Presently, when she was quieter, her mother-in-law put a question roughly to the girl.
“What is it to be, Ohano? Will you accept the child of the Lord Saito Gonji, proclaiming it to be your own, defying the very world to take it from you, or—?”
Ohano’s face was turned away. Her head was swimming, and she felt strangely weak. After a moment she said in a very faint voice, as if the last trace of resistance within her had been victoriously beaten out by her mother-in-law:
“I serve the ancestors of the Saito—and my Lord Saito Gonji!”
CHAPTER XXIII
OHANO did not leave her room all of the following day. A maid brought word to Lady Saito that her daughter-in-law wished to meditate and pray alone. Permission was somewhat ungraciously granted. Her “moods,” as Lady Saito termed them, had become a source of irritation. However, the proposition to “meditate and pray” was good. Ohano, perchance, would profit by her thoughts and emerge a reasonable being.
At noon the soft-hearted little Omi begged to be permitted to take tea and refreshments to Ohano. She was gone some time, to the aggravation of her mistress, for the little Taro was loudly demanding his favorite’s return. When at last, however, the girl returned, she brought such a message to her mistress that the latter forgot everything else in the glow of satisfaction. Ohano asked for the Lord Saito Taro.
Little Omi hurried out with the child in her arms. She paused upon the threshold for a moment and threw a curious glance back at her mistress. Lady Saito’s face was wreathed in smiles, even while the tears dropped like rain down her withered cheeks. The girl hid her excited face against the child’s little body, then, almost running, she sped from the room.