Faithless traitors all! O'Kiku was the only true one!
+
+His brows knitted in deep concern, the Daimio waved his hand, and
+retired for a while to think. The suddenly-opened chasm that yawned
+before his feet completed the recovery of No-Kami. His wife, his
+brother, false. That was evident now. The adviser selected by his
+parent convicted of treason. Incensed Japan ready to rise as one to
+shake off a weakened despot. Nobody but himself to trust to; no arm
+but his own to succour him. Return with all speed to Tsu, and place
+that impregnable stronghold in a condition to endure a siege? Prudent
+advice enough; but what if the hovering ghosts should on his
+re-entrance there claim and clutch him for their own. Then would he be
+undone indeed. But the ghosts had ceased to worry. No-Kami thrilled
+with glee as he realised the imminence of his peril. How mistaken in
+their estimate they were of him who held them leashed. What! Catch a
+Hojo like a rat in a trap? Not they. Not all the united prowess of
+Japan should succeed in doing it, provided goblins were kept aloof
+from the contest. Return at once to Tsu. No! 'Twould be a sign of
+weakness. Instead of retiring, it behoved him to assume the offensive.
+He would invade the Mikado, as he had often done before, and cow with
+his scowl alone the poor timid array of hares. By the prestige of his
+name and the uncompromising power of his will he had held his own
+since the demise of his father and Tomoye. It is a mistake for a
+despot to hide his frown too long. The past should be retrieved by a
+blow so heavy and unexpected that the hares, quaking with
+apprehension, would scuttle off without a sound.
+
+Striding forth again from retirement, No-Kami issued orders so prompt
+and to the purpose that there was no gainsaying them.
+
+The betto was to return to Tsu at the top of his speed, with private
+instructions to the officers as to increased watchfulness. This scroll
+he would deliver to Sampei, and instruct him, at the peril of his life
+without delay to join his brother at the capital. The letter was so
+sternly worded that he would perceive he had been betrayed,--that the
+head of his clan was aware of his perfidy, and he would accordingly
+throw up the game, confess, and sue for mercy.
+
+The Daimio himself and his following would, after a few hours of
+repose, push on to Ki[^y]oto. The rice of the men consumed, the horses
+fed, and a cup of sake all round, and then, away!
+
+The landlord and his daughter; what of them?
+
+The miserable peasant was quaking on the mat, groaning and wringing
+hands with incoherent supplications, deeply distressed in mind to
+think that through the blabbing of him and his the tyrant should have
+received timely warning.
+
+To all posterity would their names go branded down, since but for
+their folly the bonds of their land would have been loosened. The
+girls, beside themselves with fear, crawled on hands and knees,
+imploring clemency.
+
+Folding his arms, No-Kami looked down upon the supplicants, while his
+features were contracted by a spasm that might pass for a malignant
+grin.
+
+"What of these?" he glowered. "Slash the father's throat; 'tis given
+to garrulity and chattering. The girls? Serve them as you will. What
+have I to do with vermin?"
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XIV.
+
+ THE MIKADO DOES BUSINESS.
+
+
+Since the return of Nara from his mysterious excursion, the interior
+of the sad prison-house of the Mikado was quite lively. The kneeling
+kuges chirruped like birds; their tall black headdresses waved and
+nodded like sable plumes in the wind. Excitement being contagious, the
+un-elect, who might not step within the sacred halls, laughed too and
+gabbled on the outer verandahs, showing their white teeth, and
+gossiping hopefully. They wist not why they were so light of heart;
+but if the privileged denizens of the lugubrious dwelling, usually so
+glum, were gay, it meant that the Holy Mikado was well pleased; and if
+the Fountain of Honour was content, it was clearly the duty of them,
+his lowly faithful ones, to vie one with another in sympathy.
+
+After that terrible interview when he was publicly insulted before his
+court, the miserable Mikado retired into darkness, declining to emerge
+or to be comforted. He vowed that the three deposed Emperors who were
+mumbling prayers in remote monasteries were far better off than he,
+for they at any rate were left in peace, so long as they submitted
+quietly, and were pitied as well as loved by the Empire. The actual
+Emperor, so long as he seemed to reign, was held responsible for what
+was done, and he, unfortunately for himself, was of a conscientious
+turn of mind. The peasant man who, alas, too trusting, had confided
+himself to the safe keeping of the Holy One, had been torn from
+sanctuary, ignominiously executed, together with his innocent family,
+and the Fountain of Honour was aware that in the eyes of the people he
+must be a willing accomplice, or else the meanest of puppets. His
+conscience was torn by pincers. He ought somehow to have saved that
+family. Humiliation and shame gnawed into his vitals, as rusty gyves
+into the wrists. No slavery, he declared, while he crouched in his
+dark chamber, with drops of sweat upon his brow, could possibly be
+worse than his. A change of masters, if master he must have, would be
+for the better, since his plight could not be altered for the worse.
+Not the lowest coolie,--the meanest Eta in his dominions, was of less
+account than he. If all these chattering kuges, who prostrated
+themselves so humbly, drawing in breath like humming insects,
+professing profound devotion, would only do something practical, then
+would he, the Fountain, sparkle with gratitude, and profusely
+distribute benedictions.
+
+Nara was a provoking person. Wise as an owl in aspect, his wisdom was
+much an imposture as that of the sapient bird. As usual he exhorted to
+patience, droned platitudes through his nose. The friends of that
+much-tried individual on a dunghill, whom Christians had been heard to
+prate about, were no more exasperating. When the octopus holds you
+with his tentacles in fell embrace, you must summon all your strength
+in a supreme effort to tear him piecemeal. A series of small struggles
+are mere waste of tissue. The Hojo, as all within the holy prison
+house were painfully aware, was a portentous octopus, more awful than
+any of the forbidding monsters, with arms of five feet and more, that
+are to be seen any day in the fish-market.
+
+Those who would measure lances with him must be cautious--very
+cautious. Perhaps, looking back on history, the Fountain might
+remember Yoriiye, son of Yoritomo the Great, who, banished to the
+temple of Idzu, was compelled to shave off his hair. Objecting, he
+rebelled, and, to the general dismay, was found strangled one morning
+in his bath. The present Fountain was young and impetuous, a boy, and
+ignorant, and must learn to smile and wait--to smile and smile--and
+_strike!_ That he should have resolved on a change at any cost, was
+well. His trusty lords would beat about and see what was to be done.
+Doth not the ratcatcher's cat hide her claws?--to serve her end
+perform miracles? With the stirring of the wind the heron rises from
+the stream. A little faith, and patience.
+
+It was fortunate for the conspirators, headed by Nara, that after his
+deplorable exhibition of cruelty at Tsu the tyrant should remain
+quiescent. The snake, for the moment gorged, was comatose. Taking
+advantage of his absence and inaction, the Daimio of Nara threw his
+spies broadcast over the land--sent letters to absent magnates
+inviting them to unite and march for the emancipation of their lord
+from serfdom. He even sent privately to the Shogun at Kamakura,
+declaring that if any one was despot in future it should be he, since,
+by virtue of his post, he was the first General of the Empire, the
+legitimate leader of her armies. If the Hojo had been at Ki[^y]oto,
+and awake, these proceedings would have been at once detected, and
+crushed with an iron hand. Why was he so quiet in his distant castle?
+
+When the message from Masago arrived, declaring that the Daimio of Tsu
+was sinking into lowest debauchery, willing victim of a harlot, Nara
+thanked the gods, and rushed to his imperial master. The other item in
+the communication--concerning the position of his own daughter--was a
+trifle. She also must practise patience. She would be amply avenged
+for present torment at the same time as the Holy Mikado. Was not this
+grand news, well worth a little waiting--a little suffering? Had he
+not been right--he, the hoary one, the sage, the experienced, the
+prudent? They had waited, and the moment was at hand. In exultant joy
+he flung himself headlong on the mat, and embraced his master's feet.
+
+Of course the latter was glad that evil should befall his tyrant; but
+Nara was always more glib with tongue than sword. A little patience,
+quotha. For patience the times were out of joint. A little action now.
+Answers arrived from east and west, from north and south--some
+bellicose and ardent, some timid and time-serving. The Fountain of
+Honour deigned to come out of darkness like a snail out of its shell;
+but as he lay supported on his hand in the centre of the floor, his
+mien was so troubled, his young brow so puckered and scowling, that
+the kuges squatting around in a circle sat wistful, with heads on one
+side--motionless. For hours and hours he remained as inanimate as
+they--lost in gloomy thoughts and dumb abstraction. The prospect was
+too halcyon. The tyrant, firm in the toils of a low woman, might
+become sodden and besotted. What of the other--no less than he a
+Hojo--the idol of the army, bravest of the brave? The soul of loyalty
+(or his face belied him), he would stand by his brother, a tower of
+strength in an emergency.
+
+Plausible and garrulous and self-deceiving as old men are wont to be,
+Nara had been quite wrong in his estimate of General Sampei. He, the
+General, had appeared distressed at the proceedings of his feudal
+superior. And yet could it be denied that he had calmly attended and
+approved that shocking massacre,--had stood by with hands before him
+while infants were slaughtered,--had remained on the premises ever
+since, perfectly composed and comfortable? His face was a lying mask
+then. He was as bad, every bit, as his brother,--as much to be feared
+and hated; for since it was clear that he approved his acts, he would,
+of course, stand by him to the death.
+
+Nara rubbed his chin, and whilst confessing that that much of the
+problem was at present not quite so clear as was desirable, stoutly
+declared that if the distant chiefs could succeed in quietly gathering
+their adherents, and, unsuspected, mass them within distance of the
+capital the desired end would be attained, Sampei or no Sampei. The
+Hojo must be lulled in false security, and awake to a sense of danger
+only in time to perish. In order to reconnoitre the ground, he, the
+veteran, would stir his old bones and pay a visit to his son-in-law.
+There would be naught in this to raise suspicion, for what could be
+more natural than that a fond parent should make a pilgrimage to visit
+his only child?
+
+He went, as we have seen, and in due course returned, so jubilant and
+radiant that even his glum master perforce believed in him. Their
+prayers were heard. The gods were sick of tyranny. The despot,
+blindfold, was marching to his fate. His foot was on the edge of the
+abyss. As the Fountain of Honour in his inspired wisdom had pointed
+out, Sampei was loyal to his chief, so far, but he was evidently full
+of disgust, uncertain what he ought to do, harried and worried,
+wretched. The citadel was more than half undermined already. He, the
+brilliant general, soldier to his finger nails, moved in a centre of
+undisciplined debauchery; listess, unshocked, uninterested. Why, a
+handful of ronins could take and sack in a trice the castle once
+deemed impregnable! The guards were wrapped in drunken sleep, the
+sentinels, absent from their posts, were engaged in uproarious wassail
+Not a peasant for miles around but would hail with joyous relief the
+advent of a new master; not a farmer or artizan but, with full faith
+in Koshiu's dying words, would look on No-Kami's downfall as
+retribution heaven-born. Nothing would be easier than, guided by
+peasants, to march trusty troops by night through the mountain defiles
+and take the castle by surprise. Sampei, half-hearted as he was, and
+preternaturally listless, would acquiesce in the inevitable (would be
+only too glad to do so), and, his brother slain--no longer tied by
+fealty--would appear in his true colours. In the absence of their
+hereditary chief, the braves of Tsu would lose their heads, throw down
+their arms. For the stronghold must fall in the absence of the Hojo,
+or the prestige that hung around his dignity might save him after all.
+Just see how cautiously and well-prepared were the plans of the
+veteran counsellor. Hojo must be summoned to Ki[^y]oto on some
+business; then sent back with a reproof, to fall into a skilfully-set
+trap. Admitted within the walls that were once his own--but which
+would have surrendered in his absence--he could be seized and bound,
+and, in this plight, covered with the green net of dishonour, be
+exhibited before awed crowds, as a sermon against vaulting ambition.
+
+So fluent was the old man, so completely self-convinced, that the
+Mikado revived and sat up, while the eyes of the circle of kuges
+goggled in their heads with mingled admiration and alarm. No-Kami, as
+we have seen, was sent for in peremptory fashion. The Fountain
+suggested timidly that this was rash, perhaps; and then old Nara
+laughed loud and long and savagely.
+
+"Time was, O Holy One!" he cried, with wagging headpiece, "when 'twas
+I who prated of prudence. Now I say be brave! There is naught to fear:
+his claws are cut. I have looked on him! There is terror in his
+bloodshot eyes, dread in his shaking hands and shuffling footsteps.
+The dying farmer called down a curse, and it works visibly, for his
+confidence in himself has gone--his belief in a lucky star!"
+
+All this was vastly refreshing to the inhabitants of the palace,
+accustomed as they were to groaning. The Mikado, with mind at ease,
+sat on his lacquered chair within the white-curtained tent, and gave
+audience to all and sundry. The weather was bitterly cold.
+
+A cutting wind blew down from the hills, sheeted last night with snow.
+Nevertheless, so benignantly disposed was he, that the Fountain of
+Honour ordered the shutters of the Great Hall to be removed, that
+those without might see him, and fall in ecstasy upon their faces.
+With a hibachi of fine bronze before him, clad in wadded robes with
+seven linings, his wizened visage was cut clear against the background
+by the towering black gauze leaf that he only of mortals was permitted
+to wear erect. Despite his wadding and his charcoal he was chilly; but
+what matters that when the heart is warm, the spirits high? The moment
+of triumph was approaching when he would claim an eye for an eye and a
+tooth for a tooth,--exact a cry of pain for each that himself had
+uttered. Since the despot was already so stricken by outraged Buddha
+as to be spiritless, he, the Fountain, would improve the occasion when
+the culprit arrived, in order that all might perceive and applaud the
+seasonable resumption of his free will and dignity. Openly now he
+discussed with assembled kuges each succeeding step. Troops were
+already moving silently, under cover of the dark, towards the castle.
+Others were approaching from afar in the direction of the central
+rendezvous. On the arrival of the culprit--news had already been
+received of his starting--he should be solemnly arraigned and
+admonished, then banished in disgrace to his lands at Tsu. There he
+would fall into the snare, be brought back with every mark of insult
+and ignominy to the capital--and then--and then! What was to happen
+after that was too delicious to be too promptly settled. It was a
+morsel to be turned over and over on the tongue, not swallowed with a
+gulp.
+
+Both Fountain and attendant kuges were never weary now of discussing
+"what then?" Of course, the last thing of all was to be harakiri. This
+means of final exit he could justly claim by right of name and
+lineage. But before the final tragedy there might, if skilfully
+thought out, be endless shades of moral torture; and the kuges,
+squatting in a row, crumpled their foreheads and stared at the gold
+ceiling in the delightful travail of conception. Every one had an idea
+which required to be examined and considered, sifted, accepted, or
+rejected. Meanwhile the Fountain dribbled out wisdom, encouraged
+brains to nimbleness, distributed applause. One of the nobles had an
+inspiration, whereon all his fellows cackled. There was a punishment
+that none had endured for years, but which might be revived with
+advantage for the behoof of the fallen Hojo. In a public place, before
+the assembled populace, a series of the lowest and dirtiest Etas were
+to be placed in a long line, with straddled legs, and under the arcade
+thus formed--a pilgrimage of consummate degradation--the humbled
+noble, on hands and knees, was to be condemned to crawl. An admirable
+suggestion! Traitorous nobles condemned to this ordeal had been known
+to die from very shame--their soul crushed out of them, ere half the
+journey was accomplished. Sure the proud-stomached Hojo would not
+survive, and thus would go out of the world deprived of the honour of
+harakiri.
+
+The Mikado, enchanted, could conjure up the scene. He longed for the
+moment to arrive when the culprit, erst so domineering, would shuffle
+in, nervous and unstrung. A new and charming sensation this to one who
+was wont himself to quiver. Yes, he longed for the moment, but the
+wretch should not be admitted at once. Certainly not. He should be
+shown his place; he who had ridden roughshod should be kept waiting in
+an ante-room. He----Hark! what sound was that? Rapid and dreadfully
+familiar? Could it indeed be? A footfall, too well known, was creaking
+quickly along the bare boards of the corridor. Shuffling, forsooth! it
+was as brisk and elastic as of yore. With a glance of dismayed
+reproach the Mikado turned to Nara, then concealed behind a fan his
+burning face. Nara frowned, surprised. The crouching kuges twittered.
+
+Mice gambol when their hereditary foe is slumbering; then, when the
+green gleaming eyes re-open, scuffle into holes. For these poor mice
+there were no holes. The footstep was crunching--crunching on their
+hearts. Though it approached more near, more near, with dreadful
+swiftness, they might not move, since no shelter was at hand, and they
+had not wings to fly. Alack! with idle presumption they had uncorked a
+bottle, and out had popped a gin that spread his bat's pinions over
+the sky with stifling sulphurous stench.
+
+Dread in his shaking hand indeed! Oh, Nara! Nara! Peeping nervously
+between his fan-sticks, as the commanding figure that he knew too well
+darkened the doorway, the Fountain of Honour perceived a threatening
+outline in which there was no sign of decadence. As with hand lightly
+poised on hip, and proud head raised, the Hojo strode into the
+Presence, the Mikado marked that he was pale and thin, but his eye, if
+bloodshot, was piercing as ever--fierce as the untamed eagle's. That
+Nara, who boasted of experience and acumen, should be so grievously
+taken in. Well, well! it was all the fault of that old fool. The
+embroglio was of his making; it must be for him to get them out of the
+hobble.
+
+But Nara, save for a deepening line between the brows, and teeth that
+bit the lip, seemed unaware of the apparition. Red and wrinkled lids
+blinked over glazed eyes which stared stonily into space from under a
+white and shaggy penthouse. The Daimio of Tsu, erect and menacing,
+glanced slowly down at the assembled lords, who, with bent backs, were
+contemplating the floor--then at the fan and bundle of silks which
+concealed the Fountain of Honour--then at the crowd without, who stood
+with craned necks on the verandahs, or grouped about the garden. From
+between his fan-sticks the Mikado followed the motions of the despot
+with increasing trepidation.
+
+If only he dared to command the closing of the doors--but his tongue
+refused its office. Instinct told him that the cup of disgrace was
+again to be presented to his lips, and that it would be more bitter
+than ever to the taste. How hard was fate! Every one of the court
+circle--hatamotos, lords, knights, dependants--was to witness the
+unpleasing ceremony.
+
+As the Daimio stood quietly glancing round without a word, the silence
+became each second less endurable. By bearing and power of eye,
+combined with an eloquent past, the tyrant held them cowed. Insolent!
+He had presumed to appear in the presence in ordinary garb,--had not
+deigned to don the _Uye-no-Bakama_; or the regulation white silk
+shirt, or _[=O] Katabira_. And the attitude of the courtiers, too! A
+pack of grovelling cowards! fine weather friends. A minute since they
+were gabbling, one against another, of future deeds of prowess--of
+dazzling achievements; now not one among the startled herd had courage
+to sacrifice himself--to save his lord from the dilemma. Piteously the
+Mikado looked at Nara, who made no response; then--since it was
+absolutely essential that some one should break the silence--he closed
+his fan and whispered meekly,--
+
+"Lord Hojo, you are welcome."
+
+No-Kami smiled, and remarked shortly,--
+
+"Very welcome, doubtless. As I came hither I heard a sound of
+mirth--now all sit mumchance. Had I not received a special summons, I
+should have deemed I had intruded."
+
+The smile and accents of studied courtesy were more galling than rude
+speech, to which all were well accustomed. 'Twas as when a tamer of
+animals flicks them playfully with a wand. They are too docile to need
+whipping, yet, pending possible contingencies, 'tis wholesome that
+they should receive a tap.
+
+Suddenly dropping the tone of banter, the Daimio strode nearer to his
+master, and sternly said,--
+
+"May I know why I was summoned? No matter. I have come, and, being
+here, will ask a question. We are at peace, I think. During the weeks
+of my retirement I have heard no news of war. Why, then, a stir of
+arms,--a movement of troops,--marching, countermarching in the night?
+What is the subject of offence?--is it with China or Corea?"
+
+The sinister eye of No-Kami fell upon Nara, who calmly responded,--"I
+know nothing."
+
+"You lie!" retorted the Hojo fiercely. "Oh, base and double-faced and
+craven! False and deceitful is the blood of Nara--rotten is stock and
+branch! You and your daughter are alike."
+
+Without changing his attitude one tittle, the old man slightly raised
+his brows.
+
+"My daughter!" he said, with exceeding calm. "Forbear to breathe her
+name. You have broken her heart; driven her to the gate of Death. I
+ought to have known that none but a savage was a fit mate for Hojo."
+
+"Pretty innocent!" sneered No-Kami, lashing himself to frenzy as he
+advanced towards Nara, hand raised as if to smite. "Know that your
+pure white blossom is my brother's paramour!"
+
+A flush passed over the grim features of the old Daimio, then left
+them pale. His master nervously scanned the kuges, whose heads were
+bent lower than ever. From no quarter was there succour against this
+octopus. The Mikado fairly jumped in his seat when No-Kami spoke
+again.
+
+"You, boy," he said, "see to this matter of the troops. They were
+summoned without your knowledge, I am willing to believe, by others,
+who never troubled to consult one so feeble. Or shall I, since you
+have called me to your side, undertake to relieve you of the task?
+Letters shall be despatched forthwith to the effect that 'twas a false
+alarm, bred of mischief and malice,--that the ronins may be disbanded,
+the men returned to their homes. I shall remain for the present at the
+Golden House, ready with my humble service when required. With you and
+yours, my lord, I will settle later."
+
+With a show of exaggerated humility, which was worse than knife-stabs,
+and a glare at Nara, the despot departed as he came, leaving in his
+wake, as he scrunched away, a trail of terror and discomfiture. The
+sliding doors were closed in haste. For a while, the assembly remained
+frozen, then the unhappy Mikado heaved a deep sigh, which was met by a
+flutter of moaning. He was gone for the present, that was a small
+mercy; but then he might return at any moment, abusive and vindictive
+instead of caustic. The shuffling step and trembling hand. Oh, Nara,
+Nara! Broken reed, false friend; vain, impotent wind-bag; purblind,
+blustering dotard!
+
+Gushing with torrents of weak tears, the Fountain relieved his pent-up
+anguish with trickling reproaches and sobs, to which the old Daimio
+listened gloomily. No doubt, he had been wrong in some measure, he
+admitted with hesitation, for so rapid a recovery had never entered
+into the complex web of his calculations. Perchance it was but the
+bright temporary flicker of the expiring lamp. The Fountain of Honour
+must not be too severe on his aged servant. Had he not kept his temper
+under grievous provocation, blows would have been exchanged in the
+holy presence, imperial prestige in the eyes of the whole court would
+have been lowered.
+
+"Rubbish! A paltry excuse! Why, as he stood there, did none of you rid
+me of him?" groaned the Fountain, whereupon the abject circle groaned
+in echo.
+
+"Of a truth, some one should have done it," bleated one; but surprise,
+after what they had heard, unnerved each arm; and, indeed, the Hojo
+was a terrible person, an ogre to terrify the doughtiest.
+
+"Bluster and cowardice are sisters!" continued the lamenting Mikado.
+He could never trust any of them any more--never, never--the cravens!
+His chains, heavy and numbing, were riveted with adamantine links! and
+so forth--with a chorus of bleating.
+
+When you know that you have done your best,--that but for some one
+unforeseen and ineradicable speck your carefully-wrought blade would
+be faultless, a shimmering masterpiece--it is vastly vexatious for
+people whom you despise, although they wear the aureole, to go on
+ungenerously drivelling anent that one undeniable blemish. Nara, as he
+said, had endured a great deal at the hard hand of Hojo, but to sit
+calmly any longer under the futile reproaches of the Holy One was
+beyond his stock of that patience he was so fond of recommending to
+others.
+
+Moreover, is not the putting aside of what is past and unpleasant a
+principle approved of by sages? What is done is done. Even after the
+late scene, wherein a brutal keeper disported himself among his
+animals, and departed triumphing, all was not lost, The Fountain
+had been compelled to imbibe another sip of a nauseous draught with
+which he was so familiar, that surely it did not signify, at any
+rate, it should be the last His faithful Nara promised it. How the
+never-sufficiently-to-be-accursed Hojo had ever discovered the
+approaching advent of cohorts was a puzzle. But the cohorts were near
+by this time, and they must even make an open stand against the
+tyrant, since the scheme of treachery had failed. He, the domineering
+Hojo, would write angry and imperious letters to the approaching
+daimios, bidding them begone; but in the name of the Holy One letters
+could also be sent--secretly, of course--exhorting them to ride all
+the quicker, since the situation had become acute.
+
+"I will gird my old sword again, despite my many winters," Nara
+concluded pompously. "Dost think that because my hair is white my
+heart is frozen? Under the snows of Shirane-San and Asama-Yama
+smoulder the hidden fires. This man's father has immured three
+Emperors, and he himself is preparing to depose a fourth. He has
+insulted me, and broken my daughter's heart. A little craft--a very
+little more--and the crest of the despot is laid low."
+
+The hapless Mikado suffocated. Tears of impotent wrath welled from his
+august eyelids. Cowardice and bluster to the end, and broken reeds to
+lean on, while he drained the nauseous cup! Verily the banished
+Emperors were to be envied. The young man rose, and retired to his
+inner chamber, and lay prone with moans in darkness.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XV.
+
+ WILL BUDDHA SPEAK?
+
+
+Meanwhile affairs at Tsu were not prospering. Sampei, tossed like a
+shuttlecock, formed, as usual, a dozen resolutions daily, and broke
+them all. At one moment he was for the flight of O'Tei from the doomed
+castle--become now a hell of untramelled debauchery--and her
+installation with his mother at the temple. There she would be in
+sanctuary, whence even her husband durst not wrest her. But then what
+a triumph for O'Kiku! He felt that O'Tei would never consent to a step
+which would be a tacit admission of defeat, for she was a Nara of pure
+blood, with all the pride of her race. No. She must stop where she
+was, and await the unrolling of events; and yet what a life was hers,
+compelled to remain much in her bower, lest she should be insulted by
+O'Kiku or the braves. As Nara hoped, the evil germ was working
+inwardly. A regret rose within the mind of Sampei which scorched and
+blackened it. Is a faithful clansman and an honest man ever justified
+in turning on his chief? Before there was no question of it: now he
+was in more than doubt. May a brother ever be pardoned for taking his
+brother's life? Cases of fratricide were common enough, as Nara had
+hinted--there were precedents galore--but then the ruling feature of
+Sampei's character had always been loyal honesty. The gods in their
+wisdom had set over him certain superiors. What would be said to him
+when the end came, and accounts were totted up upon the abacus, if he
+had rebelled? Buddha, frowning, would demand to know how he dared move
+out of his place, arrogantly assuming to be the wiser.
+
+His first duty was to the head of his house: surely there should be no
+doubt whatever about that. But what if another urgent duty had been
+imposed by his heart--an imperative duty, clashing with the first?
+There lay the rub, a problem beyond the solving of the simple General.
+And since the shocking suggestion had been spread by the wily geisha
+that there were unholy bonds 'twixt him and her whom it was only too
+plain he loved, the situation had become so strained as to fill him
+with foreboding and dismay. To save her fair fame ought he indeed to
+go? To leave her a helpless waif on this whirlpool of black wickedness
+was out of the question. And yet how was she benefited by his staying,
+since he dared not approach without compromising her? So miserable did
+the poor man feel, racked and torn by a difficulty with which he was
+incapable of coping, that the light was dark to him, his heart stone
+cold. He knew himself as weak as she, a ball at the foot of Fate; and
+so he wandered aimless and disconsolate, hearing and seeing nothing,
+caring not what befell, waiting--as the rudderless do--to see what
+would happen next.
+
+Oh, heart of man, centre of suffering! When one is said to be
+heartless, 'tis looked upon as a reproach, instead of a matter for
+gratulation! The heart of man! 'Tis barely enough for a kite's dinner,
+yet the whole world is not sufficiently large to satisfy its lust, its
+greed, its ambition--and how it suffers!
+
+When he sailed so blythely for Corea with his enthusiastic army, how
+halcyon was the world to Sampei; what wonders he was going to perform;
+what a career of ambition was before him. And now, ambition was dead.
+Life had become Endurance. His candid spirit was warped by suspicion.
+He, once so open and trustful, saw in everything a hidden meaning; in
+every event an occult snare.
+
+In due course the betto brought him the letter of his chief, and he
+smiled with pitying derision. Was he to be taken in so easily? Had he
+not seen the betto ride off with the missive of O'Kiku? Had he not
+heard the woman herself urging the servant to speed? A puerile trick.
+The letter had counselled the infatuated Daimio to remove his brother
+from her path, that O'Tei, left unprotected and alone, might lie at
+her mercy. What other reason could there be for so sudden a summons to
+Ki[^y]oto? With disdain he tore the letter up, resolved more firmly
+than ever to stick to his post, to carry out his mission to the end.
+When my lord should return, there would be time enough for
+explanations. They were burning to be rid of O'Tei--the guilty couple.
+From this crowning sin, at least, Sampei would save his brother.
+
+It required no little resolution unblenchingly to follow the straight
+but rugged path. O'Kiku smarted more than ever under his cold and
+implacable disdain. All her arts were useless. Maddened, she strove to
+pique him by excesses of abandonment under his very nose, and was
+convulsed by fits of corroding acrimony to discover how futile were
+her efforts. Against all her attacks he was armed _cap-a-pie_. If my
+lord would but return, that she might wreak envenomed spite upon these
+two, whom now with her whole soul she hated! Meanwhile the only result
+produced by her reckless behaviour was that the samurai, for the most
+part, disapproved of her more and more; while Sampei, to shun the
+sight of one so odious, devoted himself to excursions and the chase.
+
+Away upon the hill, with its temple and solemn arcades of greenery, as
+in the hum of the houses below, the cloud of anxiety was thickening.
+
+The still dim shrine no longer lulled to devout prayer the soul of
+Masago. In the midst of supplication her mind turned worldwards. She
+yearned over her son and the tottering family. She grieved so for
+O'Tei, when the chatelaine arrived for prayers, that her hard face
+grew wondrous soft, and she marvelled at the stoniness of destiny.
+Seeing now with clearer ken than in the past, when she had admired the
+warlike Tomoye, adored her rude lord, had almost persuaded herself to
+believe that all that he did was good, she began to have a denned
+perception of his crimes, mingled with a startled regret. He had been
+guilty of much that was deplorable. No-Kami had been brought up in his
+father's school, had from the first gone lengths that were much more
+regrettable, to end in deeds which she preferred not to contemplate.
+He deserved to be accursed, and was accursed. Our sins, like sable
+ravens, return to roost. Ever since the culminating crime, events had
+moved so directly towards a visible goal that the finger of fate was
+plain. But why Sampei? Why the fair and good O'Tei, a symbol of all
+that was pure? These questions, so bewildering, would rise
+persistently to the surface. Why should these two, mixed up in this
+horror, without overt act of theirs, be marched as victims to the
+sacrifice?
+
+She had heard from Sampei that my lord had rallied suddenly before he
+went to Ki[^y]oto, and this started a fresh train of thought.
+O'Kiku, the baleful geisha, was at the bottom of all the trouble. She
+had suddenly appeared, emissary of devils, on the fatal day, and
+ever since had been a scourge. Thanks to an inspiration from above,
+the Abbess had been the means of separating my lord from his
+concubine. Oh, what if, Heaven relenting, the separation might become
+final--No-Kami himself reformed? The soul of Masago gave a great leap.
+Yes, she saw light at last--the light for which she had besought so
+fervently. _She_ was to be the humble means of unravelling the tangle,
+of saving the family honour.
+
+But how was this to be accomplished? With trepidation she remembered
+that she was in her sixty-first year, which, as all the world knows,
+is the last of the yaku doshi, or evil years, after which a woman may
+be at peace. During her thirty-third and forty-second (the other
+yaku-doshi--happily passed) she had been very careful lest, tempted
+by Ratatzu, she should be capable of something dreadful, that would
+ruin her and hers. And now it was terrible to think that in this last
+year of ordeal--the one of a long life which was most beset with
+brambles--she was called upon to act with decision, to stand forth for
+the succour of the innocent, for the shriving and salvation of the
+guilty. This state of things would call for much vigil, much putting
+off of earth-trammels, and adoration of the sun-god at his rising,
+that her old eyes might clearly see.
+
+The more she pondered--a slow, tall figure pacing among the moss-grown
+tombs, under the stately criptomerias--the more plain her duty seemed.
+Thanks to the benign deities, her prayers for light were answered, and
+she saw. It was by Heaven's decree that the geisha had travelled
+hitherward, an agent for the fulfilling of a purpose pre-ordained.
+Buddha, with omniscient vision, had caused her to come to Tsu for the
+accomplishment of the curse of the martyr. But now, through the
+prayers and entreaties of his humble handmaid, he had relented,--been
+turned from his intent. What a scaffold was the Abbess raising. When
+No-Kami should come back, his evil genius would be gone. This favour
+granted, Buddha would vouchsafe another. By force of supplication
+Masago would obtain that the temper of the Hojo might be changed. He
+would repent him of his evil ways, and atone in the future for the
+past. Then it should be her proud privilege to bring together again
+the husband and the wife. O'Tei must be taught to forgive, to break
+down the barrier of ice behind which her better nature had been
+shrouded. Warming in the radiance of a new happiness her frozen petals
+would unfold, give forth their sweetness, and No-Kami would come to
+know the treasure that he had ignorantly tossed aside. The wan cheek
+of the old Abbess was flushed, her dimmed eyes sparkled, as she
+revolved these things, devoutly giving thanks to Heaven. Is it not the
+greatest joy that may be tasted by mortals--the permission to
+intervene in the house of discord, and bring to it peace and
+happiness? The end was plain to the prophetic vision of Masago, but
+the way to it was long. The gentle O'Tei would be brought with little
+trouble to play her part.
+
+The difficulty lay with the geisha. The Abbess, mindful of yaku doshi,
+resolved to be prudent and cautious--not precipitate; and yet,
+whatever had to be done must be done before the return of No-Kami to
+the castle. There was not time then for protracted cogitation. She
+would appeal in person to the siren,--speak words inspired from on
+high which should touch her flinty heart. Seizing her staff, the gaunt
+figure in its flowing draperies of crape descended the long flight of
+stairs, passed under the torii at the bottom, and strode, buoyed by
+celestial fervour, along the winding street which led to the castle
+gate. O'Kiku was in a boat upon the river---O'Tei's own favourite
+shallop, which she had robbed her of, as of other things--and
+marvelled greatly to behold the Abbess of the temple beckoning to her
+from the shore.
+
+Approaching, she reclined idly at the bottom of the boat, toying with
+some winter blossoms she had plucked; dipping, in saucy contempt of
+cold, the fingers of the other hand into the running water. She was
+muffled in a robe of furs, her head swathed in a kerchief of thick
+silk; and Masago remarked that she looked worn,--had lost that
+freshness which had been her most piquant charm. Earnestly the Abbess
+spoke; pleaded for the family honour on the verge of wreck; discoursed
+with proud eloquence of the illustrious house of which she was a lowly
+member; reminded her hearer that she, O'Kiku, also now was one of the
+house, in precisely the same position as she, the speaker, had been.
+There were two ways open to her. Lest she should bring upon herself
+the reproach of having brought a great family to ruin, she must turn
+over a new leaf, and eschew in future the vices for which she was
+notorious; or, if waywardness was in her blood, she must depart, and
+by self-sacrifice atone for the past, and save the family. Amused with
+the thought that the Abbess must be mad, the geisha lay listening, a
+sly smile playing about her lips, until the unlucky pleader began to
+talk about her son. Then starting, as if bitten by an adder, uprose
+the concubine, and, taking up the pole, leisurely pushed off from the
+bank.
+
+"Sampei, forsooth! A ridiculous old lunatic!" she scoffed, with a
+superb head-toss. "You must be very insane. What! You'd have me go
+hence and prison myself for the behoof of the pale idiot yonder? Even
+if I were myself mad enough to consent, my lord would never love her.
+The contemptible creature is barren; whereas I, the second wife--" and
+with a trail of mocking merriment, and an attempt to raise a blush,
+she smiled at the astounded Abbess, and propelled her bark into the
+stream.
+
+Masago remained standing, her tall figure mirrored in the water, her
+shrunken hands crossed upon her breast, amazed and troubled. What was
+this new factor in the embroglio? She was with child--the interloper.
+There would soon be a new bond, a fresh silver link to unite more
+closely the pair whom she was bound to separate. The woman's influence
+over my lord would be greater than ever; and, all for evil as of yore.
+The breach between No-Kami and O'Tei would grow wider. As in a
+dream--with slow gait and corrugated brow--the Abbess passed back
+towards the grove, heedless of the salutations of the peasants,--of
+the brown urchins that plucked at her skirts. A child--a son,
+perhaps--that woman's son! Swiftly there passed through her brain a
+sense of the results that would accrue. The wife, ambitious and
+unscrupulous, who was a mother, would become all-powerful. Fresh
+insults would day by day be heaped on the one who was not thus blessed
+among women. In her mind's eye Masago beheld a long train of disasters
+and calamities, O'Kiku the active agent. Crouched down before the
+altar, her chin supported by her palms, she gazed at the bronze symbol
+that sat so calm and still and upright, with mouth shut and eyelids
+closed.
+
+"Oh, if you would vouchsafe to speak," she murmured imploringly, "one
+little word of guidance. One other ray of light; one little, little
+ray! During years of unflinching devotion has my life been given to
+your service. I know that I have earned nothing save, perhaps, one
+touch of pity!"
+
+With sore and heavy heart the Abbess sighed, for the bronzed lips
+remained tight shut, the eyelids closed. He was asleep and deaf. There
+was no sound of comfort or of counsel.
+
+Presently she distinguished the patter of clogs upon the outer stairs,
+and, after a while a man, pushing aside the curtain, stood framed in
+the doorway.
+
+"Sampei!" Her boy! Was this the reply of Buddha? Ashy pale, trembling
+like a leaf, the old woman bent to the stones with moving lips; while
+the General, reverently doffing his geta, and beating his hands
+together, approached and knelt. She took his warm broad hand between
+her cold ones, and earnestly scrutinised his face. Her thoughts were
+in such a turmoil that, though she heard his words, they seemed to
+reach her ears from a distance, through a tunnel. Riding listlessly,
+as was his wont, with no settled purpose, he had been astonished to
+see the geisha in conference with his mother. What could those two
+have had to say to each other? Greatly marvelling, he had watched, and
+then turned his horse towards the temple. What ailed his mother, that
+her features were grey-green? Was she ill? She looked so scared and
+strange and terrified. Was it some ghost she saw that caused that look
+of awe?
+
+Without taking her eyes from her son's, the Abbess rose, and like one
+in a trance led him behind the altar, down the open corridor, into her
+own quiet chamber. Nothing could be more simple than its furnishing.
+The woodwork was unadorned, but scrupulously clean, so were the mats
+and screens. A plain fire-box of iron stood in the centre. Above the
+low dais in the tokonoma, or place of honour, there hung a single and
+very ancient kakemono, representing Kwannon, the thousand-handed; and
+under it, upon the dais, stood in a lacquered sword-rack, a dirk in
+its silken case.
+
+Floating before Sampei she lifted the weapon, pressed it to her bosom,
+then slowly unfastening the case, drew forth the dirk, which, with a
+cry, he recognised. It was a precious blade, forged by Miochin
+himself, adorned with a hilt minutely worked with gold--a dirk which
+in childhood he had been wont to play with.
+
+"My father's!" he murmured, and pressed it to his lips and forehead.
+
+"Your father's!" echoed the Abbess, in a whisper, drawing herself to
+the full height of her commanding stature, and placing on the bent
+head of her son a trembling hand. "Your father, and _his_, wore yonder
+blade in many a fray, and it was never sullied with dishonour. To you,
+my dear son, do I surrender it. The gods have spoken. She must die!"
+
+As pale as his mother, who looked on him now with a rapt and solemn
+smile, Sampei heaved a sigh of relief. _She_. His nerves tingled to
+his finger ends, for he had thought that the deed must be done which
+had so often crossed his mind, and which he had always put away from
+him with dread. It was not his brother--thanks to the gods for
+that--but the wicked concubine, whose blood was required in atonement.
+
+Then the two sat down, and the inspired priestess spoke.
+
+"The honour of the family was to be saved by him--Sampei. Buddha
+himself had deigned to settle it. He must bide his time, and wait and
+watch, and when occasion offered he must, with his father's dirk, slay
+the baleful sorceress. With his own hand must the deed be done--not be
+trusted to a hireling, even to a samurai. It might be some time before
+the fitting opportunity presented itself, for the braves, whom she
+still debauched, would defend her doubtless with their lives. There
+must not be too long delay, lest my lord No-Kami should come home. The
+avenging hand must be sure and steady; the result not a mere wound,
+but--death."
+
+Nodding, Sampei placed the weapon in his obi, and, embracing his
+mother, departed with proud step. It was to be his privilege--by
+Buddha's own decree--to save the honour of the house,--to rescue his
+infatuated brother,--to bestow upon the dear O'Tei a measure of future
+happiness.
+
+Masago, calm now, returned to the temple, and spent the night in
+vigil. Blessed be Buddha; for his mercy thrice-blessed! He had spoken
+through the silent lips. The course and conscience of his handmaid
+were clear as crystal now.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XVI.
+
+ MASAGO TAKES THE REINS.
+
+
+Now it came to pass that after the mental torture she had endured, the
+soul-racking perplexities, the days of prayer and nights of vigil, the
+strong frame of the Abbess gave way under her burthen. She was deeply
+thankful for the god's decision,--that her prayers had been heard and
+answered. But her body was worn out--the lamp was burning low, and she
+was compelled to remain in her chamber, wrapped in many quilts, with
+Mine, hapless victim of unrequited love, in anxious attendance on her.
+That unfortunate maiden had never recovered the effect of the dreadful
+day,--the massacre of her dear ones,--her parents' departure,
+unforgiving. She moved about her sacred duties like a phantom, with
+remorse gnawing at her vitals. No need now to keep watch over her lest
+she should again fling herself into the reluctant arms of the too
+fascinating young General. He was no more to her seared heart than any
+other man, for it had lost all sense of feeling. It was scorched out
+of life on the day of the massacre, and she bore only its ashes in her
+breast.
+
+Masago had sunk into that deep sleep which is the greatest boon to
+unhappy mortality, and Mine, bending over the hibachi, was stirring
+the charcoal with a rod, immersed in sad reflection, when there
+entered a certain bonze who enjoyed reputation as a doctor. He was a
+learned and a holy man, who dwelt in a monastery on the mountain,--was
+wise of counsel, and learned in the use of simples.
+
+Hearing by chance that the venerated Abbess of Tsu was lying sick, he
+took his bundle, his lacquered medicine-box, and his staff; put on his
+tall clogs, and great mushroom priestly hat, and hied towards the
+convent. Sleep, he observed, after a brief survey, was a better
+anodyne than simples, and he would therefore await the waking. Warming
+his fingers: over the glow he chatted with Mine in undertones,
+exchanged the gossip of Tsu for the last reports from Ki[^y]oto,
+inquired of what new atrocity my lord the Daimio had been guilty. Oh,
+yes; he was aware that my lord was away,--summoned to the capital; and
+added, with mysterious head-shakings, that a surprise was preparing
+for his return. "_You_ should be pleased to hear of it," went on the
+good garrulous old gentleman, "after all that your family have
+suffered at his hands--'tis only fitting retribution;" and then,
+chattering in whispers, he proceeded to tell of soldiers' shadowy
+cohorts, who by night had marched past the monastery. "They are
+massing troops in all the defiles," he whispered. "Your father's
+anathema has taken effect. The race of the Hojos is run."
+
+The bonze was so intent upon his tale, and so long-winded in the
+telling of it, that he, as well as his listener, forgot all about the
+patient. Though deep wrapt in slumber, she moved now and again
+uneasily, tossing from off a surcharged bosom the multitude of futons
+that covered it. Then gradually the sleep-goddess relaxed her embrace,
+folded her arms less closely, and she of dreams spread forth the
+shadow of her pinions. The Abbess dreamed a dreadful dream, offspring
+of trouble and of fever. She thought that her own lord was alive
+again,--that, covered with crimson stains streaming from many a wound,
+he stood over dead Tomoye. Why was Tomoye dead? In sober truth of
+history past and gone, it was she who had stood over him. There he
+stood, however, reeling from loss of blood, his favourite katana
+hacked and notched from the battle. Then there appeared the boy
+No-Kami, also gashed and wounded. To her, the sleeper, turned her
+revered lord, stretching forth imploring hands. "Save _him_," he
+hoarsely gasped. "My time and hers is come, and it is well; but he is
+on the threshold of his life!" She, the dreamer, could not save him,
+for she was bound herself with cords, the which perceiving, her lord
+looked down reproachfully, and died; and then from out a crystal brook
+there rose a silver form that clasped the boy, and his wounds
+closed,--a slim shimmering form, daughter of the moon, which, shaping
+itself out of argent vapour, became O'Tei the chatelaine.
+
+Bedewed with sweat the old woman awoke, and for a space lay panting.
+What awful vision was this? All good Buddhists know that when we are
+asleep the soul goes forth upon its errands. If we waken a person too
+suddenly he will die, because the wanderer cannot return with needful
+quickness to his tenement. When the soul is merely out at play the
+dream is of no importance, and its pictures are rapidly effaced; but
+when the truant is on serious duty bent, the vision remains distinct,
+and it behoves us to accept its lesson. Waking, the portrayal of O'Tei
+closing No-Kami's wounds was as distinct as if the two were standing
+there before her; also the reproachful gaze of her dear lord ere he
+gave up his spirit. The gods were indeed good to speak so plainly to
+their handmaid. It was the honour of her dear lord's name that she
+desired saved at any cost, wishing for his son no ill. The geisha was
+to die, No-Kami to repent, and O'Tei was somehow to dissect the
+tangle. Masago found herself to-day more weak than usual, and much
+unhinged. Perchance her time was near. It behoved her to see the
+chatelaine, to reason with her while yet her voice was strong, her
+brain still clear. Then there rose upon her dimmed senses a sound of
+whispering, and she distinctly heard some one say, "The race of the
+Hojos is run."
+
+The long moan which burst from her breast recalled the attention of
+the watchers. The bonze was full of solicitude,--grieved to perceive
+how fluttering was the patient's pulse,--vastly busy in the
+preparation of remedies. He could have bitten his tongue through for
+his imprudence. How could he have been such a fool as to forget that
+the patient was herself a Hojo, and that fevered sleep is treacherous?
+He chattered and chirruped to and fro, shot forth his most brilliant
+sallies, showed his teeth as he twanged bolts of merry satire at
+that unreceptive target Mine. The eyes of the old woman--smileless
+now--knit in intense inquiry, never left his face, while with feeble
+persistence she repeated the question,--"How are the Hojos doomed?"
+
+Having committed one egregious error, he was not going to be guilty of
+another. Regardless of the severe course of penance which followed
+lying, he boldly averred that he had never mentioned Hojo at all, or
+the race,--that he was talking about the Daimio of Osaka, who was
+hovering on the verge of the grave,--that under no circumstances
+whatever would he have breathed a syllable about the Hojos in the
+presence of the late lord's wife. And twittering thus, he at length
+retired, with good wishes for the patient's recovery, glad that by
+wonderful presence of mind he had lulled the Abbess's suspicions.
+
+But Masago knew better than to be hoodwinked by the plausible gabble
+of a blundering bonze. Out of delicacy she would refrain from
+cross-questioning Mine. Well, the warning was twofold. The Hojo was in
+imminent peril of some kind, from which apparently he was to be
+rescued by his wife.
+
+For many hours she lay staring upwards in deep thought. The wintry
+light was quickly waning. Who might tell how near the peril was? Her
+own strength was ebbing rapidly. She must see the chatelaine at once.
+
+The brief twilight of Japan was darkening over the bleak landscape
+like a sable veil, when a breathless messenger arrived at the
+drawbridge of the fortress, demanding an interview with the lady.
+
+"With the lady!" jeered the soldier, who had been so long upon his
+watch as to be glad to chat with any one. "She has other things to do
+just now, our lady, than listen to beggars from the town. Was
+ever such a lady--so restless, so domineering, so devoted to
+pleasure--always seeking new excitement in the dreary absence of my
+lord? The moon rises late, and will be full to-night, and what must
+she do, dost think, heedless of her delicate situation, but go to the
+tea-house by the river, to gaze at the light upon the snow? 'Tis a
+lovely sight, no doubt, dear to the eyes of our people, be they high
+or low,--the green glimmer on the water, the black banks of reeds, and
+white expanse beyond; but plaguey cold. Of course there will be supper
+when she returns, and singing and wassail and jollity, warming to the
+cockles of the heart. Ah, well! if such as I were admitted to the
+junketings, I'd not mind this weary watch."
+
+"'Tis with the lady O'Tei that I must speak, and quickly," said the
+messenger.
+
+The sentinel, leaning over the parapet, discerned by the conical shape
+of the speaker's hat that he was a priest.
+
+"Oh!" he grumbled, "some wretched coolie sick? Such vermin as these
+don't come after the lady O'Kiku. You may come in and seek her, an you
+will. She's likely in her bower--we've not seen her this many a day."
+
+As the priest sped with clattering clogs across the paved courtyards,
+he perceived that there was feasting toward. The interior of the great
+hall, brilliantly illumined, threw gay streaks of yellow out across
+the white. Servants moved to and fro, bearers of viands; the sake cup
+was already passing freely. By the principal entrance loomed the
+unwieldy mass of my lady's kago, gay with banners and streamers, and
+looped curtains and lacquered poles--the same gaudy equipage belonging
+to O'Tei which, on her arrival, the geisha in her insolence had
+appropriated to herself. Hard by, in groups, stamping and clapping
+hands for warmth, were the two sets of bearers--sturdy coolies
+selected for speed and staying power--each with his head muffled in
+blue cotton under his hat, his grass rain-coat bound round his waist,
+the handle of his sword carefully protected by oiled paper, strong
+sandals of straw upon his feet. Some were bringing wraps and cushions;
+some trimming paper lanterns; all shouting with the shrill distractive
+hubbub so dear to low-class Japan. The geisha he could see as he went
+by, was surrounded by her maidens and an outer circle of braves, armed
+ready to attend her. Muffled to the eyes in a thick mantle of deep
+maroon, she stood waiting till all was ready, a sake-cup in hand. Past
+this noisy assemblage to the remote corner of the tower which faced
+the river trotted the messenger. In vivid contrast to the hall, with
+its warm reek of heated wine, dark and silent was the bower of the
+chatelaine. Was she asleep already, the sad recluse?
+
+Not so. There was a twinkling tiny light above, and like the hum of an
+insect there reached his ear the tinkle of a distant samisen. He
+knocked, and the sound ceased; a paper window was pushed aside; a
+maiden's head peeped forth.
+
+"Who dares at this hour," she inquired angrily, "to intrude upon my
+lady's privacy? A pretty pass! Was not the castle large enough for its
+debauched inmates that this retired eyrie might not be treated with
+respect?"
+
+"I come from Masago," the messenger said. "She is very sick, and has
+somewhat of grave import to say to the chatelaine."
+
+Admitted, the priest followed the maiden to the upper floor,
+where, surrounded by books and embroidery, and choice blossoms
+and graceful nicknacks, sat, in a soft mellow light, she for whom
+the peasants sorrowed. Since last we looked on her, she was much
+changed--improved--for there was something celestial now---refined and
+dreamy, as if reflected from some other world--about her loveliness.
+Her manner had that still, self-contained, dignity which is only to be
+acquired through much trouble. With grieved concern in her dark eyes,
+she hearkened to the messenger. Masago on the verge of death! Was she,
+O'Tei, to be left friendless? Of course she would go to her at once.
+Ah, if she might change places with the holy Abbess, and depart out of
+a sphere where no one wanted her! But it is always those who have no
+wish to stay who are kept loitering here. Was Masago so ill, and she
+not told of it? This was wrong, for at any hour of the day or night
+she would have gladly sought her friend. Not a moment was to be lost.
+Quick, quick! Her litter. Her bearers, where were they? Wandering in
+the town, possibly, chattering in some tea-house, their daily duty
+over.
+
+"There is a litter below," suggested the priest timidly. "The one that
+in old times my lady used to use. Its bearers are standing ready with
+lanterns lit. Perhaps my lady O'Kiku--"
+
+A look of unusual sternness passed over the features of O'Tei, and a
+shadow veiled her eyes.
+
+"O'Kiku!" she muttered, "O'Kiku! My state litter is ready, you say?
+Then I will use it; come!"
+
+And to the amazement of the maidens, the chatelaine took from a screen
+a mantle of costly furs, and bidding her attendants follow with a
+candle, moved rapidly away down a dark corridor which led to the
+centre of the castle.
+
+The geisha was so astonished at the apparition which suddenly
+presented itself before her that the sake-cup dropped from her
+fingers. She turned red and white, and tried, with but poor success,
+to laugh off her confusion. With heaving breast and dark brows knit,
+O'Tei looked down on her with disdain ineffable.
+
+"You have ordered my kago. Thank you," she said shortly, "for I want
+it. Tell the bearers I am ready; and you, priest, proceed before. I go
+but to the temple, so shall not want the soldiers."
+
+With that she moved with stately step to where, in a stream of light,
+the kago stood.
+
+The braves were breathless, for they beheld the heiress of proud Nara
+now, no longer the recluse; and there was an easy air about her of
+natural command, which they knew how to admire and appreciate. Not one
+had a word to say against the firmly-expressed resolution of their
+liege-lady, but stood by sheepishly. O'Tei was the real chatelaine,
+and, in absence of her lord, supreme mistress of castle and of
+warriors. The bewitching O'Kiku, as if by magic, shrank down into her
+natural insignificance. No doubt about it; she was the concubine, low
+of birth and common of breeding--the crow by the side of the falcon.
+The geisha tingled with exasperated shame, for her quick instinct
+could read at a glance the open faces of the braves. Had she toiled
+and schemed and wormed and man[oe]uvred for this?--to be swept with a
+hand-wave like a beetle from the path by the rival she had so
+undervalued! Oh, when my lord returned, an effort must be made to save
+the situation! Clearing her husky throat, she said sourly,--
+
+"I was about to view the snows by moonlight, but if yours is an urgent
+errand, I will gladly give up my litter. The weather is clear, but for
+a few sailing clouds; the moon will serve to-morrow."
+
+Her foot upon the step, the chatelaine turned.
+
+"I take my own, and crave of you no favour," she remarked haughtily.
+"To the temple, by way of the river bank. I myself will see the
+snows."
+
+The scene had passed so swiftly that 'twas over as soon as begun.
+There was naught to tell the tale of the geisha's discomfiture but the
+shattered sake-cup. Yes, there was the absent kago, the marks of many
+feet where it had stood; the sheepish faces of the warriors. There was
+the group, too, of O'Tei's maidens huddled behind, where they
+chattered in high glee. The ambitious and presumptuous geisha had been
+put down into her place at last, firmly and quietly by her superior.
+That was the plain truth which there was no denying. It was written on
+the visages of the maidens as well as on those of the samurai.
+Accustomed to reign unchallenged, the blow was hard to bear. Bursting
+into a torrent of tears, brackish with impotent mortification, O'Kiku
+sank upon a cushion, and was as racked by sobs as if she had possessed
+a heart.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XVII.
+
+ UNDER THE MOON.
+
+
+The road by way of the stream was a longer one than that by the
+street, for the river wound with many a turn and twist, as if loth to
+reach the sea. It was no more than a path, stony in some places and
+muddy in others--rough throughout; and there were spots where the
+unwieldy vehicle was in danger of overturning. The Japanese are so
+innately poetic that even the least educated find pleasure in gazing
+upon nature in its sweetest moods. On Lake Biwa, not far from
+Ki[^y]oto, there is, while I write, a tea-house on a hill, which, at
+certain seasons, does a thriving trade, because from that particular
+spot an entrancing view may be obtained of moon and foliage and water.
+And it is not the cultured class alone that enjoys this refined
+amusement. The common horny-handed field coolie may be seen smoking
+his pipe, beaming with satisfaction, upon the mat, surrounded by wife
+and children, all equally enchanted by the spectacle.
+
+On the river-bank, built out over the stream, not far from Tsu, there
+was just such another tea-house, from which a view was obtained of
+land-locked bay and rocks and feathery bamboo--the self-same picture
+which O'Tei used to enjoy from her own garden near the temple, seen
+from another point. It was to this tea-house that O'Kiku had proposed
+to conduct the rollicking samurai, to sit there a while with quip and
+jest, and thence return to supper. Preparations had been made on a
+grand scale; coolies had been sent to repair the path in rotten places
+with bundles of rushes, to clear away stones; and therefore the
+expedition was a matter of talk for several days before among those
+who dwelt in the castle. It was in obedience to a whim--in order more
+completely to crush her rival--that O'Tei had elected to choose this
+route. A vision of her favourite landscape had appeared before her. It
+was so long since she had seen it that she yearned to look on it
+again. As the procession moved swiftly and silently over the snow, she
+became lost in reverie. She had been happy once in her garden in a
+negative sort of way. How long ago it seemed! And since those early
+days (sure a century since) what a catalogue of suffering and crime!
+Yes, it must be a century, not a few years only. She was an old, old
+woman, seared and world-worn, longing for the mysterious change. Her
+ordeal on this planet would soon be over. How gladly would she move
+elsewhere.
+
+The cold was intense. She drew over her head a purple kerchief, for
+the beauty of the scene must not be blocked out by curtains. The
+well-skilled bearers marched with a steady, gentle sway, picking their
+steps with cat-like caution. Their straw shoes made no sound on the
+soft snow. The regular rhythm of their breathing lulled to repose.
+Leaning back her weary head upon the cushions, O'Tei fell fast asleep.
+
+At the last turn of the river, before reaching the spot whereon stood
+the tea-house, it sweeps in a wide bend, leaving a large flat space--a
+dangerous pitfall; for, firm though it appears to the unwary, between
+the pools it is a quagmire, a bog of thick ooze which forms a kind of
+quicksand. The bearers knew this right well, for skirting the water
+close they hugged a narrow causeway of masonry, the group that bore
+the pole walking one before the other, keeping time with monotonous
+chant, the rest of the party falling back, following in single file.
+It was necessary to move slowly now, for a false step would
+precipitate the top-heavy vehicle into the water. Two bettos pioneered
+in front, stepping deftly backwards, holding their lanterns aloft
+above their heads. "Steady, lads, steady!" one of them exhorted
+cheerily. Forty yards farther on the path would widen again, and the
+rest of the journey was plain-sailing.
+
+Whirr! The bettos turned round startled. What was that? nothing; a
+stream of awakened wild-fowl scudding across the flat. The night was
+so solemnly silent that their wings rent the stillness with a loud
+sharp tearing as of linen.
+
+
+ * * * * *
+
+
+For hours past, from out a brake of sedge and reeds two bright eyes
+had been intently watching. Heedless of cold and wet a man had been
+lying concealed with face turned towards the castle. From this point
+the fortress loomed out of the river in a dense mass against the sky,
+in full sombre majesty of battlement and ponderous roof and storied
+tower, with fish of gold upon its summit; for it was on this side that
+the stream laved its foundation wall of Cyclopean stones as it brawled
+towards the sea.
+
+From where he lay, wrapped in a coolie's rain-coat, the man could mark
+the procession from afar, a line of swart insects on the white,
+glow-worms with twinkling lights. As they approached, winding with the
+river's windings, he counted the number of men who bore the litter,
+and observed with surprised exultation that the guards had been left
+behind. There was no panoply of spear and streaming banner and
+glancing lance-head, no clatter of armed horsemen such as usually
+attends the progress of a noble's kago.
+
+"My task will be the easier," he muttered, unfastening the thongs of
+his rain-coat, and taking in the corners of his mouth the ends of the
+cloth about his head. The man's attire was strange and incongruous,
+for though his garb was that of a peasant, the cloth from out of which
+his sharp eyes peered was of silk broidered with silver. He rose
+stealthily upon his knees, felt for a dirk in his obi, drew forth the
+blade and ran a finger along the edge, then laid the scabbard in the
+water.
+
+"How slow they are," he murmured.
+
+Nearer--nearer still. The bearers were intent upon their task, for
+there had been a frost last night, and the stones were slippery.
+Clouds had been rising in banks, masses of cumuli that passed fitfully
+across the moon. Snowflakes began to fall.
+
+Hist! what was that, another batch of waterfowl? No; a cry as of
+frighted animals. A commotion--a rush--a panic. Robbers! a gang--a
+multitude.
+
+Stabbed in the back, the two bettos dropped without a struggle. For an
+instant the attendants strove to free themselves from cumbrous
+grass-coats, to disengage their swords from oiled paper coverings, in
+vain; for it must be at least a dozen nimble blades, wielded by unseen
+hands, that were swirling through the air with such deadly purpose.
+Who could have foreseen that on this quiet track assassins were in
+ambush? With a howl and a cry of treachery the cohort of poltroons
+abandoned the litter, which fell heavily on its side, and fled over
+the quicksand, where they buffeted, to lie engulfed. The man, for
+there was but one--or was it not the god of thunder?--dashed at the
+fallen kago, tore back with one hand its half-closed curtains, from
+whose folds there emerged a woman. A sway of two tussling figures, as
+the clouds swept over the moon, and the snow fell thickly. A tossing
+of white arms and clutching fingers clasped in a grip of death. A
+gurgle, a long wild shriek--so terrible a cry of anguish, as a soul
+was forcibly rent from out its tenement, that boors within their huts
+crept close together and prayed for protection against goblins. Even
+the austere figure of the avenger remained for a second spellbound,
+as, standing erect to wipe his dirk, his ear followed that last
+piteous wail of agony that faded in the music of the stream.
+
+His task was successfully accomplished: to the gods all gratitude. He
+peered anxiously around, while he bound up something in a purple
+kerchief, then, drawing the pick from his katana's sheath, thrust it
+through the silk for easier carrying. He was alone with slumbering
+nature, and with it. The relay had fled to give alarm. There was
+nought to be seen of the others save distant circles on the watery
+quagmire, with here and there a hand whose groping soon was stilled.
+At his feet lay the two dead bettos and a heap of sumptuous furs, from
+out of which there trickled a thick stream that meandered slow over
+the stones.
+
+Looking upward at the moon, which now unveiled again, the man, smiling
+softly, pressed to his lips the dirk. "Old friend," he murmured,
+"beloved of my father, thou hast saved his honour and ours, an evil
+life the ransom. With speed to my mother now, that she may know the
+atonement is complete."
+
+He sought for a moment leisurely among the reeds, and seeing the
+scabbard gleam, replaced it with the dirk within his belt. Then
+swinging his burthen in his hand, he strode quickly away towards the
+temple.
+
+His mind was relieved of a great anxiety, and he felt happier than for
+many a day. All had gone well. In the scurry not one had seen his
+face, swathed as it was by a cloth. There was nothing to betray whose
+arm had been that which had struck the ghastly blow. There would be
+turmoil and uproar among the samurai, a hot pursuit of the assassins;
+then, search proving vain, silence, and oblivion. The family honour
+was safe. The concubine would be speedily forgotten, and it would be
+as if the shadow of the wicked geisha had never crossed their path.
+
+Under the torii, up the long straight flight of stairs, through the
+temple where Mine and the nuns were praying audibly, to the corridor
+beyond, off which was the chamber of the Abbess.
+
+A light was flickering. She was awake, anxious for the arrival of the
+chatelaine. Her ascetic visage was wrapped in holy calm, as with
+closed eyes she told her beads. The sound of her son's dear footfall,
+as he strode across the floor, aroused her, and she looked on him with
+fond inquiry.
+
+"My mother, it is done," he whispered, out of breath. "Here have I
+brought the proof that your instructions have been obeyed."
+
+Masago, raising herself with difficulty, stretched forth eager hands
+to claim the bundle, and, her fingers trembling with exultation,
+hasted to untie its knots. Then from her breast was wrung a wail,
+racked with the ring of unavailing grief, echo of that shriek along
+the water.
+
+Out of her grasp, upon the mat, there rolled a woman's head, bloody
+and waxen. Its delicate features were warped, convulsed in the life
+battle. Stretched wide in terror were its glassy eyes, its parted lips
+distorted.
+
+Stunned and dazed, crowned with the brain-ache of a hopeless sorrow,
+the icy grip about his heart of a despair that might never be
+assuaged, Sampei sank slowly on his knees.
+
+For the eyes that stared upon him now in mute imploring were those he
+loved best on earth.
+
+The face was the face of O'Tei, the fair, and gentle, and unfortunate.
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+ FACE TO FACE.
+
+
+When the panic-stricken servants rushed into the castle with their
+appalling tale, there was general consternation. They had been
+attacked, they swore, by a band of at least fifty ronins. By the last
+act of the doomed chatelaine she had won back the respect of the
+warriors, for they perceived, too late, that her gentleness had naught
+akin with cowardice. Resuming her fit position by force of princely
+dignity, she had become a liege lady of whom they could be proud. They
+felt pangs of remorse, too, in having allowed her to sally forth by
+night unprotected by soldiers. Yet, if they had not cared for her, it
+was well known that the peasants did, who vowed she was a saint. And
+sure none could ever have supposed that there were any, even in this
+bad world, who could be so wicked as to do her to death thus cruelly.
+The country far and near was scoured, but no trace of a gang was
+found. The thickly-falling snow had obliterated footmarks. On the
+fatal spot, seek as they would, nothing was to be found but the
+overturned litter and mutilated remains of their mistress--hats and
+garments scattered here and there--and the bodies of the drowned
+bearers. At dawn, the sad _cortege_ returned home with its freight,
+having learned nothing; and then a feeling of uneasiness came over the
+samurai as to what my lord would say. He neglected and disliked his
+wife, but would surely retaliate swiftly and fearfully upon those
+whose carelessness had led to so gruesome a catastrophe.
+
+As for O'Kiku, whom all avoided now as if she were plague-stricken,
+she remained secluded in her chamber, transfixed with growing wonder.
+The blows of the assassins were aimed at herself--of that she had no
+doubt--and she had been saved by a miracle. Yet who could there be who
+wished to kill her, unless it were O'Tei or Masago? Of course, it was
+not O'Tei, or she would never have marched thus deliberately to her
+own undoing; and as she was on her way to the temple, summoned
+thither, it could not be a plot of Masago's, for Masago loved her
+dearly. The more she thought it out, the more incomprehensible grew
+the whole affair, and at last she was fain to put it from her as a
+mystery which time might some day decipher. One thing, however, was
+plain. By a wondrous stroke of luck, the position of herself, O'Kiku,
+had vastly improved. A stumbling-block that threatened to become
+troublesome was swept out of her path. So soon as my lord should learn
+her secret, he would, if skilfully wheedled, take to his arms, as his
+first wife, the mother of his child. She would be consort of the Hojo,
+chatelaine of Tsu, and as she thought of it, her bosom glowed with
+gratified ambition, and she there and then determined that in the
+smiling future the castle should contain no concubine.
+
+At early dawn the good-natured bonze hied him down from the mountain
+to visit his revered patient, and greatly was he shocked by the
+spectacle that met his view. On the threshold of the Abbess's chamber
+stood Mine, with finger on lip, and a far-off vacant look of dread
+that betokened incipient madness. Her father's curse was falling with
+leaden weight upon the members of the devoted family, and as she
+beheld the swoop of stroke after stroke her soul was withered within
+her. She too--she whom he had repulsed unpardoning--she too was doomed
+with them. What would her end be? Entering the room of Masago with
+accustomed listless step to attend to duties, she had stood riveted as
+she read the full horror of the scene. On the floor was Masago,
+delirious; close by crouched her shuddering son, clasping
+something--something terrible--in his arms.
+
+From that moment till the arrival of the friendly bonze, Mine had
+stood a faithful sentinel, lest peradventure prying nuns might learn
+and spread the truth. Should it become known that Sampei--the once
+dear Sampei--had been guilty of this awful crime, the town would arise
+as one man to tear him limb from limb. The young priestess was not
+capable of deciding what was to be done, but the friendly bonze would
+think for her, and propound the words of wisdom. Little by little the
+first distracting throes of misery passed. The Abbess grew calm, and
+with the death-sweat came resignation.
+
+The gods, ungenerous and mocking, had fooled their handmaid. Instead
+of being turned from their purpose by her puny supplications, as she
+had arrogantly dared to hope, they had singled her out, with a
+consummate refinement of cruelty as their chief implement of
+vengeance. By her hand--the hand of the mother and the friend--were
+stricken down the apple of her eye--her son, and the sweet lady who
+had loved and trusted her. And in them was she not herself
+smitten--ay, so crushed and beaten that naught could hurt her more?
+Alas! alas! that she should have been so blinded as not to take
+warning by the fateful year--the last of yaka doshi, and have kept
+herself from dangerous meddling. What should chance henceforth she
+cared not. Since all were condemned, the sooner fell the last and
+fatal stroke the better,--on the dear head of the son she loved so
+fondly--on all. As for Sampei, he appeared as if changed to stone.
+In the presence of so intense a depth of black despair, Mine
+trembled--the kindly bonze was awed; for sure there is no sight so
+pitiful in nature as the whirl and flood of human anguish whose
+torrent we may not stem.
+
+It was essential that some plan of action should be decided on
+forthwith; and the bonze was of opinion that the secret of who it was
+that had done the deed for the present must be kept. Gently raising
+Sampei from his attitude of utter abandonment, and taking his treasure
+from him, he led him into the temple, and placed it within a bronze
+coffer of exceeding sanctity which stood beside the altar.
+
+"He alone who can act," he said, "in such a crisis, is my lord of
+Nara. To him will I go forthwith."
+
+On foot, with staff and scrip, he made the pilgrimage to Ki[^y]oto,
+wrapped as he journeyed in holy ecstasy, thanking the gods for their
+goodness. Were not the wicked who are set in high places sometimes to
+receive their meed, the faith of man in truth and God and justice
+would wane and crumble. As the dragon that browses on the white flesh
+of innocent young maids is slain at last, so was it to be with the
+Hojos. Their cup was full. For some good and occult purpose beyond
+purblind human ken, the scourge for generations had afflicted the
+earth, but now was the limit placed. Awakening Buddha had said, "So
+far shalt thou go and no farther, for the punishing of the
+transgressions of the people." The limit was reached, and now Buddha,
+merciful, would hold his hand. But how subtle was the means of
+retribution--so subtle, that as he contemplated it, the bonze was
+overcome with wonder. Not only was each member of the family to perish
+miserably, but the nearest and dearest the agent! A woman was to be
+butchered by him who to save a hair of her dear head would gladly have
+sacrificed his life. A man was to be brought to a condition worse far
+than the most lingering of deaths, by the mother who, to save him from
+a pang, would have bartered her hope of Nirvana.
+
+The bonze, travel-stained and weary, sought my lord of Nara at the
+Mikado's palace, and found him without difficulty; for it was the
+policy of that crafty daimio to be of easy access to the people. He
+was buried to the lips in papers and despatches, for the die was cast
+now; it was to be a hand-to-hand tussle for existence. Either the Hojo
+must fall, or they would all be sacrificed. Answers had been received
+from country magnates. Despite peremptory orders from the Hojo, they
+were advancing by forced marches. They had gone too far for retreat.
+To obey the tyrant without a struggle for freedom was to condemn
+themselves to life-long bondage. What of the Corean army once
+commanded by Sampei? the magnates inquired. What of the thousands of
+disbanded ronins? Would they side with the despot, or unite for the
+saving of their Emperor? "Tush!" Nara muttered, as he wrote replies.
+"Have not I, the shrewd and the astute, considered these matters? The
+mountains about Tsu are teeming with faithful men in ambush. When
+these marching daimios reach their appointed posts, the Holy City will
+be surrounded by a protecting girdle; and then--and then--we may act!"
+
+But Destiny amused herself as usual by thwarting the intricate plans
+so carefully conceived by mortal ingenuity. Is it not always so? If we
+arrange a sequence of events for ourselves, does not something always
+intervene to mar and derange the scheme? Perhaps in the next life, or
+the next after, we may be permitted to settle things for ourselves.
+Clearly in this one it is forbidden. First it had been arranged that
+the Hojo was to be caught in a trap in his own castle. Since then the
+aspect of affairs was altered; for after a few days passed in the
+Golden House among his vassals, their master had again mysteriously
+gone into retirement. Spies informed Nara that he was heard to groan
+at night,--that he saw visions, and dreamed dreams of strange and
+mystic import. He had relapsed into the previous state, as before he
+came up from Tsu. Had not wise Nara said that his energy was the
+expiring of the lamp. This being so, difficulties were delightfully
+smoothed, and Nara was able to improve the occasion for his master's
+benefit, by pointing out how admirably sage he had been in the keeping
+of his temper. Is not time the healer of all wounds? A scandal in the
+palace had been averted. The claws of the bear were rotting piecemeal.
+So soon as the circle of iron was complete it should close in and
+crush the tyrant, while a simultaneous movement would be made on Tsu
+for the capture of his brother and retainers.
+
+And a few hurried sentences from the lips of a simple bonze upset all
+these elaborate calculations. He hearkened to the dolorous tale, with
+a choler that might not be suppressed. This was too much! Old Nara had
+allowed himself to be bearded. Under great provocation, he had curbed
+his wrath,--had swallowed his pride, and waited. But now he might wait
+no more. What, his heiress, his only child, the only bearer of his
+august and honoured name, was to be openly and cruelly slain, because
+her lord was weary of her, and wished to please a wanton! As with
+hands behind his back, and distended nostrils, the stately veteran
+strode hither and thither in the chamber, his old eyes flashed fire as
+of yore. In truth, under the snows, the volcano had slept, and,
+stirred to its centre, now blazed forth. Come what might, with his own
+shrivelled arm, since he had no son, would he wipe out this stain, or
+be dishonoured for aye in the noble annals of Japan. Narrowly he
+questioned the priest. Then the bonze had no idea, he said, who had
+been the butcher? It mattered not. There was no one but the Hojo and
+his wanton who desired the poor lady's death. It was at their bidding
+that the crime had been committed. First the Hojo and then his harlot.
+The fortress should be demolished stone by stone, the geisha executed
+on its ruins.
+
+As he hearkened to the wrathful diatribes of the now furious lord, the
+bonze mused in ever-increasing admiration. Verily the working of the
+divine decrees is worthy of humble worship. The priest had promised
+Mine that Sampei should not be betrayed, 'Twas probable that when he
+rallied, as human nature will rally, to some small extent, however
+severe the shock, the rest of his days would be spent in the holy
+garb, and that comfort would come to him at last. For public
+edification and example, the soldier's remaining years were to be
+passed in prayer. The Hojo himself was to fall by the hand of Nara;
+that much was evident now, and it was fitting as well as just.
+
+He who was wont to be over-prudent, even under stress of extreme and
+unendurable provocation, now threw prudence to the winds. Without
+delay he girded on his swords and dirk, mounted his horse, and
+galloped to the Golden House. Consequences were as rice straw in the
+wind. To fight and kill another daimio within the sacred city--within
+a given distance of the palace, meant death by harakiri. Himself to be
+slain meant confiscation of all his goods. His goods! a fig for them!
+He was childless now, and honour is worth more than goods.
+Peradventure when the stain had been wiped out, the Holy Mikado would
+forgive, in consideration for past service. No doubt he would be
+grateful for the removal of the incubus. If not, what mattered it? The
+childless old man would die, having saved at least his honour, and to
+the paltry dross of this world his sovereign lord was welcome.
+
+Hearing the clatter of a single horseman's hoofs, the watchful samurai
+at the gate of the Golden House came forth and shaded their eyes with
+their palms to reconnoitre the visitor. Among themselves they were
+somewhat disturbed, for rumours of approaching troops were rife; the
+warriors of other magnates were unfriendly to the dominating one; and
+their lord was curiously inactive. Indeed, for the last day or two, he
+had not stepped abroad. That he was at home, and sick, was evident,
+for they could hear his muffled ejaculations; and now and then his
+distempered visage peered from an upper window with disordered mien,
+gazing on the wood and lake. The Daimio of Nara, with care upon his
+brow--in haste--unattended--alone? Strange! But events were moving
+strangely. The father-in-law of my lord; his parent's chosen guide and
+counsellor. With respectful salutes and genuflections the Daimio was
+allowed to pass. For of a certainty my lord required helpful counsel,
+and Nara, all agreed, was the very prince to give it.
+
+The new-comer dashed past without deigning notice, nor drew rein till
+he reached the entrance of the villa. The heavy foliage of the
+surrounding pines was bowed down with a glittering burden; the
+picturesque lake, with its rocks and tiny islets, was frozen over, and
+on its surface wandered painfully and slow the myriad of black
+tortoises that usually slept beneath. A haven of peace and rest, an
+oasis of silence in a sea of turmoil. Even the sentries, who slowly
+marched before the doors, seemed under the spell of winter, their
+senses blunted by the nipping air.
+
+The whirling mind of Nara was too much engrossed to heed such trivial
+matters. Flinging his bridle to a sentinel, he inquired where was his
+master. The man pointed upward with his lance, but added in troubled
+accents, that my lord was sick,--had given special orders that he was
+on no account to be disturbed.
+
+"I have come to cure his sickness," the old man said, with a grim
+smile of peculiar meaning. "I have brought him medicine. See that we
+are left alone."
+
+The Golden House, as we saw when we were here some time since, is a
+dwelling of small proportions on the lake bank, built of wood, with a
+huge towering roof bedizened with much gold. The upper chambers are
+reached by a ladder-stair of extreme exiguity, so frail and narrow
+that one person only can mount at a time, and only then by bowing his
+head.
+
+Nara's tall and bulky form had much ado to reach the landing; but,
+arrived there, he loosed his katana in its sheath, and, with a
+strength, for which none would have credited him, seized the ladder,
+and, wrenching it from its iron fastening, hurled it clattering down.
+
+The paper windows were closed; the light was dim; a voice, tuned low
+by world-worn weariness, demanded who was there.
+
+Nara strode into the inner room where, wrapped in quilts, the Hojo
+lay, a hibachi close at hand, his swords in their rack beside him.
+
+"_You!_" he said, rising to a sitting posture.
+
+"I," was the rejoinder. "I, _murderer!_ The father of O'Tei, the wife
+whom you have slaughtered."
+
+No-Kami looked dreamily at the figure that stood over him, then felt
+his garb with a vague, uncertain movement of twitching fingers.
+
+"Murderer?" he muttered, with a cynic's laugh.
+
+The wrath of the old man flared up. Grinding his teeth, he spurned the
+prostrate figure.
+
+"Yes, murderer!" he hissed, "and I, the father of your victim. No one
+can interrupt us. O'Tei is dead--you know it--and by your decree. Only
+one, if one, will leave this room alive. Have you any manhood left,
+degenerate spawn of tyrants? Take up your sword, and quickly, or I'll
+slay you like a dog, as you deserve."
+
+Had not the old man been so distraught he would have seen by No-Kami's
+face that the intelligence was bewildering news to him. He sat gazing
+at his persecutor open-mouthed, till he, goaded beyond control, smote
+him with flat blade across the face.
+
+It left a livid mark, the rest of the visage purple, the veins swollen
+and congested. With a hoarse growl like an animal at bay, No-Kami
+sprang to his feet, seized his katana, and attacked the aggressor with
+set teeth. Glaring one at the other, with starting eyeballs and
+foaming lips, the two--the old man and the young--fought on in the
+small space and the dim light. Both were too furious for caution, and
+hacked each at each, smearing walls and floor, without a sound but
+labouring breath and clashing steel. The old man, taller, with longer
+arm, was getting the mastery. He had step by step driven No-Kami to
+the corner, where stood an idol of bronze, against which he leaned.
+Uncovering himself to deliver the final blow, he slipped in the blood
+upon the floor, and received the point of the Hojo right through his
+breast, below the nipple. Dropping his weapon, and flinging up his
+arms, he fell with a sob upon his back.
+
+No-Kami withdrew his sword and wiped it carefully, then sat him down
+to think.
+
+O'Tei murdered! By whom? what for? It must be true, or the crafty old
+lord would never have been driven to such frenzy. It was quieted now,
+that same frenzy, however. He lay still enough, his skin as grey as
+was his hair. "Not my fault," No-Kami murmured, with compunction; for,
+debauched though he was, the Hojo had respect for bravery. "He has
+brought his end upon himself. Now, what of me? Who will believe me if
+I say that one who was the soul of caution came and smote me like a
+rat? Within the prohibited distance, the Mikado's favourite
+counsellor, and I so ill, so spectre-ridden." Clasping his burning
+forehead in his hands, No-Kami looked hungrily at the dirk which
+seemed to invite him from its rack, and thought, as he had once done
+before, that it would be well to make an end on't. Not yet. He was
+taken by an uncontrollable desire to know more of the tragedy at home.
+O'Tei murdered! The words seemed burnt into his brain; and as he
+contemplated them, with her father dead at his feet, an ineffable
+sadness--a cold sense of extreme loneliness--crept over his soul. The
+past rose up before his vision. For a little while they had been
+happy, he and the fair O'Tei. She had been cold and haughty and
+repellent, despising him always, and that had maddened him. And was
+she not right to do so--fully justified? She was better than he,--far
+above his level, and it was this that had made him hate her. But did
+he hate her? No! Now that she was gone, he became aware of a singular
+sensation. Down in the deeps of his being there was a profound pity
+for her fate. Why did he feel so lonely? Why did he shudder at the
+shadows whose chills encompassed him about?
+
+Who had planned her murder? Like a green ray of lightning it flashed
+on him--O'Kiku! His curse and hers. Oh, wretched, infatuated
+man--O'Kiku! Poor O'Tei, murdered by her rival! The punishment of the
+concubine was the only reparation possible. She should be punished. If
+he was to leave Ki[^y]oto unmolested, there was not a minute to be
+lost. The ladder was gone, the distance to the ground but small.
+No-Kami, his nerves strung again by a distinct purpose, moved to the
+verandah, and swung himself down its column. With steady tread he
+appeared before the sleepy sentinel, and with stern, sharp accents
+issued his instructions.
+
+"My horse Typhoon, quick. I need no followers. The Daimio of Nara has
+gone the other way. Close up the house--nay, I will myself fasten it.
+Double the sentries. Keep watch and ward. Let none, on whatever
+pretext, set foot within the boundaries."
+
+As he clattered away on his favourite charger at full speed, the
+samurai looked after him.
+
+"Ticklish times," muttered he who was in command, "each moment fraught
+with peril. My lord of Nara, no doubt, has given the best advice. My
+lord is gone to act on it. Well, well, the gods be praised, our chief
+is himself again!"
+
+
+
+
+ CHAPTER XIX.
+
+ THE WEB IS WOVEN.
+
+
+Typhoon was the best charger in the Daimio's stable, and worthy of his
+name; but this was his last journey. He was so hard pressed by his
+frantic master, that at the castle gate he sank and died.
+
+The sudden arrival of my lord, a fugitive, without a single follower,
+created within the fortress a commotion which was no little aggravated
+by the news of which he was the bearer. How swift was the cumulation
+of events. My lord of Nara and his heiress murdered. A siege in
+immediate prospect, and after that--what? A long course of excess and
+idleness had sapped the discipline of the braves, and instead of
+hailing the coming fray with the joy that becomes heroes, they showed
+signs of sullen discontent. No-Kami had slain in a secret manner,
+without witnesses, the venerable Nara, the esteemed friend of the Holy
+Mikado.
+
+This was going too far, even for so overbearing a despot. Even the
+samurai of Tsu were aware that Japan at bay would arise and shake off
+its incubus. The castle would be invested by the foes of Hojo, who
+were legion. Look where he would, there was no single ally who could
+be counted on for succour. There was but one consummation possible. An
+iron wall would hem the fortress, and all within would perish. Under
+these circumstances, the warriors (privately discussing the situation)
+were divided in opinion. Would it be well to accept the inevitable and
+bow the neck at once, suing for mercy; or would it perchance be
+better to baulk the foe, to act as the celebrated forty-seven ronins
+did--revered for ever by the Japanese--namely, to perform harakiri in
+concert? Thus it will be seen that the glamour of evil fortune had
+wrapped the castle like a mist. Even the bold retainers of the
+crumbling family lost heart, and if they prepared to show any
+resistance at all, it was owing to the presence of Sampei, the heroic
+subduer of Corea.
+
+Even Sampei, whilom bravest of the brave, showed no enthusiasm. He had
+stumbled along the stony road of the Valley of the Shadow of Death,
+and seemed to look down from afar upon the petty frettings of
+humanity, as you might idly watch the proceedings in an opened
+anthill.
+
+The first acute bitterness waned insensibly, and he grew resigned to
+life-long pain. Had it not been so, reason would have fallen from her
+throne. He could think of O'Tei not as corruption but as
+_transformed_. The sap of a tree, the glow of a gem, the plumage of a
+bird, contained her outward part. Nature had taken back and set to
+other purpose that which she had lent. As to the other, who might tell
+where it wandered? Where was her pure soul hovering?
+
+Was the gulf that yawned in front as dark as the path already trodden?
+If the gods were really good, they could not but be mild to one who
+was so gentle. After all, for himself it mattered not. What, to a
+mortal so maimed as he, was a little more or less of suffering, after
+that wound from which the life-drops of his heart were slowly
+dripping?
+
+He would not desert his brother, Sampei declared with quiet gravity.
+So long as the gods willed that he should fight, he would fight; but
+the sooner suspense was over, the greater the relief for all.
+
+The bewitching O'Kiku when, rosy and wreathed with smiles, she flew
+from her bower in the most becoming of costumes to embrace her love,
+was considerably disconcerted by her reception. She had carefully gone
+over details, and planned within her mind exactly how it was all to
+be. He would be a little upset, possibly, on his arrival, to hear of
+the sudden and mysterious end of his icicle. He would pretend concern,
+and probably show anger, relieved all the while by her flitting. She,
+O'Kiku, would condole, clasp her husband--all her own now--in white
+arms, and, breast to breast, divulge the delicious secret. He would be
+enchanted, of course. She would make herself so agreeable bringing
+forth the entire armoury of her blandishments for his behoof, that
+memory of O'Tei would speedily be relegated to the limbo prepared for
+the ghosts of marplots. This point reached, she would summon all her
+skill and tact, wheedle and cajole and flatter, so as to achieve the
+desired prize.
+
+By making herself absolutely necessary to No-Kami, then turning on the
+tap of tears, the living wife would advance a step, be lifted to the
+dead one's place. And he should never have cause to regret the signal
+favour. His interests would then be hers completely. No prospect in
+the future, then, of being put away,--compelled, like Masago, to
+assume the crape. She would take her lord in hand,--be a long-headed
+little counsellor, chide his faults with gentleness, teach him to curb
+his passions, help him to replace on the neck of struggling Japan the
+yoke that was ominously-loose. And lo! how quickly did her toy palace
+tumble! No-Kami looked twenty years older than when he went away.
+There was a haggard wildness in his face--an expression, as he glanced
+at the enchantress, curiously akin, if it were possible, to aversion.
+His hands twitched; foam gathered on his lips. When, cooing, she laid
+her head upon his bosom, her hair new dressed with fresh camellia oil,
+he pushed her so rudely from him, that, reeling, with bruised arms,
+she tottered against the wall.
+
+Could it, oh could it be, that he could have ever loved that woman?
+Could it be that his fiery nature was consuming, torn by the pincers
+of remorse? Surely he could feel naught at most for an icicle but a
+cold regret that would soon pass. Was it possible that in a revulsion
+of feeling he had actually come to detest the enchanting siren who so
+easily had won him? Verily it seemed like it. With eyes lowered in
+antipathy, he seemed to avoid her gaze with loathing. And what was
+that he muttered as he so roughly threw her off. Was it _murderess?_
+And what a look accompanied the word. Her tongue clove to the roof of
+her mouth, and though she ardently wished to repel the accusation, her
+lips refused their office. Did he really believe her guilty of such a
+foolish prank, of such a stupid blunder? She had no doubt arranged to
+oust the rival, to procure her expulsion from the castle; but to shed
+her blood and create a scandal, that would have been too foolish.
+Before she had time to recover from shocked surprise, my lord was
+gone. He gave a few brief husky orders, then groped his way, as if in
+darkness, to the retired eyrie where had dwelt the vanished
+chatelaine. Thither she felt that she dared not follow him. With
+forebodings gathering within her breast, O'Kiku withdrew to her
+apartments, fearing she knew not what.
+
+There, on the mat, where she had laid it down, was O'Tei's samisen,
+encrusted with gold and ivory; yonder her broidery-frame, a book of
+poems open, a hundred pathetic evidences, eloquent of her who was
+gone. Far removed from the hum of preparation, No-Kami sat, dumbly
+gazing from the casement across the river towards the sea.
+
+And then, for the first time, there passed across the mental ken of
+Hojo the phantoms of a gloomy retrospect. He seemed, as they swept by,
+to hear a forlorn chant, with the saddest of refrains--"Too late!"
+
+He had been given a life full of brilliant opportunities and had cast
+them all away. His name was a byword in the land. There was not one
+living thing that loved him, while thousands clamoured for his death.
+The chill of a desolation, novel and surprising, crept over his heart,
+as, glancing around the bower, small objects recalled the past. Why
+had they tied him to O'Tei? With one more congenial the asperities of
+his character might have softened. O'Tei, the soft and clinging, had
+never loved him; no--never--not for a single moment. Something
+whispered now that, had he been more kind, she might have come
+to like him. Then, as if stung by an adder, he sprang upon his feet,
+with beads of perspiration on his forehead. Fool! what spell was
+this?--what disgraceful, infatuated weakness? Had he been more kind!
+_Had she not loved his brother?_ The poison instilled by the geisha,
+dormant through the rapid passage of stirring events, throbbed through
+his veins, and he gasped and grew faint under the pain of it. Both
+false--his wife and brother. _She_ was dead; no wonder _he_ looked so
+glum! Perturbed though his own mind was, No-Kami could not but notice
+the change which had come over the face of Sampei. The sharp iron
+share of an ineffable sorrow had passed over his features, ploughing
+deep lines of grief.
+
+On second thoughts, it was well that she was dead. She had sinned, and
+was justly punished. Thus far was his honour satisfied. The murderess
+must suffer also. By-and-by, when there should be breathing time. And
+the paramour as well. With staggering steps the Daimio roamed like a
+caged animal about the chamber, revolving direful designs. Then
+suddenly stopping, he laughed aloud and clapped his palms together.
+By-and-by, in the future! Was there any future except a yawning,
+bottomless gulf down which he and his were sliding? Honour, forsooth!
+He and his had as little to do with honour as with a future, or with
+life.
+
+From far away across the sunlit waters a voice whispered mockingly,
+"Accursed and doomed! betrayed and friendless! Oh, desolate, solitary
+soul, the gods have set their brand on thee! In worlds to come an
+outcast!"
+
+Trembling, the Daimio peered around. Some one had spoken. Who? No one
+in the corridor without. No one beneath the window. That unearthly
+jibing merriment! Two bloodshot eyes glaring from the cloudless sky.
+Cursed and doomed! Predestined to endless travail! Moaning, the Daimio
+cowered down and rocked himself in terror.
+
+It was soon understood that, my lord being unhinged, and grievously
+sick in body and mind, Sampei would assume command. So long as the
+gods willed it, there should be defence, the General had determined,
+and to that end he moved hither and thither with forced calm,
+arranging details by the light of a shrewd experience; steady as some
+strong machine that does its work unconsciously.
+
+The contents of the armoury were overhauled and furbished. Seasoned
+wood was sought throughout the town, for the making of countless
+arrows; thick porous paper for dressing wounds, according to the
+standard rules of rough field surgery. The ground within the inner
+moat was covered over with boards and canvas, to conceal what was done
+inside; for an investing army is ever full of stratagems for learning
+the weak points of the besieged. Lofty trees, or high peaks of rock,
+were sure to be occupied at once, tall towers to be erected on points
+of vantage. It was even a common thing to fly huge kites, large enough
+to support a man, and so obtain a bird's-eye view of the interior of
+an enemy's castle. Sampei organised a band of scouts, and sent them
+forth to crawl by night along the narrow causeways that intersected
+the oozy rice fields, bidding them return with earliest information
+with regard to the coming of the foe. Parties of braves were
+despatched in all directions to annex the scanty stores which
+oppression had left to the peasantry. All possible precautions taken,
+he divided his men into watches, taught each his post and duty, then
+waited for the future to unroll.
+
+Nor had he long to wait. As though rising by magic through the ground,
+an army of combatants appeared, who surrounded the fortress with their
+engines. From the top of the central tower, crowned with its copper
+roof and golden fish, could be descried a host so numerous and
+well-equipped that Sampei stood marvelling how they could be here so
+quickly. It soon became manifest that they had no intention of
+endeavouring to storm the place, at least not yet, for they
+methodically set about the forming of a line of pallisades, consisting
+of heavy planks propped by hinged supports, behind which they could
+safely repose, and starve the foe to extremity.
+
+There is nothing so soul-depressing to those hemmed in as a siege thus
+coldly carried out. The sense of being an animal shut in a trap, the
+lack of incident and excitement, the feeling of being without the pale
+of busy humanity, damp the courage, and chill the spirits. There is
+something so prosaic about a war waged against the stomach. The
+samurai of Tsu, disorganised already, their native prowess undermined,
+soon felt the pinch, and began to brawl and murmur. Their lord they
+saw no more, for, reason rocking on its pedestal, he remained shut
+up, refusing consolation, within the apartments of the deceased. But
+for the prestige that clung like a halo round his brother, and
+enforced a surly and half mutinous obedience, the braves would have
+thrown open the gates, have attempted to fraternise with the host of
+invading warriors. But the stoutest among them stood in dread of
+Sampei,---quailed before the bluff, uncompromising severity which,
+without the wink of an eyelid, would have made an example of traitors.
+The vassals of the Hojo fought, discharging arrows and javelins,
+occasionally making a feeble show of a sortie: but all knew that the
+end was imminent, that suspense would soon be over.
+
+O'Kiku, grasping, sly, and unheroic, fretted, as may be imagined,
+bitterly. How different was the present state of things from her
+cherished rainbow-dream. That sharp repulse, followed by utter
+neglect, upset her calculations. She appeared of a sudden to have lost
+influence over all her willing slaves. My lord, absorbed in his own
+troubles, ignored the fact of her existence. The braves, with whom she
+was once so popular--many of whom, it must be confessed, were vain at
+one time of being numbered among her lovers--now gnashed their teeth
+in her face, and poured on her head twofold the obloquy that had been
+the portion of O'Tei.
+
+And why was this? Doubtless the truculent and unlettered samurai
+could scarcely be expected to be logical. Yet having witnessed the
+passage-of-arms between the ladies, they must know as well as she that
+the concubine was innocent of the catastrophe. And yet somehow or
+other it had become plain to their obtuse intelligence that the siren
+was at the bottom of the trouble. There was no arguing the point,
+since none could deny that it was from her advent that the run of
+disaster must be dated. Accustomed to be pampered and petted, she was
+devoured with smouldering rage, and unreasoning hate of Tsu and Hojo,
+and all connected with the race, in finding herself treated like a
+leper. What a pity it was that, lured by a sham glitter, she should
+have turned aside from the pilgrimage to Ise, for the gathering of
+mundane baubles. What had she gained by it? Troubles and
+disappointments, and illusions roughly shattered. And perhaps in the
+background something even worse was lurking; for she realised with
+apprehension that she was hedged round with a phalanx of enemies, who
+persisted in connecting her, in spite of evidence, with the untimely
+death of the chatelaine. Was there ever anything so unreasonable, and
+yet fraught with graver peril? My lord was a madman, beset by absurd
+hallucinations; a furious tiger, accustomed to batten upon blood, as
+devoid of conscience as of scruple. He had called her murderess, and
+in the crooked recesses of his muddy brain was concocting some
+frightful retribution; There was no escape for her by flight, for she
+was in the position of a kid locked in a den of lions.
+
+In case of personal peril, to whom might O'Kiku turn for succour?
+Sampei was honest and upright, but on his worn face, when turned to
+her, was a horrible expression of icy vindictiveness. That he had
+idolised O'Tei none knew better than she, and she was in some
+manner connected in his mind with that most unfortunate murder. He
+also was evidently brooding over some unpleasant form of reprisal.
+Enemies--nothing but enemies--inside and out; she their future target.
+At all events Sampei could be counted upon as straight and above mean
+treason. Gulping down the lees of offended vanity, O'Kiku resolved
+to clear herself in his eyes from any complicity in the tragedy. He
+would believe her--for once in her life she would really speak the
+truth--and he would stand by her if assaulted by the madman. But when,
+waylaying him one day, with a poor ghostly show of the old coquetry,
+she entered on the subject, such a wave of blank despair seemed to
+sweep over him that the words froze on her lips, and he was gone
+before she had recovered.
+
+Condemned to inaction, deprived of amusement and male companionship,
+relegated to the uninteresting society of tire-women, the unhappy
+geisha pined as well as fretted. If they would only let her out,--set
+the caged bird free! Dreams of ambition faded, she now desired no more
+than liberty. Several times each day she climbed to the top of the
+central tower, just under the fish of gold, and gazed--oh, with what
+longing--at the cohorts of the invading host. The strictest guard was
+kept at the openings in the palisading, but soldiers off duty were
+free to amuse themselves. She could see bands of them engaged in
+military sports. Some went a-hunting, and returned laden. Oh, if she
+were only with them, outside these horrid walls, beyond which lay
+tantalising freedom! And what was to be the end? There was only one
+end possible. All could see that now. Scanty stores, hastily
+collected, were waning. What then? Gaunt famine stalked already. Would
+those without linger inactive till the besieged were dead to a man,
+then march in over the corpses? or would they in a more martial spirit
+wait only till the braves were weak, and then take the place by
+escalade? It was too revolting to die thus by inches. The idea
+suddenly flashed upon the wretched woman, whose moral sense, never
+acute, was blunting hourly, that the key of the situation was in her
+own little hand. Why should she not open the postern, let in the foe,
+who in gratitude would spare her life--maybe applaud and treat her
+with homage as a heroine? What to her were the Hojos; their
+illustrious name which was hers--that name about which the silly
+Masago had preached so loftily--now that they were on the brink of
+ruin? She had good cause to hate the Hojos. Many a lady in the annals
+of Japan has bared her breast to her husband's dirk in just such an
+emergency as this. When the famed Shibata knew all was lost, he gave a
+final banquet, at the conclusion of which he said to his wife, "You
+women must go, for it is time for us men to die." And what answer made
+she? With tears she thanked her lord, she, the sister of Nobunago the
+Great, composed a farewell verse of poetry, and received his sword
+into her bosom.
+
+But then O'Kiku was not of noble birth, and such flights did not suit
+her fancy. She knew herself to be still young and lovely, and full of
+life, and burning for fresh fields to conquer. If all had gone well,
+and she had stepped into the dead one's place, she would, outwardly at
+least, have been henceforth as demure as prudery could desire. Rank
+and honour and power and appetites pampered, form one condition of
+things. Untimely death, trapped within four walls, is quite another.
+It would be merciful,--a deed worthy of commendation, to let the enemy
+in, and put these doomed ones out of misery. My lord, a prey to
+goblins, was become quite too contemptible. What a delight to be
+present at the slaying of the hateful Sampei! Doubtless in yonder host
+there were many as noble as he who would, when opportunity offered,
+vie with one another for her favours. Her mind was made up. A fig for
+the race of Hojo. She would start upon her scheme forthwith.
+
+Changing her tactics, the geisha, braving the scowls of the samurai,
+became interested in military operations, and despite their new-born
+dislike of one whom they had come to esteem as a bad angel, it was
+cheering to be commended by the lips of a pretty woman. She organised
+her maidens into a band of mercy for the relief of those who were
+wounded; helped with her own hands to prepare and carry food; filled
+and passed the sake-cup, declaring that wine gives strength. Sampei
+observed these proceedings with displeasure, but did not interfere.
+One morning when the commander was busy, and she knew herself
+unwatched, O'Kiku crept to the top of the tower with her dainty bow,
+and discharged into the air an arrow, round which was wrapped a paper.
+As she marked its flight, and perceived that it fell beyond the
+palisade, "So far well," she murmured. "This suspense will conclude
+to-night."
+
+The weather was exceeding cold, the blood of the soldiers thin, by
+reason of under-feeding. Both food and drink were scrupulously
+measured now in gradually shrinking rations. But the wily damsel had a
+private supply of _sake_, remnant of that with which she used to ply
+my lord before his late visit to Ki[^y]oto. She prepared and warmed a
+pot of it, in which she distilled some seeds, and waited with
+philosophic patience for the night. Then, robed in a dark soft kimono,
+she stole through the first gate, and round under shadow of the fatal
+belt of trees, regardless of their wooing and their sighing (she was
+not one to be tricked to suicide), and thus reached unseen the corner
+of the outer gate. The muffled sentinel was leaning upon his lance
+against the parapet, and started from doleful reverie as she appeared
+before him.
+
+"Hush," she murmured rapidly, "it is I, O'Kiku. You used to love me
+once--false that you are--or told me so. See how I love you still.
+Risking my good name for you, I have brought you this, lest haply you
+be frozen by the morning."
+
+The man looked at her with feelings of self-reproach. Yes, he had
+fancied her once, more fickle apparently than she; and as she stood
+before him now, so small and dark, with eyes of mouse-like brightness,
+and ravishing dimples playing at hide-and-seek, he liked her yet
+again. But she fluttered like a bird in his embrace.
+
+"No, no," she whispered, as she passed over his rough face caressing
+fingers. "Remember duty, and the plight we are in. Folly is over, and
+stern reality is here. You wronged me in your thoughts, deeming I had
+forgotten you. Admit you did. Fie, fie--for shame! There, you are
+forgiven! Drink!"
+
+She held forth the sake pot, kept warm with a woollen covering. He
+took a long draught, his gaze on her the while, and she shook her
+shapely head in arch reproach. And then, with set teeth and no dimples
+showing now, she caught the sake-pot as it escaped from his hand, and
+he fell insensible upon his back.
+
+"Idiot!" she said, with a curl of her full lip, "lie there undisturbed
+until your foolish throat is cut," and peering cautiously around,
+descended quickly to the postern.
+
+It will be remembered that the outer gate stood at right angles to the
+road, for the better purpose of defence, but that there was a small
+postern in the angle facing it. In her outgoings and incomings she had
+always, as a matter of convenience, used this postern, and had kept
+the key of it. How provoking were these plaguy clouds over the moon.
+At one moment it was dark--at another as light as day--dazzling,
+puzzling. She stood in the open doorway peeping forth, when a mailed
+man in ambush seized her by the arm, and pinched it so suddenly that
+she had much ado to suppress a scream.
+
+"I have you!" he said; "you are our hostage. We got your billet, and
+are ready."
+
+"You hurt me, sir," she answered, struggling. "Brute! let me go. The
+door is open as I promised. Here is the key of the inner gate."
+
+She endeavoured to shake off the iron grip and flee in the direction
+of liberty, but the man held her as in a vice.
+
+"Softly, softly!" he chuckled, "or this tender flesh will suffer. She
+who can wantonly betray her people may not be trusted. You shall go
+before and lead us to the inner gate. When once we are within the
+citadel you shall receive reward, I promise."
+
+A cry of vexation and abortive spite rose in the geisha's throat, and
+choked her. What hardened brutal wretches soldiers are! She who
+expected effusive gratitude for a signal favour was to be treated like
+a common spy. The biter was bit. The man--an officer of rank, as was
+evident by the glittering badge upon his casque--took no pains to
+conceal his lack of consideration for the agent whom he stooped to
+employ. He looked on her, it was but too evident, as on some
+reptile--of service for the moment, which was to be used, then crushed
+under the heel. Careless of her pain, he held her soft arm as tightly
+in his armoured hand as if he meant to snap the bone.
+
+"Lead on," he threatened, "or--"
+
+There was no help for it. With the sharpest twinge of self-upbraiding
+that she had ever felt, O'Kiku turned and led the officer under shadow
+of the wall, under the belt of devilish trees that swayed now, and
+wheezed and croaked in ghastly merriment, till they reached the inner
+moat. She could tell by the dull thud behind that the cohorts were
+silently following. One, tripping over the snoring sentinel, gave him
+his _coup de grace_. The outer space within the range of huts was
+black with the ranks of the invader. Sampei, going his rounds, and
+hearing a strange sound, glanced over the parapet, and pressed his two
+hands upon his heart to still the commotion there.
+
+It was all over then! So much the better--oh, so much the
+better--since the gods were ruthless. By treachery from within all was
+lost. The moment he had so yearned for was come at last, when he would
+be freed from the bondage that was rotting him.
+
+"My love!" he murmured, spreading wide his arms towards the stars,
+while tears poured down his cheeks. "Wait for me, O'Tei, upon the
+other bank. Be patient for a few moments more. Stretch forth thy hand
+to me, my own; surely such love as mine should win its guerdon. In the
+next life we shall be re-united."
+
+The clouds were rent like a curtain, and the light streamed forth. The
+whole outer space was covered now by a moving army as of locusts.
+Sampei could detect on fluttering banners the butterfly of the Lord of
+Bizen, the badges of Shioshiu, and of Satsuma. The moment had arrived
+for which his soul had pined, and he was glad. But for his vigilance,
+mutiny would have broken out long since; and now that treachery had
+unlocked the gates, resistance would be small. He knew full well that
+his men would not stand for a moment against panic. There would be a
+stampede, a massacre, unless the braves were permitted to make terms.
+Befall what might as to the rest, he and his must not be taken alive,
+for who might tell what ignominy was prepared for the fallen Hojos?
+Hastily summoning his captains, he pointed over the parapet, and laid
+a hand upon his dirk with a motion understood by all.
+
+"Act for yourselves," he said; "and the gods, who have deserted us, be
+with you, old comrades."
+
+As he rapidly strode away towards the distant corner by the river,
+where dwelt No-Kami, there were tears in the eyes of the veterans. Was
+this their final parting from the bravest of the brave? Ought they not
+to follow, and claim participation in the rites?
+
+"No," a white-haired warrior said. "Let his last wishes be obeyed by
+us who love him. Be our last task to keep the gate, in order that they
+may not be interrupted. If we do not fall in the assault, and our
+lives are given us, it will be time then to follow our chiefs along
+the road which they have chosen."
+
+With quick and steady foot Sampei ascended the stair, which to him was
+sanctified by the abiding presence of O'Tei. Pushing back the screen,
+he entered, and, looking on his brother, there was upon his face a
+newborn tenderness.
+
+"The moment has come," he announced abruptly. "The foe is within the
+gate."
+
+A great shout went up into the stillness--a double cry--a scream of
+fear, a yell of victory. How strangely close the air was--despite the
+cold, heavy and sulphurous. Now that the banks of inky cloud had
+completely rolled away, the sky was unnaturally clear, the stars like
+specks of steel, while low along the bases of the hills was a dense
+white vapour rising. Sampei clasped his throat and gasped for air, for
+he was suffocating. Shaking back his locks, which, untied, had drifted
+about his clammy brow, he took a candle and set fire to the dry
+woodwork of the room, which crackled and flared, while No-Kami, in a
+daze, looked on.
+
+"You will be my kaishaku?" demanded the Hojo shortly.
+
+"Not I!" returned his brother, with strange emotion. "Each one for
+himself now. You take your dirk; I mine. We will have no seconds.
+Quick! Each moment's golden."
+
+"I am your feudal chief, as well as brother," No-Kami said, with
+supreme haughtiness, shaking off lethargy like an ill-fitting garment,
+"and as such I claim obedience. Shall it be said that the last Hojo
+passed away without befitting rites? Would you dare to refuse the last
+service to your departing lord?"
+
+There was a tumult in the elder's breast. No, he dared not refuse the
+last offices which were claimed thus solemnly. The final tribute of
+respect due from the nearest kinsman to the head of a great house was
+to act as his kaishaku or executioner. And yet, how hard! O'Tei was
+waiting on the other bank. No-Kami would be there before him. Not far
+ahead, though, for Sampei disdained a kaishaku. His brother gone, he
+would not linger.
+
+"Be it so," he said; and No-Kami nodded gratefully.
+
+The heat of the curling flames was stifling. The air was thick with
+smoke,--dense with an overpowering and scorching weight, like the
+fumes belched out by a volcano.
+
+Gently the lord of Tsu took from its rack his dirk, while his brother
+removed the sleeve from his own right arm and drew his sword, and,
+left foot forward, narrowly watched his movements. No-Kami, with
+dreamy deliberation, kneeled, supporting his weight upon his heels,
+and allowing his upper garment to drop down, tucked the sleeves under
+his knees, to save himself from falling backwards. Then, balancing the
+dirk, he looked on it with affectionate wistfulness, and, collecting
+his thoughts, hearkened musingly to the increasing turmoil. A clash of
+arms hard by; a hubbub of approaching voices; a volley of wild shouts
+and guttural curses, ever nearer--nearer.
+
+"Despatch!" cried the elder, with impatience, as he tightened the grip
+upon his hilt.
+
+No-Kami glanced round at him with a slow, proud smile, in which there
+was more of human softness than his features had ever worn. Then,
+stabbing himself below the waist on the left side, he drew the dirk
+with firm and unswerving hand across, and, twisting it in the wound,
+gave it a slight turn upwards.
+
+The eager eyes of his brother sparkled. A flash in the air; a heavy
+thud; a crash. No-Kami was gone; his sin-stained soul had flown. His
+blood welled out over the floor from his headless trunk.
+
+Sampei reeled, sick and giddy. Strange that the crisp air of a winter
+night should be so oppressive!
+
+What sinister new noise was that? A low, rumbling sound, like a great
+tremulous sigh--a heaving as though the panting soil were labouring
+for breath.
+
+For an instant of awful silence the human storm was stilled, then in a
+combined shriek rose heavenward. With swimming eyes Sampei gazed
+forth, clinging to the casement for support. A boom, a roar, a rush of
+boiling waters. A sweeping blast, a whirlwind--like a conflict of
+spirits for a soul. With a groan as of a giant in pain, the hillside
+opposite yawned. He beheld the wood of ancient cryptomerias, from
+childhood so familiar, slowly descend, leaving in its place a scar. He
+saw it slide down with majestic movement into the plain, turning from
+its bed the river. As though propelled by hurricane force, trees and
+rocks fell thundering, piled in heaps upon the flat, while through
+opening gaps and fissures new-born streams gushed out.
+
+Another shock, a long shuddering spasm, a wail of strong men for
+mercy. Then with deafening din the central tower rocked and swayed and
+split from top to bottom. The huge timbers cracked like wands, and
+parted. The ponderous copper roofs and sculptured eaves were torn and
+rent, and, toppling upon the crouching multitude, rolled over into the
+abyss. Forked tongues of flame shot up with a wild whirl of sparks,
+and died; and then from a common grave there curled a dense column of
+black smoke. Of all who were within the walls of Tsu not one escaped.
+At the gods' behest, nature had arisen in her strength. When the hail
+of destruction ceased, nothing remained of the impregnable fortress
+but a heap of shapeless ruin. The pride of Hojo was abased; its
+cherished home was become a charnel-house; its stronghold a sepulchre;
+a wreck its monument.
+
+
+ * * * * *
+
+
+Thus was the prophecy fulfilled,--the death-cry of the martyr
+answered. Buddha was awake, the while he seemed to sleep. By grim
+decree of outraged Heaven the race of tyrants was extinguished,
+leaving no rack behind save a loathed and dishonoured name.
+
+
+
+ THE END.
+
+
+
+
+ * * * * *
+ COLSTON AND COMPANY, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Curse of Koshiu, by Lewis Wingfield
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