Nagato watched him for some moments. "Whom does he seek?" he wondered.
Fide-Yori was evidently looking for some one; he heaved a heavy sigh every time that he was disappointed in his hope.
"Master," said Iwakura at last, "the whole nation rejoices to-day. I thought that sorrow found shelter in my heart alone; but I see that you have kept your share of it."
"I ought indeed to look happy," said Fide-Yori, "but, to you, I show myself as I am. I have an aching heart, my friend, and nothing can allay my pain. The kingdom is at peace, but I am not?"
"What is it, my beloved prince?" said Nagato; "do you not remember that, a few days ago, you promised to confide your grief to me!"
"I have long desired to do so. I know not what strange restraint has prevented me. I felt as if the emotion, at once so bitter and so sweet, which I now experience for the first time, should be told to no one until she who inspires it had heard my tale."
"You are in love, friend; I suspected it. But why should you suffer from your love?"
"The woman I love saved my life. I never saw her but once. Her name is Omiti; that is all I know of her," said the Shogun.
"Poor dear Prince!" cried Nagato; "and you were never able to trace her?"
"Alas, no!"