was no telling when he might return,--whether he would ever return. To
attempt control of Tatsu was like caging a storm in bamboo bars.
Mata's eyes narrowed at this recital. "Yet I fervently thank the gods
for him," said the speaker, sharply, in defiance of her look.

Restored to comparative serenity, Kano, later in the afternoon, sent
for his daughter, and condescended to unfold to her those plans in
which she played a vital part.

"Ume-ko, my child, you have always been a good and obedient daughter.
I shall expect no opposition from you now," he began, in the manner of
a patriarch.

Ume bowed respectfully. "Thank you, dear father. What has arisen that
you think I may wish to oppose?"

"I did not say that I expected you to oppose anything. I said, on the
contrary, it was something I expected you not to oppose."

"I await respectfully the words which shall tell me what it is I am not
to oppose," said Ume-ko, quite innocently, with another bow. Kano put
on his horn-rimmed spectacles. There was something about his daughter
not altogether reassuring. His prearranged sentences began to slip
away, like sand.

"I will speak briefly. I wish you to become the wife of the Dragon
Painter, that we may secure him to the race of Kano. He has no name of
his own. He is the greatest painter since Sesshu!" The speaker waved
his hands. All had been said.

In the deep, following silence each knew that old Mata's ear felt, like
a hand, at the crevice of the shoji.

"Father, are you sure,--have you yet spoken to--to--him," Ume-ko
faltered at last. "Would he augustly condescend?"

"Condescend!" echoed the old man with a laugh. "Why, he demanded it
last night, even in the first hour of meeting. He was angered that I
did not give you up at once. He says you are his already. Oh, he is
strange and wild, this youth. There are no reins to hold him, but--he
is a painter!"

A grunt of derision came from the kitchen wall. Ume sat motionless,
but her face was growing very pale.

"Well," said her father with impatience, "do you agree? And what is
the earliest possible date?"

"I must consult with Mata," whispered the girl.

"She listens at the crack. Consult her now," said Kano.

The old dame threw aside the shoji like an armor, and walked in. "Yes,
ask me what I think! Ask the old servant who has nursed Miss Ume from
her birth, managed the house, scrubbed, haggled, washed, and broken her
old bones for you!