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MICROCOPY RESOIUTKJN TEST CHART 
 
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"She did not speak tu the attendant while she dined, hut 
 continued to stare hctore her through the open shoji " 
 
DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 A ROMANCE OF JAPAN 
 
 BY 
 
 ONOTO WATANNA 
 
 AUTHOR OF "A JAPANESE NIGHTINGALE," "THE WOOING OF 
 WISTARIA," "THE HEART OF HYACINTH," ETC. 
 
 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND DECORATIONS 
 BY KIVOKICHI SANG 
 
 THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 
 LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO.. Ltd. 
 1904 
 
 Ali righU rttervtd 
 
 

 262245 
 
 Copyright, 1904, 
 Bv THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 
 
 S«t up, electrotyped, and published April, 1904. Reprinted 
 April, 1904. 
 
 NoTtooaO QrtU 
 
 J. 9. Cubing & Co. — Ucrwlek & Smith Co. 
 
 Norwood, Mm*., U.S.A. 
 

 Contents 
 
 
 
 
 CHArrBK 
 
 PMB 
 
 
 Before the Story's Action 
 
 
 
 «3 
 
 I. 
 
 The Child of the Sun . 
 
 
 
 *5 
 
 II. 
 
 An Emperor's Promise 
 
 
 
 4« 
 
 III. 
 
 Masago .... 
 
 
 
 53 
 
 IV. 
 
 A Betrothal 
 
 
 
 67 
 
 V. 
 
 Gossip of the Court . 
 
 
 
 77 
 
 VI. 
 
 The Princess Sado-ko . 
 
 
 
 87 
 
 VII. 
 
 The Picture by the Artist-mai 
 
 
 
 lOI 
 
 VIII. 
 
 A Sentimental Princess 
 
 
 
 113 
 
 IX. 
 
 Moon Tryst 
 
 
 
 . 127 
 
 X. 
 
 Cousin Komatzu 
 
 
 
 ■ >47 
 
 XI. 
 
 A Mirror and a Photograph 
 
 
 
 . 163 
 
 XII. 
 
 Mists of Kamakura 
 
 
 
 • «7S 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Daughters of Nijo 
 
 
 
 189 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Solution of the Gods . 
 
 
 
 . 199 
 
 XV. 
 
 The Change 
 
 
 
 . 211 
 
 XVI. 
 
 A Family Council 
 
 
 
 . 229 
 
 XVII. 
 
 The New Masago 
 
 
 
 • *43 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 A Mother Blind . 
 
 
 
 ■ *55 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Within the Palace Nijo 
 
 
 
 . 267 
 
 XX. 
 
 An Evil Omen . 
 
 
 
 . 281 
 
CHArm 
 
 
 PACI 
 
 XXI. 
 
 " You are not Sado-ko ! " . 
 
 295 
 
 XXII. 
 
 The Coming Home of Junzo 
 
 309 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 The Convalesceni: . . . 
 
 321 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 A Royal Proclamation . 
 
 335 
 
 XXV. 
 
 The Eve of a Wedding 
 
 347 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Masago's Return 
 
 359 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 A Gracious Princess at Last . . 
 
 377 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 "The Gods knew Best !" . 
 
 387 
 
Illustrations 
 
 «« She did not speak to the attendant while she dined, 
 but continued to stare before her through the 
 openshoji" Frontispiece 
 
 FACING PAGE 
 
 "A score of ripe cherries descended upon her iicad " 35 
 
 " ' Look,' cried Sado-ko, clutching his sleeve" 
 
 Mists of Kamakura ...... 
 
 " Then up and down the room in the long, trailing 
 robe of Princess Sado-ko, walked, peacock-like, 
 the maiden Masago" ..... 
 
 " Then soft alighted on a cherry tree, and filled the 
 air with its sweet song " . . . . 
 
 " She met his eyes, then flushed and trembled" 
 
 «' Between the parted shoji, she stood like one un- 
 certain " .....•• 
 
 H3 
 •83 
 
 217 
 
 223 
 33> 
 
 365 
 
Daughters of Nijo 
 
 BEFORE THE STORY'S ACTION 
 
 IN the early part of the year of the Restora- 
 tion there lived within the Province of 
 Echizen a young farmer named Yamada 
 Kwacho. Although he belonged only to the 
 agricultural class, he was known and honored 
 throughout the entire province, for at one time 
 he had saved the life of the Daimio of the 
 province, the powerful Lord of Echizen, pre- 
 mier to the shogunate. 
 
 In spite of the favor of the Daimio of the 
 province, Yamada Kwacho made no effort to 
 rise above the class to which he had been born. 
 Satisfied with his estate, he was proud of his 
 simple and honest calling. So the Lord of 
 Echizen, having no opportunity of repaying the 
 young former for his service, contented himself 
 perforce with a promise that if at any time 
 
 •3 
 
H 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 Yamada Kwacho should require his aid, he 
 would not fail him. 
 
 Kwacho, therefore, lived happily in the 
 knowledge of his prince's favor; and since he 
 possessed an excellent little farm which yielded 
 him a comfortable living, he had few cares. 
 
 He had reached the age of twenty-five years 
 before he began to cast about him for a wife. 
 Because of his renown in the province, Kwacho 
 might have chosen a maiden of much higher 
 rank than his own ; but, being of a sensible 
 mind and nature, he sought a bride within his 
 own class. He found her in the person of little 
 Ohano, the daughter of a neighboring farmer. 
 She was as plump, rosy, and pretty as is pos- 
 sible for a Japanese maiden. Moreover, she 
 was docile and gentle by temperament, and had 
 all ihe admirable domestic virtues attractive to 
 the e) ^ of a youth of the character of Yamada 
 Kwacho. 
 
 Though their courtship was brief, their wed- 
 ding was splendid, for the Prince of Echizen 
 himself bestowed upon them gifts with all 
 good wishes and congratulations. Life seemed 
 
BEFORE THE STORY'S ACTION 15 
 
 to bear a more joyous aspect to Kwacho. He 
 went about his work whistling and singing. 
 All his field-hands and coolies knew him for 
 the kindest of masters. 
 
 The young couple had not been married a 
 month, when a great prince, a member of the 
 reigning house, visited the Lord of Echizen in 
 his province. Report had it that this royal 
 prince was in reality an emissary from the 
 Emperor, for at this time the country was 
 torn with the dissensions of Imperialist and 
 Bakufu. It was well known that the Daimio 
 of Echizen owed his ofhce of shogunate pre- 
 mier to the Mikado himself, and that he was 
 secretly in sympathy with the Imperialists, 
 Consequently there were great banquets and 
 entertainments given in the Province of Echi- 
 zen when a prince of the royal family con- 
 descended to visit the Mikado's vassal, the 
 Daimio of Echizen. The whole province 
 wore a gala aspect, and the streets of the 
 principal cities were constantly enlivened by 
 the passing parades and corteges of the re- 
 tainers of the visiting prince. 
 
i6 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 Owing to the presence of his august guest, 
 the Lord of Kchi/en was obliged to send a 
 courier to Yedo with proper apologies for not 
 presenting himself before the Shogun at this 
 time. He showed his confidence in Kwacho 
 by bestowing upon him the honor of this 
 important mission. 
 
 The young farmer, while naturally loath 
 to leave his young bride of a month, yet, 
 mindful of the ^reat honor, started at once 
 for the Shogun's capital. Thus Ohano was 
 left at home alone. 
 
 Being but fifteen years old, she was fond 
 of gayety, of music and dancing, and it was 
 her dearest wish to visit the capital city of 
 the province, that she might see the gorgeous 
 parade of the nobles. With her husband 
 gone, however, she was forced to deny her- 
 self this pleasure, and had to remain at home 
 in seclusion under the charge of an elderly 
 but foolish maid. Ohano became lonely and 
 restless. She wearied of sitting in the house, 
 thinking of Kwacho; and it was tiresome, 
 too, to wander about the farm fields and 
 
BEFORE THE STORY'S ACTION 17 
 
 
 watch the coolies and laborers. Ghano pi.ied 
 foi' a little of that excitement so precious to 
 her butterfly heart. Much thought of the 
 capital gayeties, and much conversation with 
 the foolish maid, finally wrought a result. 
 
 Ghano would put on her prettiest and 
 gayest of gowns to visit the capital alone, 
 just as though she were a maiden and not a 
 matron who should have had the company 
 of her husband. 
 
 As the city was not a great distance away, 
 they could use a comfoi ^ le kurumma which 
 would hold them both. Four of the field 
 coolies could be spared as kurumma carriers. 
 In delight the foolish maid dressed her mis- 
 tress, by this time all rosy with pleasurable 
 excitement and anticipation. The adventure 
 pleased them both, though the foolish mis- 
 tress assured the foolish maid repeatedly that 
 they would go but to the edge of the city. 
 Thus they could see the great parade of the 
 royal prince pass out of the city gates, for 
 this was the day on which the prince was to 
 leave Echizen and return to Kyoto. All his 
 
i8 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 splendid retinue would accompany him. It 
 was only once in a lifetime one was afforded 
 the opportunity of such a sight, Ohano 
 declared. 
 
 They started from the farm gleefully. All 
 the way mistress and maid chatted and laughed 
 in enjoyment. Before they had reached the 
 edge of the city a countryman told them the 
 royal cortege was even then passing through 
 the city gates, and that they must leave the 
 road in haste, for the parade would reach their 
 portion of the highway in a few minutes. 
 
 The foolish maid suggested that they 
 alight from the kurumma, that they might 
 have a still better view of the parade. So 
 after the maid the rosy-cheeked little bride, 
 with her eyes dancing and shining, her red 
 lips apart, her childish face all gleaming with 
 pleased curiosity, swung lightly to the ground 
 also. 
 
 They were just in time, for the royal parade 
 had taken the road, and the outriders were 
 already in view, so that the kurumma carriers 
 were forced to drag their vehicle aside and 
 
BEFORE THE STORY'S ACTION 19 
 
 I 
 
 fall upon their faces in the dust. The foolish 
 maid, following their example, hid her face on 
 the ground so that she lost sight of that 
 she had come far to see. Ohano, however, 
 less agitated than her servants, instead of pros- 
 trating herself at the side of the road, retired 
 to a little bluff near the roadside. She 
 thought she was far enough from the high- 
 way to be unseen; but as she happened to be 
 standing on a sloping elevation, and her gay 
 dress made a bright spot of color against the 
 landscape, she was perfectly visible to such of 
 the cortege as chanced to look in her direction. 
 
 Very slowly and leisurely the train pro- 
 ceeded. Nobles, samurai, vassals, retainers, 
 attendants, the personal train of each principal 
 samurai, prancing horses, lacquered litters, nori- 
 monos, bearing the wives and concubines of 
 the princely staff, banners and streamers and 
 glittering breastplates, all these filed slowly by 
 and dazzled the eyes of the little rustic Ohano. 
 
 Then suddenly she felt her knees become 
 weak, hands trembled, while a great flame 
 rushed to her giddy little head. She became 
 
20 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 conscious of the fact that the train had sud- 
 denly halted, and that the bamboo hangings 
 of a gilded norimon had parted. As the cur- 
 tains of the norimon were slowly lifted, the six 
 stout-legged retainers carrying the vehicle came 
 to a standstill, while one of them, apparently 
 receiving an order, deftly drew the hangings 
 from side to side, revealing the personage 
 within. The norimon's occupant had raised 
 iumself lazily on h;, elbow and turned about 
 sidewise in his carriage. His eyes were lan- 
 guorous and sleepy, slow and sensuous in *heir 
 glance. They looked out now over the heads 
 of the retainers, upward toward the small blufF 
 upon which stood Ohano. 
 
 For some reason, perhaps because she saw 
 something warmer than menace in the eyes of 
 this indolent individual, Ohano smiled half 
 unconsciously. Her little white teeth gleamed 
 between her rosy lips. She appeared very 
 bewitching as she stood there in her flowered 
 gown in the sunlight. 
 
 A moment later something extraordinary 
 happened to Ohano. She knew that stout 
 
BEFORE THE STORY'S ACTION 21 
 
 arms had seized her, that her eyes were sud- 
 denly bound with linen, and then that she was 
 lifted from her feet. Her giddy senses reeled 
 to a dizzy unconsciousness. 
 
 When next she opened her eyes, she found 
 that all was darkness about her. Conscious- 
 ness came to her very slowly. She knew from 
 the swaying movement of what seemed the 
 soft coucl upon which she lay that she was 
 being cai.ied somewhere. Ohano put out a 
 fearful little hand, and it touched — a face! 
 At that she sat up ciying out in fright. Then 
 the person who lay beside her stretched out 
 hands toward her, and she was suddenly drawn 
 down into his arms. He whispered in her 
 ear, and his voice was like that of one speak- 
 ing to her in a dream. 
 
 "Fear nothing, little dove. You are safe 
 with me in my norimon. But to see you was 
 to desire you. Do not tremble so. You will 
 appreciate the honor I have done you, when 
 you realize it. You shall be the favorite con- 
 cubine of the Prince of Nijo, and never a wish 
 of your heart or eyes shall be denied by me." 
 
22 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 She could not stir, so close he held her 
 
 " It is so dark." she cried breathlessly, and 
 
 1 am afraid. O-O-most h-h-honorable prmee^ 
 "It is night, pretty dove; buff I part th 
 curtains of my norimon. the august moon W.U 
 lend us joyful light. Will you then cease to 
 
 tremble and to fear me ? " 
 
 She began to sob weaWy, and through her 
 childish brain just then «-<*, the vag„= 
 thought of Kwacho. She »as hke one en 
 Ished in a dream nightmare. He who lay 
 beside her laughed softly, and sought to w.pe 
 .„ay her tears with his sensuous hps. 
 
 "Tears are for the sad and homely. Never 
 for the Jewel of Nijo! Well, with h.s own 
 l:gust lips he wipes them_away from the pretty 
 
 dove's face. So and so ! " 
 
 Yamada Kwacho returned to Ech.zen one 
 week later. As became a bridegroom the 
 voung husband had gone first to h-s home, 
 ntending to report to his prince immed,ately 
 afterward He entered the little farm-house 
 with a joyous step and an eager, expectant face. 
 H, kft ,he house like one shot from a cannon, 
 
BEFORE THE STORY'S ACTION 23 
 
 on a mad run for the city. His brain whirled. 
 He could not see. He could not think. He 
 had a dim memory of having rushed upon the 
 foolish maid like one demented, of listening 
 with gaping mouth to the tale she told ; then 
 of thrusting her from him with such force that 
 she fell to the floor in a heap. 
 
 Forgetting the respect due his lordship, the 
 young farmer burst into the Daimio of 
 Echizen's presence. He had none of the 
 samurai calm, and his whole form fairly shook 
 and swayed with the strength of his emotions. 
 
 The Lord of Echizen thrust forward a 
 startled face. 
 
 " News from the shogunate, Yamada 
 Kwacho?" he cried, fearing from the aspect 
 of the youth that some treachery had been 
 done his political party. In disjointed sen- 
 tences, words coming through his teeth with 
 effort because of his heavy breathing, the 
 young farmer told his lord of the kidnapping 
 of his bride, and recalled to him that promise 
 of aid when necessity should demand it. 
 
 The young husband pleaded not in vain. 
 
24 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 Grieved, insulted, and incensed, the Daimio of 
 Echizen journeyed in person to the Mikado's 
 city of Kyoto, and straight to his August 
 Majesty himself went the story of the farmer 
 of Echizen. After this there was a great 
 search made through the palaces and harems 
 of the Prince of Nijo. Five months later 
 Ohano was found and returned to her husband, 
 Yamada Kwacho. 
 
 Three months had scarcely passed before 
 the bells of the Imperial City rang out a joyous 
 chime. The consort of the Prince of Nijo 
 had given birth to a royal princess. On that 
 same day, in the little farm-house of Yamada 
 Kwacho, one more female citizen was added to 
 the Province of Echizen, and Ohano became a 
 mother. 
 
1 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE CHILD OF THE SUN 
 
%^ 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE CHILD OF THE SUN 
 
 ON the shore of Hayama, in a little 
 village two hours' ride by train from 
 Tokyo, there stood a sumptuous villa, 
 the summer residence of the Prince of Nijo, 
 though Nijo himself was seldom seen there. 
 Dissolute and dissipated by nature and cultiva- 
 tion, he preferred the gayeties and excitements 
 of the Imperial Court. Here, however, had 
 resided ever since the year of the Restoration 
 his mother, the Empress Dowpger, a noble 
 and high-souled woman, who preferred the 
 old-fashioned conservatism and beauty of her 
 country palace to the modern and garish court. 
 The decorations of her palace, the pcyle of 
 her robes, and those of her attendants, were 
 entirely of the old time. This was in pleasu 3; 
 contrast to the customs of the new Empress, 
 
 27 
 
28 
 
 DAUGHrKRS OF NIJO 
 
 who h;id adopted the foreign style. In the 
 Imperial Court in its new Tokyo home, there 
 was the heavy perfume of the choicest roses 
 and violets, but in the palace of the old 
 Empress Dowager there was the subtle, faint 
 aroma of sweet umegaku and tambo. 
 
 Fuji, the queenly niountain, wrapped about 
 in its glorious garment of snow, mellowed by 
 the touch of the sun, could be seen from her 
 seat. On all sides of the palace grounds there 
 were valleys and sloping hills. Within the 
 stone walls which encircled the palace like a 
 fortress there were gardens of wondrous 
 
 beauty. 
 
 The palace itself was of simple and old-fash- 
 ioned architecture. It faced to the east, and its 
 towers and turrets were of gold. Its shojis 
 were large and so clear that the sunlight 
 pierced through them, flooding the interior. 
 The floors were covered with soft sweet tata- 
 
 mts rush mats; the decorations on the screens 
 
 and panels of the sliding doors were subdued 
 and refined though works of art. 
 
 It was in this palace that the daughter of the 
 
THE CHILD OF THE SUN 
 
 29 
 
 Prince of Nijo spent her childhood. She was 
 called Sado-ko, after her mother, who had died 
 in giving her birth. Her father after his pres- 
 ence at a perfunctory feast given in honor of 
 the birth of the princess had returned imme- 
 diately to his pleasures in the capital, and 
 Sado-ko was left in the charge of her grand- 
 mother, the Dowager Empress. 
 
 Great was the love existing between these 
 two. All that was noblest in the character and 
 nature of the young princess was fostered by 
 the old Empress. The qualities for which she 
 became noted in after years were the chilling 
 work of those who, after the death of her 
 grandmother, were given charge of Sado-ko. 
 
 In early childhood Sado-ko was wont to 
 run with fleet feet about the castle gardens, 
 chasing the gloriously hued butterflies. They 
 flew about her in great numbers, for they were 
 importations to the palace as tame as home 
 birds. They knew the little princess would 
 do them no harm, and so they fluttered lightly 
 to her finger, her head, her shoulder, even to 
 her red lips. Sado-ko loved them dearly, just 
 
JO DAUGHTKRS OF NIJO 
 
 as she adored the gardens and the goddess-like 
 Kuji, — her first sight upon arising in the morn- 
 ing. She loved, too, the quiet, retired beauty 
 of her life, with its freedom inside the dark 
 stone walls. But more than these things she 
 loved the Empress Dowager. 
 
 Until she was twelve years of age, she knew 
 no other life than that encompassed by the 
 walls of the palace grounds. Beyond them she 
 had been told there was another life, turbulent, 
 restless, troublous. The walls looked forbid- 
 ding. How much worse must be the world 
 outside them, and beyond the wide stretch of 
 land and water that faded into misty outline! 
 
 Within were sunshine, birds, flowers, gentle 
 words, and soft caressing smiles. Without, a 
 cruel, cold world waiting to snuflf out the 
 warmth and sunshine of her nature. All this 
 was taught to Sado-ko by the old Empress 
 Dowager, who in her old age had become sel- 
 fish. This was the way in which she sought 
 to keep with her the heart and soul of the 
 companion of her old age, -the child she 
 loved. Even after she had passed away, she 
 
THE CHILI) OF THE SUN 
 
 3» 
 
 knew that the thoughis of the princess would 
 remain with her though her sotil should have 
 flown. Thus she paved the way for a compan- 
 ionship in death as in life, as was the custom 
 with her ancient ancestors. 
 
 The children of the Empress Dowager had 
 disappointed her. The Kmperor was occupied 
 with the cares of the nation and the strenuous 
 conditions of the times, Nijo was almost imbe- 
 cile from dissipation, her only daughter had 
 been married into the Tokugawa family, and 
 was practically separated from her own kin. 
 There was none left to share companionship 
 with the old Empress, until the little Sado-ko 
 had come. She was the sole princess of the 
 Nijo family recognized by the Empress, for 
 Western morality having sifted its way into t'le 
 Japanese court, the children of Nijo by his 
 concubines were regarded as illegitimate by the 
 heads of the royal family, although they were 
 treated with the honor due their blood and 
 rank. Sado-ko was motherless. The Em- 
 press Dowager was her natural and legal guar- 
 dian, and to her grandmother she was given. 
 
32 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 For ten years, then, these two - the very old 
 Empress and the very young princess- lived 
 together. Because she was not at all of an in- 
 quisitive mind, and believed implicitly all that 
 her grandmother told her, the child was per- 
 fectly contented with the simple companionship 
 of the Empress, her butterflies, flowers, and 
 birds. But her grandmother was too old to 
 run with her about the gardens, and ofttimes 
 the birds, and the butterflies too, flew over the 
 stone wall and disappeared, to the tearful 
 anxiety of the little princess, who was sure they 
 would meet great harm. 
 
 As the children of the retainers of the Em- 
 press Dowager were not permitted to visit the 
 private gardens of the palace, Sado-ko had 
 grown up without playmates of her own age. 
 She was being reared in that seclusion befitting 
 a descendant of the sun-goddess, and in quite 
 the ancient style to which her grandmother still 
 clung. So it was only those attendants who 
 waited upon the person of the Dowagej- Em- 
 press who saw the little princess herself, -.he 
 could have counted upon her ten pink fingers 
 
THE CHILD OF THE SUN 33 
 
 the number of personages with whom she was 
 acquainted. There were the four grim samurai 
 guards of the palace gates, (.he three elderly 
 maids of honor to the I'.mpress, and her own 
 personal maid and nurse Or itsu-no, in addition 
 to the palace servants and the gardener. 
 
 But one eventful day in the month of June, 
 a new personage suddenly introduced himself to 
 Sado-ko. She had been listening drowsily for 
 a long time on the wide balcony of the palace 
 to her grandmother's reading aloud of ancient 
 Chinese poems, when suddenly a swarm of her 
 own butterflies flew by, all seemingly following 
 the lead of a purple-hued stranger. Instantly 
 Sado-ko left her guardian's side in pursuit, her 
 net swinging in her hand. She had seldom 
 experienced any trouble in catching her own 
 butterflies, but the stranger flew in an entirely 
 new direction. Through a field of iris and 
 across an orchard Sado-ko followed the flight 
 of the butterflies, until she came to a wall, over 
 which the purple visitor flew. 
 
 Flushed and disappointed the princess sat 
 down breathlessly on the grass beneath a 
 
3+ 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 cherry tree. She had been seated but a mo- 
 ment, when the tree above her began to 
 shake and a score of ripe cherries descended 
 upon her head. She sprang to her feet, and 
 looking upward saw a roguish face peering 
 down at her from the cherry tree. The face 
 belonged to a boy of possibly fourteen years. 
 He was laughing with delight at the amazed 
 and frightened face of the little princess, and 
 he kept pelting her with cherries, some of 
 which actually broke on her small Imperial 
 person. As, however, Sado-ko continued to 
 gaze up at him in that frightened manner, 
 he sprang to the ground, rolled himself about 
 on the grass for a spell, and then turned 
 several somersaults so grotesque that Sado-ko 
 forgot her fear and burst into childish 
 laughter, clapping her hands delightedly as 
 he came to his feet before her. They were 
 both laughing heartily now, as they surveyed 
 each other. The boy's sleeves and the front 
 of his obi were filled with cherries, so that 
 his figure was a succession of grotesque 
 bunches. There were cherry stains, too, on 
 
 i.i 
 
•• A score of ripe thcrries descended upon her head 
 
l> • 
 
THE CHILD OF THE SUN 
 
 Z7 
 
 his face. 
 
 particularly in the region of his 
 laughing mouth, through which Sado-ko saw 
 the whitest of teeth gleaming. He had 
 brown eyes, and soft silky hair, unshaven in 
 the centre of his head, as was the case with 
 the palace attendants. Gradually as the prin- 
 cess surveyed him she became grave. 
 
 " Who are you ? " she said at last. « What 
 is your honorable name, and where do you 
 live ? " 
 
 " I am Kamura Junzo," said the boy, « and 
 I live over yonder." He waved his hand 
 toward the wall. 
 
 " On the other side ? " inquired Sado-ko in 
 an awed voice. He nodded. 
 
 " I know who you are," he continued. 
 
 "I am the Princess Sado-ko," said the 
 child, gravely. 
 
 " Yes," said the boy, « and the august Sun 
 was your ancestor. You live shut up in 
 this place all alone, and no one plays with 
 you." 
 
 "I have my honorable dear birds and 
 butterflies," she said. 
 
38 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 He looked at her curiously. 
 
 " Yes, I have heard you singing to them." 
 
 " And you wished also to see me ? " she 
 questioned. 
 
 " Yes." He flushed boyishly, and then 
 added with Spartan honesty, " Also I wanted 
 some of your cherries." 
 
 " They are very good," said the princess. 
 
 " Oh, yes, there are none so good without." 
 
 " Did the guards deign to let you pass 
 through trie gates ? " 
 
 " No." A pause, then : " I deigned to 
 climb over the wall." 
 
 " Some day," said Sado-ko, wistfully, " her 
 Majesty says a prince will fly over the walls 
 and carry me away. Perhaps you are that 
 prince." 
 
 " Oh, no ; I am not a prince, but if you 
 wish, I will play that I am one." 
 
 "How is that?" she asked, bewildered. 
 
 " This cherry tree will be your august castle. 
 I will come over the wall, and you must run 
 around the castle to escape me. I will pursue 
 you, and then I will carry you off from this 
 
THE CHILD OF THE SUN 
 
 39 
 
 dark and lonesome prison over the walls to 
 the beautiful world outside." 
 
 " But it is not a lonesome prison here," said 
 the princess, " and outside it is very cold and 
 miserable, for her Majesty has told me so." 
 
 "Oh, well, let us play it is so." 
 
 And so they played together until past 
 noon, when the maid and gardener were both 
 sent to seek the Princess Sado-ko, who was 
 chasing butterflies. They rescued her just as 
 the " prince " was about to carry her over the 
 walls, upon the top of which he had placed 
 her, by climbing up in the cherry tree and 
 across a bough which sloped to the wall. 
 
 The rescued princess stamped her foot an- 
 grily at the gardener when he threatened the 
 boy, who laughed jeeringly from the top of 
 the wall ; and she scolded the maid when that 
 menial drew her by the hand from the scene. 
 She would not leave the vicinity of the wall 
 until the boy had disappeared completely, 
 which he did by jumping off to the other 
 side. Then she burst into tears for fear he 
 had come to harm in the wicked world without. 
 
40 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIjO 
 
 Thereafter a close watch was kept upon her 
 movements, and she was not permitted to go 
 near that portion of the walls where stood the 
 cherry-tree castle. Often she heard the boy 
 whistling from that direction, and once she 
 awoke in the night, because she had dreamed 
 that he was calling her name, " Sado-ko ! 
 Sado-ko!" After that life was a little more 
 lonesome for the Child of the Sun. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 AN EMPEROR'S PROMISE 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 AN EMPEROR S PROMISE 
 
 ON a cold morning in the month of 
 January the Empress Dowager died. 
 She had returned from a ceremony 
 of the thirtieth anniversary of the death of her 
 late consort. Exhausted, broken, and ill, she 
 had come back to her country-seat, her visit 
 to Kyoto having been too much for her 
 strength. 
 
 That night messengers went in haste to the 
 capital, and the following morning brought to 
 the bedside of the dying Empress her son, the 
 Emperor, and his consort. 
 
 All night long the little Princess Sado-ko 
 crouched in the darkness of her room alone. 
 Wide-eyed and tearless, she looked out from 
 her shoji at the ghostly snow which shrouded 
 
 43 
 
44 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 her beloved trees and flowers in so cold and 
 chilly a garment, eerily touched by the moon- 
 rays. She heard, without heeding, the move- 
 ment and stir within the pahce ; the mufHed 
 beat of a drum without quickly hushed. 
 Early in the gray morning the royal visitors 
 arrived. Sado-ko knew that some catastro- 
 phe was about to fall upon the palace and 
 her beloved grandmother, and so she waited 
 through the night for the end. 
 
 She did not know that below in the sick 
 chamber the heartbroken Emperor knelt on his 
 knees by the side of his mother and besought 
 her, like any ordinary man, to speak but one 
 word to him, to express but one wish ere she 
 must leave him. The Dowager Empress 
 opened her tired eyes, attempting to speak. 
 She could only murmur in the faintest of 
 voices, so that her son scarcely caught the 
 words : — 
 
 " Sado-ko — Pray thee to care for — 
 Sado-ko ! " 
 
 Then her eyes closed as though the effort 
 at speech had been too much for her, but 
 
 i > 
 
 AH 
 
AN EMPEROR'S PROMISE 
 
 45 
 
 the Emperor knew that she heard the words 
 he spoke into her ears. 
 
 " Divine mother, the Princess Sado-ko shall 
 have my personal care. She shall be nur- 
 tured and cared for as the highest princess 
 in Japan, and when she has attained to a fit- 
 ting age the greatest honor in my power shall 
 be given to her." 
 
 There was no further sign from the Dowa- 
 ger Empress. 
 
 " Princess ! " called a voice penetrating the 
 darkened room, by the shoji of which the 
 child crouched dully. " Noble princess ! " 
 
 Sado-ko did not stir, though she looked 
 with wide eyes toward the sliding door through 
 which came her maiden Natsu, holding care- 
 fully above her head a lighted andon. She 
 had not seen the little figure by the shoji, and 
 she shuffled toward the couch. A startled 
 exclamation escaped her when she discovered 
 that the couch was empty. At that the prin- 
 cess called to her in a strange voice, which 
 seemed somehow unlike her own. 
 
 " I am here, honorable maid." 
 
46 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 The woman hastened forward, the light still 
 swinging over her head. She stopped aghast 
 before the still little figure of the princess, 
 who was, she could see, fully dressed. It was 
 plain that the child had robed herself with her 
 own hands, after she had left her for the night. 
 
 The maid set the andon down, then touched 
 the floor with her head. After her obeisance 
 she went nearer to Sado-ko, and spoke with 
 the familiarity which years in the child's ser- 
 vice had allowed her. 
 
 " Thou art not unrobed, noble princess ! " 
 
 " I have not slept," said the child, quietly. 
 
 The maid seized her hands with an exclama- 
 tion of pity. 
 
 "The hands are like ice!" she exclaimed 
 immediately. " Exalted princess, you are ill ! " 
 
 " No," said Sado-ko, shaking her head, " I 
 am not ill, Natsu-no. But tell me your 
 mission. Why do you come so early to my 
 chamber? " 
 
 There was nothing childlike now in the 
 grave glance of Sado-ko's eyes. She seemed 
 to have aged over night. At her words the 
 
AN EMPEROR'S PROMISE 
 
 47 
 
 maid burst into tears, beat her hands against 
 her breast, and finally bent her head to the 
 floor. The princess waited in silence until 
 the maid had regained somewhat of her com- 
 posure. Then she said severely, quite in the 
 manner of her august grandparent : — 
 
 " Maiden, such emotion is unseemly. Speak 
 your mission, if you please." 
 
 " Oh, august princess, her Imperial Maj- 
 esty — " She fell to weeping again. 
 
 Sado-ko leaned forward, and placing her 
 hand on the maid's shoulder, peered into 
 her face. 
 
 " — is dead ? " she said in a whisper. 
 
 The maid's head bowed forward mutely. 
 After that there was a long silence. Then 
 Sado-ko arose to her feet, her hands pressed 
 to her face on either side. Her eyes, between 
 her little parted fingers, were staring out in 
 shocked horror. Her strange silence stilled 
 the sobbing maid, who tremulously arose. 
 
 "And if it please thee, noble princess," 
 she said, "his August Majesty is below and 
 commands thy immediate presence." 
 
48 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 Sado-ko did not speak or move. The 
 maid falteringly touched one of the drooping 
 sleeves. 
 
 " Nay, do not look so, sweet mistress," she 
 implored; "the gods will not desert you. 
 His Majesty himself has deigned to adopt 
 thee, and to-morrow thou wilt go to the great 
 capital as his ward." 
 
 Sado-ko's hands fell from her face. Her 
 voice was not childlike, and quite hoarse. 
 
 " Pray thee, lead me below, honorable 
 maid." 
 
 It was lighter now in the palace, for a wan 
 sun was creeping upward in the pale heavens. 
 There were signs of a dreary day about to 
 dawn. Through the winding corridors of the 
 palace the princess and the maid moved tow- 
 ard the august chamber of death. At its 
 door they paused and the princess's hand 
 dropped from that of the maid. Having 
 permitted her attendant to push the sliding 
 doors apart, she entered the chamber alone. 
 Without, the maid bent her face to the mats, 
 
AN EMPEROR'S PROMISE 
 
 49 
 
 stifling her sobs in her sleeves. Within, the 
 little princess hesitated a moment in doubt, 
 then rushed to the death couch, threw her- 
 self down by the still form there, and un- 
 mindful of those within, encircled it with her 
 arms. But no cry escaped her lips, for well 
 had she been bred as a Daughter of the Sun- 
 god by the old Empress Dowager. 
 
 The days that followed were hazy and un- 
 real to Sado-ko. Strange women and men, 
 with cold impassive faces, were about her at 
 all times. She could scarcely tell one from 
 the other, and it wearied her to be forced to 
 listen to their words Oi caution and counsel. 
 Then she made a journey. Strangely enough, 
 when she was lifted into the covered palan- 
 quin and the curtains drawn about her, she 
 knew that now she was to be carried beyond 
 the gray palace walls. The journey was made 
 at night, and the tired little princess slept 
 throughout it, so that she was spared the 
 tediousness of time. 
 
 In the morning her eyes opened upon a 
 new world. As the day streamed through 
 
50 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 I 
 
 the bamboo curtains of her norimon, she 
 pushed them aside, to see that they were 
 passing along what seemed to be a stone 
 road, upon either side of which were endless 
 buildings unlike anything she had ever seen 
 before. Although there were throngs of peo- 
 ple everywhere, a strange and solemn silence 
 prevailed, as the norimon and parade of the 
 princess passed along, and the people bent 
 their heads to the earth. Sado-ko could see 
 that many of the women and some of the 
 men wept. She did not know that the whole 
 nation had gone into mourning for the one 
 she had loved so well. 
 
 Sado-ko, passive and unquestioning, saw the 
 great funeral of the Empress Dowager; a 
 dumb little shadow, she lingered with other 
 relatives in the hall for the mourners, and still, 
 with little understanding, she was carried in her 
 norimon under the escort given only to a royal 
 princess, through a bamboo grove and over the 
 Yumento Ukibashi — " The Bridge of 
 Dreams." The mortuary hall was reached. 
 The Empress Dowager, whose dearest wish 
 
AN EMPEROR'S PROMISE 
 
 51 
 
 had been to be buried close to her summer 
 palace, where she had spent her declining 
 years, was interred far away from it among 
 the tombs of her thousand ancestors. 
 
\i 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 MASAGO 
 

 
 -^ I -j 
 
 
 
 
 .'..■A: 
 
 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 MASAGO 
 
 FROM a poor but honored farmer of 
 Echizen, Yamada Kwacho had grown 
 to be a rich and prominent merchant of 
 Tokyo. At the advice of the Lord of Echi- 
 zen, Kwacho had gone to Tokyo soon after 
 the Restoration, where, taking advantage of the 
 modern craze for Western things then raging 
 in the capital, he had invested the price of his 
 little farm in one of the first " European " 
 stores in Tokyo. His business had prospered 
 and grown rapidly to huge dimensions. Now, 
 while Kwacho was still in the prime of life, he 
 found himself richer in worldly wealth than his 
 former master the Lord of Echizen even in his 
 best days. 
 
 The young farmer of Echizen had been 
 content to remain in his humble class, though 
 
 55 
 
56 DAUGHTERS OF NiJO 
 
 honors were offered him by his lord. The 
 rich and prominent merchant of Tokyo was 
 still at heart the conservative and independent 
 young farmer of Echizen. Despite the fact 
 that his great wealth would have purchased for 
 him an entree to a high society, Kwacho made 
 no effort to emerge from his life of quiet and 
 obscure ease. Possibly, too, an experience of 
 his early married life caused him to look 
 askance and with disfavor upon the lives of 
 the society people. At all events a pretty 
 home in a suburb of Tokyo, and the society 
 of a few simple neighbors, quite contented him. 
 Whether the ambitions of Ohano kept the 
 level of those of her husband, was not a matter 
 of any determination. The mistress of a com- 
 fortable home, the comely wife of a respected 
 citizen, and the mother of five sons and one 
 daughter, she appeared contented with her lot. 
 There had always been a weak and soft ele- 
 ment in the character of Ohano, however. In 
 youth it had come near to being the cause of 
 her complete ruin. But for the sturdy nature 
 of her husband, Ohano might never have re- 
 
MASAGO 
 
 57 
 
 covered morally. In latter years this weak- 
 ness of disposition took the form of an almost 
 childish delight in dwelling secretly in her own 
 mind upon experiences in her life which she 
 would not have breathed aloud even to her 
 favorite god, much less to her sombre hus- 
 band. Strangely enough, too, Ohano had far 
 more affection for her daughter than for her 
 sons, — a most uncommon thing in a Japanese 
 woman. 
 
 As a little girl, Masago had been remarkable 
 chiefly for her docile and quiet ways. This 
 apathy of nature, peculiar in a child of her 
 class, had been variously regarded by the 
 teachers in the public school she had attended. 
 Some had pronounced her dull and even sullen, 
 while others insisted that her impassiveness 
 showed an innate refinement and delicacy of 
 birth and caste. Masago was very pretty after 
 a delicate Yamato fashion. Unlike her sturdy 
 young brothers, round-faced, rugged, and brim- 
 ming over with health and spirits, Masago was 
 oval-faced, her eyes were long and dreamy, her 
 mouth small, the lips thin and prettily curved. 
 
53 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 Ilcr skin was of a fine texture, and her little 
 hands were quite as beautiful as those of the 
 princesses who attended the Peeresses' school. 
 
 Masago's schoolmates thought her quiet dis- 
 position indicative of secretivencss and even 
 slyness. She had never been known to express 
 herself on any question, though no one gave 
 closer attention to any matter under controversy 
 than she. The consequence was that as she 
 grew older her girl friends, at first sceptical and 
 dubious of her quiet, unexpressive face, finally 
 ended in confiding to her their various secrets ; 
 for well they knew that while they might 
 expect no exchange of confidences, their secrets 
 were well guarded within Masago's silent little 
 head and as safe as if unspoken. 
 
 Ohano, too, was quick to take advantage of 
 the child's listening talent and receptive mind. 
 In spite of the fact that Masago was coming 
 to an ..ge when all such confidences should 
 have been strictly kept from her, Ohano found 
 herself gradually pouring out to her daughter 
 those fascinating and forbidden secrets which 
 still remained in her mind. She would sit 
 
MASAGO 
 
 59 
 
 opposite her daughter for hours at a time and 
 describe irniphically the palaces of Kyoto. It 
 would h we occurred to one older than Masago 
 that, *br one in her caste, Ohano's knowledge of 
 these places was unusual. But the child asked 
 few questions and appeared to be absorbed in 
 her mother's glowing narrative. Only once 
 she said, lifting her strange long eyes to her 
 mother's face : — 
 
 " It is in the palace I belong, mother, is it 
 not ? " And before Ohano was conscious of 
 her words she had replied : — 
 
 "There, indeed, you belong of right, 
 Masago." 
 
 When Masago had reached her seventeenth 
 year, she expressed her first independent wish 
 to her family. It was that she be sent to a 
 finishing school in Kyoto. 
 
 At her suggestion, made directly to him, 
 Kwacho was disgruntled. She had had suffi- 
 cient education for a maiden of her class, he 
 insisted. What was more, he desired her to 
 make an early marriage and had already begun 
 negotiations for her betrothal. 
 
6o 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF I'M 
 
 Masago listened to her father's words with- 
 out replying, beyond a wordless bow of sub- 
 mission to his will. She did not argue the 
 matter with him, since she knew that Ohano, 
 without diplomacy and craft, had yet great 
 influence with Kwacho. So the young girl 
 went quietly to her mother, whom she found 
 happily employed in washing a small barking 
 chin on the rear veranda of the house. She 
 looked back smilingly at her daughter over her 
 shoulder as she rubbed the dog's twitching 
 little body. 
 
 " He is white enough," said Masago, quietly, 
 indicating the chin with a slight movement 
 of her head. At this verdict Ohano released 
 the dog. He darted about the veranda for 
 a moment, shaking his still wet little body, 
 then rushed through the shoji indoors, dis- 
 appearing under a mat over a warm hibachi, 
 where he shivered in comfort. 
 
 Ohano emptied out the water across a 
 flower bed, and unrolled her sleeves. She 
 was flushed with her exercise, and the water 
 had splashed her gown. Her hair, too, was 
 
 m 
 
MASAGO 
 
 6i 
 
 dishevelled, but she was the picture of the 
 healthy housewife, as she turned to her 
 daughter. 
 
 The latter, in her perfect neatness, made 
 a contrast to the mother, who surveyed her 
 with fond approval. 
 
 " Well, Masago, have you finished your 
 embroidery ? " she asked pleasantly. 
 
 The girl shook her head silently. 
 
 " Go, then ; get your frame now," said 
 Ohano, "and we will work together." 
 
 " No," said Masago, seating herself on a 
 veranda mat, id leaning back against the 
 railing, " I don't want to work. I want to 
 talk to you." 
 
 Ohano's plump body quickly seated itself 
 opposite Masago. The opportunity for a 
 morning gossip with Masago was something 
 she never denied herself. 
 
 She had just opened her mouth to begin, 
 when Masago quietly put her hand over the 
 red orifice. 
 
 " No ; do not speak for a moment, mother, 
 but listen to me." 
 
62 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 iM a 
 
 r^ 
 
 Masago smiled faintly at the expression in 
 her mother's eyes and continued rapidly : — 
 
 " Listen. I am seventeen years now, — old 
 enough, almost, my father says, to be married. 
 But I do not wish to marry." 
 
 "But — " began Ohano. 
 
 " No ; do not interrupt me. I want to go 
 away to school, — a private school in Kyoto, 
 where other rich men send their daughters, 
 and where I, too, can sometimes sec those 
 palaces and maybe the noble ladies and 
 gentlemen you have told me so much about." 
 
 " But, Masago, every maiden of your age 
 wishes to marry; and your father has 
 chosen — " 
 
 " Let me finish, if you please, or I will 
 not talk to you at all. I do not know why 
 it is, but I have no desire to marry ; and 
 sometimes I feel like one who is stifling in 
 this miserable little town. Why should we, 
 who have more wealth than many of those 
 in Tokyo who live in palaces, be caged up 
 here, like birds with clipped wings.? What 
 is the use of having that wealth if we may 
 
 k 
 
MASAGO 
 
 63 
 
 not use it? Oh, there are so many joyful 
 happenings in the capital every day and every 
 night. I read about it in those papers which 
 father brings home sometimes from Tokyo. 
 The city is so gay and brilliant, mother, and 
 there are so many peculiar foreigners to see. 
 I was made for such a place — not for thi" 
 dull, quiet town. Why, I would even be 
 content to see all this as an outsider, but to 
 have to remain here when — Oh!' 
 
 She struck her hands together with an elo- 
 quent motion. Ohano stared at her aghast, 
 regarding her flushing face and snapping eyes. 
 
 "Oh, mother," she continued, " many people 
 say I do not belong here. They recognize 
 my difference from themselves, — everybody 
 here. You know it is so. Ever since I was 
 a little girl when you would tell me the fairy 
 tales of those palaces in Kyoto — " 
 
 "They were not fairy tales," said Ohano, 
 gently. 
 
 " No, but I thought them so — then. And 
 I imagined that some day the gods would 
 befriend me, and that I would belong to that 
 
I 1 
 
 64 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 
 a 
 
 joyful world of which you spoke. And now 
 to come to seventeen years and to be given 
 right away in marriage to some foolish youth 
 before I have had any chance to see — " 
 
 Her voice broke, and her emotion was so 
 unusual a thing that Ohano could not bear 
 to see it. Both her heart and tongue were 
 stirred. 
 
 " You have a right to see it," she said. 
 "You belong to it — are a part of it, Masago. 
 Your own father is — " 
 
 She clapped her hands over her mouth in 
 consternation and sudden fright at what she 
 was about to divulge. 
 
 Masago became very white, her eyes dilated, 
 her thin nostrils quivered. She fixed her 
 strange, long eyes full on those of her mother. 
 Then she seized her by the shoulders. She 
 spoke in a whisper: — 
 
 "You have something to tell me. Now — 
 speak at once." 
 
 Half an hour later Masago was alone on 
 the veranda of her home. She sat in an 
 attitude of intense absorption. Her downcast 
 
 m 
 
MASAGO 
 
 65 
 
 eyes were looking at the slender fingers of her 
 hands, spread out in her lap. They were 
 thin, shapely little fingers, the nails rosy and 
 perfect in shape. Masago had been studying 
 them absently for some time. Suddenly she 
 held up one little hand, then slowly brought 
 it to her face. 
 
 " That was the reason they were so beauti- 
 ful — my hands ! " she said softly. 
 
 That night Ohano would not let her hus- 
 band sleep until he had made her a promise. 
 They lay on their respective mattresses under 
 the same mosquito netting. It was quite in 
 vain for Kwacho to sleep while the voice of 
 Ohano droned on. After listening for fully 
 two hours to a steadv stream of childish elo- 
 quence and reproach, and answering only in 
 gruff'monosyllables, he sprang up in bed and 
 demanded of his better half whether she in- 
 tended to remain awake all night. Whereat 
 that small but stubborn individual raised her- 
 self also, and, propping her elbows on her 
 knees, informed the irate Kwacho that such 
 was her intention, and that, in fact, she did 
 
h 
 
 66 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 
 - !i 
 
 not expect to sleep any night again until he 
 had made some concession to the ambition 
 of their only daughter, which, after all, was a 
 most praiseworthy one, — a desire for more 
 learning. 
 
 Kwacho's answer was not the result of a 
 sudden appreciation of Masago's virtues, but 
 he was sleepy and tired, too. There was 
 much to be done at the store on the mor- 
 row, and Ohano's suggestion that she intended 
 to keep awake for other nights was not a rel- 
 ishing prospect. 
 
 '* She shall go on one condition," he said. 
 
 "Yes?" eagerly inquired his wife. 
 
 "That she is first betrothed to Kamura 
 Junzo." 
 
 " There will be no trouble as to that," said 
 Ohano, with conviction, and lying down drew 
 the quilt over her. A few minutes later the 
 twain were at rest. 
 
 n 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 A BETROTHAL 
 
'I ,! 
 
 ^f^l^^:^' 
 
 <3^ 
 
 %^ 
 
 If 
 
 :f 
 11- 
 
 i^i 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 A BETROTHAL 
 
 THE following morning an early mes- 
 senger brought a letter to the Kamura 
 residence. The family were at break- 
 fast, but as the messenger came from the elder 
 Kamura's old Echizen friend, Yamada Kwacho, 
 it was opened and read at once. Its contents, 
 while surprising, were most pleasing to the 
 family. Kwacho made an overture to con- 
 tract a betrothal between their eldest son, 
 Junzo, and his only daughter, Masago. 
 
 Junzo at this time was in Tokyo, where 
 he had been living ever since he had returned 
 from abroad. He was winning fame for him- 
 self as a sculptor, — an art quite new to Japan 
 in its Western form, — and the family were 
 proud of his achievements. This new mark 
 of compliment from their esteemed friend, 
 
 69 
 
If! 
 
 70 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 'i ^1 
 
 a 
 
 kl 
 
 the wealthy Mr. Yamada, naturally flattered 
 the Kamura family immensely. The mes- 
 senger was sent back to the Yamada house 
 with as gracious letter as the one received, 
 and gifts of flowers and tea. The invitation 
 of Mr. Yamada for a conference at his house 
 the day following, in which the young couple 
 might also have an opportunity of seeing 
 each other and becoming acquainted, was ac- 
 cepted. Another messenger was despatched 
 at once to Junzo in Tokyo, and the family 
 congratulated themselves upon what they con- 
 sidered their good fortune. 
 
 Junzo read his father's letter with a degree 
 of irritation altogether out of keeping with the 
 pride in the proposal manifested by the rest of 
 his family. An extraordinary piece of fortune 
 had recently come to Junzo, and the subject of 
 his marriage seemed a matter of trivial impor- 
 tance beside it. He had, in fact, been commis- 
 sioned to make a statue of the Prince Komatzu, 
 the war hero of the time, who had distinguished 
 himself by his brave conduct in the Formosa 
 aflfair. Junzo knew that upon this work his 
 
A BETROTH \L 
 
 7« 
 
 future career would depend, and that should he 
 please his illustrious patron he would doubtless 
 have an opportunity of doing more work for 
 the court ; for at this time the nobility of Japan 
 emulated everything modern and Western, and 
 it had become the fashion for the gentlemen of 
 the court to sit for their portraits in oil, though 
 as yet none of the ladies had gone quite so far. 
 
 Junzo's impatiei ce, therefore, at his father's 
 summons to return home for the consumma- 
 tion of his betrothal to a young lady whom he 
 had never seen, may be surmised. Being a well- 
 bred and obedient son, however, he departed at 
 once for his home, breaking a number of en- 
 gagements in so doing. 
 
 As the train from Tokyo carried Junzo to 
 Kamakura, the young man, while watching the 
 flying landscape from his window, thought with 
 some natural curiosity of his bride to be. Her 
 father and mother he had met. Upon two or 
 three occasions he had seen her little brothers 
 playing in the fields. His active imagination 
 soon pictured Masago. She would, of course, 
 be plump and rosy-cheeked like her mother, 
 
 m 
 
 ^, 
 
7* 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 i ,j 
 
 pretty perhaps, thought Juiizo, but lacking in 
 that grace and spirituality that to him was the 
 ideal of true beauty. 
 
 When his own grandsires had been samurai 
 in the service of the Lords of Echi/en, this girl's 
 ancestors had tilled the soil. Still, times were 
 changed. The samurai had fallen, and the 
 tradesman and farmer had risen. Now the 
 descendants of the samurai drew the jinrikisha 
 containing the fat merchant, or policed the 
 streets of big cities for the glory of still wear- 
 ing a sword. Moreover, the elder Kamura 
 was in sympathy with the modern spirit of the 
 times, and had accepted favors from the hand 
 of Yamada Kwacho. Besides, the latter had not 
 been without honor in Echizen ; and, after all, 
 his own family — the once proud samurai family 
 of Kamura — were now but simple citizens, 
 nothing more. 
 
 " The Restoration was right and just," said 
 Junzo, and smoothed out the frown from his 
 patrician face. "And after all," he added to 
 his thought, " this girl of the people will be a 
 more fitting wife than n woman of modern 
 
 ^ 
 
A BKTROTHAL 
 
 73 
 
 fancies, such as have become the ladies of 
 caste." 
 
 Masago's aspect pleased, surprised — nay, 
 quite bewildered Junzo. When at the loolc-at 
 meeting she had raised her head finally from 
 its low obeisance, Junzo had been startled at 
 its delicate beauty. It shocked him to see a 
 flower so exquisitely lovely and delicate sur- 
 rounded by relatives so completely plebeian. 
 
 During the entire visit Junzo found his eyes 
 constantly straying toward his betrothed. 
 When she moved about the room, and with 
 her own hands served him tea, he noted with 
 delight her grace of movement, and the symme- 
 try of her figure. 
 
 When tea had been served and drunk, he 
 found her close beside him. She had moved 
 dutifully there at a signal from her father ; and 
 now, as his betrothed, she quietly filled the 
 long-stemmed pipe for him, and lighted it at 
 the hibachi. As he took it from her hands, 
 their eyes met for the first time. Junzo, 
 though thrilled by the glance of her eyes, felt 
 curiously enough repulsed. There was some- 
 
74 
 
 DAUGHFERS OF NIJO 
 
 '^ s^ 
 
 thing forbidding, almost menacing, in their 
 glance. A moment later the long lashes were 
 shielding them. Then the young man noted 
 that she had not as much as changed color, but 
 still was calmly white and unmoved. A feel- 
 ing of uneasiness possessed him. His delight 
 in her beauty was chilled. 
 
 Once only throughout the afternoon did she 
 show interest in the conversation. This was 
 when Junzo had told his father-in-law to be, of 
 a prospective visit to court to make a statue of 
 a national hero. Then she had raised her 
 head suddenly, and Junzo had stumbled over 
 his words in the glow of artistic appreciation he 
 felt of the beautiful pink color flooding her face. 
 
 The elder Kamura thought his son's mod- 
 esty in not mentioning the fact of the commis- 
 sion he had already received unnecessary in a 
 family soon to become his own ; and so he said, 
 as he tapped the ashes from his pipe on the 
 hibachi : — 
 
 " My son has been commanded to make a 
 statue of his Imperial Highness the Prince 
 Komatzu." 
 
A BF-TROTHAL 
 
 75 
 
 The little cuj- hich Masago had lifted 
 toward her lips U a suddenly from her hand, 
 its contents spilling on the tray. She seemed 
 scarcely conscious of its fall, as she turned 
 an eager and flushed face toward Kaniura. 
 She spoke for the first time, repeating half 
 mechaaically his words : — 
 « The Prince Komatzu — " 
 " Yes," said Kamura, affably, " a cousin of 
 his Imperial Majesty," and he bowed his 
 head to the mats in old-fashioned deference 
 to the name of the Mikado. 
 
 "Why," spoke up the simple Ohano, her 
 eyes wide and bright, "we have his august 
 picture." 
 
 Her husband looked at her in astonishment. 
 "You have a picture of his Highness?" 
 he inquired incredulously. " How is that pos- 
 sible, Ohano ? " 
 
 " Masago cut it from a Chinese magazine 
 you brought home last month," said the 
 wife, "and it was such a beautiful picture 
 she has put it away among her treasures, have 
 you not, Masago ? " 
 
 i 1 
 
t^ 
 
 .^i 
 
 76 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 The girl's eyes were downcast, and she did 
 not raise them. She knew by the silence in 
 the room that her answer was awaited by 
 the company, but she could not move her 
 lips to speak. Then she he.ird Junzo an- 
 swering quietly for her: — 
 
 "He is certainly the most admirable hero 
 we have, and one that it honors our nation 
 to idolize." 
 
 His words were rewarded by a glance from 
 the eyes she raised in timid gratitude. It 
 was but for a moment; then her head was 
 bent again. 
 
 For a week Junzo saw his fiancee daily. At 
 the end of that time he accompanied her 
 with her family a portion of the way to Kyoto, 
 whither she went to attend school for a year. 
 Junzo then proceeded alone to Tokyo, and 
 on his journey back his musings of his future 
 bride were as vague and unsatisfactory as 
 when he had come. 
 
 L 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 i\- 
 
 GOSSIP OF THE COURT 
 
 m 
 
 i mi MW P '-i io--- 
 
u 
 
 '] 
 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 n 
 
 GOSSIP OF THE COURT 
 
 IT was early afternoon. The ladies in the 
 Komatzu palace were taking their noon- 
 day siesta, and idly discussing the work 
 of the artist, Kamura Junzo. Since he had 
 become a favorite among them, many of the 
 ladies wished that he could be retained in 
 the palace a little longer. 
 
 As they sipped their amber tea indolently 
 in one of the chambers of the palace, they 
 gossiped with the freedom common to the 
 women of the West rather than the East. 
 
 " Now," said the little Countess IMatsuka, 
 handing her cup to a page, " if we were only 
 so fortunate as to have two Imperial heroes 
 instead of one ! " 
 
 A languorous beauty, swinging lazily in a 
 Dutch hammock, raised herself upon an elbow. 
 
 79 
 
 
8o 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 " But the heroes nowadays are all heimins " 
 (commoners), she said with soft scorn. 
 
 " Oh, Duchess Aoi," laughed a pretty young 
 woman, who, more industrious, was working 
 at an embroidery frame, " how can you say 
 so? There are no heimins to-day." 
 
 "Oh, true," responded the other, crossly, 
 "there is no caste to-day. The heimin has 
 become the politician." 
 
 "Yes," said the pretty one at the frame, 
 "and the politician rules and owns Nippon." 
 The Duchess Aoi sat up aggressively. 
 " You appear to have the confidence of the 
 diplomats, O Lady Fuji-no," said she. 
 Fuji tossed her head in malicious silence. 
 " Noble ladies ! " came the warning voice of 
 the elderly mentor-chaperon. " It is too 
 warm to engage the august voice in argument. 
 Let us have music." 
 
 The Duchess Aoi shrugged her shapely 
 shoulders. 
 
 "The court geishas are busy in the male quar- 
 ters," she said, "and the foreign band has 
 broken our ear-drums." 
 
GOSSIP OF THE COURT 
 
 8i 
 
 One of the ladies laughed. 
 
 " Besides," she added to Aoi's speech, " we 
 don't want the foreign music in our private 
 halls. It is enough for state occasions." 
 
 " I enjoy it augustly well," said a stiff little 
 lady sitting uncomfortably in her Paris gown 
 on an English chair, who bore the euphonious 
 name of Yu-giri (Evening Mist). She was the 
 only one of the company who wore European 
 costume. The others were glad enough to 
 revel in the comfortable enjoyment of the 
 kimono. 
 
 "If her Royal Highness were not so augustly 
 eccentric, she might set the example," said the 
 Countess Matsuka, thoughtfully. 
 
 " Which Highness, countess ? " 
 
 " There is only one Royal Highness in the 
 palace now," said Lady Fuji, smiling up from 
 her frame, — "the Princess Sado-ko." 
 
 Aoi tossed her head angrily. Her mother 
 had been a concubine of one of the Imperial 
 princes, and she was of the blood. Yet she 
 was maid of honor to the Princess Sado-ko, 
 for whom she had no love. 
 
 i >1 
 
 'I 
 
82 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 n 
 
 I 1; 
 
 " And what example might she set ? " Aoi 
 inquired with evident disdain. 
 
 "That of sitting for her portrait to be 
 painted," explained the Countess Matsuka. 
 
 All of the ladies now showed extreme in- 
 terest in the subject, and several began to speak 
 at oner. 
 
 " Oh, but she would never countenance it ! " 
 
 " She fairly despises the ways of us 
 moderns." 
 
 "Just to think, it is in her power to keep 
 our charming artist at court indefinitely." 
 
 " But how lovely to have all our pictures 
 painted. We, of course, would all follow 
 suit. 
 
 " — if she would only set the fashion." 
 
 "Well, ladies," said the Lady Fuji, "the 
 princess is not our fashion-plate, surely. We 
 do not follow her, it would seem. If we 
 did — " 
 
 " We should live like cloistered priestesses," 
 said the one in the hammock. 
 
 " Yes, seclude ourselves from the sight of 
 the whole court," said she of the Paris gown. 
 
GOSSIP OF THE COURT 
 
 «3 
 
 " Then why need we await her august ex- 
 ample?" asked the Lady Fuji. 
 
 " Because we are cowards — all," said the 
 Countess Matsuka. "To sit for our pictures 
 just like any of the barbarians is too much of 
 an innovation for any of the humble ones to 
 start at court." 
 
 "Well, then," said Fuji, "who is brave 
 enough to suggest it to the princess ? She is 
 both conservative and unconventional, and who 
 knows she might take a fancy to the idea and 
 consent ? " 
 
 " Well, suppose you suggest it to her." 
 
 " I ? Oh, indeed, I am too honorably insig- 
 nificant." 
 
 Then you, countess." 
 
 Oh no, indeed ; I am still smarting under 
 the sting of her little royal tongue." 
 
 " Ah, you are too fulsome in your flattery 
 to her, countess," said Lady Fuji-no. " Diplo- 
 macy and tact with her Highness should 
 take the form of frankness, even brusque- 
 
 « ' 
 
 tt 
 
 ness. 
 
 Yes," said the one in the hammock, sarcas- 
 
k 1 
 
 I ^ 
 
 i 
 
 «4 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 tically, " I noted the effect of your diplomacy 
 the other morning." 
 
 Lady Fuji-no colored, and bent her head 
 above her work. 
 
 " Oh, these days, these days ! " groaned the 
 elderly lady, who was both chaperon and 
 mentor to the others. " Now, in my insignifi- 
 cant youth it would have been a crime of 
 treason to speak with disrespect of a royal 
 princess." 
 
 " But you see," was the quick retort, " what 
 happened to your august days, Madame Bara. 
 They are quite, quite snuffed out. To-day is — 
 to-day ! We are modern — Western — if it 
 please you ! " 
 
 " Yes," assented the Paris gown, " that is it 
 exactly." 
 
 " While the Princess Sado-ko remains — 
 Eastern." 
 
 Lady Fuji, at the frame, had found her voice 
 again. The Duchess Aoi in the hammock 
 closed her eyes contemptuously. 
 
 " The day is long," she said, " and our con- 
 versation most dull." 
 
GOSSIP OF THE COURT 
 
 «5 
 
 " Well, wc have not solved the question yet," 
 said the anxious little Countess Matsuka. 
 
 " Oh, let the artist go," yawned one of the 
 company, who had nor yet spoken. 
 
 There was a hubbub of dissent to this. 
 
 " And leave us to the mercies of Komatzu's 
 dandies ? " 
 
 " The artist fellow is entertaining. He is 
 preferable to a geisha." 
 
 " Oh, what a comparison ! " 
 
 " Well, ladies," said Madame Bam, sooth- 
 ingly, "you will soon be back in Tokyo." 
 
 « Yes, thank Shaka ! " 
 
 " Summer creeps." 
 
 " The Prince Komatzu would not be flattered, 
 ladies, at your boredom in his summer home," 
 said Madame Bara. 
 
 "Then the prince should choose more 
 entertaining gentlemen for his household," 
 retorted Lady Fuji-no. " Now, in the palace 
 Nijo-" 
 
 " Oh, it is well, well, to be in favor at the 
 palace Nijo," said the Duchess Aoi, meaningly ; 
 and instantly the several eyes of the company 
 
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 86 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 n 
 
 were focussed on the flushing face of Fuji, for 
 it was quite well known that Nijo had shown 
 her marked favor of late. 
 
 " For my part," said the chaperon didacti- 
 cally, "I should be honored to be the exalted 
 guest of his Imperial Highness. Why surely, 
 ladies, you will confess that without a doubt he 
 is the most brilliant and noble gentleman of 
 the court. 
 
 The Duchess Aoi turned her face away. A 
 feverish color flushed her cheeks. She could 
 not speak. 
 
 " He is just exactly like the statue that the 
 artist has made of him," said Lady Fuji-no. 
 
 " But the statue is sublime," said Madame 
 
 Bara. 
 
 " Yes. But it is marble, madame." 
 
 There was silence a moment, while the Lady 
 Fuji carefully folded her work, then the 
 Duchess Aoi turned her flushing face : — 
 
 " Is it any wonder that he is marble ? " she 
 said. "He is betrothed to the Princess 
 Sado-ko." 
 
 " Poor prince ! " said Lady Fuji. 
 
l! 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE PRINCESS SADO-KO 
 
I! )l 
 
 'i i 
 
 Jf 
 
 I 
 
 Uj,! 
 

 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE PRINCESS SADO-KO 
 
 WHILE the ladies of the household 
 of the Princess Sado-ko, and guests 
 of her cousin the Prince Komatzu, 
 were gossiping over their noonday tea, Kamura 
 Junzo, alone, was wandering aimlessly about 
 the palace gardens. He was melancholy and 
 restless. Instead of being satisfied with his 
 success, Junzo was disappointed. He could 
 not have explained why this was so. His 
 patron had been pleased with his work, he 
 had received marked attention and favor from 
 those in power at court, and finally was actu- 
 ally being petted by the ladies. Perhaps it 
 was this latter enervating thing that rendered 
 the young man disappointed and disgusted. 
 
 Court life had not proved, after all, what he 
 had fancied and pictured. Nobility, such as 
 
 89 
 
 ^M 
 
s|< I 
 
 ! ' ii 
 
 '' V 
 
 { 
 IB' 
 
 90 
 
 DAUGHIERS OF NIJO 
 
 he had anticipated, was there only in name. 
 Here in this small court of the noblest prince 
 of the blood, gossip and scandal buzzed like 
 the swarming of bees. 
 
 Junzo did not wonder that the Princess 
 Sado-ko kept herself in seclusion in her pri- 
 vate wing of the palace. In spite of the curi- 
 ous tales he had heard of her eccentricities, he 
 felt a glow of sympathy for her. Plainly she 
 disapproved of the life about her. 
 
 As he strolled about the castle gardens, 
 Junzo's memory carried him back into the 
 days of his childhood. A picture grew up 
 in his mind of a great stone wall and a cherry 
 tree which drooped above it, and underneath 
 the cherry tree a small, bewitching creature in 
 a miniature kimono and the roya! kanzashi 
 in her hair. 
 
 He was smiling to himself in a tender, un- 
 conscious way, when he came to a bamboo 
 gate, which served as entrance through the 
 hedge of boxwood which divided the portion 
 of the gardens in which he was from those 
 Junzo knew were always reserved for the royal 
 
 u 
 
^ 
 
 THE PRINCESS SADO-KO 
 
 9' 
 
 ladies of the family. Now he knew also that 
 Komatzu was an orphan without sisters, and 
 that his cousin Sado-ko was the only lady 
 who ever occupied this portion of the palace. 
 
 Pausing before the gate, Junzo thought that 
 as a boy he would not have hesitated to push 
 it open and penetrate into the forbidden terri- 
 tory beyond. He would like now to take 
 a peep into this garden of Sado-ko. If he 
 should chance to meet her, might he not crave 
 mercy in the name of that game they had 
 played as children together in the gardens of 
 the palace Aoyama? She might be gracious 
 still. So far it had not been his fortune to 
 see her in the palace Komatzu, for she was 
 seldom in the public places of the palace. He 
 had an insatiable curiosity to see how she 
 had changed since childhood. 
 
 So he stepped across into the private gar- 
 dens, making his way toward the bamboo grove, 
 through which he passed on toward the little 
 river which he could see in a valley beyond, 
 twisting and babbling like a brook. But when 
 he came to the other end of the grove he per- 
 
 n «■ 
 
 IJ 
 
 if 
 
 i m 
 
 \m 
 
 i Si 
 
 i 
 
 i - 
 
t ll 
 
 i 
 
 92 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 ceived that the garden was unlike those of the 
 palace Aoyama, which was softly enclosed on 
 all sides with trees and bushes. Here the 
 walks were sanded and the landscape scenery 
 was in miniature. There were flower beds 
 and clumps of bamboo. Stately white jars 
 containing rare ferns were placed at intervals 
 in the centre of the rounded lawns, while the 
 walks were lined with pretty sea-shells and 
 white pebbles. 
 
 Junzo soon realized that this was not a 
 garden in which he could remain for long 
 unobserved. He was about to retrace his 
 steps when he perceived coming toward him 
 along the path a young girl, whose arms were 
 so full of blossoms that her face was partially 
 hidden. As it was too late for him now to 
 retreat, he stood where he was, respectfully 
 waiting for her to approach. 
 
 She hastened up the path toward him, and 
 as she appeared to be absorbed in her own 
 meditations and had not so far glanced in his 
 direction, Junzo stepped backward toward the 
 grove, hoping she would pass by without 
 
 : J 
 
 m^ 
 
THE PRINCESS SADO-KO 
 
 93 
 
 seeing him. This she doubtless would have 
 done had not the young man, as she came 
 opposite, made an odd exclamation, and then 
 stepped before her path. What he said was: — 
 
 " Masago ! " 
 
 She raised a startled face to his and stood 
 perfectly still before him in the path, the blos- 
 soms slowly dropping from her arms. That 
 strange expression of mingled fear and amaze- 
 ment awoke chaotic memories in the mind of 
 Junzo. It was Masago who stood before him, 
 he felt sure ; but some one other than Masago 
 had once looked up into his face in the same 
 startled fashion. It must have been a dream 
 or fancy. He repeated her name: — 
 
 " Masago 1 " And then, " What do you 
 here ? " 
 
 " Who are you ? " she asked in a low voice, 
 her eyes travelling over his face. "What is 
 your honorable name, and where do you come 
 from ? " 
 
 The very words had a ring of familiarity to 
 the ears of Junzo. He felt like one in a 
 dream, and answered almost mechanically : — 
 
 i II] 
 5 n 
 
94 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 l!:^ 
 
 V 
 
 I! •; 
 
 "I am Kamura Junzo. I come from — " 
 He made a slight motion toward the adjoining 
 gardens. 
 
 A slow pink glow grew up into her face and 
 spread even to her little ears and whitest neck. 
 Her eyes were shining, almost as if there were 
 tears within them. 
 
 "Ah," she said softly, "I do remember 
 you." 
 
 "We are betrothed," he said, passing his 
 hand bewilderedly across his eyes. 
 
 "Betrothed?" she repeated in that sweet, 
 low-toned voice. 
 
 "Yes, Masago. Do you not remember 
 then ? " 
 
 " But my name is not Masago," she said 
 simply. 
 
 " Not Masago ! " he repeated. 
 
 " No. I am the Princess Sado-ko." 
 
 After that there was a long silence between 
 them. They looked into each other's faces 
 without speaking. Then the young man 
 found his voice. 
 
 "I thought the august sun had touched 
 
 
 H 
 
 ^i 
 
i 
 
 THE PRINCESS SADO-KO 
 
 95 
 
 my brain," he said. " I knew that your face 
 was familiar to me, and because you are the 
 image of one to whom — " 
 
 He broke off, flushing under the glance 
 of her soft, searching eyes. 
 
 " To whom you are betrothed," she finished 
 quietly. 
 
 « Yes," he said. 
 
 " And her name is Masago ? " she asked 
 musingly. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " And she looks like me ? " She raised 
 her face, and looked at him somewhat wist- 
 fully. 
 
 " Sweet princess," he said, carried away by 
 the expression within her eyes, "her beauty 
 is like unto the moon's — cold, fiir, and dis- 
 tant, but yours — yours warms me like the 
 glow of the sun. You are indeed the child of 
 the sun-god." 
 
 She smiled faintly. 
 
 " Are you the artist-man of whom they 
 speak ? " she asked. 
 
 He bowed slightly, and she continued : — 
 
t i 
 
 96 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 1*1' 
 
 i 
 
 I 
 
 ; 
 
 i , 
 
 
 i ■'! 
 
 
 u 
 
 ¥ 
 
 " I have admired the very beautiful statue 
 you have made of Prince Komatzu." 
 
 " I trust that it will please the people," he 
 said simply. 
 
 " Nay, he has presented it as a gift to me," 
 she said. 
 
 Junzo recalled the report of her betrothal to 
 the Prince Komatzu, and he turned a trifle pale. 
 Possibly she divined his thoughts, for she said : 
 
 " We are cousins." 
 
 "And will be — " He did not finish the 
 sentence. 
 
 She changed the subject abruptly. 
 
 " You will be at the palace long ? " 
 
 " Two more days." 
 
 « And then ? " 
 
 " I will return home." 
 
 " Home ? " She repeated the word in such 
 a wistful, lingering tone. " You will go back 
 to Kamakura?" she asked. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " My dear old home ! " she said. And then, 
 " You do not know what memories your pres- 
 ence recalls to me." 
 
ir 
 
 THE PRINCESS SADO-ICO 97 
 
 He could not uke his eyes from her ex- 
 pressive face. 
 
 " I have not seen it since I was a child," 
 she said. " Why do you go so soon ? " 
 
 «* My honorable commission ends." 
 
 « There may be others." 
 
 « I have no other," he replied simply. 
 
 " The ladies of the court would honorably 
 like their pictures painted ? " she essayed almost 
 
 timidly. 
 
 « I do not paint," he said. " I am but a 
 
 sculptor." 
 
 They walked slowly up the pebbled path, 
 and through the bamboo grove, until they 
 came to the little gate over which he had 
 
 stepped. 
 
 " Now we have reached the wall," she said 
 with childish lightness. "You are not so 
 brave nowadays, I fancy, as to carry me across 
 by force." 
 
 He vaulted to the other side without speak- 
 ing, then stood a moment, looking back at her. 
 
 "Yet," she said, almost tremulously, "the 
 wall is not so high or stone." 
 
 it I 
 
 i1» 
 
'If 'i- 
 
 li 
 
 1: 
 ill 
 
 98 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 " It has the power to divide, O princess," he 
 replied in a husky voice. 
 
 " Now you are at the other side, you are no 
 longer Kamura Junzo," she said. " You have 
 become changed from the little boy I once 
 knew. You are cruel now — and — and — 
 cold." 
 
 "And you," he said, "as far away and un- 
 attainable as the stars, O princess." 
 
 " Yet you are betrothed to one whom you 
 called Masago," she said suddenly, and raised 
 an almost appealing face to his. He looked 
 into her eyes and did not speak. 
 
 "A'ld am I not like this Masago?" she 
 asked. 
 
 " You are like no one in all the world," he 
 said, "save that sweet, lovely princess that 
 even as a boy I sought to capture for — my 
 own." 
 
 " You have not tried again," she said. 
 
 " The sun is in my eyes, O princess. I am 
 afraid." 
 
 He turned abruptly from her and walked 
 swiftly away toward the front of the palace. 
 
 
 
 »\* 
 
1 <l 
 
 i 
 
 THE PRINCESS SADO-KO 
 
 99 
 
 "I have been dreaming," he said, passing 
 his hand across his eyes, "and living in my 
 dreams. O gods ! " 
 
 Sado-ko looked after him, leaning over the 
 railing of the gate watching until he disap- 
 peared. Then she turned and walked with 
 dreamy step back through the bamboo grove. 
 She turned her toward a slender, pebbled 
 path which she followed to a small lawn, 
 in whosf centre a stately statue, white and 
 pure, was set. She stood in silence looking 
 upon it, — a statue of the Prince Komatzu 
 wrought by the hands of the artist-man. Sud- 
 denly she placed her arms about the statue's 
 form and pressed her face against it. Her 
 words were strangely like to his : — 
 
 "I have been dreaming, dreaming," she 
 said, "and, O sweet Kuonnon, let me not 
 awake!" 
 

 mn 
 W ^ 
 
 M 
 
 
 'I ^h 
 
 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE PICTURE BY THE ARTIST-MAN 
 
H 
 
 if 
 
 1 I 
 
 .1 ( 
 
 ii- 
 
 I! \ 
 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE PICTURE BY THE ARTIST-MAN 
 
 THE ladies persisted, though the artist 
 was obdurate. He stood in their path 
 directly before the covered picture on 
 the foreign easel. His eyes wandered gravely 
 over the various faces of his fair besiegers. 
 
 Said the Duchess Aoi, with her small chin 
 raised and her long eyes at disdainful level : — 
 « Sir Artist, you invest a picture with the 
 attributes of the original. Yet even the prin- 
 cess's most celestial person is not so sacred to 
 our insignificant eyes. Why, then, her august 
 
 picture ? " 
 
 Junzo bowed only slightly to his interlocu- 
 tor, and replied briefly : — 
 
 " The portrait is unfinished. Duchess Aoi." 
 « Unfinished ! Well, and did we not gaze 
 upon the statue of his Imperial Highness 
 while yet it was unfinished?" 
 
 103 
 
 i 
 
i I' 
 
 !!'' 
 
 104 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 The artist did not move from his position. 
 
 " Ah, it is the honorable whim of the artist, 
 ladies," said the little Countess Matsuka. 
 
 " Sir Artist, you are most cruel to the kind," 
 chided a roguish young lady, who leaned against 
 the Duchess Aoi. 
 
 " Yes, indeed," added another, " to permit a 
 whim — an artist's foolish whim — to prevent 
 our enjoyment of her Highness's picture." 
 
 " Confess," said Lady Fuji-no, who hitherto 
 had remained quietly in the background, " that 
 this is not the whim of an artist, but of — " 
 
 "The portrait is unfinished," repeated the 
 artist, raising his voice. 
 
 " Shaka ! You have been most painstak- 
 ing, Sir Artist. The statue of the Prince 
 Komatzu was completed in just half the space 
 of time." It was the Duchess Aoi who spoke. 
 To her the artist turned. 
 
 " Lady, bid me not again repeat, the por- 
 trait is unfinished," he said w'± a low, grace- 
 ful bow. 
 
 Lady Fuji burst into merry laughter. 
 
 " Artist," she said, " the foreigners whom 
 
 
 9 
 
PICTURE BY THE ARTIST-MAN 105 
 
 we emulate in some things declare that all 
 women, royal or otherwise, have the preroga- 
 tive to command, to insist. 
 
 Junzo's brows were slightly drawn together. 
 He bowed without answering the smiling Fuji. 
 "And so," she continued, taking a step 
 nearer to him, " I am going to look upon 
 the picture, since you will not heed command, 
 and even though — " 
 
 Her hand was upon the silken covering, 
 which she had partly lifted. Junzo's hand 
 fell upon hers like a vice. She did not, how- 
 ever, release the covering, but clutched at it 
 beneath his fingers, her half-defiant, half-smil- 
 ing eyes upon his face. 
 
 « Lady Fuji-no 1 " he cried, breathing heavily, 
 « I must command — " 
 
 « Command ! " she repeated haughtily ; « and 
 when. Sir Artist, did you acquire authority at 
 court? By what right do you, a hired artist, 
 dare to command a lady of the household of 
 her Imperial Highness?" 
 
 She wrenched at the covering, and it began 
 to slip from the top of the picture. 
 
io6 
 
 DAUGH IKRS OF NIJO 
 
 1^' 
 
 ii^> 
 
 "In the name of Princess Sado-ko ! " he 
 cried. 
 
 The covering had slipped to the floor, and 
 even the most impassive of the ladies had 
 started back with little gasps of consternation. 
 The canvas that faced them now was blank. 
 There was complete silence in the salon of 
 the visiting artist. Then almost simultane- 
 ously all eyes were turned from that blank 
 canvas to the face of the artist-man. 
 
 He stood there like one overtaken by a 
 sudden tragedy. His face was white and 
 drawn, his eyes, always large and dark, were 
 widened now. His nostrils quivered, and his 
 lips were dry. The very sight of his despair 
 had a moving effect upon all, save the Lady 
 Fuji-no, who began to laugh very softly. 
 Thus she broke the silence. Her words were 
 slow and cruel : — 
 
 " Of a truth. Sir Artist, the picture of her 
 Imperial Highness is unfinished." 
 
 He did not speak. The lady leaned toward 
 him, thrusting her face within the range of 
 his vision. 
 
 ■M 
 
 11 ,• ' 
 
PICTURE BY THE ARTIST-MAN 107 
 
 « Is this the honorable portrait of our Prin- 
 cess Sado-ko, which she will make as exchange 
 gift to her affianced, Prince Komatzu?" she 
 
 asked. 
 
 The artist turned his face painfully aside. 
 
 Then the Duchess Aoi spoke: — 
 
 "Artist," she said, "we most humble and 
 
 insignificant ones copy the august fashions 
 
 from her Highness. Pray you, paint my 
 
 picture in just so fine a style." 
 
 There were hysterical tears in the voice of 
 the little Countess Matsuka. She sought in 
 vain to divert her more heartless companions. 
 
 « I," she said, "would desire to be painted 
 in a most gorgeous foreign gown." 
 
 "With the body showing?" inquired 
 Madame Eara. 
 
 "Yes, the neck and the long arms. Why 
 
 not?" 
 
 " Oh, ah, it is indecent ! " 
 
 The artist stooped to the covering on the 
 floor. He stood holding it in his hand, as 
 though he knew not what to do. 
 
 " Oh, pray do not cover up the august like- 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 U 
 
^ I. 
 
 iH 
 
 I ! 
 
 w 
 
 io8 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 ncss, artist," pleaded the Lady Fuji-no, with 
 affected solicitude. 
 
 The Countess Matsuka raised her voice al- 
 most shrilly : — 
 
 "Ladies, do let us take a vote as to the 
 decency of the barbarian gown." 
 
 But her suggestion was drowned in the hub- 
 bub of gossip. The countess was met only 
 with this reply: — 
 
 " Countess, upon what work was this artist- 
 man engaged when he was closeted with Prin- 
 cess Sado-ko ? " 
 
 The group about the picture grew closer still 
 together. The question grew in size, and 
 found a hundred answers. 
 
 " It is one that only the artist himself can 
 solve," said Aoi, looking toward him ob- 
 liquely. 
 
 " Oh, oh, was only the artist present.?" pro- 
 tested Lady Fuji. 
 
 "And her Highness," said the Duchess 
 Aoi, and bowed in mocking reverence at the 
 name. " Do you not recall she said she would 
 not have her ladies present at the sittings? 
 
PICTURE BY THE ARTIST-MAN 109 
 
 When we dared to protest, in most humble 
 wise, she frowned and commanded us to go, 
 which we were forced to do." 
 
 The artist suddenly took a step forward and 
 faced the ladies fairly. The color had returned 
 to his face, and his eyes sparkled in defiant 
 scorn at his small tormentors. His voice was 
 raised to a clear pitch : — 
 
 "You make mistake, most noble ladies. 
 You do injustice to the humble artist, to his 
 work, and to her most exalted Highness." 
 Here he bowed deeply and with reverence. 
 " It is very true you do not now behold on 
 this blank canvas the work of the many days 
 of the artist. Yet that is not an unsolvable 
 mystery. Shall the humble but honorable 
 artist allow his work upon the portrait of her 
 Serene Highness, the daughter of the sun-god, 
 to remain in his most public salon for the 
 chance and vulgar observation of the spiteful 
 curious? Permit me to observe with proper 
 respect and humility that no explanation of the 
 substitution of the blank canvas is diie. Fur- 
 ther, ladies, you make a treasonable mistake 
 
 m 
 
 . • ' I 
 
 Jl 
 
'^' fe d 
 
 no 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 when you declare the august sittings were un- 
 attended. Her Highness, upon all occasions 
 when she deigned to permit me to paint her 
 august picture, was both chaperoned and at- 
 tended by the honorable maid, Onatsu-no." 
 
 A sudden little shriek broke from one of 
 the ladies, at which all turned toward her and 
 then followed the direction of her startled eyes. 
 The next instant all this company of clattering- 
 tongued ladies, whether in European dr^'ss or 
 kimono, had fallen to their knees, and were 
 touching the mats with their heads. 
 
 The Princess Sado-ko, attended by her 
 maiden, Natsu-no, stepped slowly down from 
 the slight eminence of the adjoining room, the 
 shojis of which the pages drew behind her. 
 There was no expression in the face of Sado-ko 
 as she crossed the room, bcwing her head with 
 grace in response to the servile courtesies of her 
 maids of honor. She made a slight motion 
 with her hands, and there was a quick move- 
 ment and rustling of the obedient ladies, mov- 
 ing toward the shoji that led without. One of 
 them, more daring than the others, the Lady 
 
PICTURE BY THE ARTIST-MAN m 
 
 Fuji-no, paused by the veranda doors, and 
 spoke with affected timidity : — 
 
 " May it please your Highness that we be 
 permitted to remain to-day for this sitting ? " 
 
 Sado-ko's eyes were above the head of her 
 father's new favorite and her own maid of 
 
 honor. 
 
 " Lady Fuji-no," she said, " I have spoken." 
 Fuji bowed herself down to the mats, then 
 
 quietly joined those without. 
 
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CHAPTER VIII 
 
 A SENTIMENTAL PRINCESS 
 
 i I 
 
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CHAPTER VIII 
 
 A SENTIMENTAL PRINCESS 
 
 JUNZO turned his head from Sado-ko. 
 He stood still as a statue, his head droop- 
 ing, his hands clinched. She broke the 
 strained silence with a co -mand to her attend- 
 ant. 
 
 " Natsu-no, pray draw apart the door at 
 once. The atmosphere is thick with odor of 
 our ladies. It has sickened the honorable 
 artist." 
 
 He raised his head sharply. She had not 
 heard, then ! The maid pushed the shojis to 
 either side, thus exposing the apartment to the 
 full view of any without. This was a daily 
 custom and precaution. No spying maid of 
 honor might lurk about the balcony. 
 
 While the sliding doors remained open, 
 neither the artist nor the princess spoke, but 
 when a sufficient interval had elapsed and the 
 
 "5 
 

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 1 1 
 
 !, ". 
 
 W 1 
 
 "I" 
 
 ill % 
 
 
 
 'if. 
 
 ii6 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 doors had been drawn together again, the maid 
 whispered a word of command to the guard 
 outsidej who silently took his station on the 
 balcony. Then Sado-ko, turning slowly tow- 
 ard the artist, began to laugh in a strangely 
 quivering, and subdued fashion. The sound 
 of the soft laughter hurt the artist. He 
 scarcely could command his words. 
 
 "Guileless princess, I pray you do not 
 laugh ! " 
 
 " Not laugh ? " she repeated. " You are to- 
 day a most unflattering artist. Was it only 
 yesterday you said my laughter was as sweet as 
 sweetest music of the sweetest birds ? " 
 
 She passed her fan over her shoulder to the 
 maid Natsu-no, who, whirling it open, fanned 
 her gently. Sado-ko smiled reproachfully at 
 Junzo, as she sat by a golden screen, near to 
 a shoji through which the sinking sun pierced 
 and slanted just above her head. 
 
 Junzo knelt on one knee a short distance 
 from her. His face was sad and serious. 
 
 « Princess Sado-ko," he said, "you have not 
 heard of a most lamentable happening." 
 
 mmmt 
 
A SENTIMENTAL PRINCESS 117 
 
 « If," said she, still smiling, "you allude to 
 the noisy chatter of my ladies, you are mis- 
 taken. I have heard." 
 
 He looked half unconsciously toward the 
 now covered canvas. She followed his glance, 
 and still she smiled. 
 
 " I have seen, too," she said. 
 He regarded her dumbly, marvelling at the 
 trembling happiness which seemed to lurk 
 within her eyes and about her small red lips. 
 
 " Come -)ace nearer to me, if you please," 
 she urged. His obedience brought him so 
 close that he could have touched her. She 
 put out a little hand toward him, and spoke 
 his name. 
 
 " Junzo ! " she said. 
 
 He scarcely dared to look at her. She 
 
 said : — 
 
 " I pray you, look at me a ^pace." 
 Their eyes met fully now, and then he saw 
 that despite the smile within them, hers were 
 shining with undropped tears. In an agony 
 of feeling he turned from her. He heard her 
 tremulous voice, thrilling now with that strange 
 

 ii8 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 R't 
 
 laughing quality but accentuating the pleading 
 underneath. 
 
 " Do not even the birds chatter ? Permit 
 my ladies the same pastime." 
 
 " It is of you I think," he said huskily. 
 
 " That is all very well. I — I would not 
 have you think of — of another," she replied. 
 
 " Princess, the gossip of the ladies does in- 
 jury to your sweet name." 
 
 "If that were so," she said, " there would 
 be no such name as Sado-ko left in the world. 
 Do you not know that I am the most un- 
 popular princess in Japan ? " 
 
 " But this late matter, princess, is not 
 merely female resentment at your refusal to 
 accept the Western mode of life within your 
 household. But this new slan — " 
 
 " Do not speak the word," she said quietly. 
 
 She took her fan from Natsu-no, and aris- 
 ing crossed the room until she stood before 
 the easel. Pensively she looked at the cov- 
 ered canvas. Junzo had followed her and 
 now stood by her side. There was deep 
 emotion in his voice : — 
 
A SENTIMENTAL PRINCESS 119 
 
 ( 
 
 « 
 
 Princess, will it please you to sit to-day ? " 
 
 She turned to raise her eyes to his. 
 
 " But," she said, " you do not paint upon 
 the canvas. You have told me so." 
 
 " I am a sculptor, but I have also attempted 
 the other — " 
 
 She interrupted him. 
 
 " It would hurt your fame," she said. " It 
 cannot be." 
 
 " And what does it matter whether I have 
 fame or not?" 
 
 " Artist, it was not for that work I bade 
 you stay," she said. 
 
 " But it was thought so by the others, 
 
 princess." 
 
 « I — I had a desire to learn more of — 
 of Kamakura — of people there — and so I 
 begged you to remain." 
 
 "You did command," he said in a low 
 voice. 
 
 "No," raising her eyes appealingly, "say 
 that I did beseech you." 
 
 " You did command," he repeated. 
 
 " Well, have it so. I commanded and you 
 
 ■ 
 
 'I 
 
120 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 obeyed. It was the reason of your staying. 
 Why suggest employment now ? " 
 
 "To spare the name of the most noble 
 princess in the realm." 
 
 She held her little head proudly. 
 
 " Who is it that slanders Sado-ko," she 
 asked scornfully, and then quickly answered 
 herself. " A few small biting insects, who but 
 sting, not kill. Sir Artist." 
 
 He turned away from her and stood by 
 the garden shoji, from whence he stared 
 moodily without. She followed him with 
 softest step. 
 
 " I pray you, do not look without. The 
 sky is gray. The sun is fading." 
 
 She put her hand upon his arm with timid 
 touch. He turned with sudden impulse, 
 and seized it in both his own. 
 
 "The sun, O princes^, is within," he cried, 
 "and, O sweet Sado-ko, it is too dazzling 
 bright for such as I to gaze upon." 
 
 When he would have dropped her hand, 
 she held it within his own. Her face filled 
 him with a vague longing. He trembled at 
 
 I W 
 
A SENTIMENTAL PRINCESS 121 
 
 her touch. He felt the wavering of her 
 head toward him, then its touch against his 
 arm, where now it rested. A remnant of rea- 
 son remaining within him, he sought to draw 
 apart from her. 
 
 "Do not — do not so," she cried, clinging 
 
 to him. 
 
 " My touch profanes you, Sado-ko," he 
 
 whispered hoarsely. 
 
 " It does not," she denied, with tears in 
 her appealing voice. "Pray you, do not 
 draw your arm awf/." 
 
 " Princess ! " 
 
 "I do command again," she said. After 
 
 that he did not speak. 
 
 Suddenly the silent, immovable figure of the 
 maid seemed to take upon itself the first signs 
 of life. She arose and moved toward her mis- 
 tress. At a respectful distance she spoke. 
 
 " Noble princess ! " she said. 
 
 Sado-ko, still holding the arm of her lover 
 close about her, turned toward the maid. 
 
 " What is your honorable desire, maiden ? " 
 
 " The chamber darkens, O princess. Will 
 
 '.■•■ 
 

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 'HI 
 
 Ml^ 
 
 I i 
 
 I- 
 
 If I 
 ft '5' 
 
 h 
 
 
 122 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 your Highness deign to permit the honorable 
 
 light ? " 
 
 " I am quite satisfied," said Sado-ko, and 
 rested her head contentedly against the artist's 
 arm. The maid did not move. 
 
 " Will not the noble princess permit her 
 evening meal ? " she tsked in trembling 
 
 tones. 
 
 " I am not hungry," said the Princess Sado- 
 ko. She smiled up at her lover's now adoring 
 face. 
 
 " Princess, the hour of — " 
 
 Sado-ko turned toward the maid with the 
 first show of impatience. 
 
 • Pray return to your seat, Natsu-no," she 
 said, " and when I need your service, I will so 
 advise you." 
 
 Without replying, Natsu-no slowly moved 
 to her seat ; but she kept her face toward those 
 two figures now silhouetted in the twilight of 
 
 the room. 
 
 " You still are uneasy ? " asked the Princess 
 Sado-ko. "Do you not like the touch of 
 mer 
 
A SENTIMENTAL PRINCESS 123 
 
 « It makes me faint with ecstasy," he said. 
 " Yet, Sado-ko, I am fearful." 
 
 " Oh, be not fearful," she said. 
 
 ««On my knees I could adore you, but — " 
 
 " But ? You do not finish." 
 
 " Princess 1 " 
 
 « Do not call me princess. Forget for but 
 a little while that I am such. I, too, would 
 forget, my Junzo." 
 
 " I must remember for us both," he said. 
 « My honor — O sweet Sado-ko — thy 
 
 honor — " 
 
 "Sado-ko is ill with honor," she replied. 
 « Give me for a change a little of thnt simple 
 love I have not had since my august grand- 
 mother died." 
 
 « O innocent princess 1" 
 She laughed softly. 
 
 « Junzo, they say that I was born without 
 a heart, that because I was the child of gods 
 I could not love as mortals do. Could you 
 not tell them otherwise, my Junzo?" 
 
 The maid was weeping in the darkened 
 room, her sobs cleariy audible. They heard 
 
Ii; 
 
 Ci, -1; 
 
 V if 
 U Vi 
 
 124 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 Her crawling on her knees across the room, 
 and then the sofc thud of her prostration be- 
 fore the little shrine. Then came the mum- 
 b'ing words of her prayer — 
 
 " Hear thou the prayer of the most humble 
 one, O mighty Kuonnon Save thou the soul 
 of thy innocent descendant, she who — " 
 
 Sado-ko dropped the arm of her lover 
 and started toward the maid. 
 
 '• Natsu-no ' " she cried out sharply, as the 
 drone of the woman's prayer ended, " for 
 whom do you pray ? ' 
 
 I'he maid put her head at the princess's 
 feet 
 
 "For you, O beloved mistress I pray 
 that the gods will save you from this artist- 
 man. ' 
 
 The princess spurned her with her little 
 foot, 
 
 " If you make such foolish prayers, the gods 
 may hear you," she cried. " If they should 
 grant your prayers and take him from me, 
 why, I should be bereft of — Oh-h — " 
 
 She made p passionate movement toward 
 
A SENTIMENTAL PRINCESS 125 
 
 the shrine, as though she would destroy it, but 
 strong hands drew her away. 
 
 " Do not, Sado-ko, offend the gods ! Do 
 not, for my sake ! " 
 
 She put her hands upon his shoulders and 
 wept against his breast. 
 
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CHAPTER IX 
 
 MOON TRYST 
 

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 -^x. 
 
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 lit S|i 
 111 4^ 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 MOON TRVST 
 
 LIKE a large lighted lantern the palace 
 Komatzu appeared in the night, its 
 transparent shojis revealed the lights 
 within. The sound of soft tinkUng music was 
 constantly heard, an accompaniment to the 
 ceaseless murmuring of voices. Ever and 
 anon there was the sound of silvery laughter, 
 and also the soft glide and patter of moving 
 
 footsteps. 
 
 From the garden without one could see the 
 strange flitting and moving of the figures 
 within, for the court of Japan was enjoying 
 the latest of Western novelties, — the dance. 
 A square-bearded German had found a place 
 as leader of the Japanese orchestra, and now 
 a strange medley of dance music was being 
 wrung from the instruments. The weird 
 
 1 1^9 
 
130 
 
 UAUGHl'ERS OF NIJO 
 
 ■11 
 
 
 
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 ij, ^i 
 
 ■l 
 
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 ■ 
 
 1; 
 
 Mrtl 
 
 m 
 
 v.:i^^ 
 
 tinkling of the geishas' instruments floating out 
 from a garden booth close at hand, added dis- 
 cord to the odd orchestra of the palace. Yet 
 the gentlemen and ladies of the court glided 
 and tripped back and forth within, and thought 
 that they were dancing quite in the style of the 
 fashionable Westerners. 
 
 But while all was gay and brilliant in the 
 new ball-room of the palace Komatzu, that 
 wing of the palace reserved for the Princess 
 Sado-ko was in blackness. 
 
 Sado-ko stood alone in her darkened 
 chamber. She had dismissed her personal 
 attendant, Natsu-no, though the latter crouched 
 by the inner shoji, her eye peering into the 
 adjoining room, watching and guarding her 
 mistress. 
 
 It had not been difficult for Sado-ko to 
 retire from the ball, when the dancing had 
 begun, for her aversion to all such modern 
 pastimes was well known. She alone of all 
 that company had appeared in the simple 
 though exquisite garb of her country. In a 
 robe of ancient style, soft flowing, Sado-ko had 
 
MOON TRYST 
 
 »3i 
 
 never appeared to better advantage among the 
 ladies of the court, all of whom affected the 
 European style of gown, which ill became 
 them. 
 
 Now in her chamber alone, Sado-ko watched 
 by her shoji. When first she took her stand, 
 all was black without. No moon had yet 
 arisen to silver her own gardens and tell her 
 that it was time. It was a long interval while 
 she stood there, a statue of patience. 
 
 Gradually the darkness without became 
 mellowed, and slowly and softly the tall bam- 
 boos and pines became silhouetted against the 
 sky. One small hand hidden in the folds of 
 her kimono was lifted. She pushed the shoji 
 a small way apart, — only enough room for her 
 straining eyes to see clearer without. 
 
 It was a whice and wistful face she turned 
 appealingly to the skies. Then that first soft 
 light reflected in her eyes, and sighing with 
 relief that her waiting now was over, she pushed 
 the sliding doors still farther apart and then 
 stepped outside. She paused upon her bal- 
 cony, to look about her with some fear. 
 
 h 
 
 11 
 
132 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 I'fi 
 
 ij' 
 
 There was no sound or stir. Very distant and 
 far away sounded the music of the palace 
 Komatzu. 
 
 With another glance of assurance at the 
 moon floating up from the hills and trees, she 
 lifted her gown. Down into the garden the 
 princess stepped. 
 
 Almost at the same instant the maiden 
 Natsu-no cautiously pushed back the siioji the 
 princess had forgotten to close, and keeping 
 some distance behind, followed her mistress 
 with stealing step. 
 
 Meanwhile the Lady Fuji-no had slipped 
 breathlessly from the arms of her partner, and 
 condemning the atmosphere of the room had 
 sought the wide verandas. Save for the silent 
 and melancholy figure of the artist the verandas 
 were deserted. He stood by the steps leading 
 to the gardens, his arms folded across his 
 breast, his head partly upraised as though he 
 watched the skies. At the light touch of the 
 Lady Fuji's hand he started violently, forget- 
 ting his manners in so far as to draw his sleeve 
 quickly away from her clasp. Her face was in 
 
MOON TRYST 
 
 133 
 
 shadow, for it was dark about them. Only the 
 first glimmer of the moon had yet appeared. 
 Junzo knew that she was smiling mock- 
 ingly. 
 
 " You watch the stars. Sir Artist ? " she 
 asked sweetly. 
 
 " Yes," he replied, without moving. 
 
 " So ! They are very beautiful to-night." 
 
 " Honorably so," he replied simply. 
 
 "Yet how insignificant will they appear 
 shortly when their august queen shall arise to 
 dim their little lustre." 
 
 "It is so," he agreed gravely ; " the august 
 moon is queen of the night." 
 
 " You watch for the queen. Sir Artist ? " 
 
 He turned and looked at her curiously. 
 
 " And you, my lady ? " 
 
 " 1, too," she rejoined. 
 
 He moved restlessly, and even in the dim 
 light her watching eyes saw the uneasiness in 
 his face. 
 
 " Let us watch for her together, artist." 
 
 " I would not take you from your pleasures 
 within, my lady." 
 
■34 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 
 " Nay, the pleasures without overshadow 
 those within." 
 
 Again she saw the anxious glance upward 
 toward the hills, and in the darkness the Lady 
 Fuji smiled behind her opened fan. Junzo 
 moved downward a few steps; he paused 
 irresolutely. 
 
 " The garden is fragrant, Lady Fuji-no. I 
 would enjoy it for a little while." 
 
 " And I," said she, and went a step down- 
 ward. 
 
 " But the air is chill, my lady." 
 
 " Balmy sweet. Sir Artist." 
 
 " Lady, your august neck and arms are bare 
 to the night," he said. 
 
 She drew herself up slightly, and looked 
 down a space at her low gown. 
 
 "The musicians and the geishas in the 
 booths," he said, " would dishonor you with 
 their rude glances." 
 
 Without replying she clapped her hands. 
 A page came at the signal. 
 
 " A wrap, if you please," she ordered. 
 
 Junzo, now at the foot of the steps, stirred 
 
 'i'^ 
 
 <u 
 
MOON TRYST 
 
 »35 
 
 uneasily. The moon was in full view. The 
 sight for which he had watched so anxiously 
 filled him now only with agitation and despair. 
 He thought of one waiting in the darkness 
 of the private gardens beyond. Anxiety ren- 
 dered him reckless. He bowed deeply to the 
 Lady Fuji-no. 
 
 " Lady, I implore your august pardon, but 
 the night has claims upon my desires. I wish 
 to wander with it alone." 
 
 She stooped down toward him. Her words, 
 though whispered, were perfectly clear. 
 
 "You have a moon tryst. Sir Artist. Oh, 
 beware I " 
 
 He turned about sharply and faced her. 
 
 " The Moon," she said, — " you will be- 
 come her plaything, artist. Be cautioned ! " 
 
 Uncertain and irresolute he stood a moment, 
 then turned upon his heel and swiftly strode 
 down along the path, disappearing into the 
 shadows of the trees. 
 
 Sado-ko wandered through the dewy gardens, 
 beneath the drooping bamboos and the tower- 
 
i,!^' 
 
 w- 
 
 hf ■ ■ 
 
 I A'i 1 
 
 ^1 
 
 136 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 ing pines. Her little feet were swift and will- 
 ing, as she hastened along with beating heart ; 
 but when she approached the end of the grove, 
 though there was light beyond, she could not 
 see even the shadow of that one who was to 
 have kept the tryst with her. Her steps 
 faltered ; she went less swiftly. 
 
 « The moon is late," she said. And then, 
 «* It was the light of the stars I saw." 
 
 She walked so slowly now, that her little 
 feet became entangled in her flowing gown, 
 which she had absently let fall to the ground. 
 The end of the grove was now reached. She 
 could see the bright silver light without. 
 
 In the shadow of the last bamboo the 
 princess stood and trembled. She did not 
 need to peer into the distance, for all was clear 
 outside the bamboo grove, as far off as the 
 dividing line of the boxwood shrub and the 
 small white gate. How long she stood in 
 silent waiting she could not have told. Every 
 passing summer breeze made her shiver. 
 Once she raised her hand to her face, and 
 something wet was wiped away. 
 
MOON TRYST 
 
 »37 
 
 " 'Tis but the dew upon my face," she said, 
 but her own trembling voice broke the spell of 
 anguished waiting. At the foot of the droop- 
 ing bamboo she slipped to the earth, and 
 crouched beneath the shadow, deaf now to all 
 sounds, save her own inward heart cries and 
 the tears which even she could not command 
 to cease. 
 
 Yet after only a little while, one appeared at 
 the bamboo gate, vaulted quickly over it, and 
 came with running feet on toward the grove. 
 A moment later, Sado-ko was in the arms of 
 
 her lover. 
 
 "Oh, is it you — you!" she said through 
 her sighs, "at last. Oh, at last you have 
 
 come 
 
 I 
 
 " It is I, sweet Sado-ko." 
 
 « So late ! " she said, her breath caught by 
 her sobs. 
 
 « Yes, late," he said, " but it was not the 
 fault of Junzo." 
 
 "I kept the tryst," she said, "and waited 
 long for the moon to rise — and then — then 
 you did not come, and I — and then I wept." 
 
 i, 
 

 ,38 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 She turned her face toward a moonbeam 
 streaming through the grove that he might see 
 the glistening tears. 
 
 "Sado-ko!" he cried in an agony, "oh, 
 that I should cause you pain — I who would 
 sell my very soul to save you from a tear." 
 
 She had recovered somewhat of her natural 
 calm, and for a moment her old bright self 
 shone out. 
 
 " Njy, then, and what is a little tear ? So 
 slight a thing — see, I will wipe it away with 
 the sleeve of my Junzo." 
 
 "My lotos maiden! O Sado-ko, I have 
 
 made enemies for you here in this very palace." 
 
 " But I am stronger than the enemies, my 
 
 Junzo. Indeed, I can afford to laugh at them." 
 
 «« One — the Lady Fuji, do not trust her, I 
 
 beseech you, Sado-ko." 
 
 " She would become wife to my father," said 
 Sado-ko, with quiet scorn, " yet her power is 
 small and her hope vain." 
 
 "She tried to prevent my coming here to- 
 night. I fear she has suspected our tryst." 
 « Lady Fuji-no is wise. Were I to marry 
 
 mi 
 
MOON TRYST 
 
 139 
 
 soon the Prince Komatzu, her fortunes would 
 change. She would possibly be out of service, 
 and knows or thinks my father would befriend 
 
 her." 
 
 « There are still others. I fear the Duchess 
 
 Aoi has no love for you or me." 
 
 " She has love for only one besides herself, — 
 the Prince Komatzu. She could much better 
 herself in his graces, could she betray Sado-ko 
 in some base act." 
 
 " And baseness is not possible in Sado-ko," 
 
 he said. 
 
 Her little hands moved softly across his 
 
 breast and upon his arms. 
 
 " You are truly here, my Junzo," she said, 
 " I do not dream." 
 
 " Hark, something is stirring close by ! " 
 
 " The wind," she said. " Pray you, be not 
 fearful of the wind." 
 
 « It seemed a sound more human-like, as 
 of one who crept along the grove." 
 
 "Perchance a deer. The parks are fully 
 stocked, and many wander hither to my own 
 private gardens." 
 
T40 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 t I 
 
 1!.r 
 
 vu 
 
 4 
 
 I;! 
 
 He raised her face upward between his 
 hands, within which he framed it. 
 
 " Listen, Sado-ko. Do you forget that we 
 made this tryst to-night for a sad purpose ? " 
 
 " I have forgotten," she murmured ; and 
 added in so soft a voice, "I would forget, 
 dear Junzo." 
 
 " O Sado-ko, it is sweet to be together, but 
 sadder still than sweet, for this must be the 
 last time." 
 
 She shook her head. 
 
 " No, no," she said. " I will not let you 
 
 go. 
 
 " I must go," he said sadly. 
 
 " I will command you to stay," she said. 
 
 " I cannot longer stay. To-morrow — " 
 
 " I will implore you, then. Go not away 
 from me, dear Junzo ! " 
 
 " Have you forgotten that our tryst to-night 
 was made to say our most sad sayonaras ? " 
 
 She lifted his sleeve, and held it dose 
 against her face. 
 
 " No, no — leave me not ! " 
 
 His voice was husky. 
 
MOON TRYST 
 
 H« 
 
 
 " Why, Sado-ko, to-morrow there will be an 
 exodus from the palace. I could not stay, 
 even if I would. Does not the Prince Ko- 
 matzu journey back to Tokyo ? " 
 
 "And you — you, too, will go with us," 
 she said. 
 
 "I?" 
 
 " I have myself asked this favor of my 
 cousin." 
 
 "You asked his Highness — " 
 
 "Yes. I bade him ask you to accompany 
 us, so you might have the honorable commis- 
 sion to paint the pictures of the ladies of the 
 court." 
 
 " Paint the pictures — " repeated Junzo, 
 stupidly. 
 
 " Yes, that will be the good excuse. Yet 
 you must not do so. No, I would not have 
 you work upon another's beauty." 
 
 " I cannot go," he said, raising his voice. 
 " It is impossible. I must return." 
 
 She started back, her hands above her heart. 
 
 "I understand," she said. "You will return 
 to — " 
 
li 
 
 142 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 He seized her hands with impulsive passion. 
 «* My father bids me return. Can I re- 
 fuse?" he cried. 
 
 « Oh, go not back ! " she said, with tears in 
 
 her pleading voice. 
 
 « I must return. I am but a son. Does not a 
 son owe his first obedience in life to his father?" 
 « It is an ancient fancy," she said, " and 
 these moderns are more wise. They say a 
 man must give his first thought to"— her voice 
 dropped and broke — " his wife ! ' 
 
 She drew her hands from his, and covered 
 her face with them. While yet her face was 
 hidden in them she spoke : — 
 
 « You will make her — your wife ? '* 
 
 He could not answer. Her hands dropped 
 from her fiice to clinch now at her sides. 
 
 « Answer, if you please ! " she said. 
 
 «* It is my father's command," he said in a 
 
 low voice. 
 
 "Your father's command is greater, then, 
 than mine?" she demanded with fierceness. 
 
 «0 Sado-ko, do you not perceive my 
 despair ? " 
 
■11 
 
 I.' 
 
 Ill;'- 
 
 w 
 
 I, 
 
 1. 
 
 if|! 
 
MOON TRYST 
 
 »45 
 
 " But why should you despair ? — you who 
 are to marry Masago ! " 
 
 " Sado-ko ! " he cried with piercing reproach, 
 "all the gods of heaven have forbidden me 
 union with you. Tell me what other course is 
 left." 
 
 " Oh, leave me not ! " said Sado-ko. 
 
 " Even if I would, I could not stay. Your 
 august relatives would hastily learn the truth, 
 and then — " 
 
 They heard a slight cry within the darkness 
 of the grove. Then something white flashed 
 by them into the open. 
 
 " Look ! " cried Sado-ko, clutching his 
 sleeve. « Oh, see ! " 
 
 By the white bamboo gate two figures were 
 outlined, — a man and woman. And in the clear 
 moonlight the lovers recognized them as the 
 Prince Komatzu and the Duchess Aoi. But 
 the maid Onatsu-no, who had rushed by them 
 so swiftly through the grove, came up toward 
 these two by the gate, and prostrated herself 
 before them. 
 
 "Quick!" cried Sado-ko. **They have 
 
146 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 not seen us yet. Natsu-no will speak to them. 
 Meanwhile run with all the speed your love 
 for me can lend, back through the grove. 
 Hide among the shadows of the trees until the 
 prince and I shall pass. Then return along 
 the grove." 
 
 He lingered, seeming averse to hiding ; but 
 she urged him, pushing him with her own 
 hands. 
 
 "There — go — for my sake — my sake — 
 do this thing for me ! " she urged disjointedly. 
 
 He stooped and drew her hands close to his 
 face, and for a moment looked deep into her 
 eyes. 
 
 " Sayonara ! " he whispered. " It is for- 
 ever." 
 
 " Sayonara ! " she repeated, and sobbed over 
 the word, " for a little time," she said. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 COUSIN KOMATZU 
 
• .■' 
 
 t 
 
 ■I 
 
 
 i| 
 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 COUSIN KOMATZU 
 
 SADO-KO stepped from out the shadow 
 of the bamboo grove into the moon- 
 lit path, and seemingly pensive, made 
 her way toward the two at the gate. She 
 paused before them silently for a moment, 
 then made a gesture of dismissal to the maid 
 Natsu-no, who ceased her excited apologies for 
 having interrupted them, through sudden fright 
 at their appearance. 
 
 "Cousin," said the princess to Komatzu, 
 ignoring altogether the Duchess Aoi, "your 
 sudden appearance at my gate has frightened 
 both my maid and me, who in our solitary 
 evening rambles not often meet with visitors." 
 
 Komatzu answered : — 
 
 "The Duchess Aoi and the Lady Moon 
 both beguiled me into a like garden wandering. 
 We came but by chance to your august gate." 
 
 '49 
 
ISO 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 ! J 
 
 !' 
 
 .l\r. 
 
 \l' 
 
 ■ •( >, .- 
 
 T . J 
 
 " But will you not step inside ? " asked 
 Sado-ko. " Pray, cousin, will you not walk 
 with me?" she sweetly urged. 
 
 Glad to accompany his cousin, the prince, 
 softly clapping his hands, ordered an attend- 
 ant to unfasten the gate. Aoi was about to 
 follow him to the other side, when stopped 
 by the voice of the princess. "We do 
 not need your further service to-night," she 
 said. 
 
 The mortified duchess bowed to the earth, 
 and slowly moved away. 
 
 When she was gone and the Princess 
 Sado-ko should have breathed more freely, 
 a reaction came. She clung with sudden 
 faintness to the waiting-maid, Natsu-no. 
 
 " Cousfn, you are ill ! " cried the dismayed 
 Komatzu. 
 
 She tried to laugh, but her voice was shak- 
 ing and her words piteous. 
 
 " I but stumbled on my gown. Sir Cousin." 
 
 She raised herself, lifting the kimono a little 
 upward from the ground. 
 
 " It is the punishment of vanity," she con- 
 
COUSIN KOMATZU 
 
 «5» 
 
 tinued in a somewhat weary voice. " I was 
 not ready to part with my fair gown, Komatzu. 
 It is of ancient style and very long and 
 cumbersome." 
 
 " But the embodiment of grace and beauty," 
 said Komatzu, gallantly. 
 
 She pursued this light conversation, in hope 
 of diverting him as they passed on their way 
 through the grove. 
 
 " What, Cousin Komatzu, you praise an 
 Oriental gown, — you who are so much a 
 modern ! " 
 
 He glanced down smilingly at his evening 
 dress, black, immaculate, and foreign. 
 
 " The honorable gown, fair cousin, is truly 
 exquisite; still, I confess I do prefer the for- 
 eign style, and would that you did also." 
 
 " But I should suffocate did I enclose my 
 little frame in so honorably tight a garb," 
 she protested, and at the same moment she 
 glanced about fearfully. Komatzu seemed 
 to perceive something of her uneasiness, for 
 he, too, cast a keen look about them. 
 
 In nervousness she began to speak again. 
 
Mil 
 
 152 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 for somewhere close at hand she heard a idr 
 which set her heart to violent beating. 
 
 " My ladies beg permission to deck your statue 
 with august flowers, cousin, and — Ah-h!" 
 
 She paused. Was it fancy only, or did she 
 see a face staring out at her from the dense 
 foliage hard by ? 
 
 " I protest," said Komatzu, stopping short 
 in his walk, " that you, fair cousin, are ill. 
 You are not your familiar self to-night." 
 
 Her Angers clutched his arm as she drew 
 him again along the path. 
 
 " No, no, no," she denied, " I am quite 
 well I Do not linger here, I pray you. 
 Cousin Komatzu." 
 
 He frowned, glancing out with brows drawn. 
 
 " I was thinking it an ideal spot for loiter- 
 ing, princess." 
 
 " 'Tis dark," said Sado-ko, still hastening 
 blindly on. 
 
 " The moonlight is on all sides, cousin, and 
 pierces through the thin bamboos. And look 
 upward — see how clear and beautiful the star- 
 lit sky above us." 
 
 ir> 
 
COUSIN KOMATZU 
 
 'S3 
 
 Again he paused in admiring contempla- 
 tion of the nigitit. 
 
 " The nigh' is chill. Sir Cousin, and the 
 grove is dnmp," she said. 
 
 "Why, no — " he began again in protest, 
 when the maid behind interrupted. She 
 wrapped a cape about the shoulders of her 
 mistress, and spoke in soothing tones: — 
 
 '' Noble princess, the humble one was wit- 
 ness of your shivering just now. Permit me 
 then to serve you." 
 
 Still the Prince Komatzu hesitated. Sud- 
 denly Sado-ko thrust into his her own small 
 hands. 
 
 " Cousin, feel how cold my hands are. 
 Will you not warm them with yours ? " she 
 said. 
 
 He held them doubtfully a moment, then 
 chafed them with his own, while she moved 
 onward. 
 
 Once outside the grove, a great breath, a 
 sigh, escaped the agitated Sado-ko. Then 
 suddenly she began to laugh in a strange, 
 mirthless fashion, as one who laughs through 
 
154 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 i 
 
 H^ 
 
 !') " 
 
 W fi 
 
 I 
 
 Iri. 
 
 NiT 
 
 tears. Her cousin stood in silence, sombrely 
 regarding her. When she had ceased, he 
 asked : — 
 
 " Why did you laugh so suddenly just now, 
 princess ? " 
 
 " A thought came to my honorable little 
 brain, Komatzu. I fancied that you had 
 learned that I would keep a tryst to-night." 
 
 He did not move, and she continued with 
 hysterical rapidity. 
 
 " And by your face I know my thought was 
 true. Did not the Duchess Aoi bring you to 
 my gate for the purpose of — a spy ? " 
 
 " We came by chance," he answered gravely. 
 
 "Yes, chance dictated by your beguiling 
 guide, good cousin. Is it not so ? " 
 
 " The Duchess Aoi spoke with indignation 
 of the tales of others, Sado-ko." 
 
 Again the princess laughed in that weird 
 way. 
 
 " It is a habit of my sex, Komatzu, to 
 slander one in just that wise, veiling beneath 
 choice, soft, indignant words against others their 
 own subtle design of defamation." 
 
COUSIN KOMATZU 
 
 155 
 
 " Cousin, who would dare defame your name 
 to me ? " 
 
 " Oh, any fair and clever lady of the court, 
 Komatzu. Come, cousin, were you not in- 
 formed that I would keep a tryst to-night ? " 
 
 " With whom could Princess Sado-ko keep 
 tryst ? " he asked. 
 
 She shrugged her shoulders recklessly. 
 
 " With whom, Komatzu ? The stars, the 
 moon, the night, — perchance, a lover." 
 
 "You laugh at me, fair cousin." 
 
 " Permit me, then, to weep." She clasped 
 her face with both her hanr but she did not 
 feign tears : they came too readily. 
 
 "Cousin," said Komatzu, solemnly, "will 
 you make an exchange gift with me for my 
 august statue?" 
 
 She raised her face defiantly. 
 
 " And why should you and I make exchange 
 gifts, Komatzu ? We are not affianced." 
 
 " Are we not ? " he asked sternly. 
 
 " No, save for the gossip of the court and 
 popular fancy. Yet his Majesty has not be- 
 trothed us, and I am both his niece and ward." 
 

 'I' 
 
 m 
 
 i 
 
 ft 
 
 I. 
 
 
 156 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 " He will betroth us," said Komatzu, with 
 gloomy assurance, " for all his ministers are in 
 favor of the union." 
 
 "We will abide the time, Komatzu, when 
 his Majesty sanctions it. Meanwhile we arc 
 but cousins." 
 
 "Sado-ko, give me that picture of you 
 painted by the artist." 
 
 She turned her face away. Her nervous 
 hands were clasped. 
 
 " Wlien we are betrothed," she said. 
 
 " Sado-ko, you know I am your lover." 
 
 « So it is said." 
 
 " Who but a lover should possess this like- 
 ness of your Highness ? " 
 
 " You are not my lover — yet." 
 
 "I will be so," said Komatzu. "Give me, 
 I repeat, the portrait of your Highness." 
 
 She turned toward him, like one brought 
 suddenly to desperate bay. 
 
 "Why require this of me? You have 
 already learned there is no such picture." 
 
 " What, you admit it ! " 
 
 " I admit it," she returned quietly now. 
 
COUSIN KOMATZU 
 
 157 
 
 He changed his haughty tone to one 
 wherein there was more sorrow than anger. 
 
 "Tell me this. Cousin Sado-ko, why did 
 the artist remain, and upon what work was 
 he engaged when closeted with you ? " 
 
 "He did not work, Komatzu. He but 
 spoke to me — and I to him. He would 
 have gone, but I commanded him to stay. 
 There was no option for the man. He could 
 not paint. I knew this all the time — yet — 
 still — I bade him stay." 
 
 "Why, Princess Sado-ko?" 
 
 " For many reasons. I wished to know of 
 other lives. The shallow, shameless ones of 
 those about me enervated my body and my 
 soul. I wished to learn of others in the world, 
 fresh, cleaner, cousin." 
 
 " Sado-ko, I fear you were misjudged. I 
 fathom now your reasons. Just one more bit 
 of eccentricity so natural to our cousin." 
 
 " And so he stayed," she said, her voice 
 now slow and almost absent in its tone, as 
 though she were recalling incidents in some 
 far past. " He stayed, as I commanded. He 
 
if 
 
 r 
 
 158 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 told me of Ais world, — the great world with- 
 out, Komatzu, where men were men, not pup- 
 pets. He had travelled much, Komatzu, — 
 fairly round the world, it seems; and though 
 he dressed not in the garb of the barbarian, 
 he knew more of them than the whole of this 
 affected court." 
 
 "He spoke of the foreign world ? " 
 
 " That and of other things." 
 
 « Other things ? " 
 
 Her voice dragged slowly over the word as 
 she spoke in answer. 
 
 " Masrgo ! " she murmured in a low voice. 
 
 " And who, I pray, is this Masago ? " 
 
 " Masago," she repeated ; and then again, 
 " Masago. Do you like the sound of the 
 name, cousin ? " 
 
 " It has a fair but common sound. The 
 •morning glory ' is esteemed. It is, in truth, 
 a pretty name." 
 
 " But not so sweet as — Sado-ko. Pray you, 
 say so, cousin." 
 
 " Why, no ; not so sweet, so rare, so royal. 
 Who but a princess might carry such a name 
 
 i',U« 
 
COUSIN KOMATZU 
 
 »59 
 
 as that ? Does not the ' ko ' mean ' royal ' and 
 * Sado,' sweetest name for maiden, * chastity ' ? " 
 
 Her restless hands unclasped. She raised a 
 tremblin 'ace. 
 
 " Kohiatzu, I would exchange that royal 
 name for the simple one — Masago." 
 
 « Princess ! " 
 
 " I weary of that title, cousin." 
 
 " Who is this Masago ? " 
 
 " A simple, happy maid, Komatzu. She is 
 the daughter of a late countryman of Echizen, 
 and now a famous merchant of Tokyo." 
 
 " What is his name ? " 
 
 "Yamada Kwacho. Ah, I see you start, 
 Komatzu. You, too, it seems, have heard the 
 story ? " 
 
 « And you ? " 
 
 " And I. But not until he came to 
 Komatzu." 
 
 " He ? — this artist-fellow told you of your 
 father ? " 
 
 " No. His coming simply widened the lips 
 of the ever open mouths of my sweet maids 
 of honor. By a female chance of listening, a 
 
i6o DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 sex. 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 i. 
 
 r 
 
 ■- J 
 
 I' 
 
 > t 
 
 
 - '» 
 
 1* 
 
 .1 
 
 V 
 
 ! 1 
 
 ■ ' i 
 
 weakness common to our race and 
 Komatzu, I heard the tale retold." 
 
 Komatzu made a gesture of impatience. 
 
 "Cousin, I apologize for the vile gossip 
 with which my palace seems infected." 
 
 " Oh, spare your august tongue, Komatzu. 
 'Twas my own maids who spoke." 
 
 "And this Masago ? I do not altogether 
 understand. She is a daughter of Yamada 
 Kwacho ? " 
 
 " A daughter of his wife, Komatzu." 
 
 The subtle meaning of her words was not 
 lost upon the prince. He frowned. 
 
 "What relation does this Masago bear to 
 this artist-man ? " he asked. 
 
 Sado-ko looked up at him in the now fading 
 moonlight, but did not answer. The expres- 
 sion of her face was strange. She turned 
 suddenly, and moved with slow and almost 
 dreamy step toward her rooms, Komatzu fol- 
 lowing at her side, awaiting her reply. 
 
 Sado-ko paused on the steps, and then 
 she answered in the faintest voice: — 
 
 " Masago is his bride to be, Komatzu." 
 
COUSIN KOMATZU 
 
 i6i 
 
 In the opening of the shoji she paused a 
 space, looking up at the sky. 
 
 "The moon is gone," she said. Her 
 cousin did not know whether to him she 
 breathed farewell, or to the moon, for she 
 said : — 
 
 " Sayonara ! " and then, « O moon ! " 
 
1 1 
 
 I 
 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 A MIRROR AND A PHOTOGRAPH 
 
 /. 
 
 \ 
 
V 
 
 m 
 
 Ml 
 
 I. 
 
 
 :l 
 
 M v 
 
 
 
 ||M 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 A MIRROR AND A PHOTOGRAPH 
 
 C( 
 
 w 
 
 HY do you weep?" asked Sado-ko. 
 "O noble princess," stam- 
 mered Natsu-no, "I would that 
 you could weep with me." 
 
 " Maiden, I have shed all the tears that I 
 can spare." 
 
 The princess arose, to stand for a moment 
 in indecisive silence. For the space of an 
 hour, princess and maid had sat in silence in 
 the darkened chamber. 
 
 " Bring a light, maiden," said the princess, 
 "but do not awaken the pages. Serve me 
 to-night alone." 
 
 The maid bowed obediently. From the 
 adjoining room she brought a lighted andon, 
 and hesitatingly set it on the floor, looking 
 wistfully meanwhile at her mistress. 
 
 i6s 
 
1 66 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 l^ ! 
 
 ' ' \ 
 
 
 " Go now to your deserved sleep, good 
 maid," said Sado-ko, indicating the chamber 
 beyond. 
 
 " And you, sweet mistress ? " 
 
 " I will not need your further offices to-night." 
 
 " Pray you, dear princess, permit the hum- 
 ble one to robe you for the night." 
 
 " I have spoken, Natsu-no." 
 
 The maid turned unwillingly, and push- 
 ing slowly aside the sliding doors, disappeared 
 within. 
 
 Sado-ko lifted the andon and carried it 
 across the room. Holding it in her hand on 
 a level with her eyes, she examined the wall, 
 and found a sliding panel. This she pushed 
 aside, drew from out the recess an ancient 
 rounded mirror. She set the andon on the 
 floor, and then lay down beside it. Thus, 
 lying sidewise, the light at her head, she 
 could hold the mirror before her face, and 
 see the reflection within. 
 
 For a long time she seemed to study the 
 features in silence. Then sitting up again 
 she drew from her sleeve a piece of modern 
 
A MIRROR AND A PHOTOGRAPH 167 
 
 cardboard, such as foreign photographers use. 
 This she also held to the andon light. 
 
 The face which had looked at her from 
 the mirror now stared up at her with cold, 
 inscrutable eyes from the photograph in her 
 hand. Yet there was a subtle difference in 
 the expression of the face of the mirror, and 
 that of the card, for the one was wistful, 
 soul-eyed, and appealing, while the other was 
 of that perfect waxen type of woman whose 
 soul one dreams of but seldom sees. The 
 one was the face of the statue, the other that 
 of the statue come to life. 
 
 Suddenly Sado~ko set picture and mirror 
 aside, and arising, crossed to the sliding doors. 
 These she pushed apart. 
 
 " Maiden ! " she called into the room, 
 « Natsu-no." 
 
 The tired waiting-woman was asleep by the 
 dividing shoji. She awoke with a start and 
 hastened to her mistress, murmuring her 
 apologies. 
 
 " Come hither," said the princess. " I have 
 something here to show you." 
 
I> i' I 
 
 i68 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 She led the maid by the sleeve to the andon 
 upon the floor. Together they crouched be- 
 side it, while Sado-ko gave the picture into 
 the hands of Natsu-no. The maid stared at it 
 in some bewilderment, then held it further in 
 the light. 
 
 " Tell me, maiden, who is this ?" 
 
 Still the maid held it in the light. Her 
 eyes widened, then suddenly she bent her 
 head before the pictured face, next to the 
 floor. 
 
 " Who is this ? " repeated Sado-ko. 
 
 " You, sweet mistress," said the maid, — "a 
 most bewitching honorable likeness of your 
 Highness." 
 
 ••You are sure?" asked Sado-ko, smiling 
 strangely. 
 
 " As sure as that the night is night," 
 declared the maid, again regarding the picture. 
 
 " Maiden, does a princess wear flowers in 
 her hair ? See, there is the bara (rose) to either 
 side on this girl's head." 
 
 Natsu-no started. 
 
 " No, no, exalted one." 
 
 i.ii 
 
 m 
 
A MIRROR AND A PH V OGRAPH 169 
 
 " Did ever princess wea. jch a gown as 
 this, my maiden ? " 
 
 " Oh, princess ! " The woman appeared 
 shaken with a sudden terror. 
 
 " Do not drop the picture, if you please," 
 said Sado-ko, " but look at it again. Observe 
 the knotted fashion of the obi, Natsu-no. 
 Quite in the style of a geisha, is it not? — or 
 rather the poor imitation of some simple maid 
 who would copy the style from the pleasure 
 women." 
 
 The maid dropped the picture as though a 
 thing unclean. At that motion the princess 
 still smiled, but more inscrutably. 
 
 " Oh, noble princess, what evil one did dare 
 to put your Highness's face upon such a pic- 
 ture ? It is a national disgrace." 
 
 Reflectively Sado-ko looked at the picture. 
 
 "Perhaps it was the gods, O Natsu-no," 
 she said, as silently she put the picture in her 
 sleeve. 
 
 She arose, regarding her maid's emotion. 
 
 " Come," she ordered, " undress me for the 
 night, good maiden, for I am very tired, and 
 
170 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 f< i', 
 
 to-morrow — to-morrow we must go upon a 
 journey." 
 
 " To Tokyo," said Natsu, " with the noble 
 Prince Komatzu's suite, and oh, sweet mistress, 
 life will have a happier aspect when wc leave 
 this melancholy place." 
 
 Lifting her hands to her head, Sado-ko 
 withdrew the long jewelled pins. Her hair 
 fell in midnight glory to her knees. 
 
 Kneeling by her, the maid tied her hair 
 back, a very old-fashioned mode which the 
 ladies in her grandmother's youth were fond of 
 following when retiring, and to which the 
 Princess Sado-ko had faithfully adhered. 
 
 " Does the honorable cortege leave before 
 noon?" asked the maid. 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "And all the kuge (court nobles) and the 
 ladies, also, go ? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 "Then I must haste. The sky already 
 lightens. The night is past. When will my 
 mistress sleep ? " 
 
 "There is much time for us to sleep to- 
 
A MIRROR AND A PHOTOGRAPH 171 
 
 morrow. We do not accompany Prince 
 Komatzu's train," said Sado-ko in a low 
 voice, as though she jpoke half to herself. 
 
 The maid paused in her arrangement of 
 her mistrMs's couch, and, kneeling, stared at 
 her. 
 
 "Noble princess, did you not just now 
 speak of a journey ? " she asked, with evident 
 agitation. 
 
 « Yes," said the princess, wearily ; " to-mor- 
 row we also will make a journey, but — we 
 go alone! Pray you, hurry with my bed, 
 Natzu-no." 
 
 Without speaking the maid drew the robe 
 about the princess, now upon the couch. 
 Then she spread her own quilt-mattress at 
 the feet of her mistress. 
 
 "Good night, kind maid," said Sado-ko, 
 and closed her eyes. 
 
 "Princess!" cried the maid, in a choked 
 voice, "foipve the insignificant one, but 
 whither do we journey to- vorrow ? " 
 
 "To Kamakura," said the princess, in a 
 dragging voice; she was tired now. "We 
 
172 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 will go for a little while — just a little while, 
 Natsu-no, to the castle Aoyama." 
 
 The maid was speechless. When she found 
 her tongue, its faltering sentences betrayed her 
 agitation. 
 
 " Princess — the artist-man — " 
 
 "Has gone to-night. Take peace, restless 
 maid. Good night." 
 
 " But whither, Lady Princess, whither went 
 the artist-man ? " 
 
 " I bid you speak no more. Good night." 
 
 
 
 The house party of the Pritice Komatzu 
 ended the following day. A special train car- 
 ried the exalted ones back to Tokyo, whither 
 they went at once to the palace Nijo, for there 
 Komatzu always made his home in Tokyo, 
 with his cousin, the Prince of Nijo. 
 
 There was much gossip and idle conjecture 
 in the party as to the caprice of the Princess 
 Sado-ko. At the last moment she had de- 
 spatched word to Komatzu, saying that she 
 would not travel in the unholy barbarian train, 
 but preferred to proceed leisurely to Tokyo 
 
A MIRROR AND A PHOTOGRAPH 173 
 
 in the old-fashioned but honorable mode of 
 travel, — by kago or norimono. Should the 
 journey prove too tiresome for her strength, 
 she would stop a little while in Kamakura, at 
 the castle Aoyama, and there it was possible 
 she might spend a day or two in maidenly 
 retirement. She desired, however, that her 
 suite should not await her, but proceed with 
 the train to Tokyo. She did not wish to 
 deprive them of the enjoyment (to them) of 
 the peculiar foreign method of travel, and 
 would need only her personal attendants, — 
 eight men retainers, whom she still termed 
 "samurai," the chaperon, old Madame Bara, 
 and her waiting-woman, Natsu-no. 
 
f I 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 MISTS OF KAMAKURA 
 
CHAPTER XII 
 
 MISTS OF KAMAKURA 
 
 THERE were marsh lands and boggy 
 rice-fields in the valley country along 
 the Hayama, and during the season 
 of White Dew (end of August) the river was 
 low and scarcely seemed to stir. 
 
 In the early morning a white mist arose from 
 it, eerily enshrouding the land like a veil of 
 gauze, evaporating, and disappearing slowly. 
 Sometimes, too, at night heavy fogs rose up 
 even to the hills and obscured all sight of 
 land. Oftentimes the traveller, even the 
 native, lost his way. Tales were told of the 
 smiling, languorous river, whose beauty, siren- 
 like, lured her victims to destruction. 
 
 Even the villagers, whose homes nestled so 
 cosily in the fragrant valleys, did not venture 
 out on foggy nights in the direction of the 
 
 M 177 
 
I7« 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 river, unless attended by the Hayama guide, 
 Oka, who boasted he could find his way blind- 
 folded among the familiar paths of Kamakura, 
 even to the very water's edge. 
 
 Almost beyond sight of the village, above 
 the heads of the sloping hills, the lordly castle 
 Aoyama looked over the mists of the valley at 
 Fuji in the sky distance. 
 
 It was five o'clock in the afternoon. A 
 young girl sat by an open shoji, motionless 
 and silent, staring up at the ghost-like hills. 
 The descending mists told her that long before 
 the darkness came all sight of the spot upon 
 which she gazed would be obliterated. She 
 lingered on in melancholy discontent, her chin 
 upon her hand, her embroidery frame idle at 
 her side. 
 
 Beyond a few servants of the household no 
 one was at home save Masago. She knew 
 that her thoughts and meditations would be 
 free from interruption, and so she gave her- 
 self up to them unreservedly, with inward 
 passion. 
 
 The Yamada house was situated on a rising 
 
MISTS OF KAMAKURA 
 
 »79 
 
 eminence. From the maiden Masago's case- 
 ment the golden peaks of the palace Aoyama 
 were visible. It was upon these points that 
 the young girl fixed her eyes with a vague 
 expression of suffering, wistfulness, and yearn- 
 ing. 
 
 What were th" thoughts of Masago, fresh 
 from the training of a modern and fashionable 
 school in the old capital of Kyoto? The 
 dreams that had stirred the apathetic mind of 
 Ohano's daughter into vs^e discontent had 
 not been removed by the months of schooling, 
 but were more definite, and therefore more 
 punful. 
 
 In Masago's hands was the same picture of 
 the martial prince-hero which she had once cut 
 from a Chinese magazine, and which since then 
 she had never ceased to adore. Always this 
 shining prince was entangled in her other 
 dreams. Hands and eyes now both were fixed 
 upon her heart's desire. 
 
 To her the stately palace Aoyama bespoke 
 that other world, intoxicating, ecstatic, desirable, 
 upon the very edge of which she might not even 
 
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 '65J tast Main Street 
 
 (Rochester. New York U6C9 USA 
 
 (7'6} 482 - OiOO - Phone 
 
 (?16) 288 - 5989 - Fa« 
 
1 1 
 
 i8o DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 cling, — she who had been born to it. Th-. 
 innate craving of the Prince of Nijo for the 
 sensations of the upper world ate at the very 
 heart of the daughter of Ohano. To her, life 
 in this world was the most desirable thing on 
 earth ; it must satisfy every craving of the 
 mind and heart, and in it, Masago knew, 
 belonged- her hero-prince. She was not 
 the only humble maiden of Japan who 
 secretly worshipped the nation's martial 
 hero, but possibly her love for him was a more 
 personal thing, because deep in the girl's 
 consciousness always was the knowledge that 
 she might have been worthy of him, had 
 not the irony of fate willed it otherwise, and 
 set her here, a thing apart from him, caged 
 and guarded by such surroundings, — she 
 a daughter of the Prince of Nijo and blood 
 niece to the Emperor of Japan. 
 
 Only three days before the royal fiancee 
 ot her hero had arrived at the palace Aoyama. 
 There, sheltered, nurtured, and watched over 
 the favored daughter of the gods, report had 
 said, had gone into maiden retirement pend- 
 
MISTS OF KAMAKURA 
 
 i8i 
 
 ing her nuptials. Masago thought of her 
 with feelings akin to hatred, impotent and 
 desperate, but ceaseless. She knew that on 
 the morrow this Princess Sado-ko would re- 
 sume her journey to the city of Tokyo. Soon 
 she would have joined her lover, her future 
 husband, in the capital. 
 
 "To-night," said Masago, moistening her 
 dry lips, " she will think of him, and all night 
 long, — it is her privilege. While I — I, too, 
 will think of him — " 
 
 She hid her miserable face within her hands 
 and rocked herself to and fro, thinking of 
 what the morrow must do for her. She knew 
 that Kamura Junzo, her affianced, had returned 
 to Kamakura. Had not her parents gone this 
 very day to attend a family council ? Masago 
 had been glad of the creeping fog which slowly 
 spread across the land, as she knew this would 
 prevent her parents' return that night. She 
 had craved for these moments of maiden 
 privacy. Soon they must cease when she 
 had been given to this man for wife. 
 
 A servant brought Masago her evening 
 
l82 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 li 
 
 ,ii» 
 
 
 
 ii 
 
 i.*:^ 
 
 tea, which the girl mechanically drank as she 
 nibbled at the crisp rice cakes. She did not 
 speak to the attendant while she dined, but 
 continued to stare before her through the 
 opened shoji. When she had finished, she 
 clapped her hands, at which signal the tray 
 was carried away. 
 
 The shadow and the fog inter.. lingled, dark- 
 ening the sky without and deepening the twi- 
 light gloom of the room. A little later the 
 servant returned, bringing a lighted andon, 
 which she set significantly by the silent girl. 
 Then Masago stirred from her abstraction. 
 She saw the eyes of the servant upon the 
 picture in her hand. On a sudden, savage 
 impulse she leaped to her feet and fairly 
 sprung upon the woman, clutching her by the 
 shoulders. 
 
 " Always look ! Always see ! Foolwoman ! " 
 she said in a whisper which was yet a cry. 
 
 The woman shook the hands from her 
 shoulders by simply shrugging the latter an- 
 grily. Then she replied : — 
 
 "Eyes are made to look, and when one 
 
3 
 
 E 
 
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 I 
 
 \i 
 
 li I 
 
 
 
 
MISTS OF KAMAKURA 
 
 185 
 
 looks one sees ; yet eyes have not the tongue 
 to tell what they see, Masago." 
 
 Turning her back upon the servant, the 
 girl walked away. 
 
 The woman glided soundlessly across the 
 room and disappeared into the narrow hall 
 outside. Silent as was her going, yet Ma- 
 sago knew she was gone. She turned about 
 with a sudden movement of passionate feel- 
 ing. 
 
 " The woman knows ! " she said, and clasped 
 her hands spasmodically. 
 
 Then up and down she paced with unquiet 
 feet, to stand still a moment, beating her hands 
 softly together and biting the nails, and then 
 again to pace the room. She threw herself 
 upon the floor. Once again she drew the 
 picture from her sleeve, to press it to her 
 lips. After a while she sat up stiflly, as 
 though she listened. 
 
 " Some one is without my shoji 1 " she said, 
 rising uncertainly. 
 
 She heard dim voices whispering in the 
 corridor; then suddenly the loud, shrill cry 
 
1 86 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 of a runner outside the house and the sing- 
 song, mellow answer of the guide Oka. 
 " Heu ! Heu ! This way ! Ah-ho ! So ! " 
 Her parents had returned home she thought, 
 as she ran to the balcony. She leaned over 
 the railing, forgetting the murmured voices she 
 had already heard within the house itself. 
 " Mother ! Father ! You have returned ! " 
 The cry of the runner floated up to her 
 through the dark mist. Then the loud, 
 hoarse cry of Oka, the guide, proclaiming : — 
 " August guests for the maid Masago-san." 
 The girl's eyes expressed astonishment. 
 Guests for her! and at such an hour! 
 Surely that stupid maid would not admit 
 them till she had learned their names and 
 mission. She, Masago, was but a maiden and 
 little used to receiving guests unchaperoned 
 within her father's house. Masago had for- 
 gotten her vague thoughts of but a moment 
 since. Now she was the simple daughter of 
 a respectable household, agitated at the unex- 
 pected advent of evening guests. 
 
 " No doubt," she thought, " they come to 
 
MISTS OF KAMAKURA 
 
 187 
 
 sec my father, who is not at home. I must 
 descend and beseech them to remain and ven- 
 ture not out again into the fog, though Shaka 
 knows I little wished for guests to-night." 
 
 Sighing, she turned back to her room. 
 Within the light was soft but clear, for an 
 officious one had brought in other andons, 
 and by the hall sliding doors, which were 
 opened, Masago saw a bright Takahiri (lan- 
 tern) flickering without. By this light she 
 saw a kneeling form, crouching with head to 
 mats. Over her the servant who had brought 
 Masago her evening meal stt ;tched a hand to 
 close the shoji. 
 
 Then Masago's eyes turned to that other one 
 within her chamber, and coming to her face, 
 were fixed. She started back a pace, her lips 
 apart. Her visitor did not move or speak. 
 In silent, strange absorption her eyes were 
 fixed upon Masago's face. Thus for a long 
 moment these two stood and looked upon 
 each other, neither speaking, neither moving. 
 
i i 
 
 (I 
 
 I 
 
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 « 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
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 ^ 
 
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CHAPTER XIII 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 MASAGO spoke, her words strangely 
 enunciated. 
 " Lady — you — you desired to 
 speak with me?" 
 
 Her voice broke the spell of silence. The 
 visitor bowed her head simply but eloquently. 
 Masago went a nervous siep toward her. 
 There was fear in both her face and voice as 
 she began deprecatingly : — 
 
 " It was an honorable mistake, lady, that you 
 were not shown within the ozashishi (guest 
 rocm). I beg you, lady, will you not 
 speak ? " 
 
 Her fears overcame her politeness. There 
 was something unreal, strange, almost spiritual, 
 in this woman who looked at her with her 
 own eyes. For Masago almost thought she 
 
 »9» 
 
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 ■vr 
 
 W : i-' 
 
 
 19a DAUGH' ERS OF NIJO 
 
 dreamed, and that she stood before a magic 
 mirror wherein she saw reflected her own 
 beauteous image, clad as only in dreams. 
 But the vision spoke, and Masago's fright 
 vanished. 
 
 " It was my wish," she said in a low voice, 
 " to see you in your chamber. I begged this 
 privilege, Masago." 
 
 " Then, pray you, please be seated," urged 
 the girl. She brought a mat and set it for the 
 guest. 
 
 The visitor stooped, but not to the mat. 
 She lifted up an andon, and carrying it in her 
 hand went closer to Masago. 
 
 "A moment and I will be seated, but first I 
 wish to see your face -— quite close." 
 
 She held the light near to the countenance 
 of Masago and scanned her startled features. 
 Then, swinging it before her own, she said: 
 " Look you at mine also." 
 
 Masago started, with a thrill of wondering 
 amaze. 
 
 "Now," said the other, « I will be seated, 
 and pray you also, sit by me, Masago." 
 
DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 193 
 
 " I do not know you, lady," said Masago, 
 with sudden brusqueness. " I pray you, speak 
 your mission in my father's house." 
 
 The other smiled. 
 
 " Your father's house ! " she repeated. 
 
 " Why do you repeat my words ? " said 
 Masago. 
 
 « I was told the Prince of Nijo — " 
 
 Masago started toward her with a little cry, 
 and that same savage movement with which 
 she had sprung upon the servant. Though 
 inwardly she cherished thought of Nijo, she 
 could not bear that others should speak of it. 
 
 " You come here to insult me ! " she cried, 
 her bosom heaving with suppressed excitement. 
 
 " Be not angry," said the other, softly. " I 
 came but to speak the truth, and — and to 
 gaze upon — my sister ! " 
 
 " Sister ! " The word escaped the lips of 
 Masago like a cry of pain. "You — you are — " 
 
 " Sado-ko," she answered, smiling still, yet 
 sadly. 
 
 A moment Masago stared at her dumbly, 
 then with an indescribable movement she 
 
 (I 
 
194 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 ii 
 
 Mil 
 
 knelt down at the princess's feet and put her 
 head upon the mats. Sado-ko bent over her, 
 stooped, touching her head. 
 
 "I pray you, kneel not thus to me," she 
 said. 
 
 Slowly Masago arose, the color flowing back 
 into her pale face in a flood. Her eyes were 
 bright and vide and feverish. That moment's 
 servile impulse, when she had fallen down 
 upon her knees, was past. She looked the 
 Princess Sado-ko in the eyes, with conscious 
 equality. 
 
 " Now," said the princess, simply, "will you 
 not be seated ? " 
 
 Silently the two sought the mats. Opposite 
 each other they sat, each with her eyes upon 
 the other. Each spoke at once, and each the 
 same words : — 
 
 " You know then — " 
 
 " You know then — " 
 
 They bowed their heads. Thus both con- 
 fessed their knowledge of the fact that not one 
 of them, but both, were daughters of the Prince 
 ofNijo, and hence sisters. Then Masago: — 
 
DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 '95 
 
 " Why do you come to me, exalted princess ? 
 I am but a lowly maiden, who cannot even 
 touch the hem of your kimono." 
 
 " There is a bitter tone within your voice," 
 said Sado-ko. « Why is it so ? " 
 
 Masago did not answer, and the princess 
 continued : — 
 
 "Of your history I had learned, Masago. 
 It matters not how or where or when. One 
 spoke of you with — love — " 
 
 She broke off sharply to wring her hands 
 unconsciously. 
 
 " And so I came to — to look upon you — 
 sister." 
 
 "You came from curiosity," said Masago, 
 in that same bitter tone. "It was the pass- 
 ing whim of a languid princess, bored with 
 her greatness." 
 
 "You misjudgs me," said the Princess 
 Sado-ko, with a sigh. 
 
 " Not so," replied Masago, the color flam- 
 ing in her face ; " I can but recognize that 
 same idle fancy that also once possessed your 
 father when he — " 
 
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 :i 
 
 N,.J 
 
 If 
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 ^ ' 
 
 ^V! 
 
 196 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 She bit her lips and turned her face away. 
 Angry tears clouded her eyes. She could 
 not speak for her proud emotion. 
 
 "There was another reason," said the prin- 
 cess, softly. « Masago, pray turn not you. 
 head in pride from me. I came not out of 
 condescension, nor yet from idle curiosity, but 
 because of a strange hunger of my heart, which 
 I could not resist." 
 
 "How can you have heart-hunger?" asked 
 Masago, coldly. 
 
 "Andwhy not I?" Her very voice was 
 thnlhng with its sadness. Masago would not 
 look upon her face. She was conscious only 
 of that raging jealousy and pain swelling up 
 in her breast. 
 
 I And why not I ? " repeated Sado-ko. 
 
 "You, who are a princess of the royal 
 family ! " cried Masago, with a sudden fierce- 
 ness. « You, of whom all the poets in the 
 realm have sung and raved ! You, at whose feet 
 the whole bright, glittering world is strewn ' 
 You, the cherished Daughter of the Sun -the 
 bnde-to-be of the- the Prince Komatzu ' " 
 
 * t. 
 
DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 197 
 
 sai 
 
 But still a sad and wretched woman, 
 d the 
 
 o 
 
 'rincess Sado-ko. 
 turned upon her fiercely. 
 
 you are so sad, as you say," she 
 
 for 
 
 Masag 
 
 "And if 
 cried, "who can have pity tor your sorrow 
 Are you, then, a statue that you do not 
 appreciate these priceless gifts of all the 
 gods?" 
 
 " Masago, gifts unsought are oftentimes not 
 desired, and sometimes those which glitter in 
 the sun do but reflect its light. What are 
 the gilded outward wrappings of the gods to 
 me, if inwardly still my heart breaks ? " 
 
 " Your heart breaks ! " Masago laughed in 
 scorn. " What, you — who are about to marry 
 the noblest, bravest, the most divine — " She 
 broke off, holding her hands to her throat. 
 
 With a sudden movement the Princess 
 Sado-ko bent forward and looked into the 
 averted face of the maid Masago. 
 
 "You!" she cried, "you love this — " 
 She could not finish her words. 
 
 Masago dropped her face within her 
 hands. 
 
 
 
;i 
 
 'If . 
 St? ' 
 
 198 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 "I," she said. "Yes, I— so humble — 
 the daughter of — " 
 
 "The Prince of Nijo ! " whispered Sado-ko. 
 
 Slowly the hands fell from the girl's face. 
 Her eyes met those of Sado-ko's. 
 
 ,i.| 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 SOLUTION OF THE GODS 
 
/ 
 
 / 
 
 tu 
 
 1; * 
 
 ■^i 
 
 I If ' t 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 SOLUTION OF THE GODS 
 
 i».y| 
 
 A WILD flush of color rushed to the 
 face of Sado-ko ; a light so clear as 
 at first to dazzle her, flashed through 
 her mind. 
 
 " Masago — sister!" she cried. "Oh, the 
 gods give me solution of both our griefs ! " 
 
 " There is, alas ! none for mine," said 
 Masago, and sullenly wiped away the tears. 
 
 « Listen I " 
 
 The Princess Sado-ko leaned over and 
 spoke in a lowered voice. 
 
 " You are aflianced to the artist, Kamuro 
 Junzo. Is it not so, Masago ? " 
 
 A motion of impatient assent was the girl's 
 reply. 
 
 " And you do not joyfully anticipate the 
 
 union 
 
 ft 
 
 aoi 
 

 II! . M > 
 
 202 DAUGHiERS OF NIJO 
 
 " I loathe fhc very thought," returned 
 Masago, bitterly. 
 
 The princess paused a moment as though to 
 master her amazement. 
 
 " Loathe thought of union with Junzo ! " 
 she repeated, then laughed with almost childish 
 joy. "It is not strange— in you, perhaps. 
 Now listen once again, and pray you, answer 
 me." 
 
 " I am listening," said Masago, with sullen 
 impatience. " I will also answer, princess." 
 
 "Call me sister. Name me Sado-ko, I 
 beg." 
 
 '* I will call you princess." 
 
 " Perhaps you will not do so, Masago, when 
 I have completed. But hear me. You love 
 your home, of course, and also your good 
 parents ? " 
 
 " It is said I am of an honorably dutiful and 
 filial temperament," replied Masago, coldly. 
 
 " But," continued Sado-ko, " there are other 
 things you love still more than your dear 
 home .? It is possible ? " 
 
 " It is so," replied Masago, briefly. " Do 
 
SOLUTION OF I'HE GODS 
 
 203 
 
 not look surprised, O princrss. Homes are 
 not all palaces, nor yet are parents all royal." 
 
 " Masago," said the princess gently, " a 
 palace never makes a home, nor royalty a 
 parent. Your home," she looked about her 
 with approving eyes, — " it is most sweet and 
 choice, Masago." 
 
 " The simple cottage of a merchant," said 
 Masago. 
 
 " Your parents — they are kind ? " 
 
 " They are kind," said Masago, and for the 
 first time flushed with some evident feeling. 
 
 " And you have little brothers — yes ? " 
 Sado-ko's voice was wistful. 
 
 " Five brothers. They are >isy, and 
 sometimes, princess, rough and most uncouth, 
 and therefore tiresome." 
 
 " But loving. You will grant that ? " 
 
 "Oh, yes!" 
 
 "You were unhappy — you missed them, 
 did you not, when you left them for the 
 school, Masago ? " 
 
 " I was free," said the girl, slowly. 
 
 " Free ! Free from loving home, from 
 
204 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 parents — Junzo — all who loved you. Free! 
 You prize such freedom, Masago ? " 
 
 The girl remained silent, her head drooping, 
 her brows drawn. Suddenly she raised her 
 face defiantly. 
 
 " I am not unappreciative of their good 
 qualities. It was not my fault that I was 
 fashioned — so ! " She smote her hands 
 against her breast with an eloquent gesture. 
 
 " Yet, I confess, since I was but a little 
 child, ! have felt like one oppressed — caged 
 — stifled! Still I was deemed submissive! 
 My lips were sealed in silence. I was patient, 
 for only once did I protest against the dull 
 monotony of my lot. I asked Yamada 
 Kwacho for just one year of freedom. I did 
 not name it such, but such it was. For this 
 small respite, Sado-ko, I tied my life to an- 
 other's and affianced myself to Junzo. It whs 
 a bitter moment." 
 
 " You did not love him ? " asked the prin- 
 cess, in a timid, most beseeching voice. 
 
 " I did not even look upon him," returned 
 Masago, impatiently. "He was my father's 
 
SOLUTION CF THE GODS 205 
 
 choice, not mine. I —nee, look here, O prin- 
 cess ! " She held before the eyes of Sado-ko 
 the printed picture of the Prince Komatzu, 
 then continued swiftly, with passionate vehe- 
 mence : — 
 
 " This was my hero ! I went up to Kyoto 
 
 not to study." 
 
 She arose and began to walk across the 
 chamber, clasping and unclasping her hands 
 as »he spoke. 
 
 «* I saw the noble palaces of my ancestors, 
 
 yrs, mine! I lingered, wandered in the 
 
 strec outside— think of it!— outside the 
 walls! I watched at every gate, and saw 
 the corteges and the trains of the nobles and 
 the princes pass and repass back and forth ; 
 and oh ! while I must fall upon my face— I! 
 And once, just once, I touched the august 
 sword of Prince Komatzu. Thus! It was 
 thus I did so." 
 
 She swung her long sleeve till it barely 
 grazed the head of Sado-ko, in illustration. 
 
 " 'Twas in a public place he spoke. They 
 set him up like any common man ! He was 
 
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 a.H 
 
 
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 111 
 4} 
 
 i\ 
 
 ft 
 
 ^:31 
 
 id 
 
 
 iOb 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 so noble, so great. O princess ! he spoke 
 to all that gaping herd like man to man, 
 with less of condescension than the lordly 
 politicians of the capital, — he whose august 
 feet should not have deigned to touch the 
 earth." 
 
 " Nay," interposed the princess, smiling 
 quietly, " Komatzu is a modern. The times 
 have changed, Masago. No longer are the 
 royal ones called gods." 
 
 " Yet like unto a god he was," declared 
 the girl, " for I saw with these eyes." 
 
 " Which love had sweetly blinded," smiled 
 the princess, sympathetically. She, also, arose, 
 and put her hand upon Masago's arm, leaning 
 against her. 
 
 '' Masago," she said, in her low, winning 
 voice. " if you could do so, would you change 
 your simple home for the roya) court and all 
 its glamour ? " 
 
 " Ask the birds if they prefer the wide, free 
 sky to the dark sea." 
 
 " Would you, then, exchange your state for 
 — mine, Masago ? " 
 
SOLUTION OF THE GODS 207 
 
 Slowly the girl turned her face and looked 
 into the pleading eyes of Sado-ko. Her voice 
 was hoarse. She said : — 
 
 "You give me wilful pain, O princess. 
 Why? You know full well that could nui 
 
 be." 
 
 "Why not?" asked Sado-ko, whisperingly. 
 
 " No, no ! " Masago recoiled, her incredu- 
 lous eyes fixed as if fascinated on the face of 
 Sado-ko. The princess placed her hands on 
 the shoulders of Masago, and brought her face 
 
 close to hers. 
 
 "Look into the mirror — Sado-ko," said 
 
 she. 
 
 « Sado-ko ! You call me by your nf\me ! " 
 "And pray you, call me — Masago." 
 " Oh, no ! Oh, no ! " 
 "You will not change with me?" 
 "Oh, oh!" Masago had become white 
 as death, as though she were about to faiir 
 "Will you not do so?" still pleaded the 
 now almost despairing voice of Sado-ko. 
 "I dare not — dare not," she murmured. 
 There was silence now in the room. The 
 
 >li 
 

 V-}-\l 
 
 W\ 
 
 208 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 dim sounds of the world about them did not 
 reach the ears of these two. Masago had 
 reached out a trembling hand to support her- 
 b<jlf ugainsc the framework of the wall. Sado-ko 
 watched her with a yearning, melancholy ex- 
 pression in her face. Suddenly she turned 
 away. 
 
 " You were right, Masago," she said slowly, 
 "It could not be." She paused, then, sigh- 
 ing, mov-d with drooping head toward the 
 doors of rhe corridor. 
 
 " Sayonara — sister," she softly breathed. 
 
 That word of firewell broke the tension 
 of the dazed Masago. She sprang with a 
 cry after the departing one. Both of the 
 princess's sleeves were in her grasp. 
 
 " Go not yet ! " she cried. " Do not go ! " 
 
 She fell grovelling upon her knees, still 
 clinging to the long sleeves of the princess, 
 and hid her face in rhe folds of Sado-ko's 
 kimono. Then, with her face muffled in the 
 gown, she spoke: — 
 
 " I could not grasp the meaning of your 
 words — My heart kaped up and burst — 
 
SOLUTION OF THE GODS 209 
 
 I could not think, i pray you, do not take 
 my joy away while yet 1 barely grasp it in 
 my hands, Princess Sado-ko ! " 
 
 « You do consent ! " said Sado-ko, h-nding 
 over her, while a strange light of excitement 
 came into her eyes. 
 
 " Consent ! On my knees I could pray to 
 you, as to a god, to grant this thing you sug- 
 gest for a caprice." 
 
 St! 
 
 ■# 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE CHANGE 
 
 i 
 
\^yM 
 
 M 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 H 
 
 THE CHANGE 
 
 USH ! Do not speak so loudly, 
 Masago ! " 
 
 " How you tremble, Sado-ko." 
 
 "We have once more mistaken our names," 
 said she who was the Princess Sado-ko. 
 
 "Oh, true. Now call me Sado-ko! No, 
 call me noble princess, most divine, exalted, 
 august, royal princess ! Call me so ! " 
 
 "A princess is not so addressed," replied 
 the other, smiling, "save sometimes by a 
 servile, ignorant one." 
 
 " I fear I will be sure to make the most 
 absurd mistakes." 
 
 "So! Then the whole court will call it 
 ' A new caprice of the foolish Princess 
 
 Sado-ko.' " 
 
 "Again, if you please — call me Sado-ko." 
 " Princess Sado-ko ! " 
 
 213 
 
 i^ 
 
 i I 
 
 !'«> ! 
 
I 
 
 \ 
 
 214 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 i i'UT 
 
 " Masago ! " 
 
 " Nay, call me simply * sister,* " said the 
 other, in a trembling voice. 
 
 " Sister — there ! Does not this beauteous 
 robe become me well r " 
 
 " As though it were made alone for you, 
 Masago." 
 
 " No, no, — Princess Sado-ko ! " 
 
 " I bow my humble head unto the dust, 
 most royal Princess Sado-ko ! " 
 
 In mock humility the new Masago bowed 
 before the old Masago. 
 
 " Yet," said the latter, with her red lips 
 pursed in thought, " they say it is the latest 
 fashion of the court to wear the foreign style 
 of dress. Is it not so ? " 
 
 "Yes. It is so." 
 
 " Oh, Joyful ! Such beautiful and gorgeous 
 gov;ns as I shall wear. I will send at once 
 to all the most famous foreign cities. Let me 
 see, — to Holland, and to — " 
 
 " The Princess Sado-ko never liked the for- 
 eign gown," interrupted the other, shaking her 
 head a trifle sadly. 
 
THE CHANGE 
 
 a»5 
 
 " But you spoke just now of the caprices 
 of that same Princess Sado-ko. She has 
 already another one." 
 
 Then up and down the room, in the long, 
 trailing robe of Princess Sado-ko, walked, 
 peacock-like, the maiden Masago ; while close 
 at hand, with dreamy face and dewy eyes, 
 clad in a simple crepe kimono, and with 
 flowers — no longer jewels — in her hair, stood 
 Sado-ko. 
 
 " Tell me," said the vain and eager Masago, 
 "when the noble Prince Komatzu shall greet 
 me so," — she bowed with assumed gallantry 
 — " will I bow thus ? " Down to the mat 
 she bent her head. 
 
 " Why, no ; but thus." Gracefully, simply 
 she illustrated. " A low, but not too low, 
 obeisance. You are of equal rank, Masa — 
 princess ! " 
 
 « So — like this ? " 
 
 " No ; this way." 
 
 " Well, it will take me twenty hours to prac- 
 tise thus. I will not sleep till I accomplish it." 
 
 " Oh, you will learn. Bow as you will. 
 
 Mi 
 
'( 
 
 i,6 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 Masago. Komatzu will declare your mood 
 has changed, and still insist that you arc fair." 
 Stooping in her posing, Masago stared a 
 moment at the other. 
 
 « Perhaps already he has whispered words 
 of love to you, then?" Her voice was 
 sharply jealous. 
 
 ««No, my cousin does not know me quite 
 as yet. You will make him better acquainted 
 with Princess Sado-ko." 
 "Ah, that I will!" 
 
 She raised her long, slim arms from out the 
 graceful sleeves. Her hands she clasped be- 
 hind her head. 
 
 " Oh, what a glorious dream it is ! " she 
 said ; then, in quick alarm, " A dream ? Say 
 that it is not all a dream." 
 
 But Sado-ko sat staring quietly into the 
 future. When she raised her eyes, they softly 
 
 gleamed. 
 
 " A dream it is — a dream, and yet — Oh, 
 Kuonnon, let us net awake!" 
 
 "Ah, how can you be so glad — you who 
 are to stay here only Masago?" 
 
"Then up and down the room, in the !ong, trailing robe ot 
 Princess Sado-ko, walked, peacock-like, the maiden 
 Masago." 
 
 ii 
 
 • ill 
 U 
 
lil 
 
 ;;-=K 
 
 ■AiHi 
 
THE CHANGE 
 
 ai9 
 
 " Masago," repeated the other, softly. 
 "That is well." She raised a flushing face. 
 " I am liko a bird set free, Masago. My very 
 voice is sore to sing." 
 
 Masago threw herself upon the floor beside 
 her. 
 
 "That is how I feel, also," she said. 
 
 They smiled into each other's faces, then 
 drew closer together, their sympathy for each 
 other growing. 
 
 " Here is some homely counsel," said Ma- 
 sago. " Confide small matters to my mother, 
 and lead her on to gossip much with you. 
 She will tell you everything there is to know. 
 She is so simple — so foolish. A little wit 
 upon your part will quickly disarm any sus- 
 picion she might have. But be not free in 
 speech with Yamad? Knacho, your new father. 
 A cold and constrained space has always been 
 between us. Do not let the children disturb 
 you with their prattle, and oh, also, pray you 
 show some pride to certain neighbors, for 
 none in all the town have had the same 
 up-bringing as Masago." 
 
 i 
 
' 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 I'' 
 
 
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 If. ,i' - 
 
 
 I 
 
 220 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 "And is that all, — these simple facts that 
 I must heed to be Masago ? " 
 
 "All. It is a dull and simple life." 
 
 "And you. Pray trust not the ladies of 
 my suite. They do most heartily detest the 
 Princess Sado-ko, who is given to seclusion, 
 which has often deprived them of much gay 
 pleasures of the new court." 
 
 " But I will change all that," said Masago. 
 
 "That is true." She sighed. " Well, then, 
 there is nothing else to say. But stay ! My 
 maiden, Natsu-no. Oh, pray you, dear Ma- 
 sago, treat her with the greatest kindness, 
 will you not?" 
 
 "I will." 
 
 " She is even now without this room, wait- 
 ing for me, with that dear patience with which 
 she watches and guards me at all times. You 
 know, Masago, she has been with me since I 
 was but a baby. Alas, I shall suffer for her 
 loss ! " 
 
 Tears for a moment dimmed the eyes of 
 Sado-ko. 
 
 " What more ? " asked Masago, surveying 
 
THE CHANGE 
 
 221 
 
 with delight the width and beauty of her 
 obi. 
 
 " What else ? Well, Masago, there is one 
 other rjaiter. In the garden of the Palace 
 Nij ) there hang; an open cage, just without 
 my :h jiiber. It is the home of my dear 
 nightingale." 
 
 « A bird ? " 
 
 "A little bird. Listen, there is a pretty 
 story you would like to hear. Once in the 
 spring, while I was yet a little girl, and griev- 
 ing for my most beloved grandmother, his 
 Majesty, the Emperor, sent me as a gift of 
 consolation a nightingale within a golden cage. 
 It sang so sweetly to me that I was entranced 
 with delight, and when the days were warm 
 would hang the cage upon my balcony. The 
 garden close at hand was fragrant with the 
 odor of the cherry and the plum, and allured 
 many other nightingales to make their home 
 there. The little birds noticed their play- 
 mate in the cage, and when, at evening, they 
 saw no one in sight — for I was hidden be- 
 hind my shoji screen — they would approach 
 
 
222 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 LJl 
 
 It 
 
 I ' 
 
 I 
 ii 
 
 i; 
 ■'ill 
 
 : i; 
 
 
 the c-ige, and sing all merrily together. These 
 honorably sweet serenades gave me double 
 joy, as you may imagine, and I soon learned 
 to distinguish the voices without and that one 
 within the cage. At first I thought the song 
 of my own bird within the cao-e sounded 
 sweeter even than those without. Then in a 
 little while it became hard to distinguish them, 
 and at last I could not hear the voice of my 
 small nightingale at all." 
 
 She paused a moment, as though in thought, 
 then resumed; her eyes sweet with moisture. 
 
 " I pondered over this odd change, Masago, 
 and then I thought that it must be because 
 those without enjoyed their freedom in the 
 open air, while my poor little bird was shut 
 within the narrow limits of its cage." 
 
 Her eyes became more tender still as she 
 proceeded. 
 
 " So I opened wide the door, Masago, and 
 let my little bird go free." 
 
 "Why, then," spoke the other, "it is gone. 
 How foolish you were, Sado-ko." 
 
 The princess shook her head. 
 
 .-^I 
 
 # 
 
Then sot't alighted on a ihcrry tree 
 iis ^\vcet song.' 
 
 and 111 led the air with 
 
i>: 
 
 in 
 
 Fi (1 
 
THE CHANGE 
 
 225 
 
 « I thought, like you, that it would fly far, 
 
 far away, but no ! It only flew above my 
 
 head a space, then soft alighted on a cherry tree 
 
 close by, and filled the air with its sweet song." 
 
 " But since ? " 
 
 '♦Since then, Masago, the -age is always 
 opened wide. Yet still the nightingale makes 
 its home within." 
 
 « It is a pretty tale," said Masago, thought- 
 fully, "but I should fear to lose the bird." 
 
 She arose and began once more to survey 
 the long folds of her silken gown. 
 
 Sado-ko looked at her in silence, an expres- 
 sion of wistfulness about her eyes. 
 
 « It must be late," said Masago. " The fog 
 is thick without. Should I not go now?" 
 Silently the princess arose. 
 "You are eager to try the new life," she 
 said, smiling sadly, then sighing. 
 
 « Yes, I am eager," said Masago. « Who 
 
 would not be ? " 
 
 « Oka, the guide, is without, Masago. He 
 
 is safe, is he not?" 
 "Oh, surely." 
 
 p 
 
 m 
 
226 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 " Then there will be no peril in your return 
 to Aoyama ? " 
 
 "Oh, none," said Masago, then hesitated 
 a moment. " But I do not think I will go 
 there to-night." She appeared to be turning 
 something over in her mind. The princess 
 watched her doubtful face. 
 
 " I would much rather go to Tokyo 
 straightway," said Masago. 
 
 "That is well, then," the other assented. 
 "But first you will need to go up to the 
 palace, for there your attendants still remain. 
 Then I would advise that you leave to-night 
 by norimono. Speak little to the maiden, 
 Natsu-no, who is keen-eared and keener eyed ; 
 but if you so desire, make inquiries of the 
 Madame Bara, the chaperone. She is absent- 
 minded and stupid." 
 
 "I do not wish to trave! by norimon," 
 said Masago. Then clasping her hands, she 
 said, « Oh, I have long desired to travel in 
 great royal state in a private train, such as it 
 is said the Prince Komatzu uses." 
 
 "Very well, then. But give your orders 
 
 Uk 
 
THE CHANGE ^t^ 
 
 at the palace. You will be obeyed. And 
 now — you are going ? " 
 
 " Shaka ! I begin to tremble." 
 « And I," said Sado-ko, tremulously. 
 "Will not the m£iid discover — " 
 « Masago, bear in mind, the maid is but a 
 maid. Treat her so." 
 
 "Ah, true! Yet you bade me be most 
 kind to her." 
 
 " Kind, but not familiar." 
 "Oh, I will try. Now, what must I do 
 to call her?" 
 
 "Why, clap your hands." 
 « So simple a signal for a princess ? " 
 " Yes. Just so. I will illustrate." 
 Her little signal sounded sharp and clear. 
 Masago started and trembled at its sound. 
 Then she turned toward the opening doors. 
 She heard the low voice of the princess 
 v;hispering close be ide her. 
 
 " Speak to her. Say, ' Maid, take up the 
 
 light.' " 
 
 Masago walked with faltering steps toward 
 the doors. Her voice shook a moment, 
 
 a ■! 
 
 il 
 
 m 
 
I '• 
 
 It! 
 
 228 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 then raised in nervousness, it sounded oddly 
 harsh. 
 
 " Take up the light ! " she said. 
 But at her voice the sleepy Nacsu-no 
 started, turned, and looked up at her face in 
 wide-eyed surprise and growing fear ; then her 
 eyes went slowly to that other one, now with 
 her back toward her near the shadow of the 
 shoji, the bright outline of her huge obi bow 
 alone in the light. Natsu-no, shaking and 
 trembling, advanced a pace toward her, glanc- 
 ing fearfully meanwhile at that object standing 
 there in her mistress's habiliments, yet in so 
 strange and unfamiliar aspect. 
 
 Masago moved to cover her intense ner- 
 vousness. The maid's voice quavered. 
 
 "Exalted princess, I — I — " She stam- 
 mered over her words. Self-confidence as- 
 serted itself in Masago. She raised her 
 head imperiously. 
 
 "Take up the light and follow me!" 
 she said. 
 
 Trembling, dumb, and horror-stricken, the 
 maid obeyed, for she had caught one quick, 
 clear glimpse of that sweet other face. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 A FAMILY COUNCIL 
 
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CHAPTER XVI 
 
 A FAMILY COUNCIL 
 
 THE Kamura house was built on a hill 
 slope. Of all the houses of the 
 suburb, it was nearest to the palace 
 Aoyama. Shortly after the Restoration the 
 elder Kamura had been a retainer of a kuge 
 in the service of his late Majesty. Thus he 
 received permission to build his house near 
 to the summer chariot (throne) of the Sons of 
 Heaven (Imperial family). 
 
 It was a restful dwelling, its lower story sur- 
 rounded by verandas, while small, flower- 
 laden balconies were upon the upper story. 
 The gardens were artistic in their arrangement, 
 showing the youthful labors of Junzo and his 
 younger brothers. In his earlier years Junzo 
 had been ambitious to become an artist gar- 
 dener, — a most honorable calling in Japan, — 
 
 331 
 
 m 
 

 
 m^ 
 
 .ri 
 
 '»'1: 
 
 232 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 and so upon the few acres of land belonging to 
 his father he had spent the first passion of 
 the artist. 
 
 With the aid of his brothers he had carried 
 from the river heaps of white pebbles, which 
 were placed at angles of the flower beds; while 
 between the pebbles the fine embroidered ferns 
 pushed up their fresh green heads. A trellis- 
 work arched the garden gate, weighted down 
 by vines and wistaria. The arms of the pine 
 were trimmed ; a stately camphor tree shaded 
 the house verandas. At intervals through 
 the garden, cherry, plum, peach, and quince 
 trees contributed their share of blossoms, fruit, 
 and fragrance. 
 
 From the upper story the outlook was pic- 
 turesque. To the eastward were the Aoyama 
 parks and the white walls of the palace gar- 
 dens ; on the north, beyond the wooded parks, 
 were mountain ranges ; on the west the village, 
 Kamakura, close to the shore of the playful 
 yet mist-dangerous Hayama; while to the 
 southward, over the hills and through the 
 valleys, the great white highway led to Tokyo. 
 
A FAMILY COUNCIL 
 
 133 
 
 On the afternoon ^ the family council the 
 guests were ushered upstairs, where all the 
 shojis had been removed, thus making a cool 
 pavilion of the story. Every male relative of 
 the Kamura family had dutifully accepted the 
 invitation, since they were old-fashioned and 
 most punctilious in the observance of family 
 and social etiquette. 
 
 After the usual exchange of salutations, 
 Madame Kamura and her young daughter, 
 Haru-no, brought tea and tobacco for the 
 men. Then with graceful prostrations they 
 made their excuses, and, taking Ohano with 
 them, retired to another portion of the house. 
 The women's retirement was the signal for the 
 council's beginning. 
 
 Kamura, the first to speak, showed apparent 
 reluctance, while at the same time he nervously 
 tapped his pipe upon the hibachi. 
 
 « Honorable relatives," he said, bowing to 
 the company, and then turning toward Yamada 
 Kwacho, " and most esteemed friend and neigh- 
 bor, it gives me pain to be forced to make 
 apology for the absence of my son Junzo." 
 
i^ 
 
 lU 
 
 '"■t 
 
 234 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 He paused, and, to cover his discomposure, 
 solemnly filled and lighted his pipe again, 
 while the relatives masked their surprise with 
 polite, impassive expressions. 
 
 " My son," continued Kamura, " arrived last 
 night from Tokyo. I doubt not for a moment, 
 but that it was his honorable purpose and in- 
 tention to attend our council, which you all 
 know was^ called to arrange the preliminaries 
 of the wedding ceremony of my son, Kamura 
 Junzo, and the most virtuous and estimable 
 Masago." 
 
 Again the old man paused to glance in a 
 half-appealing way at his son Okido, the next 
 in age to Junzo, who sat at his left side. On 
 Kamura's right the seat was vacant. This was 
 Junzo's place. 
 
 " Last night," continued Kamura, " my son 
 was certainly ill in health ; he was pale of face 
 and absent in both look and speech. I set it 
 down to the most natural rnood of youth about 
 to wed. We all, good sirs, have felt that happy 
 sense of melancholy peculiar to this stage of 
 
 our careers. 
 
A FAMILY COUNCIL 
 
 ass 
 
 Some of the guests smiled, and nodded their 
 heads, assenting to this fact ; others looked at 
 one another somewhat dubiously. 
 
 "And so," continued their host, "we 
 thought it wisdom not to broach the subject 
 of our council. When morning came Junzo 
 was still pale and constrained. His mother 
 spoke in delicate terms of the council planned, 
 and he mildly acquiesced in all she said. At 
 noon he barely touched his meal. He ap- 
 peared so listless, that no member of the 
 family had the heart to break upon his medi- 
 tations. Hence, when he walked in seeming 
 moodiness about the gardens, then suddenly 
 turned and wandered toward the hills, I sim- 
 ply bade my son Okido follow him at respect- 
 ful distance. To be more brief, good friends, 
 it seems that Junzo followed a straight cou se 
 along the hills, and, coming to the palace walls 
 of Aoyama, ventured beyond the gates. 
 Okido, being an obedient and filial son, has- 
 tened home to acquaint his father with the 
 facts. Since then my son has not returned." 
 " He ventured beyond the palace gates ! " 
 
 f 
 
 it: 
 
l\ 
 
 236 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 JV 
 
 Li>fM 
 
 
 exclaimed Yamada Kwacho. " Had he a pass, 
 Kamura? " 
 
 " I do not know," said the old man, simply. 
 "You have already heard my son has fame 
 at court. I have accounted for his absent 
 state of mind by the fact that, being young 
 and new to favor, his mind is filled with 
 thought of his art and work." 
 
 "And he has not returned?" queried 
 sharply an uncle. 
 
 " Not yet," said Kamura, bowing cour- 
 teously. 
 
 " I trust he has not come to harm," said 
 another relative, with concern. " It is said the 
 palace once again is opened, and that the noble 
 Princess Sado-ko is there in maiden retire- 
 ment." 
 
 "There is time for his return," declared 
 Kamura, with dignity. "I trust you all will 
 stay with me. What say you, my good friend 
 Kwacho ? " 
 
 " Assuredly, I will stay," assented the gruff 
 and honest Kwacho. 
 
 "And I." 
 
 i 
 
A FAMILY COUNCIL 
 
 237 
 
 "And I." 
 
 Thus from all the guests. 
 
 They sat late into the afternoon, beguiled 
 by sake, tea, and the dreamy day. The mel- 
 low light of the sun was softly dulled by the 
 white haze which crept up to the sky from out 
 the river. The white mist deepened, turning 
 softly gray, then darkened imperceptibly. A 
 breeze sprang up from the west, sweeping with 
 briskness through the opened story of the 
 Kamura house. 
 
 Yamada Kwacho contracted his brows, as 
 he looked uneasily at the darkened sky. 
 As though he read his thoughts, the patient 
 voicw of his host said simply : — 
 
 " It is but the hour of four." 
 
 " Yet see how strangely, weirdly dark," said 
 a young cousin, pointing out toward the river. 
 "There seems a cloud upon the Hayama, 
 Cousin Kamura." 
 
 "A habit of this country hereabouts," said 
 Kwacho, answering for his host. "Sometimes 
 the mists arise while it is yet noon, and, creep- 
 ing across the skies, darken and thicken in a 
 
238 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 fog so dense that even a tailless cat might lose 
 its way." 
 
 The young Kamura cousin shuddered, and 
 looked with apprehension at the ever clouding 
 sky. 
 
 Yet time slipped quickly by for these 
 easeful, somewhat indolent Japanese, who 
 lounged, smoked, and sipped their sake, un- 
 mindful of the mist. 
 
 " The fog is spreading," said the youth 
 Okido. " Shall we not close the shoji walls 
 and bring andons for our honored guests ? " 
 
 " My son has not returned," said the gentle 
 voice of the father; "yet — " He glanced 
 about uneasily, in the deepening shadow, 
 scarcely able to distinguish one guest from 
 another. He arose, and shook the skirt of 
 his hakaiiia. In a moment he recalled that, 
 father though he was, yet he was still a host. 
 He clapped his hands, and bade the answering 
 servant close the shoji walls, and bring lights. 
 
 It was not five o'clock in the afternoon, 
 yet the gray world without told of close 
 creeping night. 
 
A FAMILY COUNCIL 
 
 239 
 
 At six the ladies of the house came to the 
 upper story. Madame Kamura was pale; 
 her daughter, a young girl of seventeen, 
 showed a somewhat frightened countenance, 
 while Ohano alone was placid, and seemingly 
 contented of mind. 
 
 The fog grew thicker every moment, 
 Madame Kamura told her husband, and as 
 she feared it was not possible their guests 
 could leave the house that night, she had 
 ordered dinner served, and would prepare the 
 sleeping chambers. She spoke only of the 
 comfort of her guests. Although Junzo had 
 not returned, no words escaped her careful 
 lips of that which wrenched her mother-heart. 
 Her husband thanked her for her thought- 
 fulness, and said that they would be ready for 
 the honorable meal, but begged her not to 
 speak of rest. They would keep the council 
 until the midnight hour. 
 
 And so the evening meal was served. The 
 night was spent in quiet sake sipping, and 
 dreamy introspection by the guests, while the 
 heart of the genial host was heavy. 
 
 m ^' 
 
'i' 
 
 240 
 
 DAUGH FERS OF NIJO 
 
 B' 
 
 -•m 
 
 In a chamber of the lower story Ohano 
 snored in healthy forgetfulness of all the 
 little ills of life. The maiden Haru-no 
 drowsed by the shoji of the Ozashiki ; and 
 by her side, immovable and silent, but with 
 wide, wakeful eyes, the mother of Kamura 
 Junzo kept the night watch. 
 
 " It is the fate of the humble female," she 
 had protested, when the young Haru-no had 
 begged her to sleep. " Bear this precept, 
 daughter, always in your mind : The mother, 
 wife, the sister, daughter, must ever watch 
 and wait upon the comfort of the male. It 
 is the law ; it is our duty ; it is our fate. 
 We bow to it with submissive philoso- 
 phy." 
 
 At twelve there was a stir upon the upper 
 floor. Madame Kamura heard the shuffling 
 movement of the breaking of the council 
 By the drowsy footfalls she knew the guests 
 were anxious for their beds. She bade a 
 servant attend the guests. Then she returned 
 to her station. She did not turn her head 
 when the sound of footsteps passed along 
 
ti 
 
 A FAMILY COUNCIL 
 
 241 
 
 the hall. Her husband quietly took his 
 place by her side, without speaking. Thus 
 all night long these two kept watch for 
 Junzo. 
 
 
\r 
 
 ^ '■ffi 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE NEW MASAGO 
 

 
 
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CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE NEW MASAGO 
 
 
 TKE following morning dawned clear 
 and bright, not a remnant of mist or 
 fog remaining to recall the previous 
 night. A bright yellow sun arose from behind 
 the hills and beat away every vista of gloom 
 from the skies. It poised above the river 
 Hayama, as though to look upon its own re- 
 flected light ; then swept along its early course, 
 flooding the land with new light, and piercing 
 the shoji walls of the chamber of the maid 
 Masago. 
 
 The Princess Sado-ko opened her eyes, 
 looked half dazedly, half wonderingly, a mo- 
 ment at the unfamiliar ceiling overhead, then sat 
 up on the mattress. Her eyes wandered about 
 the room in a helpless, bewildered fashion for 
 a moment, then suddenly a little flickering 
 
 245 
 
 if '^ 
 
 ti ' 
 
 1; 
 
246 
 
 DAUGH FERS OK NIJO 
 
 !^ m 
 
 smile of recollection came. She slipped from 
 the mosquito netting. 
 
 She was in pale blue linen. Below her 
 gown her little bare feet twmkled over the 
 matting as she hastily crossed the rooTi, 
 pushed the casement a small wav open, and 
 peeped without. A breath of aelight escaped 
 her, for from Masago's chamber her eyes 
 looked out upon the old dtsiefhrful scenes of 
 her childhood, the far-reachrrsg meadows, slop- 
 ing hills, and Fuji-Yama smiling in the morn- 
 ing light. 
 
 For some time she remained by the case- 
 ment, enjoying simply the morning and its 
 gentle breezes. Almost unconsciously she 
 found herself waiting for the attendance of her 
 maiden, Natsu-no. Then recalling Masago's 
 words that henceforth she must robe herself, 
 she laughed. 
 
 She had no difficulty in dressing. Masago's 
 wardrobe was of the simplest, Yamada Kwacho 
 limiting her in dress expenditure. Sado-ko 
 donned a pretty plum-colored crepe kimono 
 and a dark, gold-figured obi. Her hands flut- 
 
THE NEW MASAGO 
 
 ■H7 
 
 tcred delightedly over Masago's clothes ; they 
 were so simple and comfortable, she thought. 
 
 When she was quite diessed, she forgot to 
 put away the bed, — a duty Masago always per- 
 formed, — but stepping out upon the balcony 
 loitered for a moment in the sun. Then the 
 garden's fragrance captivating her, she ran 
 down the little flight of stairs into the garden. 
 
 Flowers grew abundantly there, — simple and 
 common flowers they were, but preferred by 
 Kwacho because of their very lack of cultiva- 
 tion, and hence their naturalness. 
 
 Almost recklessly Sado-ko plucked them, 
 filling her arms with blossoms. She had an 
 inclination to sing and laugh and pick flowers 
 all the day, she felt so strangely free and 
 happy. 
 
 When a servant came and watched her from 
 the kitchen door, the girl smiled toward her. 
 The woman appeared taken aback at the good 
 will in the girl's face. Masago had been over- 
 bearing toward her father's servants, which had 
 made her generally unpopular among them. 
 The servant's voice was not so sharp as she 
 
J,'l^ 
 
 fl »•-. 
 
 248 DAUGF'i ; OF NIJO 
 
 had intended it to be. Would Masago have 
 her morning meal ? 
 
 The young girl in the sunny garden nodded 
 cheerfully, then hastened toward the house, 
 her flowers in her arms. She drank her morn- 
 ing tea in happy silence, but smiled so often at 
 the waiting maid, that the latter marvelled at 
 her amiability of mood. When Sado-ko had 
 finished, the woman said, almost in a deprecat- 
 ing tone : — 
 
 " I did not mean to give offence last night, 
 Masago." 
 
 " Offence ? " repeated Sado-ko. " Did you 
 give offence — to me ? " 
 
 " Why, yes. Do you not recall my looking 
 at the picture in your hands ? " 
 
 " What picture ? Oh, yes, yes. Did you 
 do so ? Now I do recall it." 
 
 She moved toward the door to cover her 
 confusion, then turned her head backward, 
 smiling sweetly at the servant. 
 
 " Do not worry, maid. I am not offended." 
 
 A moment the woman stared at her in be- 
 wilderment. Then she said with some hesitancy ; 
 
 I • 
 
 ^i 
 
THE NEW MASAGO 
 
 249 
 
 " Before you went to Kyoto, Masago, I 
 always took the liberties with you, which since 
 your late return you appeared not to desire. 
 I, being long in your family service, as you 
 know, was hurt." 
 
 Sado-ko paused in the doorway. 
 
 " When — when did I return ? " she asked, 
 in a curious tone, as though she could not 
 recall the exact date. " I have been away it 
 seems — yes — I have been away ; but when 
 did I return ? " 
 
 '^ Why, only two days since," declared the 
 maid, in astonishment. 
 
 " How absent is my little mind," she 
 laughed. " Two days ago. Why, yes, of 
 course — and let me see, I have been gone — " 
 She appeared to calculate the time. 
 
 " But half a year," said the servant. " You 
 were to have stayed one year, but your affi- 
 anced, having acquired such great fame at 
 court, your father wished to hasten on your 
 honorable marriage." 
 
 " Oh," said the girl, and then repeated in 
 a low, happy voice, " hasten on my marriage." 
 
 !l 
 
?i 
 
 250 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 i*^^ 
 
 She turned suddenly toward the maid. 
 
 " Do you find me changed ? " she asked. 
 
 The woman regarded her dubiously. 
 
 "Ye-es — no. Last night I thought you 
 more than usually impatient, Masago." 
 
 "Ah — was I so? I did not mean it." 
 
 " But to-day you seem more kind than even 
 as a child, though you were the most gentle, 
 passive, and best of little ones." 
 
 " And so I am just now," said Sado-ko, 
 merrily. " I am not changed one little bit. 
 Think of me, if you please, as a child." 
 
 " Perhaps the fault was mine last night," 
 pursued the woman, glad to prolong the con- 
 versation with Masago. 
 
 " Look ! " exclaimed the girl, pointing to 
 the garden. " See, some little children ! " 
 
 " Your brothers, Masago. Can you not 
 see ? " 
 
 "Brothers — mine! Oh-h ! " 
 
 Dropping her flowers on the veranda, she 
 ran lightly down the path, as though to meet 
 the little boys. Halfway down the path a 
 sense of panic seized upon the princess. She 
 
 Mk 
 
 m 
 
THE NEW MASAGO 
 
 251 
 
 paused in painful hesitancy, scarce knowing 
 which way to turn. 
 
 Would not these little brothers of Masago 
 recognize the deception ? Could the likeness 
 be so strong as to deceive Masago's own 
 family ? A maid's judgment was but a poor 
 criterion. 
 
 She stood quite still, waiting, ^d dreading 
 their approach. Her first impulse had been 
 to run in loving fashion to meet the little 
 boys. Her sudd":: Tear of these individuals 
 saved her from doing that which Masago 
 never had done, caress or fondle her small 
 brothers. 
 
 While Sado-ko possessed an innate love 
 of nature and of children, these things but 
 irritated poor Masago, who called the country 
 dull, the town enchanting, children wearisome, 
 and fashion fascinating. Though each feature 
 of the faces of these two sisters was identically 
 alike, their natures vastly differed. Sado-ko 
 was all her mother in nature, and even the 
 cold harshness of her life had frozen but her 
 exterior self. Masago was the complement 
 
 f 
 
I f. 
 
 252 
 
 1 ' 
 
 m ' 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 of Prince Nijo. Her previous environment, 
 association with Ohano, and possibly a little 
 portion of the latter's nature made her what 
 she was, — a girl of weak and vain ambi- 
 tions. 
 
 Now the princess stood hesitating, fearfully, 
 before the little army of Masago's brothers, 
 five in all. The older ones spoke her name 
 respectfully, as they had been taught to do. 
 The sn.aller ones pulled her sleeves and obi 
 mischievously, as though they sought to tease 
 her : but when she laughed, they seemed 
 abashed, and ran to hide behind a tree from 
 whence they peered at her. 
 
 The maid who brought them from the 
 neighbor's bade the girl an apathetic good 
 morning, and seemed surprised at the cor- 
 diality of the other's greeting. 
 
 Sado-ko breathed with some relief as the 
 children disappeared within the house. Then 
 for the first time she sighed wistfully. 
 
 " If they had loved Masago," she said, 
 •'surely they wouUl miss her. But no, a 
 stranger steps into her clothes, takes her 
 
 ^'^ir^ 
 
1 HE NEW MASAGO 
 
 253 
 
 place within the house, and fickle childhood 
 cannot see." 
 
 In gentle depression she moved toward 
 the house, then slowly up the steps to 
 Masago's balcony, from which she watched 
 the children take their morning bath in the 
 family pond. It was a pretty sight, she 
 thought, to see their little bare, brown bodies 
 shining in the sun. A little later the elder 
 children went whistling down the path to 
 school while the nurse disappeared with the 
 younger ones. 
 
 " Strange," said Princess Sado-ko, " that 
 none of them seemed glad to see their sister. 
 Was not Masago loved, then ? " 
 
 She pushed the doors open and thought- 
 fully entered the chamber. 
 
 " Perhaps," she said, " the foreigners speak 
 truth. What is that pretty proverb of their 
 honorable religion ? Is it not, ' The love 
 begets the love ' ? Masago plainly did not 
 love her little brothers. Hence they have 
 but indifference for her." 
 Again she sighed. 
 
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 m 
 
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 ! ' 
 
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 :mk 
 
 
 iiii 
 
 w 
 
 p [ 
 
 254 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 "Ah," she said, "what kind of maiden, 
 then, is this I have exchanged for me ? " 
 
 She saw the tumbled couch upon which 
 she had slept. She recalled the fact that 
 Masago had told her she would be required 
 to make her own bed and attend her own 
 chamber, for Kwacho deemed such household 
 tasks desirable and admirable in a woman. 
 
 Therefore the exalted Princess Sado-ko, 
 the daughter of the sun-god, as she was 
 called by all loyal Japanese, fell to work 
 upon the homely employment of rolling up 
 a mattress bed, beating the little rocking 
 pillow, folding the quilts and the netting. 
 Suddenly she sat down breathlessly among 
 the simple paraphernalia which constituted 
 Masago's bed. She had forgotten where the 
 maid Masago had told her the clothes were 
 kept! The little thought perplexed and 
 troubled the Princess Sado-ko. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 A MOTHER BLIND 
 
;i 
 
 ri^ 
 
 
 
 <-•>? 
 
 ''I 
 
■I « 
 
 I 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 A MOTHER BLIND 
 
 WHILE the Princess Sado-ko was 
 sitting ruefully among the folded 
 bed things, and pondering upon 
 the weighty question of their disposal, Kwacho 
 and Ohano arrived home in jinrikishas. The 
 former hastened to the kitchen for a cup of 
 tea before departing on a mission to Tokyo, 
 while Ohano hurried up the stairs to her 
 daughter. Ohano was so eager to pour out 
 recent confidences to her daughter, that she 
 labored at every step in her ascent. 
 
 When she entered Masago's room without 
 knocking, as was her custom, she was aston- 
 ished at the sudden start the girl gave. How- 
 ever, Ohano had such a story to pour out that 
 she did not pause, but said in almost one 
 breath : — 
 
 K as? 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 i fl 
 
 ill 
 
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 H 
 
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 WW 
 
 258 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 " Masago, 1 have the greatest news for you 
 — it will make you the happiest of maidens in 
 Kamakura — What! your bedclothes not ut 
 away yet ? Well — but I must tell you all 
 that happened, at once." 
 
 She broke off breathlessly, her eyes upon 
 the young girl's face. Something unfamiliar 
 and strange about it stopped her flying tongue. 
 She stared at her in stupefied perplexity, her 
 mouth wide open. 
 
 Sado-ko averted her face. With her head 
 slightly turned, she stood in a listening atti- 
 tude, as though waiting for Ohano to proceed. 
 
 " How strangely you looked at me just 
 now!" gasped Ohano, and, leaning over, 
 pulled her sleeve. " Masago ! You have not 
 spoken to me yet ! " 
 
 " I have not had the chance," said Sado-ko, 
 in a stifled voice. 
 
 " Why — your voice is strange ! What has 
 happened, daughter ? " 
 
 Sado-ko attempted to recover her compos- 
 ure, fighting against a sense of weakness that 
 overpowered her at the thought that Ohano 
 
A MOTHER BLIND 
 
 259 
 
 would penetrate the disguise. What mother 
 would not have done so? she thought with 
 fear. With some bravado she turned and 
 
 faced Ohano. 
 
 "Nothing is the matter," she declared. 
 
 " You you said you had some news to tell 
 
 me, mot cr." She bit her lip at the last word, 
 as the thought came to her that this woman 
 might not be the mother. The words of 
 Ohano reassured her. 
 
 "Well, come and sit here," she said. "I 
 have much to tell." 
 
 When Sado-ko was seated at her side with 
 averted face, the words of the mother became 
 
 piteous. 
 
 "Your mother always was so stupid," said 
 poor Ohano, "but, Masago, you really are 
 much changed since your return irom school. 
 Yet truly — why, I never noticed it before.' 
 She stopped as though to give the girl a chance 
 to speak, but the latter remained silent. 
 
 " Now let me see," said Ohano, " I will tell 
 you from the first of all that happened. I 
 know, Masago, you will be happy at my news. 
 
 I 
 
 *i 'I 
 
 1 I 
 
i6o 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 You see, we waited all the day and all the night 
 for him to come and — " 
 
 " For htm ? " said Sado-Ico, in a low voice. 
 
 "Yes — for Junzo." 
 
 " Junzo ! " She turned toward Ohano with 
 a sudden swiftness. Her eyes were dilated 
 with trembling excitement, " Yes, yes — prav 
 speak on." 
 
 Pausing, Ohano looked in astonishment at 
 the girl's flushing face. 
 
 " Ah, now I know why you seem changed, 
 Masago," she said finally. " It was thinking 
 all night long upon your wedding. Well, who 
 could blame a maiden for feeling and for act- 
 ing somewhat — changed ? " 
 
 " But tell me," said the girl, pleadingly, " of 
 — of Junzo. Why do you not proceed ? " 
 
 " Well, we waited for him ail the day, 
 Masago, and all the — " 
 
 " You have already said that. Do proceed." 
 
 " He did not come." 
 
 " Not come ! Why, where — " 
 
 *• You hardly give me breath to speak to 
 day, Masago. Do not hasten my words so. 
 
A MOTHER BLIND 
 
 a6i 
 
 1 told you that I had good news for you. Be 
 patient, as a maiden should be, and hear my 
 
 story." 
 
 " Yes, yes, yes." 
 
 " Well, vour affianced did not come. Is 
 not that welcome news for you ? " 
 
 Sado-ko smote her hands together. She 
 had become white, and her lips were quivering. 
 
 " Why did he not come ? " 
 
 Ohano shrugged her plump shoulders. 
 
 "The gods alone kno>v why, Masago. It 
 seems he went out early in the day before the 
 fog arose, and— Why, how you startle me 
 to-day!" 
 
 With a half-stifled cry the princess sprang 
 to her feet, and stood before Ohano trembling 
 in agitation. 
 
 " You do not mean that he has met with 
 harm ? " she cried in a horrified tone. " Oh, 
 you sit there smiling when my heart is burst- 
 ing with its fear. Why do you not explain — " 
 Her breath came in gasps. She could 
 scarcely enunciate her words. Ohano stared 
 up at her aghast. 
 
 I' 
 
 
I 
 
 a6a 
 
 DAUGHFERS OK NIJO 
 
 I'l-i 
 
 " Shaka, Masago ! You are beside yourself 
 with most incomprehensibie agitation." 
 
 With an eloquent, piteous gesture the girl 
 threw out her hands. 
 
 " Oh, will you not tell me what has hap- 
 pened to him ? " she cried. 
 
 " Happened to whom ? You do not mean 
 
 to Junzo ? " 
 
 Sado-ko nodded her head and clasped her 
 
 hands. 
 
 " Who else could I mean ? " she asked. 
 
 " Well, nothing that we know has happened 
 to the man," said Ohano. " He simply would 
 not come to his own marriage council. The 
 reason is most plain, I think." 
 
 " But the fog — you spoke of it — " The 
 girl was now upon the verge of tears. 
 
 " The fog was good excuse for his absence, 
 Masago. Yet no one of the guests believed 
 it was the reason he did not come ; and when 
 this morning brought a guard from Aoyama, 
 why, even the most stupid of us all — your 
 simple mother — knew the cause of your fiance's 
 absence, and why he went to Tokyo." 
 
A MOTHER BLIND 
 
 263 
 
 '. iie girl repeated the words dazedly. " To 
 
 yo! 
 
 '« So the guard declared. He said that Junzo 
 followed the norimon of the Princess Sado-ko 
 down to the railway station — then — " 
 
 Ohano paused at the odd exclamation which 
 
 escaped the girl. 
 
 " Sado ko ! " she said in a soft voice, then 
 began to laugh in a strange fashion. 
 
 « Do not mind my silly laughter. I — - 1 
 am not well to-day. Continue, if you please. 
 
 Do not stop." 
 
 Ohano looked concerned, but continued 
 
 obediently. 
 
 "The guard Informed us that when they 
 reached the station Junzo, acting like one 
 crazed, sought passage on the royal train. 
 This being denied him, he followed on the 
 next, while his parents and relations, and 
 good Kwacho and myself, were waiting for 
 his coming at his father's house. There is 
 only one solution." 
 
 rhe girl was laughing softly, yet in a 
 strangely tearful way. She said: — 
 
 
f 
 
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 ri^.^ 
 
 h» 
 
 264 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 " He followed Sado-ko ! " 
 "Just so, Masago. She is his patroness, 
 and I have heard — But never mind, you 
 look so pale this morning 1 will not gossip of 
 that other matter. His parents say the honor 
 paid him at the court has turned his head, 
 but I am of another thought." She shook 
 her head knowingly. " Ic is my firui belief, 
 Masago, despite the smooth words of his 
 family and the rough ones of your father, 
 that Junzo went awr.y because he dreaded 
 thought of wedding you. He has another 
 fancy." 
 
 Sado-ko smiled through her tears. 
 " It is true," she said, " I do not doubt 
 it. He dreaded thought of union with 
 Masago." 
 
 "Just as you, Masago," said Ohano, bri- 
 dling, " dreaded the thought of marrying him. 
 You were ill suited to each other. The gods 
 know best." 
 
 " Yes," said the princess, softly, " the gods 
 know best." 
 
 She looked out through the casement 
 
A MOTHER BLIND 
 
 265 
 
 toward the hills of Aoyama. As though she 
 spoke to herself, she said: — 
 
 " He will return. He will understand." 
 Then, in a lower voice, " He loves me." 
 
 Ohano, engaged in putting away the bed 
 ding, had not heard the latter words. As she 
 set them, neatly folded, in a little cupboard, 
 she said in tones of conviction : — 
 
 "Do not worry, daughter. He will not 
 return. The gods have given you the 
 freedom that you wished so much. Be 
 
 thankful — " 
 
 Sado-ko did not hear her words. She 
 went to the balcony, and looked with wistful 
 eyes toward her former castie home. 
 
 " He will return," she whispered to her 
 questioning heart, " I am not stranded here 
 
 alone. 
 
 A thrill of apprehension smote her. Had 
 the change she had effected with Masago 
 been in vain ? Would Junzo follow the new 
 Sado-ko ? Could it be that his eyes were no 
 keener than those of Masago's relatives? 
 
 All about her the yellow sunlight smiled. 
 
266 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 The hills were warm. The skies were blue. 
 The air was still and sweet. Peace and 
 silence were everywhere in Kamakura. 
 
 "The gods are good," said Sado-ko, with 
 divine faith ; " he must return to me," 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 WITHIN THE PALACE NIJO 
 
li) . 
 
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CHAPTER XIX 
 
 WITHIN THE PALACE NIJO 
 
 THE palace Nijo, the resort of West- 
 desiring nobility and court, was pos- 
 sibly the oddest if most expensive 
 residence in Tokyo. Originally it had been 
 a Yashiki of the Daimio of Mito. Time and 
 the impulsive treatment of the Imperialists 
 had demolished portions of the place. With 
 each persistent rebuilding, strangely enough, 
 the palace took on a more modern, foreign 
 aspect, until this time, when, in spite of its 
 ancient moat, quite dry and overgrown with 
 trees, its lodges, and its few melancholy turrets, 
 it bore a strong resemblance to those houses 
 built upon the bluffs of Yokohama by the 
 foreign residents. 
 
 The Nijo palace in itself was a monument 
 to the country's change. Bit by bit its 
 
 369 
 
 ^i 
 
 i 
 
1-JO 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 ancient Eastern aspect w.is disappearing, so 
 that now, except for the rambling character 
 of portions of its yashiki-like walls, and its 
 enormous si/e, it was as Western in outward 
 looks as the Japanese modern himself appeared 
 when clad in Western dress. 
 
 Even its grounds were typical of the new 
 era, for close-clipped lawns replaced the 
 gardens, groves, shrines, fish-ponds, hillocks, 
 and artificial landscapes, once the rule within 
 the walls of this yashiki. 
 
 No longer at the palace gates the lordly, 
 haughty man of swords scowled upon the 
 passer-by. The days of the samurai and 
 ancient chivalry were dead, — since but a 
 score of years. So rapid was the sweeping 
 " progress " of the new Japan ! Now stiflf 
 guards, in heavy foreign uniform., patrolled 
 the grounds; while within the house itself 
 the very servants wore the buttoned livery 
 of the West. Fashion shook her foolish 
 hand over the city of Tokyo, and her sub- 
 jects, adoring and submissive as ever, named 
 her guilelessly, " Progression." 
 
WIIHIN THE PALACE NIJO 27* 
 
 Within the palace Nijo all wore the garb 
 of Europe, — the thick, sticking, heavy cloth 
 of man, and the tight, suffocating dress of 
 woman. The gentleman of fashion and 
 means, at this time, possessed two residences, 
 a town and country place, — sometimes several 
 
 of the latter. 
 
 In Tokyo foreign life and foreign dress 
 ruled supreme at court, save, possibly, within 
 the secret privacy of chambers, when heated 
 men and panting women flung aside their 
 Western garb, and, sighing breaths of eased 
 relief, slipped on the soft and cool hakama 
 or kimono. 
 
 Junzo, the artist of Kamakura, had no 
 difliculty in gaining ingress to the palace, for 
 the guards, some of them late from Komatzu, 
 recognized him, and thought him possibly 
 still a member of the household. It was 
 late afternoon when he walked with down-bent 
 head along the broad and gravelled pathway 
 which led to the green lawn of the palace 
 
 Nijo. 
 
 It was two months since Junzo had left 
 
iti 
 
 ,( 
 
 •: 111 
 
 "i u 
 
 27a DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 his home in Kamakura, and, following the 
 cortege of Princess Sado-ko, had come to 
 Tokyo. There, during this time, he had 
 wandered aimlessly about the city, trying to 
 conquer the mad longing within him to see 
 once again this princess. But his passion 
 was stronger than himself, and now it had 
 mastered him. 
 
 A servant, clad in modern livery, smiled 
 behind hU hand as the artist slipped his 
 shoes off at the door; but Junzo, usually so 
 quick to take offence at insolence, did not 
 notice this new disdain of an old and honor- 
 able habit. He handed a letter and his card 
 to the attendant, who, becoming more respect- 
 ful, bowed his head to the level of Junzo's 
 knees and ushered him with ceremony into a 
 reception room. 
 
 The artist did not see the odd furnishing of 
 the room, the plush upholstered chairs, the 
 cabinets, the pictures in heavy gilt frames 
 nailed to the light frame of shoji walls. His 
 head bowed, his hands clasped behind him, 
 Junzo walked up and down the apartment. 
 
WITHIN THE PALACE NIJO 273 
 
 vvhile through his soul coursed the longing of 
 
 his letter. 
 
 " Sado-ko ! I will not call you princess, for 
 this you have commanded me I must not do. 
 I will call you Sado-ko — sweet Sado-ko! I 
 come a mendicant to your august father's house, 
 hungering for the sight of your dear face. I 
 tamish for the touch of your beloved hands, 
 and cannot live for longing for your voice. 
 And so, in beggar-wise, I come, beseeching 
 you to see me for the space of one short hour 
 again, to speak to me, to let me touch the hem 
 of your kimono. Or if I ask too much, my 
 Sado-ko, then let me once but look upon your 
 face again, even though I may not speak to you, 
 nor hear your voice. That night when, in the 
 bamboo grove, we kept the tryst, I watched 
 you pass from out my life with one whose 
 name I cannot tven write. The blackness of 
 my fate closed down upon me then, blinding 
 me to all light of earth or sky. For days, for 
 nights, I wandered about the streets of Tokyo. 
 1 could not eat, nor sleep, nor think. I barely 
 lived. My brain was scorched with but one 
 
 I 
 
 if, 
 
MICRtKOPY RESOLUTION TEST CHART 
 
 ^ANSI and ISC TEST CHART No 2| 
 
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 '6^3 tost Main Street 
 
 ^' ►'ester. New York 14609 uSA 
 
 (.15) ^82 -■ 0300 - Phone 
 
 (7' 6) 288 - 5989 - Tai. 
 
274 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 name — my Sado-ko, my lotos maiden, my god- 
 dess of the sun! My father sent to seek me in 
 the capital. But I was waiting there for you. 
 Then rumor somehow pierced the gloom of 
 my dark mind. It was said that you had gone 
 to Kamakura, and would not come to Tokyo. 
 It was my own dear home as well, and there 
 I hastened, Sado-ko. They thought — my 
 parents — that I came home at their solicita- 
 tion. But no ! I wandered by your palace 
 walls. My fevered mind dreamed only of the 
 time when chance might give me passing sight 
 of you. Then one black night I heard you 
 journeying from out the gate. I touched your 
 norimono, and in the night I cried your name 
 aloud; but, oh, alas! though I would have 
 heard a whisper from your lips, you did not 
 answer me — you made no sign, O Princess ! 
 Since then, in bitterness of spirit, I have lin- 
 gered here in Tokyo, sometimes with harsh 
 thoughts upon our love, but longing all the 
 time for sight of you — for one small glimpse ! 
 • As beat the restless waves on Biwa's strand,' 
 so does my heart break for Sado-ko ! " 
 
WITHIN THE PALACE NIJO 275 
 
 A maid of honor, holding her long silken 
 train across her arm, came down the wide stair- 
 way (a modern Importation) of the Nijo palace, 
 trailed her noisy skirt of taffeta across the hall, 
 and paused within the doorway of the recep- 
 tion room. 
 
 She stood a moment without speaking, star- 
 ing with baleful eyes at the bent head of the 
 artist. Then she spoke softly, and with clear- 
 ness. 
 
 « Good day. Sir Artist. It is an unexpected 
 pleasure to see once more your august counte- 
 nance." 
 
 Junzo turned his melancholy eyes upon her 
 mocking face. Painfully he bowed, feeling in 
 small mood to perform the courtesies of 
 
 life. 
 
 "You are in excellent health, I trust?" she 
 
 asked. 
 
 He bowed in answer. She smiled, and went 
 
 a step nearer to him. 
 
 « I also hope you are still painting pictures 
 
 just so fine as — " 
 
 She laughed derisively, and slowly, languidly 
 
 
u 
 
 
 276 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 unfurled her fan, a monstrous pinky thing of 
 ostrich feathers. 
 
 A slow, dull flush grew upward in the face 
 of Junzo. He did not deign to answer the 
 taunting of the Lady Fuji-no. 
 
 " How is it, may I ask," she continued, 
 " that you so cruelly deserted us upon our 
 journey to the capital ? It was declared about 
 the court that you had been engaged by Prince 
 Komatzu to execute a speaking likeness — 
 such as was the one of Princess Sado-ko — of 
 all the ladies of our court." 
 
 " Lady," said Junzo, with a certain scorn 
 within his voice, which caused his tormentor 
 to blush with angry shame, " I am not here to 
 visit you. You do me honor m your unsought 
 speech with me. Yet, I pray you, do not 
 waste your wise and witty words upon a simple 
 artist." 
 
 " Your words are rough. Sir Artist," she re- 
 plied, her small eyes flashing, " yet though you 
 state you did not come to visit me, you are 
 perhaps mistaken. I am a maid of honor to 
 her Highness Princess Sado-ko, and in my 
 
WITHIN THE PALACE NIJO 277 
 
 keeping she has condescended to intrust an 
 answer to your letter." 
 
 He stared at her in shocked amazement. 
 " Through you ! " he cried. " The Princess 
 Sado-ko sent word by you ? " 
 
 " Just so," she answered haughtily ; " and so 
 I trust you will guard your tongue in your 
 words to one who is the august messenger af 
 Princess Sado-ko." 
 
 "Give me her letter then," the artist said 
 in a husky voice. 
 She laughed lightly. 
 
 " It is within my head, not hands. Sir Artist. 
 The princess hade me state that she will con- 
 descend to grant your wish this evening. 
 There will be a special ball within the palace, 
 for his Majesty has sent his son, the young 
 Crown Prince, but lately come of age, as guest 
 to Nijo. The Princess Sado-ko bade me state 
 you are invited." 
 
 She paused, watching with narrowed eyes the 
 paling face of Junzo. 
 
 « For my part," she said, " I do not know 
 the tenor of your letter, nor the request you 
 
 12 li 
 

 278 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 f.n 
 
 r, 
 
 dared to make of her Highness; but this I 
 know, Sir Artist : to-night, if you accept this 
 invitation, though you look at her with the 
 keen eyes of love, you scarce will recognize 
 your Princess Sado-ko." 
 " She is so changed ? " 
 
 « So changed ? Well, no and yes. Changed 
 not in looks, artist, for beauty such as hers 
 fades only with old age, but changed in ways, 
 in action, speech, in very thought. You 
 sighed, Sir Artist." 
 
 « You have keen ears," he said bitterly. 
 " Perhaps," she said, " your sighs will be 
 much louder, artist, after you have seen her 
 Highness. You will note the folly of illusions. 
 You will not trace the change in Sado-ko to 
 yourself, but to a master hand more royal." 
 
 " Lady, your words are veiled. I do not 
 understand them." 
 
 "You will to-night. Had I more pity in 
 my nature than the gods have given me, I 
 could almost counsel just now: Stay in that 
 dull world to which you rightfully belong and 
 trust not all the words of Sado-ko. Nay, do 
 
VVIIHIN THE PALACE NIJO 279 
 
 not scowl. Your ancestors, I learn, were 
 samurai. To-day you are a citizen — an artist- 
 man. I am a lady of the court, cynical and 
 little apt to trust my kind. Yet, artist, I 
 think you will recall the words of Fuji when 
 you are able to see with your own eyes the 
 actions of her Highness with her new lover, 
 the noble Prince Komatzu." 
 
 He spoke with sneering, cutting scorn : — 
 
 " Lady, your ambition ever trips before you. 
 It is said you would gladly bring about the 
 marriage of some noble persons for your own 
 small ends. That union, I doubt not, will soon 
 be consummated." He paled perceptibly even 
 while he spoke the words, but continued with 
 defiant bravery: "Yet do not waste your 
 efforts in defaming to a poor artist one he 
 trusts completely." 
 
 She brought her beaded slipper sharply 
 down upon the floor. 
 
 " You speak the truth. Sir Artist. I would 
 encompass such a union, and the gods favor 
 my ambition. The Princess Sado-ko is kind 
 to her affianced lord." 
 
 « u 
 
 ■III 
 
i8o 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 " They are not publicly betrothed," he said 
 
 gloomily. 
 
 "Not yet, but the very coming of the 
 Crown Prince indicates that the time is near. 
 I will confess another weakness, artist. I do 
 dislike your presence, and I fear it. If eyes 
 and even ears are not deceived, the Princess 
 Sado-ko loves her cousin Prince Komatzu." 
 
 He made a gesture of denial, but she con- 
 tinued steadily: — 
 
 "Yet by your coming I fear that older, 
 wilder claims may reawake within the heart 
 of the capricious princess." 
 
 " Her heart is steady as the sun," he said. 
 " She is all nobleness and truth." 
 
 "You doubt that she has wavered toward 
 her cousin ? " 
 
 " I do not even think of it." 
 
 "Sol You think the sex so true. Well, 
 trust your ey«8 to-night. Sir Junzo!" 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 AN EVIL OMEN 
 
 m 
 

CHAPTER XX 
 
 AN EVIL OMEN 
 
 « 
 
 A' 
 
 RTIST, you cannot enter the hall ! " 
 said the Duchess Aoi, pulling the 
 sleeve of Junzo's hakama. 
 "I am a guest," he said briefly. 
 " But you transgress the most stringent 
 rules of the court. His Majesty commands 
 that no one, save in evening dress, shall appear. 
 The Crown Prince is the guest of honor 
 to-night." 
 
 Junzo looked with doubtful eyes at his 
 dress, then stared at the black-coated, white- 
 breasted garb of those within the room. 
 
 "It is the Prince of Nijo's palace; I am 
 well aware that customs are changed here," 
 he said. 
 
 " You think the Princess Sado-ko still sets 
 the fashions at defiance. Oh, artist, she is a 
 most abject devotee." 
 
 283 
 
 
 
ru 
 
 284 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 '* I do not understand." 
 "Artist, for your own sake, do not look 
 upon this new Sado-ko. Wait till the night 
 is past, and see her in the morning. She will 
 be then the princess you have known." 
 
 Both Jun/o and the duchess started at a 
 familiar sound of low, mocking laughter. 
 "What, dear Duchess Aoi, you deign to 
 
 touch to hold the sleeve of the honorable 
 
 artist ! " exclaimed the Lady Fuji-no. 
 Aoi's brown eyes flashed angrily. 
 " It was an honorable accident," she said 
 haughtily. " I sought to save the artist from 
 an error which would prove most humiliating 
 to him. He is a stranger and does not know 
 the rules as yet; but simply cast your eyes 
 upon his dress, my lady, and you will see why 
 I restrained him." 
 
 Fuji smiled in a superior, veiled way. 
 « Artist," she said, " Aoi is always thought- 
 ful. She speaks the truth to-night. Pray 
 heed her. If you step within the august hall, 
 and even gaze at a great distance upon her 
 Highness, you will lose your honorable head." 
 
AN EVIL OMEN 
 
 a85 
 
 Junzo walked away from them and went 
 upon the veranda of the palace. But Lady 
 Fuji followed him. She pointed toward the 
 long glass windows of the ball-room. 
 
 "Artist, the Duchess Aoi would prevent 
 your seeing Sado-ko in her new garb. She 
 clings to the despairing fancy that when her 
 Highness sees you again, her feelings and also 
 her dress will undergo a change, and that the old 
 Sado-ko will once again bewitch the artist, and 
 perchance save Komatzu for the Duchess Aoi." 
 "The duchess would prevent the mar- 
 riage ? " asked the artist, quietly. 
 
 " She is fairly mad to do so, artist, while I 
 am equally determined to have it so. Now 
 to which of us do you choose to lend your- 
 self as a weapon ? " 
 
 " Lady," said Junzo, gravely, " there is a 
 Western proverb : * Between two evils, choose 
 the lesser.' Tell me, which of you is the 
 lesser evil ? " 
 
 She shrugged her thin, bared shoulders. 
 " Frankly, I confess of the two evils, Aoi or 
 Fuji, I do not know which is the worse." 
 
286 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 Junzo frowned gloomily through the win- 
 dows into the brightly lighted room, now 
 quickly filling. A trumpet blast, full and 
 clear, resounded somewhere in the palace. 
 " Who enters now ? " asked Junzo. 
 "The noble Prince Komatzu. Note the 
 change upon his face, artist. Love prints her 
 fingers on one's countenance as clearly as 
 can be." 
 
 " And who comes now ? " 
 " Put close your face against the barbarian 
 pane. You see quite plainly ? " 
 " Quite so." 
 
 « Well, look your full, Sir Artist. It is the 
 Princess Sado-ko who comes." 
 
 He saw a glittering, spangled gown, low of 
 neck and long of train. So long, indeed, it 
 was that she who wore it tripped within it, and 
 often lifted it in awkward style. Little high- 
 heeled French slippers were upon the feet. 
 The artist's eyes turned from surveying her 
 strange, gorgeous gown, to her face, and there 
 for a long, horror-stricken moment they re- 
 mained. 
 
AN EVIL OMEN 
 
 287 
 
 Her face was creamy tinted, the eyes long, 
 the brows finely pencilled. Her tiny lips were 
 tipped with rouge, while her rich, shining hair 
 was crumpled in a strange and massed coiffure. 
 Wisps of hair, not straight or silky, but 
 crinkled and curled like the hair of the un- 
 intellectual races, strayed about the face and 
 sometimes fell upon her eyes. Her head was 
 held straightly and proudly, and she did not 
 deign to look about her. Her long, bare neck 
 was weighted down with pearls and other 
 flashing gems. Long, sleek, black gloves shut 
 out the beauty of her arms. 
 
 With eyes distended, Junzo gazed upon 
 her, like one fascinated with some strange, 
 gliding serpent. He did not hear the loud 
 fanfare of trumpets signalling the entrance of 
 the young Crown Prince, nor note the sudden 
 reverent silence within, the ceasing of the stir 
 of fans, the silencing of voice and movement. 
 Through his bewildered mind he thought he 
 heard the mocking laughter of the Lady 
 Fuji-no. Then suddenly the band crashed 
 out, and the imperial ball had opened. 
 
 
 -I 
 
288 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 4 
 
 Slowly the artist turned, and in the light 
 streaming from the window he gazed at the 
 soft, smiling face of Fuji. 
 
 " It was a dream," he said, passing his hand 
 across his brow. 
 
 « Awake, Sir Artist I " said the lady, " I 
 trust you are already disillusioned." 
 
 He walked awhile up and down the ver- 
 anda, then returned to her. 
 
 « Lady, the Duchess Aoi spoke truth. It 
 was an order of the Emperor. She could 
 not disobey. She is a martyr to the times." 
 
 « So ! So ! " 
 
 « So I believe," said Junzo, with unfaltering 
 
 faith. 
 
 "You find her changed, then?" 
 
 "In dress — in garb, that is all." 
 
 "You did not see her face when she had 
 
 deigned to turn it to the Prince Komatzu ? " 
 "Beauty like hers will shine from very 
 
 graciousness, my lady." 
 
 " Artist, as you are aware, the Princess 
 
 Sado-ko is unconventional. To-night when the 
 
 first ceremonies are past, she will leave this ball- 
 
AN EVIL OMEN 
 
 289 
 
 room. She may not dance, being a princess 
 royal. So she will retire to her private gar- 
 dens, and there, I doubt not, will linger for 
 a little while. Come with me there, and if 
 she chance to see you, perhaps she will con- 
 descend to speak to you to-night. The prin- 
 cess but attends the ceremonials on these 
 occasions. Hence we will not have to wait 
 
 for long." 
 
 « A happy thought," he said eagerly, as he 
 
 followed Fuji-no with willing feet. 
 
 It was dark without. The gardens in their 
 modern dress lacked the charm of those of 
 the palace Komatzu, yet Junzo trusted it 
 would be different when they should come to 
 Sado-ko's own private place. But here a 
 disagreeable surprise awaited him. The place 
 was in a state of great disorder, and the 
 long reflection of the palace lights showed 
 that the gardens were being changed in form 
 
 and style. 
 
 « Follow me with care," said Fuji-no, " for 
 as you see, the gardens of her Highness are 
 undergoing change. Those who work by day 
 
 

 290 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 are not so careful to render the place safe for 
 evening loitering." 
 
 They came now to a new wing of fhe palace, 
 which, too, appeared to be in process of altera- 
 tion. The artist and the lady now paused to 
 look about them. They heard a sound of 
 fluttering movement close at hand. Junzo 
 looked toward the balcony of the wing, from 
 whence the odd movement proceeded. 
 
 "It is the royal nightingale," said Fuji, 
 carelessly. "The foolish bird is beating out 
 its life." 
 
 " The nightingale, my lady ! " 
 " Yes. Have you never heard of the bird ? 
 It is the Princess Sado-ko's, a gift to her from 
 his Majesty." 
 
 " I have heard of it," said Junzo, huskily. 
 Lady Fuji-no suppressed a yawn behind her 
 fan, then turned impatiently toward the bal- 
 cony whence came the ceaseless sound of the 
 bird's movement. 
 
 " It is ill ? " asked Junzo, shivering at those 
 dumb signals of distress. 
 
 "Why, no — yes — you might so call it." 
 
AN EVIL OMEN 
 
 291 
 
 « How sad it must be for the princess," he 
 murmured. "She loved the bird as though 
 it were a human thing." 
 
 The Lady Fuji curled her scornful lip. 
 
 « Tai.. • :ot, artist, of love in the same breath 
 with Sado-ko. If it is love to cage a helpless 
 
 thmg — 
 
 "Caged, you say! I do not understand. 
 I was informed the cage was open always, but 
 that the bird clung to it in very gratitude for 
 the royal kindness shown." 
 
 « So it seemed till lately," said Fuji. « The 
 princess, however, has been given to the most 
 inexplicable whims and caprices, one of which 
 was to close tight the door of her own night- 
 ingale, making it a prisoner. Since then the 
 foolish thing seems ill and languishing, and 
 spends the night in vain attempts to escape." 
 Junzo. glanced uneasily toward the balcony. 
 A moonbeam shone upon the gilded cage, 
 depending from an eave by its long chain. 
 The artist shuddered and paced restlessly 
 about the path. Suddenly he came back to 
 Fuji. His voice had a despairing note within it. 
 
 ^1 
 
 W 
 
292 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 " Why did she do it, lady ? Do you know 
 the reason ? " he asked. 
 
 "Do what, Sir Artist?" 
 
 " Cage up the bird, when it was hers 
 already, captive to her will to come or go." 
 
 "A mere caprice, artist. One day she 
 made a sudden exclamation of delight as 
 though she had but just perceived the night- 
 ingale for the first time. ' Oh, see the joyous, 
 pretty bird ! ' she said, ' and hear it sing ! * It 
 was at this time upon a camphor tree close 
 by, and singing, in its own free way, a serenade 
 no doubt to her. * Why,' said the Countess 
 Matsuka, '^'tis your own nightingale, your 
 Highness.* 'Mine!* said she, and seemed 
 to pause bewilderedly. Then suddenly she 
 clapped her hands. * Oh, yes, for sure it is 
 mine. Where is its cage ? ' * Why, here,' said 
 Countess Matsuka, who at this time alone 
 attended her. The princess put her hand 
 upon the cage th^n, leaning from her balcony, 
 chirped and whistled for the bird in such an 
 odd and unfamiliar fashion that the countess 
 was amazed, and still more so seemed the bird, 
 
AN EVIL OMEN 
 
 293 
 
 for, pausing in its song, it cocked its head, 
 fluttered its wings in sudden agitation, and 
 then it spread them wide and flew away. The 
 princess was so disappointed she wept in child- 
 ish anger, though Countess Matsuka assured 
 her it would return at dark, and take its night 
 perch in the cage. * And will it stay ? ' asked 
 Sado-ko. 'Why, princess, just as ever.' 
 Then she said she would not trust the bird, 
 and on that very night, waited in person for 
 its coming. With her own royal hands she 
 trapped it in the cage and closed the door, 
 though it was said her maiden, Natsu-no, im- 
 plored her on her knees to spare it. Since 
 then the maiden scarcely speaks, and like the 
 bird is said to droop." 
 
 The artist smothered a deep groan. 
 « Do you not like the story?" asked the lady. 
 « I cannot believe it," he replied. 
 "Then look upon the cage yourself." 
 « It hurts my sight. I will not," said the 
 man, and then he added, deeply, « It is an 
 
 evil omen." 
 
 « Heed it, artist 1 " said the Lady Fuji-no. 
 
 
 pi; 
 
'm 
 
 ii 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 «YOU ARE NOT SADO-KO!" 
 
-< 
 
 --e^ 
 
 
 » 
 
 -■^-.^^^^^ 
 
 
 \\mm 
 
I 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 " you ARE NOT SADO-KO ! " 
 
 IT was such another moonlight night as 
 that on which the Princess Sado-ko kept 
 her last tryst with the artist Junzo, but 
 in the Nijo gardens no sight was reminiscent 
 of the flowering gardens of Komatzu. No 
 bamboo grove offered inviting lanes for loi- 
 tering lovers, no stately camphor trees threw 
 their flickering shadows of mystery upon the 
 moonlit grass. 
 
 The lawns about the palace Nijo were quite 
 bare of trees, and even by the wing of the 
 Princess Sado-ko's apartments the new and 
 ruthless carpenters, not gardeners, had torn 
 up the bright flowering trees and shrubs to 
 put in their places painted boxes, filled with 
 foreign ferns and flowers of priceless value, — 
 gifts from diplomats to the flattered Japanese. 
 
 297 
 
 II 
 
298 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 Junzo and Fuji-no kept within the shadow 
 of the princess's balcony, there being no trees 
 or foliage at hand to screen them otherwise. 
 
 The new-laid path which led from the front 
 of the palace to Sado-ko's wing, was white in 
 the moonlight, hence Junzo was quick to see 
 a shadow fall upon it. He leaned so far for- 
 ward to gaze along the path, that Lady Fuji 
 drew him backward. 
 
 "The light is on your head. Be careful, 
 artist, if you please. Pray have some patience. 
 They are quite close at hand." 
 
 Too close they seemed just then to Junzo, 
 as they came along the broad, white path with 
 slow and loitering steps. The tall soldier- 
 prince bent to her who turned her face to his, 
 like a flower to the sun. 
 
 When they had come quite close to 
 Sado-ko's veranda they paused a moment, 
 seeking some new excuse for lingering. 
 
 She made a childish movement, naive yet 
 eloquent. An artful shudder slipped her wrap 
 to the ground. Her shining shoulders, bare 
 and white, were revealed in the moonlight. 
 
"YOU ARE NOT SADO-KO!" 199 
 
 The prince stooped quickly to the ground, 
 picked up the cloak, and, hesitating a moment, 
 held it in his hand. She shivered purposely. 
 Then with a sudden movement he wrapped 
 the cloak around her, and somehow in the 
 doing his arms stayed for a space about her. 
 Her face was close to his. Softly her loosened 
 hair brushed now against his lips. While still 
 his lingering arm was drooping on her shoul- 
 der, she said, in a low, wooing voice : — 
 
 " Komatzu, pray you hold my garment on 
 me for a space, for I would take these long 
 and stupid gloves from ly arms." 
 
 " Let me do so," he begged eagerly ; and, 
 taking one of her small hands in his, slowly 
 drew the glove away, then still held the hand 
 clasped in his own. 
 
 " It is my hand — all mine 1 " he whispered. 
 Stooping, he kissed the soft, white flesh, in 
 the emotional French way. 
 
 "All yours, Komatzu!" Junzo heard her 
 sigh in answer. The artist did not move. 
 Like a man turned suddenly to stone, he 
 simply s.ared out at the scene, with fixed eyes. 
 
 I 
 
 11 
 
 f t 
 
300 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 ii»^l 
 
 14 
 
 -■'■' (J' 
 
 ^1^ 
 
 <f 
 
 He heard as in a dream the voice of this proud 
 prince whispering again to her, who but so 
 lately clung to him, the lowly artist, with such 
 piteous tears and prayers. 
 
 "To-morrow," said the prince, "his Maj- 
 esty will come to Tokyo. I will present my- 
 self before him and importune him to seal our 
 betrothal. His ministers are all in favor of 
 mv suit, but the sanction of his Majesty is 
 needed. That, I am sure, he intends to give, 
 for I have heard that he made promise to our 
 august grandmother, the Empress Dowager, 
 that he would make sweet Sado-ko the high- 
 est princess in the land. Next to the Crown 
 Prince cf Japan, I am the highest prince." 
 
 She smoothed with litde restless hand the 
 foreign fabric of his coat. Her voice was 
 somewhat faint : — 
 
 " If his Majesty should not consent, 
 
 Komatzu ? " 
 
 " Why even dream of such a thing ? " he 
 asked. " Am I not the very one most fitted 
 for your husband, and have I not served well 
 his Majesty ? " 
 
"YOU ARE NOT SADO-KO ! " 301 
 
 She seized his hand and held it close against 
 her face. 
 
 " Komatzu, were I not of equal rank with 
 you, — if I were but a simple maiden of humble 
 parentage, — would you still love me ? " 
 
 "I do not love your rank, sweet cousin, 
 but your own self." 
 
 " But if I were not of your rank, what 
 then?" 
 
 " Capricious Sado-ko, why ask such foolish 
 questions ? " 
 
 " Would you still marry me if I were not 
 a royal princess ? " 
 
 " I still would love you, Sado-ko. I could 
 not marry you in that event. Why, you 
 turn your face away ! The tears are in your 
 eyes. Cousin, you are too fanciful." 
 
 " Love makes me so," she said, and sighed. 
 
 " How strange," he said, " that we should 
 speak so freely of our love. A little while 
 ago the subject would have been deemed inde- 
 cent. Now it is a foreign fashion and we 
 Japanese speak out our love without the 
 smallest blush of shame. 'Tis strange, indeed ! " 
 
■;■ ;h; 
 
 hli 
 
 302 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 "It is not only fashion," she protested; 
 " love is not a new thing, — a caprice, a whim, 
 like such and such a dress, a hat or shoe or 
 
 fan." 
 
 " It is a new device of speech in our Japan," 
 the prince declared, thoughtfully. 
 
 With childish petulance she turned toward 
 the balcony. 
 
 "Which you do not approve, Komatzu?" 
 
 " Why, yes, I do ap:!!-ove it, Sado-ko. It 
 is most beautiful and pure, moreover. But, 
 cousin, as you know, I never spoke it yet — 
 this love — till lately. Then, somehow, when 
 you came back from the palace Aoyama, a 
 something in your eyes seemed to beckon me 
 to you and force the words of love to overrun 
 
 my lips." 
 
 " They were not merely words of lips ? " 
 " No, no. But I, you know, am not com- 
 pletely modern in my thought, despite my 
 dress, and, too, I am a soldier. So sometimes 
 if my words seem clumsy — stupid — I fear vou 
 must compare them with the flowery speeches 
 of others." 
 
"YOU ARE NOT SADO-KO!" 303 
 
 " Others, Komatzu ? What others could 
 there be?" 
 
 His voice was low and nervous. He seemed 
 to hesitate. 
 
 " Cousin, have you forgotten the artist- 
 man ? " 
 
 " The artist-man ! " she gave a little cry, 
 then quickly covered up her lips with her 
 fingers. 
 
 " Yc start! Kamura Junzo his name was. 
 Once I thought you favored him. So thought 
 all the members of the court. I could not 
 close my ears against the romance, though 
 I severely disapproved the slander, and named 
 it such ; for I deemed your condescension to 
 the man the idle fancy of a princess noted 
 for her oddities and caprices. But lately, the 
 mere thought cf him causes my brain to burn 
 with raging and unworthy jealousy." 
 
 She rested one small hand against the railing 
 of her balcony, then slowly drew up her slen- 
 der figure. 
 
 "The artist is no more to me," she said, 
 " than any slave who dresses me, sings to me. 
 
 ii 
 
304 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 entertains me, comes at my command, or paints 
 for me my picture." 
 
 " Yet, Sado-ko, the artist did not paint your 
 
 picture." 
 
 For a moment she stood still in bewilder- 
 ment, then went a step toward him. Her 
 words were stammering, the a changed to 
 fervent, passionate appeal. 
 
 "Why, yes, he painted — that — assuredly 
 he painted — it does not matter what the 
 artist did. Komatzu, 1 have no thought 
 within my mind, nor love within my heart, 
 for any one in all the world save you." 
 
 He took her hands and drew them upward 
 to his lips, there to hold them for a space, 
 then let them go again. 
 
 "I am quite satisfied," he said. "Truth 
 itself shines in your face, my Sado-ko. And 
 now, sweet cousin, we will say good night, 
 for it is late, and I would not have your 
 beauteous eyes lose one small atom of their 
 lustre. And so for the night, sayonara!" 
 
 Softly and lingeringly she repeated the 
 word. She watched him as he walked along 
 
"YOU ARE NOT SADO-KO!" 305 
 
 the path, until he had quite disappeared. 
 Then slowly, dreamily she ascended the little 
 steps. She stopped in sudden irritation at 
 the sound of the restless bird within the cage. 
 Moving toward it, she shook the cage with 
 some nervous violence. 
 
 "Be still!" she said. "You break my 
 thoughts, you foolish bird ! Be still, I say ! " 
 
 The Lady Fuji touched the artist's arm. 
 He did not stir. Peering up into his face, 
 she started back at sight of the dull, frozen 
 look. A glimmer of compassion crossed her 
 breast. She whispered: — 
 
 "Artist, come away." 
 
 He did not move. 
 
 " Pray come ! " urged Fuji. 
 
 Masago, standing by the bird-cage on the 
 balcony, thought she heard some whispering 
 voices close at hand. She leaned over the 
 railing and called, in fearful voice: — 
 
 "Who are the honorable ones below?" 
 
 As Fuji sought to draw the artist away, 
 the movement of her effort reached the 
 ears of her itiistress. The latter crossed the 
 
3o6 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 veranda with quick steps, and, leaning down 
 close to the sound, saw those two figures in 
 the shadow. A moment later the Lady 
 Fuji-no, drawing her cape before her face, 
 fled along the path, and disappeared. 
 
 Moving mechanically to the light, the artist 
 turned his face to Masago. A muffled cry 
 escaped her lips. She shrank back, still 
 clinging to the railing of the balcony. 
 
 **■ Kamuia Junzo ! " she cried. " You ! — 
 and here ! " 
 
 " 1 do not know your voice," he said in 
 strange, wondering tones. 
 
 " I remember now," she said. " You wrote 
 a letter to the Princess Sado-ko. You wished 
 to look — look at her. You — you asked the 
 favor. Well — I — I am Sado-ko!" 
 
 He moved his head and stared upon her 
 face with straining eyes. 
 
 " You are not Sado-ko ! " he said. 
 
 She trembled with fear. 
 
 " I do assure you " — she began, her hand 
 going to her throat to stay her frightened 
 breathing. 
 
"YOU ARE NOT SADO-KO ! " 307 
 
 "You are not Sado-ko, I say!" 
 
 Her voice was raised and shrill. 
 
 " I am the Princess Sado-ko," she cried. 
 " I do defy you, artist-man, to prove I am 
 not Sado-ko." 
 
 His vague and wandering words recalled 
 her self-possession. She knew that she had 
 needlessly excited her fears. 
 
 "You are not Sado-ko," he said, "for she 
 was kind and sweet; but you — you are a 
 nightmare of my Sado-ko. Your face is hers, 
 yet still you are not Sado-ko. Your soul is 
 false; your heart is dead, for Sado-ko is 
 dead, and you who once were Sado-ko are but 
 her ghost. You are not Sado-ko." 
 
 She grew afraid of that white, glaring face, 
 and hoarse, wandering voice. Turning, she 
 hastened to her room, drawing the doors close 
 behind her. 
 
 The artist stood alone. Then suddenly he 
 laughed out wildly, loudly. Again he paused 
 in silence. Then laughed aloud again, in that 
 wild way. He heard the noise, the heavy step 
 of palace guards. Then Junzo turned and fied 
 

 3o8 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 like the wind, his fleet and sandalled feet carry- 
 ing him with more than natural speed onward 
 and onward. Past startled groups of garden 
 revellers, past loitering lovers, and past guards 
 about the grounds, and outward through the 
 palace gates he plunged on toward the citv, 
 gleaming out in specks of light below. 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 THE COMING HOME OF JUNZO 
 
% i 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 THE COMING HOME OF JUNZO 
 
 THOUGH samurai by birth, the Kamura 
 family were of gentler nature than their 
 stern ancestors, and so no feeling of 
 anger or bitterness had been cherished against 
 their son Junzo. His parents made their sad 
 apologies to their guests, who hastily departed, 
 cloaking their feelings behind their well-bred, 
 stoic faces. Yamada Kwacho alone lingered 
 to speak a word of gruff sympathy to the 
 parents, and to offer what aid was in his power. 
 When they insisted that their son was surely 
 ill, Kwacho said at once he would go to Tokyo 
 and personally seek the young man in the 
 capital. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Kamura family kept a tire- 
 less, ceaseless watch for Junzo. Though days 
 and weeks and then a month slipped slowly 
 
 3" 
 
3'2 
 
 DAIKJHTKRS OF NIJO 
 
 >l 
 
 i%. 
 
 by, each member of the household took his 
 place by day at a small lookout station to 
 watch for any sight of ani-san (elder brother). 
 By night a light turned to the east burned 
 at the casement of Junzo's chamber, while 
 mother and father knelt at shoji doors, keep- 
 ing the watch. Thus would they watch by day 
 and night, so any hour he might come would 
 find them waiting patiently. 
 
 Two months had passed since Junzo left 
 Kamakura, when the belated word came from 
 Tokyo. Yamada Kwacho had found the 
 wand .ring Junzo. 
 
 No inember of the Kamura family retired 
 that night. Even the smallest child knelt by 
 the shoji and watched for Junzo. A series 
 of heavy rains had darkened the days una 
 nights. The clinging fog of the Hayama 
 hung heavily in the atmosphere. 
 
 Not a star or gleam of moon shone out to 
 soften the blackness of the night sky. When 
 the slothful morning crept in timid wonder 
 over the hills, and pushed with soft, gray hands 
 the night away, the watchers saw the fog was 
 
 w> 1 ■ 
 
THE COMING HOME OK JUNZO 313 
 
 vanquished, and that the pale morning mist 
 bespoke a brighter day to dawn. 
 
 When the first gleam of the long- looked-for 
 sun came up the eastern slope, Junzo staggered 
 down the hills o( Kamakura toward his home. 
 Those watching at the shoji saw him as he 
 passed with down-bent head within the gate. 
 Then the calm of caste and school broke down 
 before the throb of parenthood. Father and 
 mother hastened dowi the garden path to 
 meet their son. 
 
 " The fog ! " It was the mother who spoke 
 in sobbing tones, as she fondled the hands of 
 her eldest son. "You honorably did lose 
 your way, Junzo." 
 
 His restless eyes wandered from hers, and 
 he pushed back, absently, the long black locks 
 that tumbled on his brow. 
 
 "It was the fog that kept you, Junzo?" 
 
 she urged. 
 
 "The fog?" he said dazedly. "No — 
 that is, yes. It was the fog, good mother." 
 
 "So dark a night! Oh, son, we thought 
 that you might wander from the path and 
 
314 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 .1 
 
 come to the river bank." She shuddered at 
 the thought. 
 
 " Yet, you came down from the direction of 
 the hills," said his father, anxiously. " Did 
 you abide there last night ? " 
 
 " Yes," said Junzo, " throughout the long, 
 long night, my father." 
 
 The silent Kwacho shook his head, then 
 whispered in the father's ear : — 
 
 " We arrived last night, good friend, quite 
 early, but Junzo, as you see, is ill and I could 
 not leave him for a moment. Hence, Oka 
 being nowhere at hand, and not a vehicle in 
 sight, I sought to lead him homeward. But 
 no, he turned his feet in new directions. He 
 stumbled here and there across the fields and 
 up and down the hills, and finally we reached 
 the walls of Aoyama. I could not lead him, 
 since he would not have it so, and so I 
 humored his strange fancy, and hence, good 
 friend, have spent the night crouched down 
 beside the palace walls, without covering, 
 indeed, without the much-desired good sleep." 
 
 "Oh, come indoors, at once," the mother 
 
THE COMING HOME OF JUNZO 315 
 
 entreated, for Junzo lingered absently on the 
 threshold. " Your face is pale, dear son, and 
 oh, your clothes are quite soaked with dew." 
 
 He followed her mecuanically, though he 
 seemed, as yet, to h ve noted nothing of 
 the haggard aspect ..f their loving faces. 
 His thoughts seemed far away. When his 
 youngest brother, a little boy of five, came 
 with running steps to meet him and called 
 his name, he simply tapped the child upon 
 the head. 
 
 The anxious mother had now become the 
 zealous nurse and housewife. She clapped 
 her hands a dozen times, and sent two 
 attendants speeding for warm tea and dry 
 clothes. The children were put in charge 
 of Haru-no, who took them immediately to 
 a neighbor's house. Soon there was no one 
 left in the apartment save mother and son. 
 
 " We will take good care of you, my son," 
 she said, " and when you are quite recovered, 
 we will have another council." 
 
 He repeated the word stupidly. 
 
 " Of what council do you speak ? " 
 
 it* 
 
 1 1 
 
3ib 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 '% ! 
 
 She stroked the damp hair backward with 
 her tender fingers. 
 
 "My Junzo always was the absent-minded 
 son, so given to his studies and his art he 
 could not spare a thought for other matters." 
 
 He put his hands upon those on his head, 
 and drew his mother about until she was before 
 him. Then, looking in her face with search 
 ing, troubled eyes, he said : — 
 
 " Was there a council of our family ? " 
 
 "Why, yes, my son, — that day you went 
 to Tokyo." 
 
 He passed his hand across his brow, then 
 seemed to listen for a space. Slowly a look 
 of horror crept across his face. 
 
 " It was my marriage cou.icil!" he gasped. 
 
 " Why, yes, dear Junzo ; your marriage to 
 the maid Masago. Ah, you are quite ill, my 
 son." 
 
 He sprang to his feet, and stood in quiver- 
 ing thought. She heard him mutter half aloud, 
 despairingly : — 
 
 " But she had gone away — to Tokyo. They 
 told me so." 
 
THE COMING HOME OF JUNZO 31; 
 
 " Why, no, it is a mistake. Who told you 
 that she went to Tokyo, my son ? " 
 
 " The palace guards," he said, not looking 
 at his mother. 
 
 " Oh, you are surely ill, my son." 
 
 " I am not ill," he said, with persistent 
 gentleness; "but I am speaking truth, dear 
 mother. Do I not know of what I speak, 
 for was I not close by the pakce walls through- 
 out the length of one whole night ? I tell you, 
 mother, that I saw her go to Tokyo." 
 
 His mother threw her arms about his neck, 
 then, bursting into tears, clung to him, 
 
 "Son," she sobbed, "do not speak of 
 Tokyo. The parent of your fiancee, Yamada 
 Kwacho, is even now within our domicile, and 
 the chaste maiden is safe in her home." 
 
 He spoke with slow and hazy positive- 
 ness : — 
 
 " She went to Tokyo that night. I was so 
 close unto her norimon that I could even 
 touch it, and through the fog and the dim 
 night I cried her name aloud. It sounded 
 wildly in the night air." 
 
 ^>il 
 
 vfl 
 
3'8 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 1^ 
 
 W" 
 
 s W 
 
 He undid the clinging arms about his neck, 
 and stood as though plunged deep in moody 
 thought. When his father and brother came 
 into the room, he did not lift his head. 
 
 " Junzo, do you know your brother ? " 
 asked the youth Okido, stepping to his side. 
 Junzo raised his head. 
 " Why, yes, you are r.ny younger brother, 
 Kido-sama. Good morning!" 
 
 " Oh, ani-san ! " cried the youth, in mourn- 
 ful tones. " How strangely you speak, how 
 strangely you look ! " 
 
 "Son," said the father, sternly, laying his 
 hands on Junzo's shoulder, " it is your father 
 speaking now. I named you Junzo (obedi- 
 ence). From youth you have obeyed my voice. 
 Now come ! I bid you go to your chamber. 
 There you shall lie, your mother and young 
 sister will attend you, and Kido here shall 
 hasten for a learned doctor, a foreign man of 
 science lately come to Kamakura. You are 
 distraught and ill." 
 
 " But I am well, most honored parent." 
 " I say that you are ill." 
 
THE COMING HOME OF JUNZO 319 
 
 " I am quite well, excellent father, and I 
 must go at once to Tokyo." 
 
 " I command obedience to my will 1 Come, 
 Junzo ! " 
 
 " Command ! A little while ago — or maybe 
 it was long ago, within another lifetime, she 
 said it was an ancient practice to obey parental 
 command. Yet I always was so fond of the 
 old rules of life that I will recognize my duty, 
 father. I bow in filial submissiveness to your 
 high will." 
 
 But as he bowed his head in mock obedi- 
 ence he was so weak he would have fallen 
 down, but that the sturdy Kido and his father 
 supported him. 
 
 For days and weeks the artist-man of Kama- 
 kura tossed upon a bed of illness, a prey to 
 violent fever of the brain, so termed by the 
 great Dutch doctor visiting the little town. 
 After many days there came a calm. Junzo 
 slept and dreamed. 
 
 He thought the angel face of Sado-ko bent 
 over his heated head, and that she brushed the 
 tumbled locks back from his brow, and cooled 
 
 -nl 
 
,»l 
 
 320 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIjO 
 
 it with her own soft, lovely hands. He cried 
 her name and whispered it again and yet again. 
 Was it only fancy, or did he truly hear that 
 low, low voice, sighing back in answer, and 
 soothing him with tender words of love ? 
 
 Ill 
 
 T,' 
 
 1- 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 'W 
 
 THE CONVALESCENT 
 
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CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 THE CONVALESCENT 
 
 IT was a happy day in the Kamura house- 
 hold when the cheerful and rapid-moving 
 foreign doctor pronounced the patient 
 strong enough to leave his room to sit a little 
 while upon the balcony. His brothers were 
 eager to assist the weak and emaciated Junzo 
 to the soft seat they had prepared for him. 
 He protested that he was able to walk alone, 
 but finally admitted that the light, guiding 
 hand of his fiancee was a sufficient support. 
 So leading him with careful step, the young 
 girl aided her lover, while all his brothers, and 
 his young sister Haru-no, watched the pretty 
 picture with moistened eyes. The gentle 
 mother slipped from the room to weep alone 
 at what she called "the goodness of the 
 gods." 
 
 3*3 
 
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 oH 
 
 DAUGH 1 ERS OF NIJO 
 
 Hff 
 
 Once upon the balcony, the modest maiden 
 quickly bent her head over her embroidery 
 frame, feigning ignorance of the eyes upon 
 her. While the convalescent absently an- 
 swered the questions of his brothers, concern- 
 ing his comfort, his eyes scarcely left the 
 face of the quiet girl so close at hand. 
 
 A certain wistful wonder seemed to lurk 
 within the eyes of Junzo in these days. Yet 
 a sense of rest and quiet pervaded his whole 
 being. His lately racked heart and mind 
 seemed to have found a strange, sustaining 
 balm. 
 
 Now on this lovely day in early September, 
 with the odor of the gardens permeating the 
 atmosphere, and the sweet breath of the 
 country about, Junzo's mind went vaguely 
 over the late events of his life, while his eyes 
 rested in wondering content upon the drooped 
 face of his fiancee. 
 
 The artist, in his illness, had been attended 
 by one he called " Sado-ko." When fever 
 left him and partial sense and reason crept 
 back to his weakened brain, growing daily 
 
THE CONVALESCENT 
 
 325 
 
 with the strength of his physical body, he 
 marvelled over that exquisite face that bent 
 above him. 
 
 And then one day his sister, Haru-no, had 
 called her by name — Masago ! A light 
 broke through the dazzled brain of Junzo. 
 She who nursed him with tender care was 
 not a princess, but a simple maiden of his 
 own class, and, most marvellous, she was his 
 own betrothed, th« virtuous maid Masago ! 
 Reason was restored, and physical strength 
 increased daily. 
 
 Through the many days when he was 
 forced to obey the will of the insistent foreign 
 doctor, Junzo did not fret at his enforced 
 confinement. Such an existence was fraught 
 with dreamful possibilities of happiness. As 
 Junzo's thoughts became clear, this was his 
 solution of what he termed his recent mad- 
 ness : He had loved Masago from the first, 
 he told himself. The very gods had planned 
 their union. Before he had known fully the 
 heart of his betrothed, she was sent away to 
 school. By chance this Princess Sado-ko 
 
■ « i * ' r ' 
 
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 !f 
 
 i 
 
 ;: 
 
 J26 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 crossed his path, the image of the maid 
 Masago. It was because of this he had 
 thought he loved her, while it was the other 
 he loved. This was proved by the fact that 
 with a lover's adoration he was now drawn to 
 
 Masago. 
 
 These were the thoughts of Junzo. Still 
 more curious was his way of comparing the 
 princess and the maiden, with a weight of 
 favor for the latter. In her constant presence 
 Junzo thought darkly of the falsity of 
 Sado-ko, and with ecstasy of the charming 
 simplicity of this girl of lowly birth. 
 
 As she sat with her pretty head dropped 
 over her work, he thought her lovelier than 
 ever he had dreamed the Princess Sado-ko. 
 Once during the afternoon his relatives 
 left the two alone. Then the girl softly 
 raised her eyes, to glance in his direction. 
 At the ardent glance she met, her eyes 
 dropped immediately. So much did he wish 
 to see again those dark and lovely eyes that 
 he complained of a discomfort. 
 
 He desired another quilt (though it was 
 
THE CONVALESCENT 
 
 3^7 
 
 very warm), and also a high futon for h..- 
 head. She brought them to him, without 
 speaking. When she put the pillow under- 
 neath his head, he tried to speak her name 
 with all the ardor of his love. 
 
 "Sado— " He stopped aghast. His lips 
 had framed that other name. The kneeling 
 maiden's eyes met his. Her voice was soft : — 
 « Who is Sado-ko ? " she asked. 
 Flushing in shame and mortification, he 
 could not meet her eyes. When she repeated 
 her quiet question, the strangest smile dimpled 
 her lips at the frown upon his averted face. 
 " Who is Sado-ko ? " 
 " It is a name," he said, "just a name." 
 " It has a pretty sound," she said. 
 Though he moved his head restlessly, she 
 pursued the subject. 
 
 " Do you noi think so, Junzo? " 
 « It is an evil name," he said with sudden 
 vehemence. Although he did not see the 
 little movement of dismay she made, he 
 knew that she was leaning toward him. He 
 could not look at her. 
 
 in 
 
ii-f 
 
 M J\ 
 
 I 
 
 328 DAUCiHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 " You do not like the name of Sado-ko ? " 
 she said. " Why, that is strange ! " 
 
 At last he looked at her, then wondered 
 why she swiftly blushed, averting her eyes. 
 
 " Why strange ? " he asked, his eyes linger- 
 ing upon her flushing face. 
 
 " Because it was a name you called unceas- 
 ingly throughout your illness," she said. 
 
 " I called on you." He took her hand to 
 hold it closely within his own. 
 
 She stammered over her words, thrilling at 
 his touch upon her hands. 
 
 " But is m.y — my name, then — Sado-ko ? " 
 she asked. 
 
 His troubled eyes were on her face, a wist- 
 ful wonder in their glance. 
 
 " I thought you so," he whispered softly. 
 
 She let her hand remain in his, for it was 
 sweet to feel his touch, yet, with the strangest 
 stubbornness, she urged the question : — 
 
 " Why did you think me Sado-ko ? " 
 
 " I v/ill tell you why some other day," he 
 ansv/ered in a low voice. 
 
 " But am I not Masago ? " she persisted. 
 
THE CONVALESCENT 
 
 329 
 
 " Yes," said he, " Masago is your name, 
 and it is sweeter, simpler, lovelier far than — " 
 
 She drew her hands from his with passionate 
 petulance. Her eyes were hurt. 
 
 " You like Masago better, then, than 
 Sado-ko ? " was her astonishing question. 
 
 "The name? Why, yes. It has a sweeter 
 sound — Masago ! 'Tis the loveliest of flow- 
 ers, — modest, simple, and fair." 
 
 She caught her breath. When she raised her 
 eyes to his, they were full of deep reproach. 
 Moving away she turned her back, and would 
 not turn or listen to his calling of her name : — 
 
 " Masago, Masago ! " Then, after a short 
 sdlence, " Have I offended you, Masago ? " 
 
 She answered without turning her head : — 
 
 " You have offended Sado-ko." 
 
 He could not answer that strange, inexpli- 
 cable remark, so kept silent for a space. Then : 
 
 " Masago, pray you turn your pretty head 
 this way." 
 
 She moved it petulantly. 
 
 He raised himself upon his elbow. 
 
 " Masago ! " 
 

 
 lit' 
 
 mi 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 330 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 She did not answer. 
 
 "Well, then, if you will treat me so, and will 
 not come to me like a most dutiful affianced 
 wife, why I, though ill, shall come to you." 
 He made a threatening stir. At that she 
 started toward him, anxiety for his health 
 stronger than her childish petulance. 
 
 "No, no, do not move," she said. "I -—I 
 will come to you if— if you desire it." 
 
 She took her place again by his side. Im- 
 mediately he possessed himself of both her 
 slim hands. 
 
 " Now look at me," he said. 
 
 She met his eyes, then flushed and trembled at 
 the love she must have seen reflected in his face. 
 
 "Masago," he said, "when Junzo once 
 again regains his normal strength, he has a 
 tale to tell his little wife, -a foolish tale of 
 youth's brief madness in a summer, of heart- 
 burning and heart-breaking, tears of weakness, 
 filial disobedience, falsity, and then — despair. 
 Afterward — the light ! " 
 
 *•' The light ' " she said in a strange, b.-eath- 
 less voice. 
 
 I'l' 
 
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 Pi 
 
 
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THE CONVALESCENT 
 
 333 
 
 "A face," he said, — "the soothing face of 
 my Masago." 
 
 "Oh, do not call me so," she cried almost 
 piteousiy ; " I cannot bear to hear it." 
 
 "Why—" 
 
 " Call me not Masago. I do not like the 
 name." 
 
 "But—" 
 
 " No, no. It is quite well that others — 
 say my honorable parents and brothers — should 
 call me so, but it sounds unkindly from your 
 lips, dear Junzo. Indeed, I — I hardly can 
 express my feelings. I — I — " 
 
 She broke ofF at the expression of bewilder- 
 ment upon his face. Nervously she entangled 
 her fingers. 
 
 " Call me what you will. Let it be Masago, 
 if the name pleases you. There ! my foolish 
 mood is past. I am your gentle girl once 
 more." 
 
 " I will not call you by your name," he 
 said, smiling whimsically, "since you do not 
 like it. In a little while I'll have another, 
 sweeter name for you — wife ! " 
 
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 ii 
 
 
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CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 A ROYAL PROCLAMATION 
 

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CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 A ROYAL PROCLAMATION 
 
 IN the palace Nijo the latest royal procla- 
 mation came like an earthquake shock. 
 The Emperor at last had kept his word 
 to his dead mother. Through word to Nijo, 
 he authorized the nuptials of the Princess 
 Sado-ko to his own son, the Crown Prince 
 of Japan, thus elevating her to the highest 
 position in the land. 
 
 This great fortune, sudden and unexpected, 
 gave no satisfaction to the ambitious Masago. 
 The test of life had come. The woman in 
 her triumphed. For the first time since her 
 coming to Tokyo, Masago shut herself alone 
 within the chamber of the Princess Sado-ko. 
 She sat and stared before her like one 
 struck by so great a weight that she could not 
 lift it. All her life she had longed for wealth 
 ▼ 337 
 
338 
 
 DAUGHl'ERS OF NIJO 
 
 ! 1' 
 
 and power. Now that the greatest honor in 
 the land was forced upon her, she shrank 
 from it, in loathing. 
 
 Masago thought with aching heart of the 
 Prince Komatzu. Throughout the day she 
 sat alone, uttering no word, not even answer- 
 ing the queries of her maid, the woman 
 Natsu-no. 
 
 Toward evening she heard the palace bells 
 ringing. Knowing why they rang, she pressed 
 her hands to her ears, a sickening sense op- 
 pressing her. She heard the dim voice of the 
 
 maid. 
 
 " Princess, will you deign to robe to-night ? " 
 Slowly, mechanically, Masago arose, permit- 
 ting the woman to lay upon her a foreign 
 gown which only yesterday had come from 
 Paris. Now its tightening stifled her. Her 
 heavy breathing caused the woman to ask 
 
 gently : — 
 
 "You do not appear augustly comfortable 
 to-night, exalted princess. Are you quite 
 
 well?" 
 
 Masago threw her bare arms above her 
 
A ROYAL PROCLAMATION 339 
 
 head, and paced the floor like some tortured 
 being. Suddenly she turned upon the woman, 
 crying out in an hysterical way : — 
 
 " Why do you stand and stare at me, 
 woman ! Oh-h ! My head is throbbing, and 
 my heart beats so — " 
 
 She covered her face with her hands. 
 Swiftly the woman withdrew. In the next 
 room she took her stand by the dividing 
 shoji, watching the one within. 
 
 '•She would treat me like the bird," she 
 said, "and it is dead." 
 
 Masago called her shrilly, harshly. 
 
 " Woman ! Maid ! Do you not hear me 
 calling?" 
 
 " I am here, princess ! " said the woman, 
 quietly, stepping back into the room. 
 
 " I cannot bear this gown to-night," said 
 Masago. " It suffocates me. It is ill-fitting." 
 
 The woman patiently removed the gown, 
 then waited for her mistress to command her 
 further. 
 
 " Take them all off," said the girl, in an irri- 
 tated voice. " These and these." 
 
 I 
 
h 
 
 111 
 It 
 
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 t> 
 
 
 1 1 
 
 %^A' 
 
 \r*i 
 
 340 DAUGHTERS OK NIJO 
 
 She indicated the silk corsets and the frail 
 shoes which gave her such unstable support. 
 Freed of the foreign garnienis, she seemed to 
 breathe with more ease and comfort. 
 
 " Now a kimono, — just a simple, plain one." 
 
 The woman brought the plainest one of ail. 
 Soon Masago was arrayed in this. 
 
 " Do I appear well to-night ? " she asked 
 hysterically. 
 
 " Yes, princess." 
 
 "Will not his Royal Highness be aston- 
 ished at my garb ? " 
 
 " Enchanted, princess." 
 
 " Enchanted ! You speak foolish words ! 
 He is a modern prince, this future Emperor 
 of Japan. He will despise a plain kimono." 
 
 The woman closed her lips. 
 
 " Say so," insisted the girl, wildly. " Agree 
 with me, woman, that when he sees me in this 
 garb to-night, he will detest the sight of me, 
 and insist unto his father that he must have 
 another bride. Oh, you do not speak ! How 
 I hate you ! " 
 
 She was sobbing as she left the room in a 
 
 [*V i 
 
A ROYAL PROCLAMA liON 341 
 
 breathless, piteous way, for no tears carne to 
 give relief. 
 
 Like (Mne in a dream Masago passed 
 through the halls of the Nijo palace. Soon 
 she WIS in the great reception hall, where the 
 Crown Prince, guest of her father, Nijo, 
 awaited her appearance. Her courtesy was 
 mechanical. She took her place beside him 
 on the slight eminence reserved for royalty 
 alone. 
 
 Masago little cared that night whether her 
 maidens whispered and gossiped at her whim 
 to appear once more in the national dress. It 
 was suggested that she wore the gown in com- 
 pliment to her exdlted fiancee. 
 
 As the girl surveyed the brilliant spectacle, 
 an intense weariness overtook her. Half un- 
 consciously she closed her eyes and put her 
 head back against the tall throne chair upon 
 which she sat. Then Masago became deaf — 
 blind to all about her. Strange visions of her 
 home passed through her mind, — her simple 
 home, quiet, peaceful. As in fancy she saw 
 Ohano's sympathetic face, she felt an aching 
 
342 
 
 UAUGH lERS OF NIJO 
 
 1 
 
 
 'i 
 
 i 
 
 
 a:i.V 
 
 1 
 
 longing to hear her garrulous voice lowered to 
 her in gossip; she saw again her happy, 
 healthy little brothers, romping in the sunny 
 garden. Even the thought of Kwacho, grave 
 vet always just and kind, despite his narrow 
 prejudices, awoke a vague tenderness. 
 
 When some one spoke the name of Princess 
 Sado-ko, she roused herself, then shuddered 
 at the very sound. 
 
 " You w ere so pale, princess, and you closed 
 your eyes just now. I thought, perchance, 
 that you were ill." The Crown Prince of Japan 
 spoke with polite solicitude to the maid Ma- 
 sago. Her eyes filled with heavy tears. 
 
 " Oh, 1 am homesick — homesick ! " she 
 murmured in reply. 
 
 He leaned a trifle toward her, as though 
 his boredom were lifted for a second. 
 
 " Are you not at home already, princess ? " 
 
 She shook her head in mute negation. 
 
 " What do you call your home, then ? " he 
 inquired. 
 
 She answered in a whisper ; — 
 
 " Kamakura ! " 
 
A ROYAL PROCLAxVlATlON ^43 
 
 " Ah, yes, the castle Aoyama is there." 
 She could not speak further. A page 
 brought tea on a small lacquered tray. She 
 touched it with her lips, then again relapsed 
 into her attitude of weariness and languor. 
 
 The Crown Prince thought his cousin both 
 stupid and dull. He mentally decided that 
 her beauty had been overrated. Bright, flash- 
 ing eyes, rosy lips, a vivacious countenance, 
 in these days were considered a more desirable 
 type of beauty than this tired, languid, waxen 
 sort, mysteriously sad, despite perfection. 
 
 He wondered whethe'- her allusion to Kama- 
 kura had to do with luo famous artist there, 
 of whom the young prince had heard. 
 
 Report had told him that the capricious 
 Sado-ko had treated this plain artist with 
 familiarity such that the court gossiped. 
 While these thoughts ran vaguely through his 
 mind, the princess interrupted with a ques- 
 tion : — 
 
 " When is the wedding-day ? " she asked. 
 
 " It is not set/* he replied somewhat 
 stiffly. 
 
li- 
 
 »NI 
 
 ,1 
 
 jy 
 
 344 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 Her hands moved restlessly in her lap, 
 
 " Are there not other ladies of the royal 
 house more exalted than I ? " she asked. 
 
 " None, illustrious princess," he answered 
 coldly. 
 
 She turned her miserable face aside, and 
 stared at the company with eyes that would 
 fill with tears. Suddenly, hardly conscious of 
 her words, she exclaimed, in a low, passion- 
 ate voice : — 
 
 " I hate it all ! I hate it all ! " 
 
 The Crown Prince stared in astonishment 
 at her feverishly flushed face. 
 
 " I overheard your words, princess," he 
 said, with forbidding candor. " I do not 
 know to what you are alluding. The words 
 themselves have an unseemly sound." 
 
 She pressed her lips together, and sat in 
 bitter silence after that. Suddenly she 
 became conscious of compelling eyes upon 
 her. She moved and breathed with a new 
 excitement. Then she heard the Crown Prince 
 speaking in a sarcastic, drawling way, which 
 already she had begun to dislike. 
 
A ROYAL PROCLAMATION 345 
 
 "Our cousin, here, Komatzu, is sick for 
 Kamakura." 
 
 She turned her helpless eyes upon Ko- 
 niatzu's face. To her passionate, hungry eyes 
 he appeared impassive and unmoved. Had 
 the horrible tidings, then, left him only cold ? 
 "Were the words of love he had whispered 
 so often in her ear but the carefully prepared 
 words of a formal suitor ? Was he so much 
 a prince that he could mask his heart behind 
 so impenetrable a countenance? 
 
 Tears, welling up from her aching heart, 
 dropped unheeded from her eyes. She made 
 no effort to wipe them away, or to conceal 
 her childish grief and agony. So this lately 
 elevated princess, affianced to a future em- 
 peror, sat by his side in a public place, with 
 tears running down her face. The Crown 
 Prince was impatient at this display of weak 
 emotion, she knew, and her action was unbe- 
 fitting a princess of Japan; nevertheless she 
 found herself repeating over and over again 
 in her heart: — 
 
 " I am not a princess ! I am not a prin- 
 
'■■f) 
 
 346 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 cess ! I am only the maid Masago. That is 
 all. I have been but playing at a masquer- 
 ade, and I am tired. I want my home — my 
 parents. My heart is breaking ! " 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 
 THE EVE OF A WEDDING 
 

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 T\- IT 
 
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 J- 1 
 
 

 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 THE EVE OF A WEDDING 
 
 i 
 
 IS 
 
 IT was the month of Kikuzuki (Chrysan- 
 themum). Summer was dying, — not 
 dead, — and in her latter moments her 
 beauty was ethereal, though passionate. The 
 leaves were brown and red. The grass was 
 warmer colored than at any other time of 
 year. The glorious chrysanthemum, queen 
 of all the flowers in Japan, lent golden color 
 to the landscape. The skies were deeply blue. 
 Sometimes, when the sinking sun was slow 
 in fading, its ruddy tints upon the blue made 
 of the heavens a purple canopy, enchanting 
 to the sight. Yet with all its beauty Novem- 
 ber is the month of tears, for Death, however 
 beautiful, must always wring the heart. So 
 lovers are pensive and melancholy in their 
 happiness at this sweet, sad season of the 
 year. 
 
 149 
 
350 
 
 DAUGll I KRS OK NIJO 
 
 t:.- t 
 
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 I 
 
 ; 
 
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 I 
 
 
 It was the eve before the wedding of 
 the artist and the maid Masago. Junzo's 
 artful insistence that he was not strong enough 
 to do without the helpful nursing of his fiancee 
 had kept her for many days a guest within his 
 father's house. Now it wanted but the pass- 
 ing of one night before the day when the 
 wedding would take place at the house of 
 Kwacho. Hence the lovers were on their 
 way from the Kamura residence. It was twi- 
 light. The two loitered in their steps along 
 the way, pausing on every excuse within the 
 woods, the meadow fields, and even on the 
 open highway. They spoke but little to each 
 other, and then only at intervals. But when 
 they had approached quite near the house, 
 the girl said tremulously : — 
 
 " When we are married, Junzo, I want to 
 make a little trip with you — alone." 
 
 " Where, Masago ? " 
 
 She stopped, looking toward the hills. 
 Then, with one hand on his arm and the 
 other lifted from her sleeve, she pointed : — 
 
 " Look, Junzo, how the royal sun lingers 
 
THE EVE OF A WEDDING 351 
 
 on the palace turrets. It seems to love 
 Aoyama." 
 
 Junzo surveyed the golden peaks of the 
 palace, shining red in the sunset glow. His 
 thoughts prevented speech. His mind dwell- 
 ing on that one who had once made her home 
 within the palace, he forced his eyes away to 
 turn them on the dreamy face of his Masago. 
 
 "You spoke of a little trip, Masago. 
 Where shall it be. then.?" 
 
 "Yonder," she said, still pointing toward 
 the palace. 
 
 His face was troubled. 
 
 "I do not understand. You do not 
 mean — " 
 
 Slowly she nodded her head. 
 
 " Yes, I mean to Aoyama, just up there on 
 the hills, my Junzo. It would be a little 
 journey, and I — I want just once again in 
 my life to loiter in the gardens." 
 
 "You have already been there, then?" he 
 asked, with some astonishment. 
 
 She caught her breath, then simply bowed 
 her head. 
 
 II 
 

 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 J5» 
 
 « 1 have been there in fancy, Junzo, or per- 
 haps it was in dreams," was her reply. J* Will 
 you not go with me sometime, in fact ? " 
 
 He hesitated, and moved uncomfortably. 
 
 «I do not understand your fancy," he 
 
 said. 
 
 "Well, make the little journey with me, 
 
 will you not?" 
 
 "The palace is not public property," he 
 
 answered. 
 
 As she did not respond at once, he seized 
 the opportunity to continue their walk, think- 
 ing in this way to divert her. It was growing 
 softly darker. In the twilight her face was so 
 ethereal and perfect that the artist could not 
 take his eyes from it. Suddenly she said quite 
 
 simply: — 
 
 « You have fame at court, and so you could 
 
 obtain a pass to enter the grounds." 
 
 « Why, have you so strange a fancy, Ma- 
 
 sago r 
 
 « Is it strange ? " she asked, and stopped 
 again. In the dusk of the woodland lane, her 
 upturned face appeared timid, wistful. 
 
THK EVE OF A WEDDING 353 
 
 
 " Yes, it is strange for a maidci -»t our class, 
 Masago, to wish to enter royal gardens." 
 
 *♦ Are -hey not beautiful ? " she asked wist- 
 fully. 
 
 " Beautiful ? Perhaps, to some eyes, but to 
 my mind not of that more desirable beauty 
 nature gives to our more simple ga^-dens." 
 
 "Once you thought the gardens peerless," 
 she said; "have you forgotten, Junzo?" 
 
 He started violently. Suudenly his hand 
 fell upon her arm. In the dimly fading light 
 he bent to see her face. 
 
 " How can you know of — Masago, your 
 words are strange." 
 
 She laughed in that soft way so reminiscent 
 to him always of that other one. 
 
 "They are not strange, indeed," she said, 
 " for I have often heard that you declared the 
 palace grounds were beautiful. But then," 
 she sighed, and resumed the walk, " an artist 
 is no less a man, and therefore fickle." 
 
 They did not speak again until they reached 
 Yamada's house. At the little garden gate 
 they paused. 
 
i54 
 
 DAUCJH I KRS OF NIJO 
 
 " How qviiet all the world seems to-night ! " 
 she said. 
 
 '♦ You say that in a melancholy tone of 
 voice, Masago." 
 
 " Yes, I am a little melancholy. It is the 
 season and the night. Have you forgotten, 
 Junzo, that to-morrow — " 
 
 He did not let her finish, but seized both 
 her hands. 
 
 " How can you ask that question ? I think 
 of that to-morrow every second. To-night 
 I will not sleep." 
 
 " Nor I," she said. 
 
 " What will you do ? Tell me, sweet Ma- 
 s3go, and I will engage the night in the same 
 way." 
 
 She nestled against his arm, looking toward 
 
 the stars. 
 
 « To-night," she said, " I'll sit beside my 
 shoji doors and I will watch the moon. I'll 
 tell my heart that I am keeping tryst with you, 
 and think that it is so, that you and I, my 
 junzo, are alone in some sweet garden, keep- 
 ing a moon tryst." 
 
THE EVU OF A WEDDING 355 
 
 He dropped her hands. She could hear 
 his quickened breath. In the shadow he could 
 not see her face. How could he have guessed 
 that Sado-ko was jealous of her very self? 
 
 " Why did you drop my hands ? " shi 
 
 asked. 
 
 He seemed to be in painful thought. His 
 voice was husky when he spoke : — 
 
 " Your words, Masago, start bitter recollec- 
 tions in my mind." 
 
 " Bitter ? " she repeated softly. 
 
 " Bitter, bitter," he replied. 
 
 She broke his thought, with a timid question. 
 
 "Junzo, this is our wedding-eve. Confide 
 
 • «i 
 
 in me. 
 
 He moved from her a step, and stood in 
 indecisive silence. Then : — 
 
 "There is nothing to confide." 
 
 "You told me once there was a tale that 
 you would tell me." 
 
 With an impetuous motion he once again 
 seized her hands. 
 
 "You are too good, too pure to hear the 
 story of one both false and base." 
 
356 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 ■I 
 
 
 f 
 
 ill 
 
 ,\.i 
 
 In the strangest, most piteous of voices she 
 answered : — 
 
 " Perhaps there was another time when you 
 called her by another name." 
 
 Her strange words rendered him quite 
 speechless. She put her hand upon his arm. 
 There was a pleading quality in her voice : — 
 
 " Junzo, do not think or speak unkindly of 
 poor Sado-ko," she said. 
 
 He repeated the name in a low, despair- 
 ing voice : — 
 
 " Sado-ko ! " 
 
 The very name recalled his anguish of the 
 past. 
 
 " You love her still ? " she asked. Now a 
 note of fear was in her voice. She could not 
 bear that he shou'd speak or think unkindly 
 of the Princess Sado-ko, yet the very thought 
 that he should love one who was no longer 
 iierself, rendered this paradox of women dis- 
 tracted. 
 
 "You love her still?" she asked, catching 
 his arm and shaking it with her childish 
 jealousy. 
 
THE EVE OF A WEDDING 357 
 
 "No, no," he said, ihough the very 
 
 thought was loathsome, is you alone I 
 love, my own Masago." 
 
 Her tone was sharply tart. 
 
 " You do not love Sado-ko ? " 
 
 " I love Masago," he said. 
 
 She sighed. 
 
 " I would not have it otherwise," she said, 
 
 and laughed happily. 
 
 " Masago," he said earnestly, " ask the con- 
 sent of your honored parent that I may come 
 indoors. We will spend a portion of the night 
 together. I will then tell you all you wish to 
 know concerning that passion of the heart I 
 once have felt, which you have suspected. It 
 is better you should know." 
 
Wi 
 
 S) 
 
 [■Ii 
 
 i 
 
CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 MASAGO'S RETURN 
 
i 
 
 ri 
 
 h \ 
 
 I I 
 
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 il't 
 
 h:' ' : 
 
 Ifmi- a 
 
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CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 MASAGO S RETURN 
 
 ALONE tn the quiet guest room of the 
 Yamada house they sat. Convention 
 demanded a light, but it was of the 
 dimmest — a dull and flickering andon. Yet 
 the night was clear. By the shoji walls they 
 sat, looking into each other's faces, thinking 
 always of the morrow. 
 
 She had listened without interrupting while 
 in low, tense voice he had told her of a mad- 
 ness once felt for a high princess. When he 
 had quite finished and sat in silent, moody 
 gloom, she moved nearer to him, then slipped 
 her hand into his, and nestled up against his 
 shoulder. Her voice was soothing in its 
 
 quality. 
 
 " By this time the little bird — the poor 
 caged nightingale is dead," she said. " The 
 
 i6i 
 
362 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 gods were more kind to you, Junzo, for see, 
 you are so strong you beat away the cage-bars 
 and are quite free to love again." 
 
 Pressing his face against her hair, he said 
 solemnly : — 
 
 " The gods are witness of this fact. You 
 arc the only one that I have ever loved." 
 
 Smiling, she sighed with happiness. 
 
 " Poor Sado-ko ! " she said. 
 
 His voice was earnest. 
 
 " I loved you in her, Masago." 
 
 She smiled in sweetest confidence now. 
 
 " That is true," she said. " I do believe it, 
 and to-morrow — " 
 
 " To-morrow will be a golden day upon the 
 august calendar of our lives. I love you ! 
 Men of our country do not always marry for 
 their love, Masago, but the gods are kind, and 
 favor us ! " 
 
 " How sad," she said, " it must be to marry 
 one for whom we do not care ! " 
 
 " It is the fate of many in our land." 
 
 "The times change, J unzo-san. Arc not 
 conditions happier to-day?" 
 
MASAGO'S RETURN 
 
 Pi 
 
 "True. In the years to come they will 
 still improve, and if the gods grant us honor- 
 able offspring — " 
 
 "What is that?" she cried, starting from 
 him suddenly. " I thought I heard one mov- 
 ing — and see, oh, look, there is a shadow on 
 the shoji wall ! " 
 
 " Where ? " 
 
 " Over there ! See, it is moving now. 
 Some one is upon our balcony. Oh, Junzo ! " 
 
 She clung to him in a shivering panic of fear. 
 
 " Do not tremble so, Masago. Some fool- 
 ish listening servant, that is all ! One moment, 
 we will see ! ** 
 
 He starred to cross the room to the opposite 
 side, but she clung to him with nervous appre- 
 hension. 
 
 " No, no — I am fearful ! " she whispered. 
 
 " But some one is without. I too saw and 
 see the shadow of the form. Why should our 
 simple courtship be spied upon? Let me sec 
 who it is, Masago ? " 
 
 They were speaking in whispers. The girl 
 was trembling with fright. 
 
364 DAUGHTERS OF NIJC) 
 
 "It is an evil omen on this night," she 
 whispered pitifully. " Do not, pray you, do 
 not seek to find the cause." 
 
 " Your fear is most incomprehensible. Let 
 us go to another room, then. We will join 
 your honorable parents." 
 
 She clung to him fearfully as they made 
 their way across the room together. The 
 shadow on the shoji moved upward from its 
 crouching position, and through the thin walls 
 the lovers saw an arm, with the long sleeve 
 of a woman falling from it, extended to push 
 aside the doors. 
 
 Upon a sudden impulse Junzo strode 
 toward the doors and opened them. The 
 figure on the balcony stood still, silhouetted 
 in the silvered light of the night. Between 
 the parted shoji she stood like one uncertain. 
 Then suddenly she swayed, as if about to faint. 
 She grasped the door for support. 
 
 The lovers watched her in silence as elo- 
 quent as though they gazed upon a spirit. 
 Then suddenly the man broke the spell of 
 tense silence, and stooping to the andon raised 
 
in 
 
 .'Between the parted shoji she stood like ..ne uncertain.' 
 
I 
 
 M»f 
 
MASAGO'S RETURN 
 
 ^7 
 
 it up and swung its light upon the woman's 
 
 *'a cry escaped his lips -a cry simultane- 
 ously echoed by the stranger. She stepped 
 into the room, and with her hands behind her 
 drew the sliding door, closed. Now agamst 
 them she stood, looking about her with vague 
 
 '^«Who are you?" hoarsely sounded the 
 
 voice of Junzo. 
 
 "Ask — her '."was the reply she made, 
 indicating Sado-ko. Junzo slowly turned 
 toward his fiancee. He saw her hands fall 
 from her face, which in the dull light seemed 
 now white as marble. She turned it toward 
 • he woman. Her voice was strange. 
 
 « I do not know you, lady," was her answer. 
 The one by the doors laughed with a fierce 
 wildness, then threw her arms above her head 
 with abandoned recklessness. 
 
 "You do not know me — you!" She 
 laughed again. « You have reason to know 
 me. Princess Sado-ko," she cried. 
 
 Cold and immovable still, the girl who but 
 
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 (ANSI end ISO TEST CHART No. 2| 
 
 1^^^ '653 fost Mam street 
 S^ (716) 288 - 5989 - Fq, 
 
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 368 DAUGHTERS Of NIJO 
 
 lately had clung so warmly to her lover, stared 
 now upon the visitor. 
 
 " ' ^° "ot know you," she repeated in dis- 
 -ct tones " I a. not a princess, lady, but a 
 
 -pie ma.den, the daughter of YamadJ Kwa! 
 cno, and named Masago ! " 
 
 Then, as though she'put aside some late 
 Phys,ca. weakness, the other crossed and /kced 
 
 "I am the maid Masago, with whom you 
 exchanged your state. Princess Sado-ko," she 
 
 There was silence for a moment, then the 
 ■ow-toned. deliberate denial of the ^her ole 
 " '' "« true," she said. 
 Masago turned toward the artist 
 "Look at me!" she said. '• You do not 
 dare, you art,st-man. You know that I speak 
 
 As though she were an unholy thing, he 
 
 shrank from her <;h» . ^ 
 
 about rh '"^''"'^ uncertainlv 
 
 about the room. Suddenly she asked quite 
 
 querulously: ^ 
 
 " ""■"' '' -"y "'""'er.' I never realized 
 
MASAGO'S RETURN 369 
 
 before how much I loved her." She looked 
 about the room impatiently. "How dark it 
 is! Let us have light." 
 
 " No, no," cried out the artist, imploringly, 
 " there is sufficient." 
 
 " Ah, you fear to see my face more plainly, 
 artist? Yet I will have more light. My 
 nerves are all unstrung. I could laugh and 
 weep, and I could scream aloud at the least 
 cause." 
 
 She clapped her hands loudly, imperiously, 
 then restlessly paced the room, 
 
 " The woman always came so slowly. The 
 promptness of the menials of Nijo makes me 
 impatient of this country slowness." 
 
 Outside, in the corridors, the shuffling tread 
 of the servant was heard. Masago, in her 
 nervous state, could not wait for her to open 
 the doors, but pushed them apart. 
 
 " Bring more lights," she commanded, then 
 stayed the woman by grasping her kSmono at 
 the shoulder: "Oh, it is you I see, Okiku. 
 Come inside ! " 
 
 The woman stepped into the room, looking 
 
 2A 
 
1 ' 
 
 !i- 
 
 m 
 
 \M ' 
 
 h' 
 
 370 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 up at her in a startled fashion, then glancing 
 at the other silent two. 
 
 " Do you recognize Masago ? " asked the 
 girl, bringing her face close to the servant's. 
 The woman cried out in fright as she stared 
 in horror from one to the other. Suddenly 
 she gasped : — 
 
 "It is a wicked lie. You are not Masago. 
 There is my sweet girl." She pointed to the 
 silent Sado-ko. 
 
 At those words Sado-ko seemed to come to 
 sudden life. She crossed the room and whis- 
 pered to the maid : — 
 
 " Okiku, bid my father and my mother 
 come at once. The woman seems both ill and 
 witless. Pray hasten. Also bring more lights." 
 
 Masago sat down on the floor. Laying 
 her head back against the panelling of the 
 wall, she closed her eyes wearily. 
 
 " I am so tired and worn out," she said 
 plaintively ; " I have travelled half the night. 
 What time is it, Onatsu-no — Why, I forget 
 again. Oh, it is good to be home once more. 
 I never knew how much — '* 
 
MASAGO'S RETURN 
 
 37' 
 
 Ohano's pleasant voice was heard outside 
 the door. As she bustled into the room, fol- 
 lowed by Kwacho, Masago leaped to her 
 feet, and, rushing headlong across the room, 
 threw her arms about Oiiano's neck. 
 
 " Mother 1 Oh, my mother, mother 1 " she 
 
 cried. 
 
 Ohano stood in stiff amazement, staring 
 across Masago's head at Sado-k.o. The maid 
 brought andons; the room was now well 
 
 lighted. 
 
 « Why — what — " was all that Ohano 
 could gasp, but she had not the heart to put 
 the girl from her arms. Yamada Kwacho was 
 more brusque, however. He drew the girl 
 away from Ohano by her sleeves, but when he 
 saw her face, he started in astonished bewilder- 
 ment. 
 
 "I do not understand," he said dazedly, 
 "Junzo— Masago— " He turned to them 
 for enlightenment. 
 
 Sado-ko spoke with perfect clearness. Her 
 eyes were wide and steady, but there was no 
 color in her face. 
 
 i t 
 
i f 
 
 M^ 
 
 «ll 
 
 372 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 " The woman seems demented, father. She 
 thinks that she is other than herself — your 
 daughter. But look upon her garments. See 
 the crest upon her sleeves ! She evidently is 
 some high lady. Her mind is wandering in 
 delusion," 
 
 With a savage cry Masago sprang toward 
 her. She would have struck Sado-ko had not 
 Kwacho held her. 
 
 "What! You — you speak thus in my 
 own father's house ! Oh ! " She turned pite- 
 ously toward Ohano. " Mother, you will 
 understand. You know your Masago ! " 
 
 " You, Masago ! " exclaimed Yamada 
 Kwacho ; " why, you are wild in ways. Our 
 girl from babyhood has been docile, quiet, 
 almost dull, while you — " 
 
 " Mother, speak to me. 
 least know your own child." 
 
 Ohano burst into tears, 
 entangled and perplexed. 
 
 There were steps without the house, and 
 the shrill calls of runners; then loud rappings 
 on the doors. Kwacho pushed them open 
 
 Say that you at 
 Her mind was 
 
MASAGO'S RETURN 
 
 373 
 
 roughly to find a dozen men in livery upon 
 his veranda. A tall man stepped forward. 
 Sado-ko pulled her mother down with her 
 upon the floor, thus concealing their faces in 
 low obeisance. The artist did not move, but 
 his eyes met those of the royal Prince Ko- 
 matzu. The latter glared upon him fiercely. 
 
 "What means this rude intrusion?" de- 
 manded Kwacho. " We are simple citizens. 
 Why are we disturbed ? " 
 
 He was interrupted by the screaming of 
 Masago. She rushed toward Komatzu, crying 
 
 out : — 
 
 "You, you, you— He has sent you for 
 
 me — oh-h — 
 
 She swayed and fell even as she spoke. 
 
 Without a word of explanation the Prince 
 Komatzu himself stooped to the floor. Lift- 
 ing in his arms the senseless form of the maid 
 Masago, he bore it to the royal norimon 
 without the house. 
 
 After that those within the house heard the 
 sounds of departure. Then silence in the night. 
 Kwacho returned from the veranda. 
 
374 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 it ':%] 
 
 m 
 
 
 1 fi 
 
 In 
 
 "They have gone in the direction of the 
 palace Aoyama — some demented princess, 
 doubtless." He turned to Junzo, '' I trust 
 you will pardon the interruption of your visit 
 in my house." 
 
 The artist returned his host's bow mechani- 
 cally, then looked with some stealthiness toward 
 his fiancee. When he found her eyes fixed upon 
 his face imploringly, he could not look at her. 
 
 " The night grows late," he said heavily ; 
 " permit me to say good night." 
 
 He bowed deeply to all, departing without 
 another word to Sado-ko. She moved toward 
 the doors. Turning in the path, he saw her 
 standing there. 
 
 That night, when husband and wife lay 
 side by side upon their mattresses, Kwacho, 
 moving restlessly, said : — 
 
 " The woman had a countenance so strangely 
 like our girl's it disturbs my mind. Yet, 
 Shaka ! how different were their ways ! How 
 much more admirable the simple, unaffected 
 manners of our country girl ! I wonder why 
 the woman came — " 
 
MASAGO'S RETURN 
 
 375 
 
 « 
 
 Listen, Kwacho," said Ohano, sitting up, 
 « I have heard, sometime, that the Princess 
 Sado-ko once loved our Junzo. Yes, it is 
 so! You need not move so angrily. Do 
 you not recall that when he was ill he called 
 upon her name repeatedly?" 
 
 « I ^cll you," her husband answered angrily, 
 "the boy is fairiy sick with his affection for 
 Masago. Only a woman's foolish mind could 
 imagine otherwise." 
 
 Ohano lay down again. 
 "A woman's wiser mind, Kwacho. I am 
 convinced this princess came to take our 
 Junzo from Masago." 
 
 "Go to sleep, Ohano," growled her hus- 
 band; "surmises and convictions are some- 
 times treasonable and wicked." 
 
'I 
 
 ;r 
 
 'lii 
 
CHAPTER XXVII 
 A GRACIOUS PRINCESS AT LAST 
 
 J 
 
Vi ' 
 
 <5 
 
 /?- 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 A GRACIOUS PRINCESS AT LAST 
 
 THF following morninp Masago, irri- 
 tated and nervous, sat in a chamber 
 of the palace Aoyama. Impatiently 
 she chided Madame Bara, t'^c chaperon. 
 
 " I am tired of your voice," she said. " Do 
 not speak farther, or better still, leave me, if 
 
 you please." 
 
 The woman, bowing deeply, left her mistress 
 
 alone. Then Masago called: — 
 « Natsu-no ! Where are you ? " 
 Upon the instant appeared the waiting- 
 woman of the Princess Sado^ko. Masago 
 
 instructed: — 
 
 « Look out once again and tell me if he 
 
 comes." 
 
 There was silence for a moment, as the 
 maid passed into the adjoining room and 
 leaning from the casement looked toward 
 
 379 
 
 
38o 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 '.■•■ i 
 
 , I 
 
 i^V 
 
 the front part of the palace. Soon her 
 voice, raised and mechanical, answered the 
 impatient query of Masago. 
 
 " He comes not yet ! " she said. 
 " Look again," said Masago ; " do not leave 
 the casement until he comes." 
 
 Natsu-no was no longer young. She shiv- 
 ered at the open casement through which 
 came the morning air; her eyes were blue 
 v/ith cold, and tired for sleep, for Natsu-no 
 had spent the night in secret tears. After all 
 these days she knew now where her mistress 
 was, yet fate — a thing she was too insignifi- 
 cant to fight against — chained her like a 
 slave to this girl-autocrat. 
 
 When, from the direction of the palace 
 reserved for the men of the household, Ko- 
 matzu appeared, the woman drew the shutters. 
 Then, shuffling to the other room, she an- 
 nounced, " He comes ! " 
 
 Masago sprang to her feet. She held out 
 both her hands toward Komatzu when he 
 entered, but he did not touch them. His 
 eves were dark, drawn into a heavy frown. 
 
A GRACIOUS PRINCESS AT LAST 381 
 
 " Have you heard the joyful news ? " she 
 cried. 
 
 " What news ? " 
 
 " Word came this morning by the divine 
 barbarian wires from Tokyo that my betrothal 
 with the Crown Prince had been peremptorily 
 annulled. Why, you do not appear glad at 
 the news ! " 
 
 "I have heard it," he said; "there are 
 other things which trouble me. Princess, 1 
 ask an explanation of your Highness. Nay, 
 I demand it. Some months ago a rumor 
 coupled your name with a low artist-man. 
 You start and blush. Was the rumor only 
 malice ? " 
 
 Masago looked at him reproachfully. She 
 
 said : — 
 
 '* Purely so." 
 
 "Then, cousin, give me an explanation of 
 your last night's conduct. You have recov- 
 ered from your indisposition, which still had 
 a cause. Why did you journey in such haste 
 to Kamakura ? " 
 
 Tears fell. Masago's voice broke and 
 
i'fi: 
 
 t\ id .1 *"■•■: 
 
 382 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 trembled. " I was homesick," she replied in 
 
 a low voice ; " that is the truth, Komatzu. 
 
 The gods are my witnesses." 
 
 " Homesick for the merchant's home, friends 
 
 of the artist-man ? " 
 
 She averted her face, not hesitating in her 
 
 deceit. 
 
 "Your jealousy is misplaced, Komatzu. 
 
 They told you truly last night. I was — as 
 
 women often are— witless. Who would not 
 
 be at such a shock?" 
 
 " You speak of your betrothal ? " 
 
 " I do. Do you not understand, Komatzu ? " 
 
 She went closer to him. "The thought 
 
 of union with another than yourself unnerved 
 
 me. 
 
 He spoke impetuously, and as though a 
 weight was lifted from his mind : — 
 
 " Princess, could I believe your words, 
 I would be the happiest prince in all the 
 
 land." 
 
 " Believe them," she pleaded. " It is the 
 truth I speak; I swear it by all the eight 
 million gods of heaven, and by our ancestor. 
 
A GRACIOUS PRINCESS AT LAST 383 
 
 the Sun-god. I went to Kamakura, rashly, 
 blindly, wildly, because of love for you." 
 
 He looked searchingly into her eyes. Then 
 as if satisfied he stooped and kissed her lips, 
 a habit they had recently adopted at court. 
 "I have suffered, Sado-ko, more than I 
 ever dreamed possible. I thought this artist- 
 fellow was alone responsible for your action." 
 " Komatzu, he is already betrothed to the 
 merchant's daughter, a simple maid, who 
 bears a small resemblance to me." 
 He made a gesture of denial. 
 "That is impossible, princess. What, you 
 compare one of her class with you ! It is 
 most gracious. No one in all the land can 
 equal you in beauty." 
 She smiled in happiness. 
 "Your journey was a 
 though a rnorsel for the 
 Do you know that this latest caprice so 
 moved the young and easily shocked Crown 
 Prince, that in disgust he hastened to his 
 father, and on his knees besought him to 
 grant another wife?" 
 
 fortunate event, 
 gossips, princess. 
 
 
n 
 
 384 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 S 
 
 They laughed. 
 "What happened next?" 
 " One hour after you left Tokyo, Sado-ko 
 was humiliated, her betrothal being publicly 
 annulled. It made a noisy story for a space." 
 " And next what happened ? " 
 " Next, I too presented myself before his 
 Majesty, who, being uncle as well as father, 
 was ready to condone offence unfitted for 
 a future Empress. Consequently, when 1 
 begged him to grant me your hand in 
 marriage, he graciously consented." 
 " And you followed me at once ? " 
 « At once." 
 
 When Komatzu had left her, Masago stood 
 for some time looking from the casement of 
 the palace. 
 
 " To think," she murmured, " of the folly 
 I was near to committing but last night. The 
 court is cold and heartless, yet it is my true, 
 true home, for there is the only one on earth 
 who loves me." She sighed. " I am an 
 outcast from my childhood's home — even my 
 stupid mother denies mc. It was fitting ! " 
 
A GRACIOUS PRINCESS AT LAST 385 
 
 The voice of the waiting-woman, Natsu-no, 
 broke upon her meditations. 
 
 "Exalted princess!" She turned slowly 
 toward the woman. At her haggard aspect 
 she was touched. 
 
 " What is it, Natsu-no ? " she asked with 
 compassion. 
 
 « I am no longer young," said the woman. 
 « I was handmaiden to the mother of the 
 Princess Sado-ko, and from her birth I served 
 the latter." 
 
 "You have been faithful," said Masago, 
 
 kindly. 
 
 "Will, then, the illustrious one reward 
 
 the faithful service of the most humble 
 oner 
 
 "What do you wish? It is already 
 
 granted," said Masago, generously, for she 
 
 was happy. 
 
 "Permission," said the woman, "to leave 
 
 your service." 
 
 Masago looked closely into her face. 
 
 " You wish to serve again — ' 
 
 She did not finish the sentence, nor did the 
 
 2B 
 

 ''; ! 
 
 386 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 woman. Their eyes met. Each understood 
 the other. 
 
 " You are free to go," said Masago, gently. 
 
 The woman moved away. 
 
 " Stay," said Masago, " I have a message 
 for you to carry to your mistress. Say this 
 for me : * She who is now Princess Sado-ko 
 sets free your maid. She wishes with all 
 her heart she had done likewise with the 
 nightingale.' " 
 
 Natsu-no touched with her head the hem 
 of Masago' s robe. 
 
 "You are a gracious princess," she 
 murmured. 
 
 i^' '1 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII 
 "THE GODS KNEW BEST! 
 
-'..ȣ*y>' 
 
 ,A^,e;^f-- 
 
 "^^ 
 
 v.r;^ 
 
 
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 X 
 
 m 
 
 ..' 3' 'I 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^5^: 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 "THE GODS KNEW BEST ! " 
 
 IT wanted but a few hours before the noon 
 wedding when Sado-ko, appearing on her 
 balcony, looked down into the garden, 
 where her lover waited. Down the little flight 
 of stairs straight to him she went, silently ac- 
 cepting from his hands flowers. Her eyes were 
 fixed upon his face lovingly, but anxiously. 
 «You look so pale," she said. « Did you 
 
 not sleep last night, my Junzo?" 
 
 « I did not sleep," he said. "Come, let us 
 walk where it is more secluded. I wish to 
 speak with you alone." 
 
 In a dreamy, pensive fashion she walked 
 beside him. They crossed the little garden 
 bridge to a quiet, shady spot. Once out of 
 sight of the house, Junzo stopped short and, 
 turning, faced her. 
 
 3^9 
 
390 
 
 DAlfGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 !,.l 
 t 
 
 {). 1 
 
 " Last night," he said, " one told a night- 
 mare story, which you denied. The morning 
 is come. Tell me the truth." 
 
 A flush spread over her face, as though 
 she were half angered with him. She would 
 not raise her eyes to his. His voice was firm 
 — stern : — 
 
 " Answer me." 
 
 " I cannot," she replied, " when you speak 
 in such a tone." 
 
 Her heaving bosom told him she was on 
 the verge of tears. Gently he took her hands 
 in his and held them. His voice was tender- 
 ness itself. 
 
 " Now tell me all," he said. 
 
 She tried to meet his eyes, but Cuuld not. 
 Then she sought to draw her hands from his, 
 while she averted her face. 
 
 " I would not speak of sad matters on my 
 wedding-day. There is naught to tell." She 
 added the last sentence with swift vehemence. 
 
 "There is much to tell," he said gravely. 
 "I am your lover — soon your husband. 
 Before that time, tell me th« secret which 
 
"THE GODS KNEW BEST!" 39' 
 
 rests between us now. If there is no truth in 
 
 that woman, reassure my doubts." 
 « Can love and doubt exist together ? " 
 « If you loved me, you would trust me," he 
 
 replied gravely, ignoring her question. 
 
 She threw her head back with a swift, brave 
 
 motion. 
 «♦ Do you truly love me ? '* 
 « With all my heart." 
 " You love Sado-ko ? " 
 He did not answer. 
 
 "Ah, how blmd you have been," she said, 
 "that Sado-ko could make you think she 
 were other than herself. It was a strange test 
 of your love, Junzo." 
 
 " Then it is true ! " he said, making a move- 
 ment of recoil from her. 
 
 « It is true that I am Sado-ko," she said. 
 He stared at her blankly. Then suddenly 
 he covered his face with his hands and 
 
 groaned. 
 
 "The gods have pity on us both!" he 
 
 said. 
 
 "Why should the gods have pity?" asked 
 
 i 
 
\'' 
 
 392 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 the Princess Sado-ko. "They have already 
 blessed us. We are hap;)y, Junzo." 
 
 " Happy ! " he repeated. " Guileless one, 
 do you not see our happiness is so slight 
 and dangerous a thing we cannot hold 
 it?" 
 
 " But why may we not ? " 
 
 " You are the Princess Sado-ko, and I — an 
 artist-man." 
 
 " You are my Junzo," she replied, " and I 
 am your Sado-ko. This we know, but it is a 
 secret. The world will call me Masago, and 
 once ! 'la your wife — " 
 
 " Ou. union is impossible." 
 
 Pressing her hand to her breast, she gazed 
 imploringly at him. 
 
 " It is not impossible," she said steadily. 
 "You cannot now refuse to marry me. The 
 gods have given us to each other. They did 
 so from the first. "We will be happy." 
 
 " There are others of whom we both must 
 think." he cried. 
 
 " No, no," she said. " Upon this day we 
 will not think of others." 
 
- THE GODS KNEW BEST!" 393 
 " This is folly that wc have been dreaming, 
 
 O princes* I " 
 
 He moved away from her for a time, pacing 
 up and down with moody, bent head. He 
 came back to her impetuously, and spoke 
 accusingly, yet mournfully: — 
 
 « You did a cruel act last night. That poor 
 girl came to her true home. You denied her, 
 
 Sado-ko ! " 
 
 « Tou reproach me for that ! " she cried, her 
 eyes flashing resentfully. « How can you say 
 that to me, since it was for your sake I did 
 deny her, and for hers too, though she had 
 been most eager and well content to change 
 her lot with mine at first. Yet last night I 
 thought upon the consequences of her act and 
 mine. I did not think of myself at all." 
 
 He did not interrupt her, and she continued 
 in defence with impetuous swiftness. 
 
 "Think on the matter but a little while, 
 Junzo. Would you have loved this other 
 one? No, in your face 1 read the answer. 
 Do not speak it. Could I give her to you, 
 then, in place of mc ? I am but a woman and 
 
 ^1 
 
394 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 ir| 
 
 f 
 
 cannot reason harshly, and so I thought last 
 night with pity and tenderness of you." 
 
 " My Sado-ko ! " he said. 
 
 " A little while ago," she said, " you called 
 me Masago. How easily you change the 
 name. First it was Sado-ko, — the sweetest, 
 most peerless name on earth. Then it was 
 Masago, — the purest, simplest name for 
 maiden; and now — " 
 
 " I never loved you for your name," he 
 said. 
 
 She laughed for the first time, and caught 
 at his hand, pressing it against her face. 
 
 " Now you are my Junzo once again. We 
 will not speak of these sad things." 
 
 " Sado-ko, we cannot but do so. Try and 
 see the matter as it is. You are — " 
 
 " Masago — your betrothed. A little while 
 and I will be — your wife!" 
 
 " It cannot be," he said sadly, " for you 
 are not Masago. We must think of her be- 
 sides ourselves. We cannot rob her of her 
 rights." 
 
 " But it is to protect her that I must still 
 
 i. 
 
«THE GODS KNEW BEST!" 395 
 
 be Masago. Why, think what would be the 
 fate of a common citizen if she confessed that 
 she had practised deceit upon the royal court! 
 True, I was jointly guilty, but princesses do not 
 have the punishment bestowed upon a sim- 
 ple citizen. Why, there is no doubt, if this 
 were told, the maid Masago would be punished 
 by the government so cruelly she would not 
 have the strength to live. Is it not a crime 
 
 of treason — " 
 
 Junzo held up a hand, for some one was 
 
 coming toward them. 
 
 The woman who approached was bowed, 
 but when she lifted her face, they saw the un- 
 dried tears upon it. Sado-ko recognized at 
 once Natsu-no. The latter came hastily 
 toward her, dropped upon her knees, and 
 hid her face in the folds of the girl's kimono. 
 
 "Do not kneel," said Sado-ko. "They 
 will see you from the house. Stand up. Now 
 tell me, why do you come here ? " 
 
 « Sado-ko ! " 
 
 « Hush ! Do not call me by that name. 
 
 Why are you here ? " 
 
396 
 
 DAUGHTERS OF NIJO 
 
 I 
 
 I'fl 
 
 •'"f 
 
 " To ofFer my poor services again, sweet 
 mistress." 
 
 " You have left the Nijo service ? " inquired 
 Sado-ko, swiftly. 
 
 " The gracious princess granted me my free- 
 dom, and so I came — " 
 
 Sado-ko put her arm about her old servant. 
 
 " Do not tremble so, good maid," she said, 
 " but tell us in a breath all there is to know." 
 
 " She is to marry Prince Komatzu. All is 
 well with her to-day. In her happiness she 
 was generous and gracious ; and so this morn- 
 ing granted me my freedom." 
 
 Sado-ko turned a beaming face toward her 
 lover. For the first time he was smiling. 
 
 " Your coming is a happy omen, good maid," 
 he said. 
 
 " Hark, listen ! " said Sado-ko, her eyes 
 gleaming. " They are calling me. They wish 
 to put my wedding gown upon me. I must 
 go. Natsu ! Come and dress me for the last 
 time in my maidenhood. Junzo ! Fo. but 
 an hour's space, sayonara ! " 
 
 " Sayonara," he repeated with deep emotion. 
 
"THE GODS KNEW BEST!" 397 
 
 He watched her until he could not see her 
 further. Then with sudden, swift, and buoy- 
 ant step he followed the path she had taken, 
 and entered the wedding house. 
 
 "The gods knew best!" he said. 
 
» 
 
 . ')! 
 
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