place of tombs. Come forth," he cried aloud, "he who sings foolishly in
a sacred place, come forth and be punished of the gods so that you may
repent! Otherwise your punishment will wait until you are unready for
it."

Now he moved on. His voice came muttering back:--

"Come forth, come forth! I heard a song, an unholy song in the sacred
place of tombs."

Yone let the bush return and laughed happily in the arms of Hoshiko.

"Oh, is it not all as it was, beloved? It is the same watchman--older.
And they are the same, almost the same, words--more eery. And we are
close, close--as we were then. Oh, it is divine to be close with you!
So--so, my beloved, another omen! Everything else is as it was. Shall
not we be?"

Hoshiko was silent.

"Be not afraid, beloved," Yone said. "I will be true always until we
meet in the heavens. Always I will be your widow with blackened teeth if
you fall--my hair blowing at a shrine. Think! But for me there will be
no one to keep the lamps alight before you if you die--but for me. And
I--they shall never fail. For, if you fall, I will wait as I have
done--keeping the lamps, hoping that you will hold out your hand in the
black Meido when I pass to death, and that then we shall, somehow, never
part. Oh, beloved, there have been suitors and suitors and always
suitors! The nakado has worn bare the mat at the door. But was I not
yours? How could I listen to any one else? And the wedding garments are
all ready. And there is no one to stay us but the old deaf Hana, who
will not even hear. If you must go quickly, to-night, there is the
foreign minister--there is the new registry office--"

"And for this," said Hoshiko, "the few words of a foreign priest, nine
cups of sake, a line in the registry office, you will give up your dear
life to me?"

"I will give up all my souls--all my hope of a rest at last in Buddha's
bosom if I must. Oh, Shijiro Arisuga, for this I have waited until it
seemed that I could wait no more. Give it to me now--this night--before
you go!"

"O love," whispered Hoshiko, "what is like you in all the earths, in all
the heavens! There is no other miracle but you alone. Come! My hour is
almost here. But were it already past, and though a soldier but obeys
the hours, yet you should be a wife before I go."

And even to that moment Hoshiko had not known how Yone yearned for that
one word to be added to her. Suddenly she grovelled on the earth and
caught the hands and knees