“That I should have betrayed my friend?”
“No, not that. I have never stood between you and the maiden in wish, and will not in fact. I grieve because I know that your love is hopeless in this life. At the best, you have only the chance to unite yourselves in death, and even that union is no more than a remote possibility.”
“Union!—death!” I repeated.
“When lovers know there is no hope of union in this life, they pledge themselves to love one another for seven existences, and—” Again he touched his dirk hilt.
“That?” I cried. “Ask her to sacrifice herself for me?”
“You Westerners talk of faith. We practise it. Azai will gladly end her life here for the bliss of being joined to you in the world beyond. She loves you.”
“Impossible! I am a tojin. The very sight of me frightened her.”
“At the first, yes. Now she loves you. My father saw your soul in her eyes.”
“Impossible!” I repeated.
“Impossible for you to be united in this life,” he repeated. “None the less, she is yours so far as love gives you the right,—and she is yours so far as the wish of your brother is to be considered.”