THE ETA
XVII
THE ETA
Now, even when Arisuga had spoken of marriage, he had the thought that it would probably not be longer than for his stay in China. At his going there would be a happy understanding that this meant divorce and that she might marry again. For he was bound by his oath to the great death, that she knew; and if this were to be all, it mattered little that Hoshiko was an eta. In China it was not heinous.
Yet even thus early the thought of some one else finding this wild flower when he was gone as he had found it—and, alas! of doing as he was about to do—he did not like that. He did not like his part in it. It haunted his dreams there in the room next to her and he woke.
She was sobbing. Then he heard her mother:
"Here is the sword," she said, in a voice hard as steel. "Be brave! First pray!"
"Yes," sobbed Hoshiko.