the trees had dropped their leaves, and, with naked arms extended, seemed to speak voicelessly of the winter almost come. only the evergreen pines kept their warm coats of green, and under their shade the travelers found a temporary refuge from the wind and the cold, piercing rain.
moonlight had been very sure that they had climbed the hill in which was hidden the retreat of the nun who had previously harbored her, and where she knew she could find a refuge to which not even the agents of the saito might penetrate. but kioto is surrounded by hills on all sides, and the geisha had lost her way.
with the little omi to run before her and sell to the chance passer-by or pilgrim, for a sen or two, the jewels of the crazed wife of matsuda, or to beg rice and fish from charitably disposed temples, they had subsisted thus far.
at first she had turned a deaf ear to the entreaties of her maiden, that they go to the city below rather than to the bleak, deserted, autumn hills. but now, as the penetrating rain searched down through even the wide-spreading branches of the pine-trees, her heart ached heavily.
omi, shivering against her mistress’s side, began to cry, and recommenced her prayers to return to the city below. the troops were returning, and even here on the quiet hillside the sound of the beating drum, the wild and hoarse singing, and cheering of the soldiers and the citizens was heard.
“why perish in the cold hills?” asked the little apprentice-geisha, “when the warm, happy city calls to us? oh, let us go! let us go!”
feeling the cold hands of her baby, the geisha shivered; yet as she looked off hungrily to where the little maiden pointed she felt a sense of strong reluctance almost akin to terror. it was down there they were looking for her, she knew. there they would take from her the honorable child of her beloved lord.
“how much colder it is getting,” reproached omi, crossly; “and see, graciousness, your kimono is not even padded.”
“undo my obi, omi. wrap it about yourself and his lordship. it is seven yards long, and will protect you both amply.”
“but you, sweet mistress? i will not take your obi. your hands are cold. the august clogs are broken even!”
she knelt to tie the thong firmer, and while still kneeling omi continued her beseeching.
“now, if we start downward, we shall travel much quicker. i will bear his lordship on my back. we can reach the city in less than a night and a day. i know a little garden just on the outskirts of kioto. there we can spend the night. with warm rice and sake and—”
“hush, omi, it is impossible.”
omi threw back her head and began to wail aloud, just as a child would have done. the burden of her cry was that she was cold, very cold, and she was very sure that they would all perish in the wet and horrible mountains. the geisha tried vainly to quiet her. at last she said:
“omi, if you love me, be patient for yet another day. if to-morrow we do not find the shrine of the honorable nun, then—then—” her voice broke, and she turned her face away. omi caught at her hand and clung to her joyously.
“oh, you have promised!” then, as she saw the distress of her mistress, she cried out remorsefully that she was prepared to follow her wherever she desired to go—yes, even if it should prove to be the highest point of the mountains, said the little maid. after a moment, as the geisha made no response, omi, already regretting her generous outburst, sighed heavily and declared it was very hard. she sat back on her heels, upon the damp ground, and looked off plaintively toward the city below. how she longed for the bright lights of the geisha-house, the chatter and the movement, the dance and the song, the warm quilt under which was hidden the glowing kotatsu, close to which, omi knew, the geishas would creep at night for comfort. as she felt the drizzling rain and wind and saw nothing but the dark trees about her, her little head drooped upon her breast, and she began to sob drearily again.
suddenly the spider bent above the child and patted her softly upon the head.
“play a little tune upon your samisen, my omi, and i will sing to you a little song i myself have composed to the honorable baby-san.”
instantly omi’s face cleared. crouched upon her heels, looking up adoringly at her mistress, she picked upon her instrument, and while the cold rain dripped down upon them the spider sang:
neneko, neneko, ya!
sleep, my little one, sleep,
as the bottomless pit of the ocean,
so is my love so deep!
neneko, neneko, ya!
sleep, my little one, sleep!
as the unexplored vasts of nirvana,
so is my love so deep!
as the softly crooning voice of the dancer stole out upon the air a little cortège which had found its way up the intricate mountain-path halted there in the woods. in silence the runners dropped the shafts of the vehicles. supported by her maids, the lady saito alighted, and tottered painfully up the hill-slope. she stood very still when she saw that little group under the tree, and began to tremble in every limb.
the little omi saw her first, and with a cry of fear threw her arms protectingly about her mistress, thrusting her thin little body before her, as if to shield the beloved one from harm. now moonlight saw her, and for a moment she remained unmoving, staring at the old figure standing there unprotected in the drizzling rain, with arms half extended, the withered old face full of an appeal she had not yet found the courage to utter.
as she looked at the once dreaded lady, moonlight was conscious of a sense of great calmness and strength. no longer was her being flooded with the wild impulses of resentment and hatred toward her mother-in-law. she knew not why it was so, but her heart felt barren of all feeling save one of overwhelming pity.
her voice was as calm and gentle as though she had always been a lady of high caste, who had never known a turbulent emotion.
“thou art unprotected from the rain. i pray you take my place, honorable lady saito!”
now she was at the side of the other, leading her, waiting upon her. under the sheltering arms of the great pine-trees, so near to each other that their shoulders touched, these two, who had once hated each other so deeply, looked at one another with white faces.
said the lady saito ichigo, with quivering lips:
“i have made a long journey!”
said moonlight, calmly:
“you come to seek your son’s son?”
“nay,” said the aged woman, and she put out a trembling hand and caught beseechingly at the arm of the geisha. “i have come for thee, too, my daughter!”
a silence, unbroken save by the sobs of the little omi, fell now between them. then said the geisha, very gently:
“speak your—will—all-highest one. i—i will try to—to serve the honorable ancestors of the saito, even though it be necessary to make the supreme sacrifice.”
her hands fumbled with the strings that bound the child in its bag upon her back. now she had swung it round in front. the child’s little face, rosy in sleep, rolled back upon her arm. she felt the hungry arms of the woman beside her reaching out irresistibly toward the child; and, though she tried to smile, a sob tore from her lips as she lifted her baby and put it solemnly into the arms of its grandmother. then she turned her back quickly, and omi sprang up and received her into her arms.
suddenly she felt the shaking fingers of the aged woman upon her shoulder. she said, with her face still hidden and her voice muffled by sobs:
“i pray you go, hastily, lest my love prove greater than my strength.”
“the journey is long,” said lady saito. “let us set out at once, my daughter. i go not back without thee.”
slowly moonlight put the sheltering arms of omi from her and turned and looked wistfully, almost hungrily, at her mother-in-law.
“it is—unnecessary,” she said, gently. “i pray you forgive the dissension i have already caused in your honorable family. say to ohano, from me, that though it is not possible for me to give to her the one who has given to me his eternal vows, yet gladly i resign to her my little son.”
a curious look was on the face of the mother-in-law. for a long moment she stood staring up blankly at the geisha. then she said, in a tone of deadly quiet:
“my daughter ohano has gone upon—a journey!”
“a journey!” repeated the geisha, lowly. then, as she saw that look upon the other’s face: “ah, you mean not surely the long journey to the meido?” she cried out, piteously. lady saito’s head dropped upon her breast. moonlight felt overwhelmed, dazed, awed. ohano gone! ohano, the strong, the triumphant one!
“i entreat you to come with me now,” said lady saito, simply. “it was the wish of ohano that you—that you should take her place.” she paused, and added quietly: “it was she, my daughter, who made a place for you in the house of the ancestors.”
they had lifted her into the carriage. her head fell back, and she began to weep slow, painful tears that crept down her face and dropped upon the hands of her maiden. said the latter, joyously:
“see how the gods love you, sweet mistress. see how they have avenged you. see how they destroy your enemies and—”
“do not speak so,” cried her mistress entreatingly. “only the gods themselves are competent to judge us. i do not weep for myself, but for ohano, who has been ruthlessly thrust out upon the long journey. i would that i could take her place; but all that i can do to help her is to go to the shrines daily and beseech the gods to make easy the travels of ohano.”