THE TRYST.
The Prince of Nagato lay stretched upon a black satin mattress, one
elbow buried in a cushion and the other arm held out to a doctor
crouching beside him. The doctor was feeling his pulse.
At the Prince's bedside, Fide-Yori, seated on a pile of mats, fixed an
anxious look upon the wrinkled but impenetrable face of the physician.
An enormous pair of spectacles, with round black-rimmed glasses, lent a
comical expression to the grave face of the worthy man of science.
Near the entrance of the room knelt Loo, his forehead touching the
floor, in honor of the King's presence. He amused himself by counting
the silver threads in the fringe of the carpet.
"The danger is over," said the doctor at last; "the wounds have
closed; and still the fever continues, for some reason which I cannot
understand."
"I will explain it to you," said the Prince, eagerly drawing back his
arm; "it is my impatience at being nailed to this bed, and forbidden to
enjoy the open air."
"What, friend!" said the Shogun, "when I myself come hither to share
your captivity, are you so impatient to be free?"
"You know very well, dear lord, that it is for your affairs that I am
so anxious to be up and doing; the departure of the embassy which you
are sending to Kioto cannot be indefinitely delayed."
"Why did you ask me as a special favor to make you chief of that
embassy?"
"Is it not my delight to serve you?"
"That is not your only motive," said Fide-Yori with a smile.
"You allude to my supposed love for Fatkoura," thought Nagato, smiling
in his turn.
"If the Prince is reasonable, if he gives up this over-excitement which
exhausts him, he may start in three days," said the doctor.
"Thanks!" cried Nagato; "that news is better than all your drugs."
"My drugs are not to be despised," said the doctor; "and you must take
the one which I will send you presently."
Then he bowed low to the King and his noble patient, and retired.
"Ah!" exclaimed Fide-Yori when he was alone with his friend, "your
impatience to be off proves to me that I am not mistaken. You are in
love, Iwakura; you are beloved; you are happy!" And he heaved a deep
sigh.
The Prince looked at him, surprised at this sigh, and expecting a
confidence; but the young man blushed slightly, and changed the
conversation.
"You see," said he, opening a volume which he held on his knee, "I am
studying the book of the laws; I am looking to see if it does not need
softening and altering."
"It contains one article which I would advise you to suppress," said
Nagato.
"Which?"
"That which treats of mutual suicide for love."
"How does it run?" said Fide-Yori, turning over the leaves. "Ah! here
it is:--
"'If two lovers swear to die together, and commit
hara-kiri, their bodies shall be handed over to the
officers of justice. If one of them be not mortally
wounded, he or she is to be treated as the murderer of
the other. If both survive the attempt, they shall be
ranked as reprobates.'"
"That is shameful," said Nagato; "hasn't one a right to escape by death
from a grief too heavy to be endured?"
"There is a religion which says not," murmured Fide-Yori.
"That of the European bonzes! That whose doctrines public rumor says
you have accepted," said Nagato, striving to read his friend's face.
"I have studied that creed, Iwakura," said the Shogun. "It is pure
and impressive, and the priests who teach it seem full of abnegation.
While our bonzes think of nothing but making money, they scorn wealth.
And then, you see, I cannot forget the terrible scene which I once
witnessed, nor the sublime courage of the Christians as they submitted
to the horrible tortures which my father ordered to be inflicted on
them. I was a child then. I was taken to see them executed, to teach
me, so my guardians said, how such creatures should be treated. It was
near Nangasáki, on the hill. That nightmare will never cease to trouble
my dreams. Crosses were planted on the slope so thickly that the hill
seemed covered with a forest of dead trees. Among the victims, whose
noses and ears had all been cut off, walked three little children,--I
seem to see them still,--disfigured and bleeding, but revealing a
strange courage in the face of death. All the poor wretches were
fastened to the crosses, and their bodies were pierced with lances;
the blood ran in streams. The victims made no outcry; as they died,
they prayed that Heaven would pardon their executioners. The spectators
uttered frightful shrieks, and I, overcome by terror, screamed with
them, and hid my face on the breast of the Prince of Mayada, who held
me in his arms. Soon, in spite of the soldiers, who beat them back and
struck at them with their lances, those who witnessed that dreadful
scene rushed up the hill to wrangle for some relic of those martyrs,
whom they left naked on their crosses." As he spoke, the Shogun
continued to turn over the pages of his book.
"Exactly," he said, with a movement of horror; "here is the very edict
pronounced by my father when he commanded the massacre:--
"'I, Taiko-Sama, devote these men to death, because they come to Japan,
calling themselves ambassadors, although they are not so; because
they remain in my domains without my leave, and preach the law of
the Christians, contrary to my commands. I decree that they shall be
crucified at Nangasáki.'"
Fide-Yori tore out this and several ensuing pages, containing laws
against the Christians.
"I have found what I wanted to expunge," he said.
"You do well, master, to spread your protecting arm over those mild
and inoffensive men," said Nagato; "but beware lest the report which
spreads from mouth to mouth, and accuses you of being a Christian, take
shape, and your enemies use it against you."
"You are right, friend; I will wait till my power is firmly
established, to declare my sentiments, and atone, as far as may be,
for the blood spilled before my very eyes. But I must leave you, dear
invalid; you are growing tired, and the doctor ordered you to rest. Be
patient; you are nearly cured."
The Shogun left the room with an affectionate glance at his friend. No
sooner had he gone, than Loo sprang up; he yawned, stretched himself,
and made a thousand grimaces.
"Come, Loo!" said the Prince, "run out into the gardens for a little
while; but don't throw stones at the gazelles, or frighten my Muscovy
ducks."
Loo hastened away.
When he was alone, the Prince drew quickly from under his mattress a
letter wrapped in green satin; he placed it on his pillow, leaned his
cheek against it, and closed his eyes to sleep.
This letter was the one given him by the Kisaki; he preserved it as a
precious treasure, and his only joy was to inhale its faint perfume.
But, to his great distress, it had seemed to him, for some days past,
as if the perfume were evaporating; perhaps, accustomed to inhale it,
he did not notice it so strongly.
Suddenly the Prince rose up; he remembered that inside the envelope
this subtle and delicious perfume would doubtless be better preserved.
He broke the seal, which he had not hitherto touched, thinking that
the envelope was empty; but to his great surprise he drew out a paper
covered with written characters.
He uttered a cry and tried to read, but in vain. A red veil shimmered
before his eyes; there was a buzzing in his ears; he feared lest
he should faint, and rested his head on the pillow. He, however,
succeeded in calming himself, and again looked at the writing. It was
an elegantly worded quatrain. The Prince read it with indescribable
emotion:--
"Two flowers bloomed on the banks of a stream. But,
alas! the stream divided them.
"In each corolla lay a drop of dew, the shining spirit
of the flower.
"Upon one of them the sun fell; he made it sparkle. But
she thought: Why am I not on the other bank?
"One day these flowers hung their heads to die. They
let fall their luminous soul like a diamond. Then the
two drops of dew met at last, and were mingled in the
stream."
"She gives me a tryst," cried the Prince, "farther away, later on,
in another life. Then she has guessed my love! She loves me, then! O
Death! can you not hasten? Can you not bring nearer the celestial hour
of our reunion?"
The Prince may have thought his wishes granted; for, falling back on
his cushions, he lost consciousness.