“You have a picture of his Highness?” he inquired incredulously. “How is that possible, Ohano?”
“Masago cut it from a Chinese magazine you brought home last month,” said the wife, “and it was such a beautiful picture she has put it away among her treasures, have you not, Masago?”
The girl’s eyes were downcast, and she did not raise them. She knew by the silence in the room that her answer was awaited by the company, but she could not move her lips to speak. Then she heard Junzo answering quietly for her:—
“He is certainly the most admirable hero we have, and one that it honors our nation to idolize.”
His words were rewarded by a glance from the eyes she raised in timid gratitude. It was but for a moment; then her head was bent again.
For a week Junzo saw his fiancée daily. At the end of that time he accompanied her with her family a portion of the way to Kyoto, whither she went to attend school for a year. Junzo then proceeded alone to Tokyo, and on his journey back his musings of his future bride were as vague and unsatisfactory as when he had come.
CHAPTER V
GOSSIP OF THE COURT