JAPANESE LANDSCAPE.
His wife always remained utterly secluded; and even of the mechanics engaged by him to put up the new house, only one or two got a passing glance at her through a half-open door or window,—sufficient, however, it seems, to make them speak in glowing terms of her marvellous beauty. Two years after her arrival she died in giving birth to a daughter, who was named O Tetsu. It then began to be bruited about that she had been an Eta (a pariah), the queen of her tribe, famous for her surpassing loveliness. This report, which, it was said, first originated with a travelling showman who had formerly known Muramasa in other places, gradually assumed a more definite shape, and it was whispered that she had been rescued by the smith while being abducted by some nobleman and carried to the latter’s castle. Rumor went still further, and stated that it was not a man of low degree, but one of the mighty lords of the land who had attempted this outrage, and that six of his most trusty blades engaged in the execution of the design had been cut down and disabled by the smith who fought single-handed. Careless of the opinion of the world, he afterward made the outcast Eta his lawful wife. He loved her fondly and passionately, and she reciprocated his sentiments.
AN ETA.
After her death, all that there was of kindness, of love, and of sympathy in his nature went out toward his daughter. To the outer world he became, if possible, more grim and reserved than he had been before. He shunned all such chance acquaintances as he had made, he went to the court—where even hitherto, in spite of an open invitation, he had rarely made his appearance—only when the occasion rendered his presence unavoidable; beyond this he paid and received no visits whatever. The only persons who gained admittance to his house were a few old teachers whom he had engaged for his daughter. The aged serving-man who had accompanied him had died three or four years after their arrival, and no one had taken his place, the old serving-woman being the only domestic who remained to do the necessary duties about the house.
The smith’s son, now a man over thirty years of age, resembled his father in outward looks and appearance, and if his face showed rather more good-humor, it was probably merely a negative quality arising from its lack of expression. Physically he was as strong and stout as the smith; but his mind was of a very inferior order. He was, however, an expert in all that pertained to swords; and on this point could discourse pleasantly and with an intelligence that sometimes bordered on eloquence. As regarded everything else, his mental and reasoning faculties seemed to present a perfect blank, he being unable to understand causes and effects, unless they were of the most simple kind, such as could be learned mechanically. For his father he showed great awe and reverence, and toward his half-sister he evinced an affection which was as deep as it was humble, and might be likened to that of a faithful dog. He displayed it by a desire to be close to her in those short periods when he was not engaged in work. At such times he would often put his hand furtively but tenderly on some part of her dress; and when she perceived it, he would bend forward, as if waiting for a smile or a caressing word, which were the usual acknowledgments, and to which, when given, his only response was a broad, pleased grin. He rarely spoke on anything not connected with his craft, but to express his wants and feelings used certain signs, which those about him had learned to interpret. He might almost have passed for an idiot, were it not for his clear, logical talk on everything connected with his profession, and for a quickness of movement of both hand and limb which such beings do not usually possess, and which in him was developed to a remarkable degree. It is probable that he was naturally endowed with but limited reasoning powers. These, however, would have been sufficient for the narrow range of views and the limited routine duties of a peasant or a laborer in those days; but in the position in which he was placed, the comparatively strong claims made upon him in the exercise of his profession had, so to say, absorbed all that there was of intellect and drawn it into this one channel, leaving everything else a blank.
SWORD-GUARD.