Dawn of the following day found the Prince of Owari at the palace,
to make complaint against the dastardly attack of the Mito men. He
returned shortly after noon, and within the hour sent word that he
would come to see me in my apartments. Fujimaro, who brought the
message, knew nothing as to the result of the visit to the Shogun.
The mingled dread and half-hearted hope with which I awaited the Prince
may well be imagined. Was I to be sentenced to a horrible death, or
merely sent out of the country? Had Yoritomo’s sacrifice won against
suspicion and reaction, or were Owari and the cause of progress to go
down to ruin and destruction with myself? Since I had lost my little
Princess, I could think of my own fate with a degree of indifference.
But that the cause for which my dear friend had given his life should
fail--what bitterness!
The Prince entered with austere stateliness, only to drop from the
formal to the familiar at the first view of my bandaged arm. He waved
all our attendants to leave, and sank down beside me, with a look of
kindly concern. “You are in pain! Your arm--did Yuki say whether the
arrow had a poisoned head?”
“No, no, my lord. The wound is already healing. I feel no pain from
that. The Shogun! Tell me!--Does the House of Owari still stand
unshaken?”
“As firmly as Fuji-yama.”
“And the schemes of Mito?”
He smiled and stroked his slender white beard. “Rekko continues to
dwell in his Inferior Yashiki. Keiki has paid a heavy price for the
pierced arm of my guest. An attack with deadly weapons within the
bounds of Yedo is an outrage upon the dignity of the Shogun.”
“His Highness once more inclines to your counsel?”
“The offering of him who has gone from us has not been without avail,
and Keiki’s false move has forced the last bar of the gate for us. Your
offence is pardoned.”
“That is small matter. Has there been an acceptance of policies
memorialized by the departed?”
“Many _daimios_ have yet to present their answers to the letters
of inquiry sent out by the Shogunate. The majority may be against
intercourse with the _tojin_ peoples, yet Satsuma and Ii have joined me
in urging a temporary treaty for the opening of a few ports. When all
answers have been received, His Highness will command the Council of
Elders to announce the acceptance of our policy.”
“_Banzai!_” I cried. “Let intercourse be established for a time, and
even the frogs in the well will be compelled to see light.”
“The talk of a temporary treaty is a compromise to bring over those
who waver between the two camps. I have talked too much with you and
with him who has gone to doubt now that ports once opened will ever
be closed.” He looked at me with a quizzical smile. “Once a _tojin_
enters, it is difficult to be rid of him.”
“You say I am forgiven?”
“One way has been suggested to rid the land from the _tojin_. That is
to make him not a _tojin_.”
“Not a _tojin_? You mean death!”
“Death to _tojin_ kin and country. I recalled to the Shogun the
precedent of the wise _tojin_ Anjin Sama.”
“That! Can I also become a Japanese?”
“If you wed a Japanese wife.”
“Wed?--I cannot do that! You know there is only one maiden in all
Japan--in all the world!”
“It is true that the maiden to whom you refer cannot be given to any
other than one of exalted rank.”
“And I can wed none other.”
“The heart of Iyeyoshi has been troubled. He questioned the maiden,
and found that the words of the _tojin_ were true. Yet how could the
Sei-i-tai Shogun give his daughter to a _tojin_?”
I stared at the Prince, aflame with an ardent hope that overpowered me.
“He--you say that he--Speak!”
“The heir of Owari is a fitting husband for the daughter of the Shogun.
You know the arrangement regarding him who has gone from us. There now
remains only the son of his elder brother. I have long since reached
the age when it is customary to lay aside the burden of the title and
of the clan administration. The boy is too young. In such cases it
is not unusual to adopt an elder son to bear the burden of the title
until such time as it is thought best for him to retire in favor of the
younger heir.”
“My lord!” I gasped, “you cannot mean--?”
“Iyeyoshi’s heart is touched by the grief of his daughter. He is
willing to do so much to assure her happiness. My kinsman guest has
a true heart--he is to be trusted. When an heir succeeds during the
lifetime of his father, he bends to the guidance of the retired
_daimio_. There is no more to be said. The decision is now with Woroto.”
I kowtowed to him. For several moments I could not speak, for I was
utterly overcome with the great joy and unable to believe that such
good fortune could be mine. The serene face of Yoritomo appeared before
my mental vision. It was as if he had returned to serve me as guardian
spirit.
“Father of my brother!--my father!” I murmured. I could say no more.
“Woroto--my son!”
I looked up and saw his haughty eyes glistening with tears. We gazed
deep into one another’s souls. My brother had gone from me, but I had
found a father.
He rose and left me.
Soon, however, the screens parted to admit that sweetest and quaintest
and dearest of dames, Tokiwa Sama. She glided across to kowtow to me,
demurely radiant. I had found not only a father, but a mother--and such
a mother! Could I but have gathered her up in my arms and poured out my
heart to her!
Instead we talked with decorous restraint of various little details
of home life,--matters trifling and altogether inconsequential in
themselves yet charged with a world of meaning to me. I was received
into the intimacy of the home life; I had become a member of the family.
Never had I chafed more at the convention that forbade all reference
to romantic love. Freed from that taboo, pronounced by an over-rigid
etiquette, I knew my dainty little adopted mother would have been an
ideal confidante. Her dear face glowed with sympathy and love, which,
being unable to express in words or caresses, she could convey to me
only by looks and the exquisite courtesy of her manner.
So it was, I was accepted as the son and heir of Owari in the hearts
of my second parents, before my adoption according to the forms of the
law. The legal adoption was not a simple affair of routine, as I had
fancied. Though proposed by the Shogun himself, it was blocked for
some weeks by the intrigues of the Mito party and the opposition of
the Elder Council. Unaware of the motive behind the Shogun’s supposed
caprice,--a motive that made resistance futile,--our enemies worked
zealously to prevent the acceptance of the barbarian as heir of one of
the August Three Families.
In the end our opponents even went so far as to appeal to that
mysterious superlord the Mikado. For this act custom would have
justified Iyeyoshi in punishing them with utmost severity. But he was
not averse to showing them that the power of the Shogun, their master,
over the Kyoto court was unbroken, and so the matter was delayed for
some weeks. In ordinary circumstances, the dense ignorance and bigotry
of the imperial court regarding the _tojin_ world would have insured
a certain verdict against me. But the Shogun brought heavy pressure to
bear. It was a difficult matter to deny the express desire of one who
had the power to enforce compliance. Also I suspect that the difficulty
was glossed over by a flat denial of my _tojin_ blood and a strong
insistence upon my kinship to the House of Owari.
Pending the sanction of the Mikado, I was required to remain within the
bounds of the _yashiki_. But it was a confinement far from irksome in
view of the extreme sultriness of the midsummer weather and the charm
of the _yashiki_ gardens.
Yuki, however, roved at will about the city in the disguise of a
_ronin_, spying upon the Mito men. Soon after the funeral I had sent
him to Shinagawa with a message for Kohana San. But the _geisha_ had
not been seen since my glimpse of her at Uyeno. She had not returned to
her home, and was not to be found. Our first thought was that she might
have killed herself for love of Yoritomo. Yet this seemed improbable
when we recalled to mind his command for her to live and serve those
whom he left behind.
At last, during the solemn Festival of the Dead, which was celebrated
in mid August, Yuki learned that the girl was a prisoner in
Hitotsubashi Yashiki. Keiki had lured her into his palace, and had
either induced or forced her to become one of the many concubines
allowed a high noble by custom and law. From this last, Yuki reasoned
that Keiki could not possibly have discovered her devotion to our
cause, else she would surely have been tortured, instead of being
honored with the rank of concubine. When I expressed my surprise that
her love for Yoritomo had not caused her to commit _hara-kiri_, Yuki
was no less surprised that I had failed to grasp her motive. For love
of her dead lord, she had submitted to a fate that to her was worse
than death.
“With the permission of my lord,” he added, “I will continue to haunt
the vicinity of Keiki’s _yashiki_. None is more crafty than a _geisha_.
She will be watching for an opportunity to send us word of the schemes
and intrigues of the Mito party.”