The Curse of Koshiu Part 8

Alack! Sampei avoided O'Tei as diligently as did No-Kami. What could he say to her that would not increase her sorrow? Fully appreciating her highly-wrought and reserved and sensitive nature, he knew too well what she must be suffering; and the sight of her tears, since he might not dry them, would cut him like a sword-thrust. Moreover, the seed his mother had prudently sown had taken deep root in his light soil, by reason of Mine's foolishness. On every account it was well to avoid personal contact with O'Tei. Without being conceited, the fact was patent that if one woman fell in love with him without encouragement, another might. In his ordinary frame of mind, he would cheerfully have said, "The more the better," and have basked with joy in the sunshine of unlimited loveliness. But he knew now that he adored O'Tei with an affection so pure and deep that there was no selfishness in it,--that, rather than cause her a pang, he would himself make any sacrifice. Her heart, he knew, was empty. As the Abbess had hinted, it was not at all impossible that if tempted she might grow to love her brother-in-law in unbrotherly fashion; and then, what pain to her, to him, to all?

For once the young soldier would be prudent. Near, but unseen, he would shield his beloved as much as possible,--commune with her as little as might be,--come forward only in emergency.

With regard to No-Kami, he grew grievously perplexed, marvelling sometimes whether his brother was sane. The practice of cruelty upon the weak, for the enjoyment thereof, was something so foreign to his own open character that he could not comprehend the motives which moved the Daimio, nor his fits of frenzy when thwarted. Once, since their arrival at Tsu, he had remonstrated fearlessly with his chief, who had thereupon threatened to dismiss him into banishment. For the sake of the chatelaine, in the quickly-clouding future, this must not be. So Sampei, at his wits' end, like a dutiful son, climbed the temple stairs and unlocked the secrets of his heart before the shrewd ken of the Abbess. Masago surveyed him anxiously, then unaccustomed tears for a moment dimmed her vision as she gave praise to the G.o.ds in that she had been given such a son. Truth and trust looked from out his eyes. The n.o.ble fellow. Placing her firm white hand upon his shoulder, she kissed his brow.

"The situation is dark," she said; "the skein is tangled. The G.o.ds have marked down for destruction my lord of Tsu. That much is clear to me. Blindfold he marches to the edge of the abyss. I am a weak, purblind woman groping in the dark, unable to give counsel in so difficult a strait. My voice has been raised in vain: he thrust us forth like dogs. I will pray. Maybe that through prayer and vigil I may learn to know; and when I know, then will I tell thee, child.

Peradventure divine wrath may yet, by diligent pleading, be turned aside. The farmer and his family must perish, thou a dumb spectator.

That much cannot be helped. Be patient. Wait. I will prostrate myself before the altar, that the veil of the future may be rent."

One morning a lull of unaccustomed quietude informed O'Tei that my lord and all his following had gone scouring over the plain, and her maids, seeing her listless and sad-eyed, implored their mistress to mount to the top of the tower, and breathe the fresher air. From the upper gallery, shaded by the huge copper roof, the weary recluse gazed over the flat towards the twin hills with an intense longing. Since my lord's coming, she had not visited her summer-house, for she could not bear the sight of the mourning which she knew overhung the town. She yearned to steal forth now and gaze on the lovely view, with its sequestered temple, and placid land-locked waters, and fishers, and sunny islets. Alas! all labour was abandoned. The fishers were too wretched to pursue their avocation. Their boats were drawn up upon the beach untenanted. She could see them, a white fringe upon the yellow.

Then, as her eye moved homeward, she started, and cried aloud, and wrung her hands, for down below in the courtyard rose, gaunt and terrible, the symbols of oppression. In a corner of the s.p.a.ce within the outer moat stood ready a pair of crosses. The preparations were made then?--the consummation of the tragedy was imminent; and she, cowering and cowardly, had never attempted to stem the new tide of the Daimio's anger. A tacit connivance at this villainy!

Shaking herself as from the drowsy clog of sleep, she swiftly descended the stair with head erect, distended eye, and face as grey as ashes, and, to the surprise of the sentinels, crossed the first drawbridge as one in a trance, and made for the place of execution.

It occupied an extreme corner, far from the huts of the soldiers, and was masked from the path in common use by a belt of trees, concerning which there were fearsome legends. So many terrible events had taken place beneath their shade that they were said to be tenanted by souls of criminals,--to groan at times, and ooze with gore, and be accursed.

To the Asiatic peasant all streams and woods are peopled with visionary forms,--are the homes of demons or of angels. It was well known that a sacrilegious cutter had striven once to fell one of these gnarled trunks, and had been blasted as if by lightning. It was an equally established fact that their vicinity impelled to suicide, for many men had, apparently without reason, hung themselves upon their branches, fascinated to self-destruction by some dread and secret spell.

O'Tei pa.s.sed under their shade, and, shivering, recalled the legend, for though there seemed no wind, they swayed and creaked, spreading gaunt arms over her head, with trails of grey-green spindles, like uncanny mildewed hair. Why she had come she knew not--it was in obedience to no volition of her own. Her heart and temples were throbbing wildly. Within her swimming brain there was room for but one idea. The web of a terrible fate was being spun with ruthless fingers around my lord and her to choke them both. Was she to be permitted again to intervene between him and his victims?--or, to tear the meshes which encircled them, were they destined to writhe in vain?

Advocate of mercy, how sweet a privilege! What could she do? Had she the courage to face that sin-stained man? Irresolute and trembling, she stood staring at the crosses, marking their shadows as they lengthened, till, with a gasp and sob, she heard the tread of horses, accompanied by shouts and laughter.

He had returned from the chase--the tyrant--and it was well that she was here. She would try not to fear him,--strive hard to do her duty.

They must meet now, and, summoning her puny strength, she would endeavour to push him from the precipice.

The cavalcade swept past in a cloud of dust--a brilliant, uproarious company--and clattered across the moat. Two riders were following a little behind the rest, when one, catching sight of a familiar drapery among the trees, pulled back his horse upon its haunches.

"The lady O'Tei," he exclaimed, "beneath that baleful canopy!"

And straightway Sampei dismounted, and held the stirrup for his brother.

And thus they met again, those three, on this fateful day for all---my lord in an evil mood, for even to him there was something oppressive in the air. A pall, as of the shadow of death, hung murky over the land.

With trembling, blue lips, more like a spectre than a woman, O'Tei awaited my lord's approach, and turning, flung herself upon her knees, clinging about his feet.

No-Kami glared down in surprised dudgeon, while the soul of Sampei was thrilled with pity to perceive how wan she looked.

"My lord!" she murmured low, with fluttering heart, "a boon. Oh! spare them--for my sake--for your own--spare them--spare them--spare them!

Give me at least the lives of the woman and her babes. If the man must suffer, be it so. You see that for him I say no word, not one--the G.o.ds forgive me! For his act he knew and weighed the penalty. But those innocents are not to perish. Say 'twas but a pleasantry, and I will kiss your feet, and bless you."

The visage of No-Kami grew purple as he glowered down upon his wife, and then, with grinding teeth, he glanced furtively around. There was no witness to the interview.

"It is well," he hissed, "that the company has gone before, and that I am spared humiliation in their eyes. Fie! what shameful folly's this?

Can this grovelling thing, like a slave in the dust, be Hojo's wife, child of the Daimio of Nara? Nay! it is some mean Eta woman, pariah and outcast. Sampei, raise her up, and quickly, and let us both forget this spectacle. Arise!" he cried, spurning the prostrate figure with his foot. "Even among the Etas obedience is a wife's first duty."

Sampei stooped, and gently raising his distracted sister, supported her upon his breast, whilst the furious despot continued dryly,--

"Know that your existence is a blot on my name and your own. It is well that you have borne no children to perpetuate disgrace. If any of the bold samurai had seen you but now, what would they have thought of me?--of you? how could they respect their lady? Shame, shame! Pluck up a spirit--borrow one--and make at least pretence to a.s.sume a fitting dignity. The condemned are to die at sundown; no more on that score; even now the spectators are trooping hitherward. Go; tire your hair and don your gala robes. When all is ready, I will send for you."

"For me!" gasped O'Tei, turning a shade more white.

"As chatelaine of Tsu, your place is by my side," announced the Daimio sternly. "Be my will your law. Go now, and try not to degrade us."

His unhappy sister-in-law cast an imploring glance at Sampei, who stood with head bowed and sullen averted gaze. His blood was coursing through his veins at fevered speed. Patience, his mother had said, and wait. How could he wait and practise patience, seeing her he loved so outraged? Was she to be forced, by the whim of a madman, to give the sanction of her gracious presence to the deed which all deplored?

Masago, as usual, had been right. The Divine finger was in it, or why should the heiress of Nara, belying her own pride and the traditions of her haughty lineage, have selected the very means of interference which was most sure to offend her lord, and frustrate her own desires?

Had she, with imperious att.i.tude and supercilious air, demanded the lives of the woman and her offspring, No-Kami might, touched by the proud beauty of her who was his bone, have, even so late as this, been surprised into some clemency. Sampei himself, to whom all she did was dear, felt a sharp twinge of mortification as, burning with sorrowful regret, he had quickly lifted her.

Both brothers, jealous of the name they bore, suffered in their tenderest point on seeing her thus prostrate. O'Tei must have been overcome with grief indeed ere she could have been guilty of so grave an error. But the Daimio's last demand must be rescinded. He must not insist upon her being present at the ceremony, or she might succ.u.mb under the ordeal.

Angry words of protest rose to the General's lips, but for her sake (remembering his mother's injunctions) he mastered them, and, as the trio moved slowly to the castle, strove to speak with a steady voice and dispa.s.sionate temperance.

"Far be it from me," he began, "to interfere between a wife and her spouse, or fatigue my lord with argument, yet would I suggest this much to my brother. Alas! see how weak she is--feeble in health.

Nerves overstrung are not under complete control. But for this, the heiress of Nara would never have given just cause for a husband's displeasure by an act which we will all forget. Do not insist upon her witnessing the ceremony, for she has dwelt of late in such strict retirement that none will expect her presence."

A look at No-Kami cut him short. There was a lurid glitter in his glance that boded serious mischief if thwarted, threatening a new burst of frenzy. How difficult it was to be prudent, to steer without shipwreck in such troubled waters. Again for a s.p.a.ce was the General torn between contending duties. Was he bound blindly to follow the head of his clan in his mad recklessness, lead where he would? Could he be excused were he to look on and refrain from action while the soul of his love was tortured? Was it not craven idly to mark her growing misery? Her true knight, forsooth! A knight unarmed, his spear a rotten bulrush. Was it destined that he might never afford her help?

Better go away then, back to Corea, or farther still. Yet how would that be possible, she in this desperate quandary? Like a green flash of pallid light it broke upon him clearly, as he walked beside his chief, that the day might come when, the weapon in the grasp of a higher power, he would be compelled to smite his brother. With the thought came a grisly dread. Desperation drives men to acts for which a long life of penitence may not atone. Fate is fate, and man may not master it.

Sampei thought of his mother, and, like her, prayed to be enlightened.

Was the doomed No-Kami indeed to fall by the treacherous hand of him who should be the first to help? And, ah! what a grievous punishment would follow, since by the very act of freeing her he would cut himself off from her for ever. A brother's widow and a brother's murderer. Wait, the Abbess had said. Wait! How long? Events rolling onward with the turbid tide, would it be possible to wait?

The toils of destiny were wrapped around the three, clasping them closer and more close, as, gloomy and tempest-tossed, they pa.s.sed under the gateway of the castle.

CHAPTER IX.

THE EXECUTION.

The Daimio was well served by his subordinates. Nothing was omitted which could add impressiveness to the coming rite. The two crosses stood facing the west, gaunt and forbidding, at a convenient distance one from the other, backed by the green trees, and around them was spread thick paper, to save the earth from pollution. It had been a knotty question with the chief samurai, who acted as master of the ceremonies, as to the exact shade of punctilio which it would be fitting to employ on the occasion. All the world knows that the most minute instructions were laid down in 1336 by Ashikaga for the guidance of those of upper or military cla.s.s who were to a.s.sist either as princ.i.p.als or seconds at harakiri, or suicide by disembowelling.

The exact hour, the place, the number of lights, of mats, of screens and hangings, bows and genuflections, according to the rank of the sufferer, were arranged by him in the form of a long code, and so complete and comprehensive were these instructions that no room was left for doubt as to the most trifling detail. But here was a case without precedent, for the sufferers were plebeians, too low and common to be worthy of the smallest candle or commonest mat, or, indeed, of anything whatever except an ignominious slaughter like swine. But then the Daimio had insisted that the spectators should be regaled with pomp and circ.u.mstance,--that the criminals should have the honour of being done to death within the castle precincts, and therefore the chief samurai was obliged to hold a council with his fellows for the fixing of this weighty matter.

In the first place, the farmer and his wife were of too mean a stock to be permitted to put an end to themselves, just as the children were too young to perform the act, even if accorded the privilege. No, they must be handed over to the Etas, members of the lowest cla.s.s in j.a.pan--people who dig graves and kill animals--social outcasts beyond the pale of society, filthy and degraded, who are never allowed to enter a house, or eat or drink or cook at any fire in company with decent persons. Being unworthy of mats or hangings, the device of the paper was an ingenious thought, for the blood of mere peasants must not defile the private ground of my lord, and yet the spirits of the departing must not be overcomforted by too much consideration. As the execution was to take place at the hour of the c.o.c.k, or sundown, it would be necessary to have lights, but not too many, or of too grand a kind, for excessive illumination would be indecorous. Four tall bamboo poles, carrying lanterns of plain white, were placed at four corners, while behind a screen were concealed a lance, a dirk upon a tray, buckets to contain the heads, an incense burner, cloths, and a pail of water. In the centre of the s.p.a.ce facing the crosses, thick mats were laid, covered with rich embroideries, for the accommodation of my lord and his party, behind which was to be arranged, standing in rows, his brilliant retinue in their most splendid and glittering array. Down the sides, behind a low barrier, were mats of a coa.r.s.er kind for the town's-people, with fire boxes or hibachis, and bronze kettles and tea things, and cakes and sweetmeats on trays of gold lacquer, in order that none of his va.s.sals might accuse his benignant lord of want of hospitality or lack of thought for their comfort.

It was a beautiful and still evening in autumn, with the opalescent sky of crystalline clearness, which so often in j.a.pan gives us a hint of the infinite. The sun was just dipping behind the outer wall, flanked by its ma.s.sive towers, tipping with gold the eddies of the brawling river which protected the side of the square opposite the crosses, when a flourish of conch sh.e.l.ls announced that the time was come.

With a thunder of hoofs over the wooden drawbridge, first there defiled a troop of cavalry with tapering lances and pennons, in glistening black armour and housings, each helmet adorned with the badge of Hojo, the face of each horse covered by a gilded mask of frowning and horrific aspect. Solemnly the hors.e.m.e.n man[oe]uvred, forming a hollow square of gold and sable; then at a signal the outer gates were opened, and with clatter of many clogs there poured in from the town a sea of men and women, old and young, with anxious pallid faces. The invitation had been accepted by all cla.s.ses. Fishermen there were in short blue cotton shirts and tight gaiters, and mushroom hats roughly bedizened in colour with tigers or twisting dragons. Old dames and young rosy girls jostled and fought for places, for sure never had the oldest inhabitant been bidden to so strange a mummery.

Artisans there were too, burly and bronzed, naked, save for a loin-cloth and loose jacket; and merchants and superior persons, in long c.r.a.pe kimonos, adorned with curious designs, bound round the waist with scarves of silk. The black phalanx looked down with scorn but half concealed, for never had so motley a rabblement been admitted within these walls, and many a timid wight glanced trembling at the swart fierce visages under shadow of the casques, wishing he had stayed away. There was one, however, conspicuous for gay attire and many hairpins, who, no whit abashed, looked saucily along the line, making loud remarks, with pointed finger, as if the motionless figures were statues. A very pretty little lady like a humming bird, with dancing eyes and silvery laugh, and hair tricked out and stiffened with pomade, who, by her gay dress, was a geisha or professional dancing-girl. All about her was small, but neat and natty and trim, from her tiny feet and lacquered clogs to her impudent little nose. It was plain that she was afraid of nothing, taking life lightly, resolved upon enjoying the day, however dark its setting; for, elbowing her way to the front, she commenced, with a comical a.s.sumption of haughtiness, to criticise the arrangements, as if all her short career had been pa.s.sed in castles and palaces.

The chief samurai was uncertain how to act respecting her, for she presumed to mock at him, and mimic his rolling swagger and pompous stride, rating him the while for tardiness,--a lamentable lack of punctuality. Who was this forward wench? he asked, awaking from dumb amazement, who, respecting neither place nor persons, mumbled sweetmeats between cherry lips, and, tapping a garish fan, shouted for the performance to commence! It was O'Kiku some one said, a celebrated dancer and spoilt beauty from distant Kamakura, who was in the habit of walking upon hearts, of attaching herself to richest youths like a tarantula, and quickly sucking them dry. She was on a pilgrimage to the groves of Ise--for even frail and flighty young ladies have souls that require doctoring--but hearing of what was toward, and the temptation great, had gaily tossed aside her pilgrim robes of white, and postponed her journey and her prayers.

But now, even naughty and irrepressible O'Kiku was hushed to silence, for there was another flourish, and, stately and slow, with all the pomp of state, the procession of the Daimio marched across the bridge.

Very handsome the two brothers looked as, in full dress, and wearing the courtly Naga-bakama (full long trousers of red silk), they moved with a lady between them--a lady who, by her exceeding stateliness and unusual pallor, riveted the attention of the geisha.

"Patrician to the finger ends," muttered the latter approvingly. "I have never seen so high-bred a lady--no, not even among the gorgeous court of the Shogun in distant Kamakura--as n.o.ble in bearing as her two supporters. Which is the Daimio, I wonder? The older one, of course."

The older one. Her heart---or what served as such--went straight out to him; and from her worldly point of view, in which inclination and interest seemed in unaccustomed fashion to mingle, she decided, as rustic Mine had done before her, that he, and he only, should be her master. The handsome stalwart fellow, bronzed and weather-worn, his brow crossed by a deep and honourable cicatrice! A typical soldier he, whom 'twould be a joy to love. The other one? Well, handsome too, but ill-tempered evidently; as rich in scowls as a tiger in stripes; a wild beast, whose taming might amuse. And yet toying with wild beasts is dangerous, for when they scratch they tear. Brothers apparently.

The wife of which was the patrician lady? For a second the world-worn geisha felt the p.r.i.c.k of a curious and new sensation. Could it be jealousy? If she were the wife of the soldier, she was a rival whom it would be necessary to fight and crush. Cold--almost inanimate; a doll--stupid probably--entirely wrapped, like so many of her station, in contemplation of the family tree. Pooh! an absurd rival; for sure no man could love an icicle. Were they newly married? This bridegroom with the scar was delectably attentive to his bride. How mawkish! And then the observant little woman noticed that the scowls of the younger brother were specially turned upon the icicle. Why was that? There was an air about him of discontented proprietorship. Suddenly she became aware of the richness of his attire as he took his place in the centre, amid the bows and genuflections of the spectators.