“Believe them,” she pleaded. “It is the truth I speak; I swear it by all the eight million gods of heaven, and by our ancestor, the Sun-god. I went to Kamakura, rashly, blindly, wildly, because of love for you.”
He looked searchingly into her eyes. Then as if satisfied he stooped and kissed her lips, a habit they had recently adopted at court.
“I have suffered, Sado-ko, more than I ever dreamed possible. I thought this artist-fellow was alone responsible for your action.”
“Komatzu, he is already betrothed to the merchant’s daughter, a simple maid, who bears a small resemblance to me.”
He made a gesture of denial.
“That is impossible, princess. What, you compare one of her class with you! It is most gracious. No one in all the land can equal you in beauty.”
She smiled in happiness.
“Your journey was a fortunate event, though a morsel for the gossips, princess. Do you know that this latest caprice so moved the young and easily shocked Crown Prince, that in disgust he hastened to his father, and on his knees besought him to grant another wife?”
They laughed.
“What happened next?”