ifficulty. Then reaching down she wound the long tresses of Takeo
in her hand, and dragged her to her knee. Twisting and twisting, until
the agony made the girl cry out, she berated her--"Ah! Wicked jade! Thou
too have eyes for a man's person. Disloyal wench, would you aim to make
the beloved of your mistress partner of your bed?... What's this?" From
the girl's hand she tore the answer to the lover's plaint. The sharp
eyes of her ladyship sought the maid's person. A nervous hand fumbled
the folds of her _obi_ (sash). "Ah! The treasure house is not far off.
Such valued gems are carried on the person." Thrusting her hand into the
gentle bosom the _himegimi_ drew forth the guilty complement.

Wrote Iki--

"How act to drop the mask;
Many the pledges breathed in truth."

And the girl made answer:

"Ah! The night of meeting, love's consummation;
The hindrance, thing or person, object of hate."[12]

The words were too plain. There was a certain savage tone of exulting
wrath as the _himegimi_ read out loud the contents of the missives. It
chilled the hearts of those who heard her. She spoke: at first in low
concentrated tones of bitter jesting hate. "Ha! Ha! Disloyalty goes
beyond mere thought; would strike at the person of its lord. What
lascivious slut is this, who thus would creep into the mistress' bed, to
take her place?... Look up! Naruhodo! In that face is too much beauty.
Vile huzzy, you would seek the favour of my lover. Hence forth neither
he nor any man shall look on you, except with loathing." Close beside
her was the _hibachi_, its burden of the hard burning charcoal from
Ikeda now a bright cherry red. Dragging the girl to the brazier,
twisting both hands more firmly in the long black hair, she forced her,
face downwards, into the heated mass, pressing into the back with her
knee. In terror the other girls looked away, or hid their faces in their
sleeves. Before the towering anger of the princess none dared apology or
intercession. The smell of burning flesh rose sickening. Takeo feebly
moaned, and writhed a little under the nervous pressure of those
delicate powerful hands. Then she was silent. The inhuman punishment had
reached its end. Roughly her ladyship threw her aside, face upward on
the _tatami_. Those who took a hasty glance turned away in horror from
the face, black here, red and swollen there, the mouth filled with
ashes, the eyes--one totally destroyed.

The _himegimi_ was on h