.
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
PRESENTED BY
PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID
11 He had come quite close to his garden gate before he
perceived the little figure waiting there."
(Page 25)
THE
LOVE OF AZALEA
BY
ONOTO WATANNA
AUTHOR OF "A JAPANESE NIGHTINGALE," "THE
HEART OF HYACINTH," ETC.
ILLUSTRATED BY GAZO FOUDJI
NEW YORK
DODD, MEAD & COMPANY
1904
Copyright, 1904, by
WINIFRED BABCOCK
Copyright, 19041 by
DODD, MEAD & CO.
Published October
961
ILLUSTRATIONS
" He had come quite close to his garden
gate before he perceived the little
figure waiting there." . Frontispiece
" ' This is the American way,' he said,
boyishly, and, stooping, kissed
her." ..... Facing page 88
" She threw the tablets in the direction
of the little river in the valley
below." .... Facing page 98
" ' My house awaits your coming, and
I have sworn to possess you.' "
Facing page 162
" The shadows of the night were her
only covering, and the soft, mossy
grass her mattress." Facing page 166
"As the sword flashed upward he
dashed to one side and then slipped
under its guard." . Facing page 228
M311658
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
CHAPTER I
IT was drowsy in the little mission church,
and the gentle mellifluous voice of the
young preacher increased rather than dis-
pelled the sleepy peacefulness. The church,
if such it could be styled, was well filled.
The people of Sanyo knew it for the cool-
est of retreats. They drifted aimlessly in
and out of the church, making no pretense
of either understanding or appreciating the
proceedings. It was a curious congrega-
tion, one which, innocentl" enough, never
5
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
thought of assisting the pastor. They
came to see the white priest, not to listen
to the pleading message he brought, which
as yet they could not understand. His
Japanese was too correct. Spoken slowly
and painfully in the unfamiliar accent of
the Caucasian, it was often quite unintelli-
gible. But, as was said, the church was
cool, the villagers curious, and the minister
an unending source of wonder to them. If
some of the congregation waited patiently
throughout the length of the sermon, it
was not because they deemed this the
proper thing to do, but because they knew
they would be treated to another form of
entertainment, which they childishly en-
6
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
joyed. For, after the sermon, the minister,
closing the large black book before him
and opening a small red one, would raise
his voice, throw back his head, open his
mouth, and sing aloud in a voice which had
never lost its fascination for his hearers.
He had done this from the first, leading an
unresponsive congregation in hymns of
praise; but singing to the end alone. No
aiding voice took up the refrain with him
nor was there even the music of an organ
to bear his clear voice company. Through
the opened windows the chirp of the birds
floated. Sometimes a baby, grown rest-
less, laughed and crowed aloud.
On this particular Sunday, however, the
7
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
minister, who appeared unusually happy,
had introduced an innovation. As its
nature had been whispered about the vil-
lage, the service in consequence was well
attended. Behind the minister's small san-
dal-wood pulpit a bench had been placed,
upon which the people saw seated five of
the most disreputable waifs of the town.
At first they were hardly recognizable.
From smudgy-faced, soiled and tattered bits
of flotsam, they were transformed in gar-
ments of white miniature surplices they
were.
The minister beamed upon them. The
boys looked stoically back at him. This
day those in the church forgot to look about
8
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
at the various objects of interest, forgot to
drowse, for all eyes were intent upon that
little row behind the priest. When the
sermon was ended and the minister turned
to the red hymn book, the boys arose to
their feet, and as his baritone voice was
raised, five piping and discordant minor
voices joined with him.
The result of the minister's effort for a
choir was immediate. It broke up the apa-
thy of the congregation.
Groups lingered about the mission house
after the service groups of curious child-
women for the most part. The question
discussed from every standpoint was the
seeming elevation of these most unsavory
r
TH LOVE OF AZALEA
and godless of town waifs. How could
these good people guess that the young
minister, restless at the seeming fruitless-
ness of his labors, had given of his own
meagre salary to induce the hungriest of
the town, for so many sen, to be respect-
able for one day in the week ? What would
not a Japanese vagabond do for a sen or a
sweet potato ? Submit to a bath, a robe too
clean to touch and the pleasure some-
times pain of mimicking the voice of the
white man.
The mellow tinkling of temple bells dis-
turbed the gossips. It was the hour of
noon, when the gods were good and for a
little prayer would give them sweet food
10
THE LOVE OF AZAI EA
and excellent appetites. So straight from
the temple of the white priest they dis-
persed, through the valley to the opposite
hill, where the Shinto Temple, golden-
tipped, beckoned them to the prayers they
mechanically understood; a moment only
in the temple, nodding heads and prostrat-
ing bodies, and after that, home and the
noon-day meal. Thus every day. Only
on the Sunday, since the coming of the
foreign priest, they had added to the routine
this weekly pilgrimage of curiosity to the
white man's temple. Strange indeed were
the ways of the foreign devils!
" Let us wait a little while," said a round-
11
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
faced, merry-eyed maid of fifteen, grasping
the sleeves of girl friends.
Azalea was departing slowly when re-
called by the raised voice of her friend. At
a short distance from the other girls she
paused and looked back inquiringly.
" Wait till they come out," continued the
speaker, Ume-san by name, "those beg-
gars, and we will have some fun."
" Oh, good !" agreed Koto, snapping her
fan upon her hand ; " we will find out what
the white beast says to them."
"Perhaps," suggested Fuji, stretching
herself she was fat and indolent and the
church seat was hard" he pays them."
12
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
Azalea looked interested.
" I wish," said she wistfully, " he would
pay me something."
"Perhaps he will," said Fuji, nodding
her head slowly; "my honorable father
says he is rich very rich."
"And my honorable father says so, too,"
said Ume.
"Oh, all foreign devils are," declared
Koto conclusively.
"Well, but Matsuda Isami says he is
not," said Azalea. "And Matsuda knows
surely."
" Matsuda is jealous," said Koto. " He
wants to be always the richest. The gods
despise avarice."
13
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
Azalea was fluttering her fan somewhat
nervously. She regarded it thoughtfully,
then closed it sharply.
"I am avaricious," she said, with the
point of her fan touching her pretty red
underlip.
Her friends laughed at her, and she
blushed.
" Yes," she said, " I am avaricious. The
gods will despise me truly. I adore money.
I would like to have one hundred yen all
to myself."
"What would you do with it?" ques-
tioned Ume, the oldest of the four.
" I would leave my step-mother's house,"
said Azalea simply.
14
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
"Here they come!" cried Koto. The
girls fell into an excited little line by the
church door, one behind the other. Out
came the choir- their surplices doffed, their
washed faces wide with smiles and their
little eyes shining. Five sen rattled in the
sleeve of each. The girls had drawn in
hiding behind the church portico in order
to surprise them. Now they sprang out
into view, and grasped the boys by the
sleeves. Thinking they were being set upon
for their hard-earned sen, a series of angry
shrieks and snorts burst out. Their fears
set at rest by the merry laughter of the
girls, they were finally induced to tell all
they knew. The minister, it seems, had
15
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
brought them to his house at various times,
had fed them on sweet potatoes and rice
cakes, and had taught them to sing just as
he did. For this public effort in his temple,
he had given them each well, they did not
propose to tell any one how much he had
given, but the intimation was that it was a
sum sufficient to keep them in luxury for
some time to come. Furthermore, they, the
members of his choir, were to have this
same sum given to them as a weekly in-
come, for singing, just like the white priest,
in his church, each Sunday.
Azalea sighed and, sitting on the church
steps, looked at the fortunate boys with
envious and wistful eyes.
16
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
"And does not the white beast want
females also to sing?" she asked.
" Females ! " repeated one of the boys.
"Did the gods ever favor females?"
" The foreign devil is not a god," said
Azalea thoughtfully. "Who knows, per-
haps he would pay me also to sing with
him."
" Time to go home," said Koto, and she
pulled Ume's sleeve. "Are you not hun-
gry? Come, Azalea!"
"She won't give me to eat, my most
honorable mother-in-law," said Azalea. " I
need not go there."
"You will soon be a beggar, too, Aza-
lea," laughed Koto, "and the white man
17
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
will give you charity. But come, girls."
Clinging to each other's hands and almost
tripping over each other's heels, the three
girls fluttered homeward down the hill,
leaving Azalea sitting alone, looking mood-
ily and reflectively at the choir boys, now
counting their money. She knew that they,
like her, were orphans. Unlike her, they
had not an uncharitable roof, called by her
ungracious step-parent a home for her.
Shelter beneath it was only grudgingly
accorded, because Azalea's step-mother was
vain and feared the criticism of neighbors
and the wrath of the gods should she turn
Azalea out. As it was, the young girl was
only half fed and her clothes were those
18
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
half-worn ones thrown to her by arrogant
and fortunate step-sisters, yet the girl's
nimble fingers made those same threadbare
garments objects of attractiveness, which
set of! her own appealing beauty. But she
was seventeen, unmarried and unhappy.
Something must be done soon, or she would
become the bride of the river. Her step-
mother's scoldings grew with the girl's in-
creasing beauty and grace. She did not
know this was the cause, only she knew
life was becoming unbearable.
The choir boys had already shuffled a
portion of the way down the hill slope,
when she sprang to her feet and ran after
them.
19
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
" Gonji ! " she called one of th&m by
name. "Wait just a moment."
They stopped and she overtook them.
She was breathless when she reached them.
" Is it because you are beggars," she
said, " that this priest favors you ? "
Gonji nodded.
" I," said Azalea, spreading out her little
hands, " am also a beggar."
They laughed at her. Only the home-
less were beggars in their eyes. In addi-
tion, members of her sex were received
among them only when they had reached
the old witch age. The country knew
many old women beggars, who drifted,
20
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
whining, upon their staffs from town to
town. Often they were blind and clung
to the rope about the neck of a tailless cat,
which led them. Who ever heard of a
maiden beggar? So Azalea's statement
was received in laughter.
"How much did the minister give?"
she demanded, ignoring their jeers.
Five ten maybe one hundred sen,"
glibly lied Gonji.
Her eyes widened and shone.
"Oh!" she said.
"That's only for the singing," said
Gonji; "if we become convert to his re-
ligion he will pay more."
He turned to his companions for verifl-
21
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
cation. They had moved on their way and
he made to join them.
" No, no, don't go! Wait a little while,
please ! "
"Well?"
What is ' convert ?'"
"Why," the Japanese boy of sixteen
racked his brain for an explanation of the
word, "why, that's toah that's just
abandoning the gods for a new one."
"Oh!" His sleeve dropped from her
grasp and she drew back, her face some-
what blanched.
"Abandon the gods!" she repeated.
" But if we do that, then the gods will be
angry with us."
22
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
" That is true," nodded Gonji reflectively.
" It's bad business," he added.
"Perhaps," she essayed almost timidly,
" that new God is also kind and good."
Gonji shook his head skeptically.
" The priest at the temple says that he
is really an evil spirit."
The girl shuddered. She turned away
from Gonji and he resumed his way down
the hill.
Azalea walked listlessly back to the mis-
sion house. When she had reached it, she
paused irresolute. A sudden idea had come
to her. Why should she not pretend to be
converted ? When the barbarian priest had
paid her she would go to the shrine of
23
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
Kwannon and confess her lie. She would
give half of the money to the gods, who
would forgive her; she was hungry and ill-
treated and she wished to leave the home of
her step-mother, who was cruel to her. If
money could be earned by a little lie, why
should she not earn it? She would! She
would !
The young minister closed and locked
the door of the church. Turning on the
threshold, he paused a moment before
descending the little flight of steps, and
looked about him at the smiling, sunny
landscape.
The bells of the neighboring temple were
melodious, and he found himself absently
24
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
listening to them. With his hands clasped
behind, and his head somewhat bent,
Richard Verley turned slowly toward his
home.
It was only the length of an iris field
from the church, a pleasant saunter. The
minister was wont to dream upon these
walks dream of the future harvest which
would repay his earnest labors.
He had come quite close to his garden
gate before he perceived the little figure
waiting there. It was her voiceher odd,
breathless voice, which called his attention
to her though he heard the one word
' convert ' spoken in English. The rest of
her speech was unintelligible.
25
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
She stood in the sunlight, her cheeks
vividly red, her eyes wide with excitement
and with fright. It was that fearful, piteous
something about her whole attitude which
from the first reached and appealed in-
stantly to the sympathies of the minister.
" You wish to speak to me? " he asked.
" Yaes," she said, nodding her head, and
then very swiftly, as though she had learned
the words by rote " I am convert unto
you, Excellency."
"Convert!" His eyes kindled and he
stared at her without speaking a moment.
Her head drooped, as if from its own small
weight.
26
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
" Yaes," she said in the lowest, the faint-
est of voices, " I am convert Chlistian ! "
He seized both her hands, and held them
warmly in his own.
" Come into my house, my child," he
said. " Let us talk it over."
Her hands fluttered in his, then she
suddenly withdrew them. They slipped
back into her sleeves. She stood uncer-
tainly before him, hesitating to pass through
the gate he had opened for her.
" Come ! " he urged gently.
CHAPTER II.
Even while the minister in the coolness
of his study softly and gently questioned
his faltering " convert," a wily and smooth-
speaking Nakoda was visiting her step-
mother. Madame Yamada, as the latter
was called, knew the marriage broker well,
and being the mother of two daughters by
a marriage previous to that with Azalea's
father, she welcomed him with more than
usual cordiality.
Would not the estimable Mr. Okido
remove his shoes and eat the noon meal
within her humble house ?
The estimable Mr. Okido would.
28
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
Madame Yamada sent a scullery maid fly-
ing to his feet, where, kneeling in the
humblest attitude, she removed his dusty
sandals. Then she brought fresh water
with which to bathe his feet.
Madame Yamada, who had not engaged
the services of Okido, was curious to know
the nature of his mission to her. She dis-
guised her curiosity, however, under the
blandest of manners. With swift acuteness
she introduced her daughters into the room
and had them serve the man, throughout
the meal glancing under her eyelashes to
watch the effect of her daughters' sundry
charms upon the Nakoda, who she knew
would not fail to dwell upon all such points
29
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
with his employer. But strangely enough,
Okido scarcely seemed to notice the pres-
ence of her daughters, and ate his meal in
somewhat stolid silence. After the repast
he permitted the pipe to be lighted for him
and proceeded to smoke at his leisure.
Madame Yamada could contain her curi-
osity no longer. At a sign from her, her
daughters withdrew. Then she addressed
the Nakoda.
"In what way," she asked, "is the
humblest one indebted to the esteemed
Okido for his honorable visit ? "
Okido put down the pipe on the hibachi
and, turning toward Madame Yamada,
looked at her keenly.
30
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
"You have daughters, Madame Yam-
ada."
" Two,'* she answered promptly.
" Three," said Okido slowly.
The esteemed one was mistaken. The
gods had only blessed her with two.
Nay, the gods had been kinder. Were
there not three, including her step-daughter ?
"Ah, yes." Madame Yamada smiled
coldly.
" Let me repeat," he said slowly. " You
have daughters."
"Yes;" she allowed the word to escape
her lips impatiently. Would the stupid
broker never come to his business?
"And I," said Okido, "have a client
31
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
who desires the hand of one of your
daughters."
A red spot appeared in either of Madame
Yamada's cheeks.
"What is the name of his honorable
parent? " she asked, no longer attempting
to conceal her interest.
Okido leaned toward her impressively.
" His name is Matsuda Isami."
Madame Yamada's hands trembled. She
scarcely could control her voice.
What the "
" Yes, the rich Matsuda Isami."
The woman thrilled with maternal pride.
Her bosom heaved. "And which of my
32
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
daughters," she asked, "has pleased the
taste of the exalted Matsuda? "
Okido rubbed his hands softly.
" That one," he said, " who is augustly
named Azalea."
Madame Yamada started to her feet with
a cry. Then recalling herself she sat down
again and for a space of a long moment
did not stir. She regarded the Nakoda
with baleful eyes. Suddenly she found
her voice.
" Excellent Okido," she said, "the hum-
ble one cannot marry the youngest of her
daughters first. Pray return to the exalted
Matsuda and say from me that I am willing
33
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
to consent to his marriage to my oldest
daughter."
" What! " cried the amazed Okido, " you
refuse?"
" Who spoke of refusing? " she asked in
an agitated voice.
" Your answer is a refusal, Madame."
The woman was silent, her mind busily
at work.
"Listen, Okido," she finally said, "a
promise was made by me to the august
father, now dead, of the girl Azalea. He
bade me promise him that Azalea should be
given to no one in marriage save with her
own consent. So! I withdraw the offer of
my oldest daughter as bride to Matsuma,
34
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
and instead say this: Bid the exalted one
win first the consent of Azalea. He is then
welcome to her."
" Good ! " said Okido, arising and shak-
ing the crumbs from his hakama. "We
will make direct suit to the maiden."
Madame Yamada had arisen also. " Yes,
that is it," she said, " and for that purpose
heed the advice of one experienced in such
matters. Let His Excellency visit much
the home of the humblest, and, in person,
press the suit."
Okido regarded her uneasily. "My
business " he began.
" Oh, excellent Okido," interrupted the
woman, " I promise you that you will earn
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
your fee. Further, should the suit of your
client fail should the girl be obstinate and
refuse his proposal, bear in mind, good
Okido, that a double fee will be in your
palm if my oldest daughter finds favor in
the eyes of Matsuda."
Okido nodded his head slowly. He was
thoughtful as the maid slipped on his san-
dals. As he left the house he stopped at
the threshold and looked back at Madame
Yamada. Her colorless face was drawn
into strange lines. Her long eyes were
half closed. Upon her face there was cal-
culation cold, cruel. She slowly repeated
her words. Again nodding understanding,
if not assent, the marriage broker went on
36
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
his way pensively toward the house of
Matsuda Isami.
37
CHAPTER III
As Azalea walked homeward from the
minister's house, she could still hear in
dreamy fancy the eloquent tones of his
voice. She found that though beyond his
presence she still thrilled at the very mem-
ory of his face. He had cast a spell upon
her, she told herself. He was a disciple of
the Evil One. She must go to the temple
of Kwannon for help. Possibly the priests
there would give her some talisman which
would preserve her from any spell the
barbarian might cast upon her. For though
her ruse had failed and her sleeves were
empty of yen, yet still she had promised
38
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
the minister to visit him again the following
day. Now she found herself wishing that
the morrow would come speedily.
Her step-mother met her at the door of
the house. Her lips were drawn in a
strange fashion apart and her long teeth
showed. This was her manner of smiling.
It was uglier and more sinister than a
frown. Azalea quickened her steps, the
color beating up into her face. When she
saw that set smile upon Madame Yamada's
face she stopped abruptly before the
woman. But her step-mother spoke in the
most amiable of tones:
"You must be hungry, my daughter,
since you have not had your noon meal."
39
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
The girl raised her eyes inquiringly
toward the woman. Then she answered
simply:
"Yes, mother-in-law, I am hungry."
"Come into the kitchen, then, Azalea.
The maid has kept your rice warm."
Azalea was too much accustomed to the
vicissitudes of fortune to wonder at the
sudden generosity of the step-mother. She
ate the rice and sipped the fragrant tea with
mechanical relish. The meal was unex-
pected, but non the less palatable to a
hungry young girl. She suspected that her
step-mother required something of her, but
her mind, occupied with its late thoughts of
the minister, had no room for speculation
40
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
over the motives of her step-mother. She
let Madame Yamada herself open the
subject.
"Daughter," said the woman, "would
you enjoy a trip to Tokyo ? "
Azalea looked up quickly; then she
answered shortly:
" No."
Madame Yamada's eyes narrowed. She
controlled her feelings, however.
" What, Azalea ! You do not wish to go
to Tokyo, where everything is so gay and
bright and beautiful ? "
Azalea rested her chin upon her hand and
looked out from the kitchen shoji across
the fields. She did not answer.
41
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
" You are becoming old," said the step-
mother. "You will have to earn your
living soon."
Azalea did not move, but her step-
mother knew she was listening to her
words.
" Here," she continued, " there is no way
in which you could earn money, for you
are of samurai descent and your august
ancestors would not rest easily should you
be reduced to manual labor."
"Mother-in-law," said the girl quietly,
" you would be ashamed before our neigh-
bors if I were to obtain work here. My
august ancestors would feel no shame."
"What could you do here?"
42
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
Azalea looked at her small white hands
thoughtfully.
" I could work in the mills," she said,
and added with a girlish sigh, " but it would
maim my hands."
"Yes, and also your back, your knees,
and afterwards your spirit. Let the stout
peasant women labor that way, Azalea.
Such employment is not for one of gentle
birth. You shall go to Tokyo."
"What shall I do there? " inquired the
girl.
"You have beauty and youth," said
Madame Yamada slowly.
The girl moved uneasily and then catch-
ing sight of the expression upon her
43
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
mother's face, she made as if to arise; but
the other held her by the sleeve.
"Why do you start so?" she inquired
gruffly. "Do you suppose I referred to
the yoshiwara ? "
"Yes," said Azalea, white to the lips.
Her voice became passionate. " I will not
go, then," she said. "You shall not sell
me. I am the daughter of a samurai."
" Foolish child ! Who spoke of selling
you to the yoshiwara ? "
"Ah, your eyes spoke, mother-in-law.
Besides, what other employment could my
youth and beauty find in Tokyo ? "
"Are there not geishas and tea house
44
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
girls, and is not their employment esteemed
admirable?"
"Yes, but I have not their accomplish-
ments, and I am too old to learn how to
dance. To be a geisha, I have heard, one
must apprentice at the age of twelve. I
am eighteen years. Yes, I am getting old,"
she finished.
Madame Yamada, who sat behind her,
looked at her with eyes that held no mercy.
In some manner the girl must be sent away.
Matsuda should then be told that she pre-
ferred the life of gayety in Tokyo to mar-
riage with him. After that, Yuri-san, the
oldest daughter, would console and win
him. Azalea had always appeared passive
45
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
and obedient by nature. This sudden im-
pulse of stubbornness was as unexpected
as it was disturbing to her step-mother.
What if this slim young girl, with her child-
ish face of innocence, should develop the
strong will of her samurai parent ? Madame
Yamada smiled unpleasantly at the pros-
pect, and her smile boded no good for the
young girl.
Meanwhile Azalea continued to look out
dreamily through the opened shoji towarcj
the hill, upon whose slope stood the little
peaked mission house. The words of the
minister kept repeating themselves in her
head.
"There is only one true God. He it
46
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
was who created the world and you. He
loves you, and will watch over and care
for you always."
Ah, if it were only true, thought Azalea.
If this new God would only be kinder than
those she had known, then she might even
close the eyes of her heart to the words of
the priests of Kwannon, and forget they
had told her the God of the barbarians was
an evil spirit. She would prove Him. If
He proved unkind to her she would believe
it, but if it were otherwise, why how could
the evil one be kind ? It was not possible.
"Answer when you are spoken to,"
broke in her step-mother's sharp voice.
Azalea started.
47
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
"I did not hear you speak, honorable
step-mother."
"Your ears are accommodatingly dull.
You did not care to hear."
Azalea sighed, then pressed her lips to-
gether, as if to prevent the retort that might
have escaped them.
Madame Yamada bent toward her.
"Do you wish to marry?"
Azalea reflected.
" No-o," she said softly, and then, "per-
haps, yes. It would be a solution of my
troubles, step-mother, would it not? "
" Would you marry any one who asked.
you, then? You appear to lack the com-
mon qualities of maiden modesty."
48
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
" I did not say I would marry any one,"
said the girl, flushing, " but almost anyone
would be kinder than you."
They were daring words, and she antici-
pated their effect upon her step-mother, for,
after having spoken them she made a
frightened motion from the older woman,
who had seized her arm and was cruelly
pinching it. Tears of pain came into the
girl's eyes, but she made no outcry. Sud-
denly Madame Yamada flung the girl's arm
from her.
"Did my touch hurt, then?" she in-
quired.
" Yes," said Azalea briefly, her arm still
sore, though released.
49
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
" Yet," said her step-mother, " the pain
inflicted by a woman, who is weak, is
nothing to that inflicted by a man. What
will you do when your husband beats you ?"
" I do not know," said Azalea mechanic-
ally, and then added slowly, " but I should
not weep, mother-in-law. I would not give
him that pleasure. But " she paused;
"all husbands do not beat their wives.
Perhaps the gods will favor me with a kind
one. I should not marry him otherwise."
"How will you test his kindness? " asked
her mother scornfully.
" I will know," she answered. " I will
see him and love him before I marry him."
She arose and fluttered her sleeves back
50
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
and forth. Her arm was in pain. She
moved it thus mechanically as a nervous
method of relief, but Madame Yamada had
seen the figure coming along the white road
toward their house, and she leaped to her
feet like a savage.
" What ! " she cried. " You stand shame-
lessly in the open doorway shaking your
arms in unmaidenly fashion because a man
approaches."
"I did not even see him," said Azalea,
shrinking before the anger of her step-
mother's expression, "and, mother-in-law,
see for yourself. The man is Matsuda
Isami. Is it likely I would fling my sleeves
at him?"
51
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
"At him most of all," said her step-
mother hoarsely. " Do not deny it, shame-
less girl!"
Before Azalea could recover from the
surprise occasioned by these words, Madame
Yamada, with one black look cast back at
her, had left the kitchen, and was hastening
to the front part of the house, there to
prostrate herself with slavish sweetness and
politeness before the exalted Matsuda
Isami.
CHAPTER IV
Matsuda Isami was a small, sharp-eyed
man of possibly forty. He was rich and
powerful, the landlord of many of the
families in Sanyo. The people feared him,
while they respected his employment of
hundreds of coolies, and it was said his
parsimony had made him rich and kept the
whole community poor. In some way,
direct or indirect, nearly everyone in the
community was in his service or debt. He
was the magnate of the town, and accord-
ingly hated, feared, dreaded. He had come
on foot to the humble home of Madame
Yamada, he, the taciturn, cold-hearted head
53
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
man of the town, and all because Azalea,
walking in the sun, in a kimona, patched,
faded, but pretty, had turned her head
toward him quite recently and smiled with
childish impudence. Few people smiled
upon Matsuda. This shabby daughter of
a samurai who in the early days had made
no secret of his lordly contempt for the
rich tradesman had captivated Matsuda by
one fleeting, innocent smile. Matsuda de-
sired her now above all things, and swore
by all the gods that he would have her.
Wealth and power, after all, were not
sufficient to gratify the insatiable greed of
his nature. He was desirous of something
more priceless, and for which he would
54
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
have given up all Ms possessions this
beautiful young girl, Azalea.
With impatience he listened to Madame
Yamada's servile words of compliment and
welcome. Hardly had he seated himself
and with a gesture refused the proffered
pipe, when he spoke of the object of his
visit.
In accordance with her suggestion con-
veyed to him through the Nakoda, he had
come in person to make his suit to her
daughter. He desired to see her at once.
The prevaricating words of temporizing
that came to Madame Yamada's lips were
not even listened to by him.
Her daughter not at home? Very well,
55
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
he would go, then, at once. Thereupon
he arose. Madame Yamada bit her lip
until the blood came. Then she clapped
her hands and bade the maid who answered
tell the eldest daughter of the house to
hasten at once to assist the most exalted
Matsuda with his clogs. The latter, how-
ever, kicked his feet into his own sandals.
When the maiden appeared, he went shuf-
fling in them toward the door, returning
only a curt nod to her deep and graceful
obeisance. Madame Yamada, clasping her
hands in despair, followed him to the door.
Would not His Excellency wait a little
while?
No, His Excellency would not that is to
56
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
say yes, His Excellency would; for just
at that moment His Excellency, casting a
keen glance about him, saw a little figure
sitting on the door-step in the garden to
the rear of the house.
"Your daughter, I perceive," he said,
indicating Azalea, "has returned."
The angry blood buzzed in Madame
.Yamada's ears, but she answered calmly
enough :
" Why, yes, it is true, Excellency." Then
raising her voice, she called to the girl:
"Azalea!"
Matsuda, returning to the interior of the
house, seated himself in the guest room,
lighted his pipe and drew a long whiff.
57
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
Then he looked at Azalea sitting before him
pensively. His little keen eyes going from
her to her step-mother and catching the
glance of baffled fury bestowed by Madame
Yamada upon her daughter Yuri, he allowed
a sound which was oddly like a chuckle to
escape him. Then he put the pipe down
and again regarded the maiden Azalea. He
said:
" It is the wish of your step-mother that
I address you personally."
She looked at him with eyes of inquiry.
What had Matsuda Isami to say to her?
She did not dream that a man as old as
her father, and one who was so exalted in
public opinion, would deign to propose
58
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
marriage with her, so insignificant and
humble.
" I wish to marry you," said Matsuda
bluntly.
Her lips parted and her eyes enlarged.
" Me? " she said faintly, and repeated the
little word. "Me?"
"Yes," he smiled. "Marry you, Aza-
lea."
The color came in a frightened ebb to
her face. She looked at her mother and
sister fearfully. Their faces were abso-
lutely cold and impassive. In a flash she
understood her step-mother's attitude of a
moment since. It was all clearer than
daylight. Azalea arose and bowed extrava-
59
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
gantly down to the very mats. Then, with
her head almost at Matsuda's feet, she said :
"The humblest one is altogether too
insignificant and small to become the wife
of so exalted a personage."
The words pleased Matsuda. Plainly
this girl would make a most excellent and
humble wife. He bent graciously and
touched her head, patting it. She slippe4
under his hand to her knees, and then to a
sitting position. But her head was still
bent far over, and if the suitor could have
seen that dimpling face, its expression
would have perplexed him.
He seated himself opposite to her.
" The marriage," he said, "can be speed-
60
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
ily arranged. I do not like delays in any
of my affairs."
Madame Yamada interposed, desperately :
" Time will be needed to make her mar-
riage garments, to call together her august
relatives, for maidenly meditation, and for
preparation for the marriage feast."
" We can dispense with all these things,"
said Matsuda suavely.
"Too early a marriage would be un-
seemly," said Madame Yamada.
' "Madame Yamada exaggerates public
opinion," was Matsuda's response.
The woman's voice was barely controlled
in its harshness.
"You, Azalea, what have you to say?"
61
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
Azalea opened her fan and looked at it
thoughtfully, almost as though in the
painted pictures upon it she found an
answer. Suddenly she raised her head.
" I do not wish to marry," she said, and
added as an afterword : " yet."
At that moment her step-mother could
have embraced her.
Matsuda cleared his throat.
" When, then, will it suit you? " he asked
respectfully.
The girl's eyes were still upon her fan,
and without raising them she replied with
a slight shrug of her small, bewitching
shoulders :
"I do not know when. Maybe in one
62
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
year; maybe in ten. I do not wish to
marry yet."
Matsuda arose.
"For one year," he said, "or for ten
years, or as long as your caprice may make
it, I will wait for you."
Azalea's fan fluttered closed. She bowed
her head upon it.
" Excellency is very faithful."
" Once," said Matsuda, looking at her
with half closed eyes, " your august samu-
rai father deigned to call me ' Dog.' You
will learn, maiden, that I shall prove my
title to 'Dog' by my watchfulness and
faithfulness. I have sworn to possess you,
and possess you I will."
63
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
The moment he was gone Azalea turned
toward her step-mother, upon whose coun-
tenance a look of sweetest benevolence
toward her step-daughter was slowly ap-
pearing.
" Mother-in-law," said the girl, " you
need not fear that I will marry him. No,
my father spoke true words. He is a dog.
He has only the instincts of a tradesman,
and as such he comes here to buy the
daughter of a samurai."
" Your words are wise, Azalea," said the
step-mother, "and you win my maternal
affection. Matsuda is not the fit husband
for a warrior's daughter. Yet, Azalea, bear
in mind that Yuri, your sister, had for
64
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
father one less elevated than a samurai
one, indeed, who was a mere tradesman.
She is well fitted to be the wife of Matsuda
Isami. Therefore, you can help or hinder
this our ambition."
" I will neither help nor hinder," said
Azalea, crossing the room, and looking
through the shoji. " Mother-in-law, I have
no interest in the matter," she added.
Madame Yamada was behind her and had
touched her arm, the arm she had lately
i
pinched so viciously.
" Promise to be steadfast in your refusal
of Matsuda. Promise that, Azalea, and you
will find that harshness is an unknown
quality in this household."
65
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
" Oh, I will promise that, easily," said
Azalea. " I will not even look at or speak
to the man. Other things now occupy my
insignificant head."
CHAPTER V
It was in the springtime, when the little
leaves upon the trees were of the most
entrancing shade of green and the wild plum
and cherry blossoms blew in clouds of pink
and white, making an impressionistic pic-
ture against the deep blue sky so lovely and
entrancing that even such a serious-minded,
earnest worker as the Rev. Richard Verley
became unconscious of the sermon he had
been writing and smiled out at the land-
scape.
Nature oftentimes, from her very beauty,
distracts one from the work of composition,
though one would call her lovingly an
67
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
inspiration. How could the young mis-
sionary continue the writing of his sermon,
when the alluring breezes of the spring
softly slipped into his room and insistently
drew the pencil from his hand. And so he
sat there smiling at his desk and dreaming.
He was not conscious of his dreams. He
only knew the world seemed very good and
fair. His pen trailed over the paper for a
space, then paused, to continue again. Idly^
and unconsciously, he had covered a sheet
of foolscap.
The slight noise of the opening of his,
sliding doors caused him to come to life
with a guilty start. His usually pale face
was flooded with color, as for the first time
68
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
he saw what he had written on the page.
He turned it over quickly, though he did not
lay this last sheet among the previous pages
of his sermon.
A face of prodigious fatness was thrust
between the shoji.
" What is it, Natsu? " asked the minister
in Japanese.
"The girl Azalea," she answered. "I
have told her Your Excellency is most busy,
but she still stays."
" That is right," he said quietly. " I am
expecting her."
The servant pursed her lips and her
round cheeks expanded till her little eyes
69
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
were almost hidden. She muttered dis-
contentedly: "Again, Excellency?"
" Yes," he said, " again. What are you
waiting for? "
She shuffled unwillingly from the room,
drawing the doors behind her. Suddenly
she opened them again.
" Excellency," she said, " she is not truly
convert no! That is a lie! "
He smiled. The maid's jealousy of all
his parishioners gave him amusement. She
was envious even of their possible con-
version.
" That will do, Natsu," he said. ' " Don't
keep our visitor waiting."
70
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
The woman muttered ill-temperedly as
she passed along the hall.
The minister waited in pleasing antici-
pation. He had not expected her at this
hour. She came usually in the afternoon.
He remembered with what fearful shyness
she had first entered his house, and the
tremulous, almost breathless, fashion in
which she had replied to his questions. He
was of a hopeful, sanguine disposition.
Though he knew that his small congrega-
tion consisted of those induced by sen to
come to church, those who came from
curiosity and others still young boys and
girls from mischief solely, still he believed
that his labor would bear eventual fruit, and
71
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
lo, at last a convert ! She was very young,
somewhat fragile and in her own strange
fashion lovely. From the first he had
likened her to a timid wild bird. Even after
she had entered his house, she had turned
backward as though to retreat; then as his
deep serious eyes met hers she spoke as if
urged by some impulse, and repeated her
faltering words in English.
" Minister, I am convert unto you ! "
At first her visits had been irregular and
spasmodic. She would come as far as the
hill, then turn back. Again, her courage
emboldened, she would reach his garden
gate, there to linger but a moment, the
antagonistic face of the minister's servant
72
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
affrighting her. But in the absence of the
maid, Azalea would daringly pass beyond
the gate. A few moments later the minis-
ter would meet her in the path and lead her
into his house.
The minister hearing the light glide of
her little feet now outside the doors, has-
tened to slide back the shoji.
She stood upon the threshold, her eyes
widened, her cheeks glowing with the trem-
ulous excitement that always assailed her
upon the occasion of these visits. He held
out his large hand in silence, and she, the
color fluttering wildly now over her face,
slowly and timidly lifted her little one from
the folds of her sleeve and put it into his.
73
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
He drew her towards his desk. Still hold-
ing her hand, he seated himself and looked
up at her, without speaking, but smiling
very tenderly. Her eyes turned from his
and her lips trembled. She tried to with-
draw her hand, but he held it firmly and
then suddenly enclosed it completely with
his other hand. Fright assailed the girl.
She slipped to the floor, her head dropping
on a level with his knees. Then Richard
Verley bent and spoke to her in his strangely
tender voice, which somehow always
seemed to penetrate and still her beating
little heart.
" Azalea! " He spoke her name so softly.
"Lift your face, my little girl," he said.
74
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
" I want to see it, while I tell you some-
thing."
She obeyed him like a child, but the eyes
that met his were mutely appealing.
" What do you think I am going to say
to you to-day ? " he asked, smiling a trifle.
"About those honorable command-
ments?"
He shook his head.
" No you already have learned them
well, have you not ? "
"Yes. You like hear me say them,
mebbe?"
"Not to-day. I wish to speak to you
about another matter."
She looked at him apprehensively.
75
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
" Oh," she said, " mebbe your august
God tell you I also visit at the temple that
other day?"
He looked a trifle startled.
"What temple what do you mean?"
"You God sees all things?"
" All things," he said solemnly.
Her eyes expressed momentary fright.
She drew her hands forcibly from his and
sat backward a little way from him, her
head bent.
"Then," she said, "you already know
about about my my lie ? "
"Lie?"
He leaned forward in his chair.
"Yaes yaes your God told you."
76
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
" Tell me what you mean."
The face she raised was pitiful.
" Excellency, that was velly wicked lie I
tell you wen I say I am convert unto you."
He stared at her blankly. She could not
bear the expression on his face and pushed
herself nearer to him on her knees. Her
hands fluttered above and then timidly
touched his.
" Excellency, I sawry sawry " There
was a sob in her voice now, and her eyes
were misty. "Pray you be like unto the
gods and forgive that lie."
He stood up mechanically, then sat down
again, turning in his seat toward the desk
and resting his clasped hands there. She,
77
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
from her kneeling posture, reached up to
touch his arm.
" Pray " she began and broke off, as
though she could not finish. He turned
his head and looked at her curiously. Still
he did not speak.
" Listen," she continued in her low,
almost sighing, voice, which he no longer
wished to hear. " I tell you only one lie
one liddle bit lie. Thas not velly much.
Also I beseech the gods to pardon that lie
and I beseech also your mos' kind God
pardon me." She broke off distressfully
" Excellency, will you not hear me ? "
" I am listening," he said heavily.
" Your voice so hard," she said.
78
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
His eyes were still stern. He spoke
mechanically.
" I was going to say something some-
thing personal to you to-day. You have
shocked me. That is all. But I want to
hear what you have to say. There may
be extenuating well, tell me how it came
about that you pretended conversion."
" I wanted moaney," she said.
She saw his hands clinch and shrank
before the look upon his face. She shook
her head uncertainly.
" For money ! " he repeated.
"Yaes, I needed some velly much.
Gonji say you pay big moaney to convert,
and so and so I became convert."
79
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
The minister closed his eyes, then cov-
ered them spasmodically with his hand.
Sitting back in his seat he remained with
his face thus half shielded while she
spoke on.
" But," she said, " you din not give me
moaney; no, not even one half sen." She
laughed a little, almost joyously.
"Ah, I am so glad you din nod give,"
she said. "I doan want that moaney.
After that first day my honorable step-
mother doan be unkind no more. Also
she give me plenty to eat, an' new dress,
also Matsuda Isami ask me marry wis him
evelly day in those weeks."
The minister uncovered his eyes and
80
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
looked at her. The expression of his face
must have been less forbidding, for she
moved confidently nearer to him.
" What do you think now? " she asked.
His voice was husky.
" You spoke of marrying some one."
She shook her head.
" No. Some one want marry wiz me.
I doan desire. But sinz he want, my
honorable mother-in-law is mos' kind unto
me, and I doan starve no more. There-
fore I doan wan no moaney be convert
now."
" Ah, why do you keep up the pretense,
then?"
" Pretense? " She could not understand
81
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
the word, as her English vocabulary was
limited to words acquired from the minis-
ter's predecessor, a woman missionary.
"Why do you still pretend to be a
Christian ? Why do you continue to come
here if it is no longer necessary for you
to obtain money? "
"Because," said Azalea, smiling up at
him, " I want do so. Also, I kinnod stay
away. My august feet bringing me back
all those times."
He sighed. Her face with its quickly
changing expressions became wistful.
" Excellency, I am glad thad honorable
God telling you thad about those moaneys.
Perhaps he also tell you that I want be
82
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
convert an' doan' want no moaney."
He wavered toward her a moment, and
then turned his eyes from her. He had
been beguiled too long.
"Mebbe your God doan 1 desire me?
mebbe," she said.
He did not answer. To recall him to
her she touched his knee. His voice was
hoarse.
" Salvation is free to all," he said dully.
She laughed almost joyfully.
"I make nudder confession," she said
eagerly. "Sometimes I 'fraid of your
God. The priest tell me he is evil spirit
and I getting skeered. Well, wen I come
unto your house I know that your God
83
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
gitting hold of my heart, for it beating so
hard, I doan know wha's matter wis me. I
doan know whether I lidder bit skeered of
your honorable God, or or of you
augustness. So that other day wen you
take my hand this away." She tried to
illustrate, but found him unresponsive,
her voice toiled forlornly. " I so 'fraid of
tha's influence of your God. I run so
,$uick from your house I kinnod see, and
ihen I came to thad temple and prostrate
myself before Kwannon and beseech her
save me from all those powers of evil spirit.
Then I go home, and I know I jusd silly,
foolish girl. Thad God you tell me 'bout
Is not evil spirit. No no! You say nod,
84
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
an' I jus* foolish, skeered, because, mebbe
jus* because I am thad happy."
" Happy ! Why were you happy ? "
He could not resist the expression of her
eyes and almost unconsciously allowed her
hands to slip back into his.
"Because you so kind unto me," she
said ; " you touching my hand this way
so warm so nize ! Tha's why I coon nod
speag. Tha's stop my heart."
" I love you ! " he said, the words escap-
ing his lips almost without his volition.
" I cannot help it. That was what I wanted
to say to you to-day."
She clung to his hands. Her lips parted
The color was wild in her face.
85
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
"Oh," she said, "you love me! Tha's
a most beautifulest thought, Excellency.
Mebbe also your God love me jus' me
also?"
He drew her into his arms and held her
there a moment. He forgot everything else
as he kissed her willing, questioning face
and little hands. Then after an interval :
"What does it matter what does any-
thing matter now ? " he said. " I love you.
I know that you love me. Your eyes do
not lie."
When he released her, her hands fell
limply on his knees.
" No one," she said breathlessly, her eyes
shining, " aever clasping me like thad."
86
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
He laughed as joyously as she could.
With his arm about her, as she knelt before
him, he showed her the sheet of paper
covered with his writing of her name.
"That," he said, almost boyishly, "is
how the Rev. Richard Verley wrote his ser-
mon to-day ' Azalea, Azalea, Azalea,
Azalea nothing but Azalea.' "
"Tha's me! I am Azalea!" she said.
" Oh, tha's so nize be your convert."
He laughed, then sighed.
"You will be that in time, I promise,"
he said, " and meanwhile, well, meanwhile,
we will be married."
She looked up at him with frightened
eyes.
87
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
"Married! You also marry me?" she
asked.
" Why, yes, of course. We will make
a little trip to a town where there's another
minister, or possibly I can have the cere-
mony here."
" Oh ! Pray you doan make other con-
verts. Please doan."
"Why?"
" Because perhaps you also marry them
yaes?"
He laughed again and kissed the tip of
her little pointed chin. There was a be-
witching dimple in it, and he had always
desired to kiss it.
"When you are my wife, you will, in
88
" ' This is the American way,' he said, boyishly, and
stooping, kissed her."
(Page 90)
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
time, become my helper. You, too, will
make converts."
"You gotter git consent my honorable
mother-in-law," she interrupted.
His face fell.
"Also," she said, "I gotter git those
marriage garments, and you must buy me
lots presents."
"No, I'll marry you in the gown you
have on."
"This!" She touched it in dismay.
" Why thad would be disgrace upon me."
" Very well, you shall be disgraced then.
Now come we'll go to your step-mother
right away. There's no time to be lost."
She hesitated as they reached the door.
89
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
" Wait," she said. He paused with the
sliding door half open.
"You bedder not come also. Let me
speag to her alone. Tha's bedder. If she
doan consent, then I skeer her and say I
marry wiz Matsuda. She doan wish that.
She desire him for Yuri."
" Oh, I see."
"Ah-bah!" (Good-bye!) she said, pass-
ing through the opening. He drew hef
back.
* " Is that the way to say ' good-bye ' ? "
he asked reproachfully.
She was puzzled.
"This is the American way," he said
boyishly, and stooping, kissed her.
90
CHAPTER VI
She ran all the way home. She wanted
her stepmother's consent as quickly as
possible, so that she might hasten back to
the minister.
Her breathless words astounded Madame
Yamada.
" That barbarous, beautiful priest wishes
to marry me," she announced in one
breath.
Madame Yamada's lips fell apart.
"What do you mean?" she inquired
roughly.
"That's right right!" cried the girl,
91
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
clasping her hands excitedly. " Oh, i am
the happiest girl in all Japan ! "
Her step-mother extended a long finger
and struck it at the girl's breast.
"What! The foreign devil wants to
marry you ? "
Madame Yamada was excited, agitated,
above all delighted. The gods were favor-
ing her. Here was a solution to all their
difficulties.
" Breathe not a word to anyone of this,
my daughter," she said, " but hasten back
with the speed of wings to the house of the
barbarian. Bring him here, and we will
go at once to the next town and have a
92
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
private ceremony there. The Nakoda
Okido must not suspect."
Azalea swung her sleeves coquettishly.
" Oh," she said airily, " we will not make
Japanese marriage, step-mother." She
clasped her hands behind her and raised
her head with childish dignity and pride.
" I am to be an American lady. There-
fore we will marry in American fashion."
" How is that ? " asked Madame Yamada,
mystified.
" Oh, you don't understand," said Azalea
pityingly, "but I do. He told me once
how they marry. Just pray, bend head
like this, and knees like this, hold hands
tight so, mother-in-law; and then the
93
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
priest prays on top of the heads and the
bride is given a ring big and shining
very fine. That's the way they marry."
"They do not exchange the marriage
cup ? " questioned her mother, horrified.
" No there are no marriage cups. Also
to marry that foreign way, I have got to
be Kirishitan.
" Ah-h ! I see. You will turn convert ? "
" I am already. I wish already to be
so," said the girl simply.
An idea flashed swiftly across the mind
of Madame Yamada a brilliant idea.
"Good!" she said. "It is well for a
maiden to be of the same religion as the
man she marries. But do not let it be
94
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
known till the ceremony is over. Then
throw away your ancestral tablets. You
will have no further use for them."
Azalea paled a trifle. She was not ignor-
ant of the effect of such an action. One
who renounces the tablets of his ancestor
she knew is in popular opinion forever
lowered. One might attend the church
meetings of the Kirishitans, one might even
affiliate with the foreigners; but it is only
when one has openly declared oneself for
the new religion and, in defiance of the old,
destroyed the sacred symbols, the ancestral
tablets, that one becomes an outcast. Yet
it was necessary, surely. It was not pos-
sible without hypocrisy to acknowledge the
95
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
new God, and still in secret cherish the
tablets of the old.
Well, what were the tablets to her now?
Her husband's love, the new God's
strength, would stand between her and
shield her from her enemies. Azalea
smiled bravely at her step-mother.
*<Yes," she said, "if my honorable hus-
band requires it, I will throw away the
tablets."
They were married in the little mission
church on the hill. An old and venerable
missionary officiated.
The church was quite crowded, for
Madame Yamada had spread the news about
the town, in anticipation of its effect upon
96
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
the community. She herself wept unceas-
ingly throughout the ceremony, never once
uncovering her shamed face buried in the
sleeve of her kimona. Truly, thought her
neighbors, the good Madame Yamada was
distressed by this action of her step-
daughter.
When, after it was all over, Azalea's
friends turned their heads from her or
looked askance at her, the girl simply lifted
her eyes to her husband. The look of wist-
ful apprehension that a moment before had
clouded them vanished. Her face became
radiant. She clung to his sleeve like a child,
proudly, gaily. But when, after proceed-
ing a few steps in the direction of her new
97
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
home, she realized that they were being
followed, a feeling of recklessness and
defiance assailed her. She stopped sud-
denly and dipped her hand down into the
long sleeve of her marriage gown. She
hardly looked at what she had drawn out,
but raising her hand suddenly she threw
the tablets in the direction of the little
river in the valley below. The noise of
their fall upon the rocks frightened her.
She covered her ears with her hands and
stood trembling in the sunny light. Then
she became conscious of the fact that those
who had followed her had suddenly, and it
seemed, silently, disappeared. She stood
alone with the man, her husband. For a
98
"She threw the tablets in the direction of the little
river in the valley below."
(Page 98)
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
moment he seemed a stranger. That
momentary blind impulse, she knew, cut
her off forever from her kind. Publicly
she had insulted her ancestors. She had
chosen between them and this tall white
stranger whom she scarcely dared to look
at now. The silent departure of those who
had followed her told more eloquently than
any outcry could have done the resentment
of her people.
Azalea looked about her dazedly. Sup-
pose, after all, her friends spoke truly?
Suppose this new God was in reality an
evil spirit? Had she not felt its subtle
influence upon her? When in memory
could she recall the time that her whole
99
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
being had thrilled and glowed with emo-
tions and feelings so strange and new to
her? Was it not the influence of this spirit
which had forced her to throw away the
tablets had forced her to marry one of
its priests?
Her husband stood looking at her ten-
derly, yearningly. He was thinking of her
future, and of the trusting soul that had
come to his keeping.
" Well, they are all gone now," he said,
" and what was that you threw away ? "
She shook her head piteously. He
waited for her answer, and marvelled that
she, who had gone through the marriage
ceremony in such a brave and happy spirit,
100
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
w'as now so white and trembling. Surely,
she had not begun to fear him ? Poor little
frightened bride!
" I din nod mean to throw it away," she
said brokenly. " I coon nod help me."
" Oh, you are trembling about what you
threw away? Well, let me go after it.
Such a little mite of a hand cannot fling
very far."
"No, no," she said, catching at his
sleeve, " do not touch it. The gods may
punish you also."
He enclosed her hands in his, and looked
at her very seriously.
" You must not talk of ' the gods/ my
101
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
wife. It sounds pagan, and I am going to
cure you of the habit."
"Yes, yes," she said, and now she was
almost sobbing; "pray you do so, ple-ase.
I am most ignorant girl in all the whole
woiT. I like know about those gods.
Pray tell me truth, will you not ? "
He could not understand the meaning of
her beseeching voice. How could he sup-
pose that she still dreaded the thought that
he was a priest of a possible evil spirit?
She wanted to be reassured. He only saw
that she was very white and trembling, now
that the ceremony was over, a-nd he dimly
realized that in marrying him she had
sacrificed much.
102
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
" When you look and speak like that,"
he said, " I feel as if I had done some brutal
act. Come, be my happy, joyful sweet-
heart again. Why, marriage is not a
tragedy; not when there is love. Now,,
let us look about us just a moment, and
then we will go home to our own home
together. Just see how sunny and beauti-
ful everything is hare. Was ever a sky
more lovely? And the fields! What color
can we call them ? "
His arm was about her and she had
recovered somewhat of her confidence.
"It is a purple world," she said, "all
purple and green to-day, Excellency."
"Why, yes, it does seem so," he said.
103
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
" The skies are more purple than blue, and
their very reflection seems to rest upon
the fields to-day. Just look down there
in the valley."
" It is the purple iris and wistaria," she
said. " I so love them, Do they grow
like that in America ? "
" No, unfortunately."
"And are not the skies purple there?"
she asked.
" No-o. That is, not often."
"Oh," she said, with a sudden, unex-
pected vehemence, " I never want to go to
that America. I love these fields so purple
and so green and those skies! Excellency,
you will not take me away, will you? "
104
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
He was touched to the heart of him.
" No, no," he said. " I will not. I will
not."
105
CHAPTER VII
Azalea had been married during a brief
absence of Matsuda Isami in Tokyo. He
had gone there especially at Madame
Yamada's suggestion, to purchase city gifts
with which to help him in his suit. The
townspeople had never been on sufficiently
familiar terms with Matsuda to talk with
him even upon his return from an absence.
Hence he learned nothing of the marriage
until Madame Yamada herself broke the
news to him. She appeared to be suffering
from intense mortification and anguish of
mind because of what she termed the un-
natural defiance of her step-daughter, who
106
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
had married a barbarian beast against all
the wishes of her people. As if this shame
were not sufficient, she had turned
Kirishitan and destroyed the tablets of her
ancestors. Madame Yamada daclared ve-
hemently that though she, from motives of
pity, must sometimes see the abandoned
girl, yet she never would allow her pure
and virtuous daughters to be contaminated
with her society.
The woman had not foreseen the real
effects of such news upon Matsuda. For
a moment he stood as if turned to stone.
Then his long white teeth gleamed out
between his thick, coarse lips like the tusks
of a savage animal. In his eyes there was
107
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
unchained rage. Suddenly he laughed
hideously. That laughter alone would
have unstrung the nerves of one less cow-
ardly than Madame Yamada. She pros-
trated herself to the very ground and
touched his feet with her head.
" Most Exalted," she said, " the humble
one craves your august pardon and abjectly
beseeches you to perceive her distress.
That this wretched girl has abandoned you
for a vile and horrible barbarian is not the
fault of the humblest one, who sought with
all her power to bring about her union
with you."
There was an odd quality in the respond-
ing voice of Matsuda.
108
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
" Who spoke of fault ? " said he. " Has
my mouth uttered blame upon you,
Madame Yamada ? "
Her courage returned and she arose.
" I should have known," she said, " that
Your Excellency is too noble to have
blamed the unfortunate. And now that
you have deigned to pardon me, will you
not permit my daughters to wait upon
you?"
The gray face of Matsuda had resumed
its impassive expression, but his eyes were
almost closed. He refused Madame Yam-
ada's invitation with a gesture and without
words. When she did not attempt to press
him, he moved toward the door.
109
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
" What was the effect of this marriage
upon the community?" he asked, turning
to the woman.
"They were righteously insulted, and
pity me."
"Was there any demonstration when
she threw away the tablets? "
" Yes. Her friends and neighbors turned
from her as if she were evil, as she has
truly become."
"She is, then, forsaken?"
" Punished, Excellency. She believes
herself happy at present, but who envies
the lot of an outcast? She is entirely
friendless."
110
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
Matsuda's eyes turned inward, as for a
space he meditated.
" Not friendless entirely," he said, finally,
tapping his own chest significantly. " She
still has Matsuda Isami for friend."
"You!" repeated Madame Yamada
faintly.
ti T
"But," she gasped, "she has deceived
you more than anyone else. Exalted
Matsuda, she has forced you to break the
oath you made to possess her. She is
married forever to the foreign devil."
" It is news," said Matsuda coldly, " that
the foreign devils marry Japanese girls
forever." He went a step nearer to the
111
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
woman and brought his eyes on a level
with hers. "She is not married to him,
Madame Yamada. He will leave her soon
remember my words. After that there
is time then for the fulfilment of my oath."
Madame Yamada, left alone, grew re-
pulsive in aspect. Her powdered face was
white and long drawn. She had thrust her
hands mechanically through her hair and
it stood up from her head in stiff disorder.
In the hope of securing Matsuda for her
own daughter she had herself assisted in
putting the girl she hated beyond her reach.
Now she realized how utterly vain was this
last hope. Her very action but brought
upon her head the implacable enmity of
112
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
the man himself, who she knew was not
deceived in her. The gods alone knew to
what extent he would carry his malicious
vengeance upon her.
113
CHAPTER VIII
Meanwhile Matsuda sent the articles he
had purchased in Tokyo as marriage gifts
to the most respected and honorable
foreigner, Mr. Verley. The latter was actu-
ally pleased and touched. He laughed at
Azalea's first impulse of fear when the
presents had arrived and reminded her that
these were the only wedding gifts they had
received. She, after her temporary fear,
fell to admiring the beauty of the gifts. By
the time Matsuda came to pay his personal
respects to the couple, only the remotest
suspicion of design on his part remained in
her mind. No one could have been more
114
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
respectful and humble in attitude than the
rich Matsuda to the foreign minister, no one
more solicitous for their comfort and happi-
ness. The little mission house and its
pastor found a sudden, unexpected patron,
for Sunday after Sunday the chief man of
Sanyu attended the services. Matsuda be-
came a "pillar of the church." First he
won the confidence of the minister, and
later made the acquaintance of other and
more powerful foreigners in the larger
cities of Japan.
The recall of the missionary came like
a shock in the midst of their happiness.
Azalea, by this time, had learned and
seemingly understood the religion of her
115
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
husband. She had accepted it even before
she understood it with a meek faith almost
sublime. Yet, in spite of her seeming con-
version, and her almost idolatrous love for
her husband, there had curiously enough
remained always with Azalea that small
stubborn feeling of terror of the far-away
" land of the barbarians " which constituted
the home of her husband. All the joyful
searching with her husband as teacher in
the books of his people had failed to cure
her of this innate sense of fear of the
foreigner, a fear inculcated since childhood,
when she had listened to the weird and
horrible tales of an old grandfather who
had once lived in one of the open ports and
116
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
whose imagination was livelier than his
memory. These vivid tales of horror,
added to an occasional visit to the town of
foreign sailor men, whose shore conduct
was not that of superior beings, and the
further assurance of the temple priests that
these barbarians were evil all these im-
pressions were deeply enough implanted in
the nature of Azalea, who had never wholly
outgrown her child-nature. Just as a Cau-
casian child might shrink in fear at the
thought of suddenly being taken from his
safe little cot and transplanted among the
savage tribes of Africa, so the little Japan-
ese girl dreaded the thought of life in the
questionable and unknown land of America.
117
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
And now, when she had come to the years
of womanhood, a thrill of that early fear
still remained with her. Hence when her
husband told her of his recall Azalea was
quite stupefied.
" You are going to leave me ! " she
gasped, her eyes wide with terror.
"Leave you!" he repeated. "Why,
what put such an idea as that into your
head? You are going with me."
She shook her head.
" No, no ! I kinnod go," she said.
" Cannot ! What a word to use to me.
Certainly you will go."
She caught at his hands and held them
spasmodically.
118
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
" You promise me on that day you
marry wiz me that you never goin' take
me away across those oceans. Yes, you
promise."
" But Azalea, I am recalled. I must go.
Now, be reasonable. These people who
sent for me are my employers."
She slipped to the floor and sat with her
hands clasped about her huddled knees.
"Velly well," she said after a moment.
" You go. I will wait here for you."
He sat down on the mat beside her and
put his arm about her.
" No, no, we must go together."
With her head against his shoulder she
cried hysterically.
119
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
"I do not want to go no, I do not
want ! " she kept repeating.
Thinking her eccentric stubbornness due
to he* condition, he said in the tenderest
voice :
"I could not leave you alone now.
Why, what would a little girl like you do
all alone with a wee baby and no husband
to care for both of you."
She struck her hands passionately to-
gether.
" Tha's why ! " she said. " Jus' why I
doan want go. I am 'fraid for that liddle
bit bebby."
Argument and persuasion seemed useless
at this time, for Azalea could neither under-
120
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
stand the one, nor would she yield to the
other. Even when Richard Verley returned
from Tokyo, where he had found money
cabled for two passages by his missionary
society, Azalea would not consider the jour-
ney. A less conscientious man than the,
young minister would have used the price
of the second passage in providing for the
comfort of his wife, during his absence, but
Verley repelled the idea, even though he
knew that once in America he could easily
find funds. So in obedience to his Massa-
chusetts conscience, Azalea's share of the
cabled funds was sent back.
Then it was that Azalea would hysteric-
121
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
ally consent to journey with her husband,
only to refuse in the end.
Verley's recall was imperative. Yet at
times he thought of refusing to return.
His many gifts and benevolences among
the people had eaten away the last instal-
ment of his small salary. He could not
leave his wife supplied with funds sufficient
for the entire period of her illness; yet once
in America he would be able to send small
sums regularly. The society had mentioned
something vaguely of a desire to have him
lecture in the United States and after that
it was intimated that he might be sent to
China. In any event he would return for
Azalea after the birth of her child.
122
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
All these confused thoughts and reason-
ings played through the mind and con-
science of Verley. Yet so finely balanced
were the moral and emotional traits of this
young man that for a time he could come
to no decision. He prayed, and then the
precepts of his religion conquered. Since
Azalea would not accompany him, he must
go alone. Parting was inevitable, but
absence was not for long.
Once again he sought Azalea. Failing to
move her by the most passionate entreaty,
Verley tried to make her see his reasons for
his decision, which he now felt more than
ever must be final.
123
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
Azalea looked up at him with an apa-
thetic, yet tender, expression:
" Yaes, yaes," she said wearily, " I un-
derstand. I kinnod go. Your God yaes,
my God also he calling you not me.
You go! I stay!"
Verley now mutely enough accepted the
cruelty of circumstances and sought to
cheer the drooping spirits of his wife. She
at this time was beset by feelings of the
most intense depression, induced as much
by her frail condition of health as her child-
ish terror of the seas which lay between
and separated her husband's America from
her Japan.
During the last weeks of his stay in
124
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
Japan, Richard Verley spent his time in
attempts to earn sufficient money so that,
at least, Azalea, until he could communi-
cate with her from America, should not
want for anything. He wrote articles for
a Tokyo weekly paper. Even the native
journalists of Japan dream not of making
a living at this profession, unless they own
an interest in the paper to which they
contribute. The amount the young Amer-
ican missionary received for his contribu-
tions could be said to add nothing to the
meagre sum he had been enabled to lay by
from his salary. This, he calculated, would
keep Azalea in comparative comfort for
possibly two months. He sighed as he
125
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
thought of her childish ignorance of the
value of money, and he hardly dared to
think of the possibility of the premature
birth of his child.
But upon the eve of his going fortune
quite suddenly reversed its frowning face.
His financial worries found an unexpected
alleviation. Matsuda Isami, the friend of
his church and a professed convert, had
come to him and offered a certain sum of
money. Of course the American had pro-
tested at accepting any money for personal
use from the Japanese, but Matsuda in-
sisted that he knew of the minister's embar-
rassment, and being himself possessed of
much, wished to share at least a small part
126
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
of it with his friend. He felt sure Mr.
Verley would sail from Japan in an easier
frame of mind if he could be assured that
his wife was well protected from want.
The amount offered by Matsuda was insig-
nificant, but seventy-five yen goes far
toward living in Japan. She would be
independent for six months to come, at
least. And while the minister hesitated
over the temptation, the wily Matsuda sug-
gested that if the minister felt any back-
wardness about accepting it as a gift, to at
least accept it as a loan, giving Matsuda a
lien upon the contents of his house. This
need only be perfunctory, a formal salve to
his pride, for Matsuda was confident the
127
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
minister would pay the loan in no time. It
is needless to say that the man of trade
triumphed over the man of dreams. Richard
Verley mortgaged the furniture of his
house, without explaining this part to his
wife, who was already disheartened at his
protracted departure. He was enabled to
put into her hand, the day before he sailed,
a sum of money larger than she had ever
seen before.
The parting was heart-wrenching. It
took place in the little house, for he did
not wish to have her go to the big city to
see the actual sailing of the boat, and she
at the last moment had decided against
oing even to the railroad station of the
128
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
town with him. She wished, she said, to
see him leave the house, just as if he were
going on a visit in the neighborhood, to the
church, to an afflicted beggar, or one dying
and deserted. He told her she was the
bravest woman in the world because she
would not let him see her face save with a
smile upon the lips. Her eyes kept back
their tears. Only at the last moment she
clung about his neck and, from kissing his
face, fell to kissing his breast, his arms and
i
hands, and then slipped to the floor, there
to kiss, in a fashion that shocked him, his
very feet.
When he was gone she closed every
shoji of the house and shut herself up alone.
129
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
That night she slept underneath his desk in
the little study where he had worked, his
large black bible the pillow for her head.
130
CHAPTER IX
When the fields had turned from purple
to gold and yellow, and Summer was hot
in the land, Azalea for the first time in two
months crept from her chamber and sat
at the door of the cottage, her baby on her
back. She had been very ill and now she
was as thin and fragile as a spirit. Weak
as she was Azalea had come to the door
during the absence of Natsu, to watch for
the mail carrier. During her long illness,
and almost from the first day, she had been
wont to turn her face always toward the
Street shoji, there to watch and wait with
undying patience for the coming of that
131
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
carrier who should bring her word from
her husband. But every day, from the
rising of the sun to its setting, she waited
in hungry vainness. She hindered the
progress of her health and became feverish,
and then delirious. Even in her delirium
she would seize the hands of the hard-faced
Natsu and pitifully beseech her to bring
her a letter from her husband. Now July
had come. Spring had gone and the
Spring baby had come. Still no word
from the father to bless and cheer them in
their solitude. Azalea had been too ill in
those days to wonder why the woman
Matsu attended her with such faithfulness.
But as she grew stronger she used to watch
132
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
mutely the sullen-faced servant, moving
about her chamber, keeping it cleanly and
even sweet with the flowers she brought
from the woods. Azalea would have wished
to be on friendly terms with her, but when
she attempted speech with her Natsu re-
mained grimly silent, seldom even answer-
ing the timid questions of her mistress. On
this day when Azalea, by clinging with her
hands to the dividing walls of shoji, had
made her weak way to the door step, Natsu
was absent from the house. She had gone,
to the house of Matsuda Isami.
The sun was warm and very good to
feel. The baby, in its little bag on her
back, was no heavier a weight than the
133
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
discarded obi. Azalea, though weak, felt
happier and more restful than she had in
days. How good it was to be out in the
open air once more, to look up at the wide
blue sky, the abode of the great white God;
to feel the touch of the soft breezes and to
hear the little babbling noise of the moving
trees, the wee creatures in the grass and the
singing of the birds in the camphor trees.
With chin resting upon her hands she
sat there, absently dreaming. Her position
brought the sleeping baby's head close
against her neck. The warmth of its con-
tact comforted and thrilled her, just as the
touch of the child's father had done. Ah,
it was true she had waited long for word
134
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
from him, but he would not fail them!
That small, soft head pressed at her neck
seemed to reassure her of this. She would
grow strong again, strong and happy as
she had been. To Matsuda she gave no
thought. The one God was good and he
would not permit this evil one to intrude
again upon her.
Some one spoke her name, and she lifted
her head. Before her, in the path, stood
the bowing Okido. Mechanically, and
without speaking, she returned his saluta-
tion. She was too weak and listless to feel
interest in his unexpected call upon her,
and did not question him.
Madame Azalea was recovered ?
135
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
She nodded listlessly.
"Good!"
He shuffled his feet, waiting for an invi-
tation to enter the house. The indifferent
silence of the girl was not encouraging, and
the Summer sun was very hot and un-
comfortable upon his back. However, he
was not to be conquered by a woman's
unnatural silence and the heat of the Lord
of Day.
" I perceive, Madame Azalea," he con-
tinued, " that the gods have been good to
you. You have a child."
She smiled faintly.
" Yes," she said, and for the first time
he perceived the faintness and weariness
136
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
of her voice. He inquired with some
anxiety :
"You are still ill?"
She shook her head.
" Quite well," she said, " but when one
has lain long upon the honorable back, then
one's speech sometimes becomes ex-
hausted."
"Ah!"
This response, he took it, might be an
intimation that she was not strong enough
for conversation. On the other hand, it
was longer than her previous monosyllabic
answers, and therefore more encouraging.
Well, he would speak to her of the child.
This subject must surely interest her.
137
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
"Permit me to inquire," he continued,
with bland interest, "the sex of your
honorable offspring ?"
" Male," she answered simply.
"Ah! you are indeed fortunate." He
went a step nearer to her, looking solicit-
ously at the child's head. The projecting
gable above mother and child was a suffi-
cient shade for the upturned face of the
sleeping child; but the mother must be
moved from her apathetic listlessness in
some way. So the Nakoda exclaimed in
alarm :
"Do you not fear the sun upon your
child's young eyes will blind them ? "
His words had the desired effect. She
138
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
started and put back her hands behind her
head. Then, somewhat unsteadily, she
arose.
" You will pardon us, if you please," she
said. "We must go into the interior."
Okido had hoped to be invited to enter,
but her answer did not disconcert him. He
went up the little steps, and stretched out
his hand as if to assist her. Madame was
too weak to walk alone; would she not
permit his most respectful assistance ? She
clung for support to the front of the sliding
door.
"Yes," she said, "I am still augustly
weak. So pray you, good-bye, kind
visitor."
139
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
He bowed deeply to her, and then :
"Madame Azalea, permit me first to
leave in your house a little gift for your
man child."
She let him put into her hands a child's
tiny toy.
" You are very good," she sakl.
"It is not I who am so well disposed
toward your child," he said, "but one
whose interest in it is such that he would
give all his possessions to it if you would,
permit it."
She raised her face, white and startled in
expression now. Her hands crept out
from the sleeves.
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THE LOVE OF AZALEA
"Ah," she said, " of whom do you
speak, good Okido?"
He did not answer her query, and her
breath came excitedly.
" You speak of my husband ? You have
heard from him ? "
" Not your husband, Madame Azalea,"
he said, " but one who would become so."
She passed her hand bewilderedly over
her brow.
" I do not understand," she said.
Her strength had been already too much
taxed. She turned from the Nakoda and
opened the shoji behind her. Then noise-
lessly she slipped into her chamber, feeling
her way through the room with her hands
141
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
outstretched like one gone blind. When
she found the couch she tottered, rather
than lay, face down upon it in that instinct-
ive fashion of the Japanese woman to pro-
tect the child upon her back. Soon she
slept the sleep of the exhausted.
Some one sent fresh flowers in the early
mornings to the house of Azalea. They
were sweet always with the sparkling dews
upon them and they filled -the house with
fragrance. Azalea delighted in them. They
were symbolic of the truth that there was
sweetness in life in spite of its melancholy.
And so, in those days, she would sit before
the flowers, her little head bent above her
sewing, and would attempt to fashion the
142
**<
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
garments of her baby in imitation of the.
flowers themselves.
The baby grew in strength and beauty,
a solemn-faced, large-eyed morsel of hu-
manity, with skin like a peach bloom in
color, soft and fat and delightful to the
touch of the caressing mother.
If it had not been for that ceaseless, tire-
less waiting and watching for the promised
letters from the father of the child, and of
his own personal absence from the house,
Azalea might have found complete happi-
ness in her child. But always by day she
sat with her face turned toward the West,
and at night she trimmed and burned the
light and set it at the West shoji, that any
143
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
time he might come would find her waiting.
Often the man Okido would loiter by her
house and stop a moment to chat with her
and to praise the child. Sometimes he
brought a little gift, and once he inquired
very solicitously whether Madame Azalea
was in need of money. She had answered
with careless pride:
" No, I have sufficient until his return."
But the Nakoda's question nevertheless
worried her after his departure. She went
indoors and took down the little lacquer
box in which she had kept the money left
her by her husband. It had been so full
in the beginning that she had laughed over
its weight. Now the box was light as
144
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
though empty. There were only a few
bits left. She shivered as she closed the
lid over them.
" Yet," she said, with trembling lip, " it
is not all gone. He will come when but
one bit remains."
She burned more oil that night in the
waiting room for him. Through the night
the bright red light twinkled against his
coming. But he came not.
145
CHAPTER X
She was sewing by a half-opened shoji.
The garment upon which Azalea was work-
ing was very tiny. It seemed almost
ridiculous to conceive of the amount of
labor she was expending upon an article
so trivial. Nevertheless, she worked un-
ceasingly upon it. The little garment was
gorgeous with the embroidery wrought by
her nimble fingers, embroidery so fine and
exquisite that even a connoisseur in Tokyo
would have been delighted to see it. From
early morning till the darkening night,
Azalea worked upon this one garment.
Upon it she had expended all her passion,*
146
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
her love. This labor was a balm, a salve,
a comfort for her ever-aching loneliness of
spirit, for it was the garment in which the
child was to be dressed when his father
should return.
Azalea, alone in the little cottage, ostra-
cised by her former friends and without the
presence of her husband, found a nameless
comfort in working upon the garments of
her baby. She said :
, "My baby came in Springtime. If it
had been a girl, she should be called Sakura-
san, after the cherry blossoms that he so
loved. But his great God was kinder. He
blessed us with a man-child, and it shall
bear the name of Sachi. Now I shall
147
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
fashion a little garment which shall hold
all the tints of the Spring, and, like my
baby, will be a thing of joy."
As she sat on this day, with her head
bent above her sewing, she became con-
scious of the fact that some one had entered
her garden and was looking in at her. But
when she peered out through her shoji she
could see no one. Feeling uneasy, she
folded her work and, leaving it, stepped out
into the garden. Then she saw at once
Matsuda Isami. He had evidently been
talking to the maid Natsu, for the latter
had disappeared into her kitchen. Azalea
went forward to meet the visitor. He was
very cheerful, though at first constrained
148
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
by her sudden appearance. He inquired
solicitously after her honorable health and
insisted that she was pale and heavy-eyed
from too much sewing. She smiled
faintly as she shook her head and assured
him that she was most honorably well.
" And your august husband ? His health
also is good ? "
"My husband " her voice faltered,
but she finished with pride: "Yes, his
health is good."
" Ah! Then you have heard from him? "
She flushed. Did Matsuda guess the
truth, that since the going of her husband,
nearly two months before, no letter from
him had reached her hands? She did not
149
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
answer the question and he repeated it.
" You have a letter from your honorable
husband?"
She bowed her head without speaking.
It was the simplest way of lying. He had
taught her it was an evil thing to prevari-
cate with the lips.
Matsuda appeared somewhat taken
aback.
" And when do you expect his return ? "
She looked away from her interlocutor.
Her eyes were wide and wistful.
" I look for him to come at any time
any day any hour," she said. " Always
by day I look to the West for his coming,
and all night long I burn the light; with its
150
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
flame to the West. He is always ex-
pected."
"You are a most estimable wife," said
Matsuda sneeringly. "Yet has it never
occurred to you that your faithfulness is
old-fashioned and fit only for a Japanese
woman? You, the wife of a foreigner,
should not entertain such feeling."
"Is not faithfulness esteemed by all
nations? " she asked quickly.
" No. The Westerners make light of its
qualities. Have you not heard how many
of these foreigners who marry in Japan
leave their wives never to return ? "
" My husband is different," she said.
151
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
" So they all say while they wait," said
Matsuda.
Half unconsciously her hand went to her
heart. She looked as if she were in some
sudden pain as she spoke.
"You do not understand. He was a
priest of the great God. He could not lie.
Ah! he was different from all other men."
" The eyes of a foolish wife are blind,"
said Matsuda. "What a pity that yours
could not sooner perceive the baseness of
the barbarian."
" Baseness," she repeated. " I do not
understand."
" You think your husband will return to
you?"
152
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
" I am sure of it."
" And against his coming you embroider
rich garments for his child."
The blood rose slowly to her temples.
Her fingers twitched and then she closed
them tightly.
"Yes," she said; "it is true."
Matsuda laughed harshly.
" Yet," said he, " it is not your husband
who pays for these garments of your
child."
She stared at him incredulously.
" You are insane to speak so," she finally
said. " My husband gave me money with
which to purchase the articles upon which
I work."
153
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
He bent his lean, evil face to hers.
" That money he accepted from me," he
said.
She shrunk back a step.
" From you ! I do not believe you."
He fumbled in the bosom of his gown.
" Behold this," he said, shaking before
her eyes a piece of paper. "This is his
receipt."
She pushed the paper from her.
" I will not look at it," she said.
"You are afraid."
"No!"
She seized the paper and read, her eyes
dilating with horror as she- did so. It was
a receipt for a loan of 75 yen. Her hand
154
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
fell limply to her side. The paper flut-
tered to the ground.
What! Was the money of this Matsuda
paying for the sacred garments of her
child! Ah, how terribly blind must have
been her husband to accept help from such
a source. Her pride scorched her. She
suddenly turned and walked swiftly into
the house. In a moment, however, she re-
turned, a lacquer box and the tiny garment
upon which she had worked in her arms.
She set the box at Matsuda's feet.
"There," she said, "is what is left of
your evil money. Some of it I have al-
ready spent upon this garment. I would
not let it touch my child.'* She tore it
155
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
across and threw the pieces upon the box.
" Go now ! " She pointed to the gate.
"You contaminate his august home. I
have always hated you, Matsuda Isami,
now more than ever. My father spoke
true words. You are a dog ! "
Laughing softly, he stooped and lifted
the box, then slowly counted its contents.
"Seventy-five yen," he said, "was the
amount of the loan. There are but twenty-
five here."
"My husband's letter will come in the
next foreign mail," she replied proudly.
"You will wait until then."
He changed his tone.
" Madame Azalea, it is well known that
156
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
you are deserted by the barbarian. No one
pities you, because it is alleged you insulted
your ancestors for the sake of this beast.
Now you have become an outcast. Even
the beggars will not ask you for charity.
Yet I I, Matsuda Isami, whom you have
named ' dog/ have compassion upon you."
He paused to note the effect of his words.
She was staring coldly and stonily before
her. Her thoughts were bitter. Matsuda
went a step nearer to her.
"You do not believe in my pity for
you ? " he asked.
She raised her head proudly.
" I do not need it," she said.
"Hah! Your words are proud. You
157
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
will learn soon to frame your lips to meeker
words."
She turned as if to re-enter the house,
but he sprang lithely before her and stood
in her path, his hideous face thrust before
the range of her vision.
" Listen once again. You have come to
beggary, Madame Azalea, for in my sleeve
this minute rests the last of your yen.
What will you do now? "
"Yes, Matsuda Isami," she said, "you
hold the last of the money, but there are
things I can sell, and the house is yet mine.
Let me pass."
He laughed in her face so that his breath
struck her.
158
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
" Every article within the house belongs
to me me ! " he said, touching his breast
with his fingers. She stared at him with
horrified eyes. Inside the house the wail
of her baby, awakened from its sleep,
floated out to them, and the sound silenced
both for a moment. Then she pushed by
him, and still he barred her passage.
" Where would you go ? " he taunted.
She slipped desperately under his arm and
snapped the shoji between them. He
could have pushed it aside without the
smallest difficulty, but he stood on the
steps like one already having possession,
and laughed softly to himself.
159
CHAPTER XI
He heard her soothing the child within
and the sound of its subdued cries. Finally,
comforted, it must have slept, for there
was no further sound within.
Matsuda pushed open the shoji door.
The house and furniture were his. He
would enter when he pleased.
She was standing behind the shoji, as
though awaiting his coming. Her baby
was strapped to her back and she held
something clasped close to her heart. It
was a large black book. Matsuda recog-
nized it. She spoke in unfaltering accents.
" Pray you walk in, Matsuda Isami. The
160
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
furniture is waiting to be taken. Truly an
empty house will be of more comfort than
one dressed in what belongs to you."
" An empty house ? " he repeated. " But
I do not propose to empty my house. The
house, too, is mine, since I bought it within
the month."
" Ah," she said, " I suspected as much.
Very well, take also the house, most honor-
able Matsuda Isami. We will leave it at
once."
He followed her down the path for a
space. When he seized her sleeve, she
shook it from his grasp.
"Do not make claim upon us, also,
Matsuda Isami," she scornfully mocked.
161
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
" It is not possible you purchased us, too? "
" No, but I shall do so, Madame Azalea."
" Oh, no, that is not possible."
Her proud and stubborn demeanor caused
him to change his tone.
" Listen," he said. " By the law you are
no longer the wife of the barbarian. He
has deserted you and hence you are di-
vorced. Become wife with me. My
house awaits your coming, and I have
sworn to possess you."
" I would rather wed with Death," was
her answer.
He turned in savage exasperation and
ran toward the house. . She, standing still
now, watched him enter. A moment later
162
" ' My house awaits your coming, and I have sworn
to possess you.' '"
(Page 162)
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
she heard his hoarse laughter and the crash-
ing of articles within. Sick despair crept
through her being, freezing her faculties.
She could not move, but stood like one
fascinated, watching the trembling of the
house itself. It shivered, swayed and
shook from side to side, as though a very
tempest were sweeping it within. Then
suddenly there was an upheaval, a splinter-
ing crash, and the little house upon the hill
was a mass of broken debris. Matsuda, his
passion unsatisfied with the destruction of
the furniture, had seized the main pole of
the house the support of the frail struc-
ture and had shaken it with such violence
that the house itself had collapsed. A
163
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
providence which seems by some irony of
fate to watch over the fortunes of the evil,
had saved the man himself from so much
as a scratch. He was snorting and puffing
like a bull as he sped down the hill past the
trembling, shrinking Azalea.
A sound escaped her lips. It could not
be called a cry. She made a little rush
toward the fallen house, then stopped and
covered her eyes with her sleeves. She
was homeless, without means, and upon
her back her warm, sleeping babe hung
heavy and helpless.
Dazedly, almost blindly, Azalea made
her way down the hill slope, across the
little bridge that spanned the narrow river
164
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
in the valley below, up another hill, and
on through the fields. She had come to
the house of her stepmother. At least she
had never been denied a roof there.
Her knock was timid and faint. As
though expecting her, Madame Yamada
hastened to the door. Azalea spoke in the
weariest, the faintest of accents.
" Excellent mother-in-law, my house has
fallen and I am without money and very
tired. I wish to come into my father's
house a little while."
Madame Yamada laughed shrilly.
" The doors of your father's house," she,
said, " are closed to the one who has dis-
honored them."
165
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
Azalea stood in silence. Even in her
misery, her pride withheld her from plead-
ing. She bowed her head in apathetic
politeness.
" Say no more, then," she said. " We
will go elsewhere."
That night she slept under the open
skies. The shadows of the night were her
only covering, and the soft, mossy grass
her mattress. She slept well, as the ex-
hausted often do, and felt nor knew the
discomfort of her unusual bed, for she was
close to the ruin of her home that had
been, and near, too, to the little mission
house. Her last thought ere she slept was
a vague and almost childish remembrance
166
cr*
" The shadows of the night were her only covering,
aiki the soft, mossy grass her mattress ."
(Page 156)
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
of an argument she had once had with her
husband. She had protested against the
locking of the mission house, declaring that
locks were unknown and unneeded in
Japan. He had insisted that thieves might
enter the place and despoil the little church
of its few possessions. Now Azalea thought
with a strange feeling of bitter triumph that
she had proved herself right. Oh, if the
little church were but open, what a haven
of refuge it would prove now for her and
for their child. Who had better right to
its protection than the wife and offspring
of the priest of the church?
'167
CHAPTER XII
The Summer slipped by on sleepy wings.
Autumn's mellow, balmy touch was upon
the land. By day all Nature was beautiful,
but at night the starry skies were cold and
chilling. The earth, too, lost its warmth
and shivered as if in anticipation of the
coming winter.
On a certain night in the month of Octo-
ber, a woman, with a baby on her back,
made her weary way through the village of
Sanyo. One could see even in the dim
light that she was haggard and hollow-
eyed. Her small hands, which ever and
anon crept nervously toward the little head
168
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
against her neck, were tragically thin. For
almost two months Azalea, the wife of the
white priest, had been a common mendi-
cant. She had wandered about from place
to place, seeking at first employment and
later reduced to the begging of alms. The
small inland towns of Japan have few
industries offering employment to women.
Azalea was further hampered by the white
child she bore upon her back and the igno-
miny of her religion, for in some way her
history had followed her from town to
town. Neither her beauty nor her youth
were of avail to her now to earn the pity
of those who feared the gods too much to
refuse alms to a beggar. The wife of the
169
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
foreign devil was an outcast of the gods, a
pariah, a thing accursed. What respectable
Japanese would lend aid to one who had
wilfully destroyed the tablets of her
ancestors? And so in this land where
beggars oft-times grow fat on charity
the pariah starved. Sometimes a peas-
ant or farmer, knowing nothing of her
history, would give her shelter and
food at night, but when the morning
light revealed the blue-eyed babe upon
her back, they turned her superstitiously
away. She hardly knew whither her feet
carried her, so many, many had been the
days since her wanderings began. Only
Nature was compassionate in that the sum-
170
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
mer months kept her at least from the chill
of exposure. But even Nature has limits
to her patience, and Autumn had come.
During the first few weeks of her wander-
ings, the baby had appeared strong and
well. The out-door life in the country but
strengthened its little frame. The starving
of the mother was a gradual process, some-
thing which at first did not affect the baby.
But as the days and weeks went by and
the mother grew weaker, the contagion of
her weariness affected the babe. He be-
came peevish and ailing. The round, cun-
ning, gurgling baby, to whom the mother
had passionately clung as though for
strength, grew thin and cried constantly.
171
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
Its little face fell into the odd lines of one
aged, thin, pinched and anxious; for what
nourishment is there in the breast of a
starving woman ?
After a night of vain effort to keep the
baby warm in her arms in the open country,
Azalea turned frantically back toward her
native village.
She had a vague notion of going once
more to the home of her step-mother, this
time to beg with her head at the august
woman's feet for shelter and charity. When
the latter had turned her from the door,
stubborn pride had buoyed the girl up and
given her that almost feverish strength
which had sustained her this long. Now
172
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
the last strain of pride in her breast was
dead. Hope had long lingered, hope and
faith in the dimly remembered words of
the white God, that he would protect her
always yet now even hope was gone.
And thus it was, then, half clad and
almost starving, that Azalea returned to
Sanyo. It was night and the streets of
the town were almost deserted. But the
little houses, like fairy lanterns, glowed in
the darkness with light and warmth, and
as she passed along she could hear the
babble and soft, happy murmur of the
contented and housed families. Her hun-
ger gripped at her throat, parching it. The
baby was mercifully silent, but its weight
173
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
was so heavy that she walked unsteadily
and stooped beneath it.
Who would have recognized in this
shadow of a woman the exquisitely lovely
and dainty girl who, despite her shabby
clothes, had bravely held her head so high
in the town ? Would the white priest him-
self have recognized her? She had ceased
to think of him in these days. She had
told herself that he had been but a beautiful
spirit whom the gods had sent to bless her
for a little time only. Now he was gone.
Azalea had forgotten the language he had
taught her; had forgotten the God he had
told her would comfort. Her own wan-
derings and the cries of her baby had occu-
'174
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
pied her mind to the exclusion of all
else. Only sometimes when she slept she
dreamed of his great, tender brown eyes
watching over and guarding her, and in
her sleep she sighed his name.
Now before the door of her step-mother's
home she stood once more. Madame
Yamada came and looked at her. With
her came to the doorstep her two daughters.
Azalea bent so low and humbly that with
the weight upon her back she nigh fell to
the ground. Her voice was almost too
faint to hear.
" One night of shelter, good, dear, kind-
est of mothersand a little food! "
175
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
Madame Yamada's voice was as hard as
her face.
"So you have returned!" she said.
" You are without shame, it seems. This
is the house of respectable people. The
Kirishitan cannot enter."
" Kirishitan Kirishitan ! " Azalea re-
peated the word vaguely, dazedly. " I am
not Kirishitan," she said. " The gods "
Madame Yamada's shrill laugh inter-
rupted her.
"What! And you carry the evil book
in the front of your obi ! "
"That! " Azalea dragged the book from
Her obi. She held it up with both hands,
176
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
then with a sudden, wild vehemence dashed
it to the ground and put her foot upon it.
"It has brought me evil. Good step-
mother, I have cast it from me. Give me
shelter," and she stretched her hands out
in piteous appeal. But only the blank wall
of shoji faced her now. Madame Yamada
and her daughters had closed the doors
upon her, even as she renounced her re-
ligion.
In a frenzy she beat with her thin hands
upon the panelling, and her moaning voice
reached those within.
" Oh, hearts of stone, take then the child
within. It is dying! dying! "
Her step-mother thrust her fist through
177
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
the paper shoji. One baleful eye was
placed at the opening. But she did not
speak.
The burst of passion subsided. Azalea's
hands fell to her side; she slowly stiffened
and straightened herself. She stood in
giddy hesitation a moment, then slowly
moved away.
Through half the length of the night she
wandered about the hill country and town
of Sanyo. Once she came to some water
and its murmuring song evoked a moment-
ary response in her. She began to laugh in
a soft, mad way as she stepped into it;
but the water came only to her ankles and
the baby upon her back moved and moaned
178
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
in its sleep. Something burned within her
head. Words, words words spoken in
that deep voice she had so loved. To take
life was an evil and unpardonable thing in
the sight of the One God! She stepped
upon the bank of the brook in shivering
terror. Suddenly she ran from it as though
from a great temptation. She sped on
from the dark allurement of the country to
where the light of the city told her of the
warmth and happiness of others. Through
street and street she wandered, her feet
dragging, her head dropped forward. She
lost her sandals and her feet, in the worn
and old linen, bled from the touch of the
pavement. She had now lost all sense of
179
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
locality. Only she knew that thrice she
paraded one particular street an avenue
shaded by dark, drooping bamboos, under
whose shade houses of exquisite structure
and light gleamed out upon the night.
Azalea stopped before one of them the
largest of all. Her hand rested heavily
upon the bamboo gate; but she did not
attempt to push it open. Now she stood
still with a nameless quiet and terror in her
heart. Suddenly, as she wavered, the babe
upon her back twisted in its wrappings,
and wierdly, piercingly cried aloud. A
moment later one appeared at the door of
the house with a lighted andon in his hand.
He came with hasty steps down to the
180
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
bamboo gate, and there in the dim light of
the lifted andon he saw the woman Azalea.
He seized her by the arm and drew her up
the path and into the house.
'181
CHAPTER XIII
For nine days she remained in the house
of Matsuda Isami. He put her into the
great sleeping chamber above the ozashishi,
removed the paper shoji from the house
and slid into its place the winter wooden
sliding walls and doors. Thus they were
.safe from spying intruders, and she might
not leave the house, since the wooden street
doors were fast. Outside her room the
woman Natsu-san remained. Matsuda him-
self moved into the ozashiki, and from
there he kept guard over the woman in the
chamber above.
When first the serving-woman Natsu-san
182
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
entered the chamber to serve her, she found
the girl crouched off in the farthest corner
of the room, whither she had crept after
Matsuda Isami had set her in the room.
She was numb with cold, hunger and fear.
Her feverish mind could not follow the
tangled sequence of events that had passed
over her that night. She dimly recalled
that sudden flash of andon light at the end
of her wanderings, the touch of arms of
seeming supernatural strength which had
crushed her aching body as they carried
her up and into this room of fears. The
room had no light save what sifted into it
from a takahiri (lantern) in the hall, which
the servant had set by the dividing doors.
183
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
"I have brought food," she said briefly,
and set the tray on the floor by the famished
Azalea. She reached out a trembling hand
and cautiously, fearfully touched and felt
of the food. Reassured of what she,
touched, her hands seized upon the con-
tents of the tray. She found the milk,
warm and sweet, and in a moment she had
slipped the child out of its bag, laid its limp
and listless little body at her feet and thrust
the nipple of the bottle between the tiny,
parted lips.
Someone in the night put a slumber robe
upon her. Her weakness and exhaustion
gave way. She slept. But in the early
morning, turning in her sleep instinctively
184
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
to reach out for her child, she missed it, and
started with a cry of fright and anguish that
rang out wildly through the silent house.
It was five days before they put the child
back into her arms. At the end of that
period she put her head at the feet of
Matsuda Isami, swore by the eight million
gods of heaven that she was his humblest
and meekest of slaves, and promised to do
whatsoever he should command if he would
but return to her her child. After that she
was like a mechanical puppet. The woman
Natsu-san dressed her in softest silken
crepe, loaded down her little fingers with
rich jewels, and drew the hair, fallen so
wildly about her face, back into smooth
185
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
mode. She moved about like one in a
dream, a nightmare from which she could
not wake nor extricate her. She was but
a passive doll in the hands of the woman,
and did not even move her hands to assist
the servant in attiring her. But when they
brought the child, she rushed upon the
woman, seized it with savage force from
her arms, and then fell to weeping over it
in such a way that the one she was here-
after to name "masteY" feared for her
reason, and left her for the nonce alone.
Thus a respite of a few days was given her.
Physical strength crept back into her
wasted body, bringing health, too, to her
bewildered mind. Memory burning, in-
186
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
vincible, accusing awoke, told her that
she was about to become a thing more out-
cast than ever, because she would be guilty
of that sin the most unpardonable of any a
woman of his (her husband's) people could
commit. She could not delude herself with
the fancy that she would be the wife of
Matsuda Isami, whatever the law might be,
for she had pledged an eternal faith to her
true husband and the child was the connect-
ing link between them." Now as from day
to day she waited in fear for the time to
come when Matsuda Isami should claim
her promise, a promise she dared not break
if she would keep her child, there flooded
back upon her the teachings of her husband.
187
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
Now at last she knew she believed in
the faith of the Kirishitan. and before that
faith she stood convicted. She did not at-
tempt to justify her actions by her suffer-
ings. There was no justification in the
creed of his religion. His last words to
her had been : " Have faith always. Be
true to me, my love, and to yourself. I
will return." Yet how had he kept his
word to her. There had not come to her
one word or sign since his departure. If
he had sent word to her the great waters
that divided them must have swallowed
it up. There was nothing left to her now
save the child, and for his sake she would
sell herself and become wife to Matsuda
Isami.
188
CHAPTER XIV
Patience is not always an enduring virtue.
That of Richard Verley had long since
evaporated. Waiting, with a faith excelled
only by that of the one in Japan, for word
from his wife, his stay in America had
become unbearable.
At first he had thought her failure to
answer his letters due to mistakes she
might make in addressing him. He re-
called how, when teaching her to write his
address, she had continually forgotten to
put the name of the city or State. She
was quite sure that everyone in the United
States must know him. But as time
189
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
passed, he knew this could not be the rea-
son. His letters urging her to answer at
.once, and giving explicit instructions as to
address, received no response. He thought
of her condition and became alarmed.
When finally, refusing to wait longer,
and leaving his duties unfinished, he took
ship for Japan, he was in an agony of be-
wilderment and apprehension. If anything
had happened to her! Illness, the possible
premature birth of the child, when she
would be too helpless and ill to write. How
foolish he had been not to have arranged
communication with her through a third
party. And yet, who could he have called
upon for such a service? He thought of
190
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
her outcast position since becoming his
wife; of the eccentric and stubborn fears
that had impelled her to remain in Japan.
And then an overwhelming sense of regret
overpowered him, that he had left her at
all. His place was by her side. His first
duty belonged to her! There had been a
flaw in his former reasoning. His service
to the Master could have been better sub-
served than the way he had chosen.
So, with his mind sick with gloomy fore-
bodings, his conscience and heart aching,
Richard Verley returned to Japan. He
hurried from Tjipkyo in a fever of impatience
to the little town of Sanyo. The journey
was interminable intolerable! For the
191
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
first time in his life the gentle-natured
Richard Verley fretted and upbraided those
who served him. The runners crept!
Their vehicles were ancient and broken
down. The conductors of the miserable
trains were responsible for the creeping of
fhe train. Some one was responsible!
Everything was wrong! Most of his jour-
ney, besides, was made by the slow method
of kurumma. Sometimes, unable to bear
it, he would get out from the kurumma and
plunge ahead himself on foot. Every step,
every moment that brought him nearer to
her, but added to his sick premonitions.
All was not well with her! Something
192
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
dire had overtaken her. He dared not
N
imagine what that might be.
When he touched Jhe town at last, he
did not wait a minute, but without noticing
the townspeople, who regarded him curi-
ously, he hastened on toward where had
stood his home.
The sight that met him when he
reached the place staggered him. He
looked about him dazed, as one who sees
with unseeing eyes. He could not under-
stand. Something was wrong with his
sight his head, he told himself. Where
once had stood the little flower-embowered
home, there was nothing but a heap of
193
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
broken planks and debris, the melancholy
debris of a fallen house.
Snow was falling slowly and turning to
water as it fell. The trees were leafless.
Where the sunny, flowering bushes had
stood about the tiny cottage, there were
only the black stalks standing up in barren
nakedness. Desolation and tragedy seemed
heavy everywhere. He blundered forward
a few steps, his hand to his eyes.
"A mistake somewhere," he muttered,
"I have lost my way. This is not the
place this is not and yet ! "
He uncovered his eyes and again cast
them about, slowly. The surroundings
were as familiar to him as the face of a
194
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
mother, and over there, the length of an
iris field away, there was the church his
church! He turned in its direction.
At the church door he fumbled with key
to the lock. It turned easily enough, but
when he pushed the door inward it did not
move. Then he discovered the reason.
The door was nailed to. Panic and frenzy
swept over him in a flood. He began
frantically pounding upon the door, shaking
it by the handle, pushing against it with his
shoulder, beating upon its panelling with
his fists, and tearing at the hinges with his
fingers. The blood was in his head. He
could neither see nor hear. Only that
sensation of horrible foreboding and cer-
195
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
tainty of disaster pervaded his whole being.
A temple bell began to tinkle, lazily,
insistently. Small black birds, cawing as
they flew, swept close over his head, has-
tening toward their night home in the
woods. The rain descended heavily, noise-
lessly. The shadows darkened dully.
"What am I doing? " the minister sud-
denly asked himself, and paused in his
efforts to break the church door. " She is
not here! My fears are driving me mad.
How do I know that harm has come to
her? I must not trust to the phantoms of
my imagination. God is good, good ! "
He walked out a few paces, thinking
dazedly. Then with a sudden resolution to
196
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
seek her in the village, he began to descend
the hill. His step was more hopeful. He
tried to keep up his courage, but as he
made his way along his lips moved cease-
lessly in prayer.
He went first of all to her step-mother's
house. Here in the miserable, drizzling
rain he stood outside the house, none bid-
ding him enter in response to his knock.
Yet all through the house he could hear
the sounds of his coming announced.
A woman shrieked his name. Some one
called back in a loud whisper which pene-
trated through the paper shoji walls:
"TheKirishitan!"
Then he heard the pattering of hurried
197
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
steps and the jabbering of voices. Soon
he was conscious of the fact that eyes were
regarding him from a dozen of wall holes.
He knocked again, louder, and one within,
unseen, called in insolent tone:
"Begone! The curses of Shaka upon
you!"
He told himself his ears deceived him.
His knowledge of Japanese confused the
language surely. He knocked again, and,
again, each time louder. Again the voice
within:
"Who is it knocks?"
He spoke distinctly in pure Japanese.
" I am Verley-sama, your daughter's hus-
band. I have come to seek my wife."
198
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
There was silence, and then:
" We do not understand your language."
He repeated his words slowly, patiently,
enunciating each Japanese syllable dis-
tinctly. But again came the reply:
"We do not understand."
He recognized now the voice. It was
that of the step-mother of his wife, Madame
Yamada. She had some reason for her lies.
He was positive she understood his Japan-
ese.
" My words are plain," he said. " I have
come to seek my wife."
" She is not here." The voice was raised
angrily now. "Seek elsewhere, foreign
devil!"
199
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
He ignored the insult and persisted dog-
gedly.
"Where shall I seek?"
Someone laughed jeeringly within, and
then the taunting words floated out :
"Ask of the gods, priest of the evil
one."
" I ask of you," he said hoarsely. " I
shall not leave your house till you reply."
He heard the sound as of one moving
with angry and impetuous haste within,
pushing whatever stood in her path aside.
Madame Yamada thrust aside the sliding
shoji doors and stood in the opening.
Her words were mockingly sarcastic, and
she bowed with extravagance.
200
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
" In what way can the humblest one
serve the mightiest ? "
"My wife?" he demanded. "Speak,
woman, where is she ! "
She smiled inscrutably, but as he went
nearer to her the sneering lines about her
\
face deepened, revealing all her bitter de-
testation of the Kirishitan.
"You will be punished if you have in-
jured her," he said.
" What will the wise and mighty Excel-
lency do?"
" I will have you arrested. You will be
forced to answer."
"So!"
She drew in her breath with the hissing
201
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
sound peculiar to the Japanese. Then she
drew the skirt of her kimona closely about
her, and turned to re-enter the house. He
caught and held her by the sleeve and
then she stood still, her eyes half closed.
" Answer me ! " he cried.
" It is not I who am the keeper of the
Outcast. You come to the wrong house,
sei-yo-gin. Seek elsewhere."
Still he held her, and she could not free
herself, though she made effort to do so.
Thus held, in angry durance she stood.
" You are her mother-in-law. You know
where she is. I will not release you till you
speak."
202
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
" Go to Okido-sama, the Nakoda," she
said sullenly.
"Okido-sama?"
"He knows!" said she.
He let her arm go and she, free, pushed
the shoji viciously closed, attempting to
crush his hand in the opening.
"Okido-sama!" he repeated thought-
fully, " Okido-sama, the Nakoda! "
203
CHAPTER XV
Okidosama, the Nakoda, was squatting
comfortably upon his heels eating his warm
rice and fish when Richard Verley came to
his door. During the absence of the minis-
ter, Okido had apparently prospered. His
house was new. His servants many and
obsequious. The one who hastened to
respond to the minister's knock did not
recognize him in the darkened rainy even-
ing. He perceived only a barbarian and,
knowing his master's trade, saw in him a
possible customer.
Verley was shown into the guest cham-
204
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
ber. Shortly came Okido to the room, fat
and oily, discreetly wiping the rice crumbs
from his thick lips with the back of his
hands. He was bowing grotesquely at
every step as he came toward the minister,
but when he finally lifted his head and saw
who his guest was, he gave such a startled
jump that he fell in a heap on the floor,
and there he remained, trembling with
fright. Instantly Verley was convinced
that the man knew all about his wife, her
whereabouts, the horrible fate that must
have befallen her.
"My wife! You know her where-
abouts?"
" Your wife ! " stammered the cringing
205
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
Okido. "What was her august name,
Excellency?"
" You know it. Answer at once."
"Excellency is honorably mistaken. I
do not know the name of the exalted one's
wife."
Verley, with no effort at gentleness,
seized him by the shoulder of his robe,
and as he spoke shook the trembling
wretch threateningly.
" You will answer my question. Under-
stand."
The Nakoda began to whimper, drawing
his sleeve across his eyes and furtively
looking about for a means of escape.
He was poor man, very poor, harmless
206
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
man. Surely Excellency would not hurt
him.
" Quick. I am waiting."
" So many people I know," whimpered
the Nakoda. " How I can remember one
woman among them all."
"You do not need to remember. You
already know of whom I speak."
" She was a tall woman with thin cheeks,
yes ? " he inquired with attempted guile.
The minister answered by tightening his
grip upon the man's collar, and pushing his
knuckles hard upon the neck. Okido
shrunk fearfully from the large hand of the
white man. He felt sure it would hurt
hard. After a moment :
207
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
" She was fat yes, surely fat ! "
" That will do."
He slipped down to the minister's feet
and beat his head, seeking to shake off that
hand at his neck.
" Listen," said Richard Verley, " I will
give you five minutes in which to answer.
At the end of that time "
"Excellency will not beat a poor man.
Ah, surely not ! "
"Excellency will kick the life out of
you."
" No, no. " Okido cast a fearful glance
at the minister's boots. " I will speak truth.
Surely!"
At those words, the minister for a
208
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
moment forgot his caution, and slackened
the tension at the man's neck. But in that
moment Okido was free. He had slipped
not only from the minister's grip, but had
disappeared as if by magic through the
wall against which he had crouched.
Richard Verley was alone. He strode
from one to the other of the four walls of
the shoji. He threw them all apart and
penetrated into the interior apartments.
The servants fled before him with the speed
of wings and disappeared as silently and
swiftly as their master. Suddenly he found
himself on the door step. He went down
slowly into the street.
209
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
Someone called his name. " Excel-
lency! Master sir!"
He turned quickly and saw the woman
Natsu following him.
Her name burst in a cry from his lips,
and he rushed toward her.
"Natsu! You! Your mistress quick,
how where is she ? "
Her eyes shifted from his face. She
covered her own with her sleeve, and thus
she stood, the picture of sorrow.
The minister stared at her, horrified.
When he spoke his voice was strange.
" I understand," he said. " She is "
And so she had died his little, laughing
Azalea, his beautiful child-wife, had died
210
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
while he was away from her. He put out
his hands blindly, as the inclination to faint
overcame him. He hardly understood the
words the woman spoke.
"Oh, master, master, master!"
But the woman's voice recalled him. He
stared at her mechanically. Mechanically he
spoke.
" I understand," he said. " She is dead."
" Dead ! " repeated the woman, and
shook her head. " No, no, not dead ; better
that than what is, O master sir! "
"Not dead!" His hands unclinched,
His fears had lent phantoms to his imagina-
tion. "Alive! Why, then all was well."
211
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
His thought escaped his lips, and the woman
answered :
" Better death than sin, O master."
He could have laughed. What! Was
this servant of his trying to frighten him
with her old jealous tales of the insincerity
of his wife's conversion. The sins of
Azalea were microscopic.
"Come, Natsu, let us go to her," he
said impatiently. " Why do you look at
me in that way? Are you, too, seeking
to hide her whereabouts from me ? "
" No, master, but if I take you thither,
you will curse me for my evil offices."
" I don't understand you, Natsu. You
212
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
always were a mystery to me. But now,
come. Where is she?"
"Oh, master, seek her not!"
As he still sought to draw her along with
him, she slipped down to his feet and stayed
his progress with her head there.
"Why do you seek to deceive me,
Natsu? What is the matter with you?
Why do you act thus ? What has happened,
to my wife? Speak!"
Still kneeling, with her head at his feet,
she answered :
" She has become wife to Matsuda Isami,
Oh, Highness."
As he did not speak or seem to compre-
hend her words, she repeated them. And
213
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
then, as still he made no sound, she said:
" Isami is richest man in Sanyo. What
is there he cannot buy? "
She was seized by the shoulders in a
savage grip. Her very teeth smote to-
gether with the shock of his grasp.
"You lie!" he cried. "You lie! Vile
thing, you lie, I say!"
214
CHAPTER XVI
It was the evening of the return of
Richard Verley to Sanyo. Azalea was sit-
ting passively under the hands of the maid,
Natsu, having her shining black hair
brushed and twisted into the elaborate
mode approved by Matsuda. Word had
come into the room where thus far she
had been kept a prisoner, ordering her to
prepare for the wedding ceremony. What-
ever her inward emotions, now as she sat
under the hands of the woman, she showed
only a stoical calm. That nameless an-
tagonism which had always existed between
215
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
these two had become a deeper thing during
these days in the house of Matsuda. In-
stinctively Azalea knew the woman for an
enemy, and accordingly feared and hated
her. Though forced to submit to the
woman's attendance, v yet she would not
condescend a word either of entreaty or
command. Matsuda held her destiny in his
hand. He could rob her of her child. He
had kept his word and taught her lips to
frame themselves to meeker words. But
the woman Natsu-san to her at least she
need not kneel. Now on this day as Natsu
dressed her mistress, Azalea showed no
interest in the other's evident agitation,
despite the fact that the woman showed
216
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
unusual signs of being discomposed. Fin-
ally as the silence became unbearable to
her, the woman broke it with strange
words :
" Mistress," she said, " the man Okido is
waiting below in the guest room."
Azalea inclined her head, but made no
comment. Okido, like all other people,-
was of no interest to her. The woman
lowered her voice.
" I have taken a patch from your floor,
mistress. If you will put your head to it
you will hear what he has to say to the
master."
Azalea's glittering eyes looked at the
217
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
patch uplifted by the woman. Still she
remained silent.
The woman's insidious voice continued
carefully:
"Mistress, you have heard the ancient
saying of the samurai : ' To die with honor
when one can no longer live with honor.' "
The girl beneath her hands did not stir,
nor did she deign to turn her head to where
the woman pointed. The shorter sword of
the samurai was set close to the patch. It
was covered with a white cloth the cloth
of honorable death. The woman had pro-
vided the wife of the white priest with a
means of escape. Yet she had judged
wrongly. Azalea was not merely th
218
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
daughter of samurai. She was the wife of
a Christian. Life could not be taken so
easily as the woman supposed. The code
of the samurai pointed out that death was
better than dishonor. The new religion
said nothing on this matter. It simply
forbade the suicide.
The woman, her task completed, arose
and brought a mirror to Azalea, who, still
silent, stared fixedly and unseeingly at the
reflected face. She started somewhat as
the maid's lips touched her ears, and in the
glass she saw the fat red face close to her
own.
" Mistress, to-day if you listen you will
219
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
learn the full extent of your folly and the
dupe you have been to us all."
The mirror slipped from Azalea's hands.
She reached them up suddenly and pushed
them against the face of the maid. Her
nails sank into the puffed fatness of the
woman's cheeks.
"Your touch offends me," she said.
" Come not so near, low-born one."
With a cry of rage the woman sprang
back, clasping her hands over her hurt
cheeks. Then, muttering, she shuffled
toward the doors. There she paused vin-
dictively.
"You are a peacock now, Madame
Azalea, but your feathers will look less
220
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
proud and pretty when you learn what they
have cost you. You disdained the servant
of the white Highness and taught him to do
likewise. But the lowly one was in his
service long before his eyes desired you.
Even a snake crawling in the grass may
strike a revenge. There is nothing too
small or lowly to bite.'*
Azalea did not move or deign to turn her
head, even after the woman had gone and
she could hear her glide along the hall.
For a long time she sat in silence. Once
she looked with fearful stealth at the open-
ing in the floor, but she did not look for
long. There was nothing further for her to
hear, she told herself. Who knew already
221
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
better than herself the extent of her de-
basement?
222
CHAPTER XVII
Okido bowed to the floor before the illus-
trious Matsuda Isami. Knowing well the
nature and temper of his employer, he did
not waste much time upon courtesies, but
went briefly to the object of his visit.
" He has returned/' he said.
"What is that you say?"
" The white beast "
"Ah!" Matsuda's grasp relaxed. He
took several strides across the room, then
stopped before an opened shoji and
drummed upon the panelling.
"Well, then what of that? " he asked.
223
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
Okido came to his elbow and whispered
agitatively :
"But she will see him. It cannot be
helped."
Matsuda laughed diabolically.
" I have complete command over her
eyes, my good Okido. Have you not yet
observed how she is conquered ? "
Okido shook his head dubiously.
" But should Mr. Beast come in person
to your house ? "
"We have means of dealing with bar-
barous dogs," quoth Matsuda contemptu-
ously, " and the police of this town respect
the authority of their masters."
224
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
" But the letters, most Exalted ? He will
make inquiry."
"Pah! What of it?" Will it be the
first time that mail has been lost between
this country and America? "
" so much mail." Okido moved
uneasily. " Excellency, I am afraid of the
heavy boot of the barbarian. It was I who
kept back for you the letters from the
barbarian to the woman. It is said his
government is powerful revengeful. Let
me beseech you to give me a sufficient sum
to get swiftly away."
" On the contrary. You must stay here
and help me. Besides, you forget the
woman Natsu was the one who held the
225
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
letters. They should weight her sleeves,
not yours."
" Yet, good Excellency, I was the carrier,
and "
" You delivered the letters? "
" Not to the one to whom they were
addressed, but to the servant of the foreign
devil, who, Exalted, declares she gave them
to you."
Matsuda laughed unpleasantly.
"Huh! Then it is my sleeves which
are weighted!"
In the room above the speakers the
woman Azalea watched over the open patch
in the floor. Her face beneath the heavy
rouge plastered lately upon it by Natsu
22$
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
was a ghastly white. Her bosom was
heaving with her quick breathing, her glit-
tering eyes were horrible to look upon.
She had heard and understood every word
of the dialogue, and now she crouched in
the attitude of a feline about to spring, look-
ing down with dreadful eyes upon the head
of that one below. Yet in this moment of
frenzy Azalea did not scream or faint. Now
the strength of her samurai ancestors surged
upward through her veins, tingling her
whole being. Everything else was blotted
out forgotten. She obeyed only the
hereditary instinct of the samurai an in-
stinct for revenge. When she could move
from her crouching position by the opening,
227
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
she arose with silent swiftness. She stood
straight and still, only her eyes slowly
travelling about the room as though seeking
some object.
Suddenly she found it the sword ! Her
small hands gripped its blade and felt its
keenness. Then she hid it in the folds of
her kimona, and, her colorless lips close
pressed together, she passed soundlessly
from the room down the little flight of
*
steps and through the hall. Suddenly and
almost soundlessly she pushed aside the
shoji of the ozashishi. Now she stood be-
tween the opening, her eyes upon the
startled ones of Matsuda Isami.
In a flash he understood that somehow
228
" As the sword flashed upward he dashed to one side
and then slipped under its guard."
(Page 229)
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
she had heard and knew now the truth.
His servants had grown careless. She had
escaped from the trap he had set for her.
Vengeance was written in every line of her
rigid form. He could almost see the
twitching of her fingers upon the concealed
weapon in her sleeve. With a cunning
worthy of the man he advanced a step
toward her, hoping in this way to precipi-
tate her attack, and when she should spring
upon him he would trip her. He said as he
advanced :
"Little dove, you look pale to-day-
why "
As the sword flashed upward he dashed
to one side and then slipped under its guard.
229
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
His heavy hands locked together descended
crushingly upon her head. She threw back
her arms, the sword slipping from her
hand. Then she fell backward.
Across her fallen body Matsuda Isami
and Okido stared at each other. The latter
was shivering as though afflicted with ague.
He kept repeating over and over between
his chattering teeth: "Shaka! Shaka!
Shaka!"
" Do not speak so loud," hoarsely com-
manded the other, " or, by all the gods, I
will send you to join her ! "
The little Nakoda shrank and shivered
beat his head upon the floor.
Matsuda strode to the dividing doors.
230
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
He called the woman Natsu as he clapped
his hands. She came hurrying along the
hall and stood open-mouthed on the thresh-
old, looking in on that outstretched form.
Her eyes lifted in question to the man
Matsuda.
"Hear me," he whispered hoarsely.
"The woman has fallen in some swoon.
We will tie her devil offspring to her back
and carry her up to the place where she
belongs. Give me your aid, good Natsu,
and I will marry you instead."
231
CHAPTER XVIII
Save for the moving of the trees in the
early winter air, there was only silence on
the hill, where stood the little mission house,
but a ghostly moon pushed its rays through
the boughs of the trees, glistened on the
panes of the church and silvered the interior.
The rows of dark pews shone up stiffly
in the moonlit church, and a great white
beam glimmered across the pulpit, shaped
as a cross.
Azalea crawled on her hands and knees
up one of the aisles of the church. She
was moaning to herself as she made her
painful journey along.
232
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
"to touch his God!" she said, "for
even the evil are forgiven."
Now she was before the little pulpit, her
weak hands upon it. She sighed at its con-
tact, and a feeling of intense calm and rest
seemed to flood her being, but she could
not support herself against the pulpit struc-
ture, even upon her knees, so weak was
she and so nauseating the pain in her head.
Gradually she sank downward, lower and
lower, till her face touched the floor. Then
she spread out her arms, and lay very still,
face downward.
It was past midnight when Richard
Verley came back to the door of the little
mission house. His old-time beggar pro-
233
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
tegee Gonji accompanied him. From the
boy the minister had learned much all,
indeed concerning his wife. He knew
now what had befallen her so soon after
the birth of her child : her homeless condi-
tion, her vain efforts to obtain work, her
wanderings and terrible privations, and then
the gossip of the town. People whispered
that as a wraith she had returned to Sanyo
and had passed as a shadow into the house
of Matsuda Isami. The feelings of the
husband can be imagined. Such was the
temperament of Richard Verley that, even
with the knowledge in his mind of her
probable relations to the man Isami, there
was no thought of blame for her in his
234
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
heart. Indeed, the strongest emotion that
swayed him was remorse of the deepest and
bitterest. He should never have left her.
He should have either forced her to accom-
pany him or have remained in Japan with
her.
His first impulse now was that of the
man-brute, the desire to kill with his own
hands the one who had injured him and his
so terribly. But a calmer, higher instinct
triumphed the instinct of the man of
strong spirituality to turn to that One who
had never failed him in time of stress.
^
Something seemed to force his footsteps
toward his little house of prayer. So dazed
and numb was the condition of his mind
235
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
at this time, however, that he did not
even notice when he came to the door of
the church that it was no longer nailed to
and boarded up.
Richard Verley entered the church alone.
The boy was afraid to enter. He did not
know what evil spirit might be lurking in
the night within the white priest's temple.
He stretched himself out on the doorstep
of the church and went to sleep there.
It was very dark within now, for the
moon was gone. For a moment the minis-
ter paused irresolute. Then his hand
touched the side of a seat. He sat down
mechanically. Suddenly he covered his
face with his hands, and tried to pray, but
236
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
his prayer was wordless. For how long he
sat thus he could not have told. It might
have been the length of half the night, for
when he uncovered his eyes again things
seemed changed about him. The faint
glimmer of the dawn lent its first grey
light. He looked about him at the melan-
choly church interior, his eyes traveling
slowly and painfully over the dusty pews
and then upward toward the little pulpit
cross where he had spoken so often. A
patch of color caught his eyes and held
them. He thought he dreamed and turned
his glance away, but, fascinated, his eyes
came back to that bit of color there at the
foot of the pulpit.
237
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
He started up with a loud cry. A mo-
ment only, and he was beside her, his
trembling hands touching her. Some-
thing stirred upon her back and he saw the
round head of the baby. Its eyes were
wide open now and looking at him with
interest. Like most Japanese babies, it was
a grave, mute little mite, but its eyes were
large and, like his own mother's, blue in
color. He knew it for his own child,
though he could not see the face of the
mother who lay so very still. Some blessed
instinct guided his staggering feet to the
door. He aroused the sleeping Gonji, and
put into his arms the child. Then he went
back into the church.
238
THE LOVE OF AZALEA
She had told him in those other days, so
many times, that his voice would waken
her from the very sleep of death. When
her eyes looked up into his face she would
not close them though they ached with
weariness. She even smiled at his broken
repetitions of her name.
"I do not know how it is you are here,"
he said, "but here you are in my arms,
my wife, and it is enough."
Her voice was weak, but inexpressibly
sweet.
"It is enough," she said.
239
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