THE FRATERNITY OF BLIND MEN.
A few hours later, groups of courtiers stood beneath the veranda of the
palace of Hieyas; anxious to be the first to greet the real master,
they awaited his wakening. Some leaned against the cedar columns
that supported the roof, others, standing firm on their legs, one
hand on their hip, crumpling the silky folds of their loose tunic,
listened to one of their number as he told an anecdote, doubtless very
entertaining, for it was followed with the utmost attention, and the
auditors let fall an occasional laugh, instantly stifled out of respect
for the slumbers of the illustrious sleeper.
The narrator was the Prince of Tosa, and the Prince of Nagato the hero
of the adventure that he recounted.
"Yesterday," he said, "the sun was setting when I heard a noise at
my palace gate. I went to the window, and saw my servants wrangling
with a troop of blind men. The latter were bent on entering, and all
talked at once, striking the flagstones with their sticks; the lackeys
shouted to drive them off, and no one heard what the other said. I was
beginning to lose my temper at the scene, when the Prince of Nagato
appeared; my servants at once bowed low before him, and at his order
admitted the blind men into the pavilion used as a stable for the
horses of my visitors. I went out to meet the Prince, curious to hear
an explanation, of this comedy.
"'Make haste!' he said as he entered, throwing a bundle on the floor;
'let us take off our robes, and dress in these costumes.'
"'But why?' I asked, looking at the costumes, which were little to my
taste.
"'What!' said he, 'is not this the hour when we may drop the weary pomp
of our rank, and become free and happy men?'
"'Yes,' said I; 'but why use our liberty to muffle ourselves in that
ugly garb?'
"'You shall see; I have a scheme,' said the Prince, who was already
disrobing; then, putting his lips to my ear, he added, 'I marry,
to-night. You'll see what a lark it will be.'
"'What! you're going to be married, and in that dress?' I cried,
looking at the Prince in his beggarly disguise.
"'Come, hurry,' he said; 'or we sha'n't find the bride.'
The Prince was half way downstairs. I quickly donned a dress like his,
and, urged by curiosity, followed him.
"'But,' I exclaimed, 'all those blind men whom you quartered in the
stable?'
"'We will join them.'
"'In the stable?' I asked.
"I did not understand a blessed thing; but I had confidence in the
whimsical fancy of the Prince, and I patiently waited for him to solve
the mystery. The blind men had collected in the great courtyard of the
palace, and I saw that we were dressed precisely like them. The poor
fellows had the most comical faces imaginable, with their lashless
eyelids, their flat noses, their thick lips, and their stupidly happy
expression. Nagato put a staff in my hand, and said: 'Let us be off.'
"The gates were thrown open. The blind men, holding one another by
the skirt, started out, tapping the ground with their sticks as they
went. Nagato, bending his back and shutting his eyes, followed in their
rear. I saw that I was expected to do the same, and I tried my best to
imitate him. There we were in the streets in the train of that band
of blind men. I could restrain myself no longer. I was seized with a
frantic fit of laughter, which all my comrades soon shared."
"Nagato has certainly lost his senses!" cried the Prince of Tosa's
hearers, writhing with laughter.
"And Tosa was scarcely better!"
"The Prince of Nagato, he never laughed," continued the story-teller;
"he was very angry. I tried to find out something of the Prince's plans
from the blind man nearest me, but he knew nothing of them. I only
learned that the corporation of which I formed a part belonged to that
confraternity of blind men whose business it is to go among the middle
classes to rub sick people and those who are not strong. The idea that
we might perhaps have to rub some one, sent me off again into such a
fit of merriment that, in spite of my efforts to keep a straight face
to please the Prince, I was obliged to stop and sit down on a stone to
hold my sides.
"Nagato was furious. 'You'll put a stop to my marriage,' he said.
"I set off again, winking my eyes and imitating the gait of my strange
fellow-travellers as best I could. They struck the ground with their
sticks, and, at this noise, people leaned from their windows and called
them in. In this way we came to a house of poor appearance. The noise
of sticks was redoubled. A voice demanded two shampooers.
"'Come,' said Nagato to me; 'this is the place.'
"Leaving the band, we went up a few steps and found ourselves in the
house. I saw two women, whom Nagato awkwardly saluted, turning his back
to them as he did so. I hastily shut my eyes and bowed to the wall. But
I managed to half open one eye again, prompted by curiosity. There were
a young girl and an old woman, probably her mother.
"'Take us first,' said the latter; 'you shall rub my husband later.'
"She then squatted on the floor and bared her back. I foresaw that the
old woman would fall to my lot, and that I must certainly play the part
of shampooer. Nagato was lost in salutations.
"'Ah! ah! ah!' he mumbled, as inferiors do when saluting a person of
high rank.
"I began to rub the old lady violently, and she uttered lamentable
groans; I struggled bravely to resist the laugh which again rose in
my throat and nearly choked me. The girl had uncovered one shoulder,
modestly, as if we had had eyes.
"'It is there,' she said; 'I gave myself a blow, and the doctor said
that it would do me good to be rubbed.'
"Nagato began to rub the young girl with amazing gravity; but all at
once he seemed to forget his rôle of blind man.
"'What beautiful hair you have!' said he. 'There's one thing certain:
if you were to adopt the headdress of noble women, you would not have
to resort, as they do, to all sorts of devices for lengthening your
hair.'
"The young girl gave a shriek and turned round; she saw Nagato's very
wide open eyes fixed upon her.
"'Mother!' she exclaimed, 'these are no blind men!'
"The mother fell flat on the floor; and surprise taking away all her
senses, she made no effort to rise, but began to utter yells of rare
shrillness.
"The father ran in in a fright.
"As for me, I gave free vent to my mirth, and rolled on the ground,
unable to hold in longer. To my great surprise, the Prince of Nagato
threw himself at the workman's feet.
"'Forgive us,' said he. 'Your daughter and I want to be married; and
as I have no money, I resolved to follow the custom of the country and
carry her off, to avoid wedding expenses. According to custom also, you
must forgive us, after playing the stem parent for a little while.'
"'I marry that man!' said the girl; 'but I don't know him in the least.'
"'You think my daughter would take a scamp like you fora husband?"
cried the father. 'Be off! out of the house in a trice, if you don't
want to be acquainted with my fists.'
"The sound of his angry voice began to attract a crowd before the
house. Nagato gave a long-drawn whistle.
"'Will you go!' cried the man of the people, scarlet with rage; and,
amidst the most vulgar insults and objurgations, he raised his fist
upon Nagato.
"'Do not strike one who will soon be your son,' said the Prince,
catching him by the arm.
"'You, my son! You will sooner see the snow on Fusiyama blossom with
flowers.'
"'I swear that you shall be my father-in-law,' said the Prince,
throwing his arms round the fellow's waist.
"The latter struggled in vain; Nagato bore him from the house. I
then approached the balustrade, and saw the crowd collected outside,
dispersed by the runners preceding a magnificent procession,--music,
banners, palanquins, all bearing the Prince's arms. The norimonos
stopped at the door, and Nagato stuffed his father-in-law into one of
them, which he closed and fastened with a pad-lock. I saw what I was
to do; I clutched the old woman and settled her in another palanquin,
while Nagato went back to got the girl. Two norimonos received us, and
the procession set out, while the music sounded gayly. We soon reached
a charming establishment in the midst of the prettiest garden I ever
saw. Everything was lighted up; orchestras hidden among the foliage
played softly; busy servants ran to and fro.
"'What is this enchanting palace?' said I to Nagato.
"'Oh! a trifle,' he answered scornfully; 'it is a little house which I
bought for my new wife.'
"'He is crazy,' thought I, 'and will utterly ruin himself; but that's
not my affair.'
"We were led into a room, where we put on splendid dresses; then we
went down into the banquet-hall, where we met all Nagato's young
friends, Satake, Foungo, Aki, and many others. They received us with
enthusiastic shouts. Soon the bride, superbly dressed, entered,
followed by her father and mother, stumbling over the folds of their
silken robes. The father seemed quite calm, the mother was flurried,
and the young girl so astounded that she kept her pretty mouth wide
open. Nagato declared that he took her for his wife, and the marriage
ceremony was complete. I never saw so merry a one. The feast was most
delicate, everybody was soon drunk, and I among the rest; but I had
myself carried hack to the palace about three o'clock for a brief rest,
for I wanted to be present this morning at the Regent's levee."
"That is the most absurd story I ever heard," said the Prince of Figo.
"There is certainly no one like Nagato for knowing how to carry out a
joke."
"And he is really married?" asked another lord.
"Very really," said the Prince of Tosa; "the marriage is legal, in
spite of the woman's low rank."
"The Prince invents new follies every day, and gives splendid feasts;
he must come to an end of his vast fortune ere long."
"If he is ruined, it will please the Regent, who does not love him over
much."
"Yes; but it will grieve the Shogun, who is exceedingly fond of him,
and who will never let him want for money."
"Hollo!" cried the Prince of Tosa, "there comes Nagato back to the
palace."
A procession was indeed passing through the gardens. On the banners and
on the norimono, borne by twenty men, were visible the insignia of the
Prince,--a black bolt surmounting three balls in pyramidal form. The
_cortége_ marched quite near the veranda which sheltered the nobles,
and through the curtains of the norimono they saw the young Prince
dozing on his cushions.
"He surely won't come to the Regent's levee," said one lord; "he would
run the risk of falling asleep on the shoulder of Hieyas."
"Nagato never comes to pay his respects to Hieyas; he detests him
profoundly; he is his avowed enemy."
"Such an enemy is not much to be feared," said the Prince of Tosa. "On
his return from these nightly escapades he is only fit for sleeping."
"I don't know whether that is the Regent's opinion."
"If he thought otherwise, would he endure from him insults serious
enough to condemn him to hara-kiri? If the Prince still lives, he owes
it to the clemency of Hieyas."
"Or to the loving protection of Fide-Yori."
"Doubtless Hieyas is only generous through regard for the master; but
if all his enemies were of Nagato's mind, he might esteem himself
happy."
While the courtiers thus chatted away the time of waiting for his
waking, Hieyas, who had risen long before, paced his chamber, anxious,
uneasy, bearing on his care-worn face the marks of sleeplessness.
A man stood near the Regent, leaning against the wall; he watched
him stride up and down; this man was a former groom, named Faxibo.
Hostlers had enjoyed considerable favor since the accession to power of
Taiko-Sama, who was originally an hostler. Faxibo was deeper than any
other person in the confidence of the Regent, who hid nothing from him,
and even thought aloud in his presence.
Hieyas constantly raised the blind from the window and looked out.
"Nothing," he said impatiently; "no news. It is incomprehensible."
"Be patient for a few moments more," said Faxibo; "those whom you sent
out upon the Kioto road cannot have returned yet."
"But the others! There were forty of them, and not one has returned! If
he has escaped me again, it is maddening."
"Perhaps you exaggerate the man's importance," said Faxibo. "It is a
love-affair that attracts him to Kioto; his head is full of follies."
"So you think; and I confess that this man terrifies me," said the
Regent vehemently, pausing before Faxibo. "No one ever knows what he
is doing; you think him here, he is there. He outwits the most cunning
spies: one declares that he followed him to Kioto, another swears
that he has not lost sight of him for an instant, and that he has hot
left Osaka; all his friends supped with him, while he was fighting on
his return from the Miako[1] with men stationed by me. I think him
asleep, or busy with his own affairs: one of my schemes is on the
eve of success; his hand descends upon me at the last, moment. The
empire would long since have been ours if it had not been for him; my
partisans are numerous, but his are no less strong, and he has the
right on his side. Stay: that plan which I had so skilfully arranged to
rid the country, under the guise of accident, of a sovereign without
talent and without energy,--that plan which was to throw the power into
my hands,--who frustrated it? Who was the accursed coachman who urged
that infernal team across the bridge? Nagato! He, always he. However,"
added Hieyas, "some one else, one of my allies, must have played the
traitor, for it is impossible that any other can have guessed the
scheme. Ah! if I knew the villain's name, I would at least gratify
myself by an awful revenge."
"I told you what I was able to discover," said Faxibo. "Fide-Yori
exclaimed at the moment of the crash: 'Omiti, you were right!'"
"Omiti! Who is Omiti? I do not know the name."
The Regent had advanced into the hall adjoining his chamber, which was
divided, by a large screen only, from the veranda where the nobles
were awaiting his coming. From within, this screen admitted of seeing
without being seen. Hieyas heard the name of Nagato uttered; he
approached eagerly, and signed to Faxibo to come close to him. Thus
they heard the whole story of the Prince of Tosa.
"Yes," muttered Hieyas; "for a long time I took him for a man of
dissolute morals and of no political importance; that was why I at
first favored his intimacy with Fide-Yori. How deeply I repent it, now
that I know what he is worth!"
"You see, master," said Faxibo, "that the Prince, doubtless warned of
your project, did not quit Osaka."
"I tell you he was at the Miako, and did not leave there until far on
in the night."
"And yet the Prince of Tosa was with him until very late."
"One of my spies followed him to Kioto; he entered the city in broad
daylight, and remained there until midnight."
"It is incomprehensible," said Faxibo. "Stay! there he is, going home,"
he added, seeing Nagato's procession.
"Is it really he who occupies the litter?" asked Hieyas, trying to look
out.
"I think I recognized him," replied Faxibo.
"Impossible! it cannot be the Prince of Nagato, unless it be his
corpse."
At this moment a man entered the chamber, and prostrated himself with
his face on the ground.
"It is my envoy," cried Hieyas. "Speak quickly, come I What have you
learned?" he cried to the messenger.
"I went to the part of the road to which you directed me, all-powerful
master," said the envoy. "At that spot the ground was strewn with
corpses; I counted forty men and fifteen horses. Peasants were hovering
around the dead; some felt of them, to see if there were no lingering
trace of life. Others pursued the wounded horses, which were running
about the rice-fields. I asked what had happened. They told me that no
one knew; but at sunrise they saw a band of horsemen pass, belonging
to the divine Mikado; they were on their way to Kioto. As for the
corpses lying by the roadside, red with their blood, they all wore dark
costumes, without any armorial bearings, and their faces were half
hidden by their headdress, after the fashion of bandits and assassins."
"Enough!" exclaimed Hieyas, frowning; "go!"
The envoy retired, or rather fled.
"He has escaped me again," said Hieyas. "Well! I must deal the blow
with my own hand. The end which I would attain is so noble, that I
should not hesitate to use infamous means to overthrow the obstacles
which rise in my path. Faxibo," he added, turning to the ex-groom,
"usher in those who wait. Their presence may drive away the sad
forebodings which oppressed me all night."
Faxibo lifted aside the screen, and the nobles entered one after
another to greet the master. Hieyas observed that the courtiers were
loss numerous than usual; none were present except those princes who
were wholly devoted to his cause, and some few indifferent people who
sought a special favor of the Regent.
Hieyas, still talking with the lords, moved out upon the veranda and
looked around.
It seemed to him that an unusual bustle pervaded the palace courts.
Messengers were starting off every moment, and princes coming up in
their norimonos, in spite of the early hour. All were proceeding
towards Fide-Yori's palace.
"What is the matter?" thought he; "whence comes all this stir I what
mean these messengers bearing orders of which I know nothing?" And,
full of alarm, he dismissed the lords with a gesture.
"You will excuse me, I know," he said "the interests of the country
call me."
But before the princes had taken leave, a soldier entered the room.
"The Shogun, Fide-Yori, begs the illustrious Hieyas to be good enough
to come before his presence at once," said he; and without waiting for
an answer, he departed.
Hieyas stopped the lords who were about to leave.
"Wait for me here," he said; "I do not know what is going on, but I am
devoured by anxiety. You are devoted to me; I may possibly need you."
He saluted them with a wave of the hand, and went slowly out, his head
bent, followed only by Faxibo.
[1] That is to say, the capital.