The Breath of the Gods Part 6

"No, no," said Todd, eagerly. "Do not think it, your Highness! I understand perfectly. Your very misuse of some of our slippery old timeworn words is illuminating. It was your question that made me pause, not your way of putting it."

"My dear sir," protested Hagane, "I desire you to feel no obligations to answer. I intended, perhaps, a thinner meaning than your own mind has seized. Was it j.a.panese Art, as with Frenchmen? Statistics, Sociology, Political Economy?" Todd noted the greater ease with which these abstract and philosophic terms were employed.

"None of these, your Highness,--and yet all! My study--you will think me presumptuous, I fear,--might not be called less than--the ultimate destiny of your race!"

Hagane's smouldering eyes leaped into sudden fire. He looked down quickly, as if to deny the flame. Todd felt the air stir and tingle with a new vibration.

"Yes, your Excellency, we are attempting to employ valuable hints from various representative governments of your enlightened West," said he, conventionally.

"Hints!" echoed Todd; "that is just the wonder of you! They are hints in reality, thoughts to be absorbed only just so far as you need them, and the rest chucked. You don't stick them on like plaster to cover up a mediaeval birthmark. You have quite as much to give as we, and you know it. Haven't I watched and studied, with Kanrio here to coach? You j.a.panese alone can combine the best of the two civilizations. You can best fuse the experience, character, insight, humanity--of both long-suffering hemispheres. We Americans are just ourselves; but you are we, and all the rest of it! That's why your old G.o.ds set you on the fighting line. You are a whole laboratory experiment in sociology, all to yourselves!"

"I perceive that you have been thinking carefully upon us," said Hagane, still conventional, contained; but his one upward look, instantly withdrawn, had the "swish" of a scythe.

"It isn't all admiration, you know!" exclaimed Todd, with an impulsiveness far more flattering than reserve. "You have made, it seems to me, some thundering bad mistakes,--like the dropping of Port Arthur at the first growl of that bear, Russia. But you've got your second wind all right. You j.a.panese know, better than any American or Englishman, that Russian preponderance in China means a walled continent of tyranny, the gates guarded by Greek fire. If you conquer, your best interests are at one with the progress of an enlightened twentieth-century world. Now, your Highness, deny it if you can!" He leaned back, his thin face aglow.

Hagane apparently had difficulty in keeping eyes upon the table.

"You--er--pa.s.s through the waving branches," said he, very slowly, "and cleave to the heart of the tree. So only are the rings of epochs counted. Do others of your countrymen think thus?"

"Well," said Todd, "to be honest, I judge that most of my countrymen would prefer sitting on the bough, stealing apples, rather than counting concentric rings. I guess love of the East must have been born with me."

"Interesting, interesting!" murmured Hagane. "And yet, your Excellency, though indigenous, something must have fed the growth. Every development possess, I think, allotted kind of nourishment."

"Oh, events contributed, I presume. Now and then things turned up just when they were wanted." Todd was surprised at his own ease in the great man's presence. He drew inspiration, not awe, from the intelligent eyes and slow, suggestive smile. "Yes, things _came_! I planted your Forty-Seven Ronin into my biggest field of wheat! And my old mule, Kuranosuke, did me better work than any span of horses. Then, your Highness, the baron here--oh, you needn't shake your finger, Baron!--pointed me to heavenly manna; and the child Yuki, my daughter's friend, led me into paths that adult eyes could never have seen."

Hagane crushed the red ash of his cigarette, and leaned farther back in his chair. The expression of his face altered slightly,--softened, one might say, were it not still so impressive. If waves of strength and influence had flowed from him before, they ebbed now, leaving consciousness a little thin and dry. Yet all three men smiled faintly, as at a pleasant thought.

"Ah, little Onda Yuki-ko, the child of my old kerai."

"It is a term meaning 'feudal retainer,'" put in Kanrio, amiably, to Mr.

Todd.

"Yes," went on Hagane, "I was encouraged last night to see her so strong to look at, and so--pardon vulgarity, your Excellency,--so inoffensive to the eye in personal appearance."

Todd flung back his head and laughed outright. "Inoffensive--that's a good one! Why, your Highness, Yuki is quoted as a beauty here in Was.h.i.+ngton. Artists beg to paint her, and swell photographers to pose.

If she intended casting in her lot with us, she could have the pick and choice of half the young bloods here." He sent a merry glance to Kanrio, as for corroboration, but was met by a stare so blank, so baffling, that his smile faded.

The prince was carefully, very carefully, lighting a fresh cigarette.

"Pardonnez moi!" he mumbled, between coaxing, initial puffs. "It is I who am the stupidity! 'Pick and choice,--young bloods'--I fear I do not quite--er--apprehend."

"Your Highness," Kanrio broke in, "Mr. Todd speaks in the idiomatic phrases of society. He desired to transmit the impression that Miss Onda is thought to be beautiful."

"Ah, is that it? And--young bloods?"

"Young men, I should have said. Pardon my slang. Merely young men, your Highness," explained Cyrus, feeling suddenly quite ill at ease.

"Ah, yes," muttered Hagane to himself. "I have a recollection. Last night--" he broke off. His voice was higher and a little careless, as he asked of Todd, directly, "Is Onda Yuki-ko to sail with your family?"

"Yes. She had not intended returning till next spring. She wanted to take an extra course in French or something. But she wouldn't stay behind, now that we are going. She and my daughter are like sisters."

Todd rose, muttering words to the effect that he had trespa.s.sed too long. Hagane rose also. Todd felt resentful, though he could have a.s.signed no definite cause. "Good-morning, your Highness, or, as Miss Yuki has taught me to say, 'Sayonara'! I thank you for the honor of this interview."

The word "Sayonara" brought Hagane sharply to himself. "The thanks belong not to me, Excellency," he smiled and stretched out a powerful hand. "Seldom do I so deeply enjoy a conversation with one met for the first time. I consider that Nippon, and our-Sacred Emperor"--(he paused, and the two j.a.panese bowed deeply,) "are to receive the congratulation."

Power and purpose thrilled in his hand-clasp. Todd tingled anew with it.

"What a man! What a bottled genius hauled up from a sea of fate!" he said to Kanrio, as they descended the stairs.

"Prince Sanetomo is one who does his duty," admitted Kanrio, in an impa.s.sive tone.

Hirai accompanied Yuki to the office door. They went a little slowly, considering the rank of the summoner, and talked hurriedly in the hall-ways, each reluctant to release a topic so dear. There had been not only j.a.pan and childhood to gloat upon, but, already, reference could be made to a past,--twelve hours old. "Do you remember," and "As you were saying last evening," are potent introductory clauses. Both young people had been born in Tokio, and though unnamed to each other before, soon established unity of cla.s.s, training, inherited ideals, and childish experiences. The secretary had often heard of Sir Onda Tetsujo, Yuki's father, a knight of the old school, famed for his stern rect.i.tude and his loyalty to a vanished past. With some hesitation Hirai ventured to suggest that he should consider it a privilege to be allowed to call upon Sir Tetsujo and his lady, in their Tokio home. Yuki urged this eagerly. She could send by the younger man messages that seemed too trivial for transmission through Prince Hagane. "Yes, yes,--please call upon them--d[=o]-zo! They will receive you so happily. Ah, and to think that you will see them long, long before I can come! You will reach Nippon before the maples have quite burned themselves away, or Fuji lowered upon her opal cone the full white robe of winter. How am I to endure the waiting? I wish I were to start with the suite of Prince Hagane to-morrow!"

Hirai's fine face echoed this sentiment vividly, but he refrained from speech. He was a correct young man, and had no intention of presuming on the young girl's veneer of Americanism. He left her at the door. It had to her fancy, now, the feeling of a shrine, a s.h.i.+nto temple, approached through paths of childish memories. She lifted one gloved hand to knock, and her lips twitched at the clamorous instinct to raise both hands, rub the palms together, and clap thrice as before a deity. She controlled herself, however, shaking her head a little wistfully, and murmuring as to a voice, "No, though my soul still is Nipponese, I have become a Christian. I am half American, too. I must remember." She gave now a sharp, determined rap.

"O-ide!" boomed a deep voice from within. Yuki's knees melted. Whatever the rest of her, they were evidently not American. She entered with downcast eyes.

Hagane did not seem to recognize her. He looked hard, and asked, "Is this Onda Yuki-ko?"

She lifted the brim of her hat, and let shy eyes rest upon him. "Your Highness, it is Yuki, a worthless young acquaintance with whom you spoke last night." She used the j.a.panese language, with the full complement of honorifics.

"An odd eventuation," said the other, dryly. "I thought to summon the child of my old kerai, the maiden of last evening,--and, behold, a small, pert shade from the Avenue de l'Opera!"

"It does not augustly displease your Highness?" murmured the girl, not understanding his full meaning.

"Not at all. It may even prove valuable for Nippon, and Tetsujo could wish no more. But be seated, child. I have scanty moments to dole you, and there are messages."

"Lord," murmured Yuki, seating herself on the hard chair indicated, "it is too much for you to burden your exalted memory for my insignificant satisfaction."

Hagane ignored the deprecating whisper. Taking a seat deliberately, he began, "At the s.h.i.+mbas.h.i.+ station of Yedo, where, since many notable officers were to accompany me, a great crowd of well-wishers thronged to say farewell, I soon discerned the dark face and the proud head of your father, Onda Tetsujo."

He paused, smiling slightly. The girl said nothing, only bent forward a little, her face full of unconscious excitement.

"Close behind him, gentle, clinging, self-effacing, as a good wife should always be, I saw--"

Yuki, forgetting her breeding, fairly s.n.a.t.c.hed the words from his mouth.

"My mother,--I know, Lord, it was my dear mother! And the old nurse Suzume, was she there?"

"There was, indeed, a female something that incessantly bowed, and drew breath with a ferocity that drowned the hissing of the engine. Has that the air of Suzume?"

"Yes, yes, her very self. Oh, how can I wait to get back home! Ten weeks, Lord, before I am to start!"

"The words uttered by your parents were these,--I may not recall the exact terms, but I have their purpose clear. First, Iriya said: 'Tell to our child that empty hearts and a cheerless home ache through this night of absence, for her coming.' Her soft eyes touched my heart, though men call me stern. Ere I could bow a.s.sent, your father Tetsujo--ah ha! that old kerai, the unreconstructed feudal knight!--pushed rudely past, and cried to me, 'Taint memory with no such puerile demand, my Lord! Say to the girl that hearts and aches are nothing. As long as I have yen to forward, let her remain until she is fitted, though a woman, to be of some slight service to her land. I pray you, Lord, to judge of her.

Should she need to stay full ten years longer, I would not repine. I have no son. She is the subst.i.tute. Empty hearts, aching nights, bah!

Crumbling barley sugar of a weak spirit! Midzu-ame in a human jar! Good Iriya, my wife, I advise you to cease your prayers before concessive deities, and learn to wors.h.i.+p more sincerely our G.o.d of War. He is to be the flaming incarnation of this epoch!'"

"I can see--I hear them both," said Yuki. "My father is right,--though the tears that must have stung my mother's eyes do now sting mine. Lord, shall you think me fit to go to such a father? I have done what the Americans call--graduate. I have even received prizes for good study."

"Do they offer prizes here for doing duty? An immoral practice, especially for the young,--instilling envy, cupidity. But it concerns me not. Your question, Yuki,--are you fitted to return? I cannot give myself time to be satisfied entirely with the fitness; but, for other reasons, I am well aware that it is time for you to return. His Excellency, Mr. Todd, spoke of the first of the New Year. I wish it were to-morrow."

"Lord," faltered the girl, "are your august utterances heavy with reproof? Have you charges of misconduct against me?" Her guilty heart ran, as a thief for a hidden treasure, to the thought of Pierre Le Beau and the half-troth her weakness had allowed him to secure. The next words of the great man relieved her strangely.

"Nay, nay, little one, I have heard of no wrong. Look not so fearful; one would think me Emma-O, the Lord of h.e.l.l, in the flesh. My thought was chiefly that, just now, even your present acquirements might serve Nippon."