centre of the universe, and has
many wonderful sights,--great temples, theatres, wide shops for selling
clothes--"

"I care nothing for these things."

"There are gardens, too; and a broad, shining river. Shall we not go
to the autumn flowering garden of the Hundred Corners?"

"To such a place as that I would go alone,--or with her," said the boy,
his disconcerting gaze fixed on the other's face. "When is the Dragon
Maiden to appear?"

Kano looked down upon the matting. He cleared his throat again,
drained a fresh cup of tea, and answered slowly, "Since she and I are
of the city,--not the mountains,--and must abide in some degree by the
city's social laws, you will not see her any more at all, unless it be
arranged that you become her husband."

"And then,--if I become what you say,--how soon?" the other panted.

"I shall need to speak with the women of my house concerning this,"
said Kano in a troubled voice. He too, though Tatsu must not dream it,
chafed at convention. He longed to set the marriage for next
week,--next day, indeed,--and have the waiting over. Kano hated, of
all things, to wait. Something might befall this untrained citizen at
any hour,--then where would the future of the Kano name be found?

He had scarcely noted how the boy crouched and quivered in his place,
as an animal about to spring. This indecision was a goad, a barb. Yet
he was helpless! The memory of Ume's whispered words came back: "He,
too, has power of the gods. . . . Believe, sir, that you, as I, are
subject to his will." How could it be permitted of the gods that two
beings like themselves,--fledged of divinity, touched with ethereal
fire,--were under bondage to this wrinkled fox!

Tatsu flung himself sidewise upon the floor, and made as if to rise;
then, in a dull reaction, settled back into his place. "You say she is
not to come before me in this house to-day?"

"No, nor on other days, until your marriage."

"Then I go forth into the city,--alone," said the boy. He rose, but
Kano stopped him.

"Wait! I shall accompany you, if but a little way. You do not know
the roads. You will be lost!"

"I could return to this place from the under-rim of the world," said
Tatsu. "Bound, crippled, blindfold,--I should come straight to it."

"Maybe, maybe," said Kano, "nevertheless I will go."

Tatsu would have defied him, outright, but Ume's words remained with
him. Nothing mattered, after all, if he was some day t