PERJURY.
When he entered the hall where Fide-Yori was waiting for him, Hieyas
saw that something important was about to occur.
All the party devoted to the son of Taiko-Sama were assembled there.
Fide-Yori wore for the first time, that warlike and royal costume which
he alone had the right to assume. The cuirass of black horn girt his
body, and heavy skirts, made of a series of plates fastened together by
stitches of red silk, fell over a pair of loose trousers confined from
the ankle to the knee by velvet gaiters. He had a sword on his left
side, and another on the right. Three golden stars glittered on his
breast; his hand rested upon an iron wand. The young man was seated on
a folding stool such as warriors use in their tents.
On his right stood his mother, the beautiful Yodogimi, pale and
nervous, but splendidly arrayed; on his left, the Prince of Mayada, who
shared the regency with Hieyas; but being very old, and for some time
past an invalid, this Prince held himself aloof from business matters.
He however kept watch over Hieyas, and maintained the interests of
Fide-Yori as far as possible.
On one side were the princes of Satsuma, Satake, Arima, Aki, and
Issida; on the other, the warriors,--General Sanada-Sayemon-Yoke-Moura
at their head,--in battle array; Aroufza, Moto-Tsoumou, Harounaga,
Moritzka, and a very beautiful and serious young man, named Signenari.
All the Shogun's friends, in fact, and all the mortal enemies of the
Regent were assembled; yet Nagato was absent.
Hieyas cast a haughty glance around the assembly.
"Here I am," he said, in a firm voice; "I am waiting. What are your
wishes?"
A profound silence was the only answer. Fide-Yori turned away his eyes
from him in horror.
At last the Prince of Mayada began to speak.
"We wish nothing from you but justice," said he; "we would simply
recall to you a fact which you seem to have forgotten,--that your term
of regency as well as mine, expired some months since, Hieyas; and in
your zeal for governing the empire you have not heeded this. The son of
Taiko-Sama is now of a fit age to reign; your rule is therefore over.
It only remains for you to lay down your powers at the master's feet,
and render him an account of your conduct, as I shall render an account
of my actions while he was under our tutelage."
"You do not consider what you say," cried Hieyas, his face growing
purple with rage; "you apparently mean to urge the country to its ruin!"
"I have spoken gently," replied Mayada; "do not force me to assume a
different tone."
"You desire an inexperienced child," continued Hieyas, heedless of the
interruption, "to wield the power before he has had any practice in the
difficult profession of the head of a nation. It is as if you put a
heavy porcelain vase into the hands of a new-born babe: he would let it
fall to the ground, and the vase would break into a thousand bits."
"You insult our Shogun!" exclaimed the Prince of Satake.
"No," said Hieyas; "Fide-Yori himself will agree with me. I must
initiate him slowly into my labors, and point out to him the possible
solutions of the questions now in debate. Has he ever paid any heed to
the affairs of the nation? His young intelligence was not yet ripe,
and I spared him the fatigues of government. I alone possess the
instructions of the great Taiko, and I alone can carry on the vast work
which he undertook. The task is not yet accomplished. Therefore, in
obedience to that venerated chief, I must, in spite of your opinion,
retain in my own hands the power intrusted to me by him; but, to show
you how highly I esteem your advice, from this day forth the youthful
Fide-Yori shall share the grave cares whose burden I have hitherto
borne alone. Answer, Fide-Yori," added Hieyas; "say for yourself if I
have spoken after your own heart."
Fide-Yori slowly turned his ashen face towards Hieyas and gazed at him
fixedly. Then, after a moment's silence, he said in a voice somewhat
trembling, although full of scorn: "The noise made by Swallow bridge as
it fell beneath my tread has not made me deaf to your voice."
Hieyas turned pale before him whom he had striven to send to his death;
he was humbled by his crime. His lofty intelligence suffered from these
spots of blood and dirt which bespattered it; he saw them in the future
darkening his name, which he longed to render glorious, certain that
his duty towards his country was to keep in his own hands the power of
which he was worthier than any other. He felt a sort of indignation at
being obliged to compel by force that which public interest should have
eagerly required of him. However, resolved to struggle to the end, he
raised his head, bowed for an instant beneath the weight of tumultuous
thoughts, and cast a savage and overbearing glance around the room.
A threatening silence had followed the Shogun's words. It was prolonged
until it became painful; the Prince of Satsuma broke it at last.
"Hieyas," he said, "I summon you in my master's name to lay down the
powers with which you were invested by Taiko-Sama."
"I refuse!" said Hieyas.
A cry of amazement escaped from the lips of all the nobles. The Prince
of Mayada rose; he advanced slowly towards Hieyas, and drew from his
breast a paper yellowed by age.
"Do you recognize this?" said he, unfolding the writing, which he held
before the eyes of Hieyas. "Was it indeed with your blood that you
traced your traitorous name here side by side with my loyal one? Have
you forgotten the form of the oath,--'The powers which you intrust to
us we will restore to your child upon his majority; we swear it on the
remains of our ancestors, before the luminous disk of the sun'? Taiko
fell peacefully asleep when he saw those few scarlet lines; to-day he
will rise from his tomb, perjurer, to curse you."
The old man, trembling with anger, crumpled in his hands the oath
written in blood and flung it in Hieyas' face.
"But do you really think that we shall let you thus despoil our child
before our eyes?" he continued. "Do you think, because you do not
choose to give up what you have taken, that we will not wrest it from
you? The crimes which you plot have clouded your intellect; you have no
soul or honor left; you dare to stand erect before your master,--before
him whom you strove to kill!"
"He not only tried to take my life," said Fide-Yori; "that man, more
savage than the tiger, has this night caused the murder of my most
faithful servant, my dearest friend, the Prince of Nagato!"
A shudder of horror passed over the assembly, while a flash of joy
illumined the eyes of Hieyas.
"Rid of that formidable foe," he thought, "I shall soon master
Fide-Yori."
As if replying to his thought, the voice of Nagato was heard. "Do not
rejoice too soon, Hieyas," it said; "I am alive, and still in condition
to serve my young master."
Hieyas turned quickly, and saw the Prince, who had just lifted a heavy
curtain, and now entered the hall.
Nagato looked like a ghost; his eyes, glittering with the light of
fever, seemed larger and blacker than usual. His face was so pale that
it could hardly be distinguished from the narrow white bandage spotted
with blood which bound his head. A spasm of pain shook his limbs, and
caused a crystal box that sparkled in his hand to quiver.
General Yoke-Moura ran to him.
"What madness, Prince!" he cried, "to rise and walk, after losing so
much blood, and in spite of the orders of your doctors!"
"Bad friend!" said Fide-Yori, "will you never cease to play with your
life?"
"I will become the slave of the doctors in obedience to the undeserved
interest that you take in me," said the Prince, "when I have fulfilled
the mission with which I am charged."
Hieyas, filled with alarm, had taken refuge in utter silence; he
watched and waited, casting frequent glances at the door, as if anxious
to escape.
"I should offer you this casket on my knees, and you should receive it
on your knees," said the Prince; "for it contains a message from your
lord and master and ours, from him who holds his power from Heaven,
from the all-powerful Mikado."
Nagato prostrated himself and offered the casket to the Shogun, who
bent his knee as he took it.
Hieyas felt sure that this casket contained his final doom; and he
thought that now, as always, it was the Prince of Nagato who triumphed
over him.
Meanwhile Fide-Yori had unfolded the Mikado's message and ran his eye
over it. An expression of joy irradiated his countenance. He raised
his eyes, wet with tears, to Nagato, thinking in his turn that it was
always through him that he triumphed.
"Prince of Satsuma," said he, extending the letter to the aged lord,
"read this divine writing aloud to us."
The Prince of Satsuma read as follows:--
"I, the direct descendant of the Gods who founded
Japan, I lower my eyes to the earth, and I see that
much time has elapsed since the death of that faithful
servant of my dynasty, Taiko-Sama, whom my predecessor
named General-in-chief of the kingdom. The son of that
illustrious leader, who rendered great services to the
country, was six years old when his father died; but
time has sped for him as for all men, and he is now of
an age to succeed his father; wherefore I name him in
his turn General-in-chief of the kingdom.
"In a few days the knights of Heaven shall solemnly
announce to him my will and pleasure, that none may be
ignorant of it.
"Now, trusting to Fide-Yori the cares of government,
I replunge myself in the mysterious absorption of my
superhuman dream.
"Given at the Dairi, in the nineteenth year of
Nengo-Kai-Tio (164).
"GO-MITZOU-NO."
"That is unanswerable," said Hieyas, bowing his head; "the supreme
master has ordered,--I obey. I lay down the powers which were confided
to me; and after the insults to which I have submitted, I know what
remains for me to do. I hope that those who have managed this matter
may not repent their success some day, and that the country may not
have cause to groan under the weight of misfortune which may befall it."
He went out, after uttering these words, and all the lords rejoicing,
gathered around the young Shogun and congratulated him.
"You should congratulate my friend and brother, Nagato," said
Fide-Yori; "it was he who accomplished everything."
"All is not ended yet," said Nagato, who seemed thoughtful; "you must
instantly sign Hieyas' death-warrant."
"But you heard what he said, friend; he said that he knew what remained
for him to do. He is even now about to perform the hara-kiri."
"Certainly," said the Prince of Satsuma.
"He knows the code of nobility," said the Prince of Aki.
"Yes; but he despises its customs, and will not conform to them," said
Nagato. "If we do not promptly condemn that man, he will escape us; and
once free, he is capable of daring anything."
The Prince of Nagato had unfolded a roll of white paper, and offered a
brush dipped in ink to the Shogun.
Fide-Yori seemed to waver. "To condemn him thus without a trial!" he
said.
"A trial is of no avail," replied Nagato. "He has perjured himself, and
failed in respect to you before the whole Council; moreover he is an
assassin."
"He is my wife's grandfather," murmured the Shogun.
"You can repudiate your wife," said Nagato. "While Hieyas lives, there
can be no peace for you, no safety for the country."
Fide-Yori seized the brush, wrote the warrant, and signed it.
Nagato handed the order to General Sanada-Sayemon-Yoke-Moura, who
instantly left the room.
He soon returned, his countenance disfigured by wrath. "Too late!" he
cried; "the Prince of Nagato was right: Hieyas has fled!"