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sword from the boy sword-bearer and proffered it to his master. But Lord Tadanao brusquely pushed the man back.

“Yojirō! It is you alone who have shown yourself a true warrior!” He released his hold on Yojirō’s arm as he spoke. Yojirō, still grasping the dagger, did not even raise his head, but prostrated himself in submission.

“Your wife, too, refused on every occasion to comply with my wishes. In this household of mine you are indeed rare creatures!” Lord Tadanao broke into loud and joyous laughter.

Yojirō’s rebellion had afforded Lord Tadanao double cause for rejoicing. First, he had been sincerely hated as a man, even to the point of an attempt on his life, and this gave him the feeling that he had been permitted for the first time to step down into the world of human beings. Secondly, he had been attacked in full earnestness by a man reputed to be the foremost swordsman in the whole fief, and he had most convincingly beaten down that attack. He could not believe that there was in this victory, at least, any element of deceit. He was able once more, untroubled by the doubts which had plagued him so long, to savour his old sense of exultation in victory. Lord Tadanao felt as if a gap had opened in the oppressive cloud of melancholy which had settled of late about his life, and he had caught a glimpse of the radiance beyond.

Not only did he permit Yojirō, who begged piteously that his lord’s vengeance might fall on him alone, to depart without a word of reproof, but he at once gave Yojirō’s wife her liberty.

Lord Tadanao’s joy, however, was short-lived.

On their first night at home after returning from the castle, Yojirō and his wife, resting their heads close together on their pillows, killed themselves. For what reason they died was not made clear, but it was perhaps from a sense of shame, in that Yojirō had raised his hand against their hereditary lord, or perhaps because they were overwhelmed with gratitude at Lord Tadanao’s merciful kindness in granting them their lives.

However that may have been, Lord Tadanao heard the news