“Esyo?”

“Yes.”

“And—you have confidence in her?”

The answer already on her lips, did not escape him, though Yodogima hesitated; she had read him in time to save herself—surmised that he knew more than she would express or deny—and cogitating a happier conclusion endeavored to leave him standing as near the brink of certainty as it had been his pleasure to assume.

“You would have me disown a sister?”

“I would know you better.”

“Then judge me with less compassion and more of wit; I take the responsibility—”

“Not of war?”

“No; but of its cause and consequence.”

“I admire you all the more for that, though you leave me without a peg to stand on. Nor shall I surrender one whit the ground I’ve gained, no less an opinion formed. Take the whole family along, if you like: their gadding, a virtue stands you none the less in hand; to-morrow Hideyoshi shall know—”