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