Kinsan feebly turned toward them. Tetsutaisho partly rose, and beckoned the victor approach. Shibusawa came near, and Kinsan faintly heard the dying man’s last words:

“She is innocent!”

Shibusawa bent over Kinsan and asked her forgiveness. She only smiled; then he took her in his arms and carried her away. It was not far, but chanced to be to the hidden cave, which lay behind the lines just below the hill near by. There he called for relief and her wound was dressed. When she looked about and saw the place she felt her great love, and knew that his had been born anew.

After Shibusawa had been fully informed as to the nature of Kinsan’s wound he ordered the army held in check, and directed that she be carried to his own castle just below the grounds, where Maido, his father, had lived and served so long the power that he himself had now overcome and forever destroyed. There he found the busy Shiyoganai still in charge,—Okyo had disappeared,—and after providing Kinsan with every comfort and the best skill at his command Shibusawa despatched a message and escort for his sister Yasuko, who had remained behind at the castle in Kanazawa, urging her to come quickly, so that she might relieve him of the immediate care of Kinsan.

He had learned that her breast was pierced through with a bullet, and that while the wound was not necessarily a dangerous one it would be many months before she could be expected fully to recover, even under the most favourable circumstances. He therefore confined his further war-like operations to Tokyo and the immediate vicinity, returning to her each day until his sister had arrived and replaced him with a more useful, if not kinder attention. Nor was Yasuko unhappy for the chance, but applied herself with a devotion that disclaimed any thought of stoicism or even indifference. She expressed a true type of the generations that had gone before her, and did not falter nor shrink from her part; she loved her brother, and believed his every wish worthy of her unquestioned attention.

And she not only nursed the sick one, but so devoted herself to the house that when Shibusawa finally returned he found the old home bubbling over with such joys as he had never before known.

CHAPTER XLI
THE RESTORATION

Shibusawa had no sooner provided for Kinsan’s temporary comfort than he hastened to resume his command. The halt in his progress had given Daikomitsu time to withdraw the rebellious samurai in order and hastily prepare a cover for his retreat.