“I am glad you called,” said Mori. “I want the garden changed, and my cousin told me that the council had appropriated too much money for the fortifications at Shimonoseki. What fad is this? Those works were constructed under my grandfather, and could not be made better. It is more important by far that the garden be altered. Come here! Do you not see that if I sit here and look out, that hillock yonder interrupts the view? It must be changed.”
Kano bowed low and said: “It shall be done, my lord. I am going to Kyoto on business for the clan. Is there anything I can do for you?”
“Why, certainly. If you can pick up any fine antiquities, do so. And you must order new haori for the retainers. They will need them on our next journey to Yedo.”
Kano promised to attend to these matters, and took his leave. Closing the sho ji behind him, he went to a distant part of the palace, and called an attendant. “Request Mr. Hattori to come here,” he said. Hattori came, and his friend told him that he was called to Kyoto on private business, and would be absent for two or three weeks. He requested him to see that the garden was altered according to the wishes of the Lord of the Manor. Hattori promised to comply. Kano then proceeded to Sawa’s yashiki, and told him that he had come to bid him good-bye, as he was going to Kyoto under orders from my lord to buy some new ornaments. He asked for a letter to the commandant of the castle at Kyoto, a request which was willingly granted. When Kano left, a small bag of gold remained on the cushion which he had occupied.
XIV
WITHIN THE PALACE
In one of the kuge residences, not far from the palace occupied by the Tenshi sama, four men had just exchanged the protracted salutations prescribed by their rank. All knew that this very meeting would be considered as treason if it were known to the authorities at Yedo, and they felt, intuitively, that it would exercise a great influence upon their lives. Yet every face bore but one expression, that of placid contentment.
Sanjo, as the highest in rank, spoke first:—“His Lordship, Karassu Maru has informed us that the chief Councillor of Mori desires to make a communication. It is long since the chief of a clan desired the intercession of a kuge.”
Kano bowed:—“It is the fault of the Tokugawa, My Lord. The clans are shut out from Kyoto. We are not permitted to occupy our yashiki here, unless we secure the gracious consent of the men who rule at Yedo. I know none of the old families, Mori, Shimadzu,[77] who would not willingly enroll himself among the lowest servants of the Son of Heaven. If you are robbed of the homage which is your due, surely we suffer more severely by being shut out from the sacred presence.”