“Sayonara—sister,” she softly breathed.
That word of farewell broke the tension of the dazed Masago. She sprang with a cry after the departing one. Both of the princess’s sleeves were in her grasp.
“Go not yet!” she cried. “Do not go!”
She fell grovelling upon her knees, still clinging to the long sleeves of the princess, and hid her face in the folds of Sado-ko’s kimono. Then, with her face muffled in the gown, she spoke:—
“I could not grasp the meaning of your words—My heart leaped up and burst—I could not think. I pray you, do not take my joy away while yet I barely grasp it in my hands, Princess Sado-ko!”
“You do consent!” said Sado-ko, bending over her, while a strange light of excitement came into her eyes.
“Consent! On my knees I could pray to you, as to a god, to grant this thing you suggest for a caprice.”
CHAPTER XV
THE CHANGE