"Oh! no, no!" shrieked the girl, turning ashy pale "I am your slave; do with me as you will."
"My beloved queen!" cried Fide-Yori, clasping her in his arms, "you are my equal, my companion, and not my slave. It is not merely from a spirit of obedience that you yield, is it?"
"I love you!" whispered Omiti, raising her beautiful eyes, wet with tears, to the King.
[CHAPTER XXVIII.]
HENCEFORTH MY HOUSE SHALL BE AT PEACE.
The leaders of the conspiracy were all arrested at the Day-break Inn; but the soldiers of Hieyas, warned betimes, did not disembark; so that although the Shogun was certain that Hieyas was the secret head of the plot, no positive proof could be brought against him. Still it was evident that civil war was about to break out again. General Yoke-Moura thought that it would be best to take the initiative, and carry the war into the enemy's country. The other generals, on the contrary, desired to collect all their forces in and around Osaka, and wait.
Discord ensued among the leaders. "You are too rash," they said to Yoke-Moura.
"You are fools," replied the General.