The homegoing over, both Yodogima and Oyea settled down to a kind of preconceived expectancy. Their place continued as before, under the domination of a single master, the husband of the one and admirer of the other, assuming the attitude more of respecter than lover to either. Neither outranked the other, as yet; nor did their proposed spheres, from Hideyoshis way of thinking, in any manner conflict; nor were they at all inconsistent, as determined by custom or tradition from time immemorial, with good citizenship and right living: each cognizant of her duty, and mindful of the respect due to the head of the household as established and designed; no one jealous or hateful or inconsiderate of another, but thence possessed of the utmost confidence and respect for each other; they both set their hearts and energies to the accomplishment of one and the same end.
Do you love Ieyasu, Yodogima? queried Oyea, one soft, suggestive evening, as they two sat in the opened-up room, meditating, together, more than contemplating, the possible outcome of that conflict—then renewed and waging between the ones lover, who had vowed to live only for her, and the others husband, whom she loved and hoped for quite as much.
I do, answered Yodogima, with brightening eyes and confident voice.
Oyea pondered now. She, too, felt the agony with which Yodogima—whom she had come to love—must receive the news: news that to her seemed otherwise impossible of coming. And Oyea had taken great pride in her husbands achievements; next to her love for him, it had been her greatest concern. Then she thought of her own position and Yodogimas chance should Ieyasu fall; Hideyoshi spared not an enemy, and halted nowhere in the resolving of his plans: if not by force, then by subtler means—still harder to bear. Suddenly her expression strangely changed, and turning to Yodogima, she said, reassuringly:
Then I trust he shall not lose.
Yodogimas eyes softened; and bowing low, out of respect, but struggling hard against scruple, the more finely wrought princess thanked her benefactress, saying:
How can I ever requite such generosity.
Time wore away dull and anxiously at the castle, till presently word came of the great battle of Komakiyami, where Hideyoshis advance had been checked, all his ready attempts at bribing the enemys superior officers put to naught, and Ieyasu with inferior numbers had, at last, given his opponent such a thrashing as none thought possible: in view of further developments, proving to be the initial of a series of engagements that were to revolutionize government, changethe trend of civilization, and leave, perhaps, its lasting imprint upon the future higher destiny of all mankind.
Ieyasu drove the foe out of his territory and across the river, then halted to reorganize his broken lines and conserve better their resources; Esyo deliberately told him that Yodogima had grown indifferent, his own intelligence warned him of Hideyoshis recuperation, and whether convinced of the former or frightened at the latter the not over confident victor in place of following up a first triumph resolutely set himself down again to defend, once more to wait.
Hideyoshi, on the other hand, had in the meantime found it convenient or wise to consult Oyea; and whether acting upon her advice to make friends with Ieyasu or designing to accomplish by unfair means what he had failed of doing with arms began forthwith to reconstruct the shattered fragments of his sorely beaten army, recruiting with additional levies and intrenching himself as best he could to scare or mislead the enemy into remaining within the confines of his own domain. And there they stayed, bickering and bartering, one on either side the river Komaki, both afraid but eager, till diplomacy had been for the first time developed into a sufficiently vital force to make war a more extensive if not crueler means of settling dispute and rolling onward the vast, silent confusion of ethical entities.
To do this, and to carry forward each his advantage in the exercising of so little known an agency,neither one halted, but adjusted his conscience in the use of instruments that the heroics had held sacredly above the sordid selfishness of eager quest; woman must be permitted to degrade herself—yes, should be used—that mans supremacy be not endangered or questioned in its strident march toward the goal of a collectively devised, pampered, vain, and self-denying individuality.
Esyo and Jokoin were both taken advantage of. The latter to carry tainted messages from a scheming father, by adoption only; she could cross the river and thus avoid an encounter that other men than Hideyoshi in those days had courted as manlier—Ieyasu would not harm or hinder a sister to his love, whether doubted or mistaken, or both. Esyo served Ieyasu in a like capacity; not, however, until the younger man had despaired of his challenge to the other to meet him in personal combat.
Tell your master, or father, or whatever he is, said he to Jokoin, in answer to Hideyoshis repeated attempts, that our contention is purely personal, and that neither he nor I have any right to compromise a matter of heart, or to sacrifice the lives of others and the welfare of a community to settle that kind of difference. Let us then invoke a juster means.
But we cannot do that except it be the will of the one for whom we fight; Hideyoshi shall not stop short of death, replied he, without reserve.
It was agreed that they should abide the decision of Yodogima; but how obtain an impartial declarationfrom her? Ieyasu insisted upon her presence: Hideyoshi declared himself indifferent.
If you want her to come here it will be necessary for you to fetch her: if you wish to right the matter there, why, then, go; until settled Hideyoshi shall employ such means as lie within his power to invoke.
In possession, Hideyoshis position seemed tenable; now, no one knew better than Ieyasu the tactics with which his adversary would gain an advantage, though prone to make no promise or engagement that he should not keep. Nor did Ieyasu let himself be deceived as to his own resources or ability. True he had won a great victory over Hideyoshi, had taught him to know that willing and doing are two very different terms, and that gods ready-made or self-devised are alike amenable to the unflinching laws of inevitableness, but would not budge his ground, Hideyoshis resources or Yodogimas failure to the contrary notwithstanding.
Yet he must do something, either push forward or lose the vantage gained. What was it that stirred within and would not let him dismiss an only alternating thought:
Compromise?
No, no; Ieyasu could not do that; but—confidence! now I have it; Ill trust somebody—Esyo! she shall hear Yodogima speak the word, will tell me the truth; confidence and not compromise, therefore, is the final arbiter of our destiny. Then why doubt, why have I doubted Yodogima? No; it is my short-sightednessand not her faithlessness that has caused me all these bitter misunderstandings; she will approve me right, and I shall prove her mine.
Slow with inception but quick to apprehend, Ieyasus energies once kindled burned with a vigor and a glow as refreshing and as inspiring as waiting had been portentous. He would have it settled once and for all that his love had not been misplaced, and that he himself were the rightful suitor: Hideyoshi, but a mongrel pretender, an empty claimant.
Go to Yodogima, and get her answer, if this monkey-faced deceiver would yet know that she is a princess, worthy a princes love, commanded he, of Esyo—as she, and Jokoin, departed upon their mission, as arranged, under a truce, of sufficient length—no doubt whatsoever in his mind as to what that word should be.
The two sisters proceeded toward Azuchi, together and unhampered, united in their great expectations but widely divergent upon lesser grounds, those of apprehension. Esyo reasoned that Yodogima must say No, and by so doing relieve her of the necessity for devising an untruth; Hideyoshi had sent Jokoin along for no other purpose than to make sure the delivery of the answer he, too, believed Yodogima should return. Jokoin anticipated alone the boredom of that to her way of thinking needless journey, for how could a princess, her own sister, so spoil a good prospect by saying anything but Yes?
They had arrived now, and Yodogima received themin her boudoir—still open at the rear and overlooking the narrow lowland, butting up against a somber woods that covered a steep rising hillside beyond—yet it was growing late. There was no one to disturb them; Oyea had withdrawn to her own desolate chamber, apprehensive but resigned. Yodogima sat facing the dark of nightland. Jokoin at once became spokesman; she could not wait. Esyo held no interest in the gathering portent without, nor did she betray a conscious thought of things more ominous within. The clouds hung low and the air around dulled against the dead monotony of dawning sleep, over-borne and unrelated save as lettered against natures unfathomed deep by myriads of changing, ever-noiseless fire-flies.
Come reason with me, with you and with him, verily the God-truth to know, pleaded Yodogima, silently, of the great, fathomless unreality lying just beyond, always ahead, alluringly beckoning, yet so disparagingly mute.
Really, one might think you lost in dreamland, ventured Jokoin, after waiting some seconds, patiently, perhaps, because quite satisfied.
Not dreaming, but coaxing, replied Esyo, and were I in Yodogimas place I should do more than that; I should take the matter into my own hands, and answer as reason might dictate.
Sister! cried Yodogima. Would you, truly, deny your God, to satisfy vanity—and know him?
I should do the most sensible thing under the circumstances:you have my deepest sympathy, Yodogima, continued Esyo.
And, what is more, I have confidence in you, replied Yodogima.
Well, I suppose, Im not in it, then, suggested Jokoin.
Neither sister answered; Esyo found it enough to resist expressing some sort of feeling, and Yodogima no longer interested only in the voiceless heavens, pondered the possibilities of Ieyasus proposed encounter. Nor could she quite bring herself to trust probability, for had not Hideyoshi once vanquished the great Mondo, outwitted Kemotsu? What if her lover should meet with a worse fate, and that, too, only for her?
No, said she, to herself; it must not be.
Then the chance of his winning began to take hold, and her pulses tingled, and the spirit verge spoke in the voice of an ancestor:
Yes, whispered she, inaudibly, though the fire shone from her eyes as it had a Tairas ages ago.
Esyo paled at the thought: Jokoin bounded up, proposing:
Shall I shout it aloud, sister?
Jokoin! commanded Esyo; how can you so profane things? Yodogima has not yet invoked understanding: neither flesh nor spirit alone satisfies conscience.
For the moment Yodogima seemingly forgot the terrible test that raged and calmed alternately within.Facing Esyo, and penetrating with only a glance the thin gauze veiling a sisters underlying purpose, Yodogima said, complacently, though firmly:
One would think this solely a matter of yours, Esyo. Possibly you had best answer instead, that I may learn also your pleasure; and, perchance, the motive.
Esyo flushed, and Yodogima read her as written.
Come closer, Jokoin; I want to feel the warmth and cheer of your presence; it is an inspiration, if not a reason: Esyo is so cold; oh, so unsatisfying, yet also inspiring. Between the two of you I am thrust back upon heart, and shall answer neither yes nor no. Let them fight, if they will, but tell them, both alike, that they are men: that Yodogima shall let neither one answer to his God for a mistake of hers. It is a womans province to bear and not to succor man. Good-bye, and when you have need for comfort and less to know then come again; I love you both.
The resolving in her own mind of a determination so vital to herself, to her lover, and to others with whom she had to do, had driven Yodogima well nigh unto the brink of distraction. She respected the rights of all, loved as only in truth she could, and held self above the unlettered reach of personal prowess alone; the community had dawned, laid claim to its higher purpose, and held her like a moth lured thither to the candle fire. She would not preach the latter, could not practice the former, hence fell back upon impulse as an only guide.
Let them fight, repeated she, when alone and reflecting, the one ambitious and the other uncertain; I would be neither, and justice will be done—but, is not he my God? What other hope? Forgive me!
Presently Oyea came to her.
You did right, Yodogima, and he shall understand, if such be meet; and who can better judge than he? What of the fathers, of tradition, of—
Hush-sh-sh—it seems to me I hear a voice—no, no; it is only he; my God, my Due: I am mindful of—Obedience.
Upon receipt of her declaration, Ieyasu forthwith charged Yodogima with unfaithfulness; he believed now that Hideyoshi had found it possible only through her to checkmate his every move to reach and liberateher, had moved upon him thus prematurely but to satisfy a wavering ambition of hers. Esyo seemed not of sufficient consequence to arouse in him any apprehension from that source; her last protestations appeared to be reasonable enough in view of Jokoins passive assent, and without looking behind the scenes to discern any better reason further for assuming individual risk, at once set himself about to exact the best terms obtainable.
Love had been the one thing to swerve him, and to disturb the plan that he had evolved earlier in life to build up and round out an existence both useful and to the purpose: he would have no more of it. Hideyoshi, on the other hand, had indulged only as convenience or policy dictated, hence came to look upon virtue as a ruling passion: made it the goal and not his guide.
You are at liberty to name the terms, urged Hideyoshi, upon Ieyasu, more in irony than of earnest; no longer doubtful about the latters attitude, toward Yodogima.
I want neither women nor wealth; they are alike fatal to government, retorted Ieyasu, neither heedless nor unready.
Oh, very well; we shall omit the latter, if you like, but the former are indispensable, I take it; however, one or so more or less doesnt matter much, to me; besides, you may change your mind: Hideyoshi can then the better supply you: my collection is not a mean one—
And your mother a good enough security. What say you to that, bickerer?
It is agreeable: you can have her, as hostage, of course.
Hardly for another purpose, as a matter of choice; knowing her son, as I do.
There are worse mothers—you will not deny her the comfort of a daughter, my sister Saji?
I can relieve you as well of her support, if that is any object.
Thanks. She may not seem extravagant to Ieyasu. And, you might not dislike, also, Jokoin, my recently adopted daughter?
Perhaps I had better take, instead, Esyo, and make an end of it.
As you like; Hideyoshi is not over nice, or particular, or exacting.
And Ieyasu wants nothing not bargained for, and takes no less.
We shall see, replied Hideyoshi, satisfied with the deal, and anxious to put it to the test without further parley or encumbrance.
Hideyoshi forthwith produced as hostage his mother, Naka, accompanied by her daughter, Saji, apparently to keep her company, and by Esyo, whose presence, already assured, served no better her purpose than Hideyoshis pleasurable riddance if not her sister Yodogimas more respectful quest. In consideration of the security tendered, Ieyasu agreed henceforth only torecognize Hideyoshi as supreme at Kyoto, the capital: Hideyoshi, as usual, made no promises.
Returning to Azuchi, word forthwith spread of Hideyoshis wonderful success; he had demonstrated the potency of diplomacy as against the cruelties of war—true no one knew quite the terms of their alliance, except they themselves, and seemingly neither one had gained an ostensible advantage, save, perhaps, Ieyasu; who, as was patent, held the highest possible hostage, yet for what none surmised; or, as events proved, really cared. Nobodys domain had been depleted or augmented, and Ieyasus prestige gained by the battle won remained unquestioned; he had never disputed Hideyoshis supremacy at Kyoto, hence could not be charged with losing anything by recognizing that. On the other hand, Hideyoshi carried with him the odium of defeat in battle, against which the successes of so little known an agency as diplomacy would not have counted for much had he not again looked ahead into the, to him, truly inexhaustible unknown, there discerning still a newer and more effective builder, publicity.
The money, therefore, that Ieyasu might have exacted as tribute was at once put to a better use, and the women, whose influence he preferred to despise, were not at all slow with experiencing some change of heart, if not of grasping at real opportunity. Yodogima held steadfast to her purpose. Oyea might have been pardoned for a growing conviction that her lord ruled right in any circumstance and that, perhaps,Yodogima were, after all, a bit ungrateful; but others less disappointing and with more to gain eagerly outbid themselves to do his reverence honor—Grace of Tango, daughter of Akechi Mitsuhide and wife to Hosokawa Tadaoki, cast her jewels into the fund that was forming to bid Hideyoshi enter the capital as a god no less than laurel crowned.
The monks of Negoro were crushed, the South subdued, and the exalted office of Kwambaku (Regent) was conferred upon him, by no less an authority than the mikado himself—Yoshiaki, the deposed shogun, refused to adopt the lowly-born Hideyoshi, as requested, thus enabling him to be declared shogun; Katsutoya still remained at large.
From a huge platform at Kyoto great treasure was distributed, and the barons bended their knees: from far and near they came, women clamored for admission to his court, but there was one who looked deeper than affectation; either upheld or condemned, as inwardly judged; and Hideyoshi, if none other, revered her for it, made her his goddess, and worshipped thence at mercys will.
Tell me, Yodogima, what is it I can do to sever the heart-strings that bind you to another? I am not deceived.
Then you are not a god: I thought you invincible?
Ieyasu had settled down to the rebuilding of his fortunes at home, apparently content that he had not been shorn of his estate, had gained the prestige of a victory won at arms—a thing hitherto wholly unrenownedfor—and that Yodogima no longer appeared to weigh in the scales of duty or ambition; Esyo had doctored up his conscience on that score as best she could, and results proved her no mean attendant; but there was one thing that disturbed him: How could Hideyoshi make so much capital out of so little gained?
After all, had he not underestimated the potency of money as shown in the resolving of publicity, so new, save only to Hideyoshi, yet apparently more vital in the attainment of power to do than was character essential or determinate when once invoked or accepted?
It may have been some dawning eagerness on his part to recoup his loss in that direction, or to take advantage in the future of Hideyoshis now more than ever patent initiative, or it may have been a growing distrust of or resulting dislike for Esyo, and his vain though unstudied attempt to rid himself of the one by leaning toward another: whatever the cause, Ieyasu became more and more reconciled to the presence, if not the advances, of Saji: she did make advances, though innocent enough and wholly legitimate on her part. Hideyoshi knew. Nor was any opportunity neglected to let those little surmisings reach and sear the trend of anothers confidence, yet Yodogimas love for Ieyasu flamed on; faith, hope, and charity rounded out the dull monotony of neglected opportunity, making life to her after all worth the living, the striving, and the getting.
He is mine, whispered she, to herself, repeatedlypillowing her head upon an untouched but conscious rest.
By heavens, Ill make him anothers, vowed Hideyoshi, as often, yet with no less respect.
All the home provinces and every conceivable approach to the capital now rested securely within the keep of Hideyoshi. The mikado subservient or cowed, and a supervisory authority exercised by himself. His will alone the government, and the nation fired. The populace coerced, neighboring daimyos whipped, and the South in his clutch, there remained only the North as an excuse for putting Ieyasu further to test and laying threadbare before her own eyes what he believed to be Yodogimas last prospect there.
Hojo of Odawara had not yet paid his respects to Hideyoshi, nor had Date, still farther to the northward, tendered submission. They were powerful barons, the former fighting his way from insignificance—really from a merchant with a pack on his back—to the lordship of five great provinces, the Kwanto, with a fortified castle at Odawara, intrenched behind mountain gorges at the west and the sea to the southward: a position hitherto held as impregnable as it was desirable. Date fared less well as to defenses, lying largely in the open and depending more upon his neighbor Hojo for protection against the West, but he was none the less rich and perhaps more judicious for that; hence, the greater desired by Hideyoshi.
Realizing that a blow at Hojo meant an equal anda mutual response from Date, Ieyasu had good reason under a strained or liberal construction of the terms and conditions of their alliance to respond to Hideyoshis call for assistance. The two armies moved in concert upon Odawara—Hideyoshi as aggressor and Ieyasu his support.
It was in the springtime, when roads were open and fain nature leaping forth in heart or bud. They had fought their way over the summit and driven in the nearest outpost: Hojo entrenched himself behind the walls of that castle, seemingly safe without and provisioned within.
Hideyoshi reckoned differently; besides, had other ends to gain. Ieyasu awaited the advance patiently, but a deeper hold hung dangerously over him, grappled him and snarled him and swayed him, till in the end reason had doubted his entity.
Hojo lay penned in. Date suspicioned his friends inability to withstand the siege. Ieyasu and others under Hideyoshis command bore the delay somewhat indifferently. Hideyoshi, of a sudden, in the face of war, inaugurated the most unheard-of festivities and amid the revelries pursued his own secret purpose.
From the castle to the sea spread the city, with its activities and its apprehensions. To the north and west rose high hills, studded in their lower slopes with the luxury and the content of higher living. Here, at Ishigaki hill, well up on the side and overlooking the castle, in the foreground, Hideyoshi pitched his tent: the army encamped here and there throughoutthe city and his communications established there was no need he knew or want devised that must not heed his will.
Wide banquet floors were laid end to end round one side the hill, roofed over with alternating sky and bough: lined up in front of white paper screens, serving as well to frighten the enemy below as to entertain the guests assembling.
Large numbers of various classes, both of nobles and the samurai, were invited—Date among the rest; who, for some reason, known best to himself or to Hideyoshi, secretly came, humbly awaiting the hosts still stricter pleasure. Geishas, musicians, players, and favorites were called in thousands; a one hundred days feast planned; Ieyasu made an honorary host, and Yodogima brought from Azuchi to do him service.
Other barons had been permitted to invite their wives and their sweethearts—Ieyasu among them; Saji served in a polite way, if not as a real love—but Hideyoshi, in his higher capacity, either defying custom or succoring freedom, wrote to Oyea granting her only the privilege of delegating Yodogima in her stead.
As next to you, commanded he, Yodogima is my favorite: send her along. You shall have me at your side again when I return from the war.
Yodogima came; it was her last chance, and she Oyeas only hope.
Dancing and singing and feasting had waned, thestars shone bright overhead, and entering Hideyoshi and Yodogima led the way, seating themselves, he at the head with her at his right. Then came Ieyasu and Saji; who arranged at the motion of Hideyoshi, the former facing Yodogima and the latter himself. Others swarmed in, in like fashion, till the half-moon of gay and happy nobles reached round on either side the hill, properly ranked, beyond the sight or hearing of those honored with higher favors. Low, weird strains issued from the half-hidden platform in front where sat the players, grouped before rising ranks of dancers—then posed and eager, now swaying and relieved—banked against a background of green and shadow. The gods breathed sparingly.
Ieyasu dared not raise his eyes from the floor. Yodogima calmly awaited some initiative on his part; etiquet bade her bide the pleasure of host or suitor alike. Neither guilt nor remorse weighed at all upon her conscience as it did heavily upon his. There, before him, within reach of his every faculty, as innocent and true, as sweet, as fair, and as appealing as upon the day when he had pledged himself to die for her—the bare thought of having tolerated another, then sitting at his side, deadened intellect and sickened the heart.
How can I meet her look, return her confidence, knowing as I do now that it is I and not she who is false? asked he, of himself, till his heart seemed breaking and his mind a mirage.
Perhaps it is too much, the demand greater than ahuman can endure; I should not have come here, reasoned she, equally as reserved, if more unconcernedly.
Beautiful beyond comparison, appeared to be the verdict of every man or woman within sight of her, and the suspense but quickened their judgment. Hideyoshi gorged satisfied. He had provided every conceivable device, no expense had been spared; for he proved a lavish lover, and Oyea, from motive or pride, had neglected neither art nor attention to relieve and heighten either charm, or form; silks embroidered and blended to a thread, laces representing the patience and the labor of an exquisite design or appreciative hand, pearls priceless in cost and emblematic of a disposition which at least the donor had fathomed, all these worn with grace, softened in modesty, and inspired of eyes as keen as confiding, Ieyasu well might suffer the torments of a troubled conscience—may have asked himself earnestly and regretfully if he had not wronged her.
In her mind no such thought had entered; she believed herself in some way responsible for his apparent neglect. Had she waned in his estimation? Were Saji really more beautiful, still worthier of his admiration, less exacting in her appeal? The blood rushed to Yodogimas face, momentarily tingeing the hitherto untroubled countenance that made her queen. Hideyoshi as quickly came to her relief; he should not see her overtried. Proud, and observant, he would stake his life, make some sort of effort to hew the way thatshe might reign, resolve her proper place and prove the man whose worth alone might justify his claim.
A toast, Yodogima—I am sure that Ieyasu shall appreciate it—Saji might the better serve Hideyoshis dull wit, suggested he, by way of relief.
Yodogima raised the cup. She would not disobey, nor would she neglect an opportunity. She believed Ieyasu true, and held him ready as well. Hideyoshi had granted her the privilege, and made it possible for Ieyasu to place beyond all doubt the inviolability of their love.
Would he do it? Such a question never entered her mind. Could he? She deemed him incapable of failure. Hideyoshi was as good as his word, had to her proven himself beyond peradventure: perhaps it was something of triumph which prompted the words, it might have been a dawning bit of jealousy inspiring the thought, more likely it were a prospect of truths obtaining that urged the will to claim its mastery, but whatever the cause, the motive proved none the less discernible. Yodogima faced her lover, not exultantly, yet assuringly, saying:
While climbing the hill of prosperity, I hope never to meet you.
Ieyasus eyes for the first time rose to hers, fairly and unflinchingly. The old love once again possessed him, for the moment flared every torch, forced recognition, and the soul revealed its innermost secret—Hideyoshi waited: possibly the mind waxed hot, but not a hand trembled. Then the message itself beganto claim attention, and directly the puzzling significance of those words dulled and gathered against a waning, startled consciousness till vanity bade Ieyasu conjure no shameless thought:
What does she mean? queried he, of himself, looking from one to another, the while his eyes falling bewildered and helpless before the alternating gaze of Hideyoshi.
Yodogima changed to scarlet, then whitened; she had surrendered life itself to recall the words, perhaps too thoughtlessly spoken.
Was it charity, or revenge, that prompted Hideyoshi?
Coming down, suggested he, to Ieyasu, no doubt triumphantly, but none the less mercifully—putting into his mouth the words that he had floundered so bitterly to command or riddle.
Shame overcame any better impulse, and turning upon his adversary, Ieyasu half whined, half scowled:
Perhaps you yourself had best drink the toast.
To-morrow, I may; or, perchance, it shall not be until the next day; thank you, replied Hideyoshi, not the least perturbed.
All the powers of earth could not have tried the princess more; she realized now that she had, out of zeal, overtaxed Ieyasu, and in that opened the way for Hideyoshi perhaps successfully to pit a wit against her lovers returning steadfastness.
Oh, it isnt much, after all, and—I can propose another, stammered she, though composedly, in some vain way to stem the tide and save still the man she adored; just why, she could not tell nor would others surmise.
The suggestion fell cold upon Ieyasus now troubled conviction; he had been outdone by a rival: there was not the slightest doubt about that in his mind; Ieyasu respected aptness, even though himself slow to act. Nor was he longer in doubt as to Yodogimas constancy or love; one glance had convinced him beyond recalling, and he could not have envied, for he had often said that the secret of happiness lies in kindly feeling. Then what was it that prompted him quickly to answer:
Not to-day, but to-morrow?
As the princess likes, retorted Hideyoshi, his admiration growing with quest and confidence.
More—it is a guests pleasure, commanded she, replacing the cup and glancing at Hideyoshi, withoutso much as disturbing a visitor or confusing their host.
That evening was thence passed without further incident, save an apparently growing discomfiture on Ieyasus part and the corresponding rise in spirit of Hideyoshi; who not deigning to parley with Yodogima—he took her at her word, and prided himself in doing so—began resolutely further to carry out and not to forestall. Yodogima had done her part, and well: there seemed nothing more that she could or would do to save a waiting lover; she had made it possible for him to claim her, and to drink the draught that Hideyoshi himself should not have questioned, and he had failed to do either—might be as easily duped into a more fatal blunder, made the scapegoat of his own waiting or incapacity, or both, and the princess at once raised above his further consideration.
Thus Hideyoshi planned and Ieyasu dallied, perhaps dreamed, and marvelled the audacity, perchance effect, with which Yodogima commanded, possibly ordered. The following day, however, clouded over and Date and Hideyoshi counselled and bantered till early evening, when they stood on the latters suggestively improvised ramparts cogitating the plight of Hojo farther down in the foreground.
You are the greater man, plead Date, no longer doubtful of Hideyoshis resources or motive, and I am ready to surrender my lands and do you service.
Ah; then you shall know what it is to toast a man like Hideyoshi; to-night you shall sit next to me; and,by the way, face the smartest woman in these parts: look you well that your tongue neither outruns nor belies the manner due or occasion expected.
At table Date, true to conviction and in consonance better with propriety, proposed the health of Hideyoshi, their duly lord and henceforth recognized master.
Flushing scarlet, Yodogima barely touched the cup that stood filled for another purpose; it seemed to her that Ieyasu, who now sat at her side, must intercede, should realize that opportunity were fast slipping away: he only whitened, then drank the liquor as prudence dictated.
Hideyoshi smiled, and turning to Date attempted their present relief by suggesting, bluntly:
The princess reserves discreetly her response till occasion more pleasantly affords; Ieyasu may yet drink with a better color, if not more grace.
The next day, in consequence, brought with it a train of circumstances as swift as it had been unexpected—to all except, perhaps, Hideyoshi. Matsuda, Hojos main reliance, had succumbed, not to valor but to gold, and that night his masters head graced a place at table—opposite to Ieyasu: who now, once more, faced at greater distance Yodogima, but entertained as before, close at hand, Saji, in whom the now startled and cringing daimyo from Mikawa may have found some little consolation, if not a rising prospect.
Let us now listen to Saji; it may prove to be not only her fair due, but our most agreeable opportunity,commanded Hideyoshi, in great liberality, as it appeared to others, yet with a hidden earnestness that neither Yodogima nor Ieyasu mistook.
Saji did as bid; it seemed quite immaterial to her: all the heart that God had really given her had long ago been drilled or tooled away, for Hideyoshi believed in duty—ruled or reasoned to preach and practice down or up as convenience less necessity required. Ieyasu turned red.
A growing, pitiless consciousness began to take hold on Yodogimas hitherto buoyant, confiding trust. The very mat on which the princess sat seemed sinking or rising as the moments flew or lingered. Alternating flashes left her undetermined. Heaven or worse had been a relief: Hideyoshi angered for once, and for the first time looked his rival straight in the face. Ieyasus eyes fell to the significant fright across the table. Yodogimas look then had strengthened him, but he dare not meet her gaze.
Saji, Saji, mumbled he, half conscious, half appealingly.
She only smiled, but the dead lips of Hojo moved him:
My wife, gentlemen, my wife!
Yodogima had been spared the sight of Hideyoshis gruesome lesson: likewise she had been denied its consolation; yet she could believe Ieyasus vain resolution no less than final, if not voluntary. And it may have been so. Like examples had been flaunted in the face of others less capable or worthy, had been used timeand again by men more considerate, if as determined, but never before might the charge of cruelty be laid at the door of Hideyoshi; who had suffered Shibata the right of honorable demise, spared Shimadzu the loss of his ancestral name, and let Ieyasu more than once slip any fate that he might have chosen, still Hojos head must adorn a sorrowful plight.
And why?
The princess did not stop to inquire; she knew only that she had suffered perhaps at their expense or for their betterment, and the very heavens above seemed bereft—earth had done its worst, the humanities failed, all their Gods and Buddhas and Christs promised relief only in death—save a certain star, that seemed the brighter in its loneliness: ideality proffered life.
Thereafter Hideyoshi summoned Ieyasu to the top of a certain hill overlooking the fortress, the city, and the country around.
You perceive, suggested the former, that the Kwanto is mine.
Y-e-s, stuttered Ieyasu, his mind far distant.
You know that I am master, hereabouts, I take it?
Yes.
Then I shall give you these provinces, in consideration of—your services.
What luck!
Where will you live? inquired Hideyoshi, still more suggestively.
Ieyasu again hesitated. He had set Yodogimaaside and accepted Saji out of respect for a well-grounded belief, had invoked self-denial to the point of distraction, and bought peace at the cost of manhood, but to surrender a birthright and abandon every defense seemed more than he could do, even in the face of rigid necessity. This man then would rule and not ruin. Had Yodogima judged him more accurately than he had done? Would she succeed? Pride urged him now, forced the aggressive, hence prompted him to answer:
At Odawara.
No. I know a place, farther away, called Yedo (Tokio). There is where you shall live.
Very well, my lord, replied Ieyasu, determined now, whereas before he had provokingly waited.
In the meantime there had developed within the ranks, and outside as well, no inconsiderable speculation as to what further to expect. Hitherto Hideyoshi had found ample employment for all his talents; from the beginning it had been one constant, absorbing grind, but now that all the barons worth the while had been subdued, the last man who could in any manner check or hinder him apparently disposed with, he more restless than ever, Hojo made an example of, and Yodogima undoubtedly his keep, they might well conjecture.
Already some ugly rumors had started, and circulated (Esyo came and went at leisure), causing Yodogima to ponder, no less made the master furious.
Eigh? A subordinate question his superior? Crucify the culprit, commanded he, intending quite another example.
No, interposed Yodogima, complacently.
Well, replied Hideyoshi, to the officer, after a moments reflection, as the villain did not utter the speech in my presence you may instead cut off his head.
No, repeated Yodogima, more positively.
Ah, ventured Hideyoshi, vainly cogitating some sort of excuse, seeing he is a samurai, you had better tell him to commit harakiri.
No, commanded Yodogima, now wholly conscious.
Promote him, then, for having done me a service, directed he, still set upon some voice in the matter.
Not you, but me, retorted Yodogima, now fully determined upon her part.
Why you; I am master, am I not?
Not of me; and, I am going to see that you prove yourself something more than a head-chopper.
You have heard?
Yes; Esyo just now told me all about it.
Women will talk, sighed Hideyoshi, mindful of a hundred battle fields, and no one woman that he had ever conquered.
And Ill show you that they can do more, threatened she, without a change to suggest an advantage.
Yodogima had taken desperate chances in calling Hideyoshi to account as done, but she had studied him well and believed herself capable—not that she might have need to combat any mean advantage; but gossip, vain assumption, had compelled now the assertion and maintenance of a womanhood; which otherwise had not been questioned.
Hitherto Hideyoshi had been held as interested only in the affairs of men, wholly absorbed with the making and unmaking of fortune or fortunes so distant and neglectful of any influence that women might bring to bear that none had essayed to do more than serve and chatter for centuries; but now, that he had so overstepped the bounds of conventional warfare as to indulge effeminate pastimes and cringe in the presenceof a princess, he himself might be excused and she most surely condemned.
Ieyasu, even, who knew in his own heart, looked upon Yodogimas heroic stand as more the result of sustained loyalty than innate purity.
And that loyalty will preserve her, as self-denial is to be the making of me, muttered he, to himself, as the preparations for his submissive removal progressed: that, from a rich and populous estate, where men had learned to love and respect him from childhood, would sacrifice their lives and their energies to defend him, to a new, and a strange, and an isolated keep, where disorder, dissatisfaction, and crude and crumbling walls abounded: that, too, with only a bodyguard, his Saji, and the vain, if not unscrupulous, Esyo to accompany him.
And as the little straggling band marched away, harboring its jealousies, it may be revenge, certainly its ambitions, Yodogima turned from them in compassion—her heart seemed breaking, but duty rallied to the call of pride, and she forgave him, perchance tried to forget.
Esyo could not be so easily dismissed; her parting words had lingered, now roused in Yodogima to the full some comprehension of what her father meant in turning her out threateningly in the company of two seemingly lovable and harmless sisters. His guidance and protection had been a world to her now, that she had, as she alone believed, reaped the fullest measure of bitterness, wherein God has endowed that man shallcovet. Charms had been easily flung at them, Esyos hinted admonition seized upon with avidity, and the body sacrificed upon the altar of rapacity, but the spirit rebelled and held her fast in its higher reach.
Perhaps, Yodogima, the bushido might afford you, as it did our father, some really honorable means.
Those words welled up and rimmed over in Yodogimas heart, as molten lava heaves and lips and inflows at the craters edge. Esyo, a sister, had denounced her, but something within, a promise somewhere, sustained her, roused her to a deeper, broader sense of duty than she could conjure forth of self-effacement. Then Jokoin came, and only her presence had made it seem once more as if earth truly held some fair portion, but her counsel, too, seemed empty, even blasphemous.
Christ is our redeemer; He died to save us; I am confessed; hallelujah! shouted Jokoin, happy and careless, if unmindful.
Sister! You shock me. Have you forgotten our father?
Oh, hes alright; he didnt know; the new religion takes em all. Repent and be saved; quarrel and separate; divorce and—do you know, they allow man, big men, only one wife at a time; firstary, secondary, or multipary? Thats something!
I do believe you are losing your mind, Jokoin.
Thats nothing; go to Bungo; theyre half daffy there; and, they say, Hideyoshi, himself, would have accepted Christianity were it not for giving up theidea of more wives than one. I guess, though, hes a stickler on that—perhaps, come to think, you may know better than I?
I know my own mind; and that is more than it would seem—there, Jokoin; it is enough; let us be sisters—I presume there is nothing against that, in your religion?
Really, I havent inquired: the priests will know—however, we might just sort of hang out that way; its an elastic affair, this Christian religion, whatever else.
Withal her newfangled notions and queer mannerisms, Yodogima found this little sister most stimulating and satisfying to know and to cling to, however trying or unreasonable. Each, it is true, had an ideal of her own, quite as distinct and appealing to its possessor, as Esyos had been to her, yet neither one had stooped to attain, nor would she. Jokoin had become a Christian because it pleased her to do so: its revelation had resolved more the humorous than serious, the human and not the divine. A half century of struggle and martyrdom had proven, if anything, in their minds, that the Christian church, like all others, were but a means to an end: that God alone is supreme—substitution or addition or usurpation a dangerous, designed, fleeting makeshift.
All these creeds had been threshed out in competition and with vengeance—none had spared life or property—and yet it seemed to Yodogima that she must be saved: saved in accordance with preceptsestablished and of a danger that to her were more than death or salvation, or both, however atoned or attuned. She must live, she must do, and in that attain: in her prayer she asked for power and not for ransom.
The whole camp now enlivened with bustle and drive; each of the captains had been assigned his portion or placed most advantageously, in their distributions and allotments, and great preparations were making for the leave-taking—some heart-rending, others in good cheer. Most of Hideyoshis leaders shared Ieyasus former possessions, but Gamo Ujisato, one of Jokoins recently ardent admirers—Takiyama had been sooner banished to Kaga—without leave or let, on her part, was set down at Aizu, in the cold far north.
Never mind, Jokoin, promised Hideyoshi, upon her remonstrance; you shall have left Ishida, and, perchance, another, or some others, I fear too much a mask for hypocrisy: with them, you should be able to make out, if not capture the empire.
What a bunch! replied Jokoin, sorely abashed.
Well, then, suppose you include your humble—ahem!
An old dried-up man like you? I had rather try—
Kyogoku?
Yes; smart Alex; he has left a bit of ginger, if not as much audacity as—some others.
Oho, aha; I can, perhaps, also, place him.
Not on your life.
I wonder.
I dont; Ive a sister.
So, so; and two of them. Its a pretty nest or nests, or something they build—Im building. Hideyoshi! Whipped every man in Japan, thats worth the trouble, and three will-o-the-wisps would set up housekeeping on results. Esyo denies me, Jokoin defies me, and Yodogima—you can go, young lady; you and I couldnt quarrel, should we try; but, remember, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush—I wonder, is Yodogima in a better mood?
Dont do so much wondering. Just try your luck. You ought to know how.
I do; I do; Ill vow, youve made a new man of me.
And youve made me happy. Whats the use—the priests: the exiles—
There, now; run along; love and law—edicts must be obeyed. Hang the villains; the bonzes were a blessing; treachery is damnation!
Jokoin left him, standing in a rage; she knew very well that he was then on the way to plead his own cause in very different terms, if not with less success than she had met in a manner so unexpected and unthought. Two things, however, were accomplished in that short, saucy, and withal agreeable conversation; the kwambaku had been fairly warned as to Yodogimas real temper, and he himself wrought into theproper humor for his contemplated meeting: the fun of taunting, had recompensed Jokoin.
Ill have this thing settled, once and for all, muttered Hideyoshi, as Jokoin disappeared behind a moving cavalcade and he had turned to climb the hill where Yodogima marvelled and fretted the tardiness of his appearance.
An old yashiki (mansion) afforded the princess temporary quarters farther up on the hillside and away from the hurry-skurry of the camp below. It was warm and restful, with a breeze blowing gently inland from the ruffled bay in front and the seething ocean beyond. Yodogima sat at the verandas edge, high upon the stone-abutting wall that terraced here and there the hills sharp incline or served as foundation to some house perched high in air. The skies were clear, and now and then a raven hawked his weird cry aloft the stilled hamlets in front or clusters of seagull reeled and fed in the distance.
No clouds of smoke darkened the outlook or blackened these mats. Clanging bells and grinding wheels there were none to awaken anxiety and shatter nerves. The very exigencies of life found expression through its subtler entities and not a sordid instinct lagged or threatened fain regeneration. Man loved as always, but gold for the sake of gold, greed that he might gorge, or the dull clashing of horns had long ago found their rest alongside of other tried-out and found wanting thrills in easy energies. The star beautiful had raised him to newer, grander speculation than thethings of earth conjured or the hope of forgiveness promised. For every reach attained there must be some effort put forward: for each sin committed an atonement. Self pretending, by others accepted, saviors and martyrs there had been many, but as time went on one after another of these conjectured blessings or blind experiments had been swept aside or lost in the wake of a constantly progressive manhood, at times cast high upon the billows crest, again sunken low into the troughs of despair, yet always guided by a light that shone singly ahead, against whose halo no discordant voice had as believed dimmed or dulled the truer harmonies of an eternal, perfectly consistent God.
Yodogima looked aloft and all around. Peace on earth and good-will toward men whispered from every nook and cranny. The birds sang it, the flowers smelled it, the world looked consistent, but the heart discerned a discordant note. Were death heavens only beginning, lifes sole end? No, no; it must not be, for I see with closed eyes, hear with muffled ears, feel without the sense of touch a Kami, whose works neither begin with worlds nor end in man; an illumination extending from heaven unto earth. There is no subtler hold than that we know; the things we see are but the shades of reality. Truth vainly lives apart and is infinite.
Sitting there enveloped, within a world as distinct as sublime, as far above earth as its canopy is broad, the mystic spell touched and warmed her as thoughits complement were at hand. The province of sex fastened upon her as the suns rays congeal and expand with each unhindered contact: communing, Yodogima had been less than human, had worse than mocked His divinest precept, were the bread and wine passed untasted.
Hideyoshi stood over, the world exacted its decrees, and conformity offered her an only excuse:
I hear you, replied she, am conscious of my obligations, and would not defy that is. Take me as I am. Ill serve you if Kami commands; let the law have its way, and make me what you like: in the name of all that has gone before and that is to be, let me and do you save, too, the honor of woman.
That night the two-lipped cup once more went round—its never-ending course—and Yodogima became in law as she was in fact first of consequence at Hideyoshis court.
And if these things were inevitable, if there remained at Azuchi a soul forlorn and perchance bitter, perhaps welling up a still more ruthless indisposition, and if the ideal toward which a hapless, helpless woman had bent her every energy, sacrificed the body to preserve a soul, were attained—if all this had resulted in fact, there yet remained among them one in whose heart there lingered not only a burning, compelling sense of duty, but as well an abiding faith in truth.
Yodogima had not surrendered the spirit, nor hadshe submitted in pride, or bowed to falsehood, hate, or weakness—to her the world seemed as sweet and as wholesome as the battle had been swift or exacting.
Thence life portended a fullness that hitherto had been a dream.
The great sacrifice that Yodogima made only strengthened Hideyoshis respect for her, whetted the appetite to a keener appreciation of the virtues underlying righteous generation. Ieyasu had surrendered the heart to save his neck; no such thing as pretence or any amount of subterfuge could deceive the inner workings of an understanding wrought in the light of penetration like Hideyoshis. Yodogima had reserved the heart, sacrificing personal predisposition only that she might serve fairly the honor of an under-sex—she had not submitted through compulsion or fear of any man; the kwambaku knew that, if others did not, and the very consciousness of it made him what no earthly power could have done.
Such generosity, said he, to Oyea, in answer to her questioning, cannot be requited so easily; there must be a place set apart for them; perhaps among the stars, and such as you and I can best attain our peace in humbler ways—reverence has withstood the storm of ages.
But are not the gods self-asserted?
Well, yes; I once thought so, perhaps do yet; but self-assertion, not grounded upon self-denial, may prove an empty blessing—as it has with me. Would you profit by example, then look; even Hideyoshi has found it meet that we reason together; who declareshimself wiser than the humblest is in truth an ass; deception cannot weather the test of time.
They were sitting in the dusk, midway between day and night, and arising, Hideyoshi approached the family shrine—it seemed empty and so unlike the needs of distinction, yet the kwambaku had, upon his return from Odawara, stopped at Nakamura and done reverence to his long buried but sadly neglected parents. Nor had Nita (a first, but intractable, therefore divorced, wife) been passed by without some little recognition—possibly as an encouragement to this one, Oyea, in this her most trying need.
What of night following the day? asked he, of her, lighting one, then the other of five carefully selected and wistfully named sticks of incense for her to sniff and guess or call as pleased her most and fitted best his mood.
That a sun may rise to outshine another, retorted she, wholly mindful of her own situation, if not his method.
You say rightly, Oyea, and woe be unto him or her who would deny or abuse the virtue of sniffing; only through a son can man attain heaven.
Hideyoshis words pained Oyea; she had trusted him, served dutifully, and conformed to the requirements of the age, only to be told in the end that there could be no salvation for her—the stork had withheld her lords divinest blessing.
Oyea looked round at the scant necessities with which all her life she had been making both endsmeet that he, her husband, should lack no aid within her rendering to help him onward toward the goal she, too, believed him most worthy to hold. Were she to receive now, at the bidding of charm, or the failure of chance, only the bare habiliments of respectable doing? She had forfeited at marriage better opportunity, suffered the finger of scorn more than once, upheld patiently the laws of the land and bowed reverently before the gods of time, and yet no one had awakened within her a light revealing more than earths proffered bounty. And if the bitter must be hers, why not as well partake of the sweets?
The very thought for the moment raised her from lowest despondency to highest anticipation. Rising to her feet the world seemed rejuvenated with a thought as glorious as new—Hideyoshi lay stretched upon the matting, snoring away fonder dreams than she had dared conceive.
The cold sweat oozed in beads at her forehead.
Here, contentedly and at her mercy, rested in peace and expectation the one who could at will and without retribution give or take her happiness. Then conscience rushed to the fore, and Oyea stood more pitifully than purpose had made her. Calmly surveying the relaxed features in whose justness had been for a lifetime her only faith, the at last enraged wife unwittingly loosed her would-be grasp in the face of another vision which as incomprehensibly rose to stay her hand.
Woman! snarled she, the curse of her kind, anda vexation always. Ill don another dress: therein lies my only recompense.
After a while Hideyoshi arose, and rubbing his eyes, asked doubtfully:
Did I sleep, Oyea?
Yes, my lord.
Then it was a dream: I would that it were real.
For that, it may be none the less.
The great man looked up, puzzled though wilful. He could, nor did, comprehend that she, too, might have dreamed, marvelled the penalties exacted of rightful living, and evolved a retribution, if less human, then the more in keeping with an instinct born of subtler virtues.
You shall not deny me, Oyea? plead he, half doubtful of the motive, if altogether innocent of her intentions.
Deny you? Of what? Yodogima?
No. A son.
Aye, aye, my lord. A higher authority than mine denies you that.
There is none higher. You are my lawful wife.
Fie on you! We but declare, while impotency reigns. My faith is in virtue.
Then Ill not trust you—though the bonzes had served better, your purpose, than these self-called priests: who preach to prey while their victims pray but peach. I once had confidence in you: I never had any in them.
What of priests and bonzes, you might yet bettercharge a blessing to the care of one whose influence nor beauty stands anyone in hand or harm: though only a wife, I should serve no less an encouragement.
Rickety, rickety, fiddlede, fiddlede; a woman is a woman, her tongue an appendage. Therein the certainty of wagging. Both jealousy and consistency may be jewels, superb and allusive, but each in a tiara. Ill let you have it out in Azuchi; Yodogima is already at Ozaka: between creeds, or independently, there may yet formulate a crown. See you that your conduct is no less attuned than her estimate deserves; I have business at the capital.
Taking his departure forthwith, Oyea bowed low and reverently—not so much, perhaps, now, out of respect for a husband alone, or for anything he had done personally to deserve as much, but more as a result of some inner quality or natural-born trait that abuse could not eradicate or dull even into vain misapprehension. Oyea was of better stock than Hideyoshi: better insofar as tradition or probability had seen fit to record and make known, yet looking out upon the world in which she lived, and reflecting the obligations imposed by a social organization with which it seemed that she had had so little to do, a growing sense of something wanting burned the harder into her now softeningly bewildered consciousness. Had she accused him wrongly? Might it be, after all, verily some shortcoming of her own which had for so long a time denied to him an inalienable right? And what of society?
Her religion—that one handed down from an ancestry antedating all creeds, surmounting any profession—had provided the means of escaping just such a failure as she, by virtue of feeling as pitted against reason, had suffered; though as religiously, if not as rigorously, courted. And why had she done so?
The only reason that she could fairly call to mind was that the priests had told her differently; that a dawning trust in Christ was at that very moment sapping the only foundation that she may have had for a belief; that the doctrines of a new church were separating her forever and helplessly from all that had been dear and possible to her and hers—and, asked she, of herself, and her God:
For what?
Oyea awaited patiently some response from this newly proclaimed Savior, whom the priests had set over her and home—no other voice than conscience answered; and therein she conjured many thoughts, divined a reason for things, and fell hopelessly at the shrine of an uncontrollable, undenying, born-unto impulse. Yodogima possessed an attraction, Kami in his wisdom had equated life and death, and no mans blood or womans want could save a soul or regenerate an unregenerate.
Then she marvelled the seeming vanity of all that is more than crude, and out of the black there rushed the possible saving grace of mans own involution-bothprayer and confession had failed to wrest her from worse than perdition.
That woman enjoy my husbands favor, in a castle of her own, because she is more than I? Hugh! Ill see her humbled.
Otoshi?
Yes, my lady.
Fetch the smelling-salts, and my vanity case. Further, I shall not require your service, perhaps, till the sun is risen—at Ozaka.